topic Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet in Credit Cards

credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

crickettoo — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 19:10:28 GMT

Hi,

I find it difficult to keep up with various credit cards rewards categories, perks (extended warranties, etc), cash back, etc. I remember that someone had made a spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets to compare cards. Does anyone else remember seeing this post? Or, does anyone have a spreadsheet or other system to keep track of multiple credit cards to maximize benefits?

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

Hoben02 — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 21:05:24 GMT

Take a look at the CardPointers app

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

crickettoo — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 22:37:12 GMT

Thanks so much. I will check out that app.

@Hoben02 wrote:
Take a look at the CardPointers app

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

Kforce — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 02:19:54 GMT

Probably best to make your own.

No two people have the same needs and there are dozens of attributes to consider.

You might only need to look at a few or want to compare a lot.

I might want a card with auto monthly rewards that covers 5 categories and you might be looking for a master card with no FTF and 5% rewards in grocery spend.

Some categories to consider for your project

FTF
AF
BT Fee
Yearly BT Offers
Savings or checking account required, if so how much.
Monthly deposits or transfers, if so how much and many
How are rewards returned, cash, points, miles, statement, etc
Is there a minimum threshold, how much.
Is money returned in chunks, size.
How often are rewards posted
How often can you get rewards
Is redemption automatic or your choice
Rewards dumped to savings, checking, statement credit, out side checking ?
Are there spend or reward caps, how much
How many reward categories
Are CC product changes allowed
Is a free score available, which version, how often up dated
Are push payments allowed
How many accounts can be linked for payment
How soon are payments credited
What is the APR range
What network is the card on
Cash advance fees
Cash advance APR
What level of credit health is required to apply
Is the issuer sensitive to inq’s
What CL’s does the issuer usually give.
What is the high CL line
Are CL increases SP or HP

And many more that I did not think about.

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 02:47:14 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
Probably best to make your own.
No two people have the same needs and there are dozens of attributes to consider.
You might only need to look at a few or want to compare a lot.

I might want a card with auto monthly rewards that covers 5 categories and you might be looking for a master card with no FTF and 5% rewards in grocery spend.

Some categories to consider for your project

FTF
AF
BT Fee
Yearly BT Offers
Savings or checking account required, if so how much.
Monthly deposits or transfers, if so how much and many
How are rewards returned, cash, points, miles, statement, etc
Is there a minimum threshold, how much.
Is money returned in chunks, size.
How often are rewards posted
How often can you get rewards
Is redemption automatic or your choice
Rewards dumped to savings, checking, statement credit, out side checking ?
Are there spend or reward caps, how much
How many reward categories
Are CC product changes allowed
Is a free score available, which version, how often up dated
Are push payments allowed
How many accounts can be linked for payment
How soon are payments credited
What is the APR range
What network is the card on
Cash advance fees
Cash advance APR
What level of credit health is required to apply
Is the issuer sensitive to inq’s
What CL’s does the issuer usually give.
What is the high CL line
Are CL increases SP or HP

And many more that I did not think about.

I am a little in shock. Right at the bottom of your list:

Are CL increases SP or HP

If you want to keep your MF creds, you should know that this is in the top three, along with High Starting Limit and Is it Metal!!!!!

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

butterpecan — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 03:59:38 GMT

Cardpointers app is decent.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cardpointers.app

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

crickettoo — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 14:22:01 GMT

Thanks so much. I'll check into that app.

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

crickettoo — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 14:24:26 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for your response. I probably do need to make my own spreadsheet. There are so many other perks to consider, like cell phone repair coverage, etc., as all of the items you provided.

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

Kforce — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 15:53:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

If you want to keep your MF creds, you should know that this is in the top three, along with High Starting Limit and Is it Metal!!!!!

They took away my creds years ago, I just sneak in the back

You are correct, I forgot the Metal.

And after you have all those cards and a spread sheet to help you.

Do you buy that $500 phone with the 1% cash back MC that has 3 years insurance or with Card B that has no insurance but gives 5% cash back and extra $20 this quarter for $100 spend ?

Putting all my spend except grocery on one card means I can build spread sheets for others

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 17:16:26 GMT

@Kforce wrote:

And after you have all those cards and a spread sheet to help you.
Do you buy that $500 phone with the 1% cash back MC that has 3 years insurance or with Card B that has no insurance but gives 5% cash back and extra $20 this quarter for $100 spend ?

There you go again! $500 phone???? What is this, the 1980s? A non-flagship phone is like a credit card that isn't a WEMC/VI, might as well have a big flashing "LOSER" sign on it.

ETA:

Not that there is anything wrong with being a loser of course. It just means, well, that you lost.

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

okurosetta — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 23:55:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
There you go again! $500 phone???? What is this, the 1980s? A non-flagship phone is like a credit card that isn't a WEMC/VI, might as well have a big flashing "LOSER" sign on it.

Ah man, I really have no MF cred then - I don't care if a card is metal, has a high starting limit, or does SP CLIs and I have a $350 phone - a $350 phone that I turned in my old $350 phone and got $200 in credit for, at that.

Kidding aside, I do love my $350 phone outside of one flaw: the fingerprint sensor sucks, often requiring a few tries before it gives up and prompts me to enter my PIN. I barely use mobile wallet for this reason - much quicker to just take a card out of my wallet. Losing MF cred started as a joke, but maybe it's reality!

Re: credit card rewards, perks, etc. comparison spreadsheet

Kforce — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 18:45:42 GMT

@crickettoo wrote:
Hi,
I find it difficult to keep up with various credit cards rewards categories, perks (extended warranties, etc), cash back, etc. I remember that someone had made a spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets to compare cards. Does anyone else remember seeing this post? Or, does anyone have a spreadsheet or other system to keep track of multiple credit cards to maximize benefits?

Have not worked on making anything for cards perks, insurance, and the good-bad stuff about each issuer or different cards.

Have made a system to import each credit card issuers monthly data download ".csv" file. Then re-categorize into my category sets and combine each issuers unique & different fields into a single format for me to archive and manipulate for reports.

Due to the different format's & fields from each issuer it does take ~15 minutes to download, rename & run a program for each for conversion and then move the newly made output files to another directory for importing into the main CC database

This allows me to generate a report for any single month or an average of selected months. My reports are for me to see spend in my categories, my rewards as both $ and %, and compare to possible rewards both $ & %. It also shows what percent of my spend goes into premium reward categories compared to general. List top categories to think about if wanting another rewards card and shows what extra rewards each category offers (filter for >= $5). Most important is that it shows how far up the scale you are with your rewards compared to what maximum rewards you could be getting with your spend.

The final report could be made quite easy in any spread sheet with only a hand full of columns.

The work is in converting months of data into one table:sheet, with good numbers in your preferred categories.

Real numbers with (AOD & USAlliant) and a fake 3rd rewards Gas card.

Note high general spend in hobby's, lowers maximum rewards obtainable. (Low premium cat ratio 43%)

High general spend card helps the real rewards to max rewards numbers, (87% of max with 3 cards)

We have a ranch : Horse's, Cow's, Dog's (Farrier, feed, vet, etc) - H1

Daughter teaches stunt & drift driving. (Lot's of car parts, tires, etc. on her personal cars.)- H2

My photography, welding and forging spend. - H3

PS: If anyone want's this report generated from your own data, without making a new spread sheet.

I can import from a post or PM.

With 30 seconds work, import and send back the report.

Need 4 items in the list.

Catagory, Spend, Your rewards % as a whole number ( 2 not 0.02 ), Max rewards card percent,

Example:

Food,375,2,5,

Gas,325,3,5,

Costco,2,3,

Fields seperated by "," and a "," at end of line

***