# Credit Cards and Rewards/Miles, help needed.



## Ulrike (Jan 16, 2010)

I have been wanting to try and utilize a credit card to my advantage. So far we have never done this. We fly frequently (approx 8 RT flights coast to coast in a year). We spend quite a bit of money each month, usually just with our Debit Cards. If we use credit cards we try to not pay any interest, and only use them for large purchases.

I am thinking about maybe getting a credit card that I would use on most ALL my purchases and then pay it off, not just at the end of the month, but when I got home from the store, pay it online, just so I wouldn't get stuck with a bill at the end of the month that might accumulate.
My fear is that I might have the card accumulate and I end up paying more than I normally would have for things, due to interest,late charges, etc. 
I would use it for grocery stores and anything that came up, just so I could accumulate some freebies. For example I just made a $600.00 purchase on a new dishwasher and thought maybe I should be using a card for this. We go on trips and spend $2,000-3,000 and I am thinking surely some credit card out there could reward me for this?

Anyone have any advise for me or any experience with one card or another that that has been exceptionally rewarding for them.

I'd really appreciate some help. If you have to you may message me, if it breaks specific rules about names of cards?
Thanks

thanks


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## DeniseM (Jan 16, 2010)

Hi and Welcome to TUG! 

We use the Starwood AMEX and the Hawaiian Air Visa for nearly every dollar we spend and pay them off every month.  So it works just like a debit card and we never pay any interest. There is a modest yearly fee ($40-$50.)  When you sign up, you can usually get an incentive of 20K points, or more.  You and your spouse can apply for and get separate accounts to double the incentives.

The Starwood AMEX earns 1 miles per dollar spent and you can transfer the points to most airlines.  The conversion rate is 20K points:25K miles for most airlines, so you actually earn 1.25 miles per point.

We use the Hawaiian Air VISA for any merchant that doesn't take the AMEX - maybe 20% of the time.  We go to Hawaii every year, so that's out back up card.  We transfer most of our AMEX points to Hawaiian Airline miles.

Recently we got a Chase British Airways card.  We didn't need another card, but this was the best signing incentive I have ever seen.  We each got 50K miles for signing up and another 50K miles for charging $2,000 the first 3 mos.  We got our cards Nov. 19th and we both already have the 100K miles in our Accts.  These miles can also be used for BA's partners for flights in the US and other places, as well as with BA.  I don't know if that deal is still available, but here's the info.


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## Pat H (Jan 16, 2010)

Please tell me that you have been accumulating frequent flier miles for all those flights. Do you have an airline that you fly/prefer to fly most of the time? If so, then I would get the credit card for that airline plus the Starwood Amex. If you don't have a frequent flyer # with the airline you prefer and a Starwood Guest # sign up online. You will then start to get offers for the credit cards. Some of them are very lucrative. 

The one airline that doesn't work well with SPG AMEX is United. Instead of getting 1 mile for each point you only get half and no 5,000 mile bonus.


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## NWL (Jan 16, 2010)

If you are looking to earn just airline miles, I would suggest you get the credit card associated with the airline you use the most.  

We use our card to pay for everything and pay it off in full every month.  No debit cards here!  The points/miles really add up.  Don't worry about accruing interest on your card.  Since you will pay online, just make sure you schedule your payment before the due date.  Many card companies allow you to set up Autopay.  Pick a date, and it will get paid on that date every month.

Cheers!


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## Dori (Jan 16, 2010)

I wish I could get a Southwest cc., but it is not available to Canadians.   You get a nice sign-on bonus.

Dori


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## Rose Pink (Jan 16, 2010)

pointsjunkie can give you lots of information on collecting points from various credit cards and other sources.  You can contact her by clicking on the "users list" located near the center of the darker blue bar just below the larger TUG BBS bar.  Find her user name and then you can pm her.


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## LisaRex (Jan 17, 2010)

NWL said:


> If you are looking to earn just airline miles, I would suggest you get the credit card associated with the airline you use the most.



Seconded.

Most airline branded cards give you double miles for purchasing tickets on that credit card.  So, if you routinely fly United, get a United Premier Visa.  If you routinely fly Southwest, get the Southwest Visa. 

Before you do sign up for the card, go to that airline's folder on FlyerTalk.com and search for the thread devoted to that credit card.  Or start a new folder that says, "I'm new and want to get a United branded credit card. What is the best bonus mile promo out there?" Give them a brief synopsis of your travel patterns (e.g. we fly cross country 8 times a year -- my primary wish list item is: free upgrades to first class/free seats in coach/free trips to Cancun, which is where we own a timeshare) and they'll help steer you in the right direction.  Warning: most cards offer first year free, but a lot of the really meaty cards charge over $100 a year in annual fees.  Don't be scared off because your return on that can be very high

For instance, I've earned 12 RT flights to Hawaii and 2 RT flights to Seattle in the past 6 years just by charging everyday items to my Delta AMEX gold card and United Premiere cards, retail value over $12,000.  I've paid out about $1300 in annual fees.  Not a bad return. 

Of course, the presumption is that you will pay off the card every month.  If you are not disciplined enough to do that, whatever you've gained will be quickly eaten up by interest charges. Here's a system you can use if you're not sure you can be disciplined enough:  


Sign up for web banking for your checking account.  
Open up a savings account.  
Charge your everyday items to your new airline branded credit card and be sure to save the receipts.  
Each week, total up your receipts and transfer that amount of money from your checking account to your savings account.  
When the bill comes, you'll have "escrowed" enough money in your savings account to pay for it.  Then either transfer that money back into your checking or just pay for that particular credit card directly out of your savings account.

I have other tips but don't want to overwhelm you.


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## roadtriper (Jan 17, 2010)

check out www.freefrequentflyermiles.com   they have lots of good info on how to maximize your miles.   I think the Starwood Amex is the best bang for the buck in most cases, if your airline of choice is one of the ones you can do the 20K starpoint = 25K airline miles. RT


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## lvhmbh (Jan 17, 2010)

Do be careful, though, if you go International.  Alot of credit cards (most) charge 3% on purchases even if they are in American dollars.  We have a Capitol One to use when we're in Aruba as they do not charge the 3%.  We can transfer the miles over to a number of airlines.  Otherwise, we have a dedicated AA Mastercard we use for everything - including down payments on cars, etc.  I just got 4 RT tickets in Business for Aruba with my miles.  Linda


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## Ulrike (Jan 17, 2010)

Thank-You for your responses.Don't know why this concept has been so hard for me to grasp. 

No, shamefully I say I have not accumulated any miles ever for any of the many flights we have taken, but hopefully this will be the year I can turn this around. So good to hear all your benefits.

We do not use a regular airline. We go with what is most convenient and cheapest at the time, so it has varied. Will the Starwood card still be best then? Today I will do some more research and undoubtly have more questions.


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## DeniseM (Jan 17, 2010)

If you fly a lot of differet airlines, the Starwood AMEX is a good choice because you can transfer the points to most airlines.  Here is a list of their airline partners.  

I'd watch for a good sign-up bonus.  

About 20% of merchants don't accept the AMEX, so I would have a back-up card from my favorite airline for the other 20%.


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## Timeshare Von (Jan 17, 2010)

DeniseM said:


> Recently we got a Chase British Airways card.  We didn't need another card, but this was the best signing incentive I have ever seen.  We each got 50K miles for signing up and another 50K miles for charging $2,000 the first 3 mos.  We got our cards Nov. 19th and we both already have the 100K miles in our Accts.  These miles can also be used for BA's partners for flights in the US and other places, as well as with BA.  I don't know if that deal is still available, but here's the info.



That was a great deal and given that B/A partners with American Airlines and Alaska Air, it was one I couldn't pass up either!  I am looking forward to my four free trips to Alaska in the coming year or two!!!


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## Ulrike (Jan 17, 2010)

Let me ask, if this makes sense...(still trying to grasp the concept)

regarding the StarwoodAMEX....
If I get miles per dollor spent and I spend $3,000 dollars, will I earn 3,000 points? A trip from LA to NYC is 3,000 miles.Will I have then earned enough for a one way flight?

If I get 10,000 points upon signing up, have I just earned enough for 3 one way tickets from LA to NYC?, just by signing up, almost 2 RT tickets?

Could this be? Sounds too easy.

We spend a good amount of money per month, is this something I would want to put my bills on as well? or just general spending money?


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## optimist (Jan 17, 2010)

Ulrike said:


> Let me ask, if this makes sense...(still trying to grasp the concept)
> 
> regarding the StarwoodAMEX....
> If I get miles per dollor spent and I spend $3,000 dollars, will I earn 3,000 points? A trip from LA to NYC is 3,000 miles.Will I have then earned enough for a one way flight?
> ...



Not as easy as that I am afraid    Airlines charge anywhere from 30,000 to 200,000 (or more) to give away free tickets.  It depends on whether you are flying domestic or overseas and whether it's coach or first class.  Still, if you use the credit card for all your purchases, including the small ones, it adds up fast. 
The most important part is to pay it off religiously every month and not accumulate fees.


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## lvhmbh (Jan 17, 2010)

You need to be really religious about using the CC for everything.  I rarely use cash - except to give my g-son and my nail tech who doesn't accept CC's.


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## Pat H (Jan 17, 2010)

My kids would get so embarrassed when I would charge $1.50 on my credit card. I kept telling them that they don't realize how fast those small amounts add up. They didn't seem to mind when I sent them on their honeymoons in First Class though!

Another hint - sign up your credit cards for Dining Rewards on one of the airlines. Where I live there are very few restaurants that participate however I have gone out with my sister and some friends the last few months for dinner and used my card to pay for dinner. Two of the restaurants gave miles which was a nice surprise.

AA is the only airline that gives you lifetime elite status based on ALL miles accumulated not just flying. Somehow I accumulated over 1 million miles over the years and I am now Gold for life. Most of those miles were from promos, credit cards and shopping. The only thing is I can't remember what I used all those miles for.


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## DeniseM (Jan 17, 2010)

Ulrike said:


> Let me ask, if this makes sense...(still trying to grasp the concept)
> 
> regarding the StarwoodAMEX....
> If I get miles per dollor spent and I spend $3,000 dollars, will I earn 3,000 points? A trip from LA to NYC is 3,000 miles.Will I have then earned enough for a one way flight?



If you spend $3,000 dollars you will earn 3,000 points.  If you transfer 20,000 Starwood AMEX points to most airlines, you will earn 25,000 FF miles.  

Each airline has a chart that tells you how many miles a flight costs.  Maybe at one time in the distant past, there was a relationship to the _actual air miles_ and the FF miles, but there isn't any more.  When you go to the website and book using FF miles, it will tell you the cost in miles, instead of the price in dollars.  



> If I get 10,000 points upon signing up, have I just earned enough for 3 one way tickets from LA to NYC?, just by signing up, almost 2 RT tickets?
> 
> Could this be? Sounds too easy.



No - 10,000 points might get you one ticket on a commuter hop between two cities that are close together.  For example - I just looked last night and a round trip ticket from SFO to Honolulu on American Airlines is 35,000 FF miles.



> We spend a good amount of money per month, is this something I would want to put my bills on as well? or just general spending money?



To earn the Max. FF miles possible, we put every cent we spend on a credit card - groceries, doctor, bills, travel, dining out, auto insurance, homeowners insurance, car registration - literally everything except our mortgage.  We use it just like a debit card and pay it off every month.


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## LisaRex (Jan 17, 2010)

First order of business is to sign up for a frequent flyer account for each airline that you frequent.  And then remember to book future flights using that number, so that you can accumulate an easy 6,000 miles each time you fly.  These miles are independent of the credit card points that you can also earn when you book flights. 

So, say you fly on American Airlines cross country.  You will earn 6,000 American Air miles each (3,000 miles each way) just for booking under your frequent flyer number.  If you use your Starwood AMEX card to pay for the flight, then you'll earn additional miles on a 1 point per dollar basis.  If the flight costs $400, you'll earn 400 StarPoints.  

Starwood Amex may be the best card for you because it allows you to convert StarPoints to most airlines at a 1:1 ratio with a 25% bonus if you transfer 20k miles. Notable exceptions are United and Continental which have a not-so-great 1 StarPoint = .5 United mile.  Another card that you might consider is the Gold American Express card, which has a higher fee but has nice benefits for people who travel a lot (e.g. free flight insurance).  Go to FlyerTalk and ask if you want people's opinions about which card is better for you.

Both the Starwood Amex and Gold Amex allow you the freedom to shop around for the best deal among several airlines.  However, I'd consider targeting one or two airlines that I'd try to book with exclusively in order to consolidate my miles in order to reach the 30k threshhold.


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## Ulrike (Jan 17, 2010)

Thanks I didn't know FF miles were different than actual miles, so when it people said miles earned I thought they meant actual miles.

We own 5 homes, would there be a way to pay them all monthly by credit card?
That would be quite a chunk each month. Does the money have to be in the charge account for very long? (more than 5 minutes?) to earn points for it?
How would one do this? Does anyone pay their mortgages on a credit card/

This just somehow doesn't seem like it would be allowed? Sounds too good to be true?

I appreciate the responses and am getting the idea little by little, but just not 100% yet.


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## LisaRex (Jan 17, 2010)

Ulrike said:


> Thanks I didn't know FF miles were different than actual miles, so when it people said miles earned I thought they meant actual miles.



FF miles can be accumulated via flying or via spending on a credit card that accumulates miles per dollar spent.



			
				Ulrike said:
			
		

> We own 5 homes, would there be a way to pay them all monthly by credit card?



There are very few banks that will allow you to pay mortgages with credit cards.  There's little incentive for either party to allow it.  

But cell phone bills, utility bills, newspaper subscriptions, groceries, gas purchases...these will all add up, esp if you own five homes.


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## Rose Pink (Jan 17, 2010)

I do not use my cc to pay utilities as the utilities charge a fee to do so--and that fee far exceeds the benefits from the cc.  I use it for just about everything else though.

As others have pointed out, you can use your cc to earn ff miles and there are various ways to do it.  I don't enjoy playing that game though and opted for the simpler (albeit maybe not as lucrative) cash back rewards.  I get cash back for each purchase.  Once a year that money is deposited into my savings account and I can save it or spend it any way I like.  It is simpler for me to manage.  

Some cash back cards (such as Discover) won't let you get your cash until you've accumulated a certain amount.  That shouldn't be a problem if you use it for everything.  Discover also has a system that lets you convert cash rewards into cash cards for various merchants.  For example, if you have $50 dollars in cash rewards you could opt to get $50 in cash or you could use that to "buy" a $55 gift card to XXX merchant (various merchants).

I use a very simple cash back visa card tied to my credit union.  This makes it very easy to pay off as I can log into my CU account and simply transfer funds.  I pay it off more than once a month because if I wait until I have a large cc balance, I may not have enough in checking to cover it.  I am not that disciplined.

When I was looking into cash back cards, AMEX seemed to pay out the best percentage-wise but AMEX is not accepted everywhere and that would cut into my overall percentage.

Many people game the system with more than one card but be aware that most cards have a tiered system.  You have to spend a certain amount to get the best payback.  So, with several cards, you have to build up each card to the best tier.  _For example_, one card may pay 1/4% for the first $500 spent, 1/2% for the next $1000 and only after you've spent $2000 would you get 1%.  Another card may have a similar system but with slightly different payouts.  So $$ spent to build up on one card are dollars that could have been spent at the higher tier on the other card.

Some cards pay different % for different types of purchases.


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## csudell (Jan 17, 2010)

*Quicken Visa*

I have had the Quicken Visa since 1998.   What I like is that I can get $ off airfare as an alternative to a free ticket.  For example, if I'm going to FL and airfare is approx $200.  I would have to charge approx $25000 on most airlines for a free flight.  With my Quicken Visa, I have to charge $16000 for 2 $100 vouchers.   Still get my free flight.  Used to be $6000 for every $100 off 

in addition to travel rewards there are numerous other store gift cards and awards offered by the Quicken Visa.


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## KarenL (Jan 17, 2010)

We like using our Wells Fargo reward points. We pay $19.00 a year to be able to add up points, one point per dollar spent. (Since we charge everything we can and pay off online during the month, no interest is paid.)
When we travel, we get $500.00 off any domestic (except Hawaii) ticket for 25,000 points. For Hawaii and international, it is 40,000 points for up to $800.00 off each ticket. Any airline, any time. However, we can't mix airlines on a trip. 
Until a couple of years ago, booking was free, but now we pay $24.00 per ticket. Still a great deal, since it cost us a grand total of $48.00 last year to fly the both of us to Grand Cayman.
Karen


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## gnipgnop (Jan 17, 2010)

I like Capital One.  I use it for most everything ~ pay it off every month and earn miles as I spend.  It can be used on any airline, no blackout dates and no expiration date.  We used our miles for our Aruba trip and it was so simple to schedule the trip through them.  I really like Capital One ~~~ no hassle!


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## lobsterlover (Jan 17, 2010)

*hello fellow canuck*



Dori said:


> I wish I could get a Southwest cc., but it is not available to Canadians.   You get a nice sign-on bonus.
> 
> Dori



I am interested in what people in Canada use. I have Aeoplan and am so frustrated. At a year out I still can't get flights. I'm not willing to do anything but direct flights which is almost non-existant.
I was so excited West Jet has a new card but just found out it's only good for flights in Canada which we don't use.
We spend an average of 4 g's on our card and pay it off every month...actually forgot one month, called and begged off and they let it go.
What are Canadians using?


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## Dori (Jan 17, 2010)

We use Amex for Airmiles.  We also have some Aeroplan miles from an international flight we took in May.  We have used Airmiles for a few trips, but the taxes out of Toronto are prohibitive, so we usually just fly out of Buffalo and save our airmiles for other things.

Dori


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## pointsjunkie (Jan 17, 2010)

Ulrike said:


> Let me ask, if this makes sense...(still trying to grasp the concept)
> 
> regarding the StarwoodAMEX....
> If I get miles per dollor spent and I spend $3,000 dollars, will I earn 3,000 points? A trip from LA to NYC is 3,000 miles.Will I have then earned enough for a one way flight?
> ...



that is not the way it works. to fly you need at least an accumulation to 25000 miles. but i know the tricks so you are not spending $25000 to get that "free ticket" 

follow the link at the end of my name.


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## scotlass (Jan 17, 2010)

*Caution*

I haven't seen this info posted so far so I thought I would mention this.  Be careful about the credit card you get if you want to use actual travel miles combined with credit card miles.  Capital One does not connect your airline account with their accumulated miles.  All miles for a free trip must be accumulated by charges.  If you want to combine charges and actual trip miles, get a card that comes from the airline.

I have Capital One strictly for overseas travel and paying maintenance fees for our foreign timeshares as they don't charge the 3% foreign currency fee.  I also have cards with AA, USAirways,  Delta and Starwood AMex.  Currently I am concentrating on the AA card as they fly to the Caribbean and directly to London from Boston.  They also let you book one-way tickets for half the miles of a round-trip, something the other airlines don't allow.  AA also has great deals with accumulating additional miles through Citibank savings and checking accounts.  We also have had a BankDirect, an online bank, account for several years with AA miles.  They allow 4 cash withdrawls a month with no fee.  We use that for our foreign trips for cash.  They also give you AA bonus miles for signing up, and miles every month with a balance of $2500 in the account.  If you sign up with them, send me a PM as you will get 5,000 additional miles for being referred and I will as well.


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## Talent312 (Jan 17, 2010)

Ulrike said:


> If I get miles per dollar spent and I spend $3,000 dollars, will I earn 3,000 points? A trip from LA to NYC is 3,000 miles.Will I have then earned enough for a one way flight?... If I get 10,000 points upon signing up, have I just earned enough for 3 one way tickets from LA to NYC?, just by signing up, almost 2 RT tickets?



As others have said... "No."
Strangely enuff, the distance of a flight has almost nothing to do with how many points/miles you need for a free ticket. This isn't a uniform rule, but generally, 25K-50K gets you a domestic RT ticket, 35K-75K gets you a RT to Central-South America, and 50-100K gets you a RT to Europe. You could look at various airline websites to see their reward charts.

Must one really spend $25,000 to get a $250 ticket? Not really. Originally, the airline FF-programs gave you 1-mile (point) for each mile you flew. Similarly, with CC-reward programs, for each $ you spent, you'd get 1-point, but often you get more or a bonus, especially when used for goods or travel from the company affiliated with the card. Free tickets or hotel stays do not come fast+furious, but eventually... and that's certainly better than not-at-all.


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## Zib (Jan 17, 2010)

I have used several different cards.  My AA card and United are my favorites because they partner with several other airlines that I like.  I like Alaska that partners with A.A. to fly from SFO to Mexico because they have a non stop  and it's east to use AA miles on Alaska if you book early enough to get the seats.  United is another favorite of ours to fly and they have good partners too.  And right now they have a GREAT special.  Just for signing up and after 
you put $250 miles on it, they give you 30,000!!!  I have the information so if anyone is interested email me and I will send it to you.
I also have an AMEX card because it's the only one Costco takes, but I don't use it very much.  You have to be aware that many places don't take AMEX so it is harder to use.  Because of 
this, I wouldn't let that be my only card or you will find yourself not able to use it many place.  United also has many good perks such as extra bonus each year of 5000 points.  Nice surprise!


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## heathpack (Jan 17, 2010)

whoops -deleted- double post


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## heathpack (Jan 17, 2010)

Ulrike said:


> I have been wanting to try and utilize a credit card to my advantage. So far we have never done this. We fly frequently (approx 8 RT flights coast to coast in a year). We spend quite a bit of money each month, usually just with our Debit Cards. If we use credit cards we try to not pay any interest, and only use them for large purchases.
> 
> I am thinking about maybe getting a credit card that I would use on most ALL my purchases and then pay it off, not just at the end of the month, but when I got home from the store, pay it online, just so I wouldn't get stuck with a bill at the end of the month that might accumulate.
> My fear is that I might have the card accumulate and I end up paying more than I normally would have for things, due to interest,late charges, etc.
> ...



Check out this thread on Flyertalk: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/457077-what-credit-card-should-i-choose-master-thread.html

It addresses most of your questions.  I use my Starwood AMEX for everything.  We stopped at McDonald's and I found myself scolding my husband for trying to pay cash.  Dude, you are wasting 5.38 starpoints!  Boy you are lucky I was not around when you bought that dishwasher.  
H


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## Talent312 (Jan 18, 2010)

heathpack said:


> I use my Starwood AMEX for everything.  We stopped at McDonald's and I found myself scolding my husband for trying to pay cash.



The Starwood AmEx has such a good sign-up bonus that we used it almost immediately for a free night at the Sheraton in the Frankfurt Airport. Well, we're actually Hilton-owners, so we quickly switched back to the Hilton AmEx and combined our credit limits.

BTW, McD's doesn't sell real food. Its manufactured in an old auto-plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin
... so I've heard.


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## Robert D (Jan 18, 2010)

*Southwest Airlines Visa is Best*

If you live in a SW Airlines city and travel much on SW and charge a lot of $'s each year, I think the SW Visa is the best.  You get 1 credit for each $1,200 charged and it takes 16 credits for a free ticket and if you earn 100 credits per year (can be combination of flying and credit card use) you get a companion pass so that your companion flies for free with you without having to use any type of ticket.  So, $19,200 charged gets you a free ticket anywhere they fly.  When we travel I use a free ticket and my wife uses the companion card so the credits we earn are effectively doubled.  Also, SW has by far the easiest program to use and they don't penalize you for changing your flight plans or canceling a reservation for a free flight.


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## DeniseM (Jan 18, 2010)

scotlass said:


> I haven't seen this info posted so far so I thought I would mention this.  Be careful about the credit card you get if you want to use actual travel miles combined with credit card miles.  Capital One does not connect your airline account with their accumulated miles.  All miles for a free trip must be accumulated by charges.  If you want to combine charges and actual trip miles, get a card that comes from the airline.



This isn't true with the Starwood AMEX - you can transfer the points to the same airline acct. where you are accumulating FF miles from flights and combine them.


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## Ken555 (Jan 18, 2010)

Robert D said:


> If you live in a SW Airlines city and travel much on SW and charge a lot of $'s each year, I think the SW Visa is the best.  You get 1 credit for each $1,200 charged and it takes 16 credits for a free ticket and if you earn 100 credits per year (can be combination of flying and credit card use) you get a companion pass so that your companion flies for free with you without having to use any type of ticket.  So, $19,200 charged gets you a free ticket anywhere they fly.  When we travel I use a free ticket and my wife uses the companion card so the credits we earn are effectively doubled.  Also, SW has by far the easiest program to use and they don't penalize you for changing your flight plans or canceling a reservation for a free flight.



Southwest is great, but I wonder what your % return rate is for those flights? It's probably justified with the companion card, but without that I'm not so sure. Most SW flights are rather inexpensive, though cross country may be an exception. I don't think I've ever paid more than $300 for a SW flight, and that was from LAX to FLL (and after taxes, etc). SW doesn't fly to Hawaii or internationally, so if you do either this isn't the card for you. When I fly to LAS or SFO/OAK I really don't care what airline I'm on since it's such a short flight (and inexpensive at ~$125-150). I would never want to redeem a free ticket for those flights, and they don't earn much (I typically fly SW, though lately have been flying Virgin America).

While it's smart to look into the best card program, keep in mind that there are often special exceptions. For instance, US Air had a promo last summer where any conversion from a hotel program (ie. Starwood, Hilton, etc) received an extra 50%. I transferred 60,000 Starpoints and received 112,500 US Air miles. I've since booked flights to Hawaii on United at 35,000 each, which effectively only cost me 20,000... only $800 more spent on AMEX vs the SW card for a free SW ticket. I'm hoping they offer the same promo this year.

It's best, I believe, to choose a card that suits your travel habits. I like to keep my options open, and want my points/miles at a program where I could go overseas. I have credit cards with Alaska, American, Delta and Starwood (two of them; one for business, and one personal). About 95% of my credit card expenditures are on the Starwood card over the last few years, though it's helpful to have the others on occasion. I no longer prefer Delta, so a few years ago stopped charging to that card (I keep it since it's worth the minor expense to easily extend the value of my miles each year by making a single charge). I like Starwood since it's very flexible, and typically I receive a higher % when using the points at their hotels, which can easily exceed the value of a free domestic flight. Of course, YMMV.


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## Carolinian (Jan 18, 2010)

You might also want to look at a couple of other factors-

1) The redemption possibilities on various airlines.  Delta has become horrible for redeaming miles lately.  AA is still the best among US based carriers.  Also look at awards charts for where you want to go.  For example a ticket to Europe in summer can range from 45K miles on BMI, 55K on CO, UA, or  US to 60K on DL or AA (except at AA you will have a good chance of actually getting it at that level, while at DL their unique and customer unfriendly 3-tier award chart will probably charge you well over 100K).

2) Whether there is a fee waiver for the first year and whether the card can be churned.  The latter refers to cancelling the card near the end of the first year and then applying for another, getting a new sign-up bonus and another fee-free ''first'' year.  Churning used to be easy with most cards, but the banks have gotten wise and have stopped it in many cases.  The fee waiver is a seperate issue from churning.  Banks still often, but not always, offer that.

There are also some banks now which offer debit cards that earn miles.  There is one at CO, for example, with a 25K mile sign up bonus.


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## derb (Jan 18, 2010)

*A most unusual card*

A while back I was contacted by Ameriprise financial world elite master card.

150 annual fee waived first year and every year with 15K purchases each year.

In addition to the usual perks, FREE ACCESS TO AIRPORT LOUNGES thru priority pass.  I have taken up to 4 family members with me to lounges and no charges.


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## DeniseM (Jan 18, 2010)

Carolinian said:


> 2) Whether there is a fee waiver for the first year and whether the card can be churned.  The latter refers to cancelling the card near the end of the first year and then applying for another, getting a new sign-up bonus and another fee-free ''first'' year.  Churning used to be easy with most cards, but the banks have gotten wise and have stopped it in many cases.  The fee waiver is a seperate issue from churning.  Banks still often, but not always, offer that.



A way to make this work is to have the spouses apply for/cancel the card, during alternate years for the card/bonus.

Year 1 - DW gets card and bonus
Year 2 - DW cancels her card and DH gets card and bonus
Year 3 - DH cancels his card and DW gets card and bonus
etc.


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## Elli (Jan 18, 2010)

lobsterlover said:


> I am interested in what people in Canada use. I have Aeoplan and am so frustrated. At a year out I still can't get flights. I'm not willing to do anything but direct flights which is almost non-existant.
> I was so excited West Jet has a new card but just found out it's only good for flights in Canada which we don't use.
> We spend an average of 4 g's on our card and pay it off every month...actually forgot one month, called and begged off and they let it go.
> What are Canadians using?


You are asking what Canadians are using - it depends where you live.  We are in Kelowna, BC and fly a lot via Seattle.  For us the Alaska Airlines Master Card works very well.

Dori, you are right - Air Miles sure charge a lot of taxes on their award tickets.  The cancellation insurance through them is very high as well plus, you cannot purchase the canc. ins. somewhere else, only through them.


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## heathpack (Jan 18, 2010)

Robert D said:


> If you live in a SW Airlines city and travel much on SW and charge a lot of $'s each year, I think the SW Visa is the best.  You get 1 credit for each $1,200 charged and it takes 16 credits for a free ticket and if you earn 100 credits per year (can be combination of flying and credit card use) you get a companion pass so that your companion flies for free with you without having to use any type of ticket.  So, $19,200 charged gets you a free ticket anywhere they fly.  When we travel I use a free ticket and my wife uses the companion card so the credits we earn are effectively doubled.  Also, SW has by far the easiest program to use and they don't penalize you for changing your flight plans or canceling a reservation for a free flight.



We previously has the SouthWest VISA but decided to cancel it because of the way SWA issues reward tickets.  When you accumulate enough credits, the reward is automatically issued and then expires in 1 year, unless you pay $50 to extend another 12 months.  Maybe for the OP not a problem b/c they travel so frequently.

H


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## Robert D (Jan 19, 2010)

Ken555 said:


> Southwest is great, but I wonder what your % return rate is for those flights? It's probably justified with the companion card, but without that I'm not so sure. Most SW flights are rather inexpensive, though cross country may be an exception. I don't think I've ever paid more than $300 for a SW flight, and that was from LAX to FLL (and after taxes, etc). SW doesn't fly to Hawaii or internationally, so if you do either this isn't the card for you. When I fly to LAS or SFO/OAK I really don't care what airline I'm on since it's such a short flight (and inexpensive at ~$125-150). I would never want to redeem a free ticket for those flights, and they don't earn much (I typically fly SW, though lately have been flying Virgin America).



I think your point is well taken.  SW offers the largest number of flights from Austin (has about a 50% market share) and is the best choice for flying out of here for most domestic destinations.  We don't use free tickets for the inexpensive flights but always use the companion card, which offers an unrestricted and non capacity contolled free ticket for the companion. Although not as easy to use as it used to be before SW started limiting the number of free tickets per flight, SW is still the easiest program that I've seen to actually use your free tickets.  I like being able to make a reservation when I think we might want to travel somewhere (e.g. to Rose Bowl for national championship game) well in advance and then cancel it at no cost if our plans change. This would be difficult and costly with Delta or American. But main point is that it makes most sense to use the card issued by the airline that you fly most often.  We don't travel overseas that often and I've been able to churn credit card offers for the American's and Delta's and accumulate enough bonus miles to get free tickets to Europe every few years. But it seems to be getting harder to use those miles, and it wasn't that easy a few years ago.  The SW free tickets do expire after a year but we've almost always used the ones we've accumulated (having a daughter in Boise, ID makes that easier to do) but I think being able to extend them a year with all the flexibility for $50 is a good deal (you can actually extend them 2 yrs I think because you have a year in which to pay the $50 extension fee).  As SW continues to add more cities and other airlines continue to cut back on flights, it becomes even more attractive.


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## cdn_traveler (Jan 19, 2010)

+1 for the MBNA Alaska Airlines Platinum Mastercard.   

We love this card!    
And after this weekend, DH loves it even more.   I was able to book him on a roundtrip direct flight from YVR to MSP to see the game for 25,000 miles.   The flight would have cost $1500.   

Another feature that I love about the card is that it is one of the few cards left in Canada that still includes a companion ticket for $99 annually and the annual fee is only $75.   Btw, they are offering 20,000 miles as a bonus for signing up and then an additional 5000 miles for spending $750 the first month right now.


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