topic Re: Your two main cards.. in Credit Cards

Your two main cards..

travisr0 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 16:43:48 GMT

Well I'll start the conversation. Like most of us here we all have multiple cards and more than likely 90 % of them are in the sock drawer collecting dust. Sometimes we get that itch on wanting some more of them then you ask yourself why? Well for me it's about what card is relevant to the rewards I am looking for. What are your two main cards you use for your daily use and why? for low APR, Rewards, miles etc? For my main two cards I use:

Amex Blue Cash Preferred: Main reason for Amex BCP is of course for the 6% cash back for groceries and the 3% on gas. Also the peace of mind using Amex as their customer service to me is second to none and dispute resolution is top notch.

Chase Marriot Premier: Absolutely great card with the free hotel night every anniversary year and the 5x points per dollar and free upgrades for Marriot hotels, 2x points on flights, restaurants, and 1x on anything else. The points on this card add up fast which equals free Marriot rooms on your vacations. So what are your main two?

Re: Your two main cards..

toothgrind3r — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 16:56:20 GMT

I really wanna pair down to 2, maybe 3 cards, soon.

So I have just just decide if i want to go the Hilton route, which would then mean I would use my Citi and Amex Hiltons, but a Citi Double Cash as back up....

Or I go the Starwood route, which would then mean my Amex SPG, with Citi Double Cash as backup.

Re: Your two main cards..

CreditMENA — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:02:58 GMT

1. Chase Marriott - until I hit the spend for the 70k points

2. CSP

3. Chase Freedom

Not a better combination of cards out there for rewards.

Re: Your two main cards..

happypill — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:16:11 GMT

Pretty simple for me as I don't have a lot of different cards, but I'm happy with the setup with some potential upgrades in the future. I prefer cash or flat rewards rather than points. I've never really been successful in maximizing point value because I can't plan travle 3-6 months in advance.

1. Barclay Sallie Mae - I use for 5% on gas, groceries & Amazon. I'm single so my grocery bill is rarely over the $250 monthly limit. With gas prices at current levels I also don't go over the $250 monthly limit there; but if gas prices were to go back to $4, it might not be enough. I also do the vast majority of my non-grocery shopping on Amazon. This was true before I ever heard of the Sallie Mae card, but it works out perfectly for me and the $750 limit is fine.

2. Cap1 Venture - I use this for everything else including business travel & entertainment. Hit the $3k spend for the 40k bonus points within the first month, so that was nice. BTW, I wanted to compliment Cap1 on posting the points immediately after I hit the spend (not at statement cut or some later date) and posting the rewards to my account within 2 days of my request. Super fast. I like the 2% on everything. Like I mentioned above, I don't really do that well with points, so these rewards suit my spending style best. I'll be looking at a Barclays Arrival+ when I exit the garden. My spend should justify the higher AF so I can get the 2.22% rewards there; and also get another sign-on bonus.

What I'd like to add:

1. Security Service FCU Power Travel WMC - One thing I'm missing is a good dining rewards card. This card goes one better in offering 3.3% rewards for travel & gas in addition to dining. I rack up a lot of charges for dining & travel for both business & personal. It also comes with low APR (not important to me, but nice) and no fees of any kind. The biggest drawback of this card is the restricted membership. Happily, I've cleared that hurdle because the corporate HQ for the company I work for is in Denver, which is within their territory. This card will be my #1 target when I exit the garden.

2. JCB Marukai - 3% rewards on everything after $5k annual, with some bonuses to offset the $25 AF and lower earnings below $3k annual. Obviously the 3% rewards would supercede what the Venture and Arrival+ could offer. There are two drawbacks to this card. First is restricted membership - you need to live in CA, HI, or a few other western states. Fortunately I live in CA. Second is that JCB runs off the Discover network in the US, and it may not be accepted at 100% of the places that accept Discover (which is the smallest network overall to begin with I believe). Still, 3% on everything is sweet.

Re: Your two main cards..

1GaDawg85 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:21:38 GMT

My main cards are:

Navy Fed Cash Rewards: 1.5% cash back on everything and highest limit yet. Easy to redeem.

Barclay Rewards: 2nd highest limit and 2x points on gas, groceries, and utilities (cell phone included)

Cap One QS: decent limit, 1.5% cash back on everything isn't too bad, redeeming for cash is a breeze

Re: Your two main cards..

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:21:53 GMT

Barclay Rewards and Cap One are my two main cards right now...With the Cap One Im in credit steps so I want to show a lot of usage and then Barclays has good rewards so I want to make sure Im using that consistently for utilities and things like that as well.

Re: Your two main cards..

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:24:51 GMT

1. CSP

2. Amex Gold

the rest i alternate and use them with family members to spend for me and i get the money every 2 weeks

Re: Your two main cards..

DrZoidberg — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:28:39 GMT

1. CSP

2. Discover

Re: Your two main cards..

Open123 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:43:09 GMT

Wow, hard to choose 2 main cards.

Perhaps, once the sign-up bonus era has ended, I can boil it down to 3, but not 2.

1. Amex SPG - All non-bonus spending goes on this card. Unless redemption rates change, I value this at or around 3% - 4% equivalent for my "cash+points" redemptions.

2. Chase Inks - 5X UR Points on all telecom/cell/Office and 2X Dining or Travel makes this the "best in class" business card, in my view.

3. Amex Charge - All things being equal, while MR points aren't as prized as SPG and URs, the Amex NPSL is ideally suited for some large expenses (insurance, quarterly taxes, big lease payments) static CLs can't readily accommodate.

The rotating 5% cards are nice, but given their $1,500/$2,000 quarterly limits, they are of limited value. I'll use them each quarter to maximize the 5% (especially Freedom), but can certainly live without them.

Re: Your two main cards..

travisr0 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 18:30:16 GMT

Yeh it is difficult to narrow them down to 2 of them sometimes but also makes you think of all the cards we have that really don't have much significant use.

Re: Your two main cards..

Open123 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 18:32:58 GMT

@travisr0 wrote:
Yeh it is difficult to narrow them down to 2 of them sometimes but also makes you think of all the cards we have that really don't have much significant use.

It would mean having to discard the 5% rotating cards, since they aren't viable options for any non-bonus general spending. For cash redemptions, all it would require to maximize value is the Citi 2% and JCB 3% (if available).

For travel rewards, it becomes a much more complicated choice.

Re: Your two main cards..

kdm31091 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 18:34:37 GMT

Primarily Quicksilver, after that probably Discover or maybe even my BJ's Mastercard (at BJ's, at least). My Amazon is really only used for dining at 2%, and my Sallie is only used for grocery spend at actual grocery stores which isn't as much since I get most of my stuff at either BJ's or Target, where I have the debit Redcard.

I hope to pare down to 4 cards eventually, as some are not really super useful for me.

Re: Your two main cards..

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 18:34:36 GMT

I'll be cutting down to 3 cards by the beginning of next year. But my two main cards are my CSP and Discover IT.

Re: Your two main cards..

Open123 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 18:40:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'll be cutting down to 3 cards by the beginning of next year. But my two main cards are my CSP and Discover IT.

I've often wanted to pare down my cards to 2 or 3, but have found it difficult to give up on the myraid of 5% rotating cards, such as Freedom, Discover, and Cash+. 5% cash rebate is actually more valuable than any kind of travel rewards points value.

So, though it's limited, I can't seem to cut them.

Re: Your two main cards..

kdm31091 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 18:44:24 GMT

I think having both Freedom and Discover is normally redundant unless you're using the Freedom to xfer points to the CSP. Other than that, the categories tend to overlap during the year. I had both before and couldn't justify it. They aren't both useful on their own, IMO, it's fine to have one or the other

Re: Your two main cards..

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 18:44:26 GMT

NFCU cashRewards - my default card

Barclaycard Rewards MC - groceries & utilities

My husband's default is his Cap1 Journey rewards card.

Re: Your two main cards..

mikelo22 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:09:06 GMT

1. Citi Forward (5x Restaurants, Amazon, Entertainment)

2. SallieMae (7x Gas/ 5x Groceries, Amazon)

3. Citi DoubleCash (2x non-category spend)

Will be getting rid of CSP when AF comes up. Only used for the bonus. My Forward beats CSP's dining (even when valuing UR points at 2cpp) and I don't travel too much at the moment, and when I do it's with UR/MR points.

Will get rid of Amex PRG when AF comes up as well unless they make the rewards more worthwhile. Will PC BCE -> ED to keep the MR points.

Will probably close Discover It as well. No sense in having Freedom and It when they cover pretty much the same categories. And Discover is being very stingy with CLI's. Plus, still get my TU FICO from Barclay SallieMae so no loss there, and the SavingStar Shopping Portal has proven much better than Discover's.

Re: Your two main cards..

Lyythine — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 18:53:16 GMT

They change often, depending on what I am doing. However, my two main cards for the past couple months have been:

1) Amex Platinum

2) Merrill Accolades (only for convenience purposes)

Re: Your two main cards..

kjel — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:06:40 GMT

Now that I have some prime cards, all three CapOne cards are going into the sock drawer.

NavyFed Cash Rewards, 1.5% cash back on everything.

CSP, used for dining and travel. Since it's a new card for me, no AF yet, but I think it will still be worthwhile next year due to the amount we do travel and dine out.

Looking to add another prime card, this thread has given me some ideas.

Re: Your two main cards..

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:25:17 GMT

I think I would do SM and a CSP.