@Anonymous wrote:
So I should stay away from travel rewards
No, not necessarily, but you should make sure that the travel rewards card is better than an unrestricted card.
These so called "miles" cards are really misleading because they are not really miles. They are cash back for travel, which can be better for some people, but you can't just add them to your frequent flyer account and get a business class flight to Europe.
The true mileage cards are like the American Airlines card through Citibank or United Explorer through Chase or the various cards that let you transfer real miles to a variety of frequent flyer accounts. American Express rewards is one such program. Chase has a similar one (I think it's Chase Saphire Preferred, but I'm not sure since I'm on their poop list).
The regular Venture card with the annual $59 fee pays 2% back to be used for any type of travel (motels, buses, taxis, airline tickets, etc.), but you have to spend over a certain amount to come out further ahead than you would with just a regular Quicksilver. I think it's like $12,000 a year or so (roughly).
Honestly the best cash back card is not restricted at all and has no annual fee and that is the Citi Double Cash. It pays 2% back (1% when you charge, 1% when you pay the bill). There are not travel "miles" i.e., cash back, cards that pay more than 2%.
Real miles cards can have a much higher value because when used for business of first class tickets, sometimes you can get a valuation of 5% or even 10% cash back, but that's assuming you would rather get a $5000 or $10,000 plane ticket. A lot of people would rather have the cash that they could put towards a coach ticket and then pay for their hotels, etc.
