Credit card vents / rewards

[k3am]

AmEx decided to cancel my credit card. No notice - only found out because Monarch was having trouble logging in. It hasn't been used in a while, but it is (WAS) my oldest trade line of credit. The rewards weren't great, so most of my spend went to another card that was better. And now I'm annoyed. All of my rewards - I can't even guess how much there was, likely nothing too substantial - are forfeited unless I want to apply for another card with them. Which I don't. If they'd sent me any kind of notice, I'd have stuck a purchase on it just to keep it active. 

So I'm annoyed. 

But anyways. Any recommendations for another credit card? I split my use primarily between Discover More and Chase Amazon visa. I've also got a Citi Dividend (Mastercard), but I don't use that much since the rewards suck. 

I imagine that I'm leaving behind a lot of rewards on the table in general. I use the Discover for just about everything I buy, but the 5% bonus categories haven't been great lately, so it's less.  I have never had a card with a fee to use, but I'm thinking that's shortsighted. Is there a good rule of thumb where if you reach $$$ of spend you basically break even or do better?

I am not sure that I have the mental power to figure out travel cards to make the most of them. =\

[chpmnk1015]

I like my chase sapphire a lot.

If you need a referral link lmk

[Susie]

I've had Chase cards for years.  I have a no-fee Chase Freedom, which I keep a) because it's my oldest card at over 20 years old, and b) the 5% categories give occasional really good points, and I can transfer those points to my other card which is a Chase Sapphire Preferred.  

Chase points are pretty easy to use.  I've just recently spent a bunch on flights.  I've done it both via the Chase portal and by transferring points from Chase to airlines and booking flights with the airline.  There are pros/cons to both routes, but it's not super difficult to do.

[mae0111]

Honestly, my Amex blue cash is the best - I'm sorry your Amex got canceled. That's a pain. The Blue Cash is 1% gas/grocery/pharmacy and 0.5% everything else until you've charged $4500 each year, then it goes up to 5% gas/grocery/pharmacy and 1% everything else. I charge EVERYTHING and pay it off. I earned almost $2K in rewards last year.

DH has a card that is tied to the kids' 529 accounts, and he uses that exclusively for work expenses. When he traveled a lot, the we would see like $300-$500 extra per year per kid get deposited. It's a lot less now, but it still adds up. Before that card, he used a card that paid down a HELOC on an old condo we owned. It usually amounted to about 4 extra payments a year.

But I guess it depends on what you want the rewards for. We don't travel a ton as a family, so an airline card didn't make any sense. The Amex is nice because I don't lose the rewards, and I just pay off my balance with them, usually around the holidays. I also like the random additional rewards - like right now, there's a deal where if you spend $100 at Vuori, you get a $20 statement credit. I've saved a few thousand over the past several years with those little incentives.

[Poppy]

I have a Chase Freedom (for the 5% categories), a Chase Freedom Unlimited (1.5% on everything), and currently a Chase Sapphire Preferred (which has an annual fee). We basically use the Preferred only for travel and transfer the other points to it. I don't really think the Preferred is worth the fee now, although we did get a bonus when we signed up. It's close.

We definitely don't spend/travel enough to make the Sapphire Reserved worth it.

[sadlebred]

The Citi Double Cash card is 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay it. No fee. I use it as my daily card and one of two other cards when the 5% or bonus points are on a category that I am buying something. Fidelity also has a 2% card. I don't spend enough/travel enough/make enough to have a card with an annual fee.

[ohgillian]

Dec 19, 2023 20:51:07 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

The Citi Double Cash card is 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay it. No fee. I use it as my daily card and one of two other cards when the 5% or bonus points are on a category that I am buying something. Fidelity also has a 2% card. I don't spend enough/travel enough/make enough to have a card with an annual fee.

+1

I think the Citi Double Cash or Fidelity 2% cards are the best cards for the average person who doesn't want to think about which card is good for what. I have the Citi and have for years. I also have several other cards that I use for specific types of purchases for higher rewards, but if you want to make things simple and still get great rewards, 2% across the board is pretty solid. 

[chpmnk1015]

Dec 19, 2023 16:37:22 GMT -5 Susie said:

I've had Chase cards for years.  I have a no-fee Chase Freedom, which I keep a) because it's my oldest card at over 20 years old, and b) the 5% categories give occasional really good points, and I can transfer those points to my other card which is a Chase Sapphire Preferred.  

Chase points are pretty easy to use.  I've just recently spent a bunch on flights.  I've done it both via the Chase portal and by transferring points from Chase to airlines and booking flights with the airline.  There are pros/cons to both routes, but it's not super difficult to do.

Just bought my first flights on the portal yesterday.. have you ever had issues?

[midwestmama]

I have Chase Freedom Unlimited and CapitalOne Quicksilver. Both are no-fee rewards cards. We primarily use the Chase card, but because I travel internationally for work on occasion, I want to have a card that does not charge foreign transaction fees, and the Quicksilver card has zero foreign transaction fees.

ETA:  Chase Freedom Unlimited has offers where you can link discounts from certain merchants to your card, and then if/when you make a charge at the merchant, they will apply the discount. There are usually a nice variety of merchants, such as hotels, restaurants, clothing stores, lifestyle services, etc.  Usually it's not a ton of money, but a few dollars here and there does add up.

[Susie]

Dec 20, 2023 6:44:47 GMT -5 chpmnk1015 said:

Dec 19, 2023 16:37:22 GMT -5 Susie said:

I've had Chase cards for years.  I have a no-fee Chase Freedom, which I keep a) because it's my oldest card at over 20 years old, and b) the 5% categories give occasional really good points, and I can transfer those points to my other card which is a Chase Sapphire Preferred.  

Chase points are pretty easy to use.  I've just recently spent a bunch on flights.  I've done it both via the Chase portal and by transferring points from Chase to airlines and booking flights with the airline.  There are pros/cons to both routes, but it's not super difficult to do.

Just bought my first flights on the portal yesterday.. have you ever had issues?

Not so far, but I can imagine circumstances where it could get messy.  

We just recently took a trip to Kentucky for my daughter to run at XC nationals, and I bought our tickets through the Chase portal.  I used a combination of points and payment.  As a side note you get extra points when you book travel through the Chase portal even if you're just paying.  All our flights were on time, so there was no muss, no fuss.  I've done it before without issue also.

For our trip to Costa Rica later in winter, I transferred points from Chase to my United mileage plus account and then bought the tickets directly through United.  You earn less points that way, because you don't earn miles on United with a trip purchased with United miles, whereas I would earn United miles on a trip purchased through Chase (regardless of whether with payment or Chase points).  However, for an international vacation with kids in tow, I wanted one stop shopping for resolution if there were any issues with our flights.  Adding Chase to the mix, if I purchased through the portal, would be like as if I purchased via Expedia or similar.  There's a 3rd party involved.  I have different risk tolerance for that depending on the trip.

[chpmnk1015]

Dec 20, 2023 9:43:53 GMT -5 Susie said:

Dec 20, 2023 6:44:47 GMT -5 chpmnk1015 said:

Just bought my first flights on the portal yesterday.. have you ever had issues?

Not so far, but I can imagine circumstances where it could get messy.  

We just recently took a trip to Kentucky for my daughter to run at XC nationals, and I bought our tickets through the Chase portal.  I used a combination of points and payment.  As a side note you get extra points when you book travel through the Chase portal even if you're just paying.  All our flights were on time, so there was no muss, no fuss.  I've done it before without issue also.

For our trip to Costa Rica later in winter, I transferred points from Chase to my United mileage plus account and then bought the tickets directly through United.  You earn less points that way, because you don't earn miles on United with a trip purchased with United miles, whereas I would earn United miles on a trip purchased through Chase (regardless of whether with payment or Chase points).  However, for an international vacation with kids in tow, I wanted one stop shopping for resolution if there were any issues with our flights.  Adding Chase to the mix, if I purchased through the portal, would be like as if I purchased via Expedia or similar.  There's a 3rd party involved.  I have different risk tolerance for that depending on the trip.

Makes total sense wr bought our tickets to destination direct w united but did the return trip through chase portal for same risk thoughts.

[sandandsea]

We have the southwest chase card and it’s been great as we’ve gotten the companion pass every year with it. You can also use the points for things other than flights but we haven’t.

[ssmjlm]

We have the capital one venture x that I signed up for last year because we were going on a cruise and I knew the sign up points and spend bonus would wipe a huge chunk of points. They also give you a $300 travel credit through their portal, which we used on both pre-cruise hotel and the rest on part of the airfare to FL.


Our preferred airline is AA because of where we live/travel and they don't play well with any credit cards other than their own. You can only redeem through British Airway's Axios program.

I may downgrade it before our annual renewal to just the venture, TBD. I have a reminder set.

[simpsongal]

We use the 5% cards for those 5% categories - i.e., Discover and Chase Freedom.

I use the Chase Sapphire for a lot of purchases, I've weaned off the Citi double cashback (2%) but agree w/OP that it's the most straightforward re rewards.

[keweenawlove]

Dec 20, 2023 6:44:47 GMT -5 chpmnk1015 said:

Dec 19, 2023 16:37:22 GMT -5 Susie said:

I've had Chase cards for years.  I have a no-fee Chase Freedom, which I keep a) because it's my oldest card at over 20 years old, and b) the 5% categories give occasional really good points, and I can transfer those points to my other card which is a Chase Sapphire Preferred.  

Chase points are pretty easy to use.  I've just recently spent a bunch on flights.  I've done it both via the Chase portal and by transferring points from Chase to airlines and booking flights with the airline.  There are pros/cons to both routes, but it's not super difficult to do.

Just bought my first flights on the portal yesterday.. have you ever had issues?

I've bought through the portal at least a dozen times and had issues with one flight. It was Vietnam to Cambodia Showed up at the airport and were told the flight was canceled. Since the tickets were booked through the Chase agency (Expedia at the time), they didn't have our information to contact us. Chase had try to call us but we didn't have international phone packages at the time so we never got the message. The airline was incredibly helpful and got us where we needed to go but the 3rd party does add an extra layer of potential hurdles. 


I use a combination of Chase cards and Delta Reserve. The Delta reserve doesn't have the best points returns but the extra perks (SkyClub access, easier status) make it worth it to me.  

[mlkgls]

I had something similar happen years ago with a card I’d had since college and I remember being so mad about it. I had nearly perfect credit and took a hit because of it. 

I barely use the one with quarterly spending categories because my spending never seems to line up to make much of a difference. I’ve recently switched over to one of the 2% cards listed above because I’m irritated with BofA. I’d felt like my rewards had been dwindling lately, although it certainly doesn’t feel like I’ve been spending less, and I received an alert that I’d reached my 3% category mid quarter. I’ll only receive 1% until the new quarter, which was incredibly bad timing considering it happened mid-November and just before a large travel purchase. 

[fryjack2]

Dec 19, 2023 21:55:07 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

Dec 19, 2023 20:51:07 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

The Citi Double Cash card is 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay it. No fee. I use it as my daily card and one of two other cards when the 5% or bonus points are on a category that I am buying something. Fidelity also has a 2% card. I don't spend enough/travel enough/make enough to have a card with an annual fee.

+1

I think the Citi Double Cash or Fidelity 2% cards are the best cards for the average person who doesn't want to think about which card is good for what. I have the Citi and have for years. I also have several other cards that I use for specific types of purchases for higher rewards, but if you want to make things simple and still get great rewards, 2% across the board is pretty solid. 

Another vote for the 2% Citi Double Cash. We put every little thing on our credit card and pay off every month.  I don't have the time or bandwidth to credit card hack or use points for things so this one works best for us. 

I have been meaning to get the Chase Sapphire Preferred for the last few years for the perks, but haven't gotten around to it.  Maybe this is the year. Ha