Travel Rewards Card for an infrequent flyer

[red259]

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@msf12555 wrote:

If you are putting 7200 bucks (like you said above) on a 2% card like the Arrival, you are getting $144 in travel rewards a year. Now take away $89 for the AF. You are left with $55 bucks total, wasting over 50% of your earnings.

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If I recall correctly the 7.2k is the utility bills alone. There may be some other large purchases during the year and there should be a number of other things OP can spend on with a credit card in smaller amounts (e.g., groceries, fuel, dry cleaning, taxis, parking, phone bills, cable, restaurants etc). I would think there would be other everyday expenses that could go on their card. Anyone remember what the cutoff spend point is to make the barclays break even?

[-NewGuy-]

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@red259 wrote:

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@msf12555 wrote:

If you are putting 7200 bucks (like you said above) on a 2% card like the Arrival, you are getting $144 in travel rewards a year. Now take away $89 for the AF. You are left with $55 bucks total, wasting over 50% of your earnings.

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If I recall correctly the 7.2k is the utility bills alone. There may be some other large purchases during the year and there should be a number of other things OP can spend on with a credit card in smaller amounts (e.g., groceries, fuel, dry cleaning, taxis, parking, phone bills, cable, restaurants etc). I would think there would be other everyday expenses that could go on their card. Anyone remember what the cutoff spend point is to make the barclays break even

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The first 4450 basically pays for the AF

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for the great points and advice!

The 7.2k will be the minimum I hope to put other purchases on there as well.

The arrival seems good for the first year then I will have to re evaluate spending and AF.

[CreditScholar]

If you only have 16k in annual spend I'd suggest avoiding AF cards, or use a card that has an AF which is negated by an annual retention bonus. Many of the hotel cards that offer a free night each year fall into this category. The free night more than makes up for the AF in most cases.

Other suggestions would be a flat 2% cash back no AF card like the Fidelity Amex. The difference between 2% and 2.2% is very small with only 16k in annual spend.

[Anonymous]

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@msf12555 wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

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@msf12555 wrote:

If you are putting 7200 bucks (like you said above) on a 2% card like the Arrival, you are getting $144 in travel rewards a year. Now take away $89 for the AF. You are left with $55 bucks total, wasting over 50% of your earnings.

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If I recall correctly the 7.2k is the utility bills alone. There may be some other large purchases during the year and there should be a number of other things OP can spend on with a credit card in smaller amounts (e.g., groceries, fuel, dry cleaning, taxis, parking, phone bills, cable, restaurants etc). I would think there would be other everyday expenses that could go on their card. Anyone remember what the cutoff spend point is to make the barclays break even

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The first 4450 basically pays for the AF

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How do you arrive at $4,450?  Is that just AF /2%?   That's not really a great comparison, as it is comparing to paying cash.   A good way of looking it is to compare with 0AF cards such as the Quicksilver, which pays 1.5% with no travel restrictions, or the Fidelity Amex which pays 2% with no travel restriction.   Compared to Fidelity, and assuming you redeem for travel, the Arrival has the extra 0.2%, and to make up the AF you would need to spend $45K

So, get the Arrival the first year (with no AF) and get the bonus, but unless you spend a lot, the Fidelity card will be better in subsequent years.

[enharu]

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@CreditScholar wrote:

If you only have 16k in annual spend I'd suggest avoiding AF cards, or use a card that has an AF which is negated by an annual retention bonus. Many of the hotel cards that offer a free night each year fall into this category. The free night more than makes up for the AF in most cases.

Other suggestions would be a flat 2% cash back no AF card like the Fidelity Amex. The difference between 2% and 2.2% is very small with only 16k in annual spend.

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+1.

For infrequent travelers, your best choice is probably going to be focusing on cashback cards, and then using the cashback to book your travel instead. That way you have some flexibility as well. UR / MR / SPG are good programs, but with just 16k spend year, you won't be able to redeem anything.

Other than that, you can also focus on churning sign-up bonuses. That's probably going to be the fastest way to rack up miles and points.