It looks like after 17 years together me and Citibank/American Airlines are getting a divorce. It was great while it lasted. Lots of free trips for miles earned. Even got invited to some special events for valued members.
But around Christmas they screwed up big time and cancelled my card even though I had made no error and it took a lot of time and effort to get the card turned back on. And they just did it again. No credit card for at least a week or so. That’s it. No third chances for those turkeys.
So I’m looking for a recommendation. I’m looking for something where you get good frequent flier miles or something like that. Interest rate doesn’t matter at all since I always pay in full, I’ve never paid interest. Yearly fee might matter a little bit. And customer service is important. Thanks.
I’m a big fan of the traditional American Express cards. They require you to pay in full each month and don’t screw you over with arbitrary limits or interest. And the bonus points can be traded for frequent flier miles with several carriers. But they do have an annual fee, which varies depending on which plan you select.
I won’t pay a fee for a credit card. I have an American Express Air Miles card, and there’s no annual fee. 20 dollars spent = 1 Air Mile. It annoys the bank people since they’d rather I use only their credit, but using their free platinum card gives me no points, no nothing. I average about a thousand a month in charges and pay them off each month.
Alaska Airlines: Very friendly, helpful staff on the phone, lots of partners, not a lot of hassle to use the frequent traveler miles (unlike United, whose card I gave up because I could never, ever book a flight even with great flexibility on my end). I’ve never had an error on my card and they don’t appear to have sold my name.
I’ve got a United Airlines Mileage Plus card, for which I pay sixty bucks a year, but if you value the miles at one or two cents each (the wholesale price for them), I get my money’s worth. Of course an airline-specific credit card is only of value if you fly that airline regularly (so it helps to live near a hub airport). My brother, on the other hand, has a Citibank card that pays cash back, up to $300, with (I believe) no annual fee and he actually has two such cards, because Citibank bought out the AT&T Universal card.
But you may not want a Citibank product at this point. (On the other hand, they may be willing to do some groveling to recover your business.)
I don’t know. People bitch about Chase and I admit my credit card experience is minimal, but they’ve been great so far. I’m at a fixed 8.99% + Rewards. I’ve called before and they’ve been helpful. Website is very easy to navigate and to make payments on.
As for MBNA/Bank of America…never again. I was paying 16.99% and got it dropped to 12.99% when I threatened to leave. Sure enough, after the MBNA/BOA merger I ask what my APR is. First of all, they refuse to tell you through the website and since I have no balance I don’t get statements. Then they hem and haw…yep…raised it back up to over 17%+ when the merger happened. I keep the account open to establish credit history, but other than that, when a new card comes, I activate it then trash it.
I also have very good luck with Chase. I don’t know what the APR is because I pay it off in full every month. They have the option to have the monthly balance autodeducted from my bank account on the last day of the billing cycle, which if everything agrees with my statement I have no need to log on. I have the 5% back on gas/groceries/drug store card (no longer offered), and use another card which gets me 3% on everything else.
MBNA I did like also, I don’t know how they are as BoA.
I have been stranded twice by American Express when they arbitrarily decided that my spending pattern was “different” and therefore would not authorize a charge for a hotel. HELLO - I was TRAVELING and that is why my spending pattern was different!!!
Also, if you count on those bonus points (that you PAY to have as a SERVICE from American Express) you better be very careful you are never late with a payment. They take them away.
American Express is not my favorite company as you can tell…
I only have a delta/visa debit card - money spent on it comes straight out of my Barclays current account - there are no fees, but I do enjoy some of the consumer protection aspects of buying on a card. I’m completely happy with this.
I like mine okay - I have a bank of montreal ‘mosaic’ mastercard with the slow air miles reward option. (For a while I was on the version that earned air miles quicker, but that came with an annual fee and it didn’t pay off.) Also a CIBC dividend visa, also with no annual fee.
I have a Chase Amazon Visa that I looove. 3% back on Amazon purchases, 2% back on special categories that rotate monthly (usually gas, groceries, and/or dining), and 1% back on everything else. The reward is in the form of an Amazon gift certificate. I spend a lot of money on Amazon every month so this card is a dream. You can easily pay the bill, look up statement history, etc. online. I’ve only ever had one issue, a charge that incorrectly triggered a fraud alert and was declined, and the customer service over the phone was friendly and helpful. I can’t speak to the APR because I never carry over a balance.
I love my L.L.Bean Platinum Card. I use it all the time, and I order copious amounts from the store. I do not carry a balance on it because I just like that. I get rewards in terms of Bean outerwear and other goodies.
I saw Amex is my second choice, for some of the same reasons stated above.
I cannot say enough good things about discover. When I decided I needed to move across the country I called them and said, “Hey, I am going to be traveling to and from NYC for the next 6 months or so and putting a lot of plane tickets and hotels on my credit cards. Would you be so kind as to give me a lower temporary rate while I am travelling?” They responded by saying, “Sure! How about 3.9%? We will leave it that way for the next 6 months and if you still need it at that time give us a call and we will extend it for you.” I never roll over a balance but I knew that given the large charges I was going to be making the time might come when a balance might have to span longer than a month and they were so nice about it I couldn’t believe it! Also I get cash back on my discover that I put directly towards paying any balance that might be on the card which is really nice.
Visa basically told me to screw myself when I made the same request of them so I haven’t touched my visa in 6 months now. I heartily recommend getting discover because of their awesomeness.
I like to earn fun stuff instead of money back. My favorites card is the Starwood AMEX (free first year then $30/year) which earns 1 SPG point per dollar spent. And the points can transfer to most airlines at a 1:1 ratio with a 5k bonus when you transfer 20k. That gives flexibility in choosing airlines for award tix. And my Delta SkyMiles Amex was $55/year to earn 1:1. I have no idea what the APR is because I never carry a balance.
My next favorite is the Chase Marriott Premium card, which is $65/year. It comes with a free Cat. 1-4 stay upon enrollment and a free Cat.1-5 stay upon each anniversary. I just passed my first anniversary and received the voucher for the free night. I booked a night at the Renaissance Asheville on our way down to Hilton Head and saved over $125 after the annual fee.
I used to love love love MBNA. I would tell everyone about how great they were. I didn’t have exciting bonuses/rewards but it was ok. My APR was low, their site worked great and I had a lot of positive experience with their customer service.
Now that they are Bank of America, I am looking to get out. They suck hard. I can’t stand them.
I don’t have any suggestions for who to go with, but I suggest NOT going with BOA.
I’m chiming to agree to not go with MBNA–now Bank of America. They were fantastic before the merger; now they’re just terrible. My APR went up for no reason and customer service, superb at MBNA, is practically nonexistent with BoA.
I just got an AmEx Blue card; so far so good. That just may be the honeymoon period, though.
I’m very happy with our Chase/United card as well. If there’s one drawback, it’s that they may be too vigilant about potential fraud. But I would much rather have that than the opposite. The only other drawback with the card is that at some point, you can max out on the mileage you can accumulate within a year–but given that that ceiling is in the tens of thousands, that wouldn’t necessarily be a limitation to some.