What do you use a CC with rewards for?

[hsmamato2]

I use a cc whenever and wherever I can- and yes, I pay in full before it's due. What do I use it for? one word, TRAVEL. with the right card(s) in your wallet,working for you, you can really go places,and I am NOT rich,or a big spender. I haven't seen anything so far that gives as much back as travel rewards....airfare,hotels,car rentals,park tickets,etc etc. I can't say it enough-TRAVEL

 

[pryncess527]

We put everything on paid in full credit cards. This has been one of the perks for us of doing YNAB, easily using credit cards for budgeted purchases.

Our favorites:

Amex Blue Preferred -- use for groceries (6% back), gas often (3% back)

Discover -- 5% back on restaurants and gas during rotating periods of the year
Chase Freedom -- 5% back on restaurants and gas during rotating periods that seem to always be different from Discover. YAY!

Disney -- honestly, I almost never use this one, I just like having it in my wallet and being eligible for deals before the general public, so I have the no annual fee verison and pull it out on rare occasions.

 

[Ronda93]

We use CapOne Visa for everything. Pay it off monthly. Swiping or using a debit card online is, in my mind, too dangerous. Yeah, if there's fraud you get your money back. Eventually.

Our CC number has been compromised 2 or 3 times in the past 12 months - not counting Target. And we're not lurking in strange places. Gas, groceries and big online sites.

Use of the debit card is like a PP, getting pocket cash. And that's it.

 

[Cirlonde]

My husband and I use our Chase Amazon Rewards card for absolutely every purchase we make, even paying most of our bills. (I'd pay all my bills with it but some force you to use a bank account or they charge you to use a credit card.) Then we pay the card off completely every month.

I do a *lot* of shopping on Amazon and last year I was able to buy 99% of my Christmas gifts from Amazon using points I'd accumulated all year long. Sure makes the holidays a lot less stressful when you can buy for everyone without taking a huge hit to your pocketbook!

The thing I like best about the Amazon card is that the points never expire. So I can let them build and build for as long as I want. You can easily get a refund check for your points instead of spending the points on Amazon, but it's just so convenient to use them on the website that I rarely request the refund.

I also agree with previous posters who have mentioned the feeling of security with a credit card vs. a debit card. We've only had problems once with fraudulent charges, but Chase made it so easy to get it fixed. The only real hassle was just changing to a new card number. I feel much safer using my credit card for everything and keeping my bank account information that much more secure.

 

[AnnaS]

We only have one cc - Chase Disney Visa one. We use it for everything. I miss the days that we were able to charge college tuition but they now charge a fee so not worth it.

We charge gas, groceries, cell phone bill, homeowners, car insurance, etc.

We pay our bill each month - as soon as it is posted, the bill is paid.

I apply my rewards towards my DVC dues every year. Only once used it for my onboard charges on DCL. I usually accumulate anywhere from $450 to $600.

 

[rockawaybeachgirl]

We put everything on paid in full credit cards. This has been one of the perks for us of doing YNAB, easily using credit cards for budgeted purchases.

Our favorites:

Amex Blue Preferred -- use for groceries (6% back), gas often (3% back)

Discover -- 5% back on restaurants and gas during rotating periods of the year
Chase Freedom -- 5% back on restaurants and gas during rotating periods that seem to always be different from Discover. YAY!

Disney -- honestly, I almost never use this one, I just like having it in my wallet and being eligible for deals before the general public, so I have the no annual fee verison and pull it out on rare occasions.

We also use Amex for groceries and gas as above, and rotate our discover and freedom cards for the bonus 5% categories.

I also use my businessChase Ink bold for it's 5x categories - cable, cell phone, internet, and office supply stores. The great thing about the last category is that gift cards purchased at those stores count, so I basically buy guft cards for everything (amazon, gap, spafinder) and use those so I am essentially always getting 5x points.

The freedom and Ink card points are transferrable to a number of airlines and hotels, so they are very flexible.

The remainder - plus some manufactured spending - goes on the BA Visa bc you get a companion pass to use once you reach a certain level in spending.

The other cards I have I keep for (1) specific perks (i.e. airline club membership (2) amex synch offers ($100s in discounts a year) or (3) very specific spending.

My poor husband has to keep a post it in his wallet to keep it all straight!

 

[rnorwo1]

We also use Amex for groceries and gas as above, and rotate our discover and freedom cards for the bonus 5% categories.

I also use my businessChase Ink bold for it's 5x categories - cable, cell phone, internet, and office supply stores. The great thing about the last category is that gift cards purchased at those stores count, so I basically buy guft cards for everything (amazon, gap, spafinder) and use those so I am essentially always getting 5x points.

The freedom and Ink card points are transferrable to a number of airlines and hotels, so they are very flexible.

The remainder - plus some manufactured spending - goes on the BA Visa bc you get a companion pass to use once you reach a certain level in spending.

The other cards I have I keep for (1) specific perks (i.e. airline club membership (2) amex synch offers ($100s in discounts a year) or (3) very specific spending.

My poor husband has to keep a post it in his wallet to keep it all straight!

Can you tell me more about the manufactured spending you do? I've come across this concept very recently. I'm intrigued and would love to earn more miles, but I'm not sure if some of it is worth it (like buying visa gift cards with a fee to put in Bluebird account), and some of it sounds downright unethical. I was wondering what you did that was worth it? Thanks!

 

[abmitch01]

I use my discover card for everything. Yo can get cash back or get partner gift cards. I get Landsend gift cards because you get $25 when you cash in $20. Then I shop through Discover's website and get an extra 5-10% off and you can combine this with the frequent 30% off Landsend coupons. I shop the sale category and get almost all my work clothes there. I rarely have to buy clothes. I think it's a pretty good deal

 

[Plutofan]

We have a cc that gives 2% back on every purchase into a 529 plan at Fidelity. We've been able to save a nice chunk for college this way, in addition to our own savings for college.

We charge everything we can: house/car insurance, energy/gas bill, Comcast bill, sewer bill, all gas and groceries. Basically anything that doesn't require cash. We hardly ever use our debit card or cash--I sometimes go weeks at a time with the same $10 in my wallet.

We use the fidelity Amex card tied with our brokerage account and get back 2% with every purchase. We get back about 1800. A year

 

[calypso726]

I don't like to pay for airfare or hotels so DH and I travel hack our way to miles with credit card application bonuses and spend. In less than 2 years we have over 2 million miles/points between the two of us. No we did not spend that much to earn it. Just our normal day to day spend. paying bills etc.

Some cards we get for the bonus miles and cancel before the annual fee is due. Some we keep and maximize our mile/point earning potential.

We don't carry balances and never use cash or debit cards since neither of those pays me to use them. We pay for everything with credit cards. We do have a few keeper cards.

Chase Sapphire Preferred - 2 points/miles per $ on all dining and travel with an annual 7% bonus given on miles earned. 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.

Chase Ink - 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 5x/$ and then use the gift cards when we shop at other stores or pay for things.

Starwood Preferred Guest Amex - Everything else. SPG points transfer to 31 airlines and they give you 5K miles for every 20K you transfer.

 

[Lees3rwe]

Wow- great posts! Thanks for all of the info!

 

[hsmamato2]

I don't like to pay for airfare or hotels so DH and I travel hack our way to miles with credit card application bonuses and spend. In less than 2 years we have over 2 million miles/points between the two of us. No we did not spend that much to earn it. Just our normal day to day spend. paying bills etc.

Some cards we get for the bonus miles and cancel before the annual fee is due. Some we keep and maximize our mile/point earning potential.

We don't carry balances and never use cash or debit cards since neither of those pays me to use them. We pay for everything with credit cards. We do have a few keeper cards.

Chase Sapphire Preferred - 2 points/miles per $ on all dining and travel with an annual 7% bonus given on miles earned. 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.

Chase Ink - 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 5x/$ and then use the gift cards when we shop at other stores or pay for things.

Starwood Preferred Guest Amex - Everything else. SPG points transfer to 31 airlines and they give you 5K miles for every 20K you transfer.

similiar to this....except we don't have a chase ink (no business,was turned down) and using a combo of SWA and Chase freedom and Sapphire plus, thatsalotta points for airfare,hotels,etc. ( I like my starwood points for Disney,rooms at 300+ a night-those are valuable to me)
( I also like the chase travel portal thru sapphire+, the discounts are pretty good)
Oh, another tip- ALWAYS shop thru your chosen portal that gets you extra points, i.e. Southwest,or Chase,or Citi portal)

 

[dprincessmom]

All regular monthly bills that I can pay with a credit card instead of a check. I am doing, including private school tuition. I just got the disney card in February and I have already earned $33.00 in bonus back. We are close enough to drive, so that's why I went with the Disney one. I figure another year like this and I can pay for our trip in 2016 ) The 2014 is already paid for but the starter gift card will get some nice items to bring home.

 

[calypso726]

similiar to this....except we don't have a chase ink (no business,was turned down) and using a combo of SWA and Chase freedom and Sapphire plus, thatsalotta points for airfare,hotels,etc. ( I like my starwood points for Disney,rooms at 300+ a night-those are valuable to me)
( I also like the chase travel portal thru sapphire+, the discounts are pretty good)
Oh, another tip- ALWAYS shop thru your chosen portal that gets you extra points, i.e. Southwest,or Chase,or Citi portal)

I don't have a business either. You can get a business card if you apply as sole proprietor and use your social security number as your tax ID number. If you sell stuff on Ebay, Craigslist, Amazon or garage sales that can be a business. Pm'd you with information on how to apply.

Love the shopping portals!!!!

 

[pryncess527]

We put everything on paid in full credit cards. This has been one of the perks for us of doing YNAB, easily using credit cards for budgeted purchases.

Our favorites:

Amex Blue Preferred -- use for groceries (6% back), gas often (3% back)

Discover -- 5% back on restaurants and gas during rotating periods of the year
Chase Freedom -- 5% back on restaurants and gas during rotating periods that seem to always be different from Discover. YAY!

Disney -- honestly, I almost never use this one, I just like having it in my wallet and being eligible for deals before the general public, so I have the no annual fee verison and pull it out on rare occasions.

Quoting myself, because we just added a new card -- the US Bank Cash+ Visa Signature. It let's us pick two categories we'll earn 5% from, so we'll now get 5% back on our phone bill, and on restaurant purchases for the 6 months not covered by Chase or Discover. It was a little tricky to get, there is no online application, the website says Branch Only (and there are very few branches, mostly in Kentucky), but I called their financial services office and was able to apply by phone.

 

[erin1715]

I don't have a business either. You can get a business card if you apply as sole proprietor and use your social security number as your tax ID number. If you sell stuff on Ebay, Craigslist, Amazon or garage sales that can be a business. Pm'd you with information on how to apply.

Love the shopping portals!!!!

Can you PM me the info about how to apply for a business card without being a business? I already have the Southwest CC but I know there is a business card too and I'd love more points! I guess I could technically be considered a business because I do work from home doing medical transcription part time.

 

[JanaDee]

We use our credit card rewards strictly for SW points.

 

[bjscheel]

Irritated with Discover. We don't use it much anymore, because the cash back percent is low unless you reach a certain amount. But they sent an offer to get $75 if you spend $1000. Easy for DH to do with his business. I just went to cash it out and had forgotten that now, they only let you do $50 increments. So even though I have $87, I could only cash out $50. Meanwhile the other $37 will sit forever because unless I have DH switch his spending over, it will take a long time to get to $50 again.

Our Capital One lets us get the full amount out, and our Chase Freedom that we use a little bit lets us cash out at $20- a much easier goal to reach. Oh, and the Amazon card lets you use whatever little bit you've accumulated when you're buying on Amazon. Always nice to take a couple dollars off the Amazon purchase.

 

[gjl]

R

 

[lurkernj]

We've done the southwest thing too. We've both applied for cards on 3 different occasions (so 6 cards total-but not at the same time), I haven't paid for airfare in 4 years(except for an international flight last year). DH currently has the companion pass, and he's still got 70k miles in his account, I've got 52k in mine. We've recently cancelled all of the cards though and might start over again next year.

In the meantime, we each have a United card. DH has had his for about 22 years and I've had mine for 4. There is a fee for this card but it is totally worth it for us. We have flown roundtrip to Hawaii twice with our kids (so 8 roundtrip tickets), and will be going again end of June (so 12 roundtrip tickets total). We also already have enough for another trip, but probably wont go for another 2-3 yrs. We also get free baggage on United because of the cards, plus two presidential club passes each. Hawaii is a great use of our points with this airline, Florida is a bit of a waste as it would take a minimum of 25k pts vs Southwest that takes about 14k.

Southwest has a hub in Philly, so we like to fly from there when we use them, but it's about an hour and fifteen from our house. United has a hub in Newark which is about 30 min.

We charge everything we possibly can and pay them off each month. If we didn't do all of this, we wouldn't be traveling nearly as much as airfare takes a huge chunk out of the vacation budget.