What do you use a CC with rewards for?

[calypso726]

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.

Done.

 

[bjscheel]

You can pay on amazon with your cash back and use it all up!

With my Discover? That would be great. I'll have to remember to try that.

 

[hsmamato2]

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!!!!

This is sometimes true,sometimes not. I called the recon. line, got a no. It happens.

 

[hsmamato2]

just a quick recommendation....to all those of you out there who still play around with the Disney cc..... Since you're playing a cc/rewards game anyway, you might as well play a game that gets you better rewards..... the Disney cc is the most dismal rewards program I've seen yet.... there are much much much better cards out there for getting you to Disney (or wherever) Chase Sapphire preferred is a main one I can think of now.... you get a lot more 'bang for your buck' ...I say this as a person who used to use that card,and some others,while dipping my toe into the water,and learning about these things.... Now that Disney card is just great for getting a free 5x7 photo on vacation...but....

 

[Marionnette]

just a quick recommendation....to all those of you out there who still play around with the Disney cc..... Since you're playing a cc/rewards game anyway, you might as well play a game that gets you better rewards..... the Disney cc is the most dismal rewards program I've seen yet.... there are much much much better cards out there for getting you to Disney (or wherever) Chase Sapphire preferred is a main one I can think of now.... you get a lot more 'bang for your buck' ...I say this as a person who used to use that card,and some others,while dipping my toe into the water,and learning about these things.... Now that Disney card is just great for getting a free 5x7 photo on vacation...but....

I totally agree with this statement!

I still keep out regular Disney Visa cards because they have no annual fee, but I use our Chase Sapphire Preferred cards for everything!

For those that prefer no annual fee, the Chase Freedom Card is a good choice (5% back in select categories that change quarterly, 1% on all other purchases). Rewards are redeemed through the same program as the Sapphire Preferred Visa - Chase Ultimate Rewards.

 

[scard192]

Disney Visa- everything that is only 1%

Amex Blue - 3% on groceries

Chase Freedom/Discover I use for the 5% quarterly bonuses. Discover had 5% for on line purchases 4Q last year and Freedon had 5% on Amazon if I rememeber correctly. I covert those rewards to a check or Amazon points.

I got an offer from Discover this week for $75 in rewards if I spend $1500 thru July 31st so everything will go on Discover the next few months and I will convert that to Amazon points.

all of my cards have no annual fee and I pay them off every month so free money.

 

[Angrypenguin]

Good thread! I started the points chasing game a few months ago, and I can't believe I didn't do this sooner.

Right now I'm using my wife's 2nd Citi Aadvantage Exec Plat card. 100k American Miles bonus sign up offer. So far, we have:

2 x Citi AAdvantage Card - 220k AA miles (Mine)
2 x Citi AAdvantage Card - 220k AA miles (wife's card)

I already had a Chase Sapphire Preferred, so I added a Chase Freedom Card and Ink Bold earlier this year, and signed the wife up for a CSP as well. We're sitting on around 200k Chase Ultimate Reward Points

Also working on the Starwood Amex - 25k Starwood points.

Why all these points? We're planning on going to London later this year. The 2 AA cards will cover LAX to London in Business Class for my wife (I'll already be there for work).

Transfer 125k Chase UR points to Hyatt (1:1 swap), to get 5 nights free in London at the Grand Hyatt in central London.

Use the 25k Starwood points to do 2 nights at the Sheraton Edinburgh.

Should have enough AA miles left over to do our domestic flying for the next year or two, or maybe we'll just go nuts and book ourselves a first class trip to australia or something .

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

Ok, can somebody please explain the points chasing game to me?

Doesn't having all those cards make for a whole lot of fees?

 

[pryncess527]

Ok, can somebody please explain the points chasing game to me?

Doesn't having all those cards make for a whole lot of fees?

I almost never pay any fees.
I only have one card with an annual fee -- my AmEx Cash Preferred -- I make enough in rewards to more than make up the fee.

I went through our spending and compared a bunch of cards to identify what would give us the best rewards for most of our categories. Then I even made a little laminated card for H to keep in his wallet so he'd know which card to use for what when

GAS

Jan, Feb, March – Chase Freedom -- 5% pack
April, May, June – AmEx -- 3% back
July, August, September – Discover -- 5% back
October, November, December – AmEx -- 3% back

RESTAURANTS

Jan, Feb, March – Discover -- 5% back
April, May, June – Chase Freedom -- 5% back
July – December – US Bank -- 5 % back

Phone bill -- US Bank - 5% back
Cable Bill -- AT&T Universal Card, 2% back plus bonus based on other spending

GROCERIES -- AmEx - 6% back year round

Drug Stores -- US Bank - 2% back

Our electricity company and mortgage would charge me a fee for paying with CC, so those are about our only bills that don't go on a CC. All credit cards are budgeted and paid in full monthly (or more accurately, twice a month just to make me happy), so we never pay interest.

This will be our first full year doing it, so I can't say exactly how much I expect to make in rewards yet -- but after years of paying interest to credit card companies, it's nice to finally have them pay me!

 

[Angrypenguin]

Ok, can somebody please explain the points chasing game to me?

Doesn't having all those cards make for a whole lot of fees?

This is a classic "yes-but" scenario.

Yes, it does have fees. However, many cards waive the first year, and won't collect until the second year. Keep a spreadsheet so you know when they'll hit.

Additionally, I don't mind the fees as long as I feel I'm getting more value, or in some cases, substantial more value.

Take the Citi AA card right now, for instance. It's a hefty $450 (!) annual fee, but as part of the promotion, they'll give you a $200 statement credit. So, it's essentially 250 dollars. For $250, I get Admirals Club access, 1 free checked bag per person (up to 3 people I believe), and 100k miles, which is enough for 4 milessAAver tickets domestically. I live in LA, so pretty much anywhere I fly (family, WDW, etc.) averages out to around $400-450 a ticket. $400 x 4 tickets = $1600 in airfare, plus maybe a couple hundred in checked bag fees, plus club access. $250 for $1600+ in airfare? I'll take that. It's even enough to fly to London round trip (50k each way) in business class; that's a $4-5k ticket right there. So to me the value is worth shelling out fee.

Same thing with the Chase points. Most of my annual fees are waived right now, but even if they weren't, I'd probably keep a few of the cards. Through various sign ups and just daily spending, I can transfer my chase points to Hyatt. Our London hotel right now is a Hyatt Category 6, and is running 288 GBP a night, or $483/night. 5 nights, and it's over $2400 I just saved. I don't mind paying the $95 annual fee to get the value of the points.

Again, it's all about the goals you set for yourself. Some people love straight cash back (who doesn't?). Others, like me, love the idea of travelling luxuriously cheaply. There's a lot of good sites and blogs out there that specialize in it.

 

[calypso726]

Ok, can somebody please explain the points chasing game to me?

Doesn't having all those cards make for a whole lot of fees?

You collect points depending on your goals. If it is air miles to fly free or nearly free then you focus on airline cards and point cards whose points can be converted to airline miles. If it is cash back then the cards that offer those. You learn what each card offers in terms of earning points and maximize the bonus categories.

For example, this quarter Chase Freedom's bonus category is 5 points/miles per $ for spending at Lowe's and at restaurants for up to $1500 in spend. I went to Lowes and so did DH and we bought $1500 in Disney gift cards and used that to pay down balances on an upcoming cruise and ABD trip. So instead of earning 3,000 points/miles we earned 15,000. In addition, we loaded the gift cards on to our Disney Vacation account and paid through there. This will get us an additional $60 in gift cards from Disney.

Fees: We don't keep all of the cards we apply for. Some are just for the bonus. DH and I also picked up 2 Citi Aadvantage Exec Plat card each which got us 220K miles each. We won't keep the cards and will cancel before the year is out. Yes, we are paying $250 each card after the statement credit. However, 220K miles can equal 8 round trip economy (16 between the two of us) flights on saver awards. You can't buy 8 round trip flights for $500 total. Many cards waive the fee the first year so we aren't paying those. Then of course there are cards whose fee far exceeds the benefits the car offers. Those are our keeper cards.

Cash back cards don't interest us since we get more bang for our buck with miles and points. Our goals are vacation and travel first class if possible with miles and points. Last year we flew first class round trip to Edinburgh, Scotland on miles. This year we are flying first class RT to Vancouver for our Alaska cruise and also to our London/Paris ABD trip with a pre stop in Scotland all on miles. We are not paying for any of the hotels (per cruise, pre ABD trip) either as we are staying on points earned via credit cards.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

We use ours for airfare. We have a Chase Ink and a Chase SW card. The Chase Ink points can transfer to SW Rapid Rewards and we build miles pretty quickly.

 

[Kristina4109]

We use ours for airfare. This year we managed to book our 3 round trip flights from LAX to MCO entirely with cc points!

 

[aclov]

I started charging everything and getting DH to do the same. As others have posted the fee is minimal if your rewards outweigh it and you do not pay any interest. There are a few good websites out there that dedicate themselves to points and miles. I used to be happy with redeeming for gift cards but now I want travel! It depends what is important to you and what your goals are.

 

[wendybeth75]

Hey Everyone!

I'm curious... how many people use "rewards" type cc for groceries, gas, etc. and just pay them off every month instead of just using cash/checks/debit cards?

We are paying off our credit cards except for our Disney Rewards Visa. I would love to start using it for gas and groceries.

Tell me some other creative ways you earn points and how many you average a year!

We do this with our Southwest Visa every month and get about 3K points a month this way. We use our Disney visa less often. I also shop online through southwest rapid rewards then pay with the card for double points. We are able to get most of our plane tickets for free this way.

 

[itutorfortravel]

We have both the Disney cc and an Amex Blue Sky. Both with no annual fee.

We prefer the Amex because the rewards program is better, IMO...less points are required for rewards, and you can use the travel credit anywhere, not just at Disney. We use the Disney cc, however, for merchants that don't take Amex...and we pay off our bill in full every month so the rewards really are "free."

Two years ago, I had accrued $1000 in travel credit on my Amex, which paid just about our entire onboard account on our Disney Fantasy cruise! For our upcoming trip to Disney, I have a little more than that and I intend to apply it to our final bill at the resort.

Oh, and I think I did end up with about $100 in Disney reward dollars that I used towards our annual passes this year!

 

[itutorfortravel]

Okay....and I have no idea why there is a thumbs down emoji in the subject line of my post! ^^^

 

[DawnM]

Fidelity Amex pays 2% on every purchase, double that of Disney or most other cards.

We don't do the "for 3 months you get 5% off" game as we rarely use it for the things you get 5% on........travel, eating out, etc....I can get a much better deal on travel than that, and a much better deal on gift card offers for eating out.

Dawn

 

[itutorfortravel]

In addition, we loaded the gift cards on to our Disney Vacation account and paid through there. This will get us an additional $60 in gift cards from Disney.

What is this? Is it something to do with DVC? We are new DVC members, but I don't know of anywhere I can load gift cards for extra credit. Please fill me in!

 

[Marionnette]

What is this? Is it something to do with DVC? We are new DVC members, but I don't know of anywhere I can load gift cards for extra credit. Please fill me in!

It's a new "savings" account that Disney is offering. There's some confusion as to how the funds can be used. It originally appeared to only be for booking packages but lately, people have been reporting that they have been able to buy tickets from Disney using their account number. Since it is so new, there is no experience with paying DVC dues yet. And no one has reported being able to pay on their room account with it.