@UpperNwGuy wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Anyone know of a restaurant credit card that can beat 3% year round? That's what I'm currently looking for.
Chase Sapphire Reserve. 4.5% on restaurants when redeemed through the Chase travel portal or by transfer to an airline frequent flyer program.
Just to clarify, the CSP 25% bonus and CSR 50% bonus are only for redemption through the Chase portal. There is no bonus for transferring to airline or hotel partners, unfortunately.
@Anonymous wrote:Anyone know of a restaurant credit card that can beat 3% year round? That's what I'm currently looking for.
Capital One
Premier Dining Rewards Card
Earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, 2% on groceries and 1% on all other purchases
Earn a one-time $100 bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
The Premier Dining Rewards card also comes with World Elite Mastercard® Benefits
@Jetboy wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Anyone know of a restaurant credit card that can beat 3% year round? That's what I'm currently looking for.
Capital One
Premier Dining Rewards Card
Earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, 2% on groceries and 1% on all other purchases
Earn a one-time $100 bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
The Premier Dining Rewards card also comes with World Elite Mastercard® Benefits
what am i missing, looks like 3%
I misread your post.
I do not know of a card this gives more than 3% cashback in dining.
@Anonymous wrote:Hey Guys,
I just wanted to see what everyone is using their cards for. I know the CSP is all travel and dining, Freedom is the 5x quarterly and the Freedom unlimited is everything else. Thats the big one, when should i be using the Amex gold instead of the Freedom unlimited My cards are as follows:
CSP
Freedom
Freedom Unlimited
Amex Gold Premier Rewards
Amex Blue Card Everyday
Thank you!
Did you have a particular goal in mind when you got these?
Seems the best thing for you to do would be to figure out what you want to do with your rewards and then pattern your spend to meet that goal. You may be better off sticking to one rewards program and sock drawering the other cards. Or maybe your goal involves a mixture of both, in which case, you'd use both sets of cards proportionate to how much you need of each.
The CSP/F/FU combo is pretty popular among travel hackers, and it does provide probably the fastest way to earn points transferrable to airline miles. In order to get the most from that, though, you probably want to do away with the other cards and just use those to maximize your earnings under that scheme. If your plan is to transfer points to a program that is accessible from both UR and MR transfers (e.g. FlyingBlue or Singapore KrisFlyer) then you could include the PRG as part of your earning scheme since those points can also be used for transfers. You'll also need to figure whether it's worth the annual fee to keep both sets of cards.
All of this depends on what you're specifically wanting to do with your points. Only you can answer that.
I can't get a Sapphire card because of 5/24, so I'm focusing on Citi TYP and Amex MR points right now. Both transfer into FlyingBlue, which I can use to get (mostly) free tickets to Europe where my wife and I would like to go. Thus collecting under both programs works pretty well for me. I'm working on signup bonuses on various cards right now, but this is probably what I'll do long term:
cash back cards: sock drawer for now so I always have the option to return to just getting cash back (all no AF)
Citi TY Premier: keep for 3X travel and 2X restaurants and entertainment ($95 AF)
Chase IHG: keep for yearly free night, use when I need more points for an upcoming trip ($49 AF)
BC Wyndham: 2X on utilities, use when I need more points for an upcoming trip (no AF)
Amex EDP: keep for 4.5X groceries and 1.5X non-category ($95 AF)
Amex PRG: using now for signup bonus and 2X restaurants, but will cancel when $195 AF hits
Amex green: using now just for signup bonus, will cancel when $95 AF hits
I just finished the bonus spend on the TYP and IHG cards. I already know what I'll use the Wyndham and green cards for to get the bonus spend done on those (utilities and next mortgage payment) so I don't need to carry them. Thus the three cards in my wallet right now are:
Amex PRG - restaurants
Amex EDP - everything else
Citi TYP - backup for where Amex is not accepted
After I get the bonus on the Amex MR cards, the PRG will likely go back in the sock drawer and I'll just carry the TYP and EDP until it's time to churn something else. I'll probably get the no AF Hilton card next and either the Barclay A+ or the new BoA premier card depending on what that one looks like when it comes out. I'll keep the Hilton card and cancel the travel cash card.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the great information. Very informative. So Chase UR and AMEX MR dont always transfer to the same travlel partners? Is it just those 2?
Every CC points program has its own set of transfer partners. MR and UR I think have British Airways Avios, FlyingBlue, Singapore KrisFlyer, and Virgin Atlantic in common. However, many airline miles programs can be used to book flights on alliance partners. For example, KrisFlyer miles can be used to book flights on United, Lufthansa, ANA, etc.
Again, FlyerTalk is the forum for deeper discussion about airline miles programs and how to optimize those.
Personally, if I had your card lineup I would ditch the PRG since the annual fee probably wouldn't justify the difference in rewards earning vs. the Chase cards. But that's just me.