topic PC to double cash or keep dividend? in Credit Cards

PC to double cash or keep dividend?

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 19:41:42 GMT

Quick background: after repairing my credit, I recently approved on 4 prime(to me anyways) cards to help maximize our rewards/cashback on areas where we spend the most. Amex BCE (upgrading to preferred) for grocery, Citi Costco signature for gas & our heavy Costco spend, Chase sapphire prefer for airfare & hotels & DiscoverIT for rotating category along with cash match and upcoming q4 amazon & target. Any non-category spend goes on my Cap1 Qs to keep up SP cli and since it's my most aged card.

I'm now reviewing my wife's cards & pc'ing any that have better than existing options & getting myself added as Au. She's got a Citi Dividend that I was unaware of and subsequently haven't been using prior to getting the disco IT. Citi has been pushing hard via mail marketing to get her to swap to the DC, which is a card I had been considering myself. So what I'm wondering is, should we go ahead and PC to double cash and use that 2% as the go to non-category spend card instead of quicksilvers 1.5%, or keep it as a competing/secondary bonus categories card?

Re: PC to double cash or keep dividend?

minski — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 04:36:26 GMT

I have been weighing this decision myself except Citi has been trying to get me to PC to the Thank You Preferred. No, thank you.

I am leaning towards PC'ing to the Double Cash next year (I currently am in the middle of a 0% APR promo until January) if they will let me and closing out my newer Double Cash. I like the rotating categories cards; however, the categories for the Dividend have not changed from last year. If they change next year, I may keep the Dividend a little longer. The categories they have now do not suit my lifestyle.

Re: PC to double cash or keep dividend?

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 04:47:34 GMT

I'm leaning the same way, while I could have taken advantage of a few things they offered this year I would have done better with flat 2%.

Re: PC to double cash or keep dividend?

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 14:07:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Quick background: after repairing my credit, I recently approved on 4 prime(to me anyways) cards to help maximize our rewards/cashback on areas where we spend the most. Amex BCE (upgrading to preferred) for grocery, Citi Costco signature for gas & our heavy Costco spend, Chase sapphire prefer for airfare & hotels & DiscoverIT for rotating category along with cash match and upcoming q4 amazon & target. Any non-category spend goes on my Cap1 Qs to keep up SP cli and since it's my most aged card.

I'm now reviewing my wife's cards & pc'ing any that have better than existing options & getting myself added as Au. She's got a Citi Dividend that I was unaware of and subsequently haven't been using prior to getting the disco IT. Citi has been pushing hard via mail marketing to get her to swap to the DC, which is a card I had been considering myself. So what I'm wondering is, should we go ahead and PC to double cash and use that 2% as the go to non-category spend card instead of quicksilvers 1.5%, or keep it as a competing/secondary bonus categories card?

I have the Dividend as well. If you are able to take advantage of their rather odd 5% bonus categories it is certainly worth keeping (in conjunction with other cash back cards): Home Depot/Appliances, Health/Gym/Drug Stores, air travel/hotel and holiday shopping seem to be their quarterly offerings.

I kind of see the Dividend card as the bonus cash back card of people who are upper middle class and have disposable income. People that are able to buy new appliances or have semi major projects at Home Depot yearly; people that buy personal training at the gym, people who go on yearly end of summer vacations (and do not use points from another lender or use their Dividend in conjunction with other points) and of course holiday shopping (which both Freedom and Discover usually also have). I don't know if that makes sense, but thats how I see it because Freedom and Discover offer more useful bonus categories for those of us that are just middle class LOL.

Re: PC to double cash or keep dividend?

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 15:41:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Quick background: after repairing my credit, I recently approved on 4 prime(to me anyways) cards to help maximize our rewards/cashback on areas where we spend the most. Amex BCE (upgrading to preferred) for grocery, Citi Costco signature for gas & our heavy Costco spend, Chase sapphire prefer for airfare & hotels & DiscoverIT for rotating category along with cash match and upcoming q4 amazon & target. Any non-category spend goes on my Cap1 Qs to keep up SP cli and since it's my most aged card.

I'm now reviewing my wife's cards & pc'ing any that have better than existing options & getting myself added as Au. She's got a Citi Dividend that I was unaware of and subsequently haven't been using prior to getting the disco IT. Citi has been pushing hard via mail marketing to get her to swap to the DC, which is a card I had been considering myself. So what I'm wondering is, should we go ahead and PC to double cash and use that 2% as the go to non-category spend card instead of quicksilvers 1.5%, or keep it as a competing/secondary bonus categories card?
I have the Dividend as well. If you are able to take advantage of their rather odd 5% bonus categories it is certainly worth keeping (in conjunction with other cash back cards): Home Depot/Appliances, Health/Gym/Drug Stores, air travel/hotel and holiday shopping seem to be their quarterly offerings.

I kind of see the Dividend card as the bonus cash back card of people who are upper middle class and have disposable income. People that are able to buy new appliances or have semi major projects at Home Depot yearly; people that buy personal training at the gym, people who go on yearly end of summer vacations (and do not use points from another lender or use their Dividend in conjunction with other points) and of course holiday shopping (which both Freedom and Discover usually also have). I don't know if that makes sense, but thats how I see it because Freedom and Discover offer more useful bonus categories for those of us that are just middle class LOL.

Ha! Your description is actually accurate now that I've looked over part categories on it. I guess it technically describes us, vacation wise anyways. The rest not so much, we have the means but not the inclination or necessity to do the other items mentioned as we rent & don't own our home. I've sunk around $1500 into the house as we'll be here at least 3 years & the quality of life improvement was worth it to me, especially for my kid. Though only up to a point. We're a middle class family with working class mouths & slightly upper-middle assets, or what my Filipino wife likes to call "daddy's white privilege money" lol.

I'm still on the fence but leaning towards doublecash PC, mostly based on other cards in my portfolio offering equal or better reward-to-spend in the last 2 year dividend categories & due to not needing things like major home projects, appliances or personal training. Also I've got a sneaking suspicion that Citi is perhaps moving to retire or restructure the Dividend rewards program, given the aggressive unsolicited offers to PC. Maybe I'll hold out until we see what next year's categories look like. If it's the same for a third year perhaps it's time for flat 2%

Re: PC to double cash or keep dividend?

Kforce — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 16:22:51 GMT

Having a 1.5% cashback you only gain 0.005% (1/2 %)

This means putting $ 2,000 on CD Cash is worth a gain of $10,

Putting $200 on the Dividend will give you the same $10,

You need 10 times the spend on the DC to receive the same reward.

I say keep the dividend if you can use any of the categories for some

moderate spend. I have and like my Citi-DC but did not move to it from

a 1.5% card. The general spend value is small for most. A 5% for a little

spend will gain you more