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How bad do you need/want a credit card?

mcook77 said:
Bumping an old thread although it is not exactly what I am looking for.

Situation: currently have a cash back rewards credit card that I use for essentially all purchases and pay off every 2 weeks. Well, I am fed up with the cash rewards redemption program and am interested in a very good card that I can get rewards on.

APR does not mean a ton to me as I don't carry a balance but would not do anything over 12% just for peace of mind. Anyone recommend a good rewards back that you have had success with? Thinking about going the travel/mileage rewards but just not sure what the best is out there. Open to other types of reward cards though. I see that some have an annual fee, are they worth it?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...

Cookie I know people who use an amazon visa card that use it for everything, pay it off religiously and collect huge on points. From there the points can be used on amazon.com for anything.
 
mcook77 said:
Bumping an old thread although it is not exactly what I am looking for.

Situation: currently have a cash back rewards credit card that I use for essentially all purchases and pay off every 2 weeks. Well, I am fed up with the cash rewards redemption program and am interested in a very good card that I can get rewards on.

APR does not mean a ton to me as I don't carry a balance but would not do anything over 12% just for peace of mind. Anyone recommend a good rewards back that you have had success with? Thinking about going the travel/mileage rewards but just not sure what the best is out there. Open to other types of reward cards though. I see that some have an annual fee, are they worth it?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...

If you dont carry a balance, AMEX is the way to go. Some of their rewards are outstanding and depending on the card you get, the perks are very good.
 
TheIceThainn said:
Cookie I know people who use an amazon visa card that use it for everything, pay it off religiously and collect huge on points. From there the points can be used on amazon.com for anything.
Click to expand...

Thanks, will look into this - did not know they had a card and I am a BIG TIME Amazon shopper.

JB said:
If you dont carry a balance, AMEX is the way to go. Some of their rewards are outstanding and depending on the card you get, the perks are very good.
Click to expand...

I had an AMEX previously but don't recall the exact rewards I got (several years ago). Only complaint is that some of my recurring charges (utilities, etc) do not accept AMEX. I have an AMEX currently that is through Costco and I only use it there to get the Costco cash back (in store credit is what it is essentially). It paid for my last $216 visit so that was a nice bonus.

Will look into the other AMEX options out there today.
 
mcook77 said:
Bumping an old thread although it is not exactly what I am looking for.

Situation: currently have a cash back rewards credit card that I use for essentially all purchases and pay off every 2 weeks. Well, I am fed up with the cash rewards redemption program and am interested in a very good card that I can get rewards on.

APR does not mean a ton to me as I don't carry a balance but would not do anything over 12% just for peace of mind. Anyone recommend a good rewards back that you have had success with? Thinking about going the travel/mileage rewards but just not sure what the best is out there. Open to other types of reward cards though. I see that some have an annual fee, are they worth it?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...


Was going to say Visa Avion, but it's 19%, which is more than you are looking for. Collecting air miles and redeeming them is super easy and they can be used towards hotels, car rentals. Most business people I know personally who travel a lot for work or leisure carry it.
 
"I'm careful, and will pay it off later" is the mentality that gets people in trouble. I've been guilty of it in the past. If you don't have the cash already, don't buy it.
 
mcook77 said:
I had an AMEX previously but don't recall the exact rewards I got (several years ago). Only complaint is that some of my recurring charges (utilities, etc) do not accept AMEX. I have an AMEX currently that is through Costco and I only use it there to get the Costco cash back (in store credit is what it is essentially). It paid for my last $216 visit so that was a nice bonus.

Will look into the other AMEX options out there today.
Click to expand...

Cookie,
When it comes to rewards cards, it is very important to compare them to their counterparts. Sometimes its only interest rates that are higher, other times there are small annual fees. I went from using all rewards cards to consolidating into just 2 cards that handle things better for me. I had to weigh out the rewards vs non-rewards cards. Since you are PIF (like we are), the interest rate is little concern, but one month we carried a balance over and the difference in rates was pretty high vs the non-rewards card.

GG and myself recently both went to a Discover card and we like it a lot so far due to their cash back offers that we put right back into the bill.
 
For that kind of interest, she should have borrowed from the Mob!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
My wife and I are huge fans of the Chase Sapphire because it gives us the most bang for the buck on stuff we usually spend the most on (travel & restaurants). I've also been a big fan of the Chase Freedom too.
 
TheLongBall said:
"I'm careful, and will pay it off later" is the mentality that gets people in trouble. I've been guilty of it in the past. If you don't have the cash already, don't buy it.
Click to expand...

For some people it's not an issue of not having the cash already. In this case, I believe cookie already has the cash to fund the day to day purchases but prefers to put the charges on the card as a way of earning rewards/cash back/etc. that he would not have been able to do if he paid directly with cash/debit card.
 
ddxu said:
My wife and I are huge fans of the Chase Sapphire because it gives us the most bang for the buck on stuff we usually spend the most on (travel & restaurants). I've also been a big fan of the Chase Freedom too.
Click to expand...

This one is a tempting card. However (and I know this is ridiculous), I hate the effin commercials.
 
There's no doubt in my mind credit cards are awesome and safer than cash. I use CC for everything I can, easier to track, earn rewards, and you are protected against theft, loss, etc. I even paid the down payment on our car purchases using cc instead of cash. Its a no brainer since it's so easy these days to just pay your bill on the fly and not have to wait to receive the monthly bill, cut a check, etc.
 
JB said:
Cookie,
When it comes to rewards cards, it is very important to compare them to their counterparts. Sometimes its only interest rates that are higher, other times there are small annual fees. I went from using all rewards cards to consolidating into just 2 cards that handle things better for me. I had to weigh out the rewards vs non-rewards cards. Since you are PIF (like we are), the interest rate is little concern, but one month we carried a balance over and the difference in rates was pretty high vs the non-rewards card.

GG and myself recently both went to a Discover card and we like it a lot so far due to their cash back offers that we put right back into the bill.
Click to expand...

Great info and thanks again. I tend to rarely carry anything over but in the chance that it does happen (and it has happened once in the last 8 months), that peace of mind of not having a 20% APR is important to me. I had very good experiences years ago with Discover and the cash back rewards.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, got some homework to do!
 
and with online banking and iphone apps its so easy to pay off immediately.

ddxu said:
There's no doubt in my mind credit cards are awesome and safer than cash. I use CC for everything I can, easier to track, earn rewards, and you are protected against theft, loss, etc. I even paid the down payment on our car purchases using cc instead of cash. Its a no brainer since it's so easy these days to just pay your bill on the fly and not have to wait to receive the monthly bill, cut a check, etc.
Click to expand...
 
mcook77 said:
Bumping an old thread although it is not exactly what I am looking for.

Situation: currently have a cash back rewards credit card that I use for essentially all purchases and pay off every 2 weeks. Well, I am fed up with the cash rewards redemption program and am interested in a very good card that I can get rewards on.

APR does not mean a ton to me as I don't carry a balance but would not do anything over 12% just for peace of mind. Anyone recommend a good rewards back that you have had success with? Thinking about going the travel/mileage rewards but just not sure what the best is out there. Open to other types of reward cards though. I see that some have an annual fee, are they worth it?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...

ddxu said:
My wife and I are huge fans of the Chase Sapphire because it gives us the most bang for the buck on stuff we usually spend the most on (travel & restaurants). I've also been a big fan of the Chase Freedom too.
Click to expand...

Cookie, we have the AMEX from Costco, and use it for most things as the rewards seem to stay the same. We also have the Chase Freedom card like ddxu, and the rewards on ours change every 3 months...not a big deal to us, but some might want to make sure it fits their needs. We pay the balance every month, so interest is not a factor for us. Can't remember the % rate at the moment.
 
Discover is solid. 99% of my purchases are made with my paypal debit card. Flat 1% off purchases. It's not the best, but I don't have to do anything and every few weeks they throw the money in my account.

I hate credit cards BTW. Took me 9 years to get rid of the debt I ran up in college.
 
Griff said:
I hate credit cards BTW. Took me 9 years to get rid of the debt I ran up in college.
Click to expand...

I hear ya...I had more than my share of it starting in the military some 17 years ago. It was the "norm" for me forever up until a few years ago. Got aggressive and wiped out a TON of debt. One last payment on my Suburban in 12 days and I am then debt free outside of my mortgage and boat. If I could get out of the boat I would, but that's another story for another thread.
 
I primarily use my Discover or Capital One. When I was traveling a lot for work I used a Choice Hotels Visa because I'd get triple points and the company would pay for it when I stayed at one of their hotels. Flights and everything was booked on Capital One. I got to keep all of my points and miles when I left which was nice. Traveled for 3 years so I racked up quite a bit.
 
I use the Costco AMEX and a Discover for everyone that takes a card. PIF each month and it's super easy to track what your purchases are .
I usually rotate between the two on gas purchases as there are limit amounts for the rewards.

I took a retirement financial class last year and it was easy to do a homework assignment of monthly expenses. You can see it in a pie chart or line graph.
 
Second the AMEX Rewards Card. We use the Costco True Rewards one. We never carry a balance but use the card to pay for items/services quite frequently. We get two rebate checks a year - one from Costco and another from AMEX. 3% on Costco gas purchases which is great since all four of us have cars. We've received $500 rebate checks!
 
I have a credit card. Has a stupid high limit, and I think the last time I used it was 2 years ago when the ATM ate my debit card. I really just keep it around in case of emergencies, car repairs while traveling, etc.

Some people believe it is a myth that you need a credit card to build credit. I am one of those people. Although a card can build credit, there are other methods. Furthermore, last I was told, you don't have to have a credit card prior to getting a mortgage or car loan or anything. But maybe things have changed since the recession.

~Rock
 
I recently went the other direction and went with a card that has a flat 1% cash back. It seemed like so many of the rewards programs had so many hoops to jump through. Agreed that Amex may be the best out there but had a bad experience with them and considering dropping their card all together.
 
Thanks again for all the feedback everyone. Went with the Capital One VentureOne Card with the below. Was able to get the 11.9% standard APR which still met my goals of under 12% for a card with rewards. This will give us a reason to travel more also!

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase, every day
Earn 10,000 bonus miles, equal to $100 in travel
Redeem miles for airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals and more
No limit on the miles you can earn and miles won't expire
Fly free on any airline, any time with no blackout dates
0% intro APR on purchases until March 2013
No foreign transaction fees
No annual fee


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