topic Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases? in Credit Cards

What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

ficonerd21 — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 13:15:59 GMT

I'm leaning towards the Amex Gold because of its spending categories, but is there a better travel credit card for everyday spending than what people generally recommend for sign-up bonuses: https://johnnyjet.com/best-credit-cards-for-travel-miles/? The Capital One Venture gets 2x miles on all spending. I love Chase points but the Sapphire Preferred doesn't have any spending bonuses (really). It's just getting harder for all my everyday spending going towards miles credit card sign-up bonuses today with the bank rules.

Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 13:22:08 GMT

@ficonerd21 wrote:
I'm leaning towards the Amex Gold because of its spending categories, but is there a better travel credit card for everyday spending? The Capital One Venture gets 2x miles on all spending. I love Chase points but the Sapphire Preferred doesn't have any spending bonuses (really). It's just getting harder for all my everyday spending going towards credit card sign-up bonuses today with the bank rules.

Are you transferring points? If not, and mobile pay is available for most of your transactions, consider US Bank Altitude Reserve, which gives 4.5% when redeemed for travel. The major downside is that there is no transfer to partners.

Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

ficonerd21 — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 13:36:39 GMT

Yes, I prefer to transfer my points out to travel partners where I can maximize their value.

Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

ptatohed — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:03:30 GMT

A citi Double Cash and a Custom Cash could be a good combo perhaps. The DC for uncapped 2% and the CC for 5% (capped) on the travel category (or other you choose). They earn ThankYou points which can be redeemed through the Citi Travel Portal. Also having the Prestige, Premier, or AT&T Access More cards can sometimes increase the transfer rate. I have no experience with this, I take the Cash Back, lol, so sorry if this is not a good idea. Just thought I'd through it out there.

Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

redpat — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:18:17 GMT

Amex gold and pair that w/ rakuten for shopping and dining program.

That's your best bet to rack up MR points really, really quickly on top of the SUB.

Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

Shooting-For-800 — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 01:58:44 GMT

I like Navy Flagship and Amex Gold for daily use.

Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

phantasm — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 03:19:49 GMT

I think it depends on how much travel and also how you travel (rail, air, bus, boat, hotel, air B&B, etc) along with how this compares to your every day spending. I.e. what percent is travel compared to your overall spending? Also, by how you asked the question, I assume you are looking for a single card and aren't looking to try and break things up over multiple cards?

There are a number of cards you could potentially choose from depending on how you answered the above questions. I prefer to split things by spending category and would suggest the following:

If you spend a lot of nights at hotels, grab whatever loyalty card makes sense for you. I have the Marriott Bonvoy Card from AMX that is $95 a year but offers a 35K award which we easily use. This is the only AF card I have.
For a general hotel and air travel card, it's hard to beat the GreenState Federal Credit Union Card. This is pseudo geo restricted but it's easy enough to join one of the aligned associations to become a member. Their World Mastercard offers 5X points on purchased (5% cash back via a statement credit) and has no AF
If you travel outside of air and hotel, the PenFed Pathfinder card has NO AF but does have some account requirements like parking $500. This card has 4X points on nearly every travel category but on redemption is closer to 3.4% due to devaluation of cash equivalent redemptions. Another nice thing about this card is the Global Entry and TSA reimbursement. They also have mobile phone coverage if your monthly plan is purchased on the card
If you travel by air and infrequently use lounges, the US Bank Altitude Connect offers 4 lounge visits a year and has no AF (waived for year 1 and will permanently be gone Sept 1 this year). This card also offers a TSA/Global Entry reimbursement, so if you and another family member want TSA/Global Entry, between the PenFed and this Card you would be covered
For regular every day spending, since AOD 3% CB is no longer available, your best bet is the 2.5% CB from Alliant Credit Union (up to $10K monthly) and also has no AF. I don't have personal experience with this card, but 2.5% cards are more rare these days

I generally don't recommend cards with AF unless you are 100% certain you will get your money back without a forced spend. For example, some Amex cards like the Platinum Card offer a $200 Uber Eats credit which I normally would never use. If that's part of your yearly spend, great, otherwise it's a forced spend to get your money back on the AF. That combined with travel cards that can offer 5% with no annual fee make cards like the Amex more challenging ROI. That said, there are people on this forum that travel extensively and, for them, something like the Amex Platinum makes sense. It really comes down to the first set of questions I posed above.

Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

redpat — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 09:26:10 GMT

Lol, enough w/ CB suggestions......It's a travel card thread.

Chase CSR paired w/ Freedom Unlimited also is a great combo. CSR 10x car rentals and 10x booking on their travel portal makes this card a great independent hotel card, in addition Chase has a shopping portal to make up for non-cat spend.

Also, their transfer partners are very good, especially having Hyatt as one, plus 1.50x floor for travel redemptions. As everyone knows most of these cards come with AFs because there is a reason for that, the ability to get greater than 1:1 and have a flex point ecosystem.

Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

FrankenBeans — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 13:09:24 GMT

What are your biggest spend categories?

Citi Premier and Wells Fargo Autograph are working very well for me. Premier does an 80k SUB usually once a year, and the Autograph covers almost everything (except groceries). Both have no FTFs, and Autograph has zero interest for a year.

Re: What is the best credit card for travel and everyday purchases?

Horseshoez — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 13:13:50 GMT

One might argue NFCU's Flagship Rewards could be considered the best all around card for both Travel and Everyday.