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Which credit cards are the best?

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K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: Which credit cards are the best?


@Citylights18 wrote:

@K-in-Boston wrote:

As stated in your previous thread, that article is factually incorrect.  The author reversed the transfer direction (Hilton to MR, rather than MR to Hilton) using the previous 1:1.5 transfer ratio.


Yeah I can't find anything else that backs up this article.

 

If it was true the card would be amazing and by far the best mid tier card.


It would be the best credit card ever!  Infinite points per dollar.  Smiley Wink

 

Not throwing you under the bus for it; a lot of those blog writers get articles thrown up without them being thoroughly proofread.  Even among the better sites like The Points Guy, when guest authors post you'll often see the first few comments on the article are fact-checking by readers.  As a rule, hotel points can only be used for that hotel chain or for transfer to airline partners.  Airline miles cannot be transferred whatsoever, with the sole exception of United allowing elite members to transfer up to 50,000 miles to Marriott per year (hat tip to @CaptJOB for bringing this one exception to light).

Message 21 of 79
Aim_High
Super Contributor

Re: Which credit cards are the best?


@HighGoals wrote:
Who cards would you say are the best?
Best for travel and best for cash back?

As other replies above, this is MUCH too broad a question topic for this forum.  There are many recent threads on best cards by category that are already available and easy to search.  (Best travel cards, best non-travel cards, best gas card, best 2%+ cash-back cards, best supermarket cards, etc.)  Suggest you start with searches to fine-tune what cards might be best for you and provide more details on your needs such as major areas of spending, amount of monthly spending, how often you travel (plus how and where, business or personal), existing cards and banking/investment relationships, military affilitaions (including through family connections), whether you prefer points or cash-back, whether you prefer the simplicity of one or two cards versus optimizing rewards categories by spend, and whether you're averse to annual fees.  And that's just a starter!  Hope you find the information you need! Smiley Happy


Business Cards


Length of Credit > 40 years; Total Credit Limits >$850K
Top Lender TCL - Chase 156.4 - BofA 99.7 - AMEX 95.0 - CITI 94.5 - NFCU 80.0
AoOA > 30 years (Jun 1993); AoYA (Aug 2023)
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Message 22 of 79
Citylights18
Valued Contributor

Re: Which credit cards are the best?

Relevant to the discussion an article comparing Wells Fargo duo against the Chase Trifecta.

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/critical-points-wells-fargo-duo-better-than-csr/

 

The Wells Fargo bonus I don't think he's got right. I always calculate a SUB with the base earning rate factored out. This is particularly important when the bonus is advertised as a dollar spent bonus. So the WF Visa Signature with a x5 gas, groceries and drug store bonus has to be thought of as a x4 above the base rate of x1. Then its potential 50,000 point bonus (kind of difficult though) and the assumption should be you'll be redeeming it on a 1.5 rate not the 1.75 which requires 50,000 spend. That means the bonus is realistically worth $750 dollars.

Official travel point totals as of 12/26/23 (1,382,693 Total Points)
Chase Ultimate Rewards 661,525 | IHG One Rewards 144,443 | Hilton Honors 143,801 | AMEX Membership Rewards 102,729 | World of Hyatt 90,413 | Marriott Bonvoy 65,343 | Citi Thank You 62,712 | Wells Fargo Rewards 33,652 | Southwest Rapid Rewards 28,105 | United MileagePlus 13,316 | British Airways Avios 12,333 | Jet Blue TrueBlue 11,661 | NASA Platinum Rewards 1,883 | AA Advantage 1,744 | Navy Federal Rewards 792 | Delta Sky Miles 175 | Virgin Atlantic Virgin Points 100 | Lowes Business Rewards 6,992 ($69.92) | Amazon Rewards 475 ($4.75) | Discover CB 499 ($4.99)
Message 23 of 79
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Which credit cards are the best?


@HighGoals wrote:
Who cards would you say are the best?
Best for travel and best for cash back?
To broad a question for a simple answer.
 
Just using cashback setup for example a lot of people recommend the blue cash preferred card for it's 6% cashback on groceries.  However, for me the majority of my grocery spend is at Sam's Club which is a wholesale club and doesn't code as a grocery store.  I only spend around $500 a year maybe up to $600 a year at actual grocery stores so having a $95 annual fee credit card to get 6% cashback on $500 is only going to net me $30 meaning I'm losing $65 a year just having the BCP.  Now if I did all my grocery shopping at grocery stores than the BCP might make sense but for me it doesn't.
 
 
 
Using another cashback card example my favorite credit card is my Sam's Club mastercard for it's 5% cashback.  Because anytime I go into Rutters, Sheetz, Turkey Hill, Royal Farms or the local convience store up the road from me that sells gas I get 5% cashback on everything in the store not just gas.  For example I buy a giant 1.5 Liter water bottle everyweek and get 5% cashback on that, and the late night food I get once a week from Rutters or Sheetz I order before filling up my car so it's done by the time I walk back into the store giving me 5% cashback on the gas and 5% cashback on the food.  Then their is the gift card option of purchasing gift cards and getting 5% cashback on them in gas stations.  
 
Now I love my Sam's Club mastercard but for someone who never shops at Sam's Club and lives in a city and uses nothing but public transit the Sam's Club credit card is going to be worthless to them.  It's not just what are the best cashback credit cards for each category but also what do you personally spend money on?  
Message 24 of 79
longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: Which credit cards are the best?


@Citylights18 wrote:

Relevant to the discussion an article comparing Wells Fargo duo against the Chase Trifecta.

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/critical-points-wells-fargo-duo-better-than-csr/

 

The Wells Fargo bonus I don't think he's got right. I always calculate a SUB with the base earning rate factored out. This is particularly important when the bonus is advertised as a dollar spent bonus. So the WF Visa Signature with a x5 gas, groceries and drug store bonus has to be thought of as a x4 above the base rate of x1. Then its potential 50,000 point bonus (kind of difficult though) and the assumption should be you'll be redeeming it on a 1.5 rate not the 1.75 which requires 50,000 spend. That means the bonus is realistically worth $750 dollars.


Yes.    While I think the argument has a lot of merit and have pushed it here for those that don't want to deal with transfers, two paragraphs are very odd:

"The current Sapphire Reserve sign-up bonus of 50,000 points is worth $750 when redeemed through the Chase portal (potentially more when the points are transferred, but we’ll get to that in a moment). On the other hand, if you maximize the $12,500 in 5x spend for the Visa Signature card, it’s worth between $937.50 and $1,093.75 depending on whether you spend $50,000 on the card or not. Add in the Propel Amex’s 30,000 point welcome bonus and that’s another $450-$525, for a total potential value of $1,618.75 from the sign up bonuses compared to $750."

 

This is hardly apples-to-apples, as is it talking about different levels of spend.   Even taking 937.50+450, this takes 12,500 (on the 5x) items + $3000 on the propel, so $15,500 vs $4000 for the CSR.   And as for spending $50K on Visa Sig, this makes points 1.75, still below the 2c you would get on a 2% card, so you would need a big bank of points from Propel to justify doing this after the initial year.

 

Second:

Second, the flights that cost me $0 out of pocket will earn elite qualifying and redeemable miles, making the points even more valuable. This is the same as when redeeming CSR points for flights, but Go Far Rewards are better in this circumstance because they take the stress out of deciding whether to transfer or not, as I don’t feel like I missed out on outsized potential value when I redeemed them for paid travel.

 

So lack of choice is good!   So why not use a non-reward earning card, even a debit card or cash, so you don't have to worry about whether to redeem for travel or something else

Message 25 of 79
wasCB14
Super Contributor

Re: Which credit cards are the best?

Keep in mind TPG is a major division of Red Ventures, a marketing company with thousands of employees. It makes a lot of money from ads and referrals. It has little incentive to say something bad about a current or potential advertiser.

 

Yet many people treat it as the full and frank opinion of a few bloggers with no conflict of interest.

Personal spend: Amex Gold, Amex Schwab Plat., BofA PR+CCR(x2), Costco
Business use: Amex Bus. Plat., BBP, Lowes Amex AU, CFU AU
Perks: Delta Plat., United Explorer, IHG49, Hyatt, "Old SPG"
Mostly SD: Freedom Flex, Freedom, Arrival
Upgrade/Downgrade games: ED, BCE
SUB chasing: AA Platinum Select
Message 26 of 79
AverageJoesCredit
Legendary Contributor

Re: Which credit cards are the best?

BEST Buy 💳 😏
Message 27 of 79
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Which credit cards are the best?


@HighGoals wrote:
Who cards would you say are the best?
Best for travel and best for cash back?

The best credit cards are the ones that fit your spending and lifestyle. Smiley Very Happy

Message 28 of 79
kerplunk
Frequent Contributor

Re: Which credit cards are the best?

Everyone focuses on SUBs, but it would be nice if we had a list of the best cards to keep long-term.

 

For cash back, is there a better combo than Navy Federal More Rewards + Flagship Rewards?

Message 29 of 79
longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: Which credit cards are the best?


@kerplunk wrote:

Everyone focuses on SUBs, but it would be nice if we had a list of the best cards to keep long-term.

 

For cash back, is there a better combo than Navy Federal More Rewards + Flagship Rewards?


In such a dynamic market, I don't think long-term makes much sense.   Plus, what is the metric, to maximize cash back?   In that case, going for SUBs is much better!

Message 30 of 79
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