OT: Best Rewards card....
Wondering if there is a better one out there than what i have.....
Speedy Rewards Credit Card.
- upon issuance of card, if you spend $500 within 3 months (and make the payment) you received 25k free points.
- each $1 spent at Speedway gives 50 points
- each $1 spent elsewhere gives 10 points
- turn in 128,000 for $100.00 (vanilla visa card).
- tons of bonus points - for example, each month i pick a perk that gives 100 points for each fountain drink (i refill a 32 ouncer that costs .69 - and my 7th one is free).
Point rack up fairly fast. I seem to get between $200 and $300 a year free - which buys me 2 nice 10' kayaks on black friday, or a 55" LCD on black friday each year.
Anyone have a better rewards card?
Credit is the devil.
*debbil
This is correct. I don't use it at all and have never had a credit card. Mortgage financed through wife but down payment was cash I saved. Paying for everything with cash often gets me discounts of around 10% with independent retailers.
I have a pretty solid setup if you live near Kroger Fuel Centers. I have the Amex Blue Cash Preferred. It gives you 6% on up to $6k per year at grocery stores. If you have a Kroger Plus card, you wait until they run a 4x gift card promotion. You go to Kroger, buy gift cards for places you plan to spend money at that month and then that earns you discounts off fuel ($250 spent equals $1 off per gallon). Then when at the pump you use another card that has a 3% return on fuel purchases.
Other cards I have: Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Freedom Unlimited (unlimited 1.5% back, 2.25% thru Ultimate Rewards/travel purchases when used with Sapphire Reserve), Chase Freedom (hit their 5% categories, translates to 7.5% return thru Ultimate Rewards), Chase Ink, Chase Ink Unlimited, Capital One Spark (2% business return) and Amex Delta Gold.
Having this many cards (my wife has the same total, just duplicates for the most valuable cards) takes a lot of discipline but leads to a great credit score.
Why no Ink Preferred? 80k bonus!
Granted, I will probably product change or cancel after the 2nd annual fee hits.
The Amex Blue Cash Preferred is an awesome card. It is a bummer they limit the grocery spend to $6k/year or it would be amazing for manufactured spending.
Oh I'm a churner too, just didn't mention that. Got that card for the biz a couple years back, right around the time the Reserve came out with their $1500 bonus. That was legit. I usually open somewhere between 3-6 accounts per year for my wife and I. Key Bank had a ridiculous promotion where I just had to do a $500 deposit into a new checking account and they'd give me $400, with no minimum balance. Also was a soft pull on the credit, which I appreciated.
Yeah I have the card for my wife and I so we get the limit to $12k, and also have the no-fee one, but that's only 3% back. Still better than nothing. I assume you're just as passionate about this as I am. Really is a glorious game. Just sucks for the chumps that don't realize what they're missing and foot the bill for people like us haha.
I always figured there was a high overlap of hobbies.
also stinks for those in an MS wasteland. SUBs only for me!
And its not the people who pay their bill every month that foot our bill, its the people who carry a balance.
also stinks for those in an MS wasteland. SUBs only for me!
Meh. SUB churning and MS kinda go hand in hand. It is a lot easier to churn thru a lot of SUBs when you throw some MS into the mix.
totally agree but I live in an area where there is no MS opportunities and if there is, they are very very very tight lipped about it.
Ohh I gotcha. I was reading that like you would rather just do SUBs then mess with MS. Having a walmart or grocery that will let you use VGCs for MO is obviously pretty crucial.
Still plenty of value from churning SUBs. Just not as fast without MS.
What language are you guys speaking?
Hahaha fair enough. Credit card churning is its own language.
MS=Manufactured Spending
SUB=Sign up bonus
VGC=Visa gift card
MO=Money order.
Yeah very true. I did a little MS when I was paying off my student loans, but I always felt like I was stealing. Churning doesn't feel like that to me. Though I always get a weird look from bankers when they see my credit score and I tell them all the banks I bank at haha.
i came here to recommend the Amex blue cash card as well. The 6% on groceries is amazing. easily makes up for the annual fee over any other card offering 3% for groceries. they give 3% back at gas stations and department stores which is a nice bonus as well
i just signed up for the Capital One Savor card this year as it gives 4% back dining out and entertainment. plus got $500 for signing up. I plan on cancelling or downgrading to their 3% card after the year to avoid the annual fee (first year waived)
i keep a discover and chase card around for the rolling categories. they're good for a 5% off of amazon, home improvement, etc. if you time your big purchases right
I have 3 cards.
Amazon card for 5% back on all amazon purchases.
Citi double cash for 2% back on all purchases.
CapitalOne Savior card for 4% back on dinning and entertainment
Citi Costco Rewards:
4% back on gas (their gas is already typically cheaper than everywhere else)
3% back on restaurants and travel
2% back at Costco
1% back on everything else
We're currently at $120.00 back through May, but we don't drive a ton.
We have the Amazon only card for 5% back, Target debit for 5% off / back (not sure which it is), and a Chase that has a rotating 5% back and 1% on everything else, but we use all of these less than the Costco one.
We basically do all our shopping on Amazon. So i just recently got the amazon card. Get 5% back on each purchase at amazon and whole foods.
Sam's Club Synchrony Bank MasterCard 5% back on gasoline from Sams, 3% dining and travel and 1% on everything else.
My wife has these sexual reward cards she gives me , I never redeem them ..
Don’t worry. Someone else is redeeming them.
wow. talking 2% cards vs category bonuses, 5/24 vs Amex 5/6...on MGOBLOG??!?
WORLDS: COLLIDED
I now expect to see a Wolverine recruiting article over on my secret MS forum.
...
Speaking of which--WE NEED A UM REWARDS CARD
that board might be the only one that is harsher than the mgoboard
Very likely. I recently got roasted in a MS forum for my choices of cards. I have earned ~120,000 UR points in the last 6 weeks....
solid earn! What card did they roast you over? Or did you as a question in the discussion thread lol
Mostly the fact that I got the other 2 Ink cards before the Ink Preferred, even though I mentioned the Preferred was likely my next card (and I now am approved).
They are ruthless
lol yeah fair enough. If you go for more CIPs don't forget to self refer.
Massive Hitters?
For those with the Costco/Sam's cards, do you find it annoying having to wait for one time a year to get your cash back? Or do you sort of file it away in your brain and then come redemption time you're like, "Oh look I just found a few hundred bucks in the couch!"?
If this is a deal breaker the PNC Cash rewards card gives you 4% on gas and 3% on restaurants upto 8k per year. You can redeem starting at $25 of cashback.
Not annoying to wait at all. In fact Sam's credits you in February, which is also when you get your tax refund or pay taxes if you made an error. Also about bonus time, if applicable. The 3 together set the budget for summer vacation for our family.
It’s inconvenient, but I don’t mind it too much. I track how much we’ve got coming back to us in their apps.
Delayed gratification often reaps better rewards!
Amazon Prime rewards card. Must be a Prime member (duh!), but you get a flat 5% reward for all Amazon purchases. Hard to beat if you spend a lot at Amazon.
Love the Southwest card. 100k points gets you a buddy pass for 2 years, and it doesn’t take the miles away when you get the buddy pass. Our family of 4 hasn’t paid for a plane ticket in a long time
Plus they now fly to Hawaii
I got the 1-year pass as a signup bonus this spring, but getting to 100k points in a year through the card feels impossible. Am I missing something?
depends on your comfort with business cards.
Some cards aren't really offered unless you meet certain criteria, for instance, $10k+ spending every month.
Best is probably also relative. I could probably save money in having 3 credit cards that specialize in things like travel/restaurants, gas, etc, but I prefer just the one for simplicity, so I do a 2 back with travel benefits/extra points on travel.
Fidelity offers a 2% back that goes straight to your IRA/Roth. I set my younger sister up with that after college, just a good way to get a young person in the right frame of mind.
Marriott Rewards is pretty good once you get to Platinum level
We've got a couple of cards we use, but my personal favorite is our Delta Platinum AmEx card. Its got a $195 annual fee so it isn't cheap, but you get a round trip companion pass to anywhere in the lower 48 once a year, so depending on where you use it to fly to, the card can pay for itself and then some just on this benefit alone. We used the pass to pay for my wife's flights on our trip to San Francisco last October. That would've normally cost $475-$500, but instead, her round trip flight was paid for. Free bags for both my wife and I also saves you anywhere from $25-$50 each way.
The point system starting out is good, not great (1 point for every dollar spent, and then 2 points for every dollar spent with Delta), but we're going to hit silver medallion status before the end of the year, as we had some big purchases come up since January. Once that happens, we start getting first class upgrades (assuming there are open seats 24 hours ahead of departure), and then more importantly, 7 points for every dollar spent. So those frequent flier miles start adding up really, really fast.
Discounted drinks on the plane, and discounts on the Delta Sky Club are cool. Not a reason to get the card, but still nice to have. I know some people who like the Southwest card a lot more, and if we didn't live in Atlanta, we may have gone with that card. But with living in Atlanta, the Delta card just made way too much sense not to pick up.
For others that fly Delta, AMEX has an increased signup bonus right now, 75,000 pts.
Read that a little while ago. I only got 35,000 when I signed up a few years ago.
Weak.
Since Amex has a once in a lifetime signup bonus policy, you should ALWAYS wait for a stepped up bonus.
Silver medallion...upgrades...live in ATL.
Sorry you aren't getting upgraded very much (if at all).
There are ATL flights that have 50+ Diamonds
That doesn't really bother me all that much. Getting to sit in first class or Delta Comfort would be great, I won't lie. But I'm not going to lose sleep over not making the cut.
Being upped from 1 point per dollar to 7 points per dollar is really what I'm after.
I don't think you are reading the terms correctly. Silver medallion members get 7 miles per dollar vs 5 miles per dollar for non medallion members when spending on delta flights. For your american express card you will continue to earn at the same rates. 2x miles on Delta purchases and 1x miles on everything else. You'll definitely get extra miles for your delta purchases. But you won't be changing your delta earnings with every day purchases. Sorry for the bad news.
This is my biggest problem with airlines cards. If you live in a hub city, getting status from a card is basically worthless because there will be a ton of diamonds on all your flights.
Could someone please redeem all of their Mgopoints in exchange for just one meaty Michigan Baseball-related post on the main page? They earned a trip to the CWS for the first time in 35 years on Sunday and unless my eyes deceive me, all I've seen are muppets.
Go listen to Sam Webb interview Coach Bakich on wtka webcast today.
GREAT. He wasn't even fired.
That card sounds pretty bad honestly. If 128,000 points is a $100 gift card, that 25k point bonus is worth just under $20. Almost any credit card with a bonus will have a better bonus.
The speedway spend gets you a solid return of 3.9%, but all other spend gets you only 0.78%.
For reference, most top credit cards would have a bonus that would double your $200-300/year, if not more. The Ink Preferred I just got has a welcome bonus of $1200.
Chase has a lot of nice cards. I currently have the Sapphire Reserve, Freedom, Ink Preferred, Ink Unlimited, and Ink Cash. The Sapphire Reserve is probably the best CC if you travel very much. The $450 fee is tough, but it has a ton of benefits. The Freedom and Freedom unlimited are both nice 0 fee chase cards.
Amex has some nice cards too. The Gold has great earning rates and some nice benefits. Their Hilton line of cards has a lot of value but is pretty specific. The Everyday, Everyday preferred, and Blue Cash Preferred are all good for groceries and other daily expenses and have a 0 or $95 annual fee. The Blue Business Plus gets you 2x points on everything and has a 0 fee, but no welcome bonus.
Cap One Quicksilver cash or Citi Double Cash would be solid and simple $0 fee cards.
My blockbuster card is great. I’m actually supposed to go to the one by my house with Keith Jackson and current Michigan assistant coach deandre Haynes later today. Keith has some inside info that bakich is getting fired.
UGG girl is great.