topic Re: Credit Cards with Rewards in Credit Cards

Credit Cards with Rewards

DI — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:29:11 GMT

Are there any benefits of having all rewards cards? I just realized after reviewing all 11 of my cards, I am receiving rewards. It looks like my State Farm card offers the best rewards followed by Discover, Kroger and Penfed. Am I limiting myself from accumulating a lot of cash back by not charging to one card? Should I focus on putting all charges on my Kroger card since its the card that will provide me food and gas in the form of certificates?

My PenFed, Discover More, StateFarm, GM and Kroger cards all offer real cash back. My other cards offer points only.

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:21:13 GMT

@DI wrote:
Are there any benefits of having all rewards cards? I just realized after reviewing all 11 of my cards, I am receiving rewards. It looks like my State Farm card offers the best rewards followed by Discover, Kroger and Penfed. Am I limiting myself from accumulating a lot of cash back by not charging to one card? Should I focus on putting all charges on my Kroger card since its the card that will provide me food and gas in the form of certificates?

My PenFed, Discover More, StateFarm, GM and Kroger cards all offer real cash back. My other cards offer points only.

Which PenFed card do you have? My platnim cash back visa card puts my State Farm platinum card to shame. FSB only gives1% State Farm Dollars. I will say I love FSB's foreign exchange rate (1%) and 9.99% versus PenFed's rate.

If you don't get rewards, ya might as well use a debit card.

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:29:54 GMT

If I had to get by with two PenFed and Discover would work pretty well for me:

PenFed for gas and groceries, plus whatever else didn't work out on Discover,

Discover for the rotating categories and ShopDiscover.

Both extremely easy to deal with and no hoop jumping. Beyond that almost every card I have (except my legacy cards) have some type of reward, I just don't go out of my way to make the most of them.

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:20:44 GMT

It can be a PITA having a lot of rewards cards, because you often have to run a lot of money through a card to hit their good rewards. Not all, but plenty do --AmEx Blue Cash being a case in point.

I look on my cards as having different types of rewards --cash/points, yes, but also good APR's or high CL's. It's pretty rare to find one card that does all these well.

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:10:58 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
It can be a PITA having a lot of rewards cards, because you often have to run a lot of money through a card to hit their good rewards. Not all, but plenty do --AmEx Blue Cash being a case in point.

I look on my cards as having different types of rewards --cash/points, yes, but also good APR's or high CL's. It's pretty rare to find one card that does all these well.

Ameriprise WE MC is one

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:38:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
It can be a PITA having a lot of rewards cards, because you often have to run a lot of money through a card to hit their good rewards. Not all, but plenty do --AmEx Blue Cash being a case in point.

I look on my cards as having different types of rewards --cash/points, yes, but also good APR's or high CL's. It's pretty rare to find one card that does all these well.
Ameriprise WE MC is one

That's a good one. Ameriprise is on my wish list!

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

JagerBombs89 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:38:25 GMT

@DI wrote:
Are there any benefits of having all rewards cards? I just realized after reviewing all 11 of my cards, I am receiving rewards. It looks like my State Farm card offers the best rewards followed by Discover, Kroger and Penfed. Am I limiting myself from accumulating a lot of cash back by not charging to one card? Should I focus on putting all charges on my Kroger card since its the card that will provide me food and gas in the form of certificates?

My PenFed, Discover More, StateFarm, GM and Kroger cards all offer real cash back. My other cards offer points only.

Well, it all depends on the type of rewards offered. I only have 1 card that is a Rewards Card, and its my Chase Military Star Card. Once I hit 10,000 point on it, I can either receive a $110 gift card for my PX or $100 cash check. This is useful as I use it to pay for all my bills, then just pay off the card with cash. I've already cashed in one $110 gift card and almost to my 2nd one

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:09:49 GMT

I stick only to cash rebate cards.

I use a couple of grandfathered cards (Chase Rewards Plus and HSBC Direct Rewards) which pay 5% for supermarkets, drugstores, and gas.

For everything else, I use my Schwab 2% card.

Overall, I realize around 2.5% return per year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Message Edited by LustForTheMoment on 10-24-2009 11:09 AM

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

CodeMonkey — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:41:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
It can be a PITA having a lot of rewards cards, because you often have to run a lot of money through a card to hit their good rewards. Not all, but plenty do --AmEx Blue Cash being a case in point.

I look on my cards as having different types of rewards --cash/points, yes, but also good APR's or high CL's. It's pretty rare to find one card that does all these well.
Ameriprise WE MC is one

Yep, I just opened one: $10.5k CL, 4.5% APR (prime + 1.25% - that's lower than my 30-year fixed mortgage right now), 1.5% cash-back.

My credit score isn't even that stellar right now either - in the 720s/730s when I applied (it had dropped down from the 780s over the course of the last year or so due to opening some new TLs).

ETA: Forgot to add - apparently they're now waiving the $150 annual fee for the life of the card. So on top of all that, you also get a free PriorityPass membership - so much for AMEX Platinum, I guess.

Message Edited by CodeMonkey on 10-24-2009 12:41 PM

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

DI — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:40:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@DI wrote:
Are there any benefits of having all rewards cards? I just realized after reviewing all 11 of my cards, I am receiving rewards. It looks like my State Farm card offers the best rewards followed by Discover, Kroger and Penfed. Am I limiting myself from accumulating a lot of cash back by not charging to one card? Should I focus on putting all charges on my Kroger card since its the card that will provide me food and gas in the form of certificates?

My PenFed, Discover More, StateFarm, GM and Kroger cards all offer real cash back. My other cards offer points only.
Which PenFed card do you have? My platnim cash back visa card puts my State Farm platinum card to shame. FSB only gives1% State Farm Dollars. I will say I love FSB's foreign exchange rate (1%) and 9.99% versus PenFed's rate.

If you don't get rewards, ya might as well use a debit card.

I have the Platinum Rewards card, but I only use it to pay my cell phone bill. I won't make any other charges on the card until my available credit is no longer held.

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:33:06 GMT

@CodeMonkey wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
It can be a PITA having a lot of rewards cards, because you often have to run a lot of money through a card to hit their good rewards. Not all, but plenty do --AmEx Blue Cash being a case in point.

I look on my cards as having different types of rewards --cash/points, yes, but also good APR's or high CL's. It's pretty rare to find one card that does all these well.
Ameriprise WE MC is one
Yep, I just opened one: $10.5k CL, 4.5% APR (prime + 1.25% - that's lower than my 30-year fixed mortgage right now), 1.5% cash-back.

My credit score isn't even that stellar right now either - in the 720s/730s when I applied (it had dropped down from the 780s over the course of the last year or so due to opening some new TLs).

ETA: Forgot to add - apparently they're now waiving the $150 annual fee for the life of the card. So on top of all that, you also get a free PriorityPass membership - so much for AMEX Platinum, I guess.

I assume you are talking Ameriprise WE MC. That card is on my list and that sure sounds like a great deal. Are you sure that $150 is fully waived in perpetuity and not just the first year plus a chance to have it waived in future years if you hit some usage threshold? Also, what CBR did they pull and how much income did you show them?

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:39:33 GMT

@DI wrote:
I have the Platinum Rewards card, but I only use it to pay my cell phone bill. I won't make any other charges on the card until my available credit is no longer held.

If I recall correctly you weren't approved for a toy limit. What difference could it make in reality when your available credit is updated? How could a thing like that outweigh the value of the rewards? I'm cheap, personally - I'll take the money. (I booked a cruise today through ShopDiscover so I could get the 5% reward... )

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

CodeMonkey — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:58:47 GMT

Yes, my post was regarding the Ameriprise WE card.

Regarding the annual fee, there are a lot of conflicting sources - all over their website, and even on the letter Ameriprise sent me with my new Client ID, they make references to waiving the $150 fee only for Ameriprise Elite Circle something-or-other members, with $15k+ annual spend.

However, on the application itself, which indicates that the "offer" remains open until 12/31, it explicitly states that there is no annual fee, and there aren't any footnotes that would indicate otherwise (see: http://www.ameriprise.com/global/sitelets/invitationonly/).

Also, upon receiving my card, I checked the "Cardmember Agreement" pamphlet, and it explicitly states on the back that there is a $0 "Annual Membership Charge." I read those two pieces of information as an explicit statement of a $0 AF for the life of the account.

So, I feel confident enough about it that if an annual fee DOES appear on my first month's statement, I will be calling them to fight it. Based on all of that information I don't expect this to be the case, though - I will post an update when I do see my first statement either way.

They pulled TU for my application, and it was an instant online approval with $65k annual HHI.

Edited to add: Additionally, it appears the Terms & Conditions listed on their website for the Ameriprise WE also explicitly states that there is no annual fee (see https://www.juniper.com/app/japply/lp/TnCs.jsp?prodidreq=CCMWC19430).

Message Edited by CodeMonkey on 10-24-2009 02:58 PM

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:56:41 GMT

Sorry for an additional question, but I'm looking better for this than I thought I would. My TU FICO is 754 and I would show $90K HHI. What was your TU FICO? Also, how is this WE MC reporting, i.e. does it report a CL like a normal card would?

Not too many left that I want, PSECU (qualified), NCFC (can qualify w/effort), USAA (may be able to qualify when they update my requirements so dad can join), Ameriprise, could be a very few others.

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

CodeMonkey — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:07:00 GMT

No worries, I know the feeling.

Honestly I'm not sure what my TU was at the time of the app - however, based on ScoreWatch my EX was 727 at the time. The last time I checked my TU was when all my scores were in the 780 range about a year ago; like EX I'm guessing the other two have fallen considerably due to a lot of new account trauma over the last 12 months.

I can't imagine they wouldn't approve you given what they approved me with. I do have a mortgage with a decen amount of equity on my file, which is about the only caveat I can think of (they may have been more willing to give me the benefit of the doubt in spite of my score since they know I have at least one worthwhile asset?).

Anyway, if you do pull the trigger, good luck - let me know how it goes. It is a great card for sure. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:42:03 GMT

How does this card report? Does it report the CL? (I think WE MC's do, but I'm not sure of it.)

Regarding mortgages on CBR's: I'm not sure they are universally considered a positive thing these days...

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

CodeMonkey — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:07:27 GMT

I just checked and the TL hasn't hit my report yet, so I'm not sure. Incidentally, it looks like my TU is 733 right now (a bit higher than I thought it would be).

One thing to watch out for: apparently the card applications are serviced by Barclays and then transferred to Ameriprise.

So I actually have an entry for a "Barclays" account that was opened, immediately closed and noted as "transferred." Very weird.

Re: Credit Cards with Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:21:35 GMT

@CodeMonkey wrote:
I just checked and the TL hasn't hit my report yet, so I'm not sure. Incidentally, it looks like my TU is 733 right now (a bit higher than I thought it would be).

One thing to watch out for: apparently the card applications are serviced by Barclays and then transferred to Ameriprise.

So I actually have an entry for a "Barclays" account that was opened, immediately closed and noted as "transferred." Very weird.

If you get hit for two new TL's when you open this I'll be out. Don't want that. You'll have to post back in this thread when the new card reports so I know how it works.