I need to revamp for 2015 - what is your strategy?
We need a new card for our all around personal spending. Have been using the Amazon Chase card for this, but I know we can do better rewards-wise. We use this card for everything.
For my work travel, I have been using the Citi AA Executive card, because it gets me lounge access and potentially significant mileage toward my status, but I might just buy the lounge access outright instead if that makes sense. This card gets a ton of dining, hotels, airline fees, etc. put on it.
I hear good things about the Capital One Venture card. I'm tempted to pick up a Starwood card to focus my travel on that brand this year.
Barclay Arrival+, and before that, Chase Sapphire Preferred. I view them as fairly comparable products, but I prefer the ease of Barclay's redemptions. I redeem points for statement credits on travel, which gives the best redemption rate. Points accrue at a rate of 2 points/dollar spent for all purchases, plus 10% back when you do redemptions.
I haven't found a no-annual fee card that gives comparable rewards, and I can't stomach multiple card annual fees, so this is our current everything-card. We've had it for about 6 months, and between the sign up bonus and spending since then, we're getting about $1k in rewards that we're using toward our Hawaii trip.
We just applied for the Hyatt card. If you spend $1000 in the first three months, you get two free nights at any Hyatt in the world. DH and I each got a card and are going to use our four nights for our anniversary. The $75 annual fee is waived for the first year.
We had the Chase Freedom, but then the categories changed to things we really didn't buy so we didn't hit the quarterly max. We just got the Citi Double Cash back. 1% when buy and 1% when pay off (we pay entire balance monthly). No caps or fees.
We are on the Chase Sapphire Preferred, but this post reminds me I need to move on to the Barclay Arrival before we get charged the annual fee. Although I will probably wait till we close on a house.
We love the CSP and have used the travel rewards for flights and hotels for trips all year. I like the 1:1 transfer for Southwest points, since we often fly SW short distances.
I'm thinking maybe the Citi Double Cash (basically works like a 2% rewards card) for our personal card and then keep my Citi AA Executive for the 10K qualifying miles and club membership, then switch some work (and potentially costco) spending to the Starwood Amex.
We have Chase Sapphire now but I will probably get a Barclays card with the big sign-up bonus at some point this year just to get more points. I'm horrible and open up new cards all the time for the points (United, Marriott, Starwood) then close them when they start charging us a fee.
I'm thinking maybe the Citi Double Cash (basically works like a 2% rewards card) for our personal card and then keep my Citi AA Executive for the 10K qualifying miles and club membership, then switch some work (and potentially costco) spending to the Starwood Amex.
We still have and use the SPG card a lot, but unless you stay at a lot of SPG properties, it might not be a great deal. We don't, and since we've shifted so much to Barclay, we'll probably cancel after we have enough points for our disney trip.
Derp, I see you can shift travel to SPG properties. I'm not sure if the benefits are better for actual stays, but we were gold based on $$ spent for a few years, and it got us nothing.
Love of my life baby boy born 11/11. One and done not by choice; 3 years of TTC yielded 4 MMC and 2 CPs, through 4 IUIs and 2 IVFs. Focusing on making the world a better place instead...and running.
We are SPG loyal and have sufficient points/rewards we don't need a CC for travel.
We love American Express Blue Cash Preferred which gives you points that you can purchase items or use towards as cash back towards your bill. It has a $75 annual fee but when we signed up if you spent like $3k (possibly $1k?) in 3 months you received 150 points which basically paid for the fee for the first two years.
Benefits:
6% Cash Back at US supermarkets, up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%); 3% Cash Back at US gas stations 3% Cash Back at select US department stores; and 1% Cash Back on other purchases.
I use Amex Gold for everything--groceries, business travel, personal travel, gas, etc. I get 2x points on gas and groceries and 3x on airfare. I do wonder if there is a better deal b/c it has a high fee but I do love their customer service.
I use Amex Gold for everything--groceries, business travel, personal travel, gas, etc. I get 2x points on gas and groceries and 3x on airfare. I do wonder if there is a better deal b/c it has a high fee but I do love their customer service.
Well this is probably not the most MM card, but I have a Banana Republic Visa card that we use for most stuff. We must have gotten $2k last year in reward dollars to spend at BR, Gap, Old Navy and Althea. I basically didn't have to spend money out of pocket for my work clothes or my son's Baby Gap wardrobe.
We go for the ones with the best airline points. We have signed up for citi cards when they offer a lot of AA bonus points. We have a business so we do the same for our business cards. We also have an AmEx card that allows us to transfer points to AA. I think that one is best. All of the ones we use have annual fees, but I think it is worth it. We have taken quite a few flights on points. We are usually flexible when we travel so we can really take advantage of the international flights that only use a small number of points. Most recently, we flew to Santiago Chile from Chicago for 80K points round trip for both of us.
We have the capital one venture with the fee, but I'm not sure we'll keep it after the 2nd year. I really only got it because of our Disney trip that ended up being paid for.
DH hates that I play the cc game b/c he is a one card only man.
I'm debating the citi double cash back if we aren't going to do a cruise in 2016 (in which case I may pay the fee for cap one).
ETA: Has anyone had success with them waiving the fee the 2nd year? Or is that a no-go typically?
starwood amex - when we got it, we got a 25k point bonus. we put everything on it and were able to stay for 1 week at the swan in disney for free. that was less than 2 yrs ago and we already have over 50k points again. we put pretty much everything on this card. (if you want a referral for the starwood, let me know. you would get a 5,000 pt bonus and so would i).
gap visa - mostly use this card when amex isn't accepted somewhere. it is $10 reward for every $1000 spent, but they also have good "deals" for rewards a few times a year - like: use your card outside of their brands (gap, banana, old navy) 5 times in a month and get a $10 reward.
We are SPG loyal and have sufficient points/rewards we don't need a CC for travel.
We love American Express Blue Cash Preferred which gives you points that you can purchase items or use towards as cash back towards your bill. It has a $75 annual fee but when we signed up if you spent like $3k (possibly $1k?) in 3 months you received 150 points which basically paid for the fee for the first two years.
Benefits:
6% Cash Back at US supermarkets, up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%); 3% Cash Back at US gas stations 3% Cash Back at select US department stores; and 1% Cash Back on other purchases.
We use this Amex for the majority of our daily purchases, an Amazon card for Amazon purchases and places that don't accept Amex, and my H has a United cc for his work travel.
@bonsoirlune -- what is the redemption scheme like with the PNC card? 4 points per dollar on everyday purchases sounds extremely generous if a point is worth a penny (which seems to be a pretty normal redemption rate for points cards), but if that's the rate I'm shocked that I've never heard of the card because it would be the most generous one out there.