topic Re: Minimalst rewards strategy? in Credit Cards

Minimalist rewards strategy?

thelethargicage — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:42:57 GMT

Managing multiple accounts can be overwhelming at times, and sometimes I miss out on some rewards because I get tired of figuring out which card to use where. Sometimes I wish I could just narrow it down to 4 cards instead of 8.

My minimalist lineup would be:

BCP - groceries and Costco

Sallie Mae - gas and Target/Walmart

Amazon Visa - restaurants and drugstores

Quicksilver - everything else

Cash+ - cell phone and gym membership (although this card would be practically sock-drawered)

Well, it's still 5 cards, so not exactly "minimalist", but it's a start.

What would be your minimalist rewards strategy?

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

longtime_lurker — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:42:40 GMT

If I had to pick ONLY 4 of my cards for my rewards, I would do the following:

Freedom: Rotating 5% and daily spend

CSP: Travel/Dining (when not on rotating category)

Sallie Mae: Gas/Grocery/Amazon (and I spend A LOT here...so if I only had one...)

Discover/Citi: Rotating 5%

Well...5...can't really decide between if I would take Discover or Citi LOL

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

thelethargicage — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:46:59 GMT

Honestly, I'm thinking of sock-drawering my 2 rotating category cards (Freedom and It) and just bringing them out when they offer useful categories. Looks like It will be hibernating for the next 3 months.

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

thelethargicage — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:47:45 GMT

@longtime_lurker wrote:
If I had to pick ONLY 4 of my cards for my rewards, I would do the following:

Freedom: Rotating 5% and daily spend
CSP: Travel/Dining (when not on rotating category)
Sallie Mae: Gas/Grocery/Amazon (and I spend A LOT here...so if I only had one...)
Discover/Citi: Rotating 5%

Well...5...can't really decide between if I would take Discover or Citi LOL

What do you use your Dividend for?

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

longtime_lurker — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:52:17 GMT

My freedom will be used a lot this Q.

Citi and Discover have home improvement...and I rent.

Ah well

Re: Minimalist rewards strategy?

Stralem — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:38:15 GMT

Of my current lineup?

Freedom: Rotating 5%

CSP: Dining, travel, and anything else not covered by other cards

PRG: Gas and all required monthly expensis (cell, insurance, etc.)

If I had the option, I'd swap the PRG for a Sallie Mae, BCP, or EDP. But that'll probably be sometime in the summer.

Re: Minimalist rewards strategy?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:43:05 GMT

1) Amex Blue Cash: Grocery, Gas, Drug store (and M.S)

2) US Bank Cash Plus (vet, and cell phone if anything left over)

3) Citi Forward (Dining and Amazon)

4 Fidelity Amex

(and if allowed 5, add QS for when Amex isn't accepted)

Re: Minimalist rewards strategy?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:54:58 GMT

pretty similar to a lot of others:

1) CSP: dining, travel, everything else

2) Freedom: categories

3) Sallie Mae: books, groceries, gas

why not amex?

-PRG conflicts with CSP too much

-having two flexible spending rewards cards compounds the complexity of redeeming points

why not discover / dividend?

-sometimes rotating categories overlap with freedom (gas did for me last year with freedom and discover)

-other categories just don't get used enough to justify (i.e. home improvement)

-Freedom points can get xferred to CSP, where i get 1.6-1.8 points per dollar value. so it's basically an 8% card.

why not cash+?

-5% gym membership is awesome, but really for me it's only $20mo = $240yr = $12. cell phone bill you can get much more out of, but i just pay my mom the bill every month since she fronts the family plan. but i agree it's worth it depending on your gym and cell fees.

having a minimalistic setup should be more focused on the big wins, removing the headache of constant tracking of everything and remembering which card gets used for what.

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

longtime_lurker — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:57:30 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
@longtime_lurker wrote:
If I had to pick ONLY 4 of my cards for my rewards, I would do the following:

Freedom: Rotating 5% and daily spend
CSP: Travel/Dining (when not on rotating category)
Sallie Mae: Gas/Grocery/Amazon (and I spend A LOT here...so if I only had one...)
Discover/Citi: Rotating 5%

Well...5...can't really decide between if I would take Discover or Citi LOL
@longtime_lurker wrote:
If I had to pick ONLY 4 of my cards for my rewards, I would do the following:

Freedom: Rotating 5% and daily spend
CSP: Travel/Dining (when not on rotating category)
Sallie Mae: Gas/Grocery/Amazon (and I spend A LOT here...so if I only had one...)
Discover/Citi: Rotating 5%

Well...5...can't really decide between if I would take Discover or Citi LOL
What do you use your Dividend for?

Right now it just has my energy bill on it through their auto pay to show usage. Last Q had drug stores and I considered MS'ing to max the annual cap, but I decided against it. Q4 2013 was department stores - which was nice and it saw some decent usage from holiday shopping

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

yudeology101 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 22:09:16 GMT

Mine is as follows:

1) CSP: Dining + Travel + Online Shopping

2) Arrival: *Card of the month*- Bills, Rent, Daily Spend to meet spending requirement for signup bonus

3) Discover: Utility Bills, Online Shopping (Some Merchants offer pretty decent deals for 10% cashback), Dining out at Home Improvement stores lol

4) Sony: Starbucks refills

5) Cap1 QS: Few bills + gym membership

6) AMEX Green: Golf

7) AMEX Delta: Car payment

8) BCE: Groceries (3%)

9) BOA Cash Rewards: Gas (3%)

10) Hawaiian: Bills autopay

11) Citi AA: Scorewatch autopay & SD for the month for being naughty not giving me the CLI

Last but not least: Ritz: Fancy Taco Bell dining lol

::edited for typo::

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 22:20:42 GMT

@yudeology101 wrote:
Mine is as follows:

1) CSP: Dining + Travel + Online Shopping
2) Arrival: *Card of the month*- Bills, Rent, Daily Spend to meet spending requirement for signup bonus
3) Discover: Utility Bills, Online Shopping (Some Merchants offer pretty decent deals for 10% cashback), Dining out at Home Improvement stores lol
4) Sony: Starbucks refills
5) Cap1 QS: Few bills + gym membership
6) AMEX Green: Golf
7) AMEX Delta: Car payment
8) BCE: Groceries (3%)
9) BOA Cash Rewards: Gas (3%)
10) Hawaiian: Bills autopay
11) Citi AA: Scorewatch autopay & SD for the month for being naughty not giving me the CLI

Last but not least: Ritz: Fancy Taco Bell dining lol

::edited for typo::

guessing you missed the whole minimalist part ;]. definitely comprehensive though!

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

yudeology101 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 22:26:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@yudeology101 wrote:
Mine is as follows:

1) CSP: Dining + Travel + Online Shopping
2) Arrival: *Card of the month*- Bills, Rent, Daily Spend to meet spending requirement for signup bonus
3) Discover: Utility Bills, Online Shopping (Some Merchants offer pretty decent deals for 10% cashback), Dining out at Home Improvement stores lol
4) Sony: Starbucks refills
5) Cap1 QS: Few bills + gym membership
6) AMEX Green: Golf
7) AMEX Delta: Car payment
8) BCE: Groceries (3%)
9) BOA Cash Rewards: Gas (3%)
10) Hawaiian: Bills autopay
11) Citi AA: Scorewatch autopay & SD for the month for being naughty not giving me the CLI

Last but not least: Ritz: Fancy Taco Bell dining lol

::edited for typo::

guessing you missed the whole minimalist part ;]. definitely comprehensive though!

OOps, you're right! lol my apologies! hehe

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

longtime_lurker — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 22:43:58 GMT

@yudeology101 wrote:
Mine is as follows:

1) CSP: Dining + Travel + Online Shopping
2) Arrival: *Card of the month*- Bills, Rent, Daily Spend to meet spending requirement for signup bonus
3) Discover: Utility Bills, Online Shopping (Some Merchants offer pretty decent deals for 10% cashback), Dining out at Home Improvement stores lol
4) Sony: Starbucks refills
5) Cap1 QS: Few bills + gym membership
6) AMEX Green: Golf
7) AMEX Delta: Car payment
8) BCE: Groceries (3%)
9) BOA Cash Rewards: Gas (3%)
10) Hawaiian: Bills autopay
11) Citi AA: Scorewatch autopay & SD for the month for being naughty not giving me the CLI

Last but not least: Ritz: Fancy Taco Bell dining lol

::edited for typo::

I dunno...with the number of cards you have that MIGHT be minimalistic haha

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 23:00:19 GMT

@longtime_lurker wrote:
I dunno...with the number of cards you have that MIGHT be minimalistic haha

i guess minimalistic is relative!

Re: Minimalist rewards strategy?

SunriseEarth — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 23:44:38 GMT

I'm putting more on the BCE, so I can get the statement credit. But once I've hit the spend requirement, my rewards structure will be...

Sony Card - dining out, movie theaters, Redbox (3X points), PlayStation Network (5X points)

BCE - Groceries (3%), gas & major department stores (2%)

Target - in-store 5% off

QS1 - Nearly all else (1.5%)

Of course, "all else" has some exceptions. I should note that I'm using some store cards for the sake of UTIL & activity (JCP and Wally). Gold Violin is effectively a 7% rewards card when you buy anything from the Blair stores.

(edited to correct oopsies)

Re: Minimalist rewards strategy?

Open123 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 23:50:33 GMT

Here's what I'm planning to do, once I spend $10k on the JPM Ritz and $2K on the Cash+.

1. EDP - for all non-bonus, grocery and gas expenditure.

2. SPG - For Starwoood properties and hotel, and when I need points for the hotel or non MR FF partners.

3. Freedom 5%.

5. Fid Amex for M.S. billpay.

For personal spending, that's it. The rest of my cards I'll probably just close, once the sign-up era has passed.

Re: Minimalist rewards strategy?

thelethargicage — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 23:52:32 GMT

@SunriseEarth wrote:
I'm putting more on the BCE, so I can get the statement credit. But once I've hit the spend requirement, my rewards structure will be...

Sony Card - dining out, movie theaters, Redbox (3X points), PlayStation Network (5X points)
BCE - Groceries (3%), gas & major department stores (2%)
Target - in-store 5% off
QS1 - Nearly all else (1.5%)

Of course, "all else" has some exceptions. I should note that I'm using some store cards for the sake of UTIL & activity (JCP and Wally). Gold Violin is effectively a 7% rewards card when you buy anything from the Blair stores.

(edited to correct oopsies)

Does the Sony card allow you to redeem points for cash back?

Re: Minimalst rewards strategy?

Themanwhocan — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 00:09:20 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
@longtime_lurker wrote:
If I had to pick ONLY 4 of my cards for my rewards, I would do the following:

Freedom: Rotating 5% and daily spend
CSP: Travel/Dining (when not on rotating category)
Sallie Mae: Gas/Grocery/Amazon (and I spend A LOT here...so if I only had one...)
Discover/Citi: Rotating 5%

Well...5...can't really decide between if I would take Discover or Citi LOL
@longtime_lurker wrote:
If I had to pick ONLY 4 of my cards for my rewards, I would do the following:

Freedom: Rotating 5% and daily spend
CSP: Travel/Dining (when not on rotating category)
Sallie Mae: Gas/Grocery/Amazon (and I spend A LOT here...so if I only had one...)
Discover/Citi: Rotating 5%

Well...5...can't really decide between if I would take Discover or Citi LOL
What do you use your Dividend for?

I dont have a Dividend yet, but since its a rotating category card i suppose my usage would be:

Winter: snow scraper.

Spring: spackle applicator.

Summer: paint scraper.

Fall: Caulk applicator.

Re: Minimalist rewards strategy?

celluloid17 — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 00:10:34 GMT

If sticking with the cards I currently have:

Sallie Mae WMC: gas and groceries - my most used card!

Cash +: cell phone bill, food, drug store

Amex TrueEarnings: Costco

Freedom: bill pay, occasional category spend and currently for general spend

If I could redesign or tweak my portfolio, I would eliminate the Amex TE and Cash + in favor of a Fidelity Amex for use at Costco, for cell phone bill pay (even though I'd lose 3%, I'd gain in other areas) and for overall better returns on general spend where Amex is accepted. I would also add a Cap 1 QS for catch-all and to add a no FTF card to the mix.

Currently I have Discover It, Elan Financial and Citi Diamond Preferred SD'd

Re: Minimalist rewards strategy?

SunriseEarth — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 00:14:28 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
@SunriseEarth wrote:
I'm putting more on the BCE, so I can get the statement credit. But once I've hit the spend requirement, my rewards structure will be...

Sony Card - dining out, movie theaters, Redbox (3X points), PlayStation Network (5X points)
BCE - Groceries (3%), gas & major department stores (2%)
Target - in-store 5% off
QS1 - Nearly all else (1.5%)

Of course, "all else" has some exceptions. I should note that I'm using some store cards for the sake of UTIL & activity (JCP and Wally). Gold Violin is effectively a 7% rewards card when you buy anything from the Blair stores.

(edited to correct oopsies)
Does the Sony card allow you to redeem points for cash back?

No, it's for Sony products/credits. It's good for people into movies or music or electronics & games, but many would find it to be too limited for their use.