Discover vs. SPG AMEX vs. Chase i-card

[Debi]

I have all 3 cards, and want to eliminate one or possibly two of these cards. Earning my way to WDW would be a lot easier if I concentrated on one reward only. So, based on the rewards that these cards offer only (interest is not an issue - I pay the bill off in full each month), which one(s) should I eliminate?

 

[jgates]

My first instinct would be to say the Discover Card. I believe your rewards are dependent on your spending levels etc. I love the i-Card fact that I receive that nice little webbie once a month (yes- I spend too much each month) in my email and I can see it adding up nicely.

I do not have the SPG Amex - in fact I have NO Amex so I can't compare that one.

 

[GoldenOldie]

You may want to wait until January when Disney's co-branded VISA rewards card comes out. You may end up getting rid of all three of your current ones.

 

[Debi]

Don't remind me, GoldenOldie - when that CC comes out, then for sure I'll be in credit card trouble!

 

[Debi]

 

[chris1gill]

DEFINITELY keep the SPG Amex... Last year we got 5 free nights in Hawaii (level 4 hotel) & next year we'll be getting AT LEAST 14 free nights (level 2, five star hotel) in Sydney, Australia... This doesn't include all the one & two night stays we've gotten for free... We charge EVERY single thing to our AMEX, including a new car purchase about a year ago LOL... we also pay the bill off when it comes, so we pay no interest.

We will also be getting the new Disney Visa when it comes out. I have a few revolving charges for companies that don't take AMEX, so those charges will go on the Disney Visa...

 

[Debi]

That's what I was thinking about, chris1gill - a free week at the S/D sounds great. However, once my first year has expired, I'm not sure that I want to pay the $30 annual fee. Can you tell I'm a cheapskate?

 

[chris1gill]

Hey Debi,

Believe it or not, I've been a member so long (about 5 years), that I don't have to pay the fee!! Maybe you could ask to have the fee taken off? Or, once you go somewhere on an award, cash the 1500 points for the 25.00 off your bill (or some combination like that)... If there is one card on earth I wouldn't get rid of, it's this one!! Can you believe 5 nights in Maui for free & then 12-14 in Sydney, Aus for FREE??? I'd never actually spend money to stay in hotels now ROFL!!! (now THAT'S cheap!!)

 

[Debi]

And you did this all free through your SPG AMEX? That's amazing!!

 

[chris1gill]

Yup! Last February was 40,000 points for the Sheraton in Maui, the summer before was a weekend in Saratoga, NY (level 3) & 3 or 4 visits to Hartford in a level 1 hotel... the hotel in Sydney is an amazing level 1 hotel, even though it's a five star hotel!!! It's the old hotel Nikko, so I know it must be nice!!!

I think we've also had a couple of free nights at the Dolphin, but like I said we put EVERYTHING on the card... DVC Purchase, new car purchase, you name it & we've put it on it!!

 

[Debi]

That's why I'm looking to eliminate 1-2 of my cards; I put everything on a card anyhow, and am trying to determine which one would be best. That's why I'm leaning towards my Discover Card - it has the highest credit limit. I have a few major purchases coming up, and want to make sure I have enough credit available to afford them. Out of curiosity, how were you able to get a credit line high enough to be able to afford those purchases?

 

[chris1gill]

Hi Debi,

I think we have a 15K limit or something like that, we had to have the limit upped when we paid what was owed on the car after trade though LOL.... Since we pay everything off, we don't usually need to worry about the limit... I personally don't use our discover card (we only have it cause the wholesale club takes it LOL)... it only gives 1% back which isn't very good... I like the AMEX, not only can you get the free hotels, but you can also get a free economy flight for 20,000 points, not the airline's usual 25,000 points. We haven't done that, but I was going to resort to using our SPG points if we ran short on ff miles to go to Australia... that didn't happen, so we have our 12-14 nights covered once we're there...

I think when I've averaged it all out, we've gotten about 3% or so in value on the SPG card, maybe more once you add in the next trip!!

One card I would never do is an airline card, they cost too much... Maybe you just might want to wait til the new Disney Visa comes out, that should be an interesting program!

 

[Debi]

I don't even have 1/3 that limit, so I'm very jealous. Did you call AMEX directly to have the limit raised?

 

[chris1gill]

Hi Debi,

We sure did!! We've had to call a couple of times, like I said, I think we've had the card for five years, so each time we did call, we had some history behind us... how long have you been a cardholder?

You know, your other option is to keep all three cards & just focus on using one right now, save the others for later if you should change your mind, that's what we've done in the past when we felt we had too many... Now we're down to one of each kind, Discover, Mastercard, Visa & AMEX... but we focus on the AMEX 85% of the time, some places don't take it!

 

[jgates]

Debi- depending on income level, actually having 3 cards could be a detriment to your credit score. If you cancel 2 of the 3 cards you probably will have no trouble increasing your line on the remaining card or they may even auto-increase you after a couple of months.

As soon as one card we weren't using was removed and listed as closed - guess what - the other limits started going up!

 

[Debi]

Wow, jgates, I didn't know that! Thanks for the heads up. I'm leaning towards closing the AMEX card because: a)Disney will be introducing its new Visa next year, and b) AMEX isn't as widely accepted as Visa and Mastercard. Why pay a $30 annual fee for a card I'm not using?

 

[jgates]

Yeh, credit is one of those touchy things - gotta have enough things to build a good score with but if you have too many your potential debt to income ratio is too high..... You get the idea - you could decide to max out all your cards and then all those creditors could be sitting poorly.

It's a good idea to review your credit score periodically. Some states allow a 'free' viewing of it periodically. Others you have to pay a fee for it. (No fee under certain circumstances - denial of credit, etc). I like to check mine every couple of years and make sure it looks good.

Another thing people don't realize is if you cut up those cards and get rid of them - they still stay on your report unless you contact the company to cancel them.

I'm really curious as to the new Disney card too. Hope it's worth waiting for!

 

[emmagata]

Originally posted by chris1gill
Yup! Last February was 40,000 points for the Sheraton in Maui, the summer before was a weekend in Saratoga, NY (level 3) & 3 or 4 visits to Hartford in a level 1 hotel... the hotel in Sydney is an amazing level 1 hotel, even though it's a five star hotel!!! It's the old hotel Nikko, so I know it must be nice!!!

I think we've also had a couple of free nights at the Dolphin, but like I said we put EVERYTHING on the card... DVC Purchase, new car purchase, you name it & we've put it on it!!

You must have a lot of cash to do that.

I don't think you're the average points CC user.

 

[chris1gill]

Originally posted by emmagata
You must have a lot of cash to do that.

I don't think you're the average points CC user.

I don't think we are that far from the average CC user, we just planned out our large purchases a bit better & saved up for the big stuff... But there are a lot of CC users out there that travel on business (that's where I started) & also have a business (like my neighbor) that requires they put large sums on their credit cards for a month at a time... That's how we've always done it... My neighbor (believe it or not) has never gotten A THING from his AMEX card because he's not signed up for their rewards program!! I talked to him yesterday about this, they could be traveling from now til Christmas on free points had he thought to do it!!!! Now that I think about it, I have to send him the link to the SPG card LOL....

 

[Kacey]

Hey chris1gill,

Forgive my ignorance, but what does the SPG stand for?

Thanks