Your best credit card?

[marine]

along the lines of the of the "how can the banks do this?" thread and the interest free money and what not...

What is everybody's "best" credit card you have in your wallet?

Mine:
Citi Cash Mastercard: 5% cash back on ALL purchases for the first three months. I've been churning this one... cancelling after 3 months and signing up for a new one under wife's name, then going back to my name after 3 more months

Shell Mastercard: 5% cash back on gas - this one is nice because there is no minumum and your 5% cash back is applied to your next month's bill automatically.

Hilton American Express card: 5 pts per dollar on hotel expenses. 3 pts per every non hotel dollar. I stay at Hiltons quite a bit, so this card coupled with a high status I end up earning about 22 points per dollar during hotel stays. Which translates to, every 20 nights I sleep in a hotel, I am getting a free 6 night stay at a luxury resort (like NYC Waldorf Astoria) when I go on vacation.

Edited to add:
Citi Home Rebate Card: 6% back on all purchase for utilities, tv, phone, internet. The 6% is held by Citi (meaning you dont see it in your pocket) and each year on the anniversary of your start date they put that accumulated money to the principal of your mortgage. So it's basically like a free mortgage payment.
End of edit

I don't pay for ANYthing with cash or debit. EVERYthing goes on the CC for me. It's nice getting a few hundred bucks back at the end of each month from that 5% card.

What's in your wallet?

 

[saint]

Good question.

Currently we use an Amex Gold Rewards card for everything. Like you said I rarely pay for anything with cash/debit if I can help it.

Complaints I have with this card:

Annual fee for mine and wife's card is around 140 bucks.

I used to get double points on gas, groceries etc and amex pulled that.

Some smaller businesses don't take amex due to the high merchant fees.

I was looking around and was beginning to think a straight up cash back card would be a better option. The Amex was appealing because the points could be used on pretty much any type of reward. What they don't tell you is that to convert to miles you have to end up paying like 30 bucks which defeats the point. I do feel some loyalty to amex though because they have helped me out on a few instances where they didn't have to because i've been with them 12 years.

 

[marine]

American Express Cash Rebate Card
American Express Blue Card

these are the amex cash back cards.

I keep looking at the Gold card for business expenses and what not, but that big fee... I can't stomach paying that unless I were to push ALL my spending to it to offset that fee.

 

[vinnie]

What's in your wallet?

..............

 

[crdshrk007]

hey saint

hey saint

I called american express and told them I was going to cancel my gold card and business card, told them all other of my cards has no yearly fee, and they actually took away my yearly fees.


try it

 

[justin22g]

does anybody watch Dave Ramsey?

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

I called american express and told them I was going to cancel my gold card and business card, told them all other of my cards has no yearly fee, and they actually took away my yearly fees.


try it

Had wondered about that--like marine I hate to pay fee if don't have to--but hate canceling card I've had for 30 years--Have had fees waived in recent years because of Ameriprise brokererage account but got notice recently that they were discontinuing waiver next year--and had thoughts of canceling then.

 

[bsucards]

Someone mentioned app o roma
Here is a link
http://app-o-rama.com/o/index.htm

Like mentioned in other threads, there is numerous amount of different credit cards based on what your looking for with good deals.

Right now the popular ones are the gas ones

 

[hedgehog]

capital one, my wife and I put everything on our credit card and pay it off at the end of each month with 1% cash back

 

[ageecee]

does anybody watch Dave Ramsey?

Listen to him everyday...



I havent had a CC in about 7-8 years now. Only have a debit card and love it.

 

[marine]

Listen to him everyday...



I havent had a CC in about 7-8 years now. Only have a debit card and love it.

I have watched Dave Ramsey once. I gotta say, I'm not so fond of him. Seems to me he projects an attitude that credit cards are evil and should not be used at all.

And, I can see why, some people misuse them. But...if you treat your CC like a debit card.. and pay attention to what you are buying and pay if off each month (just like a debit card) you can take advantage of the rewards programs and get a lil something extra as well.

airline miles
hotel points
Cash back each month
free products
etc.

It's like sitting at the dinner table and always just eating the main dish until you get full and never having the desert.

 

[gardenweasel]

along the lines of the of the "how can the banks do this?" thread and the interest free money and what not...

What is everybody's "best" credit card you have in your wallet?

Mine:
Citi Cash Mastercard: 5% cash back on ALL purchases for the first three months. I've been churning this one... cancelling after 3 months and signing up for a new one under wife's name, then going back to my name after 3 more months

Shell Mastercard: 5% cash back on gas

Hilton American Express card: 5 pts per dollar on hotel expenses. 3 pts per every non hotel dollar. I stay at Hiltons quite a bit, so this card coupled with a high status I end up earning about 22 points per dollar during hotel stays. Which translates to, every 20 nights I sleep in a hotel, I am getting a free 6 night stay at a luxury resort (like NYC Waldorf Astoria) when I go on vacation.

I don't pay for ANYthing with cash or debit. EVERYthing goes on the CC for me. It's nice getting a few hundred bucks back at the end of each month from that 5% card.

What's in your wallet?

marine...are you saying you`re getting cash back without running a balance on that card?....with no contract or time frame stipulation?....

mastervcard gives you 5% cash back and they get nothing in return?....you don`t have to transfer a balance or anything?...

i don`t carry a balance so i`m a tad ignorant about these things...

sounds like a license to steal money..i`m shocked they`re that stupid...:shrug:

 

[marine]

Correct GW.

ALL purchases on that card get 5% cash back. At the end of every billing cycle they send me a check for 5% of the total.
no need to carry over balances, no annual fees, no nothing. just use the card and collect the check.
Now, that 5% is for the first 3 months only. after that is up, it drops to 1.2% cash back.

So what I had been doing is opening a card in my name, use it for three months, then close it. Open a new card in my wife's name, use it 3 months, then close it.. then open one in my name again.. etc etc.

rumor is they are closing down the 5% promo very very soon because they have been getting killed by it. It was a terrible idea for them to do from a business standpoint.

CC's make their money by charging the merchant a fee everytime they swipe one of their cards. The more you use it, the more the CC gets from the retailer.

 

[kneifl]

I like the Starwood Amex, well worth the $30 annual fee. Don't have to bother with any other frequent flyer cards.

kneifl

 

[PocketAces]

I use a amazon.com visa. Everytime I spend 2000 I get a $25 gift cert for amazon.

We put EVERYTHING on there and pay it off each month.

Then anytime we need a gift or something we pull a few of the gift certs out.

We haven't had to "pay" for a gift in a long time.

 

[saint]

Thanks for the info about the card fee. I'd be afraid they would call my bluff and let me cancel it, and being with them 12 years i've gotten one or two perks.

Amex used to have a good cash-back program but they've since limited it. I was looking at getting one for the business but they really cut it back.

 

[Franky Wright]

Excellent thread guys :00hour

How about balance transfers? Any great ideas on those?...:shrug:

 

[gardenweasel]

Correct GW.

ALL purchases on that card get 5% cash back. At the end of every billing cycle they send me a check for 5% of the total.
no need to carry over balances, no annual fees, no nothing. just use the card and collect the check.
Now, that 5% is for the first 3 months only. after that is up, it drops to 1.2% cash back.

So what I had been doing is opening a card in my name, use it for three months, then close it. Open a new card in my wife's name, use it 3 months, then close it.. then open one in my name again.. etc etc.

rumor is they are closing down the 5% promo very very soon because they have been getting killed by it. It was a terrible idea for them to do from a business standpoint.

CC's make their money by charging the merchant a fee everytime they swipe one of their cards. The more you use it, the more the CC gets from the retailer.

you`re such a scamp....:142smilie..i like your style...:thumb:

 

[dawgball]

Good site to compare credit card offers for arbitrage.

http://www.creditcards.com/

It probably does not have every card, but a good place to start.

Also, the build-your-own credit card from Capital One is very cool. I built a spreadsheet to see what setup would be best for your spending habits.

 

[3 Seconds]

So what I had been doing is opening a card in my name, use it for three months, then close it. Open a new card in my wife's name, use it 3 months, then close it.. then open one in my name again.. etc etc.
.

This will negatively affect your credit score if you continue to this in the long run. Multiple consumer requested closures on short term accounts are viewed as unstable.