topic Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold? in Credit Cards

Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 03:13:56 GMT

I'm currently a young adult/medical student with 3 cards, a CapOne QS, a Chase Freedom, and a WF Visa Plat (my first card). I'm looking to get a card that I can get better rewards from. The Visa Plat is all but useless, the Chase Freedom doesn't always line up with categories, and I think I can do better than the 1.5% of the QS. My biggest spending categories are currently groceries, dining, and then transportation (mainly public transport and uber/lyft. Though I may be getting a car next year). The AMEX looks interesting. I travel 2-3 times a year so I think I could use the 100$ incidentals, and I'm sure I could grubhub the $120 dining credit, but as my spending isn't rather high, I don't know if the AMEX would win out over a no AF card. The 50k MR points seem like a good SUB though. I'm just afraid because the AMEX can't really be downgraded if things change. Any help would be appreciated (or any better card recs you guys may have!). Thanks.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 03:21:17 GMT

how much on dining, how much on grocery, how much on travel? Estimate will be helpful to determine if any AF card make sense.

Also, what is your fico score? any estimate?

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 03:32:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
how much on dining, how much on grocery, how much on travel? Estimate will be helpful to determine if any AF card make sense.

Also, what is your fico score? any estimate?

My monthly spend isnt too high. Probably around $250 on groceries, a similar amount on dining out, $100 on public transport, $30-50 on uber/lyft, and the rest of my spending ($200 or so) on online shopping/general spending. My travel spend (flights, hotels, airbnbs) is around $3-4k yearly. I'm not sure if I should just settle for a 2% cashback card or try and think long-term with cards. My FICO is around 770.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 03:50:44 GMT

Amex gold's dining credit is very limited, if you think you can use it all without elevating spending, then Amex'e effective AF is only 30. Now Amex's MR is pretty unimpressive unless you transfer the points to a partner airline for ticket, in which case it becomes very good. You may need to check to see if you fly the airline that can benifit from this point transfer (Delta, BA, Aeromexico, etc). If you can, then this may be your best option.

Uber card looks nice on paper, but I heard people complaining about its issuer. I don't have it, so I can't comment more.

Propel can be good if you pair it with a wells visa signature, in which case it will be 4.5% on travel and dining, when you redeem it for travel. If you can't use all the credit from amex gold, or your airline isn't a partner with Amex MR, I would go with Propel, then wait 6 monthes and get visa signature.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 03:56:20 GMT

Thanks for the response! I've heard the same thing about Uber, and the propel seems like it would generate me more cashback, as the travel category is more expansive than the Uber. I don't have the WF Signature yet, but I heard it was possible to receive an upgrade to Signature from Platinum. Do you know if this is true? Also does the Propel have access to the Earn More Mall like the other WF cards, since that could potentially bump up the cashback. I wasn't sure since its an Amex card. Does it also receive Amex offers?

I can easily use the dining credits for the AMEX, it's the travel credit that worries me a bit. I do fly Jet Blue/Delta occasionally, but I'm not sure if incidentals are really worth it. I rarely check bags or make in flight purchases.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 04:03:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the response! I've heard the same thing about Uber, and the propel seems like it would generate me more cashback, as the travel category is more expansive than the Uber. I don't have the WF Signature yet, but I heard it was possible to receive an upgrade to Signature from Platinum. Do you know if this is true? Also does the Propel have access to the Earn More Mall like the other WF cards, since that could potentially bump up the cashback. I wasn't sure since its an Amex card. Does it also receive Amex offers?

I can easily use the dining credits for the AMEX, it's the travel credit that worries me a bit. I do fly Jet Blue/Delta occasionally, but I'm not sure if incidentals are really worth it. I rarely check bags or make in flight purchases.

prople has access to earn more mall. If you want to upgrade platinum (which I don't know if you can, you can call to ask), I would wait until you get SUB from Prople before doing that.

Amex airline fee, can be e-gift card. You can buy 2x $50 delta gift cards (I am told you should buy 50 dollar gift cards) and they will be covered, then you can use the gift cards for ticket (strictly speaking, it doesn't fit the term, but in practice, this is being done, at least until now it still works, lol).

btw, Amex MR worth about 1.2cents per point if you transfer to delta skypesoes.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 04:11:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the response! I've heard the same thing about Uber, and the propel seems like it would generate me more cashback, as the travel category is more expansive than the Uber. I don't have the WF Signature yet, but I heard it was possible to receive an upgrade to Signature from Platinum. Do you know if this is true? Also does the Propel have access to the Earn More Mall like the other WF cards, since that could potentially bump up the cashback. I wasn't sure since its an Amex card. Does it also receive Amex offers?

I can easily use the dining credits for the AMEX, it's the travel credit that worries me a bit. I do fly Jet Blue/Delta occasionally, but I'm not sure if incidentals are really worth it. I rarely check bags or make in flight purchases.
prople has access to earn more mall. If you want to upgrade platinum (which I don't know if you can, you can call to ask), I would wait until you get SUB from Prople before doing that.

Amex airline fee, can be e-gift card. You can buy 2x $50 delta gift cards (I am told you should buy 50 dollar gift cards) and they will be covered, then you can use the gift cards for ticket (strictly speaking, it doesn't fit the term, but in practice, this is being done, at least until now it still works, lol).

btw, Amex MR worth about 1.2cents per point if you transfer to delta skypesoes.

Oh I didn't know the strategy with the giftcards, that's neat. I'm still not sure if my annual spend is high enough to justify the Amex Gold. But at the same time I want the rose gold card before it disappears...

With 50k SUB MR points it could be worth it, though the propel has a 30,000 points SUB itself.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 04:14:17 GMT

if you can use all of the dining credit, with the airline fee credit, amex gold AF is not that bad, just 30 bucks.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 06:10:18 GMT

If you are not going to put much spend on the card, I would go with the Propel I guess.

However, I’ve had the Propel since it was released and I’m not all that impressed with it. I just put it in my box of cards and out of my wallet for the first time today.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

staticvoidmain — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 06:31:51 GMT

I have studied these cards. In your case, Amex Gold seems great, but an Amex, and has annual fee, and rewards that you probably won't use as easily as you could with your other two choices, unless you like to travel. Amex is amazing though, as a company. WF Propel is great, but it uses Amex network. Contrary to popular belief, Amex acceptance even in the US is not as ubiquitous as Visa or Mastercard based on my experience. If this does not bother you, this is probably my vote. Uber, seems the best choice for dining only, but it's Barclays. It's travel categories is also subpar. Of all these cards, I have the Uber.

What I would recommend? If you shop at Costco, the Citi Costco Visa. OR, get a general 2% card first (I recommend the PayPal MC, possible 3%). These are my recommendations if you must get one card. You can always get multiple cards for multiple purposes, like I do.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

mongstradamus — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 06:43:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm currently a young adult/medical student with 3 cards, a CapOne QS, a Chase Freedom, and a WF Visa Plat (my first card). I'm looking to get a card that I can get better rewards from. The Visa Plat is all but useless, the Chase Freedom doesn't always line up with categories, and I think I can do better than the 1.5% of the QS. My biggest spending categories are currently groceries, dining, and then transportation (mainly public transport and uber/lyft. Though I may be getting a car next year). The AMEX looks interesting. I travel 2-3 times a year so I think I could use the 100$ incidentals, and I'm sure I could grubhub the $120 dining credit, but as my spending isn't rather high, I don't know if the AMEX would win out over a no AF card. The 50k MR points seem like a good SUB though. I'm just afraid because the AMEX can't really be downgraded if things change. Any help would be appreciated (or any better card recs you guys may have!). Thanks.

Just to be clear you have to know what you will be using your MR with if you get a gold card. Because the cash value of MR is pretty poor. Once you figure that out then you can decide if MR is worth it vs a cash back card.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

UncleB — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 07:44:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Also does the Propel have access to the Earn More Mall like the other WF cards, since that could potentially bump up the cashback. I wasn't sure since its an Amex card. Does it also receive Amex offers?

As @Anonymous mentioned above the Propel does have access to the Earn More Mall; I've used it quite a bit with my own Propel the last few months... some of the in-store deals have been fanatastic.

As for Amex Offers, there was a time where you could link a non-Centurion bank Amex (like the Propel) to Amex Offers via social media, but they ended that around a year ago.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

CramEiko — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 14:59:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm currently a young adult/medical student with 3 cards, a CapOne QS, a Chase Freedom, and a WF Visa Plat (my first card). I'm looking to get a card that I can get better rewards from. The Visa Plat is all but useless, the Chase Freedom doesn't always line up with categories, and I think I can do better than the 1.5% of the QS. My biggest spending categories are currently groceries, dining, and then transportation (mainly public transport and uber/lyft. Though I may be getting a car next year). The AMEX looks interesting. I travel 2-3 times a year so I think I could use the 100$ incidentals, and I'm sure I could grubhub the $120 dining credit, but as my spending isn't rather high, I don't know if the AMEX would win out over a no AF card. The 50k MR points seem like a good SUB though. I'm just afraid because the AMEX can't really be downgraded if things change. Any help would be appreciated (or any better card recs you guys may have!). Thanks.

With the GOLD revamp, I'm not sure if the AF is due the first year or not like the prior version? I'd say at least with the $120 dining credit, $100 incidentals it would be chisling down the AF down to $30. Then tack on the 50k sub and all the 4x on resturants and grocery spend, you'd recoup that now $30 AF at some point.

When I had the Chase Freedom card I thought it was too much work to remember the rotating catagory spend. So I PC'd it into the CFU. It's much easier now to catch non catagory spend. It also replaced any spend that I had been puting on my Cap1 QS.

I also cancled my Propel Card. Not only due to crummy servicing on the card (personal opinion) but, I found it even harder to follow their catagory spend.

Good Luck!

Edited to add: I just checked my AMEX Gold accout to see if I had been credited the $100 spend on a $100 Gift Card (not 2-$50 cards) for my chosen airline - American Airlines. I bought the GC on 12/10/18 through AA.com and received full credit 12/13/18. Either AA.com or AMEX stated it could take up to 4 weeks to see the credit. In my case this was only 3 days.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

CBartowski — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 15:10:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm currently a young adult/medical student with 3 cards, a CapOne QS, a Chase Freedom, and a WF Visa Plat (my first card). I'm looking to get a card that I can get better rewards from. The Visa Plat is all but useless, the Chase Freedom doesn't always line up with categories, and I think I can do better than the 1.5% of the QS. My biggest spending categories are currently groceries, dining, and then transportation (mainly public transport and uber/lyft. Though I may be getting a car next year). The AMEX looks interesting. I travel 2-3 times a year so I think I could use the 100$ incidentals, and I'm sure I could grubhub the $120 dining credit, but as my spending isn't rather high, I don't know if the AMEX would win out over a no AF card. The 50k MR points seem like a good SUB though. I'm just afraid because the AMEX can't really be downgraded if things change. Any help would be appreciated (or any better card recs you guys may have!). Thanks.

Welcome to the boards! So I have the Uber and Amx Gold, love them both. I can attest that Barclays can be a PITA sometimes but after initial issue of the card I haven't had any issues.

I would say the main the question to ask is how do you want your rewards, travel credit (Propel) or cash back (Uber).

I personally think both cards have their merits. Uber card also gives you a 50$ statement credit for online subscriptions (Netflix, hulu, etc) if you spend 5k$ or more per year which should be cake for you. As a no AF card that is free money essentially.

One other card you may want to check out if you want to play the points game is PenFed Pathfinder card. Also a no AF card, but its 4x on travel and 1.5x back on everything else. Essentially combines what you're already doing. The clever part is that it gives you $100 travel incidential credit each year...as a no AF card....also free money. AA Gift cards have tripped it for me. Fair warning, their points aren't worth a ton however. No military service is required. You either need to be in the service or have one of their checking accts to get the 4x rather than 3x.

Another option is the Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve. CSP gives 2x on very broad travel and dining categories and Chase's UR program is the crown jewel amongst the community at the moment. I personally think the CSR is a better deal than the CSP for 3x on the categories . Sticker shock with the $450 annual fee BUT they give you $300 travel credit, not incidental sooooo airfare tickets trip the credit. Way better deal which essentially takes you to $150 for AF, 55$ more than the CSP and you get way more. These cards are also some of the only ones that offer PRIMARY car rental insurance by default and no extra charge among other perks.

In the interest of brevity...also check out Alliant Credit Union visa sig, 2.5% on all spending all the time.

I'll cut it off there. Sorry for the drawn out explanation. Amex Gold is a decent choice, I love it. However, my goal is to cash out MR with charles schwab for an extra 25% value thru their plat otherwise I wouldnt be with AMEX.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

NRB525 — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 15:22:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm currently a young adult/medical student with 3 cards, a CapOne QS, a Chase Freedom, and a WF Visa Plat (my first card). I'm looking to get a card that I can get better rewards from. The Visa Plat is all but useless, the Chase Freedom doesn't always line up with categories, and I think I can do better than the 1.5% of the QS. My biggest spending categories are currently groceries, dining, and then transportation (mainly public transport and uber/lyft. Though I may be getting a car next year). The AMEX looks interesting. I travel 2-3 times a year so I think I could use the 100$ incidentals, and I'm sure I could grubhub the $120 dining credit, but as my spending isn't rather high, I don't know if the AMEX would win out over a no AF card. The 50k MR points seem like a good SUB though. I'm just afraid because the AMEX can't really be downgraded if things change. Any help would be appreciated (or any better card recs you guys may have!). Thanks.

The AMEX Gold should work well for you.

For the $100 Airline Incidental you do need to select one airline for the year. You get to re-select in January, but it is set for the year. By assigning Delta, and if you fly Delta without holding one of the Delta AMEX cards, the $100 incidental credit could be used for the likely checked bag fee, or for food purchases on the plane. In December, if you didn't use the credit yet, you could look at buying gift cards.

The 4x MR points on dining and groceries seems to align well with your spend. The 50,000 sign up bonus gets you a slug of MR points available.

Transfers to Delta for regular flights are usually 1.2c to get flights, however it is possible to find better redemption rates at Delta. It is common to just shop the points offers, and if you only see 1.2c value, pay with cash and save the volume of SkyMiles for a flash sale or an obviously better redemption at 1.5c or so.

The AMEX offers are with the Gold card, of course.

And one thing to keep in mind with all AMEX cards, that payment network doesn't code everything you think of as Groceries or Restaurant, as those categories. It is a learning process to figure out which places you go actually get the better earnings rate, and which don't. So this applies to both the Propel and the Gold, each is on the AMEX network, each will have disappointing moments when you didn't get the full points. If it turns out your grocery store is not Groceries at AMEX, that is disappointing although it often happens that those places charge less for the groceries in the first place.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 16:03:01 GMT

I have both the Uber visa and AMEX gold. I hate Wells Fargo (bad deal a million yrs ago with a mortgage) so I won't do business with them. So far I love my Uber card. I use it the most for restaurant spend. No fee so this card is a winner to me....might even be my favorite card. Also run hulu and cell phone bill through it. Phone insurance saves me $12 a month
First 5k spend is essentially 2% with the $50 credit.

Amex gold is ok. I found I can easily offset the annual fee so it is (for me) a "no annual fee" card. I use it as secondary to spread spend.

If I had to chose only one between the two it would probably be Uber

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 16:26:19 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm currently a young adult/medical student with 3 cards, a CapOne QS, a Chase Freedom, and a WF Visa Plat (my first card). I'm looking to get a card that I can get better rewards from. The Visa Plat is all but useless, the Chase Freedom doesn't always line up with categories, and I think I can do better than the 1.5% of the QS. My biggest spending categories are currently groceries, dining, and then transportation (mainly public transport and uber/lyft. Though I may be getting a car next year). The AMEX looks interesting. I travel 2-3 times a year so I think I could use the 100$ incidentals, and I'm sure I could grubhub the $120 dining credit, but as my spending isn't rather high, I don't know if the AMEX would win out over a no AF card. The 50k MR points seem like a good SUB though. I'm just afraid because the AMEX can't really be downgraded if things change. Any help would be appreciated (or any better card recs you guys may have!). Thanks.

The AMEX Gold should work well for you.
For the $100 Airline Incidental you do need to select one airline for the year. You get to re-select in January, but it is set for the year. By assigning Delta, and if you fly Delta without holding one of the Delta AMEX cards, the $100 incidental credit could be used for the likely checked bag fee, or for food purchases on the plane. In December, if you didn't use the credit yet, you could look at buying gift cards.
The 4x MR points on dining and groceries seems to align well with your spend. The 50,000 sign up bonus gets you a slug of MR points available.

Transfers to Delta for regular flights are usually 1.2c to get flights, however it is possible to find better redemption rates at Delta. It is common to just shop the points offers, and if you only see 1.2c value, pay with cash and save the volume of SkyMiles for a flash sale or an obviously better redemption at 1.5c or so.

The AMEX offers are with the Gold card, of course.

And one thing to keep in mind with all AMEX cards, that payment network doesn't code everything you think of as Groceries or Restaurant, as those categories. It is a learning process to figure out which places you go actually get the better earnings rate, and which don't. So this applies to both the Propel and the Gold, each is on the AMEX network, each will have disappointing moments when you didn't get the full points. If it turns out your grocery store is not Groceries at AMEX, that is disappointing although it often happens that those places charge less for the groceries in the first place.

Thanks for the response! The biggest thing that worries me is the AF of the Gold. I know it's effectively $30 assuming I use all the credits, but with how little my spending is, do you think it still wins out over a no AF Propel or a straight 2% cashback card? It only has an extra 1% over the propel for dining, and the travel only covers airfare. It does hit 4x dining though, so I'm not sure.

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 16:27:39 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm currently a young adult/medical student with 3 cards, a CapOne QS, a Chase Freedom, and a WF Visa Plat (my first card). I'm looking to get a card that I can get better rewards from. The Visa Plat is all but useless, the Chase Freedom doesn't always line up with categories, and I think I can do better than the 1.5% of the QS. My biggest spending categories are currently groceries, dining, and then transportation (mainly public transport and uber/lyft. Though I may be getting a car next year). The AMEX looks interesting. I travel 2-3 times a year so I think I could use the 100$ incidentals, and I'm sure I could grubhub the $120 dining credit, but as my spending isn't rather high, I don't know if the AMEX would win out over a no AF card. The 50k MR points seem like a good SUB though. I'm just afraid because the AMEX can't really be downgraded if things change. Any help would be appreciated (or any better card recs you guys may have!). Thanks.

Just to be clear you have to know what you will be using your MR with if you get a gold card. Because the cash value of MR is pretty poor. Once you figure that out then you can decide if MR is worth it vs a cash back card.

Oh didn't know that. The points don't expire right? And can I use MR points to upgrade flights to business? I'd probably be using my points on flights. Think it's worth it?

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 16:28:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you are not going to put much spend on the card, I would go with the Propel I guess.

However, I’ve had the Propel since it was released and I’m not all that impressed with it. I just put it in my box of cards and out of my wallet for the first time today.

May I ask why you weren't impressed with the propel? To me it seems like a good no-AF card, but maybe I'm missing something. Would you have another card reccomendation in mind?

Re: Uber Visa vs WF Propel vs AMEX Gold?

mongstradamus — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 17:33:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm currently a young adult/medical student with 3 cards, a CapOne QS, a Chase Freedom, and a WF Visa Plat (my first card). I'm looking to get a card that I can get better rewards from. The Visa Plat is all but useless, the Chase Freedom doesn't always line up with categories, and I think I can do better than the 1.5% of the QS. My biggest spending categories are currently groceries, dining, and then transportation (mainly public transport and uber/lyft. Though I may be getting a car next year). The AMEX looks interesting. I travel 2-3 times a year so I think I could use the 100$ incidentals, and I'm sure I could grubhub the $120 dining credit, but as my spending isn't rather high, I don't know if the AMEX would win out over a no AF card. The 50k MR points seem like a good SUB though. I'm just afraid because the AMEX can't really be downgraded if things change. Any help would be appreciated (or any better card recs you guys may have!). Thanks.

Just to be clear you have to know what you will be using your MR with if you get a gold card. Because the cash value of MR is pretty poor. Once you figure that out then you can decide if MR is worth it vs a cash back card.
Oh didn't know that. The points don't expire right? And can I use MR points to upgrade flights to business? I'd probably be using my points on flights. Think it's worth it?

I am pretty sure they don’t expire as long as you have an MR card. The regular ED is a favorite because it has no AF and still has ability to transfer to airline/hotel partners. You don’t upgrade your flights you would just book your flight in J or F originally. For example one of the better values of MR is to transfer to ANA and fly business class to Far East. It’s about 100k MR you would need to fly RT . You need to explore membership rewards site and see what you would use your MR for. I would do that before applying, once you decide you can find value somewhere with MR then you can apply or at least decide between UBER visa , propel . Etc. For me personally 4x MR > 5% cash back when comparing Gold to Uber for dining.