Charge cards and rewards cards.

[Anonymous]

I apologize about the lenghty thread but I'm going to be doing some "credit card shopping" in a few months and have been learning about different cards.

At 1st, I thought the Discover card would be a nifty card, considering you get 5% back for revolving categories. 

But...there is a catch, the max spend is $1,500 a quarter. So that comes to about $500 a month. So if the category is resturaunts and movies....I doubt anyone would spend $500 a month at resturaunts, or going to the movies.

On the other hand, discover DOES have a list of retailers where if you shop online, you can earn up to 20% back. So I think the card is a keeper.

Now, moving on to charge cards, are charge cards meant only for rich people? 

I looked at the Amex Green and Gold, and the rewards stink, the only decent card, is the platinum, but it has a $450 a year annual fee.

You would have to push a lot of money through that card to break even.

Now one card I do like, and it looks very appealing at the grocery store, is the Amex BCEP, 6% back at grocery stores, up to $6,000 a year. 

I can't see spending more than $500 a month at the grocery store, so that seems like a good deal.

Now..the local wallly world is coded as grocery, so there might be times where I could spend over $6k a year, if for instance I bought a new riding mower or something.

So is there any CC's that offer a non-capped high percentages on grocerys? The Amex goes to a flat 1% after 6k.

Also, what credit score would one need to get the BCEP?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I apologize about the lenghty thread but I'm going to be doing some "credit card shopping" in a few months and have been learning about different cards.

At 1st, I thought the Discover card would be a nifty card, considering you get 5% back for revolving categories. 

But...there is a catch, the max spend is $1,500 a quarter. So that comes to about $500 a month. So if the category is resturaunts and movies....I doubt anyone would spend $500 a month at resturaunts, or going to the movies.

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We are a diverse population here.  There are posters who maxed out the $2000 per quarter cap (Cash Plus card) the firs month at restaurants.   If you regularly go to expensive restaurants with good wine etc, $500 a month is very easy to exceed.

Normally I would agree about movies, but there are possibly people here who take a group of people a few times a week, again exceeding $500 per month.

[espnjunkie]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I apologize about the lenghty thread but I'm going to be doing some "credit card shopping" in a few months and have been learning about different cards.

At 1st, I thought the Discover card would be a nifty card, considering you get 5% back for revolving categories. 

But...there is a catch, the max spend is $1,500 a quarter. So that comes to about $500 a month. So if the category is resturaunts and movies....I doubt anyone would spend $500 a month at resturaunts, or going to the movies.

On the other hand, discover DOES have a list of retailers where if you shop online, you can earn up to 20% back. So I think the card is a keeper.

Now, moving on to charge cards, are charge cards meant only for rich people? 

I looked at the Amex Green and Gold, and the rewards stink, the only decent card, is the platinum, but it has a $450 a year annual fee.

You would have to push a lot of money through that card to break even.

Now one card I do like, and it looks very appealing at the grocery store, is the Amex BCEP, 6% back at grocery stores, up to $6,000 a year. 

I can't see spending more than $500 a month at the grocery store, so that seems like a good deal.

Now..the local wallly world is coded as grocery, so there might be times where I could spend over $6k a year, if for instance I bought a new riding mower or something.

So is there any CC's that offer a non-capped high percentages on grocerys? The Amex goes to a flat 1% after 6k.

Also, what credit score would one need to get the BCEP?

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I beg to differ on the Amex rewards. I use my green card to rack up valuable membership rewards poitns that can be transferred to frequent flyer miles (often with bonuses!) making them very valuable cards if your spending pattern suits them. 

Before worrying too much on how to maximize your rewards you want to position yourself to be approved for a prime card. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I apologize about the lenghty thread but I'm going to be doing some "credit card shopping" in a few months and have been learning about different cards.

At 1st, I thought the Discover card would be a nifty card, considering you get 5% back for revolving categories. 

But...there is a catch, the max spend is $1,500 a quarter. So that comes to about $500 a month. So if the category is resturaunts and movies....I doubt anyone would spend $500 a month at resturaunts, or going to the movies.

On the other hand, discover DOES have a list of retailers where if you shop online, you can earn up to 20% back. So I think the card is a keeper.

Now, moving on to charge cards, are charge cards meant only for rich people? 

I looked at the Amex Green and Gold, and the rewards stink, the only decent card, is the platinum, but it has a $450 a year annual fee.

You would have to push a lot of money through that card to break even.

Now one card I do like, and it looks very appealing at the grocery store, is the Amex BCEP, 6% back at grocery stores, up to $6,000 a year. 

I can't see spending more than $500 a month at the grocery store, so that seems like a good deal.

Now..the local wallly world is coded as grocery, so there might be times where I could spend over $6k a year, if for instance I bought a new riding mower or something.

So is there any CC's that offer a non-capped high percentages on grocerys? The Amex goes to a flat 1% after 6k.

Also, what credit score would one need to get the BCEP?

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One uncapped card is the Blue Cash (the old one) that gives 5% on groceries/drug stores/gas, but only once you spend $6,500 per year.  But its not clear that you spend enough for that to be worthwhile.

There are a lot of uncapped 2% grocery cards

[Anonymous]

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FixMyCredit1992 wrote:

I apologize about the lenghty thread but I'm going to be doing some "credit card shopping" in a few months and have been learning about different cards.

At 1st, I thought the Discover card would be a nifty card, considering you get 5% back for revolving categories. 

But...there is a catch, the max spend is $1,500 a quarter. So that comes to about $500 a month. So if the category is resturaunts and movies....I doubt anyone would spend $500 a month at resturaunts, or going to the movies.

On the other hand, discover DOES have a list of retailers where if you shop online, you can earn up to 20% back. So I think the card is a keeper.

Now, moving on to charge cards, are charge cards meant only for rich people? 

I looked at the Amex Green and Gold, and the rewards stink, the only decent card, is the platinum, but it has a $450 a year annual fee.

The Premier Rewards Gold offers potential to earn a good amount of MR points with 2x gas & groceries (no caps) & 3x for airline tickets.  Many times it offers good sign up bonuses too (like 50k with their targeted offers).  The AF is $175, however the AF is waived many times for the first year as part of their sign up offers.  Also, if you're able to spend $30k over the calendar year, you can earn an additional 15k in bonus points.

You would have to push a lot of money through that card to break even.

Now one card I do like, and it looks very appealing at the grocery store, is the Amex BCEP, 6% back at grocery stores, up to $6,000 a year. 

I can't see spending more than $500 a month at the grocery store, so that seems like a good deal.  The BCP has a $75 AF (unless you can find an offer that waives this AF for the first year, for instance) so $25/week on groceries is approx. the minimum you would need to spend in order to break even.  If your grocery spend averages less than $25/week, the BCE would be a better deal.  There's also the Sallie Mae Barclay card you may want to consider.  It does have a $250 cap each month for groceries, but it offers 5% cash back & no AF + 5% on gas (with a $250 monthly cap) & books/Amazon (with a $750 monthly cap).

Now..the local wallly world is coded as grocery, so there might be times where I could spend over $6k a year, if for instance I bought a new riding mower or something.

So is there any CC's that offer a non-capped high percentages on grocerys? The Amex goes to a flat 1% after 6k.

Also, what credit score would one need to get the BCEP?

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[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any examples of the rewards they earned with their Amex cards, which cards they used for said rewards, and how many dollars they had to charge to earn those rewards. Just talking about the charge cards.

[Anonymous]

I personally love my Capital One card. One of their rewards card gives you 1.5% cash back or reward points on every purchase every day, no cap whatsoever. Their rewards program is great too. Lots of gift cards and merchandise to choose from.

[clocktick]

For things like lawn mowers I use my Lowes card which is 5% off all the time and they seem to give frequent SP CLIs..

If Discover has a max, and you don't think you'll reach it, you still get the 5% (unless I'm reading it wrong?).  You can always get the Sallie Mae or Amex Fidelity too.

[Anonymous]

Capital One 1.5% cash back is a decent card, and Barclay reward offers a good sign up bonus for average credit.