Best Rewards cards?

[brbmake]

Started my credit profile with just your basic Cap1 cards, no real rewards or benefits to them except building credit.  Credit is very good now (high 700's), so I want to get a card that has some great benefits to it.  The ones I have heard about are Costco (we are members) and Southwest for miles.  We would love to travel more, but basically looking for best bang for your buck.  Thoughts?

[iheartwings]

Well, congratulations on growing your credit profile and deciding to make your credit cards work for you! 

The best rewards cards are going to be the ones that offer you the rewards that are most useful to you. 

If you are a memer of Costco (and would be a member regardless of whether you have the card), the Citi Costco Anywhere Visa may be a great option for you. It has no annual fee as long as you are a Costco member.  Just remember, the cash back is only sent back to you once a year. I like this card a lot, and now that it has no FTF, I have started using it more while traveling abroad.

As for an airline card, I don't know much about the Southwest cards. From my personal experience, I would consider a travel rewards card that has rewards that can be used for various travel expenses (either through points transfer or statement credits) rather than propietary miles or hotel points, which force you to stick to a particular brand. This will give you more options to get the best deal in the long run. 

I have both an airline card (Delta) and a hotel card (Marriott), both of which has fairly infrequent usage. Both cards had nice SUBs, and I keep both because I have been able to offset the AF with the compansion pass (Delta) and free night (Marriott) benefits. If not for those particular benefits, I would close those accounts.   I've found that I can't always find a Marriott property or a Delta flight that fits my needs. Since I can use a generic travel card like the CSR or AEPlat to earn points that can be transferred to partners (like to Marriott or Delta or Southwest or Hilton!) that are more useful to me (or, if I'm looking for CB, then the Citi Costco). 

There are a bevy of travel cards out there, many of which don't have high AF that may be a better fit. 

HTH.

[wasCB14]

A more lucrative (though more complicated) option is to get a card with a nice bonus, use it for a year, and then PC to Costco for the decent long-term cash back.

[SOGGIE]

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@wasCB14 wrote:
A more lucrative (though more complicated) option is to get a card with a nice bonus, use it for a year, and then PC to Costco for the decent long-term cash back.

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+1

[wasCB14]

Any favored or dominant local airline? Any favored hotel chain?

You mention Southwest. I don't use them as they don't fly my routes, but I hear the point value isn't so great. The card does offer a companion pass with sufficient spend, but it's not as easy to earn as it used to be.

[brbmake]

What does PC to Costco mean?
Not up on lingo

[mongstradamus]

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@brbmake wrote:
What does PC to Costco mean?
Not up on lingo

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PC=product change. So you could sign up for another one of the citi cards that gives you a good sub after first PC it to citi costco. Not exactly sure which cards will allow PC to citi costco you need to look that up . I pc my citi aa to citi double cash thats another option.

[UncleB]

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@brbmake wrote:
What does PC to Costco mean?
Not up on lingo

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Hi @brbmake, here's a link to a thread that lists common abbreviations used on myFICO:  http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/User-Guidelines-General/Common-Abbreviations/td-p/88458

[SBR249]

"Best rewards" really depends on your personal circumstances, preferences, and goals. 

A few questions you should be asking yourself is:

- What cards do I qualify for? For example, while cards like the CSR is great for accumulating UR points, Chase isn't known for wanting to be the first high limit card in someone's wallet and the CSR has a starting CL of $10K I believe. So you need to look at things in your profile beyond just a decent score. A related question here may be, what are you looking for in a bank. Some people don't like this bank or that bank because they are known for certain bad behavior. Are there banks you'd like to avoid? 

- What kind of rewards are you interested in? Do you want to accumulate points like Citi ThankYou, Amex MR, or Chase UR? Or do you want miles with a specific airline? Or do you want straight up cashback? How much effort are you willing to expend to maximize your rewards? Are you the type of person who doesn't like to think too much about whether they are getting the most out of their XX points? Or is that something you are willing to chase? 

- What is your spending pattern? Do you spend lots of money on travel? On gas? On dining out? On groceries? Will you earn more rewards by targeting cards that give high rewards in specific categories like the Uber Visa or Amex BCE or is your spending diverse enough that you get the most bang by getting a general 2% cashback card? 

Those are the principal questions that comes up, but there are other factors that may influence your decision such as whether you are willing to pay an annual fee for greater rewards, what sign up bonus offers are available to you, etc. 

[Anonymous]

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@SBR249 wrote:

"Best rewards" really depends on your personal circumstances, preferences, and goals. 

A few questions you should be asking yourself is:

- What cards do I qualify for? For example, while cards like the CSR is great for accumulating UR points, Chase isn't known for wanting to be the first high limit card in someone's wallet and the CSR has a starting CL of $10K I believe. So you need to look at things in your profile beyond just a decent score. A related question here may be, what are you looking for in a bank. Some people don't like this bank or that bank because they are known for certain bad behavior. Are there banks you'd like to avoid? 

- What kind of rewards are you interested in? Do you want to accumulate points like Citi ThankYou, Amex MR, or Chase UR? Or do you want miles with a specific airline? Or do you want straight up cashback? How much effort are you willing to expend to maximize your rewards? Are you the type of person who doesn't like to think too much about whether they are getting the most out of their XX points? Or is that something you are willing to chase? 

- What is your spending pattern? Do you spend lots of money on travel? On gas? On dining out? On groceries? Will you earn more rewards by targeting cards that give high rewards in specific categories like the Uber Visa or Amex BCE or is your spending diverse enough that you get the most bang by getting a general 2% cashback card? 

Those are the principal questions that comes up, but there are other factors that may influence your decision such as whether you are willing to pay an annual fee for greater rewards, what sign up bonus offers are available to you, etc. 

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+1!   As is often said, if there really was a "best rewards cards" that would be the first one everyone would go for, and the forum would be perhaps less lively ("Have you got the card yet?"  "Applying right now!")

I am firmly of the opinion that there are "worst cards", a card A that is worse than card B on (almost) every attribute, but even then you will get people who prefer the card A issuer to that of card B.