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@Anonymous wrote:
I have had this card for a while. If you shop a lot at Amazon, you can't beat it. 3% back on their already very low prices. Not as good as Freedom's 5% which I also have but it's not capped and it runs year round. But yes, the points are only redeemable at Amazon. However if you shop their that much, it doesn't really matter.
The better-half just app'ed for the Amazon card a month ago, as I almost EXCLUSIVELY shop with Amazon due to free-student prime membership. So, as long as they never move to the state of Tennessee, I'll keep shopping Amazon for the no tax + free shipping benefits.
@tsquad131 wrote:it says 20% off at checkout in grocery and gourmet items
Oops, sorry about that. I corrected it now.
@Anonymous wrote:
I have had this card for a while. If you shop a lot at Amazon, you can't beat it. 3% back on their already very low prices. Not as good as Freedom's 5% which I also have but it's not capped and it runs year round. But yes, the points are only redeemable at Amazon. However if you shop their that much, it doesn't really matter.
My Forward card nets me 3.2% statement credit on Amazon purchases.
@CreditScholar wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:That kills that one then.
I really wish Chase would have an everyday rewards spending card with year-round bonuses like BCE/BCP: groceries, drugstores, gas, and maybe phone/cable bills.
The Freedom is ok, but the $1,500 quarterly cap seems a bit low.
Are you staying away from Amex for some reason? BCP may suit you well since it's uncapped on everyday spending. If it's not too much trouble you can also buy gift cards at the supermarket and get 6% back at a bunch of places that way.
The main reason is that most merchants around here (about 80% or more) don't take Amex. Otherwise it's something I'd consider.
The other reason I avoid cards like BCE/BCP is that they're cash-back cards. I'd much rather have points that are transferrable (like MR and UR). I might be looking for something that doesn't exist, since everyday spending is usually a very different type of card than travel rewards.
Currently we spend about 10k per year on groceries for the two of us, $2000 on gas, $2500 at drugstores, plus $2000 on internet/phone bills. I was just looking for something that provides a bit more than the 1.07% I'm getting now on my CSP.
Amex PR Gold gives MR points in everyday categories (3x airfare, 2x groceries and gas) but has a steep $175 AF with not many side benefits.
Amex SPG earns 1 Starpoint for every dollar, transferrable to over 30 FF programs 1 point to 1.25 miles in chunks of 20K points.
Caveat to these Amexes is that their airlines partners do not overlap with Chase's. It seems like you fly United/Continental which is not an MR transfer partner and has a horrible redemption ratio of 2 points to 1 mile with SPG.
You may want to consider Chase Freedom. Combined with CSP, Freedom's points are upgraded to full UR points (transferrable 1:1 to partners). There is a quarterly cap but you would be earning essentially 5 FF miles per dollar spent up to the cap on a lot of everyday categories, pretty good IMO.
@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:That kills that one then.
I really wish Chase would have an everyday rewards spending card with year-round bonuses like BCE/BCP: groceries, drugstores, gas, and maybe phone/cable bills.
The Freedom is ok, but the $1,500 quarterly cap seems a bit low.
Are you staying away from Amex for some reason? BCP may suit you well since it's uncapped on everyday spending. If it's not too much trouble you can also buy gift cards at the supermarket and get 6% back at a bunch of places that way.
The main reason is that most merchants around here (about 80% or more) don't take Amex. Otherwise it's something I'd consider.
The other reason I avoid cards like BCE/BCP is that they're cash-back cards. I'd much rather have points that are transferrable (like MR and UR). I might be looking for something that doesn't exist, since everyday spending is usually a very different type of card than travel rewards.
Currently we spend about 10k per year on groceries for the two of us, $2000 on gas, $2500 at drugstores, plus $2000 on internet/phone bills. I was just looking for something that provides a bit more than the 1.07% I'm getting now on my CSP.
Amex PR Gold gives MR points in everyday categories (3x airfare, 2x groceries and gas) but has a steep $175 AF with not many side benefits.
Amex SPG earns 1 Starpoint for every dollar, transferrable to over 30 FF programs 1 point to 1.25 miles in chunks of 20K points.
Caveat to these Amexes is that their airlines partners do not overlap with Chase's. It seems like you fly United/Continental which is not an MR transfer partner and has a horrible redemption ratio of 2 points to 1 mile with SPG.
You may want to consider Chase Freedom. Combined with CSP, Freedom's points are upgraded to full UR points (transferrable 1:1 to partners). There is a quarterly cap but you would be earning essentially 5 FF miles per dollar spent up to the cap on a lot of everyday categories, pretty good IMO.
I was looking into the Freedom for exactly that reason. I'm trying to be very picky this time because this will be my last Chase card. I'll probably apply for it sometime around Sept 2013. I highly doubt they'd issue me more than 3, and I don't think I'd want more than that anyways. You're right in that I fly UA/CO, because I typically can get direct flights to anywhere from my home city.
I'm just trying to figure out where I can get the most bang for my buck. The candidates so far are Hyatt, Freedom and Palladium. The Hyatt's annual free night in a category 1-4 is worth 15k UR points (~$300 at 2 cpp), so if I can't get at least that much from another card it's just not worth it.
With the Freedom: For some categories (like groceries) I'd blow through the $1,500 quarterly cap in a matter of weeks, not months. For others like amazon.com, I'd barely spend anything there at all.
The palladium is another story altogether, and it wouldn't be for the earning factor. It'd just be for something different, and I'm willing to pay a $595 AF for that. I'd prefer to have something with better returns as my final Chase card, but will settle for the "plunk factor" if there's nothing better. Any suggestions?
@CreditScholar wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:That kills that one then.
I really wish Chase would have an everyday rewards spending card with year-round bonuses like BCE/BCP: groceries, drugstores, gas, and maybe phone/cable bills.
The Freedom is ok, but the $1,500 quarterly cap seems a bit low.
Are you staying away from Amex for some reason? BCP may suit you well since it's uncapped on everyday spending. If it's not too much trouble you can also buy gift cards at the supermarket and get 6% back at a bunch of places that way.
The main reason is that most merchants around here (about 80% or more) don't take Amex. Otherwise it's something I'd consider.
The other reason I avoid cards like BCE/BCP is that they're cash-back cards. I'd much rather have points that are transferrable (like MR and UR). I might be looking for something that doesn't exist, since everyday spending is usually a very different type of card than travel rewards.
Currently we spend about 10k per year on groceries for the two of us, $2000 on gas, $2500 at drugstores, plus $2000 on internet/phone bills. I was just looking for something that provides a bit more than the 1.07% I'm getting now on my CSP.
Amex PR Gold gives MR points in everyday categories (3x airfare, 2x groceries and gas) but has a steep $175 AF with not many side benefits.
Amex SPG earns 1 Starpoint for every dollar, transferrable to over 30 FF programs 1 point to 1.25 miles in chunks of 20K points.
Caveat to these Amexes is that their airlines partners do not overlap with Chase's. It seems like you fly United/Continental which is not an MR transfer partner and has a horrible redemption ratio of 2 points to 1 mile with SPG.
You may want to consider Chase Freedom. Combined with CSP, Freedom's points are upgraded to full UR points (transferrable 1:1 to partners). There is a quarterly cap but you would be earning essentially 5 FF miles per dollar spent up to the cap on a lot of everyday categories, pretty good IMO.
I was looking into the Freedom for exactly that reason. I'm trying to be very picky this time because this will be my last Chase card. I'll probably apply for it sometime around Sept 2013. I highly doubt they'd issue me more than 3, and I don't think I'd want more than that anyways. You're right in that I fly UA/CO, because I typically can get direct flights to anywhere from my home city.
I'm just trying to figure out where I can get the most bang for my buck. The candidates so far are Hyatt, Freedom and Palladium. The Hyatt's annual free night in a category 1-4 is worth 15k UR points (~$300 at 2 cpp), so if I can't get at least that much from another card it's just not worth it.
With the Freedom: For some categories (like groceries) I'd blow through the $1,500 quarterly cap in a matter of weeks, not months. For others like amazon.com, I'd barely spend anything there at all.
The palladium is another story altogether, and it wouldn't be for the earning factor. It'd just be for something different, and I'm willing to pay a $595 AF for that. I'd prefer to have something with better returns as my final Chase card, but will settle for the "plunk factor" if there's nothing better. Any suggestions?
Yeah that's a tough one. Like you said there may be quarters where Freedom's bonus categories do not correspond with your spending. If you're valuing Hyatt at 15K points for the free night you have to also take into account its $75AF so the valuation may actually be closer to 11250 UR points. In that case I think Freedom wins out. You can easily spend $3000 in bonus categories = 15K UR points in the months where they cover gas, groceries, restaurants, and department/retail stores, airfare, etc.