solid 5 card base recomandations ?

[Anonymous]

For the average Joe or Josephine what would be the best all around cards to have in your wallet for a sound well rewarding base  ? and Go ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Anonymous]

LMAO that's pretty broad.  I suggest a mix of different banks but, CU's to get 1 or 2 low APR options in case you run into needing to carry a balance.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

LMAO that's pretty broad.  I suggest a mix of different banks but, CU's to get 1 or 2 low APR options in case you run into needing to carry a balance.

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see your brush paints a broad stroke ,, good advice lol

[AverageJoesCredit]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For the average Joe or Josephine what would be the best all around cards to have in your wallet for a sound well rewarding base  ? and Go ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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YOU RANG?

Discover It, Discover Chrome, Penfed Promise Penfed Powercash and Chase AARP

[AverageJoesCredit]

Ok , anyone who knows me will understand above reply lol.

On the real real, or is it nu nu? In my humble opinion, if you need 5 real well balanced cards for us average ones, id say a good 2% everyday card, ie Citi Dc or PayPal 2%, a good low apr card perhaps from a CU, like mt Langley Select Visa, a good BT card that always has offers like my Boa BBR, a Discover card, your choice on type, as they are excellent for rotating cats , low apr promos, and bt offers, and to round it out an Amex card that fits your spend. By having an Amex you open yourself up to future personsl loan opportunities that are nice to have when no one else would offer.

[VanderSnoot]

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@Anonymous wrote:

LMAO that's pretty broad.  I suggest a mix of different banks but, CU's to get 1 or 2 low APR options in case you run into needing to carry a balance.

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Spot-on. I'd add to focus on Visa/MC over Amex/Disco for versatility in the US and abroad. I've run into a couple of situations where they didn't take Amex and was happy to have a Visa on hand.

More specifically, I'd say that the flat rate card is clutch, as AJC said. Without an AF, 2% is about the highest you can get (e.g. Citi CB Visa, Alliant CU, many others). Folks angling to maximize cash back often only hit 3.0%-3.3%, so you can capture 60-67% of that benefit with one card (versus their 8-12 cards).

After that, analyse your spend to figure out what will help you the most - categories (e.g. dining, groceries, travel) or store-specific (Amazon, Hilton, American Airlines). If travel is a large expense, look in to rewards points instead of cash back. Last, you'll have to figure out if upgrading to AF cards is worth it over the no-AF cards.

[Anonymous]

I'll try my hand at this even though I'm pretty new...someone can chime in and tell me how I did!
I'd say: Discover it (5% back on rotating categories), Uber Visa (4% back on food, 3% on travel), AMEX BCP (if you don't mind AF) or BCE (if you do) for 6% or 3% back on grocery, Ducks Unlimited (5% back on gas), and Amazon Chase for 5% back on Amazon.

That would cover pretty much all of my daily spend. Instead of the Amazon card if you want something more broad you could get a BofA Cash Rewards and choose your 3% back category as Online Purchases (which works on Amazon too).

[wasCB14]

I interpret "average" to mean:

Cash back, not miles

Low to moderate AFs

Little travel

Annual household CC spend of maybe $20k

Financial assets plus retirement under $100k (no BofA PH)

Along those lines, most suggestions here are reasonable. I'd throw in the Costco Visa as a possibility if you'd shop there.

At that spend/travel level, 3-4 cards might be plenty. Or is my idea of your "average" spend off in some way?

[Anonymous]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Ok , anyone who knows me will understand above reply lol.

On the real real, or is it nu nu? In my humble opinion, if you need 5 real well balanced cards for us average ones, id say a good 2% everyday card, ie Citi Dc or PayPal 2%, a good low apr card perhaps from a CU, like mt Langley Select Visa, a good BT card that always has offers like my Boa BBR, a Discover card, your choice on type, as they are excellent for rotating cats , low apr promos, and bt offers, and to round it out an Amex card that fits your spend. By having an Amex you open yourself up to future personsl loan opportunities that are nice to have when no one else would offer.

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well said ! solid info.. tnx

[Shooting-For-800]

     Low APR Credit Union Card (Penfed, NFCU)

     Amex Prefered Cash (6% groceries)

     Ducks Unlimited (5% gas and 5% sporting goods)

     Uber (4% dining, 3% travel, 2% online, cell insurance, etc.)

     Discover (10% first year, 5% after rotating categories)

Only one card (Amex) has a fee but it also has decent SUB

If you wanted to add one more card...

     Savor (4% entertainment, 4% dining, No FTF, WEMC, etc.)

     Savor has fee but also has nice SUB.

I think those are great cards overall for the average joe. 

You get many categories, Amex, Visa, MC, and Discover.