Rewards credit cards

[CA_Cruzing]

Many forum members have shared excellent feedback and input on different threads regarding rewards credit cards.

 

I am seeking to change up my financial strategy and would like member feedback on:

 

Which card(s) do you use (points or cash back)?

What are the main benefits using your preferred credit card (percentage of cash back or how do points get used)?

Estimated annual benefit(s) and you spend how much on that card(s) the earn such benefits?

Any negatives about the card(s) you use?

 

Thank you all in advance for your valued input. CC has become an invaluable cruising resource to me and my family.

[easyboy]

We use Capital One CC .

This site has info you need:

https://creditcards.usnews.com/cash-back

 

 

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[jpm1973]

I use the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and it works well for me, but I travel and like travel rewards. This is not a cash back card but rather a points reward card.

 

You earn three points for every dollar on travel-related or restaurant expenses and one point for every dollar on everything else.

 

It comes with a rather hefty $450 annual fee but that includes an annual $300 statement credit for travel expenses so that makes it really $150. That also includes other benefits such as:

 

- travel insurance for trips paid for with the card

- free Priority Pass Select membership for airport lounge access

- up to $100 toward the application fee for Global Entry or TSA Pre-check

 

You redeem points for travel directly through Chase rewards or transfer your points to various airline or hotel programs for use directly with those companies.

 

For example, this past summer we transferred 100,000 points to our British Airways Executive Club Avios accounts and used 50,000 Avios points each toward two one-way business class tickets New York to London. Average price for those tickets one way is $1500-2000 making those 100,000 points worth at least $3,000.

 

If you're not someone who travels often to make use of the card benefits and redemption possibilities another card might be a better choice.

 

More details here:

 

https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/sapphire/reserve

 

 

 

 

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[ColoradoCruiser1982]

I have a barclay arrival plus card. Double miles on every dollar spent plus a 5% reward back for miles used. You use your miles to get travel statement credits. 10,000 miles equals $100 in travel statement credit. Unlike a lot of other cards, this card doesn't just give airline miles. Travel statement credits can be applied to uber, taxi, hotel, airfare and cruise fare. You can get cash back and not apply miles to travel charges, but you don't get nearly as much bang for your buck. They have a good sign on bonus (50,000 miles if you spend $3000 on first 3 months). Annual fee is $89, but is waived the first year. APR isn't great, but if you use it and intend to pay off monthly it shouldn't be a big problem. Also, they have travel insurance for travel paid for with your card.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Costco or Sam's Club for 3% cash back on Dining and Travel, 4-5% on gas. Must be a member, and you only get paid once a year.

 

AMEX SPG for roughly 3% in points towards Starwood Hotels. It comes with a $95 fee, and the card may end next year when Marriott fully merges it's brands into one rewards program.

 

AMEX Delta Platinum for roughly 1.5% in points back towards flights, bonus miles if you reach the 25K threshold within a year. Yearly companion pass, incidental discounts, potential seat upgrades, a free checked bag, and more. Comes with a $195 annual fee.

 

If you want just one card, then the Chase Sapphire Reserve mentioned above, is probably your best bet.

[Micahs Grandad]

Costco or Sam's Club for 3% cash back on Dining and Travel, 4-5% on gas. Must be a member, and you only get paid once a year.

 

AMEX SPG for roughly 3% in points towards Starwood Hotels. It comes with a $95 fee, and the card may end next year when Marriott fully merges it's brands into one rewards program.

 

AMEX Delta Platinum for roughly 1.5% in points back towards flights, bonus miles if you reach the 25K threshold within a year. Yearly companion pass, incidental discounts, potential seat upgrades, a free checked bag, and more. Comes with a $195 annual fee.

 

If you want just one card, then the Chase Sapphire Reserve mentioned above, is probably your best bet.

 

We use the Sams M/C and get 5% gas, 3% travel and dining and 1% everything else. Most years we get 5-600 back in cash.

 

We did have a Chase Sapphire card as we got 55,000 free miles with it. Used it free for a year got a free trip to LA and back with miles but cancelled it when the second year cost $ 95.

 

Will look into the ultimate Sapphire card as it sounds like it could work for us.

[Drazil65]

AMEX everyday blue for cash back, mostly grocery shopping for us, we use this and earn 3% cash back on all our groceries for the month....we use for statement credit every few months...this card offers other statement credits as well and the biggest one we have taken advantage of in the last year is the CCL make a $500 payment and get $100 statement credit (so paying only $400 for every $500 cruise payment), you can use offer on every authorized user on that card as well for multiple payments...I used it twice for our last cruise and I am about to use same offer (they are running now until end of year) for our spring cruise as our December cruise is pd for.

 

Also, our Marriott card for traveling and hotel stays, earn points for all Marriott hotels (we travel quite often so we earn many free nights a year). If you do not travel much to earn hotel points then this probably would not be able to make this worth it.

 

We always pay these 2 cards off every month and have never carried a balance, if I could not pay them off I would not use them, we always have the cash to payoff the cards off BEFORE we use them. We only use them for these rewards period.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

AMEX everyday blue for cash back, mostly grocery shopping for us, we use this and earn 3% cash back on all our groceries for the month....we use for statement credit every few months...this card offers other statement credits as well and the biggest one we have taken advantage of in the last year is the CCL make a $500 payment and get $100 statement credit (so paying only $400 for every $500 cruise payment), you can use offer on every authorized user on that card as well for multiple payments...I used it twice for our last cruise and I am about to use same offer (they are running now until end of year) for our spring cruise as our December cruise is pd for.

 

Also, our Marriott card for traveling and hotel stays, earn points for all Marriott hotels (we travel quite often so we earn many free nights a year). If you do not travel much to earn hotel points then this probably would not be able to make this worth it.

 

If you spend 6K a year in groceries (which can include gift cards), the Blue Cash Preferred is a decent upgrade at 6% grocery, gas/department stores 3%. There's a $100 annual fee, so it depends how much you spend which card makes the most sense.

[nhraformula00]

If you fly a lot the Spirit Master card has been great for us over the last 5-6 years. When you receive the card you get 17,500 free miles and they waive the yearly fee of $50 for the first year. 2 miles for every dollar spent. Several times during the year they will discount air miles on flights as low as 2,500 miles to go from like Chicago to Ft.Lauderdale one way. That is 5,000 miles round trip. We have flown 3 times a year over the last 5-6 years using these discounted miles( basically free, small charge to use your miles) and have never run out of miles. Works for us, and you can upgrade to a larger seat for $18 if you are a tall person. Most credit cards charge you like 30,000 miles for a short one way flight. Why not fly for 10 cents on a dollar when they are discounted.

[CA_Cruzing]

Great feedback so far.

 

Any Costco Visa users able to chime in?

 

 

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[maluhia87]

Amex Blue Preferred (already mentioned) - 6% back grocery stores - where I purchase gift cards for 4X fuel points

 

Southwest Plus - 60K point bonus when you spend $2000 - $69 fee. Southwest Premier - 40K point bonus when you spend $1000 - $99 fee - no foreign transaction fees. With those two cards I was able to get a Southwest companion pass for 110K points that is valid until 12/31/2018. I fly using points and companion flies free* ($11.20 taxes/fees on all roundtrip flights for each person).

 

Costco Visa - 4% fuel, 3% restaurants and travel, 2% at Costco, 1% everything else. Ok card, mostly used for restaurants when one of our other reward cards is not doing 5%.

[tylerzmommy]

I love love LOVE my Cap One Quicksilver card. It's simple, straightforward, and just freaking easy to use. 1.5% cash back on EVERY purchase with no annual fee. Yes, there are cards out there that have higher return rates but I don't like keeping up with categories (and when they revolve per quarter, I get cranky) and the customer service platforms with Cap One are phenomenal. I also travel a lot for work (ironically, I work for Capital One so my opinion of my card is probably 100% biased) so I rack up points for hotels and rental cars and way and cash them in for personal travel. I won't be paying out of pocket for a hotel room for our rooms on either end of our upcoming December cruise!

[poz222]

I use Chase Sapphire reserve for the 3x points on travel, 75,000 signup, primary rental car insurance, trip insurance included and Priority pass lounge access at airports and Global entry credit (but I travel a lot). After $300 travel credit, card cost is $150 which pays for itself for the insurance benefits alone. Grocery shopping I have the JetBlue plus (I fly jet blue often) they give 6x on jetblue flights, free bags and 2x all grocery... there is also the Chase freedom which has catagories that rotate (like groceries for one quarter are 3x points, travel 5x etc... it rotates).

[Warm Breezes]

I use different cards for different things:

 

Huntington Bank MC - No annual Fee, 3% Cash Back on Restuarants, No International Transaction Fee so we use this on international trips and all our restaurant meals.

 

Meijer CC - No annual fee, 10 cents off gallon each gallon of gas, Occasional Discounts 5-20% off at Meijer on groceries and general merchandise, Use in combination with MPerks and get $$ off my bills at check out. Use this to purchase our gas, groceries, and some general misc. items at Meijer.

 

Kohls CC - No annual fee, Can always get the 30% off code and free shipping code on-line to purchase most clothing and other general items there use in combination with Kohl's cash and other discounts found on-line.

 

Delta Skymiles American Express- Has an annual fee but the first year is waved. I cancel my card before the annual fee is due and switch opening accounts between DH and myself every other year to avoid the fee. Rules allow you to do this as long as there is one year between the time you close your account and open a new one in the same name. I use this to get first checked bag free on Delta for each passenger and priority boarding. Only use this to purchase Delta Airline Tickets which I usually find the best deals with around here.

 

Citibank Double Cash Back -No annual fee. 1% cash back when purchasing items and 1% cash back when paying for an item. I use this for EVERYTHING else that I can pay with a credit card, Insurance payments, utility payments, college tuition payments, on-line purchases, cruises (except on Carnival I purchase Carnival Gift Cards at 10% discount on AARP with my cc and pay for my cruise with the gift cards), hotels, rental cars, etc.

 

I cash out my rewards $$ a month or so before a vacation from Huntington and Citibank. It usually amounts to around $1200-$1500 of free money a year. Tuition really helps up this number. We will be losing that in 2 years. We always pay our full balance on-time so no interest is paid on our credit cards. We always use these funds as our vacation spending cash. We never have to pull money out of savings or save up other funds for that.

 

My son moved out last year for his first real job after college in ND. At my suggestion he set up the Citibank Double Cash Back Card and follows the rules to charge what you can but pay off in full on time. He was surprised to find he earned over $300 in free cash his first year away from home by doing this.

[wemjam]

I opened a Citi Diamond Preferred card just to be able to buy Carnival gift cards at 10% off (they are more readily available through their rewards site than on other sites). With the 2-3 cruises a year I do, I save probably around $750 a year and don't have to fight (and not get) gift cards when I want them.

 

I also like Capital One Venture card - double points back on all purchases and you can apply them to ANY travel at all to wipe it from your bill.... again several hundred in savings a year

[Micahs Grandad]

I use Chase Sapphire reserve for the 3x points on travel, 75,000 signup, primary rental car insurance, trip insurance included and Priority pass lounge access at airports and Global entry credit (but I travel a lot). After $300 travel credit, card cost is $150 which pays for itself for the insurance benefits alone. Grocery shopping I have the JetBlue plus (I fly jet blue often) they give 6x on jetblue flights, free bags and 2x all grocery... there is also the Chase freedom which has catagories that rotate (like groceries for one quarter are 3x points, travel 5x etc... it rotates).

 

Does lounge access include food and drink?

[gtalum]

Citi Double Cash card is our every day card. No annual fee and an effective 2% cash back on all purchases, 1% when you make a purchase and 1% when you pay the bill, which is exactly the same as 2% if you pay your bill in full every month as you should.

 

In addition we play the credit card rewards bonus game signing up for new cars to get the large sign up bonuses.

[jpm1973]

Does lounge access include food and drink?

 

 

 

The amount/variety of food and drink varies by lounge but I've never been to one through Priority Pass that didn't offer something that was included.

 

 

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[iamchrisstone]

I may need to start my own thread, and forgive me OP if this is hijacking yours, but if someone uses all of their points strictly for cruises, would the Carnival Mastercard be better than some of these others, or not so much?

[Micahs Grandad]

I may need to start my own thread, and forgive me OP if this is hijacking yours, but if someone uses all of their points strictly for cruises, would the Carnival Mastercard be better than some of these others, or not so much?

 

2% Carnival M/C for cruises but 3# Sams M/C for all travel. And others that will be just as good.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I may need to start my own thread, and forgive me OP if this is hijacking yours, but if someone uses all of their points strictly for cruises, would the Carnival Mastercard be better than some of these others, or not so much?

 

Yes, but the Carnival card only gives you 1% back towards cruising. You would probably be better off with something like the Capital One Venture card, for 2% back towards travel. It's now a metal card, and $59 annual fee after the first year, but it's worth it if you use your card. Let's say you have $400 in rewards, spend $330 on board Carnival, you can have that balance erased, leaving a balance in rewards of $70.

 

Spend $12,000 on your Carnival Card within a year, you'll yield $120 in Carnival Credit.

Spend $12,000 on the Capital one Venture, you'll yield $240 in comped travel (-$59 annual fee).

[iamchrisstone]

Yes, but the Carnival card only gives you 1% back towards cruising. You would probably be better off with something like the Capital One Venture card, for 2% back towards travel. It's now a metal card, and $59 annual fee after the first year, but it's worth it if you use your card. Let's say you have $400 in credit, spend $330 on board Carnival, you can have that balance comped, leaving a balance of $70 in rewards.

 

You put $12,000 on your Carnival Card within a year, you'll yield $120 in Carnival Credit.

Put $12,000 on the Capital one Venture, you'll yield $240 in comped travel (-$59).

 

Great feedback! Thank you. I currently use the Captial One Quick Silver and have been saving my "Cash Back" rewards to cash in next year. I put everything on this from all my bills on direct charge, to traveling, to groceries, etc. I'm trying to find what the best card for me to get for me to use my rewards on strictly cruises. I figured if I could get a paid for cruise once every couple of years (or maybe every year - I haven't done the math), that would be great!

 

None of my cards get interest off of me. I pay them off every month so the APR is not relevant to me. I just want the best "perk" or "benefit" that I can, and with me planning cruising at least once a year, I felt this was a good way to approach everything.

 

With that being said, any change in opinion of best card to use? ***THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN EDITED*** I actually have the QuickSilver ONE and it's 1.5% unlimited Cash Back.

[Oventek]

If you are a member of USAA, check out Limitless. 2.5% cash back, no categories, no annual fee. Simple. Use this for everything except gas which I use USAA Amex, 5% gas, Marvel 3% dining.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Great feedback! Thank you. I currently use the Captial One Quick Silver and have been saving my "Cash Back" rewards to cash in next year. I put everything on this from all my bills on direct charge, to traveling, to groceries, etc. I'm trying to find what the best card for me to get for me to use my rewards on strictly cruises. I figured if I could get a paid for cruise once every couple of years (or maybe every year - I haven't done the math), that would be great!

 

None of my cards get interest off of me. I pay them off every month so the APR is not relevant to me. I just want the best "perk" or "benefit" that I can, and with me planning cruising at least once a year, I felt this was a good way to approach everything.

 

With that being said, any change in opinion of best card to use? ***THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN EDITED*** I actually have the QuickSilver ONE and it's 1.5% unlimited Cash Back.

 

---------------------

 

You can ask for a product change from Capital One, which will just swap out cards under the same account. Venture would be worth it, as long as you spend 12K or more a year. This would be easy to use for strictly cruises, or any travel associated with your cruise (flights, excursions, hotel).

[tylerzmommy]

If you are a member of USAA, check out Limitless. 2.5% cash back, no categories, no annual fee. Simple. Use this for everything except gas which I use USAA Amex, 5% gas, Marvel 3% dining.

 

Limitless is an online pilot right now so the offers are limited and appear to be targeted. Additionally, to qualify for the 2.5%, one must have a USAA checking account with a minimum $1,000 monthly direct deposit into that account. With that being said, it does look like a great card.