As far as I know, MR and BCE cash are not interchangeable.
@longtimelurker wrote:
@MrDisco99 wrote:I get the impression that travel points/miles offer more bang for the buck than cash rewards, but only once you get higher premium level cards with better returns, typically with a fee that needs to be justified by a certain lifestyle. For example, it doesn't make much sense to pay AF for an Amex gold or platinum card unless you already travel often and can take advantage of the rebates and bonus points earned on travel expenses. In exchange, though, you get higher value for points. Lower tier rewards cards don't offer as much value for exchanging points. No AF points cards end up returning about as much value as cash rewards, with points being less liquid.
I can't speak for everyone, but for me it made more sense to focus on cash back rewards now, and then later on I might look at transitioning to points once I've got some savings again and can start taking advantage of higher tier cards like Amex gold or CSP or something.
I happen to have and like the BCE because it has a typical 3-2-1 cash rewards structure which makes it a nice supplement to a 1.5% or 2% flat rewards card.
I know what you mean but I don't think it's quite true as written. In particular, the MR points earned by the Everyday are identical in value to the MR points earned on any other Amex MR card. They transfer to partners at the same value. With premium Amex cards you may get more perks, higher earning categories (or both) but the point will transfer the same way.
For Chase, the difference is redeeming URs at the Chase Portal. A CSP/CSR will give more value than a Freedom here. But for transferring, you can't with just a Freedom, but if you also have a transfer card, then points earned on the Freedom (when moved) with transfer to partners in exactly the same way as those earned with a CSP/CSR.
Now for Citi, the Thank You Preferred can transfer to JetBlue at a lower rate than that with the Premier/Prestige (which can also transfer to other partners) so your statement is true there!
Re BCE being a "nice supplement". Well, maybe. My point is that if you spend only a small amount on groceries, the gain over a 2% is very small. And if you spend a lot, you do better with say the BCP. So the question, as usual, would be, is there another card that will give more "total" rewards. For those that include 3x CLI as value, and do well with Amex Offers, the answer might be "no". For others, there are often many better choices.
All of that is absolutely correct.
I was mainly thinking about how UR points are worth more if you can transfer them to miles with a Sapphire card than if you just redeem them with a Freedom card. In that sense they are worth more with a higher tier card.
And I stand corrected on the MRs. You just earn them a lot faster in the upper tiers which makes those cards more valuable.
I'm not saying MR or UR points aren't worth it. I was just sharing my perspective that for the kind of cards that fit my lifestyle right now, I'm better off just going with cash back. Different people have different situations and goals.
EDIT: Also, full disclosure, part of the reason I applied for the BCE in the first place is because they had a special offer for 10% cash back on up to $2000 spend on restaurants for 6 months. Once that promotion is done I'll still use it for gas and groceries vs. my QS which won't be as much.
@Anonymous wrote:
@red259 wrote:If points or cash are better for you will depend on a couple of factors. You want to redeem for travel. So then the next question is what type of destinations, travel and class of service you are looking for. If you tend to do road trips or take inexpensive domestic flights and stay in less expensive hotels then cash back can be better. If you want to travel to things like international travel and fly first or business class, or stay at high end hotel properties in major cities then you are not going to be able to do that with cash back. Also, you need to consider how flexible your schedule is. If you are doing cash back you can simply buy tickets/hotels. If you are using points you have to leverage your awards carefully and sometimes you may not know which day you are departing on until within a few days, so you need a bit of flexibility when you travel. Finally it is often easier to find awards if you are travelling on your own or at most with one other person. If you have a larger family it can get more difficult finding multiple awards (this applies more to premium awards but still is worth mentioning).
I'm doing a lot of domestic travel that includes flights, hotels, and cruises. The only non domestic destination I have planned right now is the caribbean but I'm not heavy on traveling internationally at the moment. Cash back seems like the better option for me but now I'm worried about how they pay it out/redeem it. Also why would I need a flexible schedule? Why would I not know which day I'm departing until a few days? I'm going to be traveling with significant other mostly and some trips with my 4 yr old.
For cash back it doesn't matter since your paying cash as far as the airline is concerned. If you are redeeming awards then you can't just take any open seat. You can only redeem for award seats that are open. I'll put it in terms of a simple example so you can understand the difference. Lets say you have two cards. One is cash back and one is points. You earn the same amount on both cards. In this example we will say you earned 70000 points. If you redeem that for cash back you will have $700.00 to apply to airfare. Assuming there is a seat for sale on the plane you can use those points at anytime to buy a seat up to $700. Now if you had travel points you would not buy the seat directly with your points. Instead you would transfer your points to whatever airline program and either redeem for an award seat on that airline or redeem points with their program for another airline they are allied with. So in my example I could spend the 70k points on a first class ticket from NY to SE Asia which cost $11,362 in cash. Obviously I am getting a huge return in value there which makes travel points much more valuable for me.
The thing is that the airlines don't like to release many award seats in advance because they are hoping to sell the seats for people who will pay for them. Then when it looks like they won't sell them some airlines start releasing more award seats but that can be like two weeks before a flight or even a few days before the flight. Not to mention you have to compete against everyone else trying to snag those awards. If someone is flying economy and domestic destinations points don't make as much sense usually because you can only use them with select airlines. With cash back you buy a ticket on whatever airline is cheapest. Award redemptions for the most part involve cards with AFs and higher spend requirements. There are certain other benefits you can look into such as cards that may have companion passes, or if you check luggage airline cards that give free checked luggage etc. There are some point programs that give decent short haul redemptions but again if you don't have flexibility you may not be able to find awards on the dates you need which is why cash back is better when you do not have flexibility.
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@Anonymous wrote:After many failed attempts at trying to see if I pre-qualify for any offers through AMEX and two failed attempts at cold apping, I finally seen offers for the Amex Everyday and Blue Case Everday card (plus the green card but I dont care for it). I was super happy to see that because I figured they hated me and didn't want to bother with me but now I feel like I have some hope. My only question is, what is the difference between the two cards? Right now, AMEX said there aren't any Intro APRs or Welcome bonus offers, should I wait until they have one if they have any at all? Trying to continue gardening until this Dec for the majority of my inquiries to drop off.
OP the CSP is in your Goal Cards list. Is this still on your goal list?
How many cards do you have new in the last 24 months?
Gardening until December 2017 is definitely on your list.
Going for AMEX ED or BCE will potentially delay the CSP and will definitely kill your Silver Spade. You have the Chase Freedom earning 5 UR points on groceries through June 30, which takes out the Main Category of both ED and BCE during that time. I would suggest not apping for ED/BCE for several months, and waiting even longer, until after December, the CSP and after you get through the CSP bonus spend requirement.
And watch your garden spade get prettier and prettier.
