Here's an interesting site that came up on FlyerTalk: Credit Card Tune Up allows you to input your monthly spend on various categories and evaluates the annual cash reward you'd get with one or a combination of cash-back credit cards. Comes with helpful mouseover documentation.

It seems to favor Driver's Edge for the 6% rebate, pointing out that other cards' rebate terms are so volatile anyways that a one-year limit isn't that big a deal.

Intresting website... for some reason, I can't seem to get AMEX cards as a recommendation, even when i spent 15,000 a month...

Certainly an interesting site, I'm not sure if I agree with the Driver's Edge 1 year idea. Obviously the person who runs it makes their money off the referral bonus ($50 or so per approved card) that they get from you applying through their link. Unless you are feeling really generous, you should still apply through cardoffers.com.

I think this website is great. Not that I would use it primarily, I do my own calculations. However, there is now a polite way of answering everyone who comes onto this forum and thinks their entitled to a personalized answer to "What credit card should I get?". Now a link to this website should end the thread.

paytonc said:One interesting thing I noted from the site: not only does juggling more than two cards prove to be a hassle in everyday life, it also rarely nets you much marginal gain in rebates.yeah, I carry only one card for everyday usage (a 1%/5% card) and its a ton easier with only slight $$ loss.

The simplest and most profitable use of CCs , with least hassle, is to use one good CashBack card for everyday usage, and use the rest for 0% profiteering and signup bonuses.

cameron2003 said:SUCKISSTAPLES said:paytonc said:One interesting thing I noted from the site: not only does juggling more than two cards prove to be a hassle in everyday life, it also rarely nets you much marginal gain in rebates.yeah, I carry only one card for everyday usage (a 1%/5% card) and its a ton easier with only slight $$ loss.

The simplest and most profitable use of CCs , with least hassle, is to use one good CashBack card for everyday usage, and use the rest for 0% profiteering and signup bonuses.

OK site, although its overrates that Drivers Edge card. I carry multiple rewards cards, figuring the extra cards not only get me more rewards, but also pads my total credit limit so I can be more aggressive with my balance transfer cards.

i can see a how many CC do you carry thread.

asdf9876 said:
disclaimer: when I list the cards I used I generally get a spurt of PMs asking for the cards. The first two are found in FFGuru's 5% thread. The last one is invite only, sorry.
You could just flat out say it instead of trying to be secretive - it isn't some big secret that is going to make the cards not be accessible anymore if you share. I'll go out on a limb here and say
1) Chase 5% Card (either one)
2) Citi mtvU (not really Cash Back, especially now that they changed the point values for $50 GC's)
3) HSBC Household 2% (could always use Fidelity 529 card here for those without an invite)

asdf9876 said:Sorry if I didn't feel like spoonfeeding people. I wasn't being secretive. If you are so lazy that you can't look FFGuru's 5% thread then you didn't really need it. By the way, within 6 months of BoA Power Rewards getting popular (having its own thread) on this forum it died. There were people on here who had cycled through multiple thousand dollar rewards so it could have been a contributor.
Could have...but I'm willing to bet it has more to do with the consolidation of all BOA credit cards under FIA Card services (MBNA) and the move to World Points.
I get better than Cash Back with Citi mtvU. I always grabbed the $100 gift card before but now I get plane tickets at greater than $.01/point. But the $100 GC would be fine, I don't see what all the belly aching about the $50 is about, if you can't reach $100 in 5 years then you shouldn't be using this card anyway.
I redeem my points for flights as well, as you'll see in my post about the changes to the program. However, I earn more than 5000 TY Points in a year from various other cards (not just bonus's). Other than bonus's, it sounds like you only earn about 6000 points a year (if you get $50 better by using that card), which is 4 or 5 years until a free domestic flight, and 2 years for a $100 gift card.
Fidelity 529 doesn't require an invite does it does require a semi-major commitment of ether a very large minimum investment or a monthly commitment to put non-reward money into this account. I generally don't like to let CC rebates dictate my investment strategies.
Agreed - which is why I use their 1.5% card, but for some that want that extra 0.5% or have kids anyways, it may be worth it.
If those cards are so easy to find, how come I constantly get PMs about how to find these cards?
People are lazy, and that’s it. Why not just post them? Its one thing to get annoyed with people creating new threads about stupid things, but to just be a a**hole and try to purposely make it harder for someone to find information is just stupid. I'll agree they should search and find out for themselves - but why not just post it and make life easier?

I like to use 4 CC's:

Citi Dividend Platinum (Now Diamond Preferred rewards) for gas, grocery, drugstores. - 5% Cash Back
Citi MTVu for Restaurants, movie theatres, bookstores etc. - 5% CashBack
Advanta business platinum for all utility bills - 5% CashBack
Starwood AMEX for all misc expenses

Incremental benefits over using just a single 5%/1% card:

By using MTVu card incremental benefit about $100/yr and when my wife gets 4.0 GPA it is an additional $20.
By using Advanta card incremental benefit $240/yr (my gas/electricity/water/cell/VOIP/internet/Cable TV add up to approx. $500/month)
With Starwood AMEX the incremental benefit is hard to figure out but 1.25 aadvantage miles conversion and India tickets for 75K miles definitely makes it worth atleast 2%. Not to mention the subjective benefit of crossing threshholds and my desire to reach a lifetime million miles status on AA. (currently 700K)

Hence net incremental savings atleast $500/year over a single 5/1 card. Effort is just minimally more of remembering to take out the right card - more of a habitual thing. Don't have to carry the Advanta card as all utility payments are on autopay. Only complaint is some places don't take Starwood AMEX especially State Farm for auto and home insurance.

asdf9876 said:Xeon852 said:asdf9876 said:
disclaimer: when I list the cards I used I generally get a spurt of PMs asking for the cards. The first two are found in FFGuru's 5% thread. The last one is invite only, sorry.
You could just flat out say it instead of trying to be secretive - it isn't some big secret that is going to make the cards not be accessible anymore if you share. I'll go out on a limb here and say
1) Chase 5% Card (either one)
2) Citi mtvU (not really Cash Back, especially now that they changed the point values for $50 GC's)
3) HSBC Household 2% (could always use Fidelity 529 card here for those without an invite)


Fidelity 529 doesn't require an invite does it does require a semi-major commitment of ether a very large minimum investment or a monthly commitment to put non-reward money into this account. I generally don't like to let CC rebates dictate my investment strategies.

If those cards are so easy to find, how come I constantly get PMs about how to find these cards?
re fidelity 529, you consider $50/month a semi-major commitment? my 529 card has been getting over a 2% CashBack since its in a fund doing quite nicely, along with $50 a month (which I could pull out at any time)