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We are budget travelers, right now everything is going on our Arrivals. He has the AF one, and I think we are going to cancel it and switch to the BCE in December. I am debating on whether or not to apply for the It card next year... But my Arrival has a 6k credit line, and I don't really want much less. I guess we'll see when the time comes closer.
Quicksilver for general spend (1.5%)
Freedom for gas this quarter (haven't taken advantage of the movies or Starbucks at all, surprisingly!) (5%)
CS for restaurants (2%)
JCP for, well...JCP! may even use it here and there at Rite Aid or CVS to meet spending tiers since i'm not spending as much at JCP anymore (10%)
Blue Sky for travel of $100 or more, or when I get a good cash back offer (1.333%)
Right now I am using a variety, Huntington Voice for 3% on utilities, US Bank cash + for 5% on Cell phone, and Uverse, Freedom for gas (until 3/31), then BCP for gas, BCP for groceries, Ebates for online purchases (mainly thru Ebates), Discover/Freedom/Dividend for miscellaneous stuff I may need to buy (drug store, etc.) if it is a rotating category that month. Still working on what to use all cards for to maximize rewards without buying stuff I have no use for. Finally got Util to 1% on 1 card with no other balances, and am liking not having a bunch of little balances.
CSP > BCP > Freedom, but the ranking for CSP and Freedom will swap places temporarily come April 1 when dining is 5x.
@BigBS wrote:BofA (Grocery), Barclays (Bonus), Chase (Gas - 1st/3rd QTR), PFCU (Gas - 2nd/4th QTR), AMEX/DISCOVER (as needed).
Think I may be back to BCP for Grocery (6%), otherwise till Barclays (Bonus), Chase (5% for Gas - 1st/3rd QTR), PFCU (5% for Gas - 2nd/4th QTR), DISCOVER (as needed).
Of 6 bank cards & 1 store card my Barclays Rewards card gets almost daily usage between myself & my AU; Amex BCE gets regular (weekly) usage by me. The others are rarely used now.
I use Sallie Mae (gas and groceries) and US Bank Cash + (cell phone, fast food, drug stores) the most these days. Amex TE for Costco (not frequented all that often) and Chase Freedom for bills, but coming up this week, I'm going to be apping for Cap1 Quicksilver and if approved, I will be using that for bills and miscellaneous. Chase Freedom may soon be relegated just for use at restaurants when that's a quarterly category.
SD: Discover It (can't really find use for this anymore!) and Elan Financial (keeping open for its age, but may close in the future)
Soon to be closed: Citi Diamond Preferrred
I can't handle anymore cards so after Quicksilver, that's it!
I have a special deal this quarter on my Priceline.com card, which doubles the cash back in a couple categories, so I'm using that card a lot to set new usage records on that card for a possible future auto CLI. I had 57% usage last statement.
Typically, I just choose a card that gives me 5% cash back, and when that doesn't work, I use the Priceline for 2%. So, I don't usually use the Priceline very much.
I use my Fidelity AmEx as my go to if there is not a bonus on my purchase, and the Capital One Venture or Merrill+ if that place does not accept AmEx. Otherwise, I use whatever card has the biggest bonus.
Now I'm thinking about cutting a few cards that I don't use anymore from my lineup and PC'ing another.