Credit Cards
4I can’t remember if this topic has come up previously but I have realized I need to have a backup credit card available and am trying to sort through the various offerings. I’m having a hard time picking one out, made worse by recent articles that highlight privacy and security concerns. Does anyone have a card that they especially like? I was thinking it might be nice to get rewards or points or something.
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I have both a Citi Card (Mastercard) and Discover IT card. The Discover was my first card and has 1% cash back on everything and 5% cash back on different categories each quarter. The Citi Card has 2% cash back (1% on purchases and 1% when paid). I mainly use my Citi Card and the Discover card for those specific categories when they are 5%. If you are interested in the Discover card I can send you a referral link and we’ll both get $50 after you make your first purchase with it.
I’m going to jump in and ask if there’s a card especially good for flight rewards. I don’t have a card that gives miles, and I never travel, but maybe I can save up to go somewhere.
@RiotDemon The impression I had gotten was that credit cards don’t usually give a worthwhile amount of miles unless you churn through signing bonuses on new cards (where generally you spend a few thousand dollars on the card within the first three months and get a big pile of miles). For ongoing use you might be better off with Discover and Citi, as @TuffGong said above; get cash rewards on them and suddenly you’re knocking a few percent off your airfare.
@lljk thanks. I have a capital one that gives me 1.5% on everything. I guess I could get a card that switches up the rewards on different things to get more.
@lljk @RiotDemon True. We opened a Southwest Visa Card through Chase. It will only be worth it for this first trip we’re planning due to the number of bonus points (40,000?) we got for opening the account. We’ve been paying any monthly bills that allow credit payments with it to keep adding onto that. We should have enough early spring for 3 round-trip tickets to Florida. After this first year, however, I don’t see that we’d ever earn enough points to make it worthwhile.
I haven’t bothered to try to get any friends or family to sign up for a credit account…seems sketchy. “Here! Sign up to start accumulating debt!”
@RiotDemon, let me know if you want to sign up. I think I get 5000 bonus points for referrals.
@RiotDemon wouldn’t it be cool if you could save up to go to the SPAM museum in Austin, Mn?
@JnKL yep. I’d go eat some Norwegian food while I was there. I’ll skip the spam.
@RiotDemon Take a look on TheWirecutter- I recently perused their comprehensive travel rewards page and they broke them down pretty succinctly: https://thewirecutter.com/search/?s=travel reward cards
@PhysAssist thanks.
@RiotDemon de nada
@RiotDemon Oh snap! I actually get 10,000 points per referral. You’ll a get at least 40,000 points for signing-up depending on the card type you choose. You enticed yet?
@medz been busy so I haven’t done much research. I’m keeping it in mind.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/card-details/card-name/Chase-Sapphire-Reserve
I enjoy this one and the chase sapphire preferred. They generally have massive sign on bonus specials. Also, they have a fee; however, via the TSA PreCheck refund and the annual travel stipend, it makes it worthwhile.
@connorbush I’ve had this card for a couple years now tied with a Chase Freedom which does 5% on quarterly rotating categories. The points are the same, but Sapphire gives 1.5x value on travel and other categories. It’s a really nice balance between the two cards.
@Bogie @connorbush I use all my Chase points to transfer to travel partners, as they transfer @ 1:1. So a stay in Hyatt hotel recently that would have cost me $103 plus taxes and fees, cost me 5000 points ($50). One of the airlines has pretty good point rates too on cheap flights. I think the Southwest “Wanna Get Away” flights.
With Chase specifically, I would never redeem them for cash or gift cards, or Amazon credit. You lose so much value that way.
@connorbush @lichme I have not done the “Transfer to Travel Partners” before. Will have to check that out! We’ve been saving up points to cover airfare for trips mainly.
When I had Elan (via credit union, they have since changed the card they are affiliated with which is too bad), they caught visa fraud on my card in less than 24 hours and shut my card down. I had my replacement 3 days later. On a Sunday afternoon someone paid their Verizon bill with it, then tried to wire themselves $800 setting up an account in my name with Western Union and then tried to buy $700+ worth of stuff at Lowe’s (they didn’t have my card - it was still in my wallet). I was notified by email very early morning. The verizon charge went through the other two were denied. Elan was VERY easy to deal with. The local police department not so much so. This card does points. 100 points = $1 which can be used to pay your bill.
My experiences (more than one) with Chase has sucked bricks - had a credit card with them that started out a different company that was acquired by them and then my local mortgage was sold to them as soon as I closed on the house (didn’t know local banks did that!!). In both cases, when there were issues they were the biggest PITA I have ever dealt with, even worse than Sallie Mae (student loans), and Cigna health insurance…
@Kidsandliz AMEX has been awesome with this- they txt or email me immediately for any odd or unexplained charges- out of town, out of character for usual vendors, etc.
VAN MURALS! GROUND SQUIRRELS! SPIT CURLS! AWESOME!
In my opinion DISCOVER is the worst. They charge the highest fee for merchants therefore MANY do not accept it! Their rewards are a joke. High fees also. Capitol One is my fav. You should open a FREE ACCOUNT with CREDIT KARMA. Than based on ur credit, they will reccomend various cards for you. That way u hav several options! Good Luck
@cristysue Your opinion is definitely in the minority. Discover is actually one of the best cards going. They’re consistently rated in the top 5 for rewards with top 3 customer service. Not many free cards give you any opportunity to earn 5% cash back. On average they’re about equal with Visa and Mastercard for their fees, actually being a bit lower on the top end. American Express is far and away the most expensive for merchants.
Average merchant fees:
American Express – 2.5% to 3.5%
Discover – 1.56% to 2.3%
Mastercard – 1.55% to 2.6%
Visa – 1.43% to 2.4%
@cinoclav @cristysue
I agree with @cinoclav, Discover is excellent.
We’ve had a Discover Card since 1989. We currently have about 7 cards and the only credit card company that consistently comes close to Discover for stellar customer service is Amex.
While we best-match the reward-Card to the individual purchase, it’s been a long time since a merchant didn’t accept Discover.
@cinoclav @cristysue @RedOak Same here. I also got my Discover card in 1989. I have never paid a fee or any interest. IME, they have been very quick to flag fraudulent use, easy to deal with their customer support and quick to replace my card after fraud was detected, all with no cost to me. In the beginning there were quite a few merchants that would not accept Discover, but these days it is rare for me to encounter one. I like that I can use my Discover cashback reward to pay at Amazon checkout.
@cinoclav @cristysue @macromeh
If you buy on Amazon, especially if you have Prime, the Amazon Prime Chase credit card is a no-brainer with a 5% reward (3% without Prime), available right in the Amazon checkout.
Bonus: if you don’t otherwise have a Chase financial relationship, this card gets you the much friendlier branch folks (vs BoA) for things like notarizing plus after hours card-reader access to ATM lobby in really fowl weather.
Trivial Bonus: - I’ve never held a more substantial physical credit card. Clearly someone at Amazon/Chase wanted to make a quality statement - it must be 50% thicker than the typical card.
(gonna repeat this comment free standing)
@cristysue I only use my Discover card for whatever they are giving 5% on, so the rewards are fantastic for me. Earlier in the year gas stations were included, so i got 5% on gas! Usually i just get 2% with my Amazon Visa.
I like the designs (I had a Seurat painting for years and now have a Degas, but I was sorely tempted by the retro Discover design).
Also I’ve had the card since 1992, second in age to my 1989 (now) Chase Visa. Both those have high credit limits, so their age and low utilization are great for my credit score.
@cinoclav @RedOak Also agree- our 2 go-to cards, especially on-line or out-of-town, are AMEX and Discover. We have also Visa debit cards from our FCU’s, and a standard low-fee Visa or MC [I can’t recall which] for emergencies, but for day to day gas, grocery, or online use- Discover and AMEX have the best protection against both fraud/ID theft, and unscrupulous vendors.
Choose cards with rewards tied to how you actually spend. Nerdwallet.com is a good place to look at the current options.
Groceries: Amex Everyday Blue. 6%+$95/yr preferred, or 3% no fee. Cash back paid monthly. Also get 5% CB on streaming/cable/internet and postpaid phone billing.
Target RedCard: 5% all day at Target. Great for stacking target.com sales on prepaid phone cards. Keep other cards for the BF 10% off GCs. Stack with Cartwheel coupons.
5% categories: Discover IT and Chase Freedom, CB paid monthly. Buy GCs at the category places to get savings after the category ends - e.g. Grocery stores.
Costco Visa: 4% gas, 3% restauraunts/travel, 1% the rest. 2% CB from Citi on top of Costco if $120/yr Exec member, $60/yr. Paid annually.
Sams MC: 5% gas, 3% restaurants/travel, 1% the rest. $100/yr for the Sams card CB. Paid annually.
Then there are balance transfer cards if that’s what you’re trying to do - cut 18%+ APR down to like 6 (0-3% + 3% xfer fee).
Customer service wise, Chase has been the best for me. The rest all as expected.
If you carry balances always have 1-2 extra cards from different banks that you don’t use, just to get them to beg you to do a balance transfer.
Open low limit cards with Lowe’s, Kohl’s, Target, etc if you shop there regularly to always get 5% off and card-only sales/discounts/coupons.
If you don’t carry a balance (and thus, no interest charges), they will practically beg you to borrow money on transfers.
@mike808
Isn’t the Sam’s annual membership fee something like $45?
Incidentally, we’ve found it difficult to justify any credit card with an annual fee… except for Costco and Sam’s.
If the carefully considered in warehouse purchases don’t justify it, the gas savings at the pump and 4/5% rewards do. I’ve even heard of folks joining the club whilst rarely setting foot inside - simply for the gas savings.
@RedOak
The regular one is, but the card with discounts only comes with the plus membership, which is $100/yr.
@RedOak
At ~$2/gal, you would need to buy 100 gallons a month (1,200 gal/yr) to do that on gas alone.
That said, I do a little better than paying for itself with the CB at both. Although this is likely my last year with Sam’s. Costco is closer, and they’ve expanded where I visit relatives. That wasn’t the case a few years ago.
@mike808
If you’re going to list both types of memberships for Costco, it’s only fair you do so for Sam’s.
The 5/3/1% Sams CB rewards credit card does not require the $100 Sam’s membership.
@mike808 I don’t know how you came up with your gas savings calcs, but we save $75-100 per year for each of our three cars just on gas.
We buy gas at both clubs about equally. That alone more than pays for our regular membership at Sam’s and our Executive membership at Costco.
@RedOak
Frak. Blame the scapegoat.
1 2 3 4 get your scapegoat @JnkL on the floor
@JnKL @mediocrebot with you? Or just in general? I might enjoy seeing a goat dance off with a darlek. I mean just the goat is fine. But you promised a dance off bot.
@mike808 well shit that’s what I get for not reading the whole thread before speaking. I am redundant
@mike808 @RedOak to be honest, I have shown dozens of times I am not good with numbers. Easily to blame!
Since we have about 6-7 rewards cards, to keep the rewards clear, we use a Brother label printer to list the rewards right on the front of the cards.
And for periodic changing rewards like Discover’s 5%, we write this quarter’s reward on a small cut up post-it. Makes it easy to change out each quarter.
If you have a Bank of America (yah, I know, a very frustrating bank) credit or debit card don’t ignore their multiple merchant rewards that can range from 10% cash back to $50 for Xfinity or AT&T. (We got a pleasant surprise when we forgot about the AT&T one.)
Also, US Bank has a visa with pick-your-own 5% CB categories.
And you can’t do balance transfers with the same bank, so you want to have cards from a couple if you need to roll over a transfer to avoid the regular rate.
@RedOak
And I think ATT card allows the user to setup temp virtual CC numbers.
Not that I love BOA.
I don’t.
@f00l my AT&T comment referred to a BoA cashback we got for spending at AT&T using a BoA card.
But yah, we detest BoA. They make everything painful. The only fairly decent thing is their phone app.
We only stay with BoA due to an extended family relationship that grants us Gold Preferred status. Not even sure that is with it anymore.
@RedOak Honestly, I haven’t had much problem with BoA -knock on wood- but another benefit is the “choose your own 3% cash back” option. One of the options is online spending…plane tickets, online bills, and meh purchases all get me cash back with that.
@Kessilari our issues with BoA aren’t so much the their credit cards, but rather the way they now run their branches. Not that we need that often. But we have far better treatment at Chase branches.
Chase actually seems to like interacting with people!
@Kessilari @RedOak
Similar opinion re BOA. I suppose their CC’s are fine.
I hate their branches. I hate their CS. Could any biz possibly be more obstructive than BOA about showing to a human CS or providing reasonable local services and goes?
@f00l @Kessilari @RedOak wait… You use them as an actual bank? Why?
@f00l @Kessilari @unksol
Can’t speak for the others but we have two reasons for using BoA -
Extended family financial relationships get us Preferred Gold status which results in several benefits like no fee foreign currency. And no fee no balance accts for family members who wouldn’t otherwise meet those requirements.
Having a daughter who lives in another country, BoA, in our experience tends to be more accessible vs other US banks.
But just a few more negative experiences with BoA and we’ll move everybody elsewhere. Even tho that exercise would be a major pain.
@Kessilari @RedOak @unksol
Wells Fargo, Chase, and Citibank, among others, should have substantial expat and foreign location services, if you have to move banks.
@f00l @Kessilari @unksol
Yah, we’d seriously consider Chase but would avoid Wells Fargo and Citigroup due to both banks having even more serious ethical lapses than other banks.
Slimy seems to be in the DNA of Wells Fargo.
@Kessilari @RedOak @unksol
Yes agree re WF. I would not open an account there without seeing a total mgmt purge and then a re-start of corp culture, and then waiting to see if the changes stuck.
But they do offer good international banking services.
@f00l @Kessilari @RedOak @unksol
Re forex transactions. Look into a company called Uphold. You can transfer funds in and the other person with an uphold account can transfer funds out in a different currency. The fees are low and reasonable, and tons of currencies are supported, even cryptocoin and metals if that’s your thing.
They were setup as a payroll hub for companies with employees/contractors all over the globe that want to get paid in one currency or another, and not in the home currency of USD.
https://uphold.com/
@f00l @Kessilari @mike808 @unksol
Interesting business model. I like Uphold’s tag transparent tag line:
“Buy and sell digital currencies easily.”
But normally that wouldnt fit our use case. We know ahead of time when we’re travelling and can either order what we need from BoA fee free… or use the truly excellent and reasonable fee local guy in town to either buy foreign currency or sell it. In some cases, if he needs a currency, his fees get even more reasonable. Due to decades of experience, he even offers free travel advice for the country.
If you buy on Amazon, especially if you have Prime, the Amazon Prime Chase credit card is a no-brainer with a 5% reward (3% without Prime), available right in the Amazon checkout.
Bonus: if you don’t otherwise have a Chase financial relationship, this card gets you the much friendlier branch folks (vs BoA) for things like notarizing plus after hours card-reader access to ATM lobby in really fowl weather.
Trivial Bonus: - I’ve never held a more substantial physical credit card. Clearly someone at Amazon/Chase wanted to make a quality statement - it must be 50% thicker and heavier than the typical card.
@RedOak The Amazon Prime Preferred Visa, or whatever they call it, is made of a metal alloy, not plastic. Don’t put it in your shredder when you’re done with it.
@craigthom @RedOak Your puny metal card is no match for my shredder.
I thought I found a great deal on a credit card that offered 3% cash back the first year and 2.5 thereafter. A little more research uncovered the fact that it is meant for people spending 50k or more each year. That is definitely not me.
American Express blue cash has 3% on groceries all the time and blue cash preferred has 6% cash back with a $95 year fee. You just need to do the math on which is better and where you shop.
Walmart doesn’t qualify as “grocery” so only gets 1%. But Kroger does. Kroger sells lowes gift cards. Kroger also does 4x fuel points on gift cards all the time. And they have a lot if home improvement isn’t your thing. So if you do it right you get a $250 gift card you can use on something you need on sale. And get a dollar off on up to 35 gallons in fuel. Plus the 6% cashback on $250. This of course depends on your gas needs and has to be done in one sale. But you can take 2 cars at once.
It’s one of the best cards… For a grocery store.
Discover is worth it for their 5% cycle especially on PayPal or Amazon.
Citi is worth the 2% for anything that doesn’t qualify for a better card deal.
I carry them all and use the best one. It’s not that complicated.
Chase has some great ones but you have to spend a lot of money usually to got those rewards. And miles are only worth it if you will use them or can churn them into something better with the points. There after you of articles on those if you really want to travel.
@unksol The 3% on groceries with the American Express Blue Cash Everyday card you mentioned prompted me to get one. So now I’ve got four cards and have increased my available credit. We’ll see how that affects my credit score.
Now i have to use it for $1000 in the first three months to get the $150 signing bonus. That’s effectively 15% cash back, so I have to remember to stop using my other cards for three months and just use the Amex.
Thanks a lot.
I’ve had no issues with Chase, although that doesn’t mean others haven’t.
Twice in the past ten years they caught fraudulent attempts to use my card and stopped them before the charge happened. I had to get new cards and new numbers, but i didn’t have a charge on my card to deal with.
The program they use to do this impresses me, because i buy stuff from China, and i go on road trips where I’m charging stuff in one or more different states every day, and none of that has been flagged as fraud.
The only thing I’ve done that got my card declined was to start a pay at the pump session, cancel when i realized I’d forgotten to use my loyalty card, and then tried it again. I called and was told it was just disabled at that station for a day. I often pay at the pump there and pay inside a few minutes later, so it must be a short gap that triggers the feature.
I currently have Mastercard or Visa from Capital One, Chase, Bank of America (both MC and Visa), Wells Fargo, Citibank (both MC and Visa) and BJ’s Warehouse Club (Comenity Bank). I also have a Discover card and a bunch of store-specific cards, such as Home Depot and PC Richard.
I have mostly opted for cash reward cards because my experience with other reward schemes has been more hassle than its worth, though I’ve never had a travel rewards card. (I will be travelling more starting this Fall and am planning to explore travel rewards cards starting in a few weeks or so.)
I’ve had a few incidents of fraud going back to the late 1980s but none have resulted in losses to me. I have no complaints about any of the banks, etc mentioned above, though I should note that I’ve used Quicken for over 20 years and track things fairly closely; I work hard to avoid surprises and read the fine print. I consider paying avoidable interest and fees “by accident” to be playing the game of life poorly and I’m one of those people that beat themselves up for making mistakes (like paying interest and late fees).
I have a bunch of automatic payments set up on my Capital One card, which pays 1% cash back on all purchases (it used to be 2% and I might should move these payments to a different card, but meh). I pay this card’s statement balance in full each month, so no interest is paid.
Much of my regular spending is on my BJ’s Perks card (5% back on BJ’s purchases and 1-3% back elsewhere, paid as BJ’s credits; makes my BJ’s membership free and gets me $400+ in free stuff each year). This card’s statement balance is also paid in full each month, so no interest is paid.
The various store cards are used to get discounts or short term 0% financing; they are paid in full each month (or before the interest free financing expires) so no interest is paid.
Most of my other cards are used to juggle a shrinking hunk of debt left over from tuition, child support and other stuff. I transfer parts of the debt between cards using 0% balance transfers that have varying terms and fees with effective APRs of 0.67% to 4% (which is the highest APR I’ll pay). I’ve averaged a bit under 2.84% APR over the last 15 years. In case it isn’t obvious, I don’t consider my mortgage to be debt.
(For those who are curious, my debt maxed out at ~$60K the last year both daughters were in college, it is currently ~$41K, and will be $0 by end of 2020. It would have been $0 by July 2020 if I hadn’t spent ~$5K more than planned while in Istanbul last week for a wedding. I used credit cards to pay for tuition, etc. for two reasons: significantly lower interest rates and the fact that education debt survives bankruptcy, while CC debt does not.)