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Yeah. Most people are starting to see the 50k point upgrade offers now. It’s not a bad deal. For an extra $10/year, you get an extra point per dollar of spend and an extra 10,000 points on your free night redemption. You lose out on travel insurance and the extra elite night credit per $3,000 of spend.
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Oct 24, 2018 03:54
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does anyone have any feelings about travel rewards credit cards? all the cards I have for business / personal are cashback (amex blue cash preferred, BofA Cash rewards preferred, two capital one spark business cards) and I'm generally happy with them. I always pay my balances in full, and rack up probably $1-2k in cashback a year, which seems pretty decent - I imagine my annual spend is $75-100k between cards. I fly Delta on ~50-60% of my flights though, and have around $15k of reimbursable expenses I could put on a card soon, so just reading up on travel rewards options that I could get an immediate kickback from. most of what I've heard is that airlines rewards cards generally suck, but just wanting a sanity check - I've always *wanted* to be the dude getting upgraded on flights and stuff, but just am not sure I spend enough money and buy enough full price flights to make Delta's cards worthwhile. I've cross referenced nerdwallet, but they don't have many details or reviews for the Amex cards - I guess the one I'd consider dropping is one of my spark business cards for the Delta Reserve or Platinum amex, assuming I'd qualify.
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Oct 24, 2018 04:59
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mindphlux posted:does anyone have any feelings about travel rewards credit cards? My understanding is that the Delta cards can help you get status, but it's not enough on it's own. You should be able to easily look up what they give and see if that would give you a status bump. Otherwise points are only worth it if you are flexible, willing to put in the time to learn the statement to find flights, and want to fly business . class. There are other perks that might be worth it too, both Skyclub access if you're on Delta metal and Amex Plat earns 5x on airfare iirc.
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Oct 24, 2018 07:08
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mindphlux posted:does anyone have any feelings about travel rewards credit cards? I know I'm probably not alone in wanting to be nosy about your spending categories. You have to be in the top end of posters for annual spend, what is most of that? Capital cost for your business?
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Oct 24, 2018 13:03
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The cards alone won’t get you showered in upgrades, that comes from flying a lot. The cards (for any airline) will give you a sign on bonus of miles, which are usually enough for a round trip domestic ticket. Then they’ll give little perks like a free bag on all your flights, maybe some discounts on in flight purchases. The ones with the higher annual fee (~$450 or so) will get you access to the airline lounges at airports and after spending a certain amount will often give you a certain amount of “credit” towards gaining a higher status level. E: can you travel a lot personally? Do you have the vacation time to do so, or like flying internationally? What I would do if I were you is put all my expenses on a single airline card - for you probably delta - and rake in the sign on bonus and all the miles that will give you. Along with your current delta flights, build up your delta miles and use that to fly for free on vacations. Or get a delta card and Amex that gives you membership rewards (MRs) to get both bonuses and the MRs are transferable 1:1 to delta miles, so you get a little extra. Cacafuego fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Oct 24, 2018 |
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Oct 24, 2018 14:39
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asur posted:My understanding is that the Delta cards can help you get status, but it's not enough on it's own. You should be able to easily look up what they give and see if that would give you a status bump.
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Oct 24, 2018 14:51
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Something Offal posted:I know I'm probably not alone in wanting to be nosy about your spending categories. You have to be in the top end of posters for annual spend, what is most of that? Capital cost for your business? Steam titles, surely.
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Oct 24, 2018 20:18
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mindphlux posted:does anyone have any feelings about travel rewards credit cards? It really depends on the true breakdown of your spending. You can easily beat the $1-2k you're getting at the moment though. Harry fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Oct 24, 2018 |
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Oct 24, 2018 21:59
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DJCobol posted:Only the platinum and reserve card. The spending threshold on the platinum is $25k for 10k MQMs, and for the reserve its $30k for 15k MQMs. Neither of those alone will get you any status since you need at least 25k MQMs for Silver. However, if you travel on Delta a lot like I do, the cards are enough to get you from silver to gold, or in my case, gold to platinum with the MQMs you rack up from flying. There is a second threshold. The reserve gets you 30k mqm at 60k spend. Apparently there’s an offer now for another 15k mqm at 90k spend too. But yeah that’s not enough for gold and good luck getting upgraded with silver unless you fly at weird times, to uncommon locations, in a non hub city.
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Oct 24, 2018 23:39
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I’d be hard pressed to recommend an airline card to most people. If you have something that you really want to do, that’s simply out of reach money-wise like “I want to fly First Class to China!” Sure, sign up and get the points. But research the crap out of it to make sure you’ll have enough and that there is actually availability when you want to go. Or if you and your spouse take 4 trips a year and always check your luggage, you could get a card to save on baggage fees. But of course you’d need to use delta to get the benefit. Otherwise, assuming you don’t have delta status, and you would get it due to the MQM bonuses, just keep in mind that Silver really isn’t going to get many upgrades as you’re still underneath all the business travelers with gold, platinum, diamond, or Delta360. Not that it’s technically impossible, but I’d be mildly surprised if you ever got a first class upgrade. The good news though is that you can just buy most of the perks instead. A domestic first ticket might only be an extra $100 or so. And if you figure that you’re saving $25 on not checking a bag and another $35 on a dinner and drink, it’s not too bad of a deal. All of this is very much a YMMV situation though. Edit: And for full disclosure, I do have an airline card for myself. But I got mine since I’m flying weekly for work, the card gave me lounge access, car rental status, and they waived the $450 fee for the year. It’s about the last card I pull out of my wallet too - everything else I have gives better rewards for specific categories. Initio fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Oct 25, 2018 |
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Oct 25, 2018 00:06
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I fly out on United because it's the cheapest airline in the region without any weird budget airline quirks. Two round trips a year makes up for their card via baggage fees. Free Global Entry? Cool. Couple lounge passes and upgrades here and there? Nice. Just don't expect to be a high roller.
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Oct 25, 2018 01:37
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Something Offal posted:I know I'm probably not alone in wanting to be nosy about your spending categories. You have to be in the top end of posters for annual spend, what is most of that? Capital cost for your business? thats fine I guess, its not very remarkable I feel. honestly my spend per biz seems low. my biz 1 (IT consulting) Revenue - ~150k CC Expenses - COGS ~25k CC Expenses - Operations ~12k Biz 2 - (Non-profit management) Revenue ~-80k CC Expenses - Operations ~ 15k Personal - Revenue (wife) pretax ~180-200k household CC spend - groceries -~12k Dining - 14k Travel - 8k. Misc - 5k 25+ 12+ 15+ 12+14+ 8 +5 = 91k in spend. I'm probably rounding up a little, or something. And there are time when I need to charge something to a card that will be fully reimbursable (like my current situation), where I feel like losing out on the benefit for that 10-15k spend would just be silly.
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Oct 25, 2018 05:48
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mindphlux posted:thats fine I guess, its not very remarkable I feel. honestly my spend per biz seems low. That level of consistent spending per year on specialized travel cards used to be enough to cover at least one major coach flight a year just about anywhere in the world if you have a flexible schedule, let alone hotel stays. However, change any of those parameters and the value drops pretty quick.
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Oct 28, 2018 14:34
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mindphlux posted:thats fine I guess, its not very remarkable I feel. honestly my spend per biz seems low. The new American Express Gold would benefit you greatly for your personal expenses. For the business expenses, it depends what they are but I think your spark card is going to be as good as it gets without insane optimization. There's also Bank of America if you have $100k sitting around in stocks. Their credit card interface is so horrific I have a hard time recommending them.
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Oct 28, 2018 15:14
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Harry posted:The new American Express Gold would benefit you greatly for your personal expenses. For the business expenses, it depends what they are but I think your spark card is going to be as good as it gets without insane optimization. Horrific? It's basic, but not terrible. Amex of course has by far the best system for finding transactions and details. The BofA offering for CC @ 2.6% everywhere plus bonus on the rewards card and free trades on their brokerage platform if you consolidate assets is a very good option for many people. There is a reason Chase copied it. Remember that unlike banking thresholds of old this one does not require cash, but assets. So that IRA of ETFs qualifies towards balance status.
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Oct 28, 2018 16:56
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FunOne posted:Horrific? It's basic, but not terrible. Amex of course has by far the best system for finding transactions and details. The BofA offering for CC @ 2.6% everywhere plus bonus on the rewards card and free trades on their brokerage platform if you consolidate assets is a very good option for many people. There is a reason Chase copied it. I meant their weird ebill bill page thing. For example, it’s still saying I never made my October payment and cancelled a recurring payment (statement) because I got a new card.
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Oct 29, 2018 01:38
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Does BoA allow retirement assets to count? Seems Chase (mostly) does not.
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Oct 29, 2018 02:27
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Popero posted:Does BoA allow retirement assets to count? Seems Chase (mostly) does not. Yes, all assets count as far as I know. I can vouch for IRA, SEP, and ROTH.
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Oct 29, 2018 03:10
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FunOne posted:The BofA offering for CC @ 2.6% everywhere plus bonus on the rewards card and free trades on their brokerage platform if you consolidate assets is a very good option for many people. There is a reason Chase copied it.
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Oct 29, 2018 03:54
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waloo posted:What does Chase do that is better rewards for assets in the or accounts? I was only aware of the BoA one. I think the branding is Sapphire Banking. I don't know if they do any bonus CC stuff, but I know it includes some brokerage and fee waivers. Much like the rest of the premium rewards package.
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Oct 30, 2018 01:02
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Tried the "put some money on your Amex card" and self referring trick for the American Express Gold card and didn't get the pop up saying I had received the bonus before. Here's hoping both work.
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Oct 30, 2018 02:38
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FunOne posted:The BofA offering for CC @ 2.6% everywhere plus bonus on the rewards card ... Just wanted to follow this up, with the full bonus on the Premium rewards CC at BofA my effective rate was 2.97% cash back last month. Very much worth a consideration if you're in a place where you can take advantage of it.
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Oct 30, 2018 14:54
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Insane Totoro posted:I fly out on United because it's the cheapest airline in the region without any weird budget airline quirks.
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Oct 30, 2018 22:46
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wyoak posted:United card also has the perk of more saver award availability, which I've actually used on more than one occasion And actually you can downgrade to the no AF United card and still keep that perk, though you shouldn't have it but its bugged lol
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Oct 30, 2018 22:58
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hostile apostle posted:And actually you can downgrade to the no AF United card and still keep that perk, though you shouldn't have it but its bugged lol You end up losing it after a few months, last I read. Would be cool if that was wrong, of course!
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Oct 31, 2018 02:21
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I still have it over 1 year going!
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Oct 31, 2018 02:37
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What’s the best card for groceries and gas out there currently? No annual fee if possible. I got spoiled by that Barclays Sallie Mae card before they nerfed all the cash back.
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Oct 31, 2018 03:08
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:What’s the best card for groceries and gas out there currently? No annual fee if possible. Amex Blue Cash Everyday (BCE) gets you 3% cash back on groceries year-round with no AF. There's also an AF-having version called the Blue Cash Preferred (BCP) that gives you 6% back, which can make sense depending on how many groceries you buy. The new Amex Gold gives 4x membership reward points at restaurants and 4x at supermarkets, subject to the businesses bothering to get coded correctly. It has a larger AF but offers some credits to help offset it. astral fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Oct 31, 2018 |
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Oct 31, 2018 03:09
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:What’s the best card for groceries and gas out there currently? No annual fee if possible. I do all my grocery shopping at either Whole Foods or Stop n Shop, both of which have giftcards available on Amazon, so I use the Amazon Prime Visa. It gets 5% CB on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, plus there's a bunch of Amazon Prime membership deals that make Whole Foods reasonably priced, and ten I buy $200 in Stop and Shop GCs every couple of weeks, so I get a consistent 5% CB all year. The Amex is 6%, so it's a slightly better deal if you don't a Whole Foods or a shop that Amazon has GCs for, or if you aren't a prime member Ref link, if you are interested: http://refer.amex.us/ERICRE2ES?XLINK=MYCP Also, Discover IT has rotating categories, Oct-Dec is 5% at amazon, plus they match and double it at the end of your first year, effective 10%, so you can do the Amazon GC deal to get Whole Foods and what ever else. Ref link: https://refer.discover.com/s/4brcu Side note, I can make a Credit Card ref random link generator sheet that we can all ref links to for all the different cards. I did it for some other ref chains, and it worked pretty well. You can add your link to the sheet and when someone opens it it loads a set of random links so everyone gets some deals. Is that ok? I'll email the mod as well.
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Oct 31, 2018 11:53
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AMEX Blue Cash - 3% groceries, No AF Ducks Unlimited - 5% Gas and Sporting Goods, No AF You can get another 1% back at Chevron, Shell, and Exxon stations with the Spent app, but only worth doing if they are already the cheapest station in the area. For me Shell is so it's a nice bonus. Girbot fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Oct 31, 2018 |
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Oct 31, 2018 17:16
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Discover just announced their 2019 calendar: https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/cashback-bonus/cashback-calendar.html
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Nov 1, 2018 19:13
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when I upgraded from green -> gold for my amex (woo stupid rear end heavy rose gold card) they didn't give me the 3 month/25,000 point bonus. I called today and the CS manager basically said "we could try to get it but it'd probably be a huge pain and take forever, so we're just going to give you a $150 credit to your account. thanks for being a member" pretty good amex, pretty good.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:21
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Coming up on my annual reserve card fee. Even with the nerfs I'm under the impression that it's still worth it + one of the better travel cards around. RIght?
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Nov 5, 2018 04:17
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El Mero Mero posted:Coming up on my annual reserve card fee. Even with the nerfs I'm under the impression that it's still worth it + one of the better travel cards around. RIght? If you're making use of the benefits (like the lounge access) and still have a stack of points to redeem at 1.5x or transfer to an airline, sure. Otherwise? Maybe not.
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Nov 5, 2018 04:21
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El Mero Mero posted:Coming up on my annual reserve card fee. Even with the nerfs I'm under the impression that it's still worth it + one of the better travel cards around. RIght? I take a commuter train every day, spending about $300/month. So for this card those charges considered travel? I've had a few different cards consider it that way and some not. I also take Amtrak every couple of months for work, spending about $1000 between train and hotel, seems like this card is a good choice? I can probably hit $4000 in spending in three months as well. Typically, we've used a commuter benefit program that gives us pre-tax deduction which goes on a card that is used for travel. However we just switched to a new benefits provider that gives a card, but also allows you to upload receipts and get reimbursed. I figure I can instead use a CC that gives a travel reward benefit, get the bonus and the reimburse anyways, so I get to double dip on the benefits. Maybe be worth it, even with the annual fee. EDIT: is the annual fee waived the first year?
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Nov 5, 2018 15:27
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Jerk McJerkface posted:I take a commuter train every day, spending about $300/month. So for this card those charges considered travel? I've had a few different cards consider it that way and some not. I also take Amtrak every couple of months for work, spending about $1000 between train and hotel, seems like this card is a good choice? I can probably hit $4000 in spending in three months as well. 1. No way to be sure without checking with Chase. The way each bank handles merchant type codes from card processors seems to be different/proprietary, so I'd recommend calling and maybe getting something in writing saying it will be handled as a travel expense. Seems about a 90% chance that it would be a yes. 2. CSR doesn't waive the annual fee for the first year.
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Nov 5, 2018 16:07
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Remember that for the CSR and other fee-based travel cards, you need to be achieving benefits that are greater than 2-3% of the spend (depending on spend category) you put on the card after subtracting the annual fee--otherwise it makes more sense to use a standard, no-fee card (e.g., Uber card with 3% airfare/hotel cash back). This can be a bit challenging to calculate as some of the benefits of those high-end fee-based cards can be difficult to attribute a $ value to, and transfer programs can alter the apparent value of points. Basically though, I wouldn't stick with an elite card after the first year unless you actually know you're coming out on top after the fee. Vox Nihili fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Nov 5, 2018 |
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Nov 5, 2018 18:50
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Jerk McJerkface posted:I take a commuter train every day, spending about $300/month. So for this card those charges considered travel? I've had a few different cards consider it that way and some not. I also take Amtrak every couple of months for work, spending about $1000 between train and hotel, seems like this card is a good choice? I can probably hit $4000 in spending in three months as well. If you travel with Amtrak a lot, you should pick up their branded Mastercard: https://www.amtrak.com/apply $79 AF will get you 20k points, plus you get a companion pass, 3x back on Amtrak purchases, etc. Might be worth it just for a year for those extra bonus points. There used to be a 30k points offer as well, but I'm not finding any valid links to it at the moment.
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Nov 5, 2018 19:53
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Vox Nihili posted:Basically though, I wouldn't stick with an elite card after the first year unless you actually know you're coming out on top after the fee. I find the potential value of the travel insurance on CSR to be worth the annual fee. I am currently dealing with a $600 charge for damage to a rental car, and I'm dealing with CSR who hopefully will cover it. It's a fairly straightforward case, I imagine they keep coming back to me for more documentation to try to weasel out of it. This annoyance aside, I figure the travel protections are worth the annual fee, plus the $300 travel credit. But all my other annual fee cards get downgraded to the lower no-fee tier. I may keep my premium Venture card as I seem to be staying at many off-brand hotels booked via hotels.com so 10% off (aka 10x points) is very appealing.
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Nov 5, 2018 19:57
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VorpalBunny posted:I find the potential value of the travel insurance on CSR to be worth the annual fee. I am currently dealing with a $600 charge for damage to a rental car, and I'm dealing with CSR who hopefully will cover it. It's a fairly straightforward case, I imagine they keep coming back to me for more documentation to try to weasel out of it. This annoyance aside, I figure the travel protections are worth the annual fee, plus the $300 travel credit. The handful of times I had to deal with Chase Sapphire over issues like getting a refund over a new canopy destroyed by wind or an unscheduled overnight in Las Vegas, they were pretty reasonable about it and never screwed me. Good luck.
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Nov 5, 2018 20:05
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