topic Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom in Credit Cards

Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

Brian_Trying_700 — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 05:21:17 GMT

Who wins rewards? What are your thoughts.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 05:36:16 GMT

@Brian_Trying_700 wrote:
Who wins rewards? What are your thoughts.

Largely depends on your spend catagories! If you can charge a lot in the 5% rotating categories (timing your purchases to coincide with the right catagory) the latter two might be better. With BCE getting capped for groceries, the max there is $180 per year on groceries, + 2% uncapped on gas and department stores + 1% elsewhere. The others have $75 per quarter maximum on the 5% categories, which might be better if you can max that out each quarter.

And take into account sign up bonuses, which vary from time to time.

My personal crusade: Consider PenFed Platinum Rewards instead of BCE. That has uncapped 5% gas/3% groceries, 1% elsewhere.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

bahbahd — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 05:37:29 GMT

You have them in order (of increasingly annoying advertising campaigns.)

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

distantarray — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:46:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Brian_Trying_700 wrote:
Who wins rewards? What are your thoughts.
Largely depends on your spend catagories! If you can charge a lot in the 5% rotating categories (timing your purchases to coincide with the right catagory) the latter two might be better. With BCE getting capped for groceries, the max there is $180 per year on groceries, + 2% uncapped on gas and department stores + 1% elsewhere. The others have $75 per quarter maximum on the 5% categories, which might be better if you can max that out each quarter.

And take into account sign up bonuses, which vary from time to time.

My personal crusade: Consider PenFed Platinum Rewards instead of BCE. That has uncapped 5% gas/3% groceries, 1% elsewhere.

Holy Crap! $180 max groceries? lol jk nice typo though =) It's $6,000 cap on groceries about $115 in groceries a week average.

Regardless BCP is still the best, if you spend $110 a week on groceries, $65 a week on gas, and $25 a month on department stores you'll average $480.60 in cash back.

Considering Freedom and Discover are capped 5% categories at $1,500 per quarter it doesn't take much to cap it. The cap is $1500 in purchases or $75 in rewards quarterly. So that's $300 a year max in bonus categories.

So BCP wins by $180 minus $75 annual fee, and it still wins by over $100 and not to mention you get more benefits with Amex like purchase protection, warrenty extention etc and a lot more. Yes Visa Signiture has some of the simliar benefits, but remember not all Freedom cards are Visa Signitures, and I'm personally not sure about discover since I never had one or cared enough =)

If your going BCE route (no idea why anyone would) you still save $263 a year with no annual fees, so then technically Freedom and Discover could win a little edge if you don't care about Amex standard perks,

Personally, I don't like this whole rotating category spending, I rather choose especially at 5% at $1,500 cap let me choose! we can easily cap each category if we really wanted to.....And I like NOT having to think about which card I'm using for groceries or having to double think about which card to use for gas.

Although if your a freak like me then you'd get a Chase Trifecta + BCP and those two = amazing gas benefits. 4.625% + making $3,000 gas spending savings for a 5% gas card less than $10 a year in savings. I don't know about you but I personally don't want to carry another card for little to nothing, and I'll deal with not having to spread out my rewards across too many cards worth the few dollars lost a year in my case.

Although the best Gas Card and grocery card right now, could arugably be the True Earnings Costco Amex. (Business account) only took me $7 and a trip to the local downtown tax collectors office to get a business tax id number. Also you get 1 free costco card for a member of the same household, and annual fee is waived when you review your Costco membership.

Since the CostCo gas is already heavily discounted comparing to even Sams Club gas etc. If your lucky like me and live close to a CostCo you get 4% cash back on ANY stand alone gas stations (not sams club etc) including CostCo's already cheap gas. and 1% on CostCo, 2% at restaurants and travel.

So mixing that in with Chase Trifecta + True Earnings CostCo would save over 5.125%+ on gas and get CostCo discounts =) couple that with a BCE/BCP then you shouldn't even have to think about PenFED card imo. This route is much easier to get than PenFED, and even with a family it's pretty hard to max out your BCE/BCP limit with a family of 4 if you buy a lot of things at CostCo or Sams Club anyways (dry goods, cereal, juices, canned foods etc) You should only be getting fresher meats and produce at local supermarkets usually if you can.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:01:13 GMT

I'd have to say, over the past year, the winner for me is the Chase Freedom, but ONLY because of the 10-10. Without it, there's a much different picture being painted.

But the real winner? Me. Because I have all three and combine them in a way to maximize the cashback from them.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

Mellon — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:58:05 GMT

i have all three !!! the newest is the Freedom and I really like it

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:59:00 GMT

@distantarray wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Brian_Trying_700 wrote:
Who wins rewards? What are your thoughts.
Largely depends on your spend catagories! If you can charge a lot in the 5% rotating categories (timing your purchases to coincide with the right catagory) the latter two might be better. With BCE getting capped for groceries, the max there is $180 per year on groceries, + 2% uncapped on gas and department stores + 1% elsewhere. The others have $75 per quarter maximum on the 5% categories, which might be better if you can max that out each quarter.

And take into account sign up bonuses, which vary from time to time.

My personal crusade: Consider PenFed Platinum Rewards instead of BCE. That has uncapped 5% gas/3% groceries, 1% elsewhere.
Holy Crap! $180 max groceries? lol jk nice typo though =) It's $6,000 cap on groceries about $115 in groceries a week average.

Regardless BCP is still the best, if you spend $110 a week on groceries, $65 a week on gas, and $25 a month on department stores you'll average $480.60 in cash back.

Considering Freedom and Discover are capped 5% categories at $1,500 per quarter it doesn't take much to cap it. The cap is $1500 in purchases or $75 in rewards quarterly. So that's $300 a year max in bonus categories.

So BCP wins by $180 minus $75 annual fee, and it still wins by over $100 and not to mention you get more benefits with Amex like purchase protection, warrenty extention etc and a lot more. Yes Visa Signiture has some of the simliar benefits, but remember not all Freedom cards are Visa Signitures, and I'm personally not sure about discover since I never had one or cared enough =)

If your going BCE route (no idea why anyone would) you still save $263 a year with no annual fees, so then technically Freedom and Discover could win a little edge if you don't care about Amex standard perks,

Personally, I don't like this whole rotating category spending, I rather choose especially at 5% at $1,500 cap let me choose! we can easily cap each category if we really wanted to.....And I like NOT having to think about which card I'm using for groceries or having to double think about which card to use for gas.

Although if your a freak like me then you'd get a Chase Trifecta + BCP and those two = amazing gas benefits. 4.625% + making $3,000 gas spending savings for a 5% gas card less than $10 a year in savings. I don't know about you but I personally don't want to carry another card for little to nothing, and I'll deal with not having to spread out my rewards across too many cards worth the few dollars lost a year in my case.

Although the best Gas Card and grocery card right now, could arugably be the True Earnings Costco Amex. (Business account) only took me $7 and a trip to the local downtown tax collectors office to get a business tax id number. Also you get 1 free costco card for a member of the same household, and annual fee is waived when you review your Costco membership.

Since the CostCo gas is already heavily discounted comparing to even Sams Club gas etc. If your lucky like me and live close to a CostCo you get 4% cash back on ANY stand alone gas stations (not sams club etc) including CostCo's already cheap gas. and 1% on CostCo, 2% at restaurants and travel.

So mixing that in with Chase Trifecta + True Earnings CostCo would save over 5.125%+ on gas and get CostCo discounts =) couple that with a BCE/BCP then you shouldn't even have to think about PenFED card imo. This route is much easier to get than PenFED, and even with a family it's pretty hard to max out your BCE/BCP limit with a family of 4 if you buy a lot of things at CostCo or Sams Club anyways (dry goods, cereal, juices, canned foods etc) You should only be getting fresher meats and produce at local supermarkets usually if you can.

The $180 isn't a typo! That is the max cash back on groceries, 3% on $6,000.

Regardless BCP is still the best, if you spend $110 a week on groceries, $65 a week on gas, and $25 a month on department stores you'll average $480.60 in cash back.

The OP was talking about BCE, where the reward would be $265. But these are fairly made-up figures, hence my point about spending categories (City dwellers may spend little on gas/groceries and much more on eating out for example, and the BCE/BCP doesn't reward that). I do agree for many people the BCP is a better choice than BCE, just have to overcome the natural dislike of an annual fee.

Re Penfed, I have a different spending pattern! We've spent, since Feb, around $16,000 on Groceries, (some small portion of that on gift cards, one of the reasons that AMEX introduced the cap). Once the $6K on BCP is used up next year, Penfed continues (for now!) an unlimited 3% on groceries which will probably outweigh other card choices.

So my current card choice is BCP (for the initial 6% at $6000 on groceries), Penfed Plat Rewards (for gas and the remaining 3% groceries), US Bank Cash Plus (bill pay, restaurants) and Fidelity Amex (2% on everything else). This largely avoids having to worry about categories, as Cash Plus is largely fixed, although you do have to sign up each quarter.

But again, this makes sense for me, for my spending patterns. For others, this may make no sense and your selection would be more profitable. So the OP has to consider all those factors, and signing bonus, and how easy the cards are to get.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

navigatethis12 — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:01:59 GMT

The Chase Freedom is the best in my opinion. The only category I utilised this year was groceries and that was a big deal for me. I use American Express for groceries only, but a lot of times I spend less than $5 so I use the Chase Freedom. Discover is winning this quarter with 5% for online purchases, but I haven't used it otherwise.

The Freedom is a go to card for opening bank accounts, since the other two are not capable of doing so. Since I use it for that fairly often, it is the winner. I also like that you can cashout all of your points/cash, unliek the other two that only let you do it in set increments. With that, you will most likely always have some change left over.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:15:58 GMT

+1 with Chase

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

bs1234 — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:06:21 GMT

@Credit314 wrote:
+1 with Chase

Based on what? If the OP spends lots on groceries and gas, and very little on anything else, BCE/BCP is the winner, with a different spending pattern, maybe Discover wins. To me, for reward cards with different reward structures, as here, asking "Which is the best?" without any information on spending is very similar to asking "What is my chance of getting approved for card X" without providing scores and histories. Responding with an answer is really saying "This is MY favorite card".

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

ssmith891 — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:40:58 GMT

All 3!

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

espnjunkie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:34:11 GMT

I didn't think BCE/BCP had rewards category caps on them?

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

bs1234 — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:51:20 GMT

@espnjunkie wrote:
I didn't think BCE/BCP had rewards category caps on them?Spell Check

New since Oct. Beginning in Jan, or on the anniversary date, grocery cap is $6000 (so $180 for BCE, $360 for BCP) per year.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

espnjunkie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:11:57 GMT

That's pretty lame that they started capping it. This will never happen, but if they are going to reduce a card's benefits they should compensate customers by also reducing the annual fee a bit. Unlimited 6% on groceries was great for family grocery purchases.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

bs1234 — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:43:22 GMT

Yes, a little too good for their profits apparently! But good marketing, I'm sure they brought in a lot of people with that amazing rate, and, at least this year, I've benefitted a lot but now it doesn't look so good.

With some non-AF cards, you can get unlimited 3% on groceries, which means the gain from having Amex is down to .06* $6000 (Amex rebate) - (0.03)*$6000 (other card) - $75 (annual fee) which is $105 (and actually probably a tiny bit less as you probably won't hit exactly $6000, and so will only get 1% on that last little bit that takes you passed $6000). So, given the current state, not sure I would apply if I didn't have it.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

espnjunkie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:07:39 GMT

While I currently am not spending 6,000.00 per year on groceries, I am considering downgrading to the annual fee free BCE version. The main selling point on BCP for me was unlimited 6% cash back on groceries. That could justofy the 75.00 annual fee, but now that it is capped I don't see how BCP is worth an extra 75.00 over a free BCE?

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:22:06 GMT

@espnjunkie wrote:
While I currently am not spending 6,000.00 per year on groceries, I am considering downgrading to the annual fee free BCE version. The main selling point on BCP for me was unlimited 6% cash back on groceries. That could justofy the 75.00 annual fee, but now that it is capped I don't see how BCP is worth an extra 75.00 over a free BCE?

Well, some simple math: on groceries, BCP gives you three percent more. When is 3% more than 75? At $2500. If you spend that per year on groceries, BCE would give you $75 cash back, BCP would give you $150, which minus the annual fee, = $75.

Only complication is if you use the card for gas and department stores as well. In those cases, BCP gives you an additional one % over BCE, reducing the need to spend $2500 on groceries. So the real formula is GrocerySpend*0.03 + (Gas and Dept Spend)*.01. If that exceeds 75, BCP is better, otherwise BCE.

Re: Amex BCE vs. Discover More vs. Chase Freedom

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:46:15 GMT

Above is for grocery spend up to $6000 of course!