topic Re: Restaurant Rewards in Credit Cards

Restaurant Rewards

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 12:29:36 GMT

Hi, guys.

Happy New year !!

If you spend about $3500 a year on restaurants, would you rather get 2% anytime you want to redeem, or 3% once a year (Costco Visa)?

Re: Restaurant Rewards

UncleB — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 12:38:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi, guys.

Happy New year !!

If you spend about $3500 a year on restaurants, would you rather get 2% anytime you want to redeem, or 3% once a year (Costco Visa)?

This is really subjective; in the big picture it really comes down to personal preference.

I tend to 'bank' my credit card rewards so I wouldn't mind the wait, but for some the difference wouldn't be worth the hassle (not to mention the trip to the store to cash the check).

Re: Restaurant Rewards

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 12:54:48 GMT

Depends what cards you have already, but there's also the Uber Visa at 4% for restaurants and bars.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

UpperNwGuy — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 13:36:45 GMT

Neither. The Chase Sapphire Reserve gives 3 points per dollar for restaurant spending. You can redeem for cash at $0.01 per point as soon as the statement cuts, or you can redeem them for travel at $0.15 per point which gives a 4.5% total reward rate.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

HeavenOhio — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 13:02:12 GMT

As UncleB says, it's all about preference. It's also about how a particular card fits in for you. How you'd like to redeem your points or cash is definitely part of that fit. And how your rewards fit in with your other cards would also be part of it.

If it's all about restaurants, I'd probably look at options that aren't mentioned. I believe rewards on the Chase AARP card can be redeemed once one has reached $20. And rewards on Capital One's Savor card can be redeemed anytime. Both cards offer 3% restaurants. Synchrony's Marvel Card also offers 3%, but I don't know how redemption works, and I wouldn't want to deal with that bank.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

kdm31091 — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 13:12:48 GMT

An extra 1 percent on that spend level is 35 dollars in a year, or roughly 3 bucks a month. Whether that is worth the hassle and Costco card drawbacks is a preference. To me there are many quicker ways to save that amount of money or more, so I wouldn’t rush to app for that extra 1 percent.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 16:29:54 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
An extra 1 percent on that spend level is 35 dollars in a year, or roughly 3 bucks a month. Whether that is worth the hassle and Costco card drawbacks is a preference. To me there are many quicker ways to save that amount of money or more, so I wouldn’t rush to app for that extra 1 percent.

I'm curious what drawbacks you see with the Costco Visa. I find it hassle-free.

Between a flat 2% card and the Costco card, I'd unequivocally choose the Costco card for 3%.

YMMV, of course. If you shop at Costco, you'll want to carry a membership card anyway, so it might as well be the Costco Visa. And it's not a big deal to stop by the customer service desk once a year to cash the reward check (heck, I'm at the desk about once a week to return something anyway).

If you don't already have the Costco Visa, and especially if you don't usually shop at Costco, then it's certainly not worth the application just for an extra $35 off restaurant purchases.

But if you already have the Costco Visa (which I assume is the OP's situation), I'd say use it for the 3% over the 2% card.

All that said, the Costco Visa is pretty far down the list of preference for restaurants for me.

First off, any quarter there's a card that can give 5% CB on restaurants, that card takes precedence. This quarter, the first choice will be Chase Freedom via Android Pay, wherever that's available, for 5 URP/$. Otherwise, while we have CSR, we'll use that for restaurants for 3 URP/$. After the year is up on DW's CSR, we've got an old Chase Ink card that still gives 3 URP/$ on restaurants, and we could potentially transfer those URP to a premium card for better earnings (until Chase closes that avenue). Failing that, thru April I have my Alliant CC that gives me 3% CB on everything, which I redeem pretty much every month. Only after exhausting all of those options would I resort to using the Costco card for restaurants.

Chris.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

wasCB14 — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 17:45:52 GMT

I very much prioritize reward value over speed of redemption.

To make the math easy, let's say you do all your restaurant spend Jan 1 and redeem the 2% Jan 1. You'd have to earn a 50% return after tax to beat getting 3% on Dec 31. Of course, in reality, restaurant spend is spread throughout the year, shortening the time to earn 50%.

I want to redeem for big chunks of travel I'd be doing anyway, not tiny bits of cash here and there.

I get that often the differences are small and some people just like convenience...but people who have trouble reaching $25 or $50 thresholds are often spreading their spending too thinly.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

mongstradamus — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 18:45:27 GMT

@UpperNwGuy wrote:
Neither. The Chase Sapphire Reserve gives 3 points per dollar for restaurant spending. You can redeem for cash at $0.01 per point as soon as the statement cuts, or you can redeem them for travel at $0.15 per point which gives a 4.5% total reward rate.

Most people I hope get better value than that with CSR :-)

Re: Restaurant Rewards

mongstradamus — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 18:46:58 GMT

I'm curious what drawbacks you see with the Costco Visa. I find it hassle-free.

redemption only once a year is probably the major drawback of costco credit cards

Re: Restaurant Rewards

HeavenOhio — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 18:52:49 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
redemption only once a year is probably the major drawback of costco credit cards

I think the big drawback is that if you decide to discontinue your Costco membership, you no longer have a card.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

wasCB14 — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 19:41:24 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
redemption only once a year is probably the major drawback of costco credit cards
I think the big drawback is that if you decide to discontinue your Costco membership, you no longer have a card.

True, but Costco membership renewal rates average about 90%. They have some very loyal customers who just consider the cobrand card an afterthought.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 20:15:08 GMT

Personally, 2% back card over the Costco.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jan 2018 00:39:04 GMT

@UpperNwGuy wrote:
Neither. The Chase Sapphire Reserve gives 3 points per dollar for restaurant spending. You can redeem for cash at $0.01 per point as soon as the statement cuts, or you can redeem them for travel at $0.15 per point which gives a 4.5% total reward rate.

While I'd LOVE to see $0.15 per point, I think you mean $0.015 (1.5cpp). BUT 15% would be awesome

Re: Restaurant Rewards

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jan 2018 00:43:23 GMT

I’d rather get 4% for the Uber Visa myself...

Re: Restaurant Rewards

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jan 2018 04:06:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi, guys.

Happy New year !!

If you spend about $3500 a year on restaurants, would you rather get 2% anytime you want to redeem, or 3% once a year (Costco Visa)?

I am not sure why this is a question as doesn't the Cap One Savor give you 3 percent on restaurants that you can redeem anytime?

Re: Restaurant Rewards

jlitnns — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 18:58:44 GMT

wrote:
I’d rather get 4% for the Uber Visa myself...

I'm with you, what am I missing? I'm seriously considering Uber card this summer just for the 4% at restaurants.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 20:07:34 GMT

If one is maximizing and doesn’t fly a lot for one of the top end cards I just don’t see the debate here. It’s a card with the portals or the Uber card at 4% for restaurant purchases. Lol. Maybe the original poster just isn’t aware of the card. IDK. I personally don’t fly almost ever so it’s Uber all the way for me. I eat out quite a bit.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

SunriseEarth — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 02:30:14 GMT

wrote:
Hi, guys.

Happy New year !!

If you spend about $3500 a year on restaurants, would you rather get 2% anytime you want to redeem, or 3% once a year (Costco Visa)?

There are a good number of dining options out there. As mentioned, Marvel DC gives 3% back on all dining, issued on the monthly statement as credit. Cap One Savor has 3% dining, and can be redeemed any time after it posts. Chase AARP is another 3% cash back option. Of course, if you really want to wait a year, Sam's Club also has 3% on all dining.

Uber's 4% could be a good option and I'm considering it. If you do a lot of fast food spend, you could also look at US Bank Cash+ for 5% Fast Food and perhaps choose Restaurants as the 2% option; unfortunately, this doesn't cover Bars/Cafes or Catering, unlike the Sync cards.

Re: Restaurant Rewards

arkane — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 03:11:03 GMT

wrote:
I’d rather get 4% for the Uber Visa myself...

Yep. Not only do you get 4% (highest no-AF card that I know) on dining, the points also post immediately. As long as you have >2500 points you can redeem anytime you want to.

With the Uber visa, you truly can have your cake and eat it too!