Sorry if there’s already a thread about this but I’m interested in learning more about credit card bonuses, points, perks, fees, etc.

I usually just use my debit card like a sucker and recently realized I could be accumulating points on a credit card, pay it off every month, and it doesn’t cost me anything extra. Not to mention the fact that credit cards come with more purchase protection.

Here are my current cards and perks:

Wyndham Business Earners - I use this for my side business. It comes with a Diamond status match with Caesars so I get free valet, free parking, no resort fees, and $100 food credit. Not to mention free nights in the Caribbean and some outside of Vegas casinos. It has a $99 annual fee and I pay it off every month. Business expenses only.

Citi Double Cash - Literally just got approved for this one and waiting for it in the mail. This will be my everyday card. 2% cash back on all purchases and no annual fee.

Citi Rewards - My wife has this one and we don’t really use it. No annual fee and pretty weak perks. It’s sort of our emergency card, I guess. Not really sure why we have it.


That’s it, that’s currently all I have.

Does anyone have any cards they recommend?

Amazon card for 5% cashback on all Amazon purchases.

Capital One card 5% cashback on all Walmart purchases, but I think that is going away and they are switching to another card without that.

MGM card for Pearl and free parking.

Robinhood card 3% on everything, but you have to be Gold to get it, which if you already are getting 5% interest then it's a good thing.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon. Do they have an annual fee or anything?

No annual fee and can just use it as a statement credit a few days before you pay your bill so it clears first.

You get 5% off your prime renewal also.

Alright, I’ll be applying for this one next. Thanks!

Just got the Amazon one. How do I set up automatic payments?

Never mind. I guess you have to do it through Chase.

There's this very long OOT thread about Credit in general that's great:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/3...-w-jl-1264513/

Blue Cash Preferred Amex which I have is pretty good imo:

Annual Fee
$0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.


Benefits:
6% cash back from U.S. Shopmarkets (grocery stores) up to $6000 spent in 1 year and then 1%.
6% cash back on select U.S. Streaming Subscriptions
3% cash back on U.S. gas stations and transit


Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit.


Welcome Offer:
Earn $250 Back
after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership. You will receive the $250 back in the form of a statement credit.

$84 Disney Bundle Credit
You can get a $7 monthly statement credit after using your enrolled Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express to spend $9.99 or more per month on an auto-renewing subscription to the Disney Bundle or on any other monthly subscriptions or add-ons purchased at DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com, or Plus.espn.com in the U.S.

A great No Annual Fee credit card I have is the Chase Freedom:


$200 BONUS
Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.


DINING
3%

on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services


DRUGSTORE
3%

on drugstore purchases


Travel
5%

on travel purchased through Chase TravelSM


EVERYTHING ELSE
1.5%

on all other purchases

I was looking at that Amex, actually. Was very close to pulling the trigger but the math didn’t quite add up as being better than the Citi Double Cash for me. I think the annual fee put it over. Plus, I really hate annual fees and only do it for the Wyndham so I could have the Caesars perks.

I just feel like it’s silly to pay someone to let you rack up debt. Probably why I’m not a Costco member either. Why would I pay someone to let me spend more money there?

The 6% back in grocery makes it worthwhile for me and I also hate the concept of an Annual Fee but #mathandnumbers, YMMV. Plus there's occasionally some AmEx offers that they give that I partake in, which give me extra value.

For example, I got 3 months free of Para+ with Showtime because the credit back was for the entire monthly charge. And before I upgraded to AmEx Blue I had the standard AmEx and utilized a $50 off (via statement credit) offer when purchasing a Dell Monitor.

I can not recommend ANY credit card in this modern high interest rate environment... Maybe American Express if you pay off every month.

That’s the thing about all the cards is it’s very user specific. Some have great offers for restaurants and stuff but we rarely ever go out to eat at all. Travel points are the same thing for us. If we travel, we drive. So booking cheaper flights and all that isn’t really that enticing.

And actually, I didn’t realize they offered 3% on gas….i think I’ll apply for this after all.

They’re high but as you said, if you pay them off every month, it’s irrelevant.

I set up autopay for the full balance and it works out.

I am now picturing Schu as the person clogging up self checkout with cash.

If you plan to pay it off every month, then get the card with the best benefits for you. If not, then you probably shouldn't have one.

What Randall wrote. OP mentioned points, but I prefer cashback.

As for me, my main CC in the Capital One Quicksilver Sam Jackson's always on about. 1.5% cashback, no max.

Discover and Citi world both have 5% cashback on a specific category or store. Changes every quarter, so I have to pay a little attention. Discover better in redeeming--they just knock the last cycle's cashback off the bill each cycle. Citi makes me accumulate $50 or more, then get a check.

Target card for going over there. 5% off, immediately on the purchase.

Then I have the Chase/United Explorer card. When I travel, it's with United. Get extra points when I purchase tickets using that, or anything on a flight. Also get to be in group 2 when boarding, so no fight for overhead space. At $95/year, probably right on the edge of having value, given my 1-2x/yearly travels.

Amex Platinum - $695 fee

35% back on points used. $200 in statement credits on airline of choice. $200 Dell credit 2x per year. $10 cell phone credit per month. Free TSA pre check. Centurion Lounge access. Hertz President's Circle. Fine Hotels which will give you late check out, early check in plus $100-300 in various resort credits plus free breakfast for 2. Gold status with Marriott and Hilton. Hilton gives you $15 per person in resort credit at a minimum per day. There will be around a 10 ongoing offers such as spend $100 get $20 back at Nike, use 4 times per year.

If you travel very much it is hard to beat all of the benefits. That doesn't even include the 5x points for travel. Other Amex cards are better for everyday purchases, but it feeds into the same system so you end up getting 35% back on those points as well.

Just got the Amex Blue Cash Preferred. That’ll be my grocery/gas card until I hit the $6k max on groceries. Then I’ll go to the Citi Double Cash.

That annual fee is wild! But I guess if you travel a lot, it’s worth it.

I do own a chase amazon CC as I shop quite a bit with them. I will say that they do offer 0% loans over a year, which is nice if you see an opportunity.

I like to apply for Credit Cards that offer 0% interest on your balance for a long time as an opening offer. There are a couple here in the UK where the 0% lasts for 24 months. You still have to make the (small) minimum payment each month but if you do that there is no interest charge on the balance. You then use this card for all your purchases and can then take the fiat that you would have used to pay off the card at the end of the month in normal circumstances and instead put it into a savings account or whatever paying 5% per year and just leave it there. I quoted 5% as its whats easily obtainable in the UK at the moment. At the end of the 24 months pay off the balance on the card from the savings account and you get to keep the interest you made for free. It generates a lot better returns than cashback cards (for me, others my vary) provided you can get a decent savings account for the balance and provided of course you have the discipline to do it correctly. It's also not for everyone to have large amounts of debt on their credit reports, particularly if you are thinking of applying for a loan to buy a house within a couple of years. If you do decide to do it when the promotional period is up you can sometimes balance transfer for free to another 0% card and keep the whole thing rolling on.

If not doing that I just go with whatever card provides the best cashback/incentive. There is a trend recently in the UK for some debit card providers to try and compete with cashback on purchases.

This is pretty much exactly what I do when renewing my season ticket or making similar larger purchases

Costco Citi card for gas: 4% cash back
Apple Card where I can Apple pay: 2% cash back
Bonus whored Capital One business card recently: spend $6k in 3 months for $750 bonus, no annual fee.
For business I use Chase Ink Premier. It was $1000 bonus for 10k spend in 3 months.

I need to look at the Amex stuff and see what bonus whoring is available now. I had the Blue Preferred and the Hilton ones, but got mad and shredded them when they refused to waive a fee when I was a few days late on a payment for the first ever time as a 10 year customer. I was sick while on vacation and missed it until I got home. Citi waived theirs in about 5 seconds of talking to a customer service rep. Amex, no. Maybe it's because I never used either of them, except for groceries.

Also, whatever card you're using, you should log into you're account and dig around and there's usually different vendor offers you can opt into for higher cash back rates with that card.