Which card should I choose? CSP or ??

[Open123]

@Lexie

You're in CA, right?  Have you looked into the JCB Murakai at 3%?  It runs on the Discover network.

[09Lexie]

@Open123

Yes, I'm in CA. No, I have not. 3% on everything?

[enharu]

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@09Lexie wrote:
@Open123

Yes, I'm in CA. No, I have not. 3% on everything?

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Murakai is a Japanese supermarket. They have locations in downtown LA, west LA (sawtelle area) and Torrance. Probably some other places as well.

This is the card. https://www.jcbusa.com/for_consumers/speciality-cards/marukai-premium-jcb-card/

Rewards are:

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Earn up to 3% Cash Back Points on all purchases including spending at Marukai.
No limit on how much you can earn.

• Earn up to 1% Cash Back Points on first $1,000 spent yearly
• Earn up to 2% Cash Back Points on next $2,000 spent yearly
• Earn up to 3% Cash Back Points on over $3,000 spent yearly

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They work in a similar fashion as costco. You need membership ($20 annually) to shop there or you can get one-time passes for $1.

Anyhow, the Murakai card requires membership, so it's basically $20 a year. If you happen to be interested in Asian groceries then that'll be nice to have too.

[rustystick]

• Earn up to 1% Cash Back Points on first $1,000 spent yearly
• Earn up to 2% Cash Back Points on next $2,000 spent yearly
• Earn up to 3% Cash Back Points on over $3,000 spent yearly

jcb marukai

[Open123]

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@09Lexie wrote:
@Open123

Yes, I'm in CA. No, I have not. 3% on everything?

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Yes, on every purchase, but only where Discover is accepted.  Of course, you can also use at places that accept JCB.

There's a $20 fee to join Murakai, but there's an added $15 bonus per $1,000 spent, for a maximum of $50 bonus after spending $5K.  In other words, if you spend at least $3K, the bonus more than makes up for the token annual fee, thereby leaving you a pure unlimited 3% cashback card.  At the very least, I'd use it to pay personal taxes for the 1% spread.

You could use it at Murakai, but there's no reason to, unless you don't have the BCP.

[Revelate]

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@Open123 wrote:

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@09Lexie wrote:
@Open123

Yes, I'm in CA. No, I have not. 3% on everything?

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Yes, on every purchase, but only where Discover is accepted.  Of course, you can also use at places that accept JCB.

There's a $20 fee to join Murakai, but there's an added $15 bonus per $1,000 spent, for a maximum of $50 bonus after spending $5K.  In other words, if you spend at least $3K, the bonus more than makes up for the token annual fee, thereby leaving you a pure unlimited 3% cashback card.  At the very least, I'd use it to pay personal taxes for the 1% spread.

You could use it at Murakai, but there's no reason to, unless you don't have the BCP.

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This is sort of what I was thinking of doing, and had somewhat forgotten about that card in my interminable slog to get mortgaged.  Thank you for the reminder.

The data in the scores databases is pretty absurdly out of date; may have to just take a flier on it whenever I come up for air, if it were 2008 standards, when my utilization is normal I could almost qualify for it now.

[jamesdwi]

CSP for the bonus points and resturant, you don't travel enough to really benefit from the rest of its benefits.

If you use Hilton more than once a year, the AMEX Hilton Surpass is avesome if you can justify its $75 AF but 60,000 in bonus points good enough for 2 nights at a class 3 hotel which would normally cost about $120 a night or more also has 12pts/$ on hilton stays, 6 pts/$ on restuant and gas,  3 pts/$ on everything else.  I love the gold status for the first year, Traveling a lot been at the double tree by hilton about 25 nights in the last two months, currently racked up 145,000 pts and lots of upgrades which would of cost me $50 or so per night.  If you don't don't like the AF or can't justify it citi has a signature hhonors card with no AF, if you don't qualify you can get the gold version no AF, and after $1k in spend they give you 40k in pts and silver status as long as you hold the card.

[09Lexie]

Maybe I'll hold off until Sept. The pre-approval isn't going anywhere and my initial glee is waning.

[ElCamino]

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@09Lexie wrote:
Maybe I'll hold off until Sept. The pre-approval isn't going anywhere and my initial glee is waning.

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Back to the garden!

[09Lexie]

Never left...just tiptoed to the edge.