Credit Card rewards question

[Marionnette]

It's a visa debit card and works exactly like VISA. Do most cc's not allow you to pay with another cc?

No. You can do "balance transfers" from one credit card to another but they normally have fees tied to the cost of doing the transfer. Just pay with your bank account and you will be fine.

I already pay all my bills with my Visa -- except my mortgage darnit.

I don't want an annual fee. Do you have a suggestion for a good non-annual fee card? I suppose if i were to work at it I could try the Chase Sapphire for a year and if it didn't work out, I could close it before they started charging me an annual fee. Do the points work on SWA or Jetblue? Those are the two I fly most. We took Aer Lingus this last summer to Ireland. We are in the daydreaming stages of either France or England so being able to get airfare on an airline that flew overseas would be great, too.

I'm not in love with airline branded credit cards because I don't care for most airline FF programs. The seats are often limited in number and take too make FF miles to book. Southwest is one of the few that does not limit the number of award seats available on each flight. I don't fly JetBlue, so I have no opinion on their FF program.

The Chase Sapphire allows you to transfer your points to select airline programs (SWA, United, BA, Singapore Air, Virgin) or to some hotel programs and Amtrak. You can also use them for a statement credit (20K pts = $20) or for cash back. Points can also be redeemed for various retail GCs or for Amazon shopping.

The nice thing about the statement credit is that its value is the same as any other redemption they offer. So 20K in points is worth a $20 statement credit, a $20 GC, $20 cash back or approx. $20 worth of airline miles.

It also means that you can shop for the best price for airfare and then pay with your CC. When the bill comes, you use your points to pay for the airline tickets and you don't have to worry about whether they are a participating airline or if there are any award seats available on the days you chose to fly.

sorry for all the posts, I'm excited

Does anyone know what this means:
You can redeem your miles as a statement credit against any travel expense – gas, airfare, baggage fees, hotel stays, you name it


I don't understand "as a statement credit", or how that works.

It means that you charge those fees to your CC and then when the statement arrives, you call cardmember services and ask them to apply your points toward those charges.

I want airline miles!! LOL. I'm such a travel bug.

I notice the Chase Sapphire says 2x on travel or restaurants. And travel listed things like parking.

I use a toll road daily on my commute and it's about $60/month. I pay my toll charges with VISA. I wonder if those would count as Travel. Anyone with experience here?

And restaurants: does fast food count?

THANKS!!

I use my Chase Sapphire to reload my EZPass for tolls and recently used it to pay for parking when my husband was in the hospital. Each of those charges earned 2X "travel" rewards.

"Fast food" locations are still restaurants, regardless of the way that they serve their food (or what they serve!). As long as Chase has them coded as a restaurant in their system, it will credit as 2X points.

 

[Candleshoe]

AWESOME! Thanks for the information ya'll.

I'll look up more about the Venture and Sapphire cards tonight.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

The Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard is a good one too. They have one with no annual fee, 2X travel and restaurants, 20,000 points to start after $1,000 spent in 3 months, no foreign transaction, 10% points back after using them for travel. Seems like a good card. I might try for that one next.

 

[aclov]

I want airline miles!! LOL. I'm such a travel bug. I notice the Chase Sapphire says 2x on travel or restaurants. And travel listed things like parking. I use a toll road daily on my commute and it's about $60/month. I pay my toll charges with VISA. I wonder if those would count as Travel. Anyone with experience here? And restaurants: does fast food count? THANKS!!

I have Southwest for the companion pass and had already a US Airways cc.

 

[hsmamato2]

basic rule of thumb..... for domestic travel no one beats the Southwest card with a 50000 point bonus(has annual fee plus min. spend)
for travel redemptions either capitol one venture OR Barclays card work great- you get statement credit toward travel purchases
General use card that can be redeemed for all sorts of travel partners/bonus categories,etc is the Chase Sapphire Preferred- excellent overall card to use with all the partners options.
The disney visa is 'fun' but the rewards are pretty minimal for the money you spend. And I prefer a general card that can take us anywhere anyway.

 

[JessM]

I would go for a SW card, apply when they do the 50,000 bonus points offer. It's worth $800 in airfare. They do have a $69 annual fee but you also get 3000 bonus points a year which equates to $69 worth of airfare (I believe) so if you are going to fly at least once a year it's totally worth it.

I put EVERYTHING I can on my SW card. The only things I currently can't is my mortgage and gas (they only take checking withdrawal).

My credit card is due the 1st of the month so I go in and pay the balance off on the 1st or a couple days before when I pay my mortgage and condo dues. I've never paid interest and I've been earning lots of points. You are more than welcome to make multiple payments but I find it easier to pay the card off when the bill is due. The only time I make multiple payments is when I get a reimbursement from work for expenses.

I travel a ton for work and to visit my long distance DBF and I love traveling with SW and the ease of booking with points (the cancellation policy is AWESOME).

Good luck!

 

[msmama]

Sorry to hijack, but is the Barclays one a chip and pin one?

 

[greentea]

I would just be afraid of losing track, and then not having that money earmarked. i could transfer it from one account to another, but if I paid it right then and there then at the end of the month I wouldn't be short and have to dig into savings.

as long as there's no problem paying multiple times a month.

There's no problem paying multiple times a month -- I do this regularly -- but you can't charge something to the credit card and log in 5 minutes later to pay it off. The charges are usually pending for a day or two. It's not an issue, it just means it will be in processing and you can go pay it as soon as it goes through. I just wanted to make sure you knew exactly how it would work.

 

[mikehn]

I pay everything on our CC, everything except our mortgage. Car payments, childcare, all the utilities, insurance, vet bills, you name it, and the rewards rack up real fast. I havent been able to use up all the rewards fast enough. The key is that you have to pay the balance in full every month. and dont be late making the payment, or else

 

[elgerber]

Sorry to hijack, but is the Barclays one a chip and pin one?

I did not originally post it, but yes, my Barclays is a chip and pin card.

 

[gofordrew]

Yes you can. We did this with our Disney Visa to get rewards before out trip. Lucky for us our apartment complex takes credit cards for no extra charge so we would charge rent on it then pay it that same day and get the rewards. Really added up after a few months.

 

[abcboys]

I just recently received a chase freedom credit card. 1% back on everything and 5% back on certain things each quarter. This quarter is groceries and a few other things. I think the other quarters are gas, restaurants, and something else so it is places I will regularly shop at. I usually log on once a week and make a payment, that way it is paid off every month in full but I'm not having to make one big payment at the end of the month and its easier to keep track of.

 

[Candleshoe]

There's no problem paying multiple times a month -- I do this regularly -- but you can't charge something to the credit card and log in 5 minutes later to pay it off. The charges are usually pending for a day or two. It's not an issue, it just means it will be in processing and you can go pay it as soon as it goes through. I just wanted to make sure you knew exactly how it would work.

Thank you, I appreciate it!

I do believe that having an account set aside for this and transferring the money in to that as I charge it, then paying from that account will be the easiest zero-sum method.

We fell in love with a conference two years ago and would like to go yearly. So yes, the SW one sounds good. Must go google the companion fare though.

 

[scard192]

I just recently received a chase freedom credit card. 1% back on everything and 5% back on certain things each quarter. This quarter is groceries and a few other things. I think the other quarters are gas, restaurants, and something else so it is places I will regularly shop at. I usually log on once a week and make a payment, that way it is paid off every month in full but I'm not having to make one big payment at the end of the month and its easier to keep track of.

4th quarter is Amazon

 

[havaneselover]

4th quarter is Amazon

Yep! It was last year too. I used that some but still do better buying amazon gift cards at Kroger with my Amex blue preferred.

 

[scard192]

Yep! It was last year too. I used that some but still do better buying amazon gift cards at Kroger with my Amex blue preferred.

Discover gives 5% for on line shopping in 4th quarter, love these 2 bonuses.

 

[disneychrista]

Is it possible to pay my water, electric, MORTGAGE with a cc, and immediately pay off what I just charged via my debit card and not get charged interest but DO get some sort of reward?

You can not pay, in general, one form of credit with another. So you can not pay your mortgage or car payment with a Credit Card. Water, electric, etc depends on the company. I am unable to pay these with a credit card because the local company does not allow it. I do pay my garbage, Dish, Internet with a CC.

 

[sunshinehighway]

You can not pay, in general, one form of credit with another. So you can not pay your mortgage or car payment with a Credit Card. Water, electric, etc depends on the company. I am unable to pay these with a credit card because the local company does not allow it. I do pay my garbage, Dish, Internet with a CC.

There are round about ways to pay bills with credit cards....Serve bill pay...

 

[Marionnette]

There are round about ways to pay bills with credit cards....Serve bill pay...

I had to google it to see what it was and how it works. I think I understand the process, I'm just not sure whether I'm willing to go through that many hoops to pay the few bills I have that do not accept a CC directly. But it's still an interesting idea for anyone who has the time and organizational skills.

 

[calypso726]

Ooooh, credit cards for miles and points, my favorite game! We started travel hacking the summer of 2012. Playing the travel hacking game has allowed us to fly first class on miles to Vancouver, Mexico and twice to Europe. We have booked for this year on miles in first class Las Vegas next month. Then, Copenhagen in June for our Magic Norway/Iceland cruise and returning from London in July. Followed by Denver over Thanksgiving to see if we can manage to stay upright while on skis for the first time There is NO way we could have possibly booked any of those airline tix if not for the travel hacking.

DH and I never carry a balance. We enjoy traveling and we prefer to do it comfortably and prefer not to pay much for the comfort. We won't pay the prices for international business or first class air fare or the nicer international hotels. Therefore, we "travel hack." We utilize the sign bonuses and spending categories on various credit cards to collect airline miles and hotel points. We've compared what we could do with cash back vs miles/points and we can do waaaaay more with miles/points so that is the focus. Some cards we keep as permanent cards and some we cancel before the year is out.

Our keeper cards that we use to pay for things regularly or strategically:

Starwood Preferred Guest Amex - Use for everyday normal spending. It earns 1.25 miles/$ and transfers to over 30 airlines most of them at 1:1. We both use this one at Costco all the time.

Chase Sapphire Preferred - 2 points/miles per $ on all dining and travel. Points transfer 1:1 for United, British Airways, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic and Korean Air, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, Ritz Carlton

Chase Freedom - 5 points per $ on quarterly bonus categories. Points can't be used for miles on their own but you can transfer to the Sapphire preferred account and then use them for miles or hotel points. This quarter the bonus category is grocery stores. So we buy Disney gift cards at the grocery store for 5 miles/$ then load them on to the Disney Vacation Savings account so we can get a $20 Disney gift card for every $1K we spend through the account (DCL, ABD, AP MNSSHP etc.). I like earning 2% on money I'm spending anyway

Chase Ink Plus - 5 ponits/miles per $ on cable, phone, internet and office supply stores. We buy lots of gift cards (Whole Foods, Disney, Macy's etc) at the office supply stores to get the 5 miles/$ and then use the gift cards when we shop at those stores to pay for things.

Cards we don't use often but the benefits outweigh the fee for us:

Barclay Arrival - This is essentially a cash back card we use to diversify our travel hacking portfolio 2 points on all spending (2.2 if you redeem for travel purchases. We use this one to earn points that can be used on travel purchases that don't have a rewards program like Bed & Breakfasts etc. The card is chip & pin and has no foreign transaction fees so I will use this one for any international travel spending. It also comes with Trip It Pro included as a benefit.

Club Carlson Premier Visa - Got an 85K bonus for applying for the card which comes with gold status. This means anytime I redeem points for 2 or more consecutive Award Nights, our last night is free. Each year you get a 40K point bonus. Can't beat that.