@wilmer007 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:So far, I have
Cap1 Quicksilver one 1.5% cash back for all
amex blue cash everyday 3% supermarkets, 2% gas, 1.0 cash for all
store cards I don't care about
My goal is to get the maximum rewards (cash in, cash out) and maximum perks (cell phone protections, warranty extension, etc) per dollar spent in every major category I spend with the least amount of cards, while having no AF. I hope to convert the QS1 to a QS with no AF.
The majority of my yearly spend (in order) is on restaurants, cell phone (business), bar/club (not so much, but it's there), gas, and travel. However, when I travel, I don't normally spend all my money on the hotel and airfare. I like getting out and seeing the sights, see local culture (more restaurants, bars and clubs, tours, etc) So, I don't think "travel" is really the big ticket item, it's stuff to do.
@Anonymous wrote:
I gave my categories... I know them pretty well. 12 month average and all. My monthly spend is approx 7k, a big chunk of that is restaurant and entertainment. The only category I missed was electronics stores. I buy a lot at bestbuy for business. That being said, would bars and clubs get restaurant categories? That's the one I'm not sure on.
looks to me like you are asking for BCP and CSR but since you don't want to pay $245 in AF for two cards you want to get back less money every year whereas $245 in AF will give you so much more return than that measly $245 in AF. the cashback from just the BCP alone ($265 after the cost of the AF) would cover the total $245 AF without factoring in the return you get from the CSR.
also you like to dine and travel so much with most of the $7k spending per month on that, yet you don't have the CSP/CSR (or any other travel card for the matter) that's a huge chunk of rewards your giving up. I don't spend anywhere near what you do every month and i have both.
so many free travels your giving up just because you don't wanna pay an AF or get the CSP/CSR.
also bestbuy (and alot of other stores including electronics) and gas gift cards can be bought with the BCP for 6% CB FYI. so more reason for you to get the BCP as you will quickly max out the max $6k spending from grocery spending plus you still get unlimited 3% CB from gas without the gas gift cards.
TL/DR if you can afford to spend $7k per month you can afford AFs.
Ok, so...first off, and this is a big one... I just don't like them, on principal. Second, you're comparing no cash back to cash back... in every situation that will be preferrable. you have to compare cash back with no AF to cash back WITH an AF. Also, when did I ever say I couldn't AFFORD AFs? And...what if I couldn't? Kind of rude...anyway...this is the internet, so, whatever...That being said, let's take what you said and assume there is a lot of great info that I am completely missing. I DONT know everything, after all...
My ability to max out 5k spend at grocery might be a lot harder than you think... I buy like 100-200 dollars of food a month. Even on the high end, I'll barely hit half that. You can't buy liquor at the grocery store here in florida. Most my food comes from restaurants. But, ok... it's more. Now lets compare; if I get BCP as you suggest, I make 120 dollars in cash back for groceries by the end of the year (this is being generous). My AF is 95 dollars, I've grossed a MASSIVE 25 dollars cash back so far. Now, I'll also spend about 40 dollars a week in gas. On BCP I will get 63 in cash back by the end of the year. Now, I'm up to a truly impressive 88 dollars. hey, I've ALMOST doubled my money, right? You're still not seeing the big picture. If I keep BCE, no AF, I keep every penny of the 72 I get at 3% in groceries and I'll keep every penny of the 41 I get for gas. Now, BCP is at 88 dollars gross, BCE with my pewny, disgusting no AF card has topped out at 113! How many vacations can I finance with -25?
I might be tempted to take a 5% card with an AF, but I haven't seen one I like. They don't have high enough spending limits. I know this is apples to oranges because discover doesn't have an AF but they DO have a 5%, and I don't know another 5% card off the top of my head.
Discover's bonus this quarter is 5% and its on restaurants! SCORE! Right? wrong... it's only 1500 spend, then it drops to 1%...1% sucks...and 1500 spend is about a week and a half of spend for me for restaurants... So NOW I have a lot of homework to keep track of, swapping my cards around in my wallet so I don't lose track... use the discover card every year between january 1st and 12th...cmon... kind of a pain. Let's say I max out the spending on all 4 categories through the year, (which I won't, because one of them will be groceries) that's going to be annoying...but at the end, I'll have made 300. Hey, not too bad, right? for a free card, yea...not too bad. I might even do it... but, if you add a 100-150 fee on top of that, it's not worth my time or effort to keep track of the extra card for a bonus of 20-25 dollars compared to using a different card that is unlimited 3% (that's probably my goal % rate.
I might ALSO consider one that has perks, free upgrades, travel credits, free luggage...hey...those things might be useful...but, in general...I don't usually see those on the 100/year cards, they're on the 400-500/year cards...now it's a lot different math...but...ACTUALLY might be worth it...depends
@Anonymous wrote:I chuckled when I saw this thread because I was about to post a similar one, so kudos for posting
I'm also a fan of maxing my cash rewards, and after I've got that straight, then I'll look into seeing about miles/points and if they make sense.
For us, here's what we're working on (I'm not going to include all categories, just the ones that we focus on):
Gas: Sam's Club MC 5% up to 6k; Discover 5% during reward months, and when those are maxed, then switch to BoA 3.3% (we dump rewards back into a free BoA account for the added .3 rewards) ... I had looked for the Penfed Cash Rewards, but didn't have luck finding it available anymore, bummer.
Dining & Travel: 3% Sam's Club MC ... again, I couldn't find the details about SSFCU Power Travel Rewards, but it seems like another point thing, which makes me feel limited to my spending choices
Discover x2 because they offer 5% rotating, plus they give additional $ bonuses to us for beating spending thresholds (considered chase, but I don't think they do that)
All Else: Alliant 3% (then USAA Liimitless once Alliant wants to charge the AF) ... our monthly spends are higher than typical, it seems ie this month we're PIFing 15k+, so that .5% does make a difference for us ... also, whenever possible i'll use this to purchase a discounted gc through a portal, but sometimes you just can't plan ahead, so it's nice to know that the dining/travel/gas fallback rates are there for us, too.
That pretty much does it for us, so far, really. If anyone can think of better, reward offers I'd love to read, too! Below are my two cents on some of the others we've considered, too.
US Banks Cash+ doesn't seem as rewarding when I consider that it's only $50/year difference, at best, since we would only use it for the 2k/year max ... it just seems like the effort isn't worth it :-/ I dunno, maybe I'm not understanding it fully.
BCP seems enticing only bc of the gift card possibilities, but not when I consider that the everything else cards plus purchasing a discounted gc online through a portal turns out to be much better reward, and we typically purchase the bulk of our groceries at bjs/sams/costco, so the bcp wouldn't work so much for us
we're not really amazon shoppers, but, again, purchasing a discounted gc through a portal on the rare occassion when we need to buy at the least equals 5%, so no need to add that card for us either
JCB Marukai - too many hurdles, including limited spend options and limited credit line
BoA with the extra rewards gets reconsidered every now and then, but the idea of putting that much into an account to earn so little doesn't seem to make sense when compared to the potential cashback potential. As is, we focus on maxing 5+% savings and checkings and anything over gets placed into a self-directed investment vehicle for us to invest in properties, etc.
Hope that helps!
This is very helpful, exactly the kind of input I was hoping for from someone who reads all the limitations of cards and understands my First World Problems hahaha!
@wilmer007 wrote:
looks to me like you are asking for BCP and CSR but since you don't want to pay $245 in AF for two cards you want to get back less money every year whereas $245 in AF will give you so much more return than that measly $245 in AF. the cashback from just the BCP alone ($265 after the cost of the AF) would cover the total $245 AF without factoring in the return you get from the CSR.
also you like to dine and travel so much with most of the $7k spending per month on that, yet you don't have the CSP/CSR (or any other travel card for the matter) that's a huge chunk of rewards your giving up. I don't spend anywhere near what you do every month and i have both.
so many free travels your giving up just because you don't wanna pay an AF or get the CSP/CSR.
also bestbuy (and alot of other stores including electronics) and gas gift cards can be bought with the BCP for 6% CB FYI. so more reason for you to get the BCP as you will quickly max out the max $6k spending from grocery spending plus you still get unlimited 3% CB from gas without the gas gift cards.
TL/DR if you can afford to spend $7k per month you can afford AFs.
It looks like this is the combo you've chosen for yourself, and that's great, but that doesn't mean it works for everyone.
The BCP is a great card if you spend more thasn $3200 per year on groceries. Not everyone does, though. If you're manufacturing spend by buying gift cards at the supermarket, then maybe you don't need to be paying an AF for cash back.
As for premium travel cards like the CSR, my main beef with them is yeah you get a lot back with those cards, but it's all travel specific. It's cool if you're OK with your credit card telling you where and how to spend your money, but I, and many like me, just don't fit that mold. I might spend thousands on travel one year and nothing the next. I don't want to have to take a trip somewhere just so I don't leave a travel rebate on the table. Again, that's manufactured spend to justify a (rather high) AF.
Some of us would rather have a card portfolio that just gives simple rewards for spending we already do without AFs to pressure us into spending a certain way.
@MrDisco99 wrote:
@wilmer007 wrote:
looks to me like you are asking for BCP and CSR but since you don't want to pay $245 in AF for two cards you want to get back less money every year whereas $245 in AF will give you so much more return than that measly $245 in AF. the cashback from just the BCP alone ($265 after the cost of the AF) would cover the total $245 AF without factoring in the return you get from the CSR.
also you like to dine and travel so much with most of the $7k spending per month on that, yet you don't have the CSP/CSR (or any other travel card for the matter) that's a huge chunk of rewards your giving up. I don't spend anywhere near what you do every month and i have both.
so many free travels your giving up just because you don't wanna pay an AF or get the CSP/CSR.
also bestbuy (and alot of other stores including electronics) and gas gift cards can be bought with the BCP for 6% CB FYI. so more reason for you to get the BCP as you will quickly max out the max $6k spending from grocery spending plus you still get unlimited 3% CB from gas without the gas gift cards.
TL/DR if you can afford to spend $7k per month you can afford AFs.
It looks like this is the combo you've chosen for yourself, and that's great, but that doesn't mean it works for everyone.
The BCP is a great card if you spend more thasn $3200 per year on groceries. Not everyone does, though. If you're manufacturing spend by buying gift cards at the supermarket, then maybe you don't need to be paying an AF for cash back.
As for premium travel cards like the CSR, my main beef with them is yeah you get a lot back with those cards, but it's all travel specific. It's cool if you're OK with your credit card telling you where and how to spend your money, but I, and many like me, just don't fit that mold. I might spend thousands on travel one year and nothing the next. I don't want to have to take a trip somewhere just so I don't leave a travel rebate on the table. Again, that's manufactured spend to justify a (rather high) AF.
Some of us would rather have a card portfolio that just gives simple rewards for spending we already do without AFs to pressure us into spending a certain way.
AMEN!