Which credit cards are the best?

[kerplunk]

My current cash back strategy:

• Navy Federal More Rewards: 3% on restaurants, supermarkets, gas, transit
• Chase Freedom: 5% on rotating categories
• Discover it: 5% on rotating categories
• U.S. Bank Cash+: 5% on cell phone service
• Citi Double Cash: 2% on everything else

No annual fees, but I will probably replace Double Cash with Navy Federal's Flagship Rewards because Citi stripped all of the benefits/protections. Also, Citi Double Cash is the only card I have ever had issues with the chip malfunctioning. Lastly, Citi had a nationwide outage one Saturday in 2019 when I tried to buy $7000 in appliances and my card was denied. I called customer support and no one answered. Again, that's never happened to any of my other cards ever.

[Anonymous]

Based on recent threads here:

CNB crystal visa before the nerf
Apple card to seem cool
Not Chase CSR because change is bad and 550 is too much for an annual fee
Maybe Amex Platinum to seem cool or because Rakuten and Saks and because 550 is totally fine for an annual fee
No fee cashback cards only
No wait, Chase CSR is good
Ritz Carlton Visa
Not a cobranded airline card
US Bank Altitude Reserve if you know how to use mobile pay
Credit One Nascar Preferred due to exclusivity

[Anonymous]

I am on my desktop now so I can actually type out my full strategy.

1. Amazon Prime Store Card - 5% on all Amazon purchases. When I got this card, the vast majority of my spending was on Amazon so it made sense. I haven't used one yet but the deferred interest offers will come in real handy when I want to make a larger purchase since I have low income and can't pay purchases >$500 in full each month.
2. BBVA ClearPoints - 3% on cable and cell phone bills. I don't pay utilities where I live since I pay the internet bill. My phone and cable internet bills come to ~$215 a month so this adds up to a nice chunk of change for me. They also do targeted offers all the time. I don't have another card that sends me offers even half as often and they're for categories that are actually useful like 4X bonus points on groceries (all BBVA offers stack with whatever cash back you are earning in that category so if it was your grocery card, you would actually earn the base 3X and an additional 4X).
3. AMEX Blue Cash Preferred - Groceries actually aren't a big category for me, usually coming in under $160 a month, but they gave me $300 to get the card so I'm up $205 without breaking even on the AF. I'll downgrade it to BCE next year since I actually do all of my shopping at a supermarket. 
4. Target REDcard - 5% at Target. This one honestly kind of surprises me with how useful it actually is. A lot of things are priced better than Amazon and things are packaged better. Like when I ordered cleaning supplies and food in the same order, the cleaning supplies were on the other side of the box in their own bags that were tied off to make sure my food didn't get contaminated. This one will probably be a keeper card.
5. Discover It Miles - I had a referral for $100 for getting this one and I'm in the first year of cash back match which equals 3% on every purchase. Not really a long term keeper card though.
6. Capital One SavorOne - 3% on dining and entertainment. I got this one because I'm working on my anxiety and I want to get to a point where I can leave the house and go see a movie and since our theater is an Alamo Drafthouse, the SavorOne would get me dinner too. I like Capital One so this one will likely be a keeper card for me. 

I am trying to decide which of my cards is going to be a keeper after my Discover Miles match is up... PayPal, QuickSilver, and cashRewards are the three I have and I'm leaning towards just alternating between QS and CR and dropping PayPal. I have about 8 months to figure it out though.

B&H Payboo would actually be a really useful card for me if I had the income to be able to make large electronics purchases and pay them off right away. Being able to not be charged the 7.25% Amazon charges me for taxes can make B&H a lot cheaper for me. Unfortunately since I got it in June, I've bought one thing with it - a PS4 Pro bundle. 

Finally, I keep my Cash Magnet because of AMEX offers and I let my roommates have AU accounts on it since I can set a spending limit I'm comfortable with for each of them. 

The rest of my cards in my signature don't have any specific value for me currently except the CU cards and WS (if they actually increase my credit limit and send me BT offers) and I could honestly close them without being bothered much other than the loss of the limits themselves.

Cash+ is on my radar for that extra 2% on cable and cell but otherwise I'm pretty well optimized.

[KJinNC]

I shop a lot on Amazon, and mostly use the Amazon Store Card (5%) for that.

I normally use Amex Gold (4 MRs/dollar) for restaurants and grocery.

I use Coastal (3%) for gas. Either Sam's Club, or Shell, because I have Shell's free loyalty card that gives 5 cents off per gallon and it stacks with Coastal.

Discover is rotating 5% categories and it matches cash back for the first year, so, whatever category is "on" that quarter, I tend to . use Discover. In Q4, I used it for Amazon. In Q1, I am using it for groceries.

PayPal MC (2%) is my "catch-all" card if I don't have a better card to use for something.

Amex Delta is for free checked bags on Delta, pretty much.

I use Amex Aspire mainly to actually pay for rooms at Hiltons when I travel. Though its reward on restaurants is also pretty good if you want to accumulate HHonors points.

I recently got Amex Platinum and plan to use it mainly for travel perks. I used it to pay for a Global Entry application. I think I physically receive the card today. I will temporarily use it for nearly everything to get my SUB. After that, it's primarily for lounges, hotel status and rental car status.

And then, there's the Apple Card (3% at Apple, 2% when used with Apple Pay, 1% when using the physical card). I only got it because it was a SP approval, and I halfway regret getting it. But I use it occasionally with Apple Pay, when I would otherwise use the PPMC.

The last card I want is Ducks Unlimited, which will render my Coastal card useless with its 5% on gas. It is also 5% on sporting goods. Beyond that, there are no big gaps to fill. I will probably downgrade the Hilton Aspire since the Platinum now provides some of the same perks. I would get a $50 annual statement credit on Blue Cash Preferred and have thought about doing that for the streaming service discount, though I don't think the math is favorable for just that use. I've thought about getting a Citi AAdvantage card in case I want to fly on American Airlines. If I decide to simplify and reduce annual fees, I may be interested in CSP after Sept. 2021 when I am below 5/24. I also might get the Chase 5% rotating card to pair with Discover.

[iced]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@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?

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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!

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This may be true for people interested only in cashback, though I also think that creditors are going to start clamping down on SUB abuse and churning soon enough, closing the door on SUB-based long-term strategies.

For points/miles people, any sustainable strategy almost has to be long term as there just aren't enough different cards in each point ecosystem to sustain a single program through churning SUBs. While cash back is cash back regardless of source, diluting your point/mile accumulation across multiple ecosystems is a hindrance. You also have tighter control on SUBs in the points market as they're a bit further ahead on killing churning than the cashback side is.

[Anonymous]

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@iced wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@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!

---

This may be true for people interested only in cashback, though I also think that creditors are going to start clamping down on SUB abuse and churning soon enough, closing the door on SUB-based long-term strategies.

For points/miles people, any sustainable strategy almost has to be long term as there just aren't enough different cards in each point ecosystem to sustain a single program through churning SUBs. While cash back is cash back regardless of source, diluting your point/mile accumulation across multiple ecosystems is a hindrance. You also have tighter control on SUBs in the points market as they're a bit further ahead on killing churning than the cashback side is.

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Keeping cards for the long term and getting good use out of them is the best strategy, in my opinion. If a card is really great, I'd take it even without a SUB. In the long term, you can accumulate a lot of rewards because the card fits your spending. Plus you build a nice AAoA with this strategy.

[kerplunk]

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@KJinNC wrote:

I shop a lot on Amazon, and mostly use the Amazon Store Card (5%) for that.

I normally use Amex Gold (4 MRs/dollar) for restaurants and grocery.

I use Coastal (3%) for gas. Either Sam's Club, or Shell, because I have Shell's free loyalty card that gives 5 cents off per gallon and it stacks with Coastal.

Discover is rotating 5% categories and it matches cash back for the first year, so, whatever category is "on" that quarter, I tend to . use Discover. In Q4, I used it for Amazon. In Q1, I am using it for groceries.

PayPal MC (2%) is my "catch-all" card if I don't have a better card to use for something.

Amex Delta is for free checked bags on Delta, pretty much.

I use Amex Aspire mainly to actually pay for rooms at Hiltons when I travel. Though its reward on restaurants is also pretty good if you want to accumulate HHonors points.

I recently got Amex Platinum and plan to use it mainly for travel perks. I used it to pay for a Global Entry application. I think I physically receive the card today. I will temporarily use it for nearly everything to get my SUB. After that, it's primarily for lounges, hotel status and rental car status.

And then, there's the Apple Card (3% at Apple, 2% when used with Apple Pay, 1% when using the physical card). I only got it because it was a SP approval, and I halfway regret getting it. But I use it occasionally with Apple Pay, when I would otherwise use the PPMC.

The last card I want is Ducks Unlimited, which will render my Coastal card useless with its 5% on gas. It is also 5% on sporting goods. Beyond that, there are no big gaps to fill. I will probably downgrade the Hilton Aspire since the Platinum now provides some of the same perks. I would get a $50 annual statement credit on Blue Cash Preferred and have thought about doing that for the streaming service discount, though I don't think the math is favorable for just that use. I've thought about getting a Citi AAdvantage card in case I want to fly on American Airlines. If I decide to simplify and reduce annual fees, I may be interested in CSP after Sept. 2021 when I am below 5/24. I also might get the Chase 5% rotating card to pair with Discover.

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That Delta Gold AmEx card is a no-brainer if you fly Delta more than once a year (or are traveling with others) and check a bag. Nice!

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@iced wrote:

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

@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!

---

This may be true for people interested only in cashback, though I also think that creditors are going to start clamping down on SUB abuse and churning soon enough, closing the door on SUB-based long-term strategies.

For points/miles people, any sustainable strategy almost has to be long term as there just aren't enough different cards in each point ecosystem to sustain a single program through churning SUBs. While cash back is cash back regardless of source, diluting your point/mile accumulation across multiple ecosystems is a hindrance. You also have tighter control on SUBs in the points market as they're a bit further ahead on killing churning than the cashback side is.

---

Keeping cards for the long term and getting good use out of them is the best strategy, in my opinion. If a card is really great, I'd take it even without a SUB. In the long term, you can accumulate a lot of rewards because the card fits your spending. Plus you build a nice AAoA with this strategy.

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In an ideal world, I agree.   But this ignores nerfing (including AF increase) plus other better cards that come along.  A great card (such as the uncapped BCP, Cash+ etc) didn't need a SUB since the earning was so great, but of course that went away.    If a good card (for your spend and goals) stays good, that's great.  I argue more against the mindset that there are keep-forever cards, as I think that stops people revaluating as often as they should.

[longtimelurker]

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@iced wrote:

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

@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!

---

This may be true for people interested only in cashback, though I also think that creditors are going to start clamping down on SUB abuse and churning soon enough, closing the door on SUB-based long-term strategies.

For points/miles people, any sustainable strategy almost has to be long term as there just aren't enough different cards in each point ecosystem to sustain a single program through churning SUBs. While cash back is cash back regardless of source, diluting your point/mile accumulation across multiple ecosystems is a hindrance. You also have tighter control on SUBs in the points market as they're a bit further ahead on killing churning than the cashback side is.

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I agree, but still, when things change enough, so do long-term strategies.   We've seen fairly dedicated UR people here switch, or at least strongly consider, a switch to MR, basically upending their chosen eco system.   When partners disappear, or things devalue enough, or a competitor gets much stronger, long-term cards can get dropped very suddenly!

[iced]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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I agree, but still, when things change enough, so do long-term strategies.   We've seen fairly dedicated UR people here switch, or at least strongly consider, a switch to MR, basically upending their chosen eco system.   When partners disappear, or things devalue enough, or a competitor gets much stronger, long-term cards can get dropped very suddenly!

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People who let their travel be dictated by their cards will probably switch ecosystems in a significant nerfing. People who let their travel dictate their cards, not so much. A career United flyer isn't going to jump ship to Delta and MR just because of DoorDash or a $100 AF increase, just as career Delta flyers stuck with American Express even before their recent boosts. Partner changes can affect that, but those are fairly unusual.

Could someone re-evaluate every 5-10 years? Sure, but that's a far cry from the world of the LOL/24's around here who don't stay anywhere much longer than a year.