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Let me preface this by saying that in my late 30s, I don't have much interest in churning though I do want a good SUB. Mainly, I just want a simple setup where I don't have to carry more than 3 cards in my wallet, though I'm willing to rotate in 5% quarterly cards like CFF and Discover. I looked over my statements for 2022. These numbers are approximate but representative: Travel (hotels, flights): $350 Gas: $125 Transportation (Amtrak, Uber): $1,700 Dining (bars, restaurants): $9,700 Groceries: $1,030 Other: $12,400. Notably, this includes $4,000 at Costco which only accepts Visa rn My spending habits in 2023 are very different, much less in dining and much more on travel. I expect this to continue, and this table reflects my anticipated 2024 spend but obviously there's a lot of guesswork. Since Delta and Southwest points are worth about 1.5 cents, I wouldn't use a card for a category unless I get at least 2/3 of my cash back rate in points, so those are in red and not counted. The yellow cells only count for 25% because those cards only give rewards on flights, which I'm guessing will make up 25% of travel, the other 75% being hotels.  It seems to me that Green or CSR make the most sense because whether I go out to bars/restaurants more or travel more, the card will perform better. CSP only scales with dining, Plat only with flights, Gold only with dining and flights. CSR does have a $100 higher effective AF but they have Southwest as a transfer partner which generally has better flights out of DCA than Delta, which is Amex's transfer partner. Plus I can use United in a pinch. However, it's important to note that none of the cards make sense without the SUB. Basically, either CSR or Green would be decent choices for me, contingent on SUB, choice of airline, and additional perks. Are there any other major factors I'm missing? The Venture Rewards card would give me 2 miles on every dollar spent so that would be useful for my "Other" category but they don't have any domestic airline partners. edit: After further contemplation, I think CSR makes the most sense. Southwest is a better choice than Delta due to no change fees, plus I can always redeem for cash at 1 cent/pt so I would only be losing out on 1% for dining compared to my current setup. edit2: I forgot to factor in CSP's 10% annual spend bonus, which means I can now use the card for travel and transportation. Even though CSR gets more rewards, it doesn't make up for the difference in AF. Too bad the 90k in-branch signup bonus ended yesterday. The good news is I'm not really losing anything with my current setup, so I guess I just need to wait for the next CSP promotion, though who knows if Chase will do another one anytime soon given they just did one. edit3: Apparently the pricing on Chase's travel portal is the same as the airline itself, or at least it was for a United flight I checked. I expected it to be higher since buying concert tickets through Capital One is more expensive than through Ticketmaster directly. So that gives me access to Delta, American, and United as well. The difference of 50% vs 25% for CSR vs CSP when redeeming for travel implies that, given my current split in dining/travel/other, I would need to spend another $11k/year to make up the AF difference, so CSP is still ahead. Really annoyed about missing that 90k promo now. Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 07:57 on May 26, 2023 |
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May 26, 2023 04:46
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Worth noting that I got the 80k in-branch bonus for the CSP last year, two or three days after the announced end date. If you haven't asked a branch if it's still available, you might want to do so.
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May 26, 2023 15:27
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Unsinkabear posted:Platinum and Gold are entirely different cards. You have to travel a ton for the Platinum to be worth it as anything other than a "get the bonus and then cancel in a year" card (and even if you travel enough for the math to work out in your favor you should still do that, because you could be accomplishing sooo much more with that kind of spending power). Same goes for the Sapphire Reserve (and its bonus sucks now as well, so just don't). This and the other few recent posts have gotten me thinking. I've always looked at the Platinum as a "huge fee, only consider it if you're rich, otherwise it's an absurdity" kind of card (and I'm reluctant to cancel cards), so even when the big bonuses come around, I don't pay much attention to them. But looking around, it seems like most people think like this, not like me; the Platinum is a card you get when there's a great bonus, you spend on it to hit that bonus, then you put it away and downgrade/cancel it when the next fee posts. Am I understanding correctly that this is how it's generally used these days, and that I should consider it next time there's a great bonus? (I already have the Gold in mind for the future, as well, primarily as a restaurant/grocery card, but I got the Citi Premier in October as "spend on it for the good bonus, then use on restaurants" so I don't see much point in the Gold until I downgrade the Premier to a Custom Cash.)
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May 27, 2023 00:10
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Eh, I actually sat down and did the math on the plat card and even paying the fee made it basically a freebie for me. I'm spending the money on the media that I get comped back and use the Uber credits, so that money all comes back. Then my particular travel uses some of the credits. I valued the rental car upgrades and few lounge visits a year pretty reasonably and it came out basically a wash. Then I called them and cashed in my points to cover the fee, which is probably my best ROI on those points. I've said it several times in this thread, but I have a difficult time getting a decent return on their system. I value amex points at a penny, basically making it a 1% cash back card. So I don't really drive spend on it, but I use it for all those things.
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May 27, 2023 01:21
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Yeah I would say that in terms of Plat vs CSR, Plat has way better perks and benefits, but it requires more effort and attention to earn back the fee. But, even with a minimal effort, if you subscribe to the covered media services and use Uber/Eats once a month, that's $440 covered right there. If you travel a lot for work for fun, then the airline incidentals and Clear credits are easy to use, and their lounge network is way better, because Priority pass sucks rear end domestically. Phone insurance and trip insurance are probably another $150 a year each. But if you weren't gonna spend money on those things anyway, then it's a bad deal. CSR is basically (unless it's changed recently) "here's a $300, easy-to-earn rebat,e and a Priority Pass membership. Thanks for your business." It's worse as a perks and status thing but way easier if you don't want to play a game of solving the credit card company riddles and puzzles. If you're just interested in churning for points then none of this matters anyway.
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May 27, 2023 04:20
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To add another bullet to the purely anecdotal data ledger, I’m just finishing up a trip to Maui where we booked 5 nights at a hotel through the Amex Plat travel portal, got one night free, and got free buffet breakfast for all 6 of us ($45/person/day) so the annual card fee has paid for itself 2x without even considering any other benefits.
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May 27, 2023 04:29
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A couple years ago they sent me a check for $600 to cover a new cellphone because I took my old one swimming in a hot tub. You gotta remember to pay your bill with that card though and then that the benefit exists when you do gently caress up (assuming you aren't doing regular insurance fraud).
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May 27, 2023 04:45
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mrmcd posted:A couple years ago they sent me a check for $600 to cover a new cellphone because I took my old one swimming in a hot tub. You gotta remember to pay your bill with that card though and then that the benefit exists when you do gently caress up (assuming you aren't doing regular insurance fraud).
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May 27, 2023 09:23
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I have a 2% Cash Back card but I'm looking to see if I can get another card that offers more cash back. I'm currently spending a relatively decent amount on a hobby, that looking from one of the stores I've bought from categorizes itself under "Shopping".. I know some cards offer 5% on your top spend category but does "Shopping" count as type of spend category? I'm guessing this counts for "Online Shopping" cash back deals as well? I'm currently looking also for a Grocery card.. I don't have a car and often don't need a Gas card but that would be preferable to have if it offered greater than 2% The best I've found for me seems to be Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card. It is $0 fee, 3% US Supermarkets, 3% US Gas stations (both up to $6k) and 3% back on online retail purchases up to $6K + $200 credit for >$2000 spend. If "Online Retail Purchases" means any type of buying from stores online I think it should match my needs, right? The only downside apparently is that your cash back is just statement credits... that seems fine.. should I be aware of some big downside if they just credit on my card spend? The other one that I thought offered 5% cashback was the Citi Custom Cash Card, 5% cash back on my highest spend category. $200 cash back on $1500 spend. But looking through its only for: "Restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, live entertainment." USBank's Cash+ card offers 5% but not on categories I'm looking at. Am I missing any others? Would prefer non-Chase cards since I have too many Chase cards but I don't think they have a similar card. Seems to me that the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card is the one I'd want, right? Thanks for any feedback
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May 27, 2023 10:24
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Strong Sauce posted:I have a 2% Cash Back card but I'm looking to see if I can get another card that offers more cash back. I'm currently spending a relatively decent amount on a hobby, that looking from one of the stores I've bought from categorizes itself under "Shopping".. I know some cards offer 5% on your top spend category but does "Shopping" count as type of spend category? I'm guessing this counts for "Online Shopping" cash back deals as well? Alliant CU offers a 2.5% cashback card but there's hoops, keep 1K + in a checking account, have one ACH transaction (direct deposit or a transfer from your own outside bank) 1x a month. I don't know why you're not thinking of the custom cash just for your groceries? Some of the rotating 5% cash back cards tend to offer grocery stores 1x a year, but it's unpredictable. The statement credit vs cashback thing, cashback into your bank account is slightly better, to a degree that doesn't really matter. Basically if you get 5% cashback on $100 you apply that 5% to your next statement. Next statement you get 5% back on $95 So on 100% with a 5% card you'd lose $0.25, one US quarter of that cashback. 100 * 0.05 = $5 95 * 0.05 = $4.75 pseudanonymous fucked around with this message at 14:55 on May 27, 2023 |
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May 27, 2023 14:52
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Since they changed the Citi Double Cash to earn "Thank You" points instead of Cashback, can you transfer Thank You points from the Citi Rewards+ to the Double Cash? Or are there just two sets of points now both called "Thank You Points" that cannot be spent at the same places or redeemed for the same value?
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May 30, 2023 16:22
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Since they changed the Citi Double Cash to earn "Thank You" points instead of Cashback, can you transfer Thank You points from the Citi Rewards+ to the Double Cash? Or are there just two sets of points now both called "Thank You Points" that cannot be spent at the same places or redeemed for the same value? You can tie your various thank you point earning cards together irrevocably by calling in then cash them out via any of your various cards options.
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May 30, 2023 16:50
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pseudanonymous posted:You can tie your various thank you point earning cards together irrevocably by calling in then cash them out via any of your various cards options. Thanks. So, I have to call them to do it? There is a combine accounts button, but it doesn't recognize the Rewards+ card as an option to combine with the Double Cash, so I wasn't sure it was possible.
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May 30, 2023 16:56
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pseudanonymous posted:Alliant CU offers a 2.5% cashback card but there's hoops, keep 1K + in a checking account, have one ACH transaction (direct deposit or a transfer from your own outside bank) 1x a month. i guess i can split it out to two credit cards but then i'd have to wait another 5-6 months to wait for the dip from my credit to go away. just seeing if i can scoop all that into 1 card so a statement credit applies percentage wise to my next statement? why wouldn't they just credit the $5 instead? if that's right that seems weird to do...
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May 30, 2023 17:25
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Strong Sauce posted:so a statement credit applies percentage wise to my next statement? why wouldn't they just credit the $5 instead? if that's right that seems weird to do... They would just credit $5. It's just that you wouldn't earn cash back on that amount that was credited. So in that example, you would be earning cash back on $95 that statement instead of $100. That's why statement credits are slightly worse than cash back to an account.
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May 30, 2023 18:20
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Thanks. So, I have to call them to do it? There is a combine accounts button, but it doesn't recognize the Rewards+ card as an option to combine with the Double Cash, so I wasn't sure it was possible. The combine accounts button didn't work for any of my several citi thank you points cards, they were able to merge them over the phone without any fuss. Afterwards I was able to redeem my Custom Cash and Double Cash points and get the 10% points back from the Rewards+ card.
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May 30, 2023 20:02
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THF13 posted:The combine accounts button didn't work for any of my several citi thank you points cards, they were able to merge them over the phone without any fuss. Afterwards I was able to redeem my Custom Cash and Double Cash points and get the 10% points back from the Rewards+ card. Yeah, if anything at all does not 100% match between the cards, they will not show as viable merges. I was able to eventually do mine online, but it took realizing that having a blank business phone number on one and a (000) 000-0000 business phone number on the other did not count as a match. Changing that solved it.
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May 30, 2023 20:47
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runawayturtles posted:They would just credit $5. It's just that you wouldn't earn cash back on that amount that was credited. So in that example, you would be earning cash back on $95 that statement instead of $100. That's why statement credits are slightly worse than cash back to an account. This sounds wrong, do you have any terms that say this? I have accounts that only offer cash back as statement credit but I see no evidence the credits work any differently than just paying from a checking account. The rewards are calculated at time of purchase, not at time of payment.
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May 30, 2023 23:31
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drk posted:This sounds wrong, do you have any terms that say this? I have accounts that only offer cash back as statement credit but I see no evidence the credits work any differently than just paying from a checking account. The rewards are calculated at time of purchase, not at time of payment. Do you really care it’s 0.25 per hundred dollars. It may vary by bank also.
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May 31, 2023 00:37
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pseudanonymous posted:Do you really care it’s 0.25 per hundred dollars. It may vary by bank also. It does vary by bank and even cards within the same bank in some cases. There are definitely ones that calculate on payment (and even one that calculates half on purchase and half on payment!) It doesn't really matter, as pseudo said, but in most cases it's the exact same amount of effort to redeem to checking account as statement credit. More importantly, there are some scenarios where redeeming for cash is better, and none where redeeming for credit is (Chase was but they killed it). So rather than arguing or trying to figure out the exact way each card works, why not just CYA and redeem to a bank account where possible? The rewards for category-juggling and min/maxing regular daily spend like this are so small for the effort involved that you should be trying to think about it as little as possible and automating as much of it as you can. It's barely even worth carrying multiple category cards, imo (especially when an easy across-the-board 2.5% option exists). Lenders want you to be obsessing over the trivial details and tiny gains like this, because it keeps you a customer while giving you way less money for your time than you feel like you're getting. I know because I fell into the same trap for a couple years. Even if you're not going to churn (which can also be made incredibly low-effort, contrary to popular belief) you should still aim to get the most you can from your card/cards while giving them as little attention and thought as possible. There are much more profitable things you can be doing with that time drk posted:This sounds wrong And fwiw this isn't just a couple goons giving you a hard time, I have always heard that same conventional wisdom about statement credits not earning points. I think Chase's pay with points thing even tells you that in the fine print when you use it? I believe you that there are cards that aren't like this, but afaik they're the exception and not the rule Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 01:14 on May 31, 2023 |
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May 31, 2023 01:06
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Yeah the few bp doesnt matter but it is interesting. My credit union card automatically deposits cash back to a linked account every month (no points or redemption process). I guess that is the most unambiguous way to do it.
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May 31, 2023 01:21
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drk posted:Yeah the few bp doesnt matter but it is interesting. That's fair, you can probably find posts from me asking the same thing if you dig far enough. drk posted:My credit union card automatically deposits cash back to a linked account every month (no points or redemption process). I guess that is the most unambiguous way to do it. Nice. That's the one thing I miss about PenFed. They're a pain in the rear end to deal with and they won't back you on contested charges, but their Power Cash card (at least the old version, dunno if this is still true since they reworked it) would do the same thing and just dump your accrued cash back to your bank every month, no input required and no minimum threshold. Weirdly hard to find.
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May 31, 2023 01:27
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As penance for making bad posts in the credit card thread, I read my Amex agreement which rather unhelpfully says:quote:When you will not earn reward dollars Is this what y'all are talking about?
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May 31, 2023 01:44
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Hey Josh, people are still getting the CSP 90k in branch, at least as of today.
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May 31, 2023 02:14
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drk posted:As penance for making bad posts in the credit card thread, I read my Amex agreement which rather unhelpfully says: Looks like it. Also you're not badposting, I'm just ranting because I've had a day 
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May 31, 2023 02:22
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drk posted:As penance for making bad posts in the credit card thread, I read my Amex agreement which rather unhelpfully says: I think that might be talking about credits tied to specific purchases, like the merchant offers you can "add" to your card that give you $30 off a $150 purchase at one of a hundred weird stores nobody's ever heard of, or for american express they've seemingly always got ones for dell and levi's
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May 31, 2023 04:32
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Baddog posted:Hey Josh, people are still getting the CSP 90k in branch, at least as of today. I don't feel great about it because the rewards only exceed my current setup if I transfer them to a partner for flights, but the sign-up bonus is worth at least $900 cash so that covers the annual fee for a decade.
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May 31, 2023 17:20
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Josh Lyman posted:Thanks for the heads up. Under the assumption the promo would last at least until the end of the month (today), I walked over to my local Chase branch and opened a CSP. I'm eyeballing using them for really nice Hyatt hotels. (transfer to hyatt, then redeem).
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May 31, 2023 20:48
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any recs on a good visa or mastercard option for travel rewards? im looking to kill my ancient delta amex since plastiq stopped taking them, so my old habit of paying a small premium to have them issue rent checks from my credit card to convert bay area rent premium into points is dead. looking to open something else since it's not like i live in a delta hub anymore anyway of the cards not directly associated with a carrier, are the chase sapphire things still the best option? not sure what the "worth it" amount of travel is for reserve, but it seems like it'd maybe be worth it for the better points rate if i can reasonably expect to pay $1k/year on travel at minimum?
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Jun 2, 2023 22:47
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Qtotonibudinibudet posted:any recs on a good visa or mastercard option for travel rewards? The Reserve is not remotely close to worth it at $1000/year, sadly. $300 of that is going to be credited away and thus not earn you points, then any money you spend on flights gets the exact same 5% rate as the Preferred, and you only get the shiny 10% on car rentals and hotels (no other lodging options) that can be purchased through chase (any you can't buy through them gets 1%). Everything else pays either the same or worse than the Preferred. The small amount of extra value you can hypothetically squeeze out of your remaining (after travel credit) $700/year will never come remotely close to the extra $250/year the CSR will cost you, and the perks aren't worth talking about for your use case either. The CSP is a better deal, but I'm honestly not sure that one is worth getting right now either. Almost all premium category cards are in real bad shape right now. In general, they're only worth it for SUBs and never actual use, unless you have some crazy unique circumstance (which you technically do, but it's one that's still best exploited by lazy churning or a no-AF card that pays a simple 2%/2.5% on everything). I can only think of one exception, and it doesn't fit your use case because it's an Amex. If you your landlord accepts Plastiq and you have the ability to put bay-area rent money on a credit card, you should really be looking at picking up sign-up bonuses and not piddly category rewards. You are in a way, way, way better position to play that game than most. Like, you're leaving thousands of dollars on the table annually by not doing it. I know for a lot of people "churning" is a spooky word that conjures up visions of complicated maneuvering and research and accidentally ruining your credit (you won't, it will actually increase your credit score because we live in hell), but you can ignore all that garbage if you just focus on cash back and not travel points. Just look up what card's bonus nets you the most money when cashed out, put all your spending on that one until you qualify for the bonus, then set a reminder to cancel it in a year (if it has an annual fee, otherwise you keep it and benefit from it forever) and move on to the next card. Profit. If you're dead set on sticking to one rewards card (and making like, less than a tenth of what you could per year as a result imjustsaying) then you want something with a low/no annual fee, and the best across-the-board rewards rate you can get, because that's going to apply to your rent which will always be your biggest category. I already spent more time on typing this than I should have (supposed to be at dinner, thanks ADHD!), but I think we dug into this stuff a page or two back for someone with a similar question if you would like to read through more ranting Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Jun 3, 2023 |
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Jun 2, 2023 23:55
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Qtotonibudinibudet posted:any recs on a good visa or mastercard option for travel rewards? I'm actually pretty happy with the WF Autograph I recently got which is 3% cash back on travel, dining, gas, cell phone bills, and a few other things with zero annual fee. The categories are pretty broadly defined. Those high annual fee cards dont seem worth it until you are spending quite a bit (sign up bonuses aside)
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Jun 3, 2023 00:16
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Qtotonibudinibudet posted:any recs on a good visa or mastercard option for travel rewards?
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Jun 3, 2023 01:14
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Pretty sure Plastiq just declared bankruptcy so idk how much longer that's gonna be viable for anything. Get a Bilt card to pay your rent. Beyond that you're gonna have to figure out what kind of travel rewards/perks you actually want before you can pick a card. Like, are you a domestic economy flyer or an international business class flyer? Do you care about lounge access? Do you want points that can easily be converted to cash? Do you want rental car insurance? Do you want one card to rule them all? Or are you comfortable with a 2-3 card setup?
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Jun 3, 2023 01:48
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Unsinkabear posted:The Reserve is not remotely close to worth it at $1000/year, sadly. $300 of that is going to be credited away and thus not earn you points, then any money you spend on flights gets the exact same 5% rate as the Preferred, and you only get the shiny 10% on car rentals and hotels (no other lodging options) that can be purchased through chase (any you can't buy through them gets 1%). it's still not worth it for that poster but travel outside the chase portal gets 3 points per dollar on the reserve, not 1
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Jun 3, 2023 02:31
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Unsinkabear posted:The Reserve is not remotely close to worth it at $1000/year, sadly. I thought it was $550/year though?
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Jun 3, 2023 05:43
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Dancing Peasant posted:I thought it was $550/year though? Yes, $550/yr, minus the $300 travel credit. So overall cost is $250. The same as Amex Gold.
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Jun 3, 2023 06:10
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Dancing Peasant posted:I thought it was $550/year though? $1000/year was what OP said they spent on travel. R. Guyovich posted:it's still not worth it for that poster but travel outside the chase portal gets 3 points per dollar on the reserve, not 1 Thanks, not sure what I was thinking of there. It's been a day.
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Jun 3, 2023 07:40
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the magic number for the reserve vs the preferred is $7,750. if you spend that amount or more on travel every year then the extra points earning makes the reserve a better value proposition assuming a value of two cents per point. i can generally improve on that with hyatt transfers but two per is a decent enough baseline to work from. i stick with the reserve for a few reasons, but one is because many of the restaurants i frequent are in hotels and if i didn't use the reserve it'd get classified as travel and i'd miss out on the three points unless i bothered customer service about it
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Jun 3, 2023 14:06
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sparkmaster posted:Yes, $550/yr, minus the $300 travel credit. So overall cost is $250. The same as Amex Gold. Amex gold is $10 a year if you use the monthly credits.
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Jun 3, 2023 14:17
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mrmcd posted:Amex gold is $10 a year if you use the monthly credits. Sort of. Grubhub and Uber Eats both increase prices in their app significantly (over what you'd pay if you call the restaurant directly), so you won't get $10/mo value from either of the benefits.
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