Got to thinking...

[Anonymous]

...tonight because everyone here is a bad influence. :-D ;-) My original plan had been to app for a travel card in 2020, but I will be gutting and remodeling a house and wondering for allllll the expense it is going to be, if running it through a card for great travel returns would be a solid idea or sticking to one of the two rewards cards I have: AMEX BCP & Costco Citi. I really want to be able to travel with my three kids to Europe so if I am spending the money on supplies and workers, what can give me my biggest bang for the expense?

[Anonymous]

citi DC. I don't know any travel card has a bonus home improvement category.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

citi DC. I don't know any travel card has a bonus home improvement category.

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Right, but I'm assuming OP is also thinking of SUB that can be met with this expense

[Anonymous]

ah. that make sense.

Just go for biggest SUB then. CSR, Platinum.

[Anonymous]

Sub and beyond. Like I saw the Venture has 2 miles per $1 and seemed to pay out at $700 for 50,000 miles. What else would give more points for this spend or if you have a better suggestion, I am happy to hear it. I just want money to go on and the most I can get from what I am spending. 

[Anonymous]

Altitude Reserve with Samsung pay will get you 4.5 % ( 3% x 1.5 when redeemed for travel) at Home Depot and Lowe's, plus you get a 50k sub worth $750 in travel

[Loquat]

Hi OP.  I understand your want for a travel card...and with your upcoming expenses you may be able to actually knock out a spend bonus depending on the actual amount.  However, I will caution that I don't know of many (if any) travel cards that offer bonus in home improvement. Occasionally Amex will have an extra MR point earning for Lowes and even that's rare.  

With that being said, you mentioned that you'd like to do some travel with family.  Even with the highest spend bonus out there (thinking 100k Amex offer on Platinum) those points don't go as far as one may think.  You may already be aware of this but I thought it was worth mentioning.  Traveling, especially if the goal is to do so for free, takes a LOT and I mean a LOT of points.  Even the most basic, domestic flight in main cabin can cost 25-40K (and sometimes more) points for a round trip.

I'm mentioning this because I'd hate to see you go in on a travel card only to realize that it takes a LOT to get to even the most basic places here in the country.  Best of luck in whatever you decide to do.  

[Anonymous]

I'm flying out to Peru back from Bolivia for about 43k points total so it depends on what kind of deal you can find. I also got a 25% bonus transferring TY points to avianca so actually a bit less than that.

Might also consider Amex blue business plus if you can get a business card, 20k sub can be had and gets 2x mr points on everything, solid long term card with 15 months 0% interest

[Anonymous]

I was seeing it takes a lot of points/miles. Do you have a suggestion for getting cash back or something else for the spend that can be applied even through statement credit? I am hoping to not spend more than $50,000 on this remodel, but I would like to get everything I can out of the money through some means. Better than just spending it and having nothing (but the house of course) to show for it. 

[Anonymous]

for that much bend as mentioned your best bet is probably something like that home Depot or Lowe's credit card which gets 5% off at those stores assuming you are going to be doing all of your purchasing at said store. Otherwise the rotating category cash back cards are usually going to be capped at like $1,500 per quarter even if it rotates into home improvement. there are a couple of general cash back cards like I believe it's alliance which gets 2.5% I think even 3% the first year, the PayPal cashback MasterCard linked with a PayPal business debit card can get 3% back on all purchases but it is a Comenity credit card and they seem to be pretty stingy with credit limit increases so I'm not sure about the ease of running 50 grand through that card. Of course there is the option of doing several cards with signup bonuses, I have like 9 AMEX card so I know it's totally possible to get several of those without much trouble. 50 Grand could be like 10 $5,000 minimum spends.