Credit Card Choices!

[lynzi2004]

DH and I spend about $20,000/year on our credit card. We pay it off every month and basically purchase everything on it. We use my Visa account that I opened when I was in high school. I recently applied for a Disney Visa (the one with no annual fee) but DH doesn't necessarily see a need to use it. I believe it offers 1% back essentially but of course those "points" are basically good only on Disney merchandise. Our current US Bank visa that we always use also only give 1% back, and typically once a year or so we can trade our "points" in on a Visa gift card that is typically around $250ish.

Can someone give me advice on what a good card might be too look into getting? We get multiple offers each week and I usually throw them in the trash but I've recently got to thinking that maybe we should be looking around for something else. We travel frequently but don't honor any one hotel chain so I don't think a hotel card would be much value and neither do we fly, we drive everywhere. Are some of the cards that have an annual fee worth it for the rewards with the amount we spend each year?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Alesia]

Look into the Discover IT card. I'm getting 5% cash back on all purchases for the first year.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

Look into the Discover IT card. I'm getting 5% cash back on all purchases for the first year.

Unless this is a targeted offer, I've never heard of this. The current offer I know of is: 5% back on quarterly categories up to $1,500 spent (i.e. home improvement stores or Amazon or gas etc) plus 1% back on all other purchases PLUS double cash back on all money earned for the first year.

There are dozens of threads related to your particular question all of which are still very relevant. I'd do a quick search at the top of the Budget Board to see what others have already recommended.

 

[Ranger111]

CitiBank has a double reward card of sorts. It's 1 percent cash back when you buy an item, an additional 1 percent back when you pay your bill for 2 percent back in total.

Having said that, there are lots of cards that offer rotating cash backs ( 5 percent back this month on all gasoline purchases, 5 percent next month on all travel purchases). If you have the discipline to really keep on top of that, you can maximize and I do mean maximize big savings.

 

[Albort]

Be more specific. How much of that $20k is spent on what? What do u care the most about getting back? is it cash back? is it to travel somewhere? is it Disney?

 

[msmama]

I like the website nerdwallet for comparing credit cards and their various rewards.

 

[lynzi2004]

Be more specific. How much of that $20k is spent on what? What do u care the most about getting back? is it cash back? is it to travel somewhere? is it Disney?

I would say gas is probably 1/3 of that. Walmart/groceries 1/3 and eating out/hotels/etc the other 1/3.

I love the cash back (gift card) that we get with our current card, but I'm not sure that if we didn't trade it on a hotel stay or something if we would get a better return.

Or is there a card out there that just really stands out for cash back on mostly gas/grocery purchases?

Thanks for the responses so far!

 

[SMorgan711]

you should check out the "i love credit cards so much" thread !!

 

[GPC0321]

I would say gas is probably 1/3 of that. Walmart/groceries 1/3 and eating out/hotels/etc the other 1/3.

I love the cash back (gift card) that we get with our current card, but I'm not sure that if we didn't trade it on a hotel stay or something if we would get a better return.

Or is there a card out there that just really stands out for cash back on mostly gas/grocery purchases?

Thanks for the responses so far!

I think the Chase Freedom is great for the rotating categories. I've had mine for a long, long time. I'm going to partner it with the Freedom Unlimited so that I can get 1.5% back on everything that's not in a category. That is, when I'm not using my Southwest and Disney cards in an effort to save up for a trip. LOL.

ETA: And the cash back with the Freedom (and I assume the Freedom Unlimited) is exactly that. They'll deposit it straight into your checking account. I like that.

 

[RAD]

If you don't like messing around with what category of 5% bonus is this quarter then I second the recommendation of the CitiDouble card. Besides the 2% rebate there's a feature called Price Rewind. It's the if you find a lower price will give you the difference back feature, but what's nice about is you register the purchase on their web site and then they monitor the net for you looking for a lower price for the next 60 days. If they find it you get the difference back, got a $194 refund on a TV I purchased a couple months ago automatically.

 

[Albort]

I would say gas is probably 1/3 of that. Walmart/groceries 1/3 and eating out/hotels/etc the other 1/3.

I love the cash back (gift card) that we get with our current card, but I'm not sure that if we didn't trade it on a hotel stay or something if we would get a better return.

Or is there a card out there that just really stands out for cash back on mostly gas/grocery purchases?

Thanks for the responses so far!

Annual Fee card though but since ur maxing out most cat, it might be worth it.
Costco Anywhere Visa - 4% on gas(up to $6k), 3% back on restaurant & Travel. | $55 annual fee | Cashback
Chase Ink+ (business card though) - 5x on office supplies, aka gift card purchases to walmart. | $95 annual fee | Earn UR pts
Blue Cash Preferred Card Amex - 6x on groceries (up to $6k), 3% back on gas. |$95 annual fee. | Cash back

non AF cards.
5% rotating cat: Chase Freedom card, Discover IT
2% on everything: citi double cash Fidelity credit card.

thats all i can think of right now...

 

[lynzi2004]

I think the Chase Freedom is great for the rotating categories. I've had mine for a long, long time. I'm going to partner it with the Freedom Unlimited so that I can get 1.5% back on everything that's not in a category. That is, when I'm not using my Southwest and Disney cards in an effort to save up for a trip. LOL.

ETA: And the cash back with the Freedom (and I assume the Freedom Unlimited) is exactly that. They'll deposit it straight into your checking account. I like that.

Ok here is where part of my question is...if your getting such good cash back with the card, why would you use your Southwest and Disney cards? Wouldn't you be better off to get more cash back and just apply that to your flights/Disney vacation? Or is it just a personal preference of feeling like your saving FOR Disney by using the card?

 

[GPC0321]

Ok here is where part of my question is...if your getting such good cash back with the card, why would you use your Southwest and Disney cards? Wouldn't you be better off to get more cash back and just apply that to your flights/Disney vacation? Or is it just a personal preference of feeling like your saving FOR Disney by using the card?

Because I've just acquired the Southwest and Disney cards (literally got them both a couple of weeks ago), and they both had awesome sign-up bonuses. I've got three months to spend $2,000 on the Southwest card, and then I will get 50,000 bonus points (plus the 2,000 I've earned on purchases). That's enough for our round-trip plane tickets to Orlando. I got the Disney card through a referral that had a $200 gift card bonus once I've spent $500 in the first 3 months. So, naturally, I'm going to use those cards right now to reap those sign-up bonuses that will certainly go a long way in the cost of our trip.
But, yeah. Once I've gotten those bonuses, those cards will likely see much less use, and I'll go back to the Freedom card. I'm also going to try and get a Freedom Unlimited (1.5% back on everything) to use for the non-category purchases.

 

[RAD]

Ok here is where part of my question is...if your getting such good cash back with the card, why would you use your Southwest and Disney cards? Wouldn't you be better off to get more cash back and just apply that to your flights/Disney vacation? Or is it just a personal preference of feeling like your saving FOR Disney by using the card?

As the prior poster said the Southwest card was a no brainer when they had the 50000 point signup bonus. Got that and when the second years annual fee showed up card got cancelled. For Disney the only reason I keep that card is if I want to use the 6 months interest free on Disney vacations and cruises.

I also have Chase and Discover cards and use them when the 5% bonus locations are for categories that we use.

But what I've been using the most is a Bank of America Travel rewards Visa card with gives 1.5 points that can use against travel charges. But because we also have brokerage accounts at Merrill Lynch we get a 75% bonus so we get an effective 2.25 points.

Yea I have a lot of different cards but I chase the best cash backs that I can get, just remember to cancel any card when they come around looking for the annual fee the second year.

 

[hsmamato2]

Ok here is where part of my question is...if your getting such good cash back with the card, why would you use your Southwest and Disney cards? Wouldn't you be better off to get more cash back and just apply that to your flights/Disney vacation? Or is it just a personal preference of feeling like your saving FOR Disney by using the card?

B/c frequently if you use a targeted travel reward card to accrue points and use them it's more lucrative than a cashback card (i.e. the freedom card, 5x category at Costo- I can accrue 5x points back to use in my travels, vs. a dollar to dollar ratio)

 

[rantnnravin]

To add to the list:
Amex Blue Cash Everyday - No AF - 3% Groceries, 2% Gas and Department Stores, 1% everything else (Amex Offers can yield you some extra free money now and then, too!)
Bank of America Cash Rewards - No AF - 3% Gas, 2% Groceries and Wholesale Stores, 1% everything else

As stated: The Citi Costco card has really strong benefits (including travel) and the Double Cash is great to supplement the "everything else" category.
I love Discover for its quarterly categories and the shopping portal additional 5% deals.

 

[RAD]

Bank of America Cash Rewards - No AF - 3% Gas, 2% Groceries and Wholesale Stores, 1% everything else

One note about this card, it limits to $1500 in purchases per quarter for the 3% and 2% bonus cash back.

 

[rantnnravin]

One note about this card, it limits to $1500 in purchases per quarter for the 3% and 2% bonus cash back.

That's what makes having more than one cash-back card in your wallet all the more important. Hit the limit on the category on card 1? Switch to card 2 (or 3, or 4, etc.)

 

[platamama]

Another vote here for the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred card - the one with the fee. 6% at supermarkets* (capped at $6,000 - which is close to your 1/3 of $20K spend), 3% gas & department stores, 1% everything else. You can buy Disney gift cards at the grocery store and get 6% back instead of your 1% on your Disney Visa. Make your spouse an authorized user of the card (free to do), and you can both get AMEX offers loaded onto your respective cards (BOTH of you can get AMEX offer credits on this one account). This year alone, just on AMEX offers, DH and I have gotten $250 back (that's NOT including our regular cashback on the card), so the annual fee of $95 is more than reimbursed for us. My DD's school gets money whenever I load our Kroger gift card which I then use for purchases at the Kroger grocery and Kroger gas station (that's how I get 6% back on gas!). So when I load $100 on the Kroger card, her school gets $5 and I get $6.

Chase Sapphire Reserve just became available last month and I can't wait to get that one (I've already been rejected bc of too many credit cards opened in the last 24 months). The sign up bonus alone is worth $1000 straight up cash, and that's if you don't maximize the UR points. After DH gets that, then it's on to the Bank of America Travel Rewards card since we have a relationship with Merrill Lynch.

*I don't shop at Walmart so I don't know if that store codes as a supermarket...maybe someone else knows about this.

 

[GPC0321]

*I don't shop at Walmart so I don't know if that store codes as a supermarket...maybe someone else knows about this.

It doesn't with Chase Freedom, I know that. Walmart and Target are not included in the grocery store 5X category.