topic Re: Which card would be best? in Credit Cards

Which card would be best?

Harvey26 — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 03:41:16 GMT

My mom is looking to transition to a card that has great rewards and she is going to charge everything through this one card and PIF each month, her scores are 800s across the boards. I recommomended that she take her 7.5k from her freedom and apply for the CSP and then combine the limits into the CSP. She does not really care for AMEX but maybe her mind will change. But just give me some good ideas of cards that you guys think are good.

Re: Which card would be best?

elim — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 03:51:03 GMT

If she travels, Keep the Freedom and get CSP. you can transfer 5% cat points earned on Freedom to CSP. CSP is'nt a great earner though. I would suggest an AMEX product. What and where is her spend?

Re: Which card would be best?

elim — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 03:55:26 GMT

I would suggest looking at Themanwhocan's Charts....

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Cash-Back-credit-card-charts/td-p/4004725

Re: Which card would be best?

NRB525 — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 03:59:16 GMT

@Harvey26 wrote:
My mom is looking to transition to a card that has great rewards and she is going to charge everything through this one card and PIF each month, her scores are 800s across the boards. I recommomended that she take her 7.5k from her freedom and apply for the CSP and then combine the limits into the CSP. She does not really care for AMEX but maybe her mind will change. But just give me some good ideas of cards that you guys think are good.

If she's using only one card, AMEX and Discover cannot be that one card. She will be stranded or disappointed at some frequent interval.

If she doesn't think the Freedom offers rewards, that's strange. There is no "one best card", and Freedom ranks as a benefit card, when comparing to all cards. Each cash back / rewards card has positives and negatives, no one card rules them all in all cases. So stepping away from the Freedom, there's nothing that absolutely wins always. Otherwise everyone on MF would be apping it

Re: Which card would be best?

Harvey26 — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 03:59:53 GMT

well thats the thing she just wants one card so i will try to push AMEX a little more

@elim wrote:
If she travels, Keep the Freedom and get CSP. you can transfer 5% cat points earned on Freedom to CSP. CSP is'nt a great earner though. I would suggest an AMEX product. What and where is her spend?

Re: Which card would be best?

elim — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 04:06:43 GMT

@Harvey26 wrote:
well thats the thing she just wants one card so i will try to push AMEX a little more
@elim wrote:
If she travels, Keep the Freedom and get CSP. you can transfer 5% cat points earned on Freedom to CSP. CSP is'nt a great earner though. I would suggest an AMEX product. What and where is her spend?

you should check the charts. i'm probably making the mistake of thinking mom=groceries=AMEX, lol.

Re: Which card would be best?

Blodreina — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 04:07:43 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@Harvey26 wrote:
My mom is looking to transition to a card that has great rewards and she is going to charge everything through this one card and PIF each month, her scores are 800s across the boards. I recommomended that she take her 7.5k from her freedom and apply for the CSP and then combine the limits into the CSP. She does not really care for AMEX but maybe her mind will change. But just give me some good ideas of cards that you guys think are good.
If she's using only one card, AMEX and Discover cannot be that one card. She will be stranded or disappointed at some point ~~frequent interval~~.

If she doesn't think the Freedom offers rewards, that's strange. There is no "one best card", and Freedom ranks as a benefit card, when comparing to all cards. Each cash back / rewards card has positives and negatives, no one card rules them all in all cases. So stepping away from the Freedom, there's nothing that absolutely wins always. Otherwise everyone on MF would be apping it

Agreed.

I vote for the Double Cash or BoA cash rewards.

Re: Which card would be best?

elim — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 04:10:53 GMT

On a side note, BOA CR coded my walmart purchases as groceries :] None of my other cards do (at my walmart)

Re: Which card would be best?

Harvey26 — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 04:18:03 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@Harvey26 wrote:
My mom is looking to transition to a card that has great rewards and she is going to charge everything through this one card and PIF each month, her scores are 800s across the boards. I recommomended that she take her 7.5k from her freedom and apply for the CSP and then combine the limits into the CSP. She does not really care for AMEX but maybe her mind will change. But just give me some good ideas of cards that you guys think are good.
If she's using only one card, AMEX and Discover cannot be that one card. She will be stranded or disappointed at some frequent interval.

If she doesn't think the Freedom offers rewards, that's strange. There is no "one best card", and Freedom ranks as a benefit card, when comparing to all cards. Each cash back / rewards card has positives and negatives, no one card rules them all in all cases. So stepping away from the Freedom, there's nothing that absolutely wins always. Otherwise everyone on MF would be apping it

well i mean that true but you could just get a Amex charge and call it a day honestly so we will see between the AMEX PRG and th CSP because we frequently travel and she has credit card thru our local credit for 10k so that offers rewards so even if she need a revolver she still has that as a backup.

Re: Which card would be best?

NRB525 — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 05:08:24 GMT

@Harvey26 wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
@Harvey26 wrote:
My mom is looking to transition to a card that has great rewards and she is going to charge everything through this one card and PIF each month, her scores are 800s across the boards. I recommomended that she take her 7.5k from her freedom and apply for the CSP and then combine the limits into the CSP. She does not really care for AMEX but maybe her mind will change. But just give me some good ideas of cards that you guys think are good.
If she's using only one card, AMEX and Discover cannot be that one card. She will be stranded or disappointed at some frequent interval.

If she doesn't think the Freedom offers rewards, that's strange. There is no "one best card", and Freedom ranks as a benefit card, when comparing to all cards. Each cash back / rewards card has positives and negatives, no one card rules them all in all cases. So stepping away from the Freedom, there's nothing that absolutely wins always. Otherwise everyone on MF would be apping it

well i mean that true but you could just get a Amex charge and call it a day honestly so we will see between the AMEX PRG and th CSP because we frequently travel and she has credit card thru our local credit for 10k so that offers rewards so even if she need a revolver she still has that as a backup.

Alright, but now DM is becoming pragmatic and carrying more than one card Or rather, your selling pitch has to encourage her to carry more than one card, which, from your original post, was not her objective.

Will DM spend enough on the PRG so the AF make sense? Because with PRG and CSP, now we are talking a seriously big hole to climb out of for any rewards on spend to make sense. Sign up bonuses, sure, I can go with that, but then DM starts to look like a churner if the AF's are an issue after a year.

If you want the travel card to rule them all, one which will be accepted everywhere, always give you a positive rewards earning amount each year, no FTF, all that good stuff, then the Quicksilver beats everything. Even DoubleCash, because serious foreign travel will cost a ton on the DC. With no AF, she starts out ahead from dollar 1.

Re: Which card would be best?

takeshi74 — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 14:37:38 GMT

@Harvey26 wrote:
My mom is looking to transition to a card that has great rewards and she is going to charge everything through this one card and PIF each month,

That really doesn't help to narrow it down IMO. Best, great, etc are always highly subjective regardless of topic and need to be qualified when such words are used. Please provide more details on what she needs/wants, her major spend catregories and the volume of spend in those categories. If a large percentage for her is non-categrory them let us know as well.

The two of you can do this. She should know where her spend it going. For cash back cards the math to determine rewards is very straightforward. It gets a bit trickier with points/miles programs as you have to not only consider earn rates but the redemption process and how the methods of redemption that she can use would impact point/mile value.

If she only wants one card for rewards on all spend then she may want to consider a card like the Citi Double Cash.

The CSP could be a good fit but it really depends on her spend and what methods of redemption she can use to maximize point value. If she doesn't want to hassle with all that then a simple cash back card may be a better solution for her.

Re: Which card would be best?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:50:42 GMT

@Harvey26 wrote:
My mom is looking to transition to a card that has great rewards and she is going to charge everything through this one card and PIF each month, her scores are 800s across the boards. I recommomended that she take her 7.5k from her freedom and apply for the CSP and then combine the limits into the CSP. She does not really care for AMEX but maybe her mind will change. But just give me some good ideas of cards that you guys think are good.

Since she already has a freedom card I would keep the freedom card and apply for the CSP card. You can transfer points from the Freedom to Ultimate rewards and get those huge bonus catagories. CSP is a great card 1:1 with southwest and United is huge for me points are worth 1.6cents on southwest last time I checked. AMEX PRG is nice also. Annual fee is about the same once you use the $100 airfare credit. You have to check and see which transfer partners you like best to make a good decision but knowing what I do from your post seems CSP is the way to go.

Re: Which card would be best?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 17:27:11 GMT

It's going to depend on what her spend is and what she wants to do with the rewards. If she just wants a simple cash back card, chances are that Citi Doublecash or CapOne QS are good options. However, if her spend is predominantly groceries and gas, Amex BCE or BCP could be a better option, especially if she doesn't shop in small shops very often. I find that most big stores take Amex (and Discover), so the distinction between brands doesn't matter much.

On the flip side, if she likes to travel, CSP could be an excellent option. It pairs well with Freedom and provides some great bonuses for the spend that goes there. You are, however, at the whims of Chase, which may defeat the point of a second card.