Who's reward program is the best?

[Anonymous]

Reward credit cards are obivously growing, but with all of the many different options, how do we know which one is the best? 

I only have two reward cards, Discover it & AMEX BCE, & of course my favorite of the two is Discover. 

I went on my AMEX reward page today & looked through the catalog & I was blown away by their prices. I honestly wonder if people order from their catalog & what possesses them to do so. For example, I saw a well known MP3 Player (no names) that is $49 on the manufacturer's webiste & also at most of the stores it's sold at, YET American Express has it for $66 in 'reward money'. That's just outrageous to me, like what's the point? Also all of their gift cards are offered at face value meaning that a $100 gift card to a particular place costs $100 in 'reward money'. I honestly just find it amusing. 

Discover on the other hand, lets you use your reward money at Amazon which we all know can have many products at DISCOUNTED prices (the total opposite of Amex's catalog). They also offer gift cards for less than the actual value. For example, you can get a $25 gift card for $20 in 'reward money' or even a $50 gift card for $25/$30. Makes me wonder if Amex is run by older conservatives (please no politic comments lol). 

Amex also only lets you redeem cash back as a statement credit once it reaches $25 (not sure if it's $25 increments or not). This is dumb to me because I have a cash back balance that I can't touch because they want me to spend more money. I'm currently at a whopping $5 in rewards. I know what you're thinking & NO I won't cash out on something expensive or fancy, I promise 

Discover on the other OTHER hand, lets me redeem my cash back as a credit or direct deposit at ANY amount & with how easy it is to rack up on cash back with the rotating categories, DIscover Deals, etc., that's pretty darn sweet. Yes I know that they only recently changed it from being the "$25 threshold" policy, but the important thing is that they DID change it. I honestly redeem a credit every statement to reduce my balance before I PIF. 

Comparing the two made me wonder if someone looks at Discover the way I look at my Amex. I'm pretty sure there are other cards that have a better rewards system than Discover, well not too sure lol, but I just want to know how your rewards compare to everyone else's. 

If you have a points based reward system, can you try to convert it to cash. Like 10,000points=100dollars therefore a product for 250,000points=2500dollars. If not that's okay too.

[Anonymous]

It depends on what you like, I suppose, but I do agree that Discover gives some of the better redemptions with the reduced gift cards and statement credits / bank transfers at a penny or more.  

A lot of companies offer direct redemption at Amazon (Discover CashBack OR Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thank You Points and AMEX Membership Rewards Points) but then the question is whether it's better to redeem as Amazon credit or redeem as a statement credit and then buying the item at Amazon to get more cash back, heh.

[elim]

I just use my cash back cards for statement credit (i have been paying more attention to travel rewards)

kudos for investigating the best way to use rewards    :]     if you use them, you may as well get the best results!

[Anonymous]

Best is very subjective. How you spend your money makes a big difference. Is a citi 2 percent cb card better than a 1 percent with 5 percent rotating catagories? It could be, or it could be very weak. Is sallie maes 5 percent gas groceries and amazon better than anything else? Depends. My gas spend is non existant, my grocery spend doesnt come at a store coded as grocery (except limited purchases) and amazon and i rarely do business. I prefer to bank my rewards anyway so redemption levels dont matter much (i have almost half of my discovers credit line in rewards heh). There are a few people around here with some awesome charts about what cards are best for levels of spend  by merchant type which is helpful as heck.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Best is very subjective. How you spend your money makes a big difference. Is a citi 2 percent cb card better than a 1 percent with 5 percent rotating catagories? It could be, or it could be very weak. Is sallie maes 5 percent gas groceries and amazon better than anything else? Depends. My gas spend is non existant, my grocery spend doesnt come at a store coded as grocery (except limited purchases) and amazon and i rarely do business. I prefer to bank my rewards anyway so redemption levels dont matter much (i have almost half of my discovers credit line in rewards heh). There are a few people around here with some awesome charts about what cards are best for levels of spend  by merchant type which is helpful as heck.

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Right, this is really "What is the best credit card" question, which  as usual depends on goals and spending.   So if first class international travel is your goal, you almost certainly need a program with transferable miles, cashback (or psuedo-cashback like Arrival/Venture) isn't going to get you there.   If you want a discount on groceries or gas, you want one of a number of cashback cards.

Re Amex catalog:  as a good general rule: NEVER choose redemptions for goods (apart from maybe gift cards).  As you found out, you are getting a price from just one merchant, whereas shopping around is likely to give you better prices, newer models, or both.   Just take statement credit, or cash if that is available at the same rate, and buy from the place with a good price.

And be careful using some systems on Amazon.  Citi TYP and Amex MR give a very poor rate of exchange when you do this

[kdm31091]

As always depends on goals and interests as to which is the best. I like Discover. The gift cards are reduced in price so you get more for your reward buck, and they have no more restrictions on redemption so you redeem any amount you want. Simple and hassle free.

Also like Quicksilver's reward simplicity and redemptions. Haven't really perused their gift card selection though.

But I'm a cash back type of guy and these are just the best to me. For others, they may not be exciting

[Imperfectfuture]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It depends on what you like, I suppose, but I do agree that Discover gives some of the better redemptions with the reduced gift cards and statement credits / bank transfers at a penny or more.  

A lot of companies offer direct redemption at Amazon (Discover CashBack OR Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thank You Points and AMEX Membership Rewards Points) but then the question is whether it's better to redeem as Amazon credit or redeem as a statement credit and then buying the item at Amazon to get more cash back, heh.

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This.  Better to buy and take statement credit, or travel redemption, and buy again.  Get full value that way, as opposed to partial value by using points for purchases.  Personally don't purchase gift cards via cc portals, get better value as statement credit, but I don't have discover yet.

[takeshi74]

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@JayMari28 wrote:

Reward credit cards are obivously growing, but with all of the many different options, how do we know which one is the best? 

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It's not a matter of the program itself but how the program suits you.  Best is always highly subjective, regardless of topic.  You know by running the numbers (accounting for your spend, etc) and comparing and factoring things like your preferences and other criteria specific to you that would weigh in on the decision.

If one program was universally best then we'd all use it and you wouldn't even need to ask.

There isn't one that best suits me on its own which is why I have the number of cards that I have.  I tend to focus on UR but the main reason for that is that I live in a United hub city and nearly all my air travel is on United.  That reason may not be relevant to the next person.  I also have several cash back cards as my UR cards do not provide maximum rewards on all spend categories.

Some aren't willing to deal with a number of cards and a simple cash back card at 1.5% or 2% may be best suited to them.

Like all the prior "best credit card" threads this one isn't going to reach a single conclusion that applies to all.

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@JayMari28 wrote:

I honestly wonder if people order from their catalog & what possesses them to do so.

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Of course they do.  Everyone does not carefully shop and compare.

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@JayMari28 wrote:

Discover on the other hand, lets you use your reward money at Amazon which we all know can have many products at DISCOUNTED prices (the total opposite of Amex's catalog).

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It's really no better to assume that Amazon is cheaper IMO.  You always have to shop around.  Amazon is generally cheaper in my experience but that's not always the case.

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@JayMari28 wrote:

Amex also only lets you redeem cash back as a statement credit once it reaches $25 (not sure if it's $25 increments or not). This is dumb to me because I have a cash back balance that I can't touch because they want me to spend more money.

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Again, you have to decide using your preferences and priorities.  That may be an issue for you but I and plenty of others find AmEx's cash back cards useful.  You can't determine a universal best relying on any one person's subjective criteria.  Best is only really meaningful in the context of the individual or with specific criteria.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I'm not asking literally which one is the best out of every card, I OBVIOUSLY know that it depends on your personal preferences. I'm asking to explain the rewards programs you have, as in the type of redemption values/options that your card has & which one YOU think is the best out of the ones you have. 

So if you care to explain your situation feel free to do so, but if your comment is to simply say "my favorite might not be yours" then just don't comment cause that's not the intent of my post. I just want to know how ALL of the rewards programs work & get the various opinions of card holders without having to search individual cards & programs.

[Anonymous]

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@elim wrote:

I just use my cash back cards for statement credit (i have been paying more attention to travel rewards)

kudos for investigating the best way to use rewards    :]     if you use them, you may as well get the best results!

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Thank you for getting the purpose of my post lol but yeah, my little "investigation" makes me want to only use my Discover cause I feel that it'll give me my money's worth.