Looking to get a couple credit cards -- I was thinking to get the Amex Platinum because of the opening reward, and then switch to Amex Gold next year (since I don't travel much while I commonly go out to restaurants/buy food from grocery stores), but I also want another credit card in addition that's preferably no fee. What are some cards you guys use that you enjoy?
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Bump -- what cards do you all recommend for someone coming out of undergrad working in IB to maximize points from purchases?
Chase Sapphire Reserve for all travel/restaurants/car rentals
AMEX Gold or Plat - incredible price/purchase/return protection benefits, plus if you get the Plat you have Diamond (top-tier) status at most hotels
CSR is most heavily used card, I keep that, chase freedom (5x points on rotating categories) and amex blue cash everyday in my wallet.
I have other cards but this rotation has been suiting me well for daily spending.
Nice, I'll check out Chase Freedom
Chase Trifecta
Thought I should give some more insight:
CSR - (the $450 fee is daunting but if you redeem $300 in travel you can book one weekend trip back to your college town / hometown / Cali / Florida and utilize it).
You should really only spend with CSR on travel and dining (hotels, trips, car rentals, etc). Your day to day spend should be on the bottom two cards and then you REDEEM with CSR (ideally on travel).
Freedom - freedom card offers rotating bonus categories where you either get increased cash back or increased points per purchase in a select, rotating category of purchases. When you're making a purchase in line with the active deal, use Freedom for spend.
Freedom Unlimited - if freedom's active deal is gas and groceries but you need to make a purchase of something else, buy it on your unlimited card. obviously rotate as needed when freedom offers change.
Second this - I dont have the freedom but use the Freedom Unlimited + CSR. The CSR has awesome perks including $100 towards Global Entry (or TSA Pre-Check), airport lounges/restaurants in the aiport ($28 credit for you + $28 credit for 1 guest), and more.
I got it this year and between the $300 travel credit, $100 global entry credit, 50k points after hitting minimum spend after 3 months,and savings at airports its more than worth it.
Second this specific option that @REmonkey7" mentioned, this is what I've been using lately. Slightly less cumbersome than including all 3 and the perks are good, especially if you want to travel.
If you're interested in cash back, I would look at the Citi Double Cash combined with the Barclays Uber card. There's a ton of info on reddit about the best credit cards and perks and all that.
Third this? I have the same setup but with the addition of the Chase Amazon Card.
With the whole foods partnership I've been considering getting the amazon card as well. I don't think it is possible to get a blended 5% return with any combination of spend / redemption between Freedom / Unlimited and CSR.
This also takes effort whereas you can just use the amazon card to get the 5% by default.
Shoot me your email address. I'll refer you to a few good credit cards I have. You'll get a signup bonus (I'll get a referral bonus). Win win!
Don't switch. Sign up for both so that you can achieve the sign up bonus. I have referral codes if you want them. By product switching, you forego the sign up bonus, which is one of the biggest draws. After a year, cancel what you don't use, but make sure you wait that full year.
Wait really? I thought a lot of people do that after a year...How long after I've had the platinum for can I switch to the gold and still keep the sign up bonus?
You're confusing two separate things.
You want to wait a year to cancel so that AmEx doesn't claw back your sign up bonus and/or blacklist you from receiving future sign up bonuses.
You don't want to downgrade your Platinum to a Gold because most AmEx cards stipulate that once you have the card, you are ineligible to receive a sign up bonus again for that card for life (which is typically 7 years - when it drops off your credit report). For instance, when I signed up for my Platinum I got 75,000 points for a $5k spend. (If you don't have any AmEx cards yet, a 100k offer is sometimes available). When I signed up for my Gold, I got 50,000 points for a $3k spend (or $2k? I forget. Been a while.) Either way, I got 125,000 points, which is a good haul based just on bonuses alone. If you sign up for the Platinum, you'll get your 60,000-100,000 points, but then when you downgrade it to a Gold, you forfeit your ability to get the Gold's sign up bonus. A better thing to do is sign up for both, get the bonuses for both, and then if you don't want the Platinum anymore, either cancel it after a year or downgrade it to a $99/year Green (which is heavily rumored this year to be revised to include Gas and/or Streaming Service point multipliers.) This way, you maximize your ability to earn sign up bonuses.
Amex Platinum, Amex Gold, Amex Blue Business Plus, Amex Everyday, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Marriott, Chase IHG, Chase Amazon.com, and my credit union card. I'll probably be cancelling the Everyday and either the Plat or the Sapphire next year, but I get value out of the rest and I might keep both of the heavy hitters. Gold and BBP are my favorites, although the IHG is surprisingly solid and the Platinum's perks are fun.
I'm just not a fan of having to carry around so many cards.
Oh lord I don't carry that many. Most stay in a safe and only get pulled out if I'm using them.
Depending on what I'm gunning for at the moment, I either use Gold + BBP to save up MR points for Delta or Marriott or Chase + IHG to save up UR points for Marriott or IHG. Gold + BBP is my go-to combo, but I like hitting Spire Elite on IHG for Kimpton and Intercontinental stays. Much more impressed with IHG lately than I have been with Marriott/SPG.
Amazon stays in the safe but it gets used on Amazon purchases. I stick with Gold for groceries because I go back and forth between Publix and Whole Paycheck. Platinum only comes out when I travel. CSR for international travel, since Amex points go to 1x overseas and it isn't as widely accepted.
I have many but I'll talker strictly about my Uber Card
4% on Dining 3% on Travel 2% on Online Purchases 1% on everything else
$150 bonus when you spend x
There is also some other nifty things such they will reimburse you up to $650 if you lose/break your phone assuming you purchased the phone with the Uber CC
I didn't read the fine print about having to have bought your phone with the card for them to reimburse you, is that true?
"You will receive insurance on your phone if you pay your cellular phone bill with the Uber Visa Card. The coverage is up to $600 per claim and is subject to a $25 deductible. That means you must pay for any damages up to $25, and Barclays will cover the rest. You cannot make more than two claims per 12-month period."
AMEX Platinum is my favorite but the CSR is probably the best high fee card trade-off.
I spend a lot of time in lounges when I fly and even book airlines near my favorite ones. You have to really enjoy that kind of thing to make it worth it.
I also have the SWA card for the sign up bonus and short haul flights to see my clients.
Some credit cards are worth having and not using. I "have" the Chase IHP card because they own Intercontinental Hotels and I get a free night/upgrades every year. Just remember to pay the $40 fee every April and you're basically getting a corner room/penthouse suite for $40.
I screwed up last year and forgot to cancel a Hilton in Paris. AMEX covered the whole thing. Worth it just for that.
Three: Amex Gold, Barclays Uber Visa, and Bank of America Cash Rewards Mastercard.
my man, appreciate it
Chase Sapphire Reserve (Visa) - 3% on dining and travel categories (air, hotel, taxi, etc). This is my primary go to card for all dining and travel purchases.
Fidelity Rewards (Visa) - 2% unlimited cash back (deposited in $50 increments in your Fidelity account). Primary card for all other purchases that aren't dining and travel
Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii (Mastercard) - Only makes sense to own this if you live in Hawaii. Get 3x points on all HA purchases, 2x points Gas+Dining+Grocery, 1x points for all else. Card also gets me a one-time 50% companion discount for airfire to mainland, and free checked bag. Only use this for Hawaiian Air purchases and in a rare occasion gas or grocery.
Amazon Store Card (online purchases): Never got the CC. but the store card is pretty similar with 5% cash back or 6/12 month financing.
Since we are on the topic on credit cards/points, if you guys ever want to maximize travel rewards I'd suggest using Amazon CC/store card+Hotels.com gift cards to get 15% cash back. If you travel a lot and book 10+ nights a year, its totally worth it. Amazon gives 5% back on all purchases(including gift cards) and Hotels.com gives a "free night" every 10 nights you book. Hotels.com "free night" is actually just 10% of the average room rate you paid over 10 booked nights. So if you spend $2000 over the course of 10 nights that's $200 credit towards your next hotel booking.
Hey - got the same CSR for all travel and dining and Fidelity rewards for all else. Straight 2% cash. No other cards.
Anyone have experience cancelling credit cards? I want to cancel my Amex everyday card, the blue one with no annual fee. I dont use it anymore after switching over to Chase. Id like to get the Amazon card but don't want to have too many cards....worth it to cancel or will it ding my credit score?
Closing accounts does lower your utilization and the amount of credit available to you, so it would negatively impact your score, although I'm not sure on the time frame and by how much. For a no-fee card, you might as well keep it.
Leave it open and either don’t use it and they will probably close it after a certain amount of time for inactivity or put a recurring subscription on it (Spotify, Netflix, etc).
Available credit and it’s relation to the percentage of credit used is a large part of your credit score.
As mentioned in the comments above, do not cancel it. I have a strategy of opening new $0 fee cards once a year simply to increase my available credit -- as my monthly spend doesn't fluctuate much, the increased availability reduces my usage ratio which continuously improves credit score with little downside.
Not really an issue unless you can't control your spending
BAML Premium Rewards credit card, paired with the relationship bonuses of Bank of America Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors. Best value in my opinion if you are a big saver/investor but don't spend a ton of money on credit cards and don't want to juggle cards.
Nice, I'll look into those
The amazing thing is that both Bank of America as well as Merrill Lynch balances count for qualifying for Preferred Rewards, so if you roll an IRA, 401(k), or even normal investment accounts with ETFs into the ML platform, you get sick bonuses with the Premium Rewards card. If you have a combined total of only $100k, I'm talking 2.625% cash back on every purchase and 3.5% on travel/dining, for a $95/annual card that gives you $100 travel credit yearly (so is free) as well as the TSA Global Entry and other perks. I only use this card and it works great for my use case.
Don't take it from me; The Points Guy review
CSR for travel and dining Chase Freedom for 5x rotating categories Alliant 3% Cashback for non bonus purchases Chase IHG for the free anniversary night Chase Hyatt for the free anniversary night
Anyone for capital one savor card? 4% back on dining and entertainment, 2% back on groceries. Practically all I spend money on
Love this card. I think I am doing to downgrade it once the annual fee posts in a year, but I have been a big fan so far.
Love this Asset....!!
Do you cancel the airlines ones or keep them open? American uses my local airport as a hub so I was thinking of getting one of their co-branded cards for whatever sign up.
Bit inefficient, no? Outside of flights and AmEx Travel pre-paid hotels, you're only earning 1x on your spend.
Well, now that my new position requires heavy travel the card is more efficient. Lounges make a world of difference when you’re traveling non stop. I’m also allowed to use my personal and expense rather than a corporate card, so I’m about to get a ton of points. The card IMO is only worth it if you are traveling a lot and enjoy the perks that come with the card (lounges, stuff like that) along with the points.
If that wasn’t the case I’d get a CSR or Amex Gold. Amex gold may sneaky be better than CSR in some regards. I think as of this year it’s 3 or 4x on all food purchases (I think if you’re spending at a bar/restaurant it works emphasis on bar). I think it also has 4x on travel.
Im not sure how the concierge service works at Chase, but I have to say the Amex one is really good. I can call them to basically handle any sort of reservations, they’ll call me back w each restaurant or whatever’s availability.
Also worth noting: In my opinion you breakeven on the membership fee fairly quick: $550 - ~$230 in Uber credits, $200 in flights, $50 off Saks Fifth, 60k or whatever sign up bonus (one time obviously), and whatever else I'm forgetting. If you stay on top of the offers they're pretty decent and usually relevant (to me at least). They also reimburse your TSA-Pre and/or Global Entry.
I estimated in year one I got something like $2500 in value, maybe more.
CSR Uber Discover IT Quicksilver
Use the CSR for main use and Uber card for 75% of dining. Uber card overlaps with CSR but I got the Uber card first so I basically try and split dining on it. There was some rumors that they were going to offer airline transfer partners to the card which would make it even more amazing, but haven’t heard anything regarding it lately. Quicksilver and IT are a waste and barely use.
I have several, namely chase sapphire and freedom unlimited, as well as keeping some earlier no cash back credit cards open (for building credit - longest account open). I'm thinking of getting the rolling 5% chase card and maybe an Amex or something else, but isn't that a hit on credit score?
I dont think opening cards effects your score beyond the cc company checking your score (which I think is negligible). Opening a new card will be a net gain for your score given you’d have more available credit.
Opening a new card does lower you average age of credit though, which I'm pretty sure scoring algorithms take into account instead of just the age of the oldest account you have open.
Anyone going to get the Apple Card? Rewards aren't awesome, but the no fee no foreign transaction thing is a winner in my book.
There's loads of other cards (some mentioned in this thread) that have better rewards without foreign transaction fees that I don't really see what the draw is.
Lots of card have this, not that unique for most decent cards.
For those with premium credit cards, are you putting rent on your card? Many of the cards with great benefits and bonuses require spending thousands of dollars in a couple months to make it worthwhile. Although I understand the awesome rewards, I fail to understand how some of you spend enough to maximize the card's value. The only way I think I would be able to reach the threshold is to put rent on the card because food/groceries, discretionary spending, etc doesn't get me there.
Just always pick up the bill for groceries/dinners and have people venmo you
No, usually if you'd pay rent on your credit card you'd have to pay an extra fee.
The reason the premium credit cards make it worthwhile is because of the bonuses you obtain. So for example:
Amex Platinum: $550 fee, $200 uber credit / yr, $100 saks fifth credit / yr, $200 airline credit (incidentals, baggage fees) and there's something else i'm missing and you're only paying $30 a year if you maximize those for the card.
in regards to your question about the bonuses - it's really not that much. For my platinum, I had to spend $5k over 3 months for the bonus points, and my gold was like $3k or 4k over 3 months for the bonus points, which means you have to spend just 1.7k a month on the card to get the points
Maybe I'm overspending. I put 99% of my non-mortgage spending on my credit card, and that averages $~2,100/month or so.
Bump just started working, gonna be home until at least Jan. What card/cards should I get - was thinking Chase SR and Amazon
Navy Federal Cash Rewards
Amazon (Chase)
I'm actually going to echo what Toaster guy said last year:
I've also got a Chase Freedom to up my total credit available since Fidelity won't push my limit beyond $20k. I spend just enough on it to keep from getting that card cancelled.
Everyone covered the best cards but it's insane to me how everyone doesn't have the Amazon Prime Chase Card. 5% on Amazon + WholeFoods? That's like 40% of my transactions in a month.
Guys, does anyone use hotel credit cards? Are they profitable?
There are multiple strategies you can use to maximize your rewards, cash back, or points. Don’t bother with gift cards
You need to analyze your spending by categories. Broadly speaking this is intuitive but some merchants are categorized differently. There used to be a site from Visa that let you see merchant codes, the merchant tool lookup but they have since shut it down. You can use XYZ card for something small then ABC card to test how merchant is categorized. (Mostly applies to points, cash back has loser definitions)
This all comes down to how much you want to put into it. Some people prefer using 1 - 3 cards for simplicity but others use 10+ to get every cent.
There are ecosystems like others mentioned Amex and Chase that offer the best travel redemptions. It all comes down to what you value pennies or points. (Both of which can add up)
Here are a few links.
There are a few credit card YT but Dave Hanson is the only one I trust. Guy is already rich whereas others are making income through YT.
https://youtube.com/c/HeythereDavehere
You can use this site to find new cards and signup offers. A few percentage of capped cash back isn’t much compared to earning signup bonuses. Plus side is some you can earn sign on cancel card then repeat in a year.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/
Which credit cards you have / use is largely dependent upon what your goals are.
If you have over $100k at bofa you are what is called a “platinum rewards” client (or something like that) and get a 75% boost toward all CC rewards.
I use their premium rewards card and earn 3.5% on travel and restaurants and 2.625% on everything else. I use this as my daily driver and also have an Amex platinum for travel perks (lounge access, $200 annual Uber credit, $200 annual hotel credit, $200 annual airline incidental credit, $240 annual streaming subscription credit I use for Audible, among other perks)
Another thing I’ll add, if your goal is to maximize rewards is to just churn.
Open a new credit card every 6 months or so, target the ones with the biggest sign up bonuses, and just get those. After you get the reward, keep the account open for a year and then close it. Cards with biggest rewards that I can think of off hand:
Amex platinum
Amex gold
Citi premier
This also won’t hurt your credit score…opening 2 CCs a year isn’t a big deal and won’t effect your inquiries that much
Gas & Groceries -> AMEX Blue Cash Preferred
Dining/Restaurants/Travel -> Chase Sapphire Preferred
5% Cash-back Calendar -> Discover IT
I also had the AMEX SkyMiles Gold card but downgraded it to the no annual fee Blue card after a year to lock in the bonus.
The Chase Rewards Portal is insanely versatile and I think I will upgrade my CSP into a CSR in the future, it’s seriously great. I’m somewhat against stacking points and not using them in a timely manner due to the time value of money aspect (nerdy I know) but I was able to use all my points to cover half of my AirBnb through Pay Your Self back; there’s just tons of things you can use your points on.
I think AMEX Gold is a great card if you truly utilize the UberEats and Uber statement credit, you’d essentially knock off half of the annual fee right away but I don’t use Uber that much to justify it.
At the end of the day, you just need to look at your spending and read into which card is best for you. Like I shop a ton at Trader Joe’s and local grocery stores and commute quite a bit so the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred is a no brainer for me.
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