Keeping Track of Rewards?

[Alberio]

Hi Everyone,

I went through a period in my life with divorce and job loss where I relied way too heavily on credit and had huge util %ages - not good.  Then I swung the other way, sock-drawered everything I had, and only used my debit card to pay for anything.

Now that I have the appreciation for the power of credit and credit scores and the means to pay off each credit card bill every month, I am realizing that responsible use of my cards could save me a lot of money with bonuses and rewards.  I want to start using them for this reason and paying off every month (with a low balance maintained on one to stay within the 1-9% range desired).

They all offer so many different things and have different ways to qualify - plus they are always changing it up.  How do you keep track??  I am thinking of making a cheat sheet monthly to laminate and keep in my wallet so when I am at the gas station, for example, I can refer to the cheat sheet to see which card I should use.  What do you do? 

For reference, I have four cards that I have had for over a decade and four that I just added to the wallet last week.  They are:

OLD:

AmEx Blue Cash

Citi Thank You Preferred

Discover

BoA Wisconsin Alumni MC

NEW:

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Sallie Mae World MC

Chase Southwest Visa Signature Premier

Home Depot

[-NewGuy-]

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@Alberio wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I went through a period in my life with divorce and job loss where I relied way too heavily on credit and had huge util %ages - not good.  Then I swung the other way, sock-drawered everything I had, and only used my debit card to pay for anything.

Now that I have the appreciation for the power of credit and credit scores and the means to pay off each credit card bill every month, I am realizing that responsible use of my cards could save me a lot of money with bonuses and rewards.  I want to start using them for this reason and paying off every month (with a low balance maintained on one to stay within the 1-9% range desired).

They all offer so many different things and have different ways to qualify - plus they are always changing it up.  How do you keep track??  I am thinking of making a cheat sheet monthly to laminate and keep in my wallet so when I am at the gas station, for example, I can refer to the cheat sheet to see which card I should use.  What do you do? 

For reference, I have four cards that I have had for over a decade and four that I just added to the wallet last week.  They are:

OLD:

AmEx Blue Cash

Citi Thank You Preferred

Discover

BoA Wisconsin Alumni MC

NEW:

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Sallie Mae World MC

Chase Southwest Visa Signature Premier

Home Depot

---

I don't have a TON of award programs, including hotels, airlines, and CC rewards, that I am part of compared to others here. Maybe 8 ish. I signed up for Award Wallet which is pretty cool and very easy to use. But honestly, I still end up going directly to each site for the most part.

[bdhu2001]

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@Alberio wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I went through a period in my life with divorce and job loss where I relied way too heavily on credit and had huge util %ages - not good.  Then I swung the other way, sock-drawered everything I had, and only used my debit card to pay for anything.

Now that I have the appreciation for the power of credit and credit scores and the means to pay off each credit card bill every month, I am realizing that responsible use of my cards could save me a lot of money with bonuses and rewards.  I want to start using them for this reason and paying off every month (with a low balance maintained on one to stay within the 1-9% range desired).

They all offer so many different things and have different ways to qualify - plus they are always changing it up.  How do you keep track??  I am thinking of making a cheat sheet monthly to laminate and keep in my wallet so when I am at the gas station, for example, I can refer to the cheat sheet to see which card I should use.  What do you do? 

For reference, I have four cards that I have had for over a decade and four that I just added to the wallet last week.  They are:

OLD:

AmEx Blue Cash

Citi Thank You Preferred

Discover

BoA Wisconsin Alumni MC

NEW:

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Sallie Mae World MC

Chase Southwest Visa Signature Premier

Home Depot

 Find the card that you like the rewards offered and use it.  Don't spread your usage around for points, because it will take forever to get enough points.  I use FirstBank of Omaha Master card for rewards and American Express Costco for shopping at costco and getting gas at costco.  American Express gives me back cash and it makes my costco membership esentially free.  My MC is used and paid off constantly.  I have automatic subscriptions billed to it and I use the rewards for gift cards so that I don't have to buy a bunch of gifts at Christmas.  It adds up to quite a bit if you only use two primary cards.

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[Anonymous]

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@bdhu2001 wrote:

 Find the card that you like the rewards offered and use it.  Don't spread your usage around for points, because it will take forever to get enough points.  I use FirstBank of Omaha Master card for rewards and American Express Costco for shopping at costco and getting gas at costco.  American Express gives me back cash and it makes my costco membership esentially free.  My MC is used and paid off constantly.  I have automatic subscriptions billed to it and I use the rewards for gift cards so that I don't have to buy a bunch of gifts at Christmas.  It adds up to quite a bit if you only use two primary cards.

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Also a question of effort vs gain.    Sometimes you need to get perspective, if you spend $20 and use the "wrong" card because you forgot a 5% category and use a 1% instead, you have lost $0.80.   And this is sort of the worst case.     

So if you find it hard to remember which card to use, and to keep the cheat sheet updated, it just may not be worth worrying.

[14Fiesta]

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@Alberio wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I went through a period in my life with divorce and job loss where I relied way too heavily on credit and had huge util %ages - not good.  Then I swung the other way, sock-drawered everything I had, and only used my debit card to pay for anything.

Now that I have the appreciation for the power of credit and credit scores and the means to pay off each credit card bill every month, I am realizing that responsible use of my cards could save me a lot of money with bonuses and rewards.  I want to start using them for this reason and paying off every month (with a low balance maintained on one to stay within the 1-9% range desired).

They all offer so many different things and have different ways to qualify - plus they are always changing it up.  How do you keep track??  I am thinking of making a cheat sheet monthly to laminate and keep in my wallet so when I am at the gas station, for example, I can refer to the cheat sheet to see which card I should use.  What do you do? 

For reference, I have four cards that I have had for over a decade and four that I just added to the wallet last week.  They are:

OLD:

AmEx Blue Cash

Citi Thank You Preferred

Discover

BoA Wisconsin Alumni MC

NEW:

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Sallie Mae World MC

Chase Southwest Visa Signature Premier

Home Depot

---

First thing I would recommend if you haven't already: I see you have Discover under the old category. How old is it? What version of the card do you have? If you still have the More, I would contact Discover and request to PC it to the Discover IT card ASAP, especially if you are looking for better rewards, as the IT doesn't have a minimum spend requirement for 1% to kick in.

[Alberio]

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@14Fiesta wrote:

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First thing I would recommend if you haven't already: I see you have Discover under the old category. How old is it? What version of the card do you have? If you still have the More, I would contact Discover and request to PC it to the Discover IT card ASAP, especially if you are looking for better rewards, as the IT doesn't have a minimum spend requirement for 1% to kick in.

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This may seem dumb, but how can I tell what card I have with Discover?  I have had it for 14 years and it has never changed as far as I know (except auto-CLIs and APR).  It has no AF and has 5% cash back categories (currently home improvement).  The card itself just says "Discover" and has the painting I picked for my card design.

[xsvspd]

Sounds like you have the It card, as thats the current promo.

I use an app called wallaby, it's fantastic. Free. And tells me which card to use to utilize my rewards.

[14Fiesta]

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@Alberio wrote:

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@14Fiesta wrote:

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First thing I would recommend if you haven't already: I see you have Discover under the old category. How old is it? What version of the card do you have? If you still have the More, I would contact Discover and request to PC it to the Discover IT card ASAP, especially if you are looking for better rewards, as the IT doesn't have a minimum spend requirement for 1% to kick in.

---

This may seem dumb, but how can I tell what card I have with Discover?  I have had it for 14 years and it has never changed as far as I know (except auto-CLIs and APR).  It has no AF and has 5% cash back categories (currently home improvement).  The card itself just says "Discover" and has the painting I picked for my card design.

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I would say call or chat online with a CSR and inquire about what type of card you have. From what I have heard, older cards like the More still have the rotating 5% categories like the IT does, but the difference is in the base earnings. The IT has 1% base with no minimum spend. The More is something like 0.25% for the first $3,500, then 1% for the rest.

The IT card is only a few years old, so I would say if you haven't made any attempts to change anything, and Discover never auto-PCd you, then you wouldn't have the IT card.

EDIT: And no question is too dumb here. We are all continually learning new things everyday. 

If a CSR confirms you have an older version of a card, then just ask if you can have it converted to the IT. 

[Dw4250]

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@Alberio wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I went through a period in my life with divorce and job loss where I relied way too heavily on credit and had huge util %ages - not good.  Then I swung the other way, sock-drawered everything I had, and only used my debit card to pay for anything.

Now that I have the appreciation for the power of credit and credit scores and the means to pay off each credit card bill every month, I am realizing that responsible use of my cards could save me a lot of money with bonuses and rewards.  I want to start using them for this reason and paying off every month (with a low balance maintained on one to stay within the 1-9% range desired).

They all offer so many different things and have different ways to qualify - plus they are always changing it up.  How do you keep track??  I am thinking of making a cheat sheet monthly to laminate and keep in my wallet so when I am at the gas station, for example, I can refer to the cheat sheet to see which card I should use.  What do you do? 

For reference, I have four cards that I have had for over a decade and four that I just added to the wallet last week.  They are:

OLD:

AmEx Blue Cash

Citi Thank You Preferred

Discover

BoA Wisconsin Alumni MC

NEW:

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Sallie Mae World MC

Chase Southwest Visa Signature Premier

Home Depot

---

I use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of my rewards.

Someone made a good point about spreading your spending across all cards makes reaping the rewards more difficult to accrue a timely manner (unless you spend A LOT!).  So pick 3 (maybe 4) cards to focus spending...  

For example, you have some overlapping cards...AMEX BCE and BOA Cash Rewards are essentially the same card (groceries and gas are flip-flopped).  So pick one of those as your "everyday" cash back card once you're Sallie Mae has reached its limits.

I would pick CSP over Citi Thank You Preferred for dining/restaurants and as your general travel card.

Use Discover IT when the 5% categories are relevant.

My recommendations:

1.  Salie Mae for gas; groceries; Amazon

2.  Choose either BCE or BOA Cash when SM limits reached for gas; groceries

3.  CSP for dining and general travel

4.  Discover (when 5% categories are relevent)

SD or lightly use: Citi Thank You; BCE or BOA and Discover when 5% categories not relevant.  Use Chase Southwest for flying Southwest and Home Depot for...well ...Home Depot.

[Anonymous]

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@Dw4250 wrote:

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@Alberio wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I went through a period in my life with divorce and job loss where I relied way too heavily on credit and had huge util %ages - not good.  Then I swung the other way, sock-drawered everything I had, and only used my debit card to pay for anything.

Now that I have the appreciation for the power of credit and credit scores and the means to pay off each credit card bill every month, I am realizing that responsible use of my cards could save me a lot of money with bonuses and rewards.  I want to start using them for this reason and paying off every month (with a low balance maintained on one to stay within the 1-9% range desired).

They all offer so many different things and have different ways to qualify - plus they are always changing it up.  How do you keep track??  I am thinking of making a cheat sheet monthly to laminate and keep in my wallet so when I am at the gas station, for example, I can refer to the cheat sheet to see which card I should use.  What do you do? 

For reference, I have four cards that I have had for over a decade and four that I just added to the wallet last week.  They are:

OLD:

AmEx Blue Cash

Citi Thank You Preferred

Discover

BoA Wisconsin Alumni MC

NEW:

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Sallie Mae World MC

Chase Southwest Visa Signature Premier

Home Depot

---

For example, you have some overlapping cards...AMEX BCE and BOA Cash Rewards are essentially the same card (groceries and gas are flip-flopped).  So pick one of those as your "everyday" cash back card once you're Sallie Mae has reached its limits.

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Since OP has had the card for over a decade, the Amex Blue Cash is the "Old Blue Cash"  (unlimited 5% on gas/groceries/drugstores) and so is different (and better!) than the BoA card.