What Credit Card Should I Get ? FAQ

Absolutely +1+1+1+1 on Chase AARP. It didn't exist for my marriage and I am on a mission to get all to-be-married folks to get it for marriage expenses (and after).
Is there a link for this AARP card? I'm only seeing the aarp for 3% on travel, $100 CashBack after 1st use and 1% cb for all other purchases. I think your offer is gone already.
Getting married in 5 months and I'm trying to find the best CashBack card. Looks like the freedom for $200 is the best right now, but I'm holding out a little while for a better one maybe.
Can the credit card change their CashBack percentage after you sign up for it? Pretty sure the answer is yes...Just checking though.

Does anyone ever talk about BT cards any more? I get offers, but they are usually a 5% fee attached to them.

You are on fire imbatman! lol

I would only app for one sallie mae card

bethwilliams5724 said:   AMEX Starwood all the way!

Eh. It's ok. I switched to multi card. SPG is a good choice for 1 card in your wallet for points card.

I'm debating whether to apply for one more credit card, or get a re-check with Freedom if possible, or just stop for a little while.

I've had a student loan for like several years, but just stuck to debit cards until rewards were taken off, so I started my credit cards about 6 months ago. Got a couple of rejections, but was told to apply to several places, so I got a chase freedom $300 limit (no bonus obviously), a bank of america accelerated rewards card (which had I understand boa rewards I would have skipped, and they have to "look into" my $50 bonus) $1,000 limit, and a FNBO Direct card (which as a FNBO savings member I earn 2% on everything for a year) $2,900 limit.

In December, I applied for the Citi Dividend card to get the $200 bonus, $4,000 limit, and gotta love another 5% card.

Then I found out about citi forward, which I definitely would have applied for earlier had I known about it. I live with family, so I save most of my money. Aside from loan payments and phone bills, restaurants are definitely the #1 place I spend money, so it seems like a perfect card for me to earn, plus a $100 bonus. Besides I think I am going to Disney World in early Feb, so if I could get this card in time for that, will do a lot of food spending, and will help get to $650 quite easily. Should I go for it, or do I have too many pulls, and should I wait for it? FWIW, I've paid my loan and card payments on time.

The other thing I want to investigate is my Chase Freedom. I'm sure if I asked you guys, you would say no, but I figure when I decide to do it, worst that happens is they say no. I'm wondering if now that my credit score is obviously higher than it was when I first applied, if I can apply for a higher credit limit and get the $200 bonus for spending $500 in the next 3 months (from whenever I get a new limit)? Would that result in a hard pull, and if so, again, should I wait?

While I'm posting, one more general credit card question. It seemed like financially it made the most sense to pay off each statement right before the due date, so I have a bit more time to keep money in my incredibly high interest checking at Capital One (kinda sad that 1.01% is high these days). But I realized, for instance, my freedom debt was approaching $200 by the end of the second statement without paying the first (remember $300 limit)...so I immediately paid both. I guess my question is: is it better to make a couple bucks of interest and hold onto the payment, or should I just pay immediately and therefore ensure my "what I owe" score on my credit is low. (I also don't plan to ask for loans anytime soon).

Thanks so much for all your help; just from lurking I've learned so much from you all!

You can also use the 40,000 Venture points for $400 of gift cards.

CRyPT99 said:   I've had a chase freedom card for many years now, and though they keep changing the rules on me, overall I'm pretty happy with it. Now I'm looking for airline mileage card for my mom since she plans on doing some traveling later this year but not sure which would be worth it. Not quite sure where she shops, but I assume the biggest purchases would be gas, grocery store, and possibly costco. Thanks for your help!

If she's looking for an airline card - first question - what city? second question - where does she want to go? third question - what airlines fly the most between those two cities.
Answer those, and you'll have a clear direction on a particular airlines card (Delta, United, American, Southwest etc), all of which have some pretty good sign up bonuses. Also, does she plan on flying alone or with someone (some cards come with an annual companion certificate which may be useful).

Other options are Chase Sapphire preferred, or Citi Thank you Premier. Both have 50k point signup bonuses and first year annual fee waived, which is good for airfare (any airline).

OR if she's looking for a CC that gives good CashBack on airfare purchases - PenFed Travel AMEX gives 5X points on airfare only (which works out to 5% CashBack on airfare when redeeming points for flights). It gives 1% everywhere else. Good card if she's planning on spending a lot of $$s on intercontinental first class tickets.

CRyPT99 said:   
Thanks so much for the quick response imbatman! She lives in San Diego, CA, will be traveling with my dad, and as of now has no idea where she wants to go. Maybe Australia or something like that? I would guess any major airline would fly from LAX to international, so probably any would be ok. A card that gives you the ability to use any airline would be nice too. Chase Sapphire sounds like a pretty good option. I don't expect that she'll be flying first class anywhere, so probably not necessary to get her a card that's specific to buying flights. If you were to choose one card based on this info what would you go with?

San Diego -
you can pretty much use any airline. If you can't redeem a reward ticket for SAN, you can from LAX, and there are a lot of commuter flights from SAN to LAX.

If she wants to goto Australia - sign up for the 2x50k American Airlines Citi cards (note the 75k deals are expired). Quantas and American are OneWorld Alliance partners, and 100k AA miles will go a long way towards Australia.

She should pick an airline to travel commuter from SAN to LAX. use that airline as her preferred airline. Get that card with a good signup bonus. Right now, I'd suggest United - so check out the United Explorer 50k+10kthread in FWF.

Delta has cards with not as good of a signup bonus, but they fly SAN-LAX. I prefer Delta, and Delta Gold+Platinum AMEX will net around 60-80k miles in signup bonuses (depending on timing). DL Plat AMEX has a free annual companion ticket after year 1 is complete.

Sapphire and Citi Cards will net you points good for whatever you're looking for.

I think every card I listed has an annual fee (some waived first year)

I've decided to start paying everything with a CC and paying in full each month. I just got approved for the following cards in the past 2-3 days after reading through these threads.

Penfed Platinum Visa - 5% Cash Back for gas purchases

American Express Blue Cash Preferred - 6% groceries (mainly to use for gift cards...seems cheaper to buy groceries at WalMart with 2% Cash Back card than get 6% back on the much higher grocery store prices), also 3% for department stores

Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express - applied for this card before realizing a visa is available that would return 2%

Priceline Visa - 5% Priceline and 2% all other purchases (this will be my main card for everything else)

Are there any cards I'm missing that might increase Cash Back rewards for situations not covered by these three?

You're right. There's not a fidelity visa that gives 2%. The Fidelity American Express card does.

Are the cards you listed rotating categories or are they set?

imbatman said:   I don't think the fidelity visa gives 2%. I think it's 1.5%.

"Earn 1.5 points for each $1 spent on the first $15,000 in purchases per year, and 2 points per $1 in purchases thereafter."

FYI:

I use the Lake Michigan CU RewardsPlus Visa -- 3% gas, 2% groceries, 1% everything else. Last year they counted Target purchases as groceries, but not WalMart.

In my mind there's not much difference between the cap one points and straight CashBack at 2%.
Yes you CAN use the fia card to pay bills. But you will probably be hit with the same ~100 fees as any other card. If I'm mistaken. I have not been properly using my FiA AMEX. Where did you read that?

sabre said:   I am looking to replace a chase rewards card. spend maybe $3-4k/mo. and a good chunk of that on gas/food. any card have 5% for gas,>2% for grocery and 2% perhaps on all other? Leaning to PenFed Visa, but would like all other to be higher. Would like to only get one card. ThanksAMEX Blue Cash Preferred: 6% on groceries, 3% on gas, 3% at department stores, 1% on everything else. $75 Annual Fee. $150 signup bonus.
AMEX Blue Cash Everyday: 3% on groceries, 2% on gas, 2% at department stores, 1% on everything else. No Annual Fee. $100 signup bonus.

Don't let the $75 annual fee for the Preferred version scare you away; with your spending level, it pays for itself and then some.

Linky

sabre said:   Psycho41 said:   
Don't let the $75 annual fee for the Preferred version scare you away; with your spending level, it pays for itself and then some.

Linky

You make a great point! I do not like paying a fee for a card, but it does seem to be worth it. So is this in general the best bang for the buck (if paying an annual fee)? Is there an annual limit to rewards one can earn? Do they jack up cost of reward, ie say 6000pts for a $50 reward? Yes, I will go read up on this as well.

Thanks

No there is no jack-up of costs, you can redeem but only in $25 dollar allotments. In other words you can only redeem in multiples of 25.

On some gift cards, you also get between 4-10% discount on some stores.
On some merchandise, you get a discount (but you're probably still paying more than if you got it retail with coupons).

I just got a letter in the mail yesterday for the Lexus Visa card. I was about to rip it up but the intriguing thing was it has a 1.5% on all purchases outside of the 5% at Lexus dealerships. The literature made it seem like you could get Visa gift cards at 100 points per $ value, making it another decent 1.5% Cash Back on everything card although I do think there is a monthly points limit, I want to say it was 7500 on the 1.5% ($5k spending if my math is right), I don't have the documentation in front of me. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else has seen this card or actually has it?

kintro said:   
Hmm, is this the card? Lexus Pursuits Visa
Seems like the redemption is at the dealership or through their optional travel program (which costs money to join). I didn't read through all the FAQ though.
It states in the documentation I was sent that it can be redeemed for a "a $100 Rewards card" as an example of using 10,000 points for the 100 points to $1 ratio. Guess that is a bit vague. If you search "Lexus Rewards Cards" though it does state that "Your Rewards Card offers a flexible, convenient way to make purchases at participating Lexus dealerships or anywhere Visa® debit cards are accepted worldwide." Was hoping someone here had one and could comment. I already have the FIA Visa however for 1.5% so though I own a Lexus I rarely go to the dealer for anything so it may not be worth it for me. I have purchased a used Lexus there however.

ngreen said:   kintro said:   
Hmm, is this the card? Lexus Pursuits Visa
Seems like the redemption is at the dealership or through their optional travel program (which costs money to join). I didn't read through all the FAQ though.
It states in the documentation I was sent that it can be redeemed for a "a $100 Rewards card" as an example of using 10,000 points for the 100 points to $1 ratio. Guess that is a bit vague. If you search "Lexus Rewards Cards" though it does state that "Your Rewards Card offers a flexible, convenient way to make purchases at participating Lexus dealerships or anywhere Visa® debit cards are accepted worldwide." Was hoping someone here had one and could comment. I already have the FIA Visa however for 1.5% so though I own a Lexus I rarely go to the dealer for anything so it may not be worth it for me. I have purchased a used Lexus there however.

You still haven't said what the name of the card is? and didn't confirm if kintro provided the right link. No one here can answer your questions if we're not sure what card you're asking about.

ngreen said:   imbatman said:   
You still haven't said what the name of the card is? and didn't confirm if kintro provided the right link. No one here can answer your questions if we're not sure what card you're asking about.
My apologies, yes it is the Lexus Pursuits Visa.

Thanks,
I wish more credit cards had handy calculators on their card application page (click redeeming points after going to the link from kintro). That thing is handy for determining that this isn't a very good card. Note - to your original post - I couldn't find any mention of how many points are required to redeem for what looks to be a VISA Debit card (aka a Lexus Rewards Card), only that points could be redeemed for the card.

This doesn't look like a true 1.5% card:

spending $1000 gets you 1500 points. Which can be redeemed for $15 at the dealer or $10 in travel**. So it's a 1.5% card if you redeem at a dealer, or a 1% card for other redemptions.

spending $1000 at a Lexus dealer gets you 5000 points. Which can be redeemed for $50 at the dealer or $33 in travel**. So, if you plan on getting it and only using it at the dealer, it's a 5% card if you redeem at a dealer, or a 3.3% card for other redemptions.

**Travel Redemption is only available for Cardmembers with the optional Travel Rewards program.
-T&C say the travel rewards program costs between 0-60/year. So if you get charged for the travel program, the redemption rate is worse (and depends on your spending)

IMO, unless you plan on spending a lot of $$ at a 'participating' Lexus dealership, this card probably isn't worth your time.

**edit** I misread the terms of the 10% off when redeeming points. the discount for a new car = you have to redeem points for the same amount as redeeming at the dealership, so it's not a great perk.