I know, another credit card thread 
I was inspired by Crunchy Frog’s pitting of Bank of America. I’ve had checking and credit card accounts there for the last 8 years but my husband and I will soon be moving all of our checking/savings, etc to a local credit union. I’ve about decided to cancel my BofA credit card, too, and I’m looking for a good replacement. I recently checked my FICO score so I know qualifying should not be a problem, and since I pay my balance off every month I’m not terribly concerned about the interest rate. What I’m interested in is a card that provides a nice perk, other than frequent flyer miles (hate to fly). Anybody have a card with a really cool benefit, like “spend X number of dollars and you get a gift card” or something like that? I know Amazon.com has a card like that, but Im curious if there are others out there y’all can tell me about?
Chase has a card they call CashBuilder, that pays 2% of new balances when you carry a monthly balance of $500, it pays 1% if your balance is below $500 or if you pay the balance in full. They send you a check for straight cash once a year. They also have (or had) no interest for a year on balance transfers. I’ve been well treated by Chase, even years ago when I ran into problems with high balances and no job.
That said, I have a friend who puts most of his charges on a Discover card because it, too has a cash reward. I remember when this card wasn’t accepted in many places, but it seems more common now.
American express.
Every american express card holds many many. Buyer protection, buyer return, damage insurance, blahblahblah. Bottom line, Amex will fight for you.
Also theres Amex blue cash 5%. The reward system is pretty convoluted though.
My friend has Amex Starwood. It’s a card which gets lots of discounts for hotels/motels and rewards, free nights etc.
Personally, I hold 2 cards. A Visa and an American Express. It ensures i’ll always have a way to pay.
Doesn’t your credit union have a credit card affiliation?
I’ve been with Citibank/Mastercard for many years. They are pretty good on miles for American Airlines. I’ve gone on a lot of free trips. Customer service is OK.
I have very few problems with Discover - no monthly fee either. I also have a cashback Visa card from MBNA, also no monthly fee. Unless you get gift cards for stuff you will actually use, cash is better.
Cool, thanks for all the suggestions. I didn’t even think about the credit union having a card–they’re sorta small & local but I’ll definitely check out their website. My reservation about Discover was that it historically wasn’t widely accepted, but it’s good to hear that’s changing. I may look into them as well. Thanks!
I’ve had a Citibank Mastercard for years, and lately they’ve really started to bug me with their shrinking grace period. I rarely carry a balance, always paying it off in full every month (I don’t charge much). There’s been a couple of times that I’ve been surprised with finance charges and late fees because I didn’t get my payment in on time.
They used to give me about a month from when I received the bill to get my payment back to them. Lately, it’s been more like 2 to 2 1/2 weeks. I’m the type who pays all my bills at the same time (rather than one who pays each bill as it comes in), and that’s why the grace period burns me (although it is my own fault, true).
If you have similar practices, you might want to check into the length of grace periods on the cards you look at - Citibank’s bugs me enough that I’m thinking about cancelling the account and looking elsewhere.
Chase’s PerfectCard is the card that is usually recommended to people on Clark Howard’s website.