phyo73 said:Citi?Diamond Preferred?Rewards Card

also have 5 points for every dollar you spend at supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations?
5,000 bonus ThankYou Points? after your first purchase, redeemable for a $50 gift card?

? 1 ThankYou Point for every $1 spent on all purchases?

? Earn unlimited rewards with ThankYou Merchants—an average of 5 points for every dollar you spend?

Citi Diamond Preferred

Is there a max of points you can earn per year?

Jowaju,

Where did you find the PDF for the Rewards Plus Mastercard issued by chase. The brochure looks great and the offers look fantastic. I mean, you can convert 10,000 points to 5,000 continental miles which on the face of it isn't great but when you consider that on everyday spend you get 5 points this means you are getting 2.5 points per dollar. Not bad. It gets even better if you convert your points to United since it takes 6,000 points to get 5,000 United Miles. This is 4.166 United Miles/$ spent on everyday spend. For basically $6,000 in spend I could get a ticket in the continental United States on United and this is all for no annual fee. So this card seems good to get the 5% CashBack at 10,000 points = $100 and also for topping off your frequent flier accounts at COntinental, United, and British Airways. Now, I only wish that Citibank offered the option to convert thankyou points to American Airlines. I am currently enrolled in Cash Plus but will convert to Rewards Plus as soon as I get my 5000 points of which I am only 17 points away.

Is there still a valid code for this? I thought the max right now is $50 bonus...

GAS, SUPERMARKET, DRUGS
Chase Cash Plus
Relatively low limit on rewards (I think the max is about 4,000 in spending if you use it only on the areas that earn 5%) Follow this
link for a $100 signing bonus.

FFGuru said:Several cards give 5% back in certain areas. There tends to be posts for the specific cards, but I thought it would be helpful to have one that lists all of them. Please feel free to add more cards.... please include links, and similar information as below. Thanks!

You can earn 5% Cash Back in the following areas with the following cards.

GAS, SUPERMARKET, DRUGS
Chase Cash Plus
Relatively low limit on rewards (I think the max is about 4,000 in spending if you use it only on the areas that earn 5%) Follow this
link for a $100 signing bonus.

GAS, SUPERMARKET, DRUGS
Chase Rewards Plus
The rewards limit is pretty high... around 75,000 points per year. $1=1point except where you earn 5% which earns 5points per dollar. No signing bonus though.

GAS, SUPERMARKET, DRUGS
Citi Dividend Platinum Select
Max of $300 in rewards per year, no signing bonus. Also AT&T Universal rewards has the same program from Citi.

GAS
Discover Platinum Gas
5% back on gas for the first $1,200 in purchases per year... you can switch Discover 5% programs when you max out

HOME IMPROVEMENT
Discover Platinum Home Improvement
Up to $2,500 in purchases per year... you can switch Discover 5% programs when you max out

RESTAURANTS, BOOKSTORES, RECORD STORES, MOVIE THEATRE, VIDEO RENTAL
Citi Mtv Card
5 Thank you points per dollar. Can they be redeemed for cash?? Max 75,000 points per year.

The Costco American Express only earns 3% in select areas, so I will omit that from my original post, although it is a good card.

I will just make the OP true 5% rewards or better.

Any card that gives Cash Back on hotel stays? I am trying to find a card with the best Cash Back for Gas & Hotel stays. My approx combined spending on a yearly basis is 10-12K.

Thanks!

mathfaster said:I'm not so sure that the OP's opinion that Chase is the better 5% card is true. They have the bonus points for now but I like Citi and AT&T Cash Back better. I have all three cards. With Citi & AT&T once you go over $50 you get a check for all of the reward money earned. If it's $55.00 you get $55.00. Chase only gives Cash Back in $50 increments. So if you have $55 in rewards, $5 sits till you get your next $50. Just my opinion. All are limited to $300/year reward money per calendar year.
I also like the Virtual Card Number for online purchases which I don't believe Chase has and AT&T and Citi do.

Valid point mathfaster. Thanks. However Chase Rewards Plus will give you up to $750 Cash Back from my understanding. So, as long as one is patient, the Chase Cash Plus is better than Citi because of the signing bonus, and Chase Rewards Plus is better than citi because of the much higher rewards limit. If you want the cash right away, on the other hand then Citi is a great card.

phyo73 said:Citi?Diamond Preferred?Rewards Card

also have 5 points for every dollar you spend at supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations?
5,000 bonus ThankYou Points? after your first purchase, redeemable for a $50 gift card?

? 1 ThankYou Point for every $1 spent on all purchases?

? Earn unlimited rewards with ThankYou Merchants—an average of 5 points for every dollar you spend?

Citi Diamond Preferred

Yes, but that is only for one year. Then you drop down to 1 point.

Edited 01/06/06
If you notice my op, you will see that I changed my mind. According to the Citi website, you only get the 5% for one year, however when I was looking around I found creditcards.com. The link to the Diamond Preferred Card says nothing about the 12 month limit. The fine print only says something along the lines, of "unless you are participating in a limited time promotion, you will earn 5% on Gas, Groceries, and Drugs." I can't find anywhere on that specific offer which mentions the fact that it is a limited time promotion. I hope it works!!

If your card covers 5% Cash Back on groceries, can you comment on if it includes WalMart Supercenters? For Citibank dividend advantage, even though the supercenter is coded as a grocery store, you will not be getting your 5%, it will be the standard 1%.

So, according to the OP Citi Diamond Preferred and Chase Rewards plus seem pretty comparable. I don't really care weather or not I get Cash or Gift cards, so does anyone have experience with the two companies? Isn't the Thank You network supposed to be pretty good? Is their travel program good?

As for the U promise awards, you only save 10% on certain products. Assuming only half of your grocery cart is filled with these products, you will be saving only 5% on your total grocery purchase. So really it is not that great of a deal, especially since you don't save on Gas & Drugs too.

Ashoro said:
Cash and gift card have three very important differences though:
1) Cash can be spent anywhere, gift cards are limited to certain areas.
2) Cash can be store back to savings account to start accruing interest right away whereas balance in gift card just sits there when you don't spend it.
3) Cash can be reapplied to get additional 5%, but gift cards can't. If I earn 50 dollars in rewards CASH, and I spend another 50 dollars which I pay with my plastic and pay that with that 50 rewards I get 2.50 more reward, and it keeps going in sort of a referral scheme where you earn your referral's referral and their referral and so on. Gift cards end the reward scheme right away.

That is very true.... thanks. I agree, but I'll put up with the gift cards if Thank You rewards is really good program. I haven't heard though. Correct me if I am wrong... I think Chase takes 25,000 points to book lower 48 travel plus a $25 fee but no taxes and 21 day advance?. Citi on the other hand requires 25K but a $35 fee, but they also allow only 14 day advance purchases? I am not certain. They mention it a bit in the Chase Rewards Plus thread, but I am still a bit confused.

I have MBNA WorldPoints Visa Signature now. It is a good card, but when BofA takes over I might have to move to another travel card if they devalue the program. So It would be nice to have my Cash Back and travel card all in one. One less card to hit my credit report.

Thanks. Anyone else with more info... it is much appreciated!