I am wondering about experiences with various rewards credit cards, and what folks have found the best deals to be.
There really is no one right answer to this question. It depends a great deal on how much you spend and what it’s on. Plus, right now, some of the fat signup bonuses are back (check out Slickdeals, they post them).
Personally I carry a Chase Freedom, Discover card and a Bank Americard, all with the cash rewards programs, plus a Target Visa (just to use at Target, 5% back). They each have different percentages of cash back (the first two vary quarterly) so I keep a little note in my wallet with what to use for what. There are other good cards, Amex I know has some but they weren’t great for my spending pattern, but watch for annual fees.
I have the Amex Costco True Rewards card; no annual fee with a paid Costco membership, and I think a pretty reasonable APR, although I pay off the balance every month and so I don’t really focus on the APR. this gives 3% back on gas, 2% on restaurants, and 1% on everything else, with no limit on the cash back. Only downside is the reward is paid out only once annually, and I the form of a Costco voucher, but since I easily shop frequently enough at Costco, this works.
Also have the Citi Dividends card, with better rewards but a cap of $400 back annually.
As far as cash-back rewards, almost everyone I’ve spoken with thinks AmEx is the best in this regard.
Offtopic a bit, but Capital One was the first company to extend me legitimate credit post-bankruptcy. I think they’re the best, but for different criteria than the OP. They were quick to increase my credit limit (from 300 to 500) after a few months of moderate use and prompt payoffs. I’m very fond of them.
Obviously it’s going to depend on your needs. I like Citi AA cards because I fly AA a lot and get free trips this way. A year or two back I got a free Kindle and $100 Amazon gift card for signing up for some American Express Premier Rewards card that doesn’t seem to have any other bank associated with it. After charging and paying off the required $3k for the freebies I never used it again and canceled it. No interest or annual fees were charged, although I would have eventually been charged an annual fee if I’d kept it.
As far as ease-of-web-interface is concerned, I like Chase-issued cards. I was able to change my billing date online (I like having everything due at once), whereas with Citi cards I’ve had to call in, and for some reason that always have trouble changing it. The Chase Freedom card has certain categories that pay 5% cash back. The categories rotate throughout they year. I never use it.
I used to have a card years ago that didn’t have any fees for currency exchange, but I forget who issued it. I haven’t been out of the country in a while. I should probably look into that because I’d like to travel again.
We use Discover. No fee, some special deals which are easy to sign up for on-line, and you can pay some of your bill with the cashback anytime you want. We put a big chunk of our renovations on it last year and got a ton back.
Their security is also very good. My wife got her card number stolen at a hotel, and they were very helpful in dealing with it.
Have you checked out the forums at FlyerTalk? There is a lot of credit-card-related info there. I’ve been reading a few threads there related to Chip-and-PIN, which is how I know about the place.
Target Visa is one of those things that’s actually better than advertised. It’s a little crazy how they don’t talk it up much – it’s a debit card! or a credit card! it’s literally for everyone!
I went with the Chase Priority Club visa, which awards points to use at Holiday Inn hotels (My wife and I like the Holiday Inn Express hotels, and I started with their points program a few years ago when I stayed there two weeks on business). Details below. Free nights are usually 15,000-20,000 points at Holiday Inn Express (usually $80-$100 per night), so the 80,000 points for signing up are worth about $320-$400. Plus a free night every year, which makes the $49 annual fee a wash. Also, no foreign transaction fees.
I was happy with a no fee, no frills card prior to this, but the Chase card works for me as we probably stay at these hotels 4 or so times per year.
Flyertalk thread here. Not sure it the 80K points deal is still available or not, some posters in that thread seem to be able to get it.
80,000 bonus points after first use.
Free night every year at any of our hotels. (You need to call 1-877-318-5890 after your anniversary date to redeem it)
5 points per $ spent at our hotels
2 points per $ spent on gas,groceries and dining
1 point per $ on everything else
10% points rebate on any redemptions. (These post automatically after the statement date)
No fee 1st year, then $49.
No foreign transaction fees.
Just another anecdote here…
I have a Chase Freedom card. Each quarter (sort of, they don’t quite line up) they offer 5% off on something or other in addition to 1 or 2% off on general purchases. I’ve honestly never really paid attention to my reward balance on that card, or any card for that matter, it’s just never been a driving force for me. Usually reward perks are for things that don’t apply to me. Airlines, hotels, online sites I don’t use, that kind of stuff. Anyways, this quarter the 5% off is for Amazon and I spend a decent amount of money there plus it started on December 15th so it caught the tail end of my Christmas shopping. Anyways, I typically put my Amazon charges on whatever random card I grab first since I just pay it off as soon as it posts, but with this perk I put everything on my Chase card. After a few charges go through I went to go see how it works. I really wasn’t sure if I would get the refund applied as the charge posted or what was going to happen. Initially I was annoyed to see it came in the form of points but then I saw the points transferred (easily) into dollars and with all my other points that had accrued over the years there was a nice button there that said “Apply $55.18 to credit card balance” I was about to take it (why not) but I decided to look at the stuff they offered on their site. Amongst the piles of Skymall/Sharper Image type stuff they had Gift Cards. Most of them were priced as you would imagine 2500 points get’s you a $25 card but for Amazon they were running a 10% off special. I used $45 of the above $55.18 for a $50 Amazon card.
I have the Amazon gift card sitting right here in front of me. I was about to use it for my next purchase, but I figure I might as well sit on it until they’re done with the 5% rebates. That’s another $2.50 in rebates that I can use to build my balance back up to $45 card (actually I probably just stop when I get to $22.50 for a $25 card).
I have a Capital One Venture card (just updated to it), and it is pretty decent, what with the 1.25 miles per dollar spent. What I really like about it, though, is that there are never any fees, and no fee to use the card in a foreign currency. So if that is important to you, Capital One is the way to go.
We have a Chase Visa card, it’s branded as an Amazon Visa (and we do get extra points for Amazon purchases), but about 2 years back they switched it from Amazon rewards only, to a more flexible plan where we can use it for cash back, statement credits, or even direct purchases at Amazon (which is actually not the best deal, see below).
My advice would be to look for something that is either similarly flexible (you accrue points then trade for a variety of rewards), or is targeted at something you know you’ll use a lot (like that Holiday Inn card someone mentioned). Make sure the bank doesn’t have a reputation for ripping off the customers too badly (BofA has played some tricks with our accounts, for example).
Speaking of the Amazon card - we can now use our saved-up points to directly make purchases at Amazon, at a penny a point - so if I have 10,000 points saved up, I can make a hundred dollar purchase.
However, I realized that’s a better deal for THEM than for me. If I buy that hundred dollar item at Amazon using my Amazon Visa, and get my 5 points per dollar spent, I’ve got 500 more points on my account. Then I trade the 10,000 points for a hundred dollar statement credit, so the hundred dollars is paid off. I owe no money, and I have 500 points in my account.
But, if I spend that 10,000 points on directly making the purchase at Amazon, I owe no money - BUT I DON’T HAVE 500 POINTS any more. Basically I’ve given up 5 dollars by doing it that way.