Rewards Credit Cards

I like my Chase card. Chase seems to have a pretty good grip on fraud protection and gets you a new card out pronto when you get hacked. Bank of America fucks you at every corner. Always getting “compromised” and “we will get you a new card in 7-10 days”.

I only have 1 credit card, a discover. Not really a rewards card per say, but there's no fees, customer service is beyond exceptional, and I get 1% back on everything, and 5% back on different stuff throughout the month. You can apply the cash back to your bill. I use it on everything, so I end up with $20+ a month in cashback. Sometimes $50 if the 5% is real good.

I have a handful of cards, but find the Discover card pays back the most cash..

I have had a AMEX card since 1992. I have the Gold card. I pay my balance every month and use it for work travel (flights/hotels) and my wife and I get free flights and a rental car every year for our trips to Germany for Oktoberfest.

I also have a Chase Freedom card since 1991 and use it when their quarterly bonus categories are something I spend a lot on. I put my daughters on it as authorized users to help build their credit and get more points.

I've got the Chase card as well - I spend 3-4k a month on it and it's been great for 'paying me back' in travel. As with any situation like this, the company is still getting the better end of the deal but anything back helps. Usually restaurants are x2 points along with travel, and a few others. Like you I travel/spend a boat load on business monthly.
I had been using a basic Wells Fargo visa through my bank for years and they would give you a measly $20 bucks back every now and then... can't believe I wasted all that time spending money on a card that didn't do anything.

Just my 2 cents

I have a Sam's Club card. No fees, 5% cash back on Fuel, 3% on travel, dining and entertainment, and 1% on everything else. Always pay the balance each month, average about an $800 check each spring. Don't know if this is still available, but it has paid me about 5k over the last few years.

TD Infinity card. Decent returns for travel through TD expedia or apply it to your charges. Keep a minimum balance of 5k in an all inclusive account and there are no annual or other banking fees.

david225 wrote:

Anyone have a rewards card that they really like? I am looking into getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred card since I do a lot of traveling and eat out frequently. It seems to have a lot of benefits and a pretty good sign on bonus. $95 annual fee, which I assume could be easily paid for in the points that you receive.

One gripe I have with this card (and many others) is that purchases made on gas is not included for the double points. I do a lot of traveling by car, which I'm sure is the case for most moto guys.

If you travel and your company reimburses you I would get the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I personally use it and the rewards are better plus you get a $300 travel credit and free Global Entry. The annual fee is $450 but once you get the $300 credit it makes it a lot more reasonable.

Let me know if you go that way. Chase has an awesome referral program for you and me both.

For gas, I have a grandfathered Amex bluebcash card (no fee) that gets me 5% back on gas and grocery. Amex would have to fight me to get me to give that card up. The new Amex blue cash is still pretty good for gas transactions.

A little off topic, and not really reward credits but reward points. Here in Phoenix we have a grocery store "Fry's" that offer reward point for fuel, based the their gift certificates cards purchases. How we've been doing it is before you do your regular shopping you purchase one of their gift cards, then when cashing out pay with the same card. At their sponsored stations you swipe the Fry's card at the pump and it will adjust and show how much you're going to pay per gallon. Many times we have paid less than $1 dollar per gallon. Only draw back is that it doesn't roll over month-to-month.

Utrider wrote:

I have a Sam's Club card. No fees, 5% cash back on Fuel, 3% on travel, dining and entertainment, and 1% on everything else. Always pay the balance each month, average about an $800 check each spring. Don't know if this is still available, but it has paid me about 5k over the last few years.

I use this card. Premium fuel averages 2.99/gal around me. Sams club always has fuel cheaper to members it seems. So after the cash back I’m paying about 2.38/gallon. If it’s not cheaper I use my 4% cash back card elsewhere. Use the GasBuddy app. It’s awesome.

I have about 6 credit cards.

Amazon 5% cash back. No fees unlimited. Use points for amazon purchases.

Pnc cash rewards 4% cash back on fuel, 3 restaurants blah blah caps once you hit $8,000 In a rolling year. my wife is an authorized user. We only use this card for fuel. Once we hit the $8000 cap. We swap to her onc cash rewards that’s I’m an authorized user on. So we get 4% cash back on up to $16,000 in fuel purchases a year. I always offer to pay for gas on moto trips. Everton else cuts me cash for their share etc.

Got a few other cards with no fees that I use. I think we get about 400-1500 a year in cash back rewards from all the usage.

You won’t get shit if you carry balances. You gotta pay these statement balances off monthly. But there’s no Incentive to use cash or debit cards anymore. Credit cards are safer if they’re compromised they give you the money back quick. I’d tour debit is compromised it’s a nightmare to get your money back if they drain your checking and savings.

Be smart get the credit cards to work for you. couple cards I have $30,000 limit on and they will send me promotions all the time for 0% interest for 18 months if I use it with as little as a 1% fee for the transaction. So I built a deck. Took out $5,000. Paid a 1% fee. Cost me $50 to keep that cash. To which I invested it so it has 18 months To make a return for me. I pay minimums until the last month of promotion then pay off the rest. Last time I did this I made about $2300 off my investment. and still purchased a good that I normally woulda purchased with cash.....it’s a great time to make money in America If you take the time to do it. Money is cheap right now. And it can make a solid return for you.

ALSO! I’m a bw3 addict. When giant eagle offers 20 cent fuel perks for $50 gift card I buy about 100-300 worth. (60 cents to 1.40 off a gallon) plus use my 4% cash back card and there are times when I’m not paying a whole lot for fuel. Just gotta be smart about it. It’s kinda fun finding deals too. Maybe I’m wierd. However the fuel perks aren’t the greatest because you gotta exclusively buy stuff from giant eagle. You’re better off with a sams club fuel 5% cash back card over The long run.

whyZ wrote:

A little off topic, and not really reward credits but reward points. Here in Phoenix we have a grocery store "Fry's" that offer reward point for fuel, based the their gift certificates cards purchases. How we've been doing it is before you do your regular shopping you purchase one of their gift cards, then when cashing out pay with the same card. At their sponsored stations you swipe the Fry's card at the pump and it will adjust and show how much you're going to pay per gallon. Many times we have paid less than $1 dollar per gallon. Only draw back is that it doesn't roll over month-to-month.

Just an fyi, frys is kroger. Several grocery stores do gas points, krogers system is without equal though.

I carry around 12-14 cards in my wallet, they all serve a purpose. Some get me into Lounges in the airports, some for fuel, travel, etc. I never carry a balance forward and I use Amex for the MR rewards, Chase for the UR rewards, Citi for the City Thank You points and SPG for it's transfer ability to numerous hotel and airline partners.

If you don't think they don't add up to do it right and do your research, you are sorely mistaken. Wife and I took a 10 daytrip across the planet in March to Toronto, Beijing, Singapore and Indonesia and did it all on points and in First or Business class. Total out of pocket was around $1k for the whole trip in fees.

I just got back from Mexico for 3 days for 3 people with our Airbnb, total out of pocket was around $150 per person after points. That included the Apartment we rented.

If cashback is your thing then go for an Alliant banking card, if travel is your cup of tea, then take Tcannon's advice that CSR card is solid and has great domestic transfer partners.

Here is us on St. Patty's day in the Singapore Airlines Private Room lounge, you can only get into here by flying on the A380 in first class. Yep rocking that $5 Walmart shirt for the $8000 flight that costs me only a few hundred for some fees. Cheers

Great points from everyone and I appreciate hearing about the opinions on all the different cards.

I'm still relatively young and I've never had a credit card before. So essentially I don't have a credit score, unless my school loan repayments are being reported. It's pretty cool stuff that you are able to gain all of the perks from these rewards by doing it right. That trip to Singapore and Indonesia sounds amazing!

Georgie- you make a great point that paying in cash or debit doesn't make sense anymore. I never really thought about it, but I should have gotten a credit card sooner as I almost always use a debit card to pay for stuff. I never got to reap from the benefits of a rewards card from these previous purchases.

Again, thank you everyone for their inputs!

Ask for credit line increases couple times a year. if you don’t have balances. That makes your credit score go up. Banks love it if you got $140,000 in credit and a 0 balance.

david225 wrote:

Great points from everyone and I appreciate hearing about the opinions on all the different cards.

I'm still relatively young and I've never had a credit card before. So essentially I don't have a credit score, unless my school loan repayments are being reported. It's pretty cool stuff that you are able to gain all of the perks from these rewards by doing it right. That trip to Singapore and Indonesia sounds amazing!

Georgie- you make a great point that paying in cash or debit doesn't make sense anymore. I never really thought about it, but I should have gotten a credit card sooner as I almost always use a debit card to pay for stuff. I never got to reap from the benefits of a rewards card from these previous purchases.

Again, thank you everyone for their inputs!

Go with a discover, they'll approve just about anyone. The fancy cards with yearly fees usually require good credit history. Just make sure you pay off the balance every month, interest is going to hover around 15~20%.
Also your students loans do count towards your credit. So you've got a credit score, and it ought to be decent so long as you've been making payments (not late)

I get a flight and half usually each year for a $100 credit card. Worth the money IMO.

I have a Capital One Venture card that isn't too bad. The main reason I got it is because I have a few household bills that automatically charge to my card (in yen), and CO is the only card I found that doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee. They also do $1 = 1.5 miles (I think), so if you use it quite a bit, it's easy to build up points.

My AMEX and CIBC Visa are cash back reward cards.

My Chase United card got me to Unadilla a couple years back to check another track off the bucket list for a whopping $11.00 round trip.

Here’s a snapshot of 2 if my earned rewards. I’m gonna redeem for dirtbike goodies or something cool I believe.

Top one is my 1.75% cash back card I use everywhere for ourchases other than fuel.

Bottom is fuel (4% cashback) and restaurants (3%) only. $149.59 back in my pocket from fuel purchases and I only opened that card in August.

So you can see why cash isn’t really worth using unless it’s at your local mx shop to wheel n deal. Cash is still king for dirtbike purchases.