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Let's talk credit, credit cards, and rewards!

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I'm a credit guy and I wanted to ask:

Do you use credit cards regularly? Why or why not?

If you do use credit cards regularly, which card(s) do you prefer? How come?

I'll go first - I primarily use a Chase trifecta because of their rewards structure. I pretty much funnel everything through credit cards; keeps for one or two simple "bills" and I can keep track of my spending.
 

BradMc

<b>Charity Liaison</b><br>BoM September 07
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In the summer I'm in travel status 30 days at time , so yes my CC get used allot ... I use AMX, for the travel rewards, and a few perks while flying. I also use a Wells Fargo Visa that I rotate every other trip ... So yes , 29 days in hotels roughly $2,500 to 3,000 , rental car roughly $1700 to to $2000, Cigars and Booze $200 to $600 depending what location i'm working .... I just wish the Gov. would pay off there per diem claims as fast as I have to turn them in......

I think i'm in every Hotel and Rental car rewards program there is , I use them to travel in the winter and have a lil fun with the perks ........
 

ChuckMejia

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Gas purchases and groceries always go on the credit card and get paid off in full every two weeks.

We get some good rewards on our credit union card
 
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We use credit cards for everything possible and pay them off every month. I haven't paid interest on credit cards since I got out of college 20 years ago. We use the Hilton Amex as much as possible. Easy to deal with if we have a problem with a purchase and their bonus program is great. We also have a Visa and Discover that we use when they won't take the Amex. They are cash back programs and try to use them on bonus months when they offer 5% cash back.

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I've found Chase cards and their rewards to be a solid way to stack flexible miles.

I use a Sapphire card for 3x on food and travel...
I use a Freedom card for 1.5x on all other purchases...
I use an Ink card for 5x at office stores and 2x on gas...

So when I know I'm going to be buying something off Amazon or eBay, I'll go to Office Max, buy gift cards at 5x points, and then use the gift cards to make my purchases in an attempt to maximize.

I'm about to thin down my wallet a little bit though - I find I never use my Amex anymore (only got it for use at Costco) and since I'm moving, I'll be closing out my Hawaiian Airlines card.

I feel like a lot of it depends on where you fly / which hotels you prefer / added perks of each card. Certainly different strokes for different folks, as the expression goes.
 

Angry Bill

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Costco Citibank for gas and restaraunts . Pay it off each week so i dont get surprised at the end of the month. Any other card i have, i pay off each month. Each of these cards has different rewards based on what i purchase. Amex is always used for travel expenses.

But no matter what, i pay the balance each snd every month. No exceptions
 
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Costco Citibank for gas and restaraunts . Pay it off each week so i dont get surprised at the end of the month. Any other card i have, i pay off each month. Each of these cards has different rewards based on what i purchase. Amex is always used for travel expenses.

But no matter what, i pay the balance each snd every month. No exceptions
Absolutely agree with this advice - CC's can be either a fantastic tool for rewards/emergencies or a dangerous way to get burned and buried in debt.
 

Prine

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I follow along with a lot of others here who use the card and pay it off every month. Typically I always use my Cabelas card as I'm always buying firearm related items and get great perks and rewards for that.
 
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I follow along with a lot of others here who use the card and pay it off every month. Typically I always use my Cabelas card as I'm always buying firearm related items and get great perks and rewards for that.
I never realized Cabela's had their own credit card. Do points get transfered 1 point = 1 cent?
 

Cigary43

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Yeah buddy....I use different cards for their express purpose for travel, hotels, car rentals...each card tends to give better rewards and for travel I use Chase....Platinum Cards tend to bump you into a great category and one of those is a Marriott Card....great hotels and perks every year. I use Chase Southwest for domestic travel...who better than Southwest for great fares and now that they are expanding into the Caribbean it just makes it all the better. I have Chase Hilton and AMEX for Starwood points. I can't even remember paying for a hotel room in the last 5 years and we travel all over the world.

Discipline is needed to ensure that you don't get caught into the minimum payment thing.....I do have 2 cards with 0% interest for 2 years....no fees or transfer so if I do want to make a min payment for a month or two I don't sweat the interest. One can seriously have some real fun by accumulating points and getting freebies from the Card....I get one free hotel night every year from my 7 cards as well as bonus points of 5000 on my anniversary date...that's a $1000 at least I save. I get FREE travel insurance....no fees for International travel....medical is free in case I have a health issue....accident insurance is free on any carrier...it all adds up!
 

StogieNinja

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Costco Visa - 4% back on gas, 2% at Costco
Chase Amazon - 3-5% back at Amazon, no intl fees so also use with foreign vendors
Chase Freedom for most other things, they have 5% bonus categories every quarter as well.
Fred Meyers - 3x fuel points are nice, it's the closest to my house and we do most of our non-Costco shopping there.

I'm strongly considering adding an Amex Blue for the 6% back on grocery stores, and the Citi Double for the 2% back on everything else (1% when you use it, 1% when you pay it), and dumping the Freedom and Fred Meyer cards.

Always just redeem for cash back, we don't travel enough to make miles or hotel points worth it for us. I've taken two flights this year, both were short and cheap (Vegas, San Fran) and before that I hadn't flown since like 2012.
 

mdwest

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United visa.. everything goes on it.. and it gets paid off every month.. we carry no balance..

The wife and I like to travel.. and try to take at least 1 international trip every couple of years..

We typically have enough air miles stored on the credit card to get our flights for free.. and since she works in the hotel industry we get our hotel rooms dirt cheap as well (typically $35-$85 a night depending on location, time of year, and which brand of hotel we want to stay at)...

Between free flights and cheap hotels we can normally do 7-10 days vacations in Europe, Africa, South America, etc.. for less than a couple of grand all in once every two years..
 
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I have my credit union credit card for the day to day purchases and pay that off every 2 weeks on or around payday, so I leave no balance on it.

I also have American Express which was my go to up until a few months ago when I notice a lot of people and places don't accept them anymore. But they did have a nice point system to use on all eligible purchases which is really nice.

I also have a JetBlue credit card. You get 5,000 bonus points for spending ex amount of money in first 3 months. You get 3x points on JetBlue purchases, 2x points on restaurants and gas, 1x point on everything else I think?? Plus being a "trueblue" member for so many years now, I'm racking up the frequent flyer miles even faster.


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We run all our purchases through 2% back cards--my wife's capital one and my Citi DoubleCash. Usually ends up being a nice $1000-$1500/yr. I've always had a preference for the cash back cards, even though I'm sure in-kind benefits are probably better if you always want miles.

I too always pay off at the end of the month unless there's a zero percent interest promotion. I've never paid a dollar of credit card interest. Ever. Even in law school when I had minimal income.




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AlohaStyle

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I used to chase miles/points but got burned out... want to get back to doing it. Alaska Airlines is great for Seattle based people so I buy EVERYTHING using my Alaska card and pay it off every month. When I chased points a bit, it's amazing what you can get. For opening a Sun Trust bank account with multiple debit cards, I got 150,000 miles which got me a Business Class ticket to Dublin/London when I went a few years ago. Opening credit cards can get you a couple free flights, etc. I'm leaning towards getting a card where you can transfer points into any airline but haven't taken the time to figure out the best one yet. The best deal I got when I was on travel forums, was kind of a glitch on Expedia. It was meant to offer Canadians $300 credit when booking a trip to Vegas. It worked for Americans so I got a free flight and hotel to Vegas simply for booking. But you need to check those sites daily for deals like that. I don't take the time anymore...

Oh, and I realize good cash back cards are the smart play sometimes, but I never use that cash for "bonuses" and I never treat myself. With airline miles, I'm "forced" to use it for pleasure. :)
 
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