topic Utilizing cards more effectively in Credit Cards

Utilizing cards more effectively

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 19:32:48 GMT

New to the forums, please bare with me.

814 EQ, 796 TU - Zero balance on any of the following cards.

Capital One Quicksilver - $2,250 CL
Bestbuy CNBA - $4,800 CL

Paypal Extra's Mastercard: $10,000 CL
Bank CC - $7,000 CL

Dell FS - $1,200 CL

Creditors won't budge on CL increases. Recently started traveling very frequently. Looking for the best cash back card available. Do I already have it (In the quicksilver card) or are there better options? Capital One has made it very obvious that they're not willing to increase my limits.

Re: Utilizing cards more effectively

Jnbmom — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 19:41:37 GMT

Discover, Amex or citi?

Re: Utilizing cards more effectively

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 19:43:03 GMT

Preferably discover.

Re: Utilizing cards more effectively

Jnbmom — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 19:44:20 GMT

Your scores are great, I don't think you will have any trouble getting discover.

Re: Utilizing cards more effectively

Caught750 — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 19:45:23 GMT

DISCOVER, Chase, Amex. It's best to let less than 8.9% report on ONE of the cards each month as well.

Re: Utilizing cards more effectively

coldfusion — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 20:07:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Preferably discover.

Domestic or international travel?

Business or personal travel?

Travel by air, by car, or ?? At the remote destination do you rent a car?

Are you adverse to paying an approx. $100/yr AF?

Re: Utilizing cards more effectively

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 20:48:43 GMT

Mostly domestic, some international (About 2-3 trips / year)

Personal, and mostly by vehicle (Rarely rent a car).

Would like a no fee card but i'm open to options.

Re: Utilizing cards more effectively

issac2x — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 21:09:55 GMT

When it comes to CCs YMMV does apply OP since everyone's taste and needs differ.

If you're traveling alot and are fine with AF cards then I'd recommend premium cards like CSR, City National Crystal, or Schwab Amex Platinum. If you want no AF cards then Uber Visa, FNBO travelite (if you can get it), and WF Propel would be more to your liking.

Cap1 does bucket their starter/beginner cards so you'll only get incremental increases from them. If you want cashback it also depends on the category you want it in and once again if you're fine with AF or not.

Rotating 5%: Discover or Chase

Dining: Uber Visa, Cap1 Savor, WF Propel

2% everything: City DC, Fidelity, Paypal 2%,

Once again these are just examples you'll have to provide more details if you want a specific card.

Re: Utilizing cards more effectively

coldfusion — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 21:29:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Mostly domestic, some international (About 2-3 trips / year)

Personal, and mostly by vehicle (Rarely rent a car).

Would like a no fee card but i'm open to options.

2 no-AF cards quickly come to mind: the Costco Visa if you are a Costco member, and the Uber card.

The one problem with the Costco card, assuming you are a Costco member, is that they only pay out cashback once per year.

Your Quicksilver is OK for a backup card, even for international travel, as it has no FTF and offers some level of travel protection.

Re: Utilizing cards more effectively

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 23:05:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
New to the forums, please bare with me.

814 EQ, 796 TU - Zero balance on any of the following cards.

Capital One Quicksilver - $2,250 CL
Bestbuy CNBA - $4,800 CL
Paypal Extra's Mastercard: $10,000 CL
Bank CC - $7,000 CL
Dell FS - $1,200 CL

Looking for the best cash back card available. Do I already have it (In the quicksilver card) or are there better options?

At least for non-foreign spend, the Quicksilver is certainly not the best cashback for general spend. There are a number of free 2% cards (as mentioned Citi DC, Fidelity VIsa, Paypal, and other like Blispay and one from Penfed). Some of these also have no foreign transaction fee.

The difference between 2% and 1.5% isn't huge on average spend, but it IS 33% more!