Favoring rewards cards over others

[Man-Of-Steel]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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If it is cash, on cards with no or low minimum redemptions, it's not really such a problem to have it spread over several cards.   It is a more of an issue if you have small amounts of say UR, SPG, MR and TY, all too small to be useful

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I agree.  I love the fact that QS and Discover it have a no redemption requirements.  Even though QS is currently one of my most used cards, in the future, it can be sock drawered to a certain degree and it won't take me forever to redeem the rewards.  My Amex BCE gets pretty limited use these days.  I just redeemed $50 for statement credit and it will take forever to get to $25.00 again. 

[galahad15]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

Whereas for me, I don't care about the APR at all, rewards are all that matter.   Do you regularly carry a balance (outside of 0% APR) or is your desire for a low APR based on "just in case of emergency" situations?   

IMO, low APR for emergencies don't matter either.  If it short-lived, the difference in interest paid is very minor, and in a longer term emergency, it's not going to help for long, before you get CLDs

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Yes to both questions above

[longtimelurker]

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@Man-Of-Steel wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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If it is cash, on cards with no or low minimum redemptions, it's not really such a problem to have it spread over several cards.   It is a more of an issue if you have small amounts of say UR, SPG, MR and TY, all too small to be useful

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I agree.  I love the fact that QS and Discover it have a no redemption requirements.  Even though QS is currently one of my most used cards, in the future, it can be sock drawered to a certain degree and it won't take me forever to redeem the rewards.  My Amex BCE gets pretty limited use these days.  I just redeemed $50 for statement credit and it will take forever to get to $25.00 again. 

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Yes, Amex has three strikes against it!  

1) Rewards post a month late

2) Minimum redeption of $25

3) Redeem in multiples of $25

I have a card I really don't use with $21 reward dollars on.  

[longtimelurker]

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@galahad15 wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

Whereas for me, I don't care about the APR at all, rewards are all that matter.   Do you regularly carry a balance (outside of 0% APR) or is your desire for a low APR based on "just in case of emergency" situations?   

IMO, low APR for emergencies don't matter either.  If it short-lived, the difference in interest paid is very minor, and in a longer term emergency, it's not going to help for long, before you get CLDs

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Yes to both questions above

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OK, I think everyone agrees that if you carry a balance a lot, then low APR matters!  If you don't, rewards are much more important.  Now I get your love for the FNBO Amex, which is meh to me for my needs!

[Man-Of-Steel]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@Man-Of-Steel wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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If it is cash, on cards with no or low minimum redemptions, it's not really such a problem to have it spread over several cards.   It is a more of an issue if you have small amounts of say UR, SPG, MR and TY, all too small to be useful

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I agree.  I love the fact that QS and Discover it have a no redemption requirements.  Even though QS is currently one of my most used cards, in the future, it can be sock drawered to a certain degree and it won't take me forever to redeem the rewards.  My Amex BCE gets pretty limited use these days.  I just redeemed $50 for statement credit and it will take forever to get to $25.00 again. 

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Yes, Amex has three strikes against it!  

1) Rewards post a month late

2) Minimum redeption of $25

3) Redeem in multiples of $25

I have a card I really don't use with $21 reward dollars on.  

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Yeah, those are definitely 3 valid strikes!  Discover used to have a $50.00 minimum redemption requirement for statement credit when I first got my it card back in 2013.  That was a big strike as well.  They came around and changed their redemption policy and I'm hoping that Amex will do the same.  This might just be wishful thinking on my part though. 

[Anonymous]

For now I just have Freedom as far as non-store cards with rewards.  But I'm looking at a whole list for the Future including CSP (to pair with Freedom for UR points), Barclay Rewards/Sallie Mae, Discover IT, Citi Double Cash (general non-category spending) Amex BCP (to pair with Sallie Mae for Groceries), and maybe the Chase Slate to get the EX FICO. 

[longtimelurker]

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@Man-Of-Steel wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@Man-Of-Steel wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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If it is cash, on cards with no or low minimum redemptions, it's not really such a problem to have it spread over several cards.   It is a more of an issue if you have small amounts of say UR, SPG, MR and TY, all too small to be useful

---

I agree.  I love the fact that QS and Discover it have a no redemption requirements.  Even though QS is currently one of my most used cards, in the future, it can be sock drawered to a certain degree and it won't take me forever to redeem the rewards.  My Amex BCE gets pretty limited use these days.  I just redeemed $50 for statement credit and it will take forever to get to $25.00 again. 

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Yes, Amex has three strikes against it!  

1) Rewards post a month late

2) Minimum redeption of $25

3) Redeem in multiples of $25

I have a card I really don't use with $21 reward dollars on.  

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Yeah, those are definitely 3 valid strikes!  Discover used to have a $50.00 minimum redemption requirement for statement credit when I first got my it card back in 2013.  That was a big strike as well.  They came around and changed their redemption policy and I'm hoping that Amex will do the same.  This might just be wishful thinking on my part though. 

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Right, I should have added that the $21 is left because I had $46.   So I met the minimum but then couldn't redeem it all.  Didn't even Citi Dividend just change this (redeem any amount above the min, like on Double Cash)

[Man-Of-Steel]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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Right, I should have added that the $21 is left because I had $46.   So I met the minimum but then couldn't redeem it all.  Didn't even Citi Dividend just change this (redeem any amount above the min, like on Double Cash)

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I'm not sure, since I don't have any Citi cards at the moment.  But if that's true, it sounds like a step in the right direction.

[masscredit]

I've found Barclay to be quick to redeem rewards. Did it for the first time a few weeks ago. Had about $260. in rewards since I received the card last May.  The next card that I favor is the Cap 1 Quicksilver. Besides getting 1.5%, I really like the free balance transfers. I don't use them much but when I do, they save me a lot of money. Doing the same through Barclay would result in a 3-4% BT fee and interest that starts immediately. 

[Anonymous]

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@Man-Of-Steel wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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Right, I should have added that the $21 is left because I had $46.   So I met the minimum but then couldn't redeem it all.  Didn't even Citi Dividend just change this (redeem any amount above the min, like on Double Cash)

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I'm not sure, since I don't have any Citi cards at the moment.  But if that's true, it sounds like a step in the right direction.

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Yeah Citi you can redeem anything above $25, but that minimum is still annoying.