Best Credit Cards?

[Kforce]

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@RebelRocket wrote:

I'd be curious to see a poll that shows what the top 3 (or 5) spending categories are.

My top six spend categories.

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1 )   Hobby's        34%  (Photo, Cars, Horses)

2)   Food               17%  (Grocery not Restaurant)

3)   Household    16%  (Costco, Lowes, clothing, etc.)

4)   Insurance      12%  (To many cars)

5)   Gasoline          8%  (For the cars)

6)    Utils                  7%   (California)

[unsungivy]

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@Kforce wrote:

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@RebelRocket wrote:

I'd be curious to see a poll that shows what the top 3 (or 5) spending categories are.

My top six spend categories.

--------------------------------------------

1 )   Hobby's        34%  (Photo, Cars, Horses)

2)   Food               17%  (Grocery not Restaurant)

3)   Household    16%  (Costco, Lowes, clothing, etc.)

4)   Insurance      12%  (To many cars)

5)   Gasoline          8%  (For the cars)

6)    Utils                  7%   (California)

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With that 1/3 spend being hobbies... did you jump on the Attune?

[Kforce]

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@unsungivy wrote:

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With that 1/3 spend being hobbies... did you jump on the Attune?

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Hay, grain, farrier, veterinarian, car-parts not in most cards reward categories

Why I value a good non category card.

[xenon3030]

There is no single card that can be caled "the best" card, since no good coverage can be done on all categories. The combo of BOA-CCR and USBAR can be the best combo to cover the majority of daily expenses (online/in-store).

While it is difficult to identify the best card, it is possible to nominate the worst card . My worst card is Barclays View. It was initially the Uber card and it was stripped from several benefits and it rested in SD forever. Barclays also does not let PCing it to anything else.

[Fcharles]

How did you go from 492 (if I saw that correctly) to 716 in such a short time span?

[AverageJoesCredit]

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@nytimestraveler wrote:

Although subjective, what are the best credit cards in your experience?

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Any with 0% apr rates. Everyone is different but to me regardless of if you have a power cash back card or a titan travel card I would highly recommend a low apr card with low to none bt fees for those days you may need it for varying reasons. Not having one in the arsenal might   regret when you need it most so better to cover all your bases when completing your lineup big or small. 

[Shooting-For-800]

CapOne Savor gives me free Uber1 and 10% back on UberEats. No AF.

NFCU Flagship gives me free Amazon Prime and 2-3% on everything.

Amex Gold gives me money each month for Uber and Dunkin and FiveGuys, etc.

all depends on your needs.

[phantasm]

The part I don't understand about USBAR is the redemption for "4.5%". Can you give some examples of how that works with their travel portal and what redemption options are possible to get 4.5%? Also, would someone that rarely travels (1x / 3yrs) get their money's worth? 

[OldBenKenobi]

For me, I am looking to maximize my cash back on all categories of spend and pay off my balances in full every month. This involves a catch-all everyday spend (AOD 3% or other 2%+ cards) and then a range of cards to get higher % back on all the main spending categories, especially gas, groceries, restaurants, and travel. Then I try to fill in other categories as best I can. 

Personally, I do this with 5% rotating/selectable/fixed category cards like Nusenda CU, Chase Freedom Flex, Discover it, Citi Custom Cash, UICCU, Affinity FCU, US Bank Cash+, Elan Max Cash Preferred, and US Bank Altitude Connect.

I am not able to update my signature yet with the full list and perks, but those cover most all my spending with 3-5% cashback. Some might also suggest a premium travel card in the mix too, and you can get some good value from them, but you have to weigh the cost of the Annual Fee, net of credits, to how much more benefit you would get vs a 5% cashback card. Plus, it is less clear how much return you get from your spend on travel cards when you are dealing in points and travel portal redemption instead of straightforward cashback and buying travel expenses with traditional currency, like $USD. Hope that helps

[Anonymous]

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@phantasm wrote:

The part I don't understand about USBAR is the redemption for "4.5%". Can you give some examples of how that works with their travel portal and what redemption options are possible to get 4.5%? Also, would someone that rarely travels (1x / 3yrs) get their money's worth? 

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A very late resposnse to this, but the ansswer is in the magic of Real Time Rewards which bypasses their travel portal entirely  (You can use the portal, and when you buy say an airline ticket, you can redeem your points at 1.5cpp but that isn't always the best option).

With Real Time Rewards, when you  make a travel purchase (and have enough points), you will get a text message asking if you want to redeem some points to get a credit to basically wipe out that purchase.  The original charge appears on the statement, along with a credit, and the points are redeemed at 1.5cpp, meaning you get 4.5% on those purchases you got 3x on (which should be most).

So recently, as I had got a fair number of points, I was able to redeem

1) $250 United airfare

2) $240 hotel

3) About $300 for 5 uber rides

4) $900+ for British Airways fare

$ $95 for British Airways seat assignment

Real-time rewards is one of the things that distinguishes this card for others, as you are not restricted to a portal (or a list of transfer partners)