A lot of financial saavy exists in this forum. As I catch up on some of the older threads I constantly find new cards that I want to apply for or other useful financial strategies. It's in this spirit that I'm hoping to get users who have handpicked financial instruments (credit cards or otherwise) to carry with them for a particular purpose.
If you carry CC balances month to month and have three cards you picked out because they "have a cool design" your contribution to this thread won't be horribly valuable. OTOH, if you pay your balances in full each month and carry one card for its rewards program, one for its extended warrently, one for PMing, etc...then please respond to this thread!
To keep it readable please post a list of the significant cards in your wallet with a VERY BRIEF synopsis of WHY you prefer that particular card. If there are additional benefits to that card or other advanced techniques please briefly mention them, but include a link to another thread rather than going into all the gory details in your post. I'll start with some favorites from my wallet...
USAA Debit MC/USAA Checking Account: USAA charges no fees for withdrawals at other bank's ATMs AND rebates any surcharges the other banks charge you for using their ATMs (up to $15 a month). See The Ultimate USAA Bank Thread.
Citi Card/Credit Protector: "Credit Protector" is an optional service you can add to your Citi account for some small fee (just under $1 for every $100 in new purchases). You generally get $10 to $15 for signing up and your minimum payment (at least $20) paid for two months for certain "life events" (see link) up to once a year. More significantly every time I've called to cancel the service I've been offered $50 in rebate checks ($10 rebate per month) to keep the program (whether I actually use the Citi Card or not)! See Citibank Credit Protector Benefits Thread (make sure to read beyond intial post for strategies and $50 rebate retention program details).
Any good rewards card that gives you a 5% rebate on groceries/gas/pharamacy purchases. See The 5% Cash Rewards Card Thread for details.
(edit) Some instruments mentioned by others in this thread:
Discover Card: Their "Get More" program has rotating 5% Cash Back programs (currently Health and Fitness purchases), see Get More Thread. Or see the Change 5% Programs Thread for details on how to switch between fixed 5% categories.
GMAC Debit/ATM Card (linked to GMAC Money Market acct): Up to 4 free ATM withdrawals per month (GMAC pays up to $1.50/withdrawal = up to $6/month). See GMAC Thread for details.
(edit 2) It appears a large number of people here are still using 1% rewards cards. If this is you, you really must see The 5% Cash Rewards Card Thread and start applying for some new cards!
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Mine is probably infantile compared with most here, but I've been happy with it. I carry the Citi Dividend MC for the 5% Gas/Grocery/Drugstore and for the occasional transaction where they only accept Visa/MC (I don't spend much per year, and 1% back is better than nothing). I carry my Discovercard usually for whatever Get More promo they are running at the time considering it is usually something that is applicable to me. This also helps me get to the limit I need to start earning 1% on my "other" purchases, even though I rarely use it for that. The other card I carry and use regularly is the AMEX Costco card; pretty much for the 3% back from restaurants, 2% for travel (not that I do much travel), and anything that isn't covered by the higher bonus cards that I can use AMEX for (again, 1% is better than nothing).
2. Citi Platinum Select Dividend - 5% CashBack at grocery/gas/drugstores but capped at $300 CashBack per calendar year so I only use it for groceries/drugstores. (Consistantly captures SuperTarget as a "grocery store")
3. Discover Platinum Gas Card - 5% CashBack for gas, no cap on CashBack
Chase Cash Plus Mastercard: 5% gas stations, supermarkets, drugstores and 1% everywhere else (don't use this part).
AT&T Universal Rewards Card: 5X ThankYou Points at gas stations, supermarkets, drugstores, and AT&T purchases and 1X ThankYou points everywhere else. I like this card because of the 25,000 points for domestic airline tickets and can book as late as 14 days in advance. Combine this with the ThankYou network where you can earn 1-40 thankyou points per dolalr spent online, in stores, and on gift certificates at participating merchants and I can quickly get a free airline ticket. (ThankYou Network points post slow however (about a 2 month lag from actually spending with their particular partners). Also comes with calling benefits which I have not used yet but are free of charge and make a decent addition to the card.
World Wildlife Fund Card: Donates 1% to the World Wildlife Fund and in addition you have your choice of various rewards programs (I used to have free cash rewards but now have cash plus although I have heard other say that only free cash rewards is available now). So in essence I get 1% back and my charity of choice gets 1% so I get 2% back. They also have other charities with payouts from 0.5% - 1.0% before the rewards program is added.
Hilton HHonors AMEX Card: 5 Hilton HHonors points per dollar at gas stations, supermarkets, drugstores. US Postal Service, Restaurants, Hilton Hotels, and wireless phone bills and 3 points per dollar everywhere else. I use this card strictly for dining and Hilton Hotel purchases. For 125,000 points you can get 4 nights at any category 5 or 6 hilton hotel subject to availablity. These rooms usually go for about $300 - $400 a night so that is about $1200 - $1600 saved. Slightly better than the 5% CashBack card if greater than $1250 but since the CashBack cards don't offer 5% on dining except discover I have chosen this card. Also comes with many of AMEX's great services like Assured reservations and warranty extension etc.
Citi Dividend Plat Select GMAC ATM/Debit Card (no fees for ATM withdrawals/reimburse $6 for banks that charge you fees on their ATMs) AMEX Gold Rewards Plus Chase PerfectCard (I want to get convert this to Cash Plus...the clone of the Citi Dividend Plat Select).
Its stored in a diff area of my wallet mainly because if I put it down somewhere I'll forget where it is later and it'll bother me to know always know its with me and not being used. Its fine.
I also use the Sony and the schwab occasionally when I buy more than one thing from OD or Omax online. I use diff logins and diff CCs and mail to diff addys, so thats why I mention "carrying" them.
New Chase 5% cash rewards for grocery and drugs RBS 1% Cash Back For everything else Capitol one Card for business related purchases And a condom from 1985
I seem to remember another thread about this somewhere, but I carry:
CITI Dividend for 5% Cash Back for Everyday Purchases Fidelity MBNA for flat 1.5% deposited to a ROTH account quarterly Wegmans and Tops Shopper's Club Cards A quarter for stranded phone call (hate cell phones) $2 bill for good luck $20 bill for cash emergencies Picture of my baby
-Visa Debit Card for ATM -Citi Dividends for Gas/Drugstore/Groceries but currently using BT offer -Citi PremierPass because I am supposed to get a $100 gift card for it -Chase Perfect Card for use because I cant use the Dividends card right now -AMEX Blue -AMEX True Earning for CostCo -A couple Best Buy gift cards/store credit -Metro SmartPass -Rebate Check from SanDisk that I havent cashed and is getting a bit worn out
Almost all of them I can blame directly on FatWallet.
MaxRC said: I want a thin thin thin wallet so it doesn't bulge out and result in a pinched nerve after sitting on it for a long time.
For a thin wallet, try the All-ett. I bought one and can't seem to go back to carrying a normal leather wallet. I carry:
- drivers license, - insurance card, - school id, - 5 store rewards cards (eg Staples rewards,) - Citibank Dividend Card, - Discover Restaurant Card, - USAA debit card, - local checking debit card, - Sam's Club card, - a library card (with a car key taped to it, for when I lock my keys in my car,) - many receipts (usually for about a week or two,) - and cash,
and I never have a problem sitting down on it. Honestly, I sometimes forget it's there, and I find myself checking if I have it prior to leaving my house. Edit: Fixed link.
Discover Restaurant - Try to use for all restaurant purchases, but 30% of the time restaurants don't accept Discover anyway.
AMEX Blue Cash- Use for businss expenses and tuition I am reimbursed for. Good b/c I get 1.5% back on purchases over $6500, and I will probably put 20K on it this year.
Chase Cash Rewards - Use for everything else (gas, grocery, cable bill, car insurance, etc) and PIF. Everday purchases get 5%.
Backups (in case using a BT, etc on main cards):
Citi Diamond Preferred- Got 10K points for opening ($100 gift card). Currently using for BT and will convert to Citi Dividend when that BT expires.
SECU Scorecard- I keep this handy because is has a 7.99 FIXED APR on everything (purchase, cash advance, balance transfer). Plus, you still get points for BTs, and there are NO FEES for BTs or Cash Advances. It will come in handy if I ever need cash quickly. Also, if I ever need to make a purchase that I know I can't PIF, I can use one of my other cards, and then transfer to this card for DOUBLE POINTS and a decent APR.
Bank of America FInancial Rewards- Get $1 for every full $100 spent. No rounding. Can also use points to BUY DOWN your APR. Never tried because I have 7.9 fixed, but it is an interesting idea.
MBNA/Wachovia Worldpoints- Get BT offers often. Waiting to see what happens with BofA/MBNA merger and Wachovia starting up their own CC division.
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