Saying good by to Disney Visa need a new rewards program

[kmermaid]

Atleast for the rest of this year. I have reached my rewards limit for this year over 750 points. (We bought a new house this year). So now I need a new rewards program.

Looked at bank one cash rewards but I'm not sure if the benefits are that great. Maximum is $600 that I could earn in one year.

Then there are the airline miles: Have only flew USAir because I like thier schedules, lots of flights, but I would have to get the tickets way in advance. Can't do that with my schedule.

So any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[StephMK]

We have the AmEx Blue that earns 1 point per dollar and you can use the rewards for all sorts of things. This month they had a promotion for double points. We were going to use 5000 pts for a $50 GC towards a rental car but decided to wait.

 

[crl]

We use Discover since they have a cash back of 1% and if you use that cash toward certain merchants, they will double that amount.

We also have a GM card so we can get money off our next GM vehicle purchase.

 

[brivers222]

Hey there High Roller

Here are my three(3) choices:

1) Discover Card - 1% cash back... you can double your rewards by getting GC's for certain places

2) Amex Blue - 1pt per dollar... Towards GC's

3) Amex Cash - 1%-2% cash back... you get a check within 2 weeks of your aniversary date.

 

[Lewisc]

If you can fly out of PHL you might look at Southwest. A few blackout dates but no capacity controls, if there is an empty seat on the plane it's yours.

 

[hookedup]

I have made great use of our Starwood Amex card. We have stayed at some great hotels for free and used it for upgrades. We stayed at the Swan club level last summer, the St Regis, and a 5 star hotel in Hawaii. All were free stays on points. I love that card.
If you are someone who likes to stay at nice hotels but is very budget oriented it is a great tool. We pay ours off each month and there is no limit to the amount of points you can earn in a year. The first year is free but there is a yearly charge after that.
You can also transfer your Starpoints to airline miles too and if you transfer 20000 points they add 5000 to it!

 

[kmermaid]

I looked into Amex Blue Cash card. It looks like what i am looking for. Limit of 50,000.00 which would come out at 3% earned about $1500. or 1.5% on other purchases $750.00. I'm just worried that it would not be accepted everywhere. Anyone have that problem?

 

[barbeml]

We have GM Card (just got $3400 in free money off my new car) and the AAA Diamond Advantage Card.

AAA gets us 5% off at the gas pump (that really adds up these days), plus $50 certificate for every $5,000. Awards are good for use at AAA toward vacation packages, park tickets, merchandise, etc. We've gotten lots of great gear for our road trips to WDW, plus Mickey icon luggage tags and fanny packs. Using latest awards for Space Center tickets this year.

If you do MyPoints, their credit card helps you earn tons of points which can be redeemed for web certificates, restaurants, etc.

Good luck!

Barbe

 

[javaj]

We use a Citibank Rewards card that gives 1 point per dollar on most purchases, but 5 points for dollar on supermarket, gasoline, and drugstore purchases.

 

[hookedup]

Originally posted by kmermaid
I looked into Amex Blue Cash card. It looks like what i am looking for. Limit of 50,000.00 which would come out at 3% earned about $1500. or 1.5% on other purchases $750.00. I'm just worried that it would not be accepted everywhere. Anyone have that problem?

Amex is great but there are some merchants that don't accept it because it has the hightest merchant fee (what the business pays to Amex per transaction) it is higher than Visa or MC or Discover and there are some merchants who don't accpet Amex because it takes a bigger bite out of their profit margin. And there are some business that negoitiate a better rate with MC/Visa by being exclusive not accepting Amex. So you can run into situations where Amex is not accepted at a particular business. But I have not run into it too much.
Ironically enough I got my Amex because it is the only credit card that Costco accepts and we shop there, and get gas there a lot, so it made sense to get an Amex.

So I tend to use my Amex for everything I can to earn rewards points and then have my MC or Visa for those merchants who don't take Amex.

 

[hookedup]

Originally posted by barbeml
We have GM Card (just got $3400 in free money off my new car) and the AAA Diamond Advantage Card.

We too have a GM card (have had it for 7 years) and bought a new Pontiac Vibe and got $3000 off! If you like GM cars it is a great tool.

 

[DiznEeyore]

Originally posted by javaj
We use a Citibank Rewards card that gives 1 point per dollar on most purchases, but 5 points for dollar on supermarket, gasoline, and drugstore purchases.

Our cc is a Citi Dividend Platinum card -- sounds exactly like the one javaj mentioned, only ours is stated as percentages rather than points. There is no annual fee on the card.

As far as rewards, you can accumulate up to $300 per calendar year. My paperwork says it's sent out in multiples of $100.

We're building an addition so I'm determined to hit that $300 this year, even though I just got the card, LOL!!! I'm using it to pay for *everything* and sending in payments to pay it off every couple of weeks (no nasty debt accumulated that way! ) All rewards earned are going directly into my ING acct for our WDW trip!

 

[janie91]

Chase has a cashbuilder card that pays 2%

 

[Julia M]

No suggestions, but just had to say I'm jealous.........I've accumulated only 424 bucks, and that's over 15 months!!

Julia

 

[swilshire]

Barbe,

Did you get a letter from AAA this week saying that the 5% is changing. I haven't had time to read it closely, but basically they are changing it to a range based on how much other you spend.

I had the GM card several years ago and after I had saved points for two or three years, they cancelled the option to get money on a vehicle. Long after I had cancelled my card, they started it up again. I was not happy.

Sheila

 

[barbeml]

No, have not gotten anything from AAA changing the program. I will keep an eye out for it...thanks for the heads up!

I am an original GM card holder and have never been notified of any cancellation of the rebate--what reason would anyone have to hold a GM Card if there were no rebate? Very strange. That stinks.