Cash Cards Better Than Travel-Even for Travelers

[Anonymous]

Good article. Makes me rethink getting a travel card.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/cash-back-vs-travel-rewards-credit-cards-study/?utm_con...

[BronzeTrader]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Good article. Makes me rethink getting a travel card.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/cash-back-vs-travel-rewards-credit-cards-study/?utm_content=button3&utm_source=Nerdwallet+Master&utm_campaign=4f41cac14c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_03_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6973161c7a-4f41cac14c-325742753

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They are all good for the specific purposes. I have all kinds and only use the ones I feel like to.

No one type of cards better than other type. IMO.

[redpat]

Travel cards will always give you a better redemption rate than cashback cards.  CCC buy travel in bulk and get discounts from vendors.  You can't discount cash.

[Anonymous]

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@redpat wrote:

Travel cards will always give you a better redemption rate than cashback cards.  CCC buy travel in bulk and get discounts from vendors.  You can't discount cash.

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Yeah I feel like everyone's situation is so fluid and dynamic that blanket statements about card X always being the best don't fit.

For people who travel regularly, travel cards are unquestionably better than the available no-FTF cashback cards, but if you're somewhere in the middle between a frequent traveler and a seldom-gets-out-of-town type... you'd really need to do the math for your own situation to figure out what makes financial sense.

[Anonymous]

Better redemption rates and much needed perks with Travel cards, especially for overseas.

[yfan]

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@redpat wrote:

Travel cards will always give you a better redemption rate than cashback cards.  CCC buy travel in bulk and get discounts from vendors.  You can't discount cash.

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Of course you can. In fact, the vast majority of discounts available to consumers are cash discounts. Travel is no different. Lots of travel discounts are available through discount travel sites like Travelzoo and even Groupon. Other places like OTAs and even hotels and airlines themselves have discount sales from time to time that's only available if you are paying cash and not redeeming an award. Just as you may be able to get a room that usually goes for $200 with 15,000 points, there might also be a cash sale that makes that room available for $98.

[longtimelurker]

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@yfan wrote:

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@redpat wrote:

Travel cards will always give you a better redemption rate than cashback cards.  CCC buy travel in bulk and get discounts from vendors.  You can't discount cash.

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Of course you can. In fact, the vast majority of discounts available to consumers are cash discounts. Travel is no different. Lots of travel discounts are available through discount travel sites like Travelzoo and even Groupon. Other places like OTAs and even hotels and airlines themselves have discount sales from time to time that's only available if you are paying cash and not redeeming an award. Just as you may be able to get a room that usually goes for $200 with 15,000 points, there might also be a cash sale that makes that room available for $98.

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As I suspect you know, that's not what redpat meant by the bolded statement.   The issuer can get, say AA miles at a big discount, but can't get the cash needed to pay 2% cashback at a discount.  But yes, once the customer gets the reward, different possibilities exist.

[yfan]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

As I suspect you know, that's not what redpat meant by the bolded statement.   The issuer can get, say AA miles at a big discount, but can't get the cash needed to pay 2% cashback at a discount.  But yes, once the customer gets the reward, different possibilities exist.

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Actually, no, I did not think at all that redpat was talking about the discount that the issuer is able to get rather than the consumer, especially since the statement at the beginning of the post appeared to say that the consumer always gets better value with travel points.

[Anonymous]

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@yfan wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

As I suspect you know, that's not what redpat meant by the bolded statement.   The issuer can get, say AA miles at a big discount, but can't get the cash needed to pay 2% cashback at a discount.  But yes, once the customer gets the reward, different possibilities exist.

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Actually, no, I did not think at all that redpat was talking about the discount that the issuer is able to get rather than the consumer, especially since the statement at the beginning of the post appeared to say that the consumer always gets better value with travel points.

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as I understood it we are talking about different types of credit cards here, not comparing paying with paper money VS paying with credit cards...

[redpat]

I was talking about the issuer not the consumer.