Credit Card with Rewards

[Mickey2903]

I know this has been discussed before, but things may have changed in the last year or so. We are currently paying for our daughter's college every month. They will take credit cards and I was wanting to get one that had a good reward program. Which ones do you have and what kind of rewards do you get with it? I would probably prefer one that was either cash back or possibly hotel points/nights. TIA.

 

[ICF]

I know this has been discussed before, but things may have changed in the last year or so. We are currently paying for our daughter's college every month. They will take credit cards and I was wanting to get one that had a good reward program. Which ones do you have and what kind of rewards do you get with it? I would probably prefer one that was either cash back or possibly hotel points/nights. TIA.

For hotel pts, I use the Hilton Honors American Express Card. It has no annual fee and gives you bonus pts in a # of catagories -- mainly Gas and Groceries, but there are a couple of others.

If you search the web - there are usually sign up bonus programs with it that give you a free night (or two) as well as a large # of points when you first sign up.

 

[Happyjen27]

I use Discover card because they give you cold, hard cash!! Sometimes hotel and airline points have strings and limitations. Then, of course, it costs money to use up hotel and airline points because of the other costs of the trip. Cash, however, is free to use.

For my 8000 Disney trip, I will make back 5% for up to $1500 of it = $75.00 cash. Then, for the rest I will make back 1% = $65.00. The 5% is part of their monthly specials, sometimes it's gas and groceries, and this summer it was amusement parks.

 

[Mickey2903]

Thank you. I will look into that one. A credit card with no annual fees is definitely a plus. There are just so many to choose from and I was wondering which ones other people were happy with.

 

[HM]

The GM Card gives 5 points per $100 spent on everything. You can buy any new GM car with the accumulated points. There is an annual fee but worth it if you want to save on a car.

 

[brios86]

I love my Chase Freedom. It has similar bonus categories to the Discover one(that I also have) but does not have a limit to what you can earn. In this year alone I have earned back at least $150 in cash. I charge about $1000 a month.

 

[Mickey2903]

The GM Card gives 5 points per $100 spent on everything. You can buy any new GM car with the accumulated points. There is an annual fee but worth it if you want to save on a car.

I will have to look at that too. I had no idea that car manufacturers offered credit cards like that. Makes sense though.

 

[ICF]

The GM Card gives 5 points per $100 spent on everything. You can buy any new GM car with the accumulated points. There is an annual fee but worth it if you want to save on a car.

We had this card at one point and it was pretty good....at least before, the points expired every 7 years and of course you have to get a GM car. Not sure if the points still expire if you are paying an annual fee to have it or not.

 

[cyndik1111]

Here is another vote for discover.

One nice feature about their points, you can buy discover gift cards....they work like a credit card, but you don't have to pay the fee ($3.95 for a visa gift card)
I give my sister's kids discover gift cards in the amount of $20 each for birthdays/holidays etc. They can then take them to Disney for spending money. They think it's cool cause they look like a discover credit card.

Discover also runs all kinds of monthly specials where you can earn extra points.

We put everything on our discover. Last year I earned $750 in cash back. But be careful, don't carry a balance...their interest rates can be very high.

We pay our card off every month.

One other problem with discover, not all retailers take it. Check with your daughter's school first.

Out there somewhere is a website that you can do comparisons for different rewards cards. It helps you figure out which one is best for you. I can't remember the site though. Do a google search for it.

 

[CoP Luv]

I love my Chase Freedom. It has similar bonus categories to the Discover one(that I also have) but does not have a limit to what you can earn. In this year alone I have earned back at least $150 in cash. I charge about $1000 a month.

Chase Freedom does have limits on the bonus categories. You can only earn 5% on the first $1500 of bonus items for the quarter. 1% after.

Chase also has an 'ebates' type feature where you get extra bonus points by buying through their rewards site. It's nice since the points post right away.

 

[People Mover]

Depending on where you live, suntrust has rewards, no annual fee, and double points on gas grociery and drug store.

 

[HM]

We had this card at one point and it was pretty good....at least before, the points expired every 7 years and of course you have to get a GM car. Not sure if the points still expire if you are paying an annual fee to have it or not.

Yes, the points do start to expire at 7 years. We lost a few months worth last year before we bought a new car for our son with the remainder. Overall, we've bought 3 cars with ours and saved nearly $9000 dollars with just points. We don't have a limit on how many we can use with our grandfathered card, but there is a limit to how many we can earn in a year now ($500). The newer cards have no limit on earning but can only use so many on a car (depends on the model).

It's worth looking at OP, if you are planning on buying a car in the next couple/few years and like GM cars.

We also carry and use reward cards from Capital one (use for groceries and gas) and from Chase (use for dining and fast food). They each give 2 points per $100 spent on those categories. No annual fees.

 

[ValpoCory]

I'm glad to see that the Budget Board posters who feel that it is immoral, embarrassing, or financially imprudent to seek out and earn credit card perks while carrying a balance have not descended on this thread. If you are going to have credit card debt anyway, I'm not sure why you can't seek out the best way to pay off that debt, including credit card perks.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'm glad to see that the Budget Board posters who feel that it is immoral, embarrassing, or financially imprudent to seek out and earn credit card perks while carrying a balance have not descended on this thread. If you are going to have credit card debt anyway, I'm not sure why you can't seek out the best way to pay off that debt, including credit card perks.

why so angry? The reason is any 'benefits' to the cards are completely outweighed by the financials....the interest payments ALWAYS exceed the rewards by far. That's the goal of the lenders. So it ONLY is a viable question if you don't carry balances.
And also b/c those who 'have to carry a balance anyway' are the ones the lenders are looking for....who are willing to play around with the cards,in spite of the fact that they're on the losing end of the game every time.
switching cards to get rewards if you 'have' to have that balance carried every month is not beneficial-it's not immoral,just no real gain to it,and lots to lose.

 

[hsmamato2]

FWIW I love the southwest visa,esp. signing up with a good offer- lots of points, great uses,free flights.....we save more in free flights now than we ever got in plain old cash back over the years it has an annual fee, but it's a good deal if you fly a couple of times a year.

 

[Mickey2903]

I'm glad to see that the Budget Board posters who feel that it is immoral, embarrassing, or financially imprudent to seek out and earn credit card perks while carrying a balance have not descended on this thread. If you are going to have credit card debt anyway, I'm not sure why you can't seek out the best way to pay off that debt, including credit card perks.

I had forgotten to add to my post that my husband is opposed to getting a credit card since we do not have credit card debt. We are currently paying cash, but I thought we may as well get some perks if we can. We would pay the card off each month so we would not incur any fees.

Thanks to all the posters who are sharing their credit cards with rewards. I hadn't thought to check out comparison websites, either. That was a good idea.

 

[DVC-Don]

I use the Southwest Visa card tied into my Southwest Rapid Rewards account.

 

[ICF]

I had forgotten to add to my post that my husband is opposed to getting a credit card since we do not have credit card debt. We are currently paying cash, but I thought we may as well get some perks if we can. We would pay the card off each month so we would not incur any fees.

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Credit Cards dont have to equal credit card debt.

I've had and used cards for years and years...earning all sorts of free hotel stays, disney $'s and the like. I've never paid interest as the card is paid off each month.

 

[SaraJayne]

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Credit Cards dont have to equal credit card debt.

I've had and used cards for years and years...earning all sorts of free hotel stays, disney $'s and the like. I've never paid interest as the card is paid off each month.

Yup, same here. Just because you have a credit card doesn't mean you have credit card debt. Op, we use a SW visa to get the points.

 

[olecow]

My wife and I use the Capital One Cash Rewards card. It's essentially 1.5% cash back on everything (1% with a 50% bonus once a year). There's no annual fee. Our cash rewards should pay for a nice portion of our next trip (June 2013).