Credit Card Cashback, Airline Frequent Flyer Miles, Hotel Rewards etc... Programs

[CoachKenFTW]

Post your experiences, observations, thoughts and tips about various rewards programs here.

[tailingpermit]

On 12/30/2024 at 2:28 PM, CoachKenFTW said:

Post your experiences, observations, thoughts and tips about various rewards programs here.

I don’t believe there’s a secured credit card with a rewards program, but keep shooting for the stars!

[CoachKenFTW]

On 12/30/2024 at 11:32 AM, tailingpermit said:

I don’t believe there’s a secured credit card with a rewards program, but keep shooting for the stars!

I've always just had my cashback card issued by my main broker. And I transfer the points over to my brokerage account right away.

I was helping out a couple of my family members with their budget recently, and the process uncovered about $3,000 worth of rewards on their Amazon credit cards, and another $1,800 on their Paypal CC.

The Paypal rewards are pretty tame as far as I can tell. I might as well just transfer it into their bank accounts. But transferring the Amazon Prime card rewards to Chase's travel portal looks pretty interesting, to my untrained eye anyway.

 

[bornontheblue]

I use the Delta Skymiles Amex . There is probably a better card but I like my Amex 

[Chile_Ute]

We do Southwest Visa.  Pay everything we can with it and carry a zero balance.  If you can do that most reward cards are useful.  Typically get 2-3 free flights a year.

[renoskier]

On 12/30/2024 at 2:51 PM, Chile_Ute said:

We do Southwest Visa.  Pay everything we can with it and carry a zero balance.  If you can do that most reward cards are useful.  Typically get 2-3 free flights a year.

same here

only 2 cards, Southwest and Costco

[BYUcougfan]

If you are just looking at bank branded cards, it is hard to beat the value prop for Wells Fargo's Active Cash card.  Unlimited 2% on everything with no annual fee.  Another good value is Navy Federal's Flagship card.  $45 annual fee, but great travel accelerators.  Lots of people have the Chase Sapphire card ($90 annual fee), but the value prop only really works if you have a lot of travel spend and then redeem for travel through their captive website.

[BYUcougfan]

On 12/30/2024 at 12:32 PM, tailingpermit said:

I don’t believe there’s a secured credit card with a rewards program, but keep shooting for the stars!

There are several of them out there, but they are typically with banks or credit unions that only underwrite credit cards for their existing DDA customers.  For example, Truist Bank has a rewards secured card, but you have to have a Truist DDA (in addition to the secured deposit) to qualify.  Also, some affinity based card issuers like USAA and NFCU have them.

[BYUcougfan]

On 12/30/2024 at 3:51 PM, Chile_Ute said:

We do Southwest Visa.  Pay everything we can with it and carry a zero balance.  If you can do that most reward cards are useful.  Typically get 2-3 free flights a year.

You can really clean up if you have one or two different cards.  Cobrand travel cards usually only have accelerators on travel spend.  Something like double points on travel related spend and 1 point on everything else.  Those are good, but you should also have a solid value prop for every day spend.  Some sort of category card with accelerators like 3% gas and 2% grocery for example.  Wells Fargo, Citi, US Bank, USAA, and others all have cards that will give you 2% on everything with no annual fee.

[BYUcougfan]

On 12/30/2024 at 12:28 PM, CoachKenFTW said:

Post your experiences, observations, thoughts and tips about various rewards programs here.

FYI, all of these no annual fee rewards cards are in jeopardy.  Congress is looking to regulate consumer credit interchange (they call it swipe fees because it makes it sound bad).  Big box merchants are pushing hard to get interchange regulated so it will go down.  Remember when you used to get rewards on your debit card and no checking account fees?  That went away when they regulated debit interchange 11 years ago.  Big box merchants said debit interchange led to higher prices.  When the regulation came about, prices did not go down, they just took it to their bottom line.  Credit card rewards are one of the few things that are tilted in the consumer's favor.

[RSF]

On 12/30/2024 at 5:25 PM, BYUcougfan said:

Remember when you used to get rewards on your debit card and no checking account fees?  That went away when they regulated debit interchange 11 years ago.  

Don’t tell my bank.  They must not have gotten the memo. 

[Just_Chris]

On 12/30/2024 at 12:12 PM, bornontheblue said:

I use the Delta Skymiles Amex . There is probably a better card but I like my Amex 

That's what I use and the nice thing is Delta is partners with Korean Airlines so I can fly back to Vegas nonstop from Asia although sometimes it's a pain in the ass getting from Tokyo to Incheon 

Unfortunately the ANA and Japan Airlines Cards suck ass and I was never a fan of American Airlines so I went with Delta and it's worked out. Funny thing is I had an Asiana Card that I just used my miles for a ticket to and from Seattle in the summer using Star Alliance miles on ANA. Needless to say I go through Korea a lot so I was a little shaken up by this weekend's crash since I'd always see their inflight crews when walking through the terminal. 

[BYUcougfan]

On 12/30/2024 at 5:07 PM, RSF said:

Don’t tell my bank.  They must not have gotten the memo. 

If you can keep a decent balance, you can get free checking.  It really hurt people on the low end.  It is very hard to find a truly free checking account if your daily balance is less than $1,000

[Chile_Ute]

On 12/30/2024 at 7:26 PM, Just_Chris said:

That's what I use and the nice thing is Delta is partners with Korean Airlines so I can fly back to Vegas nonstop from Asia although sometimes it's a pain in the ass getting from Tokyo to Incheon 

Unfortunately the ANA and Japan Airlines Cards suck ass and I was never a fan of American Airlines so I went with Delta and it's worked out. Funny thing is I had an Asiana Card that I just used my miles for a ticket to and from Seattle in the summer using Star Alliance miles on ANA. Needless to say I go through Korea a lot so I was a little shaken up by this weekend's crash since I'd always see their inflight crews when walking through the terminal. 

Carry what works for you, I’m down with it.  For us, Southwest gets anywhere in the lower 48 and we hit Costa Rica and Hawaii.  
 

I did debate an Alaskan Airlines card.  Have had great flights with them.  Maybe if Lil Chile ends up in the PNW for college we’ll switch.

Always a bit chilling seeing plane crashes no matter where they are….but when locations are familiar moreso.

[CoachKenFTW]

On 12/30/2024 at 3:00 PM, renoskier said:

same here

only 2 cards, Southwest and Costco

I used to use my Costco Citi card all the time. In addition to the standard CB benefits, I also got a 2% boost in my bitcoin app on warehouse purchases and gas. But when they dropped the lolli boost I threw a hissy fit and stopped using it. I should get back to making purchases with it again.

[CoachKenFTW]

On 12/30/2024 at 8:26 PM, BYUcougfan said:

If you can keep a decent balance, you can get free checking.  It really hurt people on the low end.  It is very hard to find a truly free checking account if your daily balance is less than $1,000

Online banks almost all have "free" checking. And with WF, HSBC, and BofA's gutter level service as a gauge, you'll probably be a happier customer with an online bank as well.

[azgreg]

We use two credit cards. We use our Kroger card for grocery and fuel purchases and our Southwest card for everything else.

[modestobulldog]

The best reward is cash, but I do use Southwest and Hilton cards only for proprietary purchases.

[Billings]

I always thought Nerdwallet gives decent advice as the offers change on travel cards.  I shuffle them for large sign up rewards

 

https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/credit-cards/travel?trk=nw_gn_6.0

[modestobulldog]

Have you noticed more merchants charging fees if you use a card? I am finding that more often and it is a good thing, my rewards be damned.  It shifts the costs to where they belong.