Best credit card with rewards?

I rotate between my Southwest and Marriott cards and charge EVERYTHING I can on those and I have more flights and hotel points that I know what to do with.

Seriously...I just booked my hair dresser a flight cuz she casually mentioned she was headed outta town to meet her husband already on business.

While there are some great cash back cards, I have found the most "rewarding" programs to be brand specific cards like you had putting rewards towards things you will actually use depending on your lifestyle vs just money back unless funds are tight...then you are probably not maintaining a zero balance which is the key to coming out ahead in the rewards game.

I have friends that fund their entire Disney Vacation by racking up charges on their Disney Visa card for example.

denverpilot said:
It's not free.
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Well, not free. It is coming out of the merchant service fees paid by the business which we all ultimately pay for and by those that maintain a balance with their interest payments...but if you are gonna spend the money anyway, might as well get something free outta it!

CC companies have a vested interest in getting you to spend money on their cards...they know MANY will not pay them off!
 
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Shawn said:
I rotate between my Southwest and Marriott cards and charge EVERYTHING I can on those and I have more flights and hotel points that I know what to do with.

Seriously...I just booked my hair dresser a flight cuz she casually mentioned she was headed outta town to meet her husband already on business.

While there are some great cash back cards, I have found the most "rewarding" programs to be brand specific cards like you had putting rewards towards things you will actually use depending on your lifestyle vs just money back unless funds are tight...then you are probably not maintaining a zero balance which is the key to coming out ahead in the rewards game.

I have friends that fund their entire Disney Vacation by racking up charges on their Disney Visa card for example.



Well, not free. It is coming out of the merchant service fees paid by the business which we all ultimately pay for and by those that maintain a balance with their interest payments...but if you are gonna spend the money anyway, might as well get something free outta it!

CC companies have a vested interest in getting you to spend money on their cards...they know MANY will not pay them off!
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It's also coming out of the pockets of the people who hold debt. The merchant fees don't cover it all. Not by a long shot.

It's literally participating in institutionalized theft, because everyone thinks consumer debt is "normal" now.
 
denverpilot said:
It's literally participating in institutionalized theft, because everyone thinks consumer debt is "normal" now.
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I wouldn't go as far as calling it "theft", but you can't be a winner without also somebody being a loser.
 
asicer said:
I wouldn't go as far as calling it "theft", but you can't be a winner without also somebody being a loser.
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If you know where the money comes from and how it's collected from those who don't pay up, it's theft. You're just using a business in between to do the dirty work.

The winner/loser thing is a common lie in our society today. A very uncivilized one. You don't have to damage someone else to win in life.
 
So... You're saying my spending on a rewards credit card (spending I'm going to do regardless of method of payment) which I pay off monthly is theft, because other folks don't pay it off monthly, or at all? Isn't the thievery occurring when that person doesn't pay their debts?
 
check out thepointsguy.

Chase Ink, Sapphire both good when the bonus is 50,000 or more. The sapphire reserve is good if you will spend $300 in travel (reimbursed). If you spend the points by transferring to partners you get a better value then using them on chase travel portal.
 
SaltH2OHokie said:
So... You're saying my spending on a rewards credit card (spending I'm going to do regardless of method of payment) which I pay off monthly is theft, because other folks don't pay it off monthly, or at all? Isn't the thievery occurring when that person doesn't pay their debts?
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Institutionalized theft. Yes. The industry needs accomplices who think they're getting something for free for their marketing campaigns and to make it seem like there can be "winners and losers" of their games, as you put it. Not much unlike casino marketing.
 
denverpilot said:
Institutionalized theft. Yes. The industry needs accomplices who think they're getting something for free for their marketing campaigns and to make it seem like there can be "winners and losers" of their games, as you put it. Not much unlike casino marketing.
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Seems a stretch. If that's the case, all of capitalism is institutionalized theft. I knew what you're saying I think about the tactics and issues with CC debt, but I can't call it theft.
 
I use a Citi 2% cash back card. I made almost $1,000.00 last year on cashback from my purchases carrying 0 debt on the card month to month.
 
asechrest said:
Seems a stretch. If that's the case, all of capitalism is institutionalized theft. I knew what you're saying I think about the tactics and issues with CC debt, but I can't call it theft.
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I concur with the above...I can follow your logic until I'm a thief for using and paying off a credit card each month.

And I never said anything about winners and losers. My decisions and financial situation are mine. I'm not competing against anyone.
 
asechrest said:
Seems a stretch. If that's the case, all of capitalism is institutionalized theft. I knew what you're saying I think about the tactics and issues with CC debt, but I can't call it theft.
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It's easy to rationalize it away until you meet folks these companies prey upon. Not all, of course, but some folk really don't have the mental capability to understand it.

Capitalism is based off of two parties getting something positive for a transaction. There's nothing but slavery in consumer credit, disguised as capitalism. Nothing positive. Monthly compounding at sometimes over 20% isn't a win-win proposition. It's designed to screw the desperate even harder than they already are.

Only two things worse are payday loan places and taxes nobody voted for. Payday loan places would have been run out of business in any moral society. Shameful.

SaltH2OHokie said:
I concur with the above...I can follow your logic until I'm a thief for using and paying off a credit card each month.

And I never said anything about winners and losers. My decisions and financial situation are mine. I'm not competing against anyone.
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The winners and losers thing was someone else. Sorry.

All you have to do is listen to recordings of the sleazebags these companies happily sell their bad debts to, and hear their tactics, to never want to support them in any way ever again.

But people now believe, truly believe, that credit cards are a requirement. Not a twisted sick business. "You need 'good credit'. If you don't have it the world will come to an end. Be afraid. Call this 800 number now..."

Granted, taxation without representation is more aggravated theft than usury, but both groups are driven by the same underlying greed and disdain for fellow humans.

I don't give anyone who can pay back things who doesn't, any slack, but these businesses that rent money are incredibly sleazy. They need the feeling that people can beat their system created by charging everyone more, to give away "free" stuff, to maintain the facade that they're doing something moral and legitimate. Then they buy the laws they need to do it.
 
People who use credit cards with high interest rates to pay for luxury items that they do not need and cannot afford are not victims. They are simply foolish.
 
SkyDog58 said:
People who use credit cards with high interest rates to pay for luxury items that they do not need and cannot afford are not victims. They are simply foolish.
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Not directly credit card related, but 70% of the country lives paycheck to paycheck. If your assertion is correct, we sure have a lot of fools.

Probably not smart to encourage that institutionally.
 
denverpilot said:
Not directly credit card related, but 70% of the country lives paycheck to paycheck. If your assertion is correct, we sure have a lot of fools.

Probably not smart to encourage that institutionally.
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And many of those living paycheck to paycheck are doing so because they choose to live beyond their means. I do realize that there are large numbers of real poor who barely make enough to cover the bare necessities of life but there are also great numbers who make more than enough to cover the essentials and save a little but choose not to.
 
Does McDonald's take advantage of obese people? Do penny stock brokerages take advantage of schlubs who think they can pick winners? Do casino slot machines take advantage of old folks with no friends?

Yep. Doesn't make it institutionalized theft. Perhaps makes it distasteful in some ways, but not thievery.
 
asechrest said:
Does McDonald's take advantage of obese people? Do penny stock brokerages take advantage of schlubs who think they can pick winners? Do casino slot machines take advantage of old folks with no friends?

Yep. Doesn't make it institutionalized theft. Perhaps makes it distasteful in some ways, but not thievery.
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Hey, this is a pilot's forum. You should be asking "Do CFI's give flight instruction to people that have no hope of continuing in aviation?" :);):p:D
 
asechrest said:
Does McDonald's take advantage of obese people? Do penny stock brokerages take advantage of schlubs who think they can pick winners? Do casino slot machines take advantage of old folks with no friends?

Yep. Doesn't make it institutionalized theft. Perhaps makes it distasteful in some ways, but not thievery.
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Rationalization.

If other businesses are immoral that makes the one we're discussing more justified? No.
 
Since I like to fly GA for vacations I try to put everything on a Hilton HHonors citi card. I get enough points every year for a week's stay in a fancy hotel, and more. Plus automatic gold status which gives me free upgrades if they are available.
 
Just putting it out there that if you're at least active duty military (not sure about veterans) that you can have ALL annual fees for American Express cards waived. Therefore, I use the American Express Delta Reserve card (usually carries a $450 annual fee) and I have at least 4-6 free Delta flights a year.

For non-AmEx locations/puchases, I use the USAA Signature Visa as already mentioned in this thread. The other value to using the USAA card is you earn points that you can use to buy other "stuff" from their store (I've gotten small things here and there and a nice golf bag).

I'm also one of those "dead beats" who carries zero balance month to month on my cards but use my cards for every single purchase. :cheerswine:
 
Update...

Good news and bad news.

Bad news is that we got turned down by Amazon. As I mentioned, I had a business failure, and am still feeling the repercussions. I had hoped enough time had passed, and our only debt is a very modest home mortgage. As I said, our existing cards have high limits and always get the balance paid each month.

Oh, well, their loss!

Good news is Comenity Bank, the issuer of the Gander Mountain Master Card, says that they are continuing a rewards program of some sort, so all is not list.

May still apply for the Costco card. Will let you know if that works.
 
FastEddieB said:
Update...

Good news and bad news.

Bad news is that we got turned down by Amazon. As I mentioned, I had a business failure, and am still feeling the repercussions. I had hoped enough time had passed, and our only debt is a very modest home mortgage. As I said, our existing cards have high limits and always get the balance paid each month.

Oh, well, their loss!

Good news is Comenity Bank, the issuer of the Gander Mountain Master Card, says that they are continuing a rewards program of some sort, so all is not list.

May still apply for the Costco card. Will let you know if that works.
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CapitalOne's Quicksilver cards pay 1.5 percent rewards and have no annual fees. I don't know about their credit requirements, but CapOne cards are not known for being particularly difficult to get.

Rich
 
FastEddieB said:
Update...

Good news and bad news.

Bad news is that we got turned down by Amazon. As I mentioned, I had a business failure, and am still feeling the repercussions. I had hoped enough time had passed, and our only debt is a very modest home mortgage. As I said, our existing cards have high limits and always get the balance paid each month.

Oh, well, their loss!

Good news is Comenity Bank, the issuer of the Gander Mountain Master Card, says that they are continuing a rewards program of some sort, so all is not list.

May still apply for the Costco card. Will let you know if that works.
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They will send you a letter where they disclose the reason for denial. Often it is simply that you don't have enough credit cards.

The more credit you have, the easier things are in life. Even though denverpilot will jump at this - collecting cards with no annual fees is a very good strategy to build credit especially if you are rebuilding, and life is just easier with good credit.
Whatever you do - do not apply for cards you're not 100% sure you can get - you will just get the credit score hit from a hard pull and another inquiry in your account, some lenders (Chase for example) have limits on how many new cards you have opened in the past 12 months to qualify.
 
one bonus that the Costco card added when they switched from AmEx to Citi Visa is that vacations (hotel, airline, etc) purchased with this card automatically get Trip Insurance for no extra charge.
 
mtuomi said:
The more credit you have, the easier things are in life. Even though denverpilot will jump at this - collecting cards with no annual fees is a very good strategy to build credit especially if you are rebuilding, and life is just easier with good credit.
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Oh, I play that dumb game, too. No argument there.

I just have cards that sit and do nothing just to not have the score penalty for "not enough old credit" and "not enough credit" since there are stupid businesses that think you need a credit score, and they mess with rates accordingly. (Here's looking at you, insurers. Apparently housing rental folks put a high regard in that number, too... but we thankfully don't have to deal with that.)

Sometimes for a big project or trip I'll just use one of them to keep all the accounting for the project or trip in one bucket, since the trip or project will be a single number in the budget, and I can just settle it all up with one payment to the card at the end of the month or project, whichever comes first. But it has to be a project or trip where the number of transactions is going to be high and I don't feel like keeping track of every transaction.

(Bar bill on a cruise for example. Ha. Another bucket of beers...!)

Another useful use of them is if they have a warranty extension feature. I do like those. A bit of a pain to actually USE it, but we have once. Manufacturers warranty had run out, but the card extended it double theirs. Took months to get paid back for it, but they eventually get around to it.

I do loathe annual fees. Or fees of any sort really. The only fees I like are my investment guy's fees, and by "like" I mean, it's okay he charges them because he makes a multiple more than the fees... or he wouldn't be worth his fees.
 
Update to the update...

Good news...Gander Mountain continued to offer rewards, redeemable for gift cards. We've accrued about $500 in Home Depot gift cards.

Bad news...They're terminating any form of rewards on 10/27.

Good news (sort of)...the card will still work, and our $14,000 credit line will remain in place. (we keep a zero balance every month)

Good news...we applied for, and were accepted for a Capital One card. I forget which one but it does have a $39/year fee and gives 1.5% cash back on all purchases.

Bad news...it starts with a $3,000 credit limit.

Oh well. We put many of our big recurring expenses, including health insurance, on credit cards, so our monthly tab is always in excess of $3,000. But between those two cards and a Choice card we also have, we're covered. And I assume the credit limit will gradually increase with on-time payments.

Just a rough patch, but once we sort out which expense goes on which card, everything should be fine.
 
Credit limits are real time, if your monthly tab is in excess of your limit, spend, pay, repeat. As long as individual charges are less than your credit limit, you are golden.
 
FastEddieB said:
Good news...we applied for, and were accepted for a Capital One card. I forget which one but it does have a $39/year fee and gives 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
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Quicksilver One.
It looks cool, but you want to graduate it into a Venture ASAP. Better benefits, no annual fee.
 
denverpilot said:
I just have cards that sit and do nothing just to not have the score penalty for "not enough old credit" and "not enough credit" since there are stupid businesses that think you need a credit score, and they mess with rates accordingly. (Here's looking at you, insurers. Apparently housing rental folks put a high regard in that number, too... but we thankfully don't have to deal with that.)
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No question there are stupid things going into a credit score, but, when dealing with a total stranger, business and landlords know one small thing about it: People with high credit scores have a history of paying their bills on time.
 
mtuomi said:
The more credit you have, the easier things are in life. Even though denverpilot will jump at this - collecting cards with no annual fees is a very good strategy to build credit especially if you are rebuilding, and life is just easier with good credit.
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That is actually not correct. 'Too many' revolving credit accounts lowers your score. I don't know what the formula is, but in my case the magic number seems to be three. I had some extra CCs for the promotions and miles, when I dropped them and returned to two credit cards and line of credit at the bank, the notation 'too many' revolving accounts' disappeared and the score kept going back up.

The more important thing is to keep the balance on the account below 30-40% and of course to pay on time. And avoid any 'hard pulls' that don't result in additional credit being extended.
 
denverpilot said:
Institutionalized theft. Yes. The industry needs accomplices who think they're getting something for free for their marketing campaigns and to make it seem like there can be "winners and losers" of their games, as you put it. Not much unlike casino marketing.
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Willful ignorance on the part of the consumer does not imply theft on the part of the lender. There is no "theft" when someone willingly agrees to hand over his money to someone else. I suspect that no one who carries a balance on a credit card honestly thinks it's free, but many indeed rationalize it as "normal." Interest rates and fees are readily available and accompany every credit card account that is opened, though I will grant that many folks have no idea what those rates and fees actually mean. Still, that's not the bank's fault.

The bottom line is that if someone acquires debt, from any source, the responsibility for that decision is borne entirely by the borrower. People buy houses they can't afford by barely scraping together the minimum payment on a variable-rate mortgage (when they start out), and people buy cars they can't afford on 84 month loans which they may or may not refinance multiple times. Those are examples of extraordinarily unwise decisions which, regardless of the marketing involved, very clearly involve spending money which the borrower does not posses. If you can't write a check (that clears) for what you want to buy, that should trigger a warning that more scrutiny is required before you proceed.

I fully agree that the "payday loan" and similar businesses are sleazy, but again... the borrower knows it's not his money. He alone makes the decision to borrow it.


JKG
 
weilke said:
That is actually not correct. 'Too many' revolving credit accounts lowers your score. I don't know what the formula is, but in my case the magic number seems to be three. I had some extra CCs for the promotions and miles, when I dropped them and returned to two credit cards and line of credit at the bank, the notation 'too many' revolving accounts' disappeared and the score kept going back up.

The more important thing is to keep the balance on the account below 30-40% and of course to pay on time. And avoid any 'hard pulls' that don't result in additional credit being extended.
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Too many _recently opened_ revolvers will lower your score, but in the long run it will improve it.
No-one really knows the formula CRA's use, there are even web forums dedicated entirely to this. But I know a few 850'ers who have 1mil+ in revolving credit lines. (for them, it is a hobby).
 
mtuomi said:
Too many _recently opened_ revolvers will lower your score, but in the long run it will improve it.
No-one really knows the formula CRA's use, there are even web forums dedicated entirely to this. But I know a few 850'ers who have 1mil+ in revolving credit lines. (for them, it is a hobby).
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Had them for several years, didn't open any new ones. The notation remained.
 
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