@bobebob wrote:
@sandsanta wrote:The platinum Amex is geared towards travelers. While the 450$ fee is steep, it currently comes with 200$ of credit towards airline fees and allows you access to airline lounges. If you travel with any regularity, this is well worth the price of entry and the card ends up paying for itself after a few trips.
As a general rule, the best membership rewards are going to come from cards with the highest fees. Credit Cards are like casino's and are designed to return profit to the company, not return benefits to you. The internet is filled with information regarding the spending amounts and spending behavior necessary to financially offset AF's but unless you meet that criteria naturally you'll be losing money. It sounds to me like you'd benefit best from CU cards that have low to no AF's and low APR's.
But to continue the casino analogy, I'm looking for a casino that subsidizes the upscale buffet I'm looking for at a loss to attract the whales. There is nothing that requires me to gamble my $$$ away to enjoy the discounted buffet.
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
If you're not going to carry balances (and why on earth would anyone with "stellar" FICO's want to carry balances with interest???), then IMO you should be looking at cash rewards cards.
Depending on your spending habits, think about some combo of these:
AmEx Blue Cash Preferred, if you don't mind the $75 fee: 6% grocs, 3% gas and department stores, 1% everything else
AmEx Costco True Earnings (fee to belong to Costco): 3% gas and restaurants, 2% travel, 1% everything else
PenFed Platinum Visa: 5% gas, 1% everything else, plus periodic higher rewards for specific categories
Chase Freedom, Discover More, Citi Dividend: 5% on rotating categories
Citi Forward: 5 points per dollar on restaurants and entertainment <--note: this is a points card, so there are all the asterisks about redemption values
Various airline and hotel cards for those who travel a lot
I know there are more, but these are the ones that pop into my head at the moment.
I really don't understand the fascination with the Simmons card. Money Mag keeps trumpeting away about it, but I don't really see the substance under the hype.
As I stated earlier, I'm not interested in the Simmonds card because I don't maintain a balance. I was just mentioning them as an example of a card that offers a perk to individuals with a high credit rating.
The actual perk I would love to have would be one of the ones that Amex Platinum offers: the 24/7 emergency assistance. If I flew once in a while, I would probably be able to rationalize the $450 AF. But I can get that particular "perk" I want from the platinum Amex by purchasing specific insurance for a lot less than $450.
I tour with my motorcycle long distances, so that emergency assistance would be sweet. But I can buy that from an insurer for about $100-$150 per year. And I will get that next year before I go on my sabbatical.
I guess I was hoping that some CCC would dangle that out as a carrot to attract low risk customers. Even if there were a $75 AF for a card that offered the emergency assistance, it would still make sense for me. Meh, I'll just have to get it on my own.
@Anonymous wrote:Costo AMEX is amazing if you are a member. Limit will be high, cashback is good. No AF with membership
Yup, that's why I already got one.
Amex's True Earnings card (Costco) is the one I try to put all my purchases on. So far this "year" I've put $29,300 on the card and will get $419 back, just under 1.5% overall. Not too shabby since I haven't paid a cent for interest or AF's!
@ bobebob
Coming from someone who's been card shopping for a while to see if there's anything good to add to diversify my 'portfolio' and to round out what perks and benefits I would like to have, I would say (and this goes for both of us!) don't bother applying for a new card at all if you can't find something that suits and be happy with the cards you have. Love the Sheryl Crow quote; it fits really well.
In all of my card shopping that I have done in the past and present, useful premium perks beyond what you've already listed (Visa Signature, free credit report and FICO, cashback rewards etc) really don't exist without an AF, other fee, or some sort of spending stipulation and it seems that you've got the bases covered anyhow!
Beyond what haulingthescoreup suggested with AMEX Preferred Blue Cash or Blue Cash Everyday, Chase Freedom, PenFed (but I think you need to belong to a military organization otherwise you pay a nominal fee for membership), Citi Dividends (was one of my best cashback rewards card when I first got it and it still needs excellent credit to get approval)...
My only additional suggestion might be to investigate specialty-related cards (are you an Amazon fan, Disney fan, a Neiman Marcus shopper, Macy's shopper, a Nordstrom's shopper etc) as some of them can have some pretty decent perks/benefits depending on your relationship/patronage with the specialty in question without paying an AF (except for Neiman Marcus).
Good luck!
Yeah, I've probably got about as good as I'm going to get without paying a premium for the perks.
I may look into something from Amazon as I'm heavy into the Kindle.
The cards that have membership benefits offered at a 'loss,' so to speak, are offered only to bank members that have huge amounts of money invested in that financial instiution. It has nothing to do with the FICO score.
Cards such as:
Citi Chairman
Amex Centurion
JPMC Palladium
@sandsanta wrote:
@bobebob wrote:
@sandsanta wrote:The platinum Amex is geared towards travelers. While the 450$ fee is steep, it currently comes with 200$ of credit towards airline fees and allows you access to airline lounges. If you travel with any regularity, this is well worth the price of entry and the card ends up paying for itself after a few trips.
As a general rule, the best membership rewards are going to come from cards with the highest fees. Credit Cards are like casino's and are designed to return profit to the company, not return benefits to you. The internet is filled with information regarding the spending amounts and spending behavior necessary to financially offset AF's but unless you meet that criteria naturally you'll be losing money. It sounds to me like you'd benefit best from CU cards that have low to no AF's and low APR's.
But to continue the casino analogy, I'm looking for a casino that subsidizes the upscale buffet I'm looking for at a loss to attract the whales. There is nothing that requires me to gamble my $$$ away to enjoy the discounted buffet.
The cards that have membership benefits offered at a 'loss,' so to speak, are offered only to bank members that have huge amounts of money invested in that financial instiution. It has nothing to do with the FICO score.
Cards such as:
Citi Chairman
Amex Centurion
JPMC Palladium
I was just hoping to cash in on my credit score. Baring winning the lottery, I don't think I'd ever have "huge" amounts of money to deposit like that.
sigh, 