Quad-Fecta CB Strategy with 2.62% Min on Everything...

[Anonymous]

In the process of transfering my $225K retirement account to Merrill Edge to Qualify for Preferred Rewards 75% Bonus.  Spending is below.  I have the Uber Visa but am looking to add 2 or potentially 3 more cards.   My family of 5 flys about 2 times a year and the flights usually run us around $1500 round trip - we typically check 2 bags.  I think that cash back is an easier stragegy than dealing with travel redemption sites (open to be convinced otherwise).   

My question: should I just add the Cash Rewards and Premium Rewards or is it worth it the extra $36 to get Ducks unlimited for gas stations and sporting goods.  We have 3 boys in sports and shop at Dicks a decent amount.. (wife and I are AU on each others cards)?  With our traveling we would use the $100 credit in baggage to offset the $95 annual fee of the Premium Rewards card.   

Am I missing something or is this the best total cash back based on my calcualtions...?

[Anonymous]

anyone?

[kdm31091]

As you note, adding more cards (i.e. the Duck card) only really increases your cash back by 36 for a year. Your call, but IMO that is a pretty trivial amount in the long run. 36 bucks a year won't make or break anything, but if you don't mind maintaing the extra account(s) go for it. Just bear in mind it brakes down to 3 bucks a month which is really nothing substantial.

[Anonymous]

Couldn’t imagine transferring a quarter of a million dollars to a new bank for $300 extra annual credit card rewards...

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Couldn’t imagine transferring a quarter of a million dollars to a new bank for $300 extra annual credit card rewards...

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Here’s the breakdown of the incentives from BOA / Merrill: 

$900 for transferring the brokerage assets to Merrill (also free trades vs $6.95 at TD Ameritrade)

$300 for opening my checking

$300 for opening my wife’s checking

$500 (50,000 points) for the Premium Rewards Card

$150 for opening the Cash Rewards 

$2,150 TOTAL 

Also the only card my wife and I had were Bank Americards earning 1%.  With the new strategy our cash rewards goes to 4.4% on average. Or $160 annually to $698 or a 436% increase.  

I’d say it’s worth the effort to park the assets at Merrill....

[Anonymous]

Not bad at all.. Your first sentence led me to believe CC rewards were your primary motivation..
Rewards structure looks great with the 75% bump.. I’d personally stay away from Ducks and maybe even dump Uber for simplicity’s sake.. But if you already have it and don’t mind carrying 3 different cards then no harm done...

[Anonymous]

Get a second Cash Rewards card so you can set two different categories. Dining on one, gas on the other, and flip the gas to travel when you are going to make that purchase. Also if you go into the branch and get a "co branded" version you can get it as a Visa, which is useful if you shop at Costco - becomes 3.5% back at Costco. Once you start using it for big categories like that (travel, dining, groceries) note that it's not hard to blow past the $2500/quarter limit on the 5.25% reward category.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Get a second Cash Rewards card so you can set two different categories. Dining on one, gas on the other, and flip the gas to travel when you are going to make that purchase. Also if you go into the branch and get a "co branded" version you can get it as a Visa, which is useful if you shop at Costco - becomes 3.5% back at Costco. Once you start using it for big categories like that (travel, dining, groceries) note that it's not hard to blow past the $2500/quarter limit on the 5.25% reward category.

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I’ve got the Uber for dining. It’s 4% and you get $50 back if you spend $5,000 and pay for a subscription service like amazon prime. So essentially 5% cash back on the first $5,000. There is also $600 in cell phone protection.

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[Anonymous]

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[kdm31091]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Not really sure what further input you're seeking here? You seem to have your mind made up and 2.62% obviously is a great base reward rate, and if you don't mind managing the several other cards to eek out every penny, go for it. It's up to you, no one else can decide how much complexity you are willing to handle.