What's Your Rewards Strategy?

[lyTENciL]

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@Rockysocks wrote:

Now if only there was a good rewards card for car insurance...

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I just used PayPal Key to pay my 6 month premium with my CFF when PayPal was the 5% category. Probably not a long term strategy...

[Anonymous]

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@Rockysocks wrote:

Okay so...

Abound Credit Union Platinum - 5% on gas (and restaurants until March 31st)

US bank Cash+ Visa Siggy - 5% on water bill, electric bill, cell phone bill, and home internet bill

Capital One Walmart Rewards MC World - 5% on all online Walmart.com and grocery delivery purchases

US bank Altitude Go Visa Siggy - 4% on all restaurants, food delivery, etc.

AOD Visa Siggy - 3% on everything else!

Now if only there was a good rewards card for car insurance...

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BBVA covers insurance. I don't remember which category though. @JNA1?

ETA: Looks like it codes as utilities. https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Questions-about-the-BBVA-ClearPoints-credit-card/m-p/6...

[JNA1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Rockysocks wrote:

Okay so...

Abound Credit Union Platinum - 5% on gas (and restaurants until March 31st)

US bank Cash+ Visa Siggy - 5% on water bill, electric bill, cell phone bill, and home internet bill

Capital One Walmart Rewards MC World - 5% on all online Walmart.com and grocery delivery purchases

US bank Altitude Go Visa Siggy - 4% on all restaurants, food delivery, etc.

AOD Visa Siggy - 3% on everything else!

Now if only there was a good rewards card for car insurance...

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BBVA covers insurance. I don't remember which category though. @JNA1?

ETA: Looks like it codes as utilities. https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Questions-about-the-BBVA-ClearPoints-credit-card/m-p/6201904/highlight/true#M1758065

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Yes, utilities. It covers State Farm home insurance as well. 

[minski]

Citi Dividend - 5% rotating categories (rarely used)

Discover It - 5% rotating categories 

Chase Freedom - 5% rotating categories 

US Bank Cash+ - I was doing Fitness/Gym and Fast Food but mid-year will switch Fast Food to Utilities and may switch Fitness/Gym to Cellphine depending on whether I think losing cellphone insurance is worth it

Affinity Visa Signature- 5% bookstores and Amazon, and rotating categories 

FNBO Ducks Unlimited - 5% gas

PenFed Cash Rewards Visa - 5% gas at the pump if no longer grandfathered in with FNBO

AOD Visa Signature- 3% general spend and daily

SDFCU Premium Cash+ - currently has my cellphone bill. I get 2% cash back plus cellphone insurance. Keeping it around for when I can travel to Europe again since it is pin priority. 

I have Marriott Bonvoy AmEx and Chase IHG Select for free anniversary night voucher. I have Platinum Delta for free first checked bag and companion voucher. I have FNBO TravElite AmEx for free $100 airline incidentals coverage which I use on airline snacks or checked baggage fees on flights not with Delta. Navy Cash Rewards is my highest CL and currently holding a BT for my sister at 0%. Will SD once the BT is paid off. Bank of America BBR has an automatic monthly $5 Amazon gift card charged to it. I finally got $30 from them after the longest time. 

Signature Visa Signature and Fidelity Rewards VS are both sock-drawered. Both are 2% cash back cards. I am waiting for Fidelity to close from inactivity. I probably ought to use Signature to keep it from closing. 

[Loquat]

Business Gold for 4x on gas and dining plus the 25% MR rebate when I need to book travel through the AmexTravel portal.

Prestige for 5x on airfare, dining, and 3x on non Marriott hotel spend (plus I use the 4th night free benefit twice each year)

EveryDay Preferred for 4.5x on grocery (first $6k) then Citi Premier for 3x on grocery

Rewards+ for 10 point round up on low dollar spend plus the 10% TYP rebate on the first 100k points redeemed. 

Double Cash/BBP for non-category spend.

[UpperNwGuy]

Until the pandemic ends in late 2021 or early 2022, I have a very simple cash-back rewards strategy:

NFCU More Rewards:  3% on gas and groceries.

PenFed Power Cash:  2% on everything else.

Chase Freedom:  5% on quarterly bonus categories.

I'm not spending on either dining or travel during the pandemic.  Nor am I collecting points or miles, just cash-back.  I don't plan to add any new cards in 2021.

[furthur]

Ignore my signature, nothing is up to date on it. My strategy recently shifted to mainly Amex MR's with my recent acquisition of my Amex BBP.

• Amex Gold: 4x Dining, Groceries.
• Amex BBP: 2x Uncategorized Spend.
• Rakuten Visa: +3x Online Shopping thru Portal, Also 1x Backup for when Amex isn't accepted.
• Amex Hilton Aspire: Hilton spend, Airfare purchases (due to better protections vs the Amex Gold).

Some future strategic plans as well:

• Apply for Amex Platinum for the 100,000+ MR and 10x bonuses. Probably will downgrade/cancel the card eventually when it won't result in a clawback.
• Apply for Amex Green and mainly use for the 3x General Travel. Part of me is considering passing on this option though and keeping it simple with just the 2x from the BBP.
• By the end of this year I will be well under 5/24 and may add a Chase card just to have it as an option and get my foot in that door. Haven't decided which yet.

[mgood]

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@Rockysocks wrote:

Now if only there was a good rewards card for car insurance...

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I have to spend $1500 to get the SUB on my new PenFed Platinum. (Should be easy enough.) I've been paying auto insurance by the month but I paid the last several months off last night with the Platinum. It's a little cheaper to pay it off than to stretch it out, and I needed to hit the spend anyway, so win/win.

[Rockysocks]

Is there an advantage of putting car insurance costs on the BBVA clearpoints card vs the AOD?

[Anonymous]

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@Rockysocks wrote:

Is there an advantage of putting car insurance costs on this card vs my AOD?

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Sometimes BBVA does targeted 5x/6x offers on utilities and it's never a bad thing to have backups in case AOD's terms change.