First regarding your balance transfer idea. If you're going to pay it off within the next couple of months, it's probably not going to be worth it to do a balance transfer. Most transfers have an up front fee of 1-3%, so that would offset any savings you might get in interest payments for those two months.
So, you spend on dining out, groceries and travel, which are big categories for pretty much everyone. I think the main question is, will your spending be significant enough that points or rewards will be a bigger factor, or will the sign-on bonus be a bigger factor? Think of it this way, $400-500 points worth of sign-on rewards are readily available. If you consider a standard 2% card, you'd need to spend $20-25k on your card to garner that much in rewards. For a lot of people, the sign-on bonus is a bigger factor.
One thing you might consider is, if you have specific travel in mind, to use the travel related sign-on bonuses. The 2 free nights (some have more) available on certain cards could be worth a lot, depending on where you're planning to stay. Some airline cards might make sense as well if you can take advantage of the points and other perks like free checked baggage.
@Anonymous wrote:I'm trying to read through alllllllllllllll of the posts but it's information overload. Here's my background info:
I've got a Capital One Platinum, Capital One Quicksilver, Care Credit and Pottery Barn - which I just got from the shopping cart trip and I legitimately plan to use it because I'm redecorating. My FAKO scores according to Credit Karma are Trans: 661 and Equifax 665. I have no idea what they actually are. My utilization is 29% but I can have it down to 0% or whatever the magic number is within a couple of months.
I have had pre approval offers from Citi, Chase and American Express. I'm not sure what I can really get or what I really want for that matter. I want to start doing some traveling this year with my family but not sure if a miles card is the way to go. We do eat out quite a bit and spend a big chunk on groceries. I try to put as much spending as possible on my Quicksilver to get the cashback but I know there's better options. I also should probably do a balance transfer because my Platinum has like $1100 on it at 22%. I plan to wipe that out within the next couple months but still. I know I should probably transfer it. Just having a hard time figuring out what card would be a good fit.
What would you add?
Personally I'd used the Quicksilver as my go to card, because of its versatility.
To my mind, none of the other 3 issuers have as good a cashback card as Quicksilver.
If you want a card that's good for cash back and nothing else, Citi has one (the DC), Amex has several (BCE & BCP), & Chase has a bunch (AARP, Amazon Prime, Freedom, & Freedom Unlimited).
