Best credit card

[raygo123]

I'm currently using chase explorer card for united mile,
But since the merger and gong to dollars, I have noticed
That it cost more in points to fly than before the merger
Still 1 point per dollar, but it seems like its more costly to
Fly, don't know if it is due to Cleveland no longer a hub
Or they have raised points needed. Is there a better card your using? The free bag is a nice Benny.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[grupp]

Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Business Ink Bold are good options. Both have great sign up bonus and offer bonus points for certain categories. Points can be transferred to a number of airlines, including United and Southwest.

If you travel on united enough to offset the annual fee, you can keep your United card to get the free bags.

Also, look at the Discover-It card. No annual fee, double miles the first year (3 points per dollar) and no interest on purchases for 12 months.

 

[raygo123]

Have you used discover card? United has multiple levels
To book a flight. Saver etc do u know if that is the case if
U book united through discover?

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[Kal]

I would just look at the first year bonus for various cards. Use the bonus and free first year annual fee, then bail out at the end of the year.

In the past I would complain to customer service that the annual fee was too high and for many years they would credit back the fee. Of course I would have to charge the amount of the fee to the card within 3 months. But even then I still have to look at what freebies I receive.

Right now I'm getting 3 points per $1 purchase then apply those points (converted to $$) to ANY travel related expenses including auto, air, restaurants, etc.

It works for me now until the next great deal comes along.

For the Chase United I all I have to do is get enough free bag checks to offset the annual fee. Otherwise I don't even use the card.

 

[VegasBella]

You should post your questions on Flyer Talk. They know credit cards there. This forum is about timeshares. And while there's crossover, this thread isn't going to get much attention at TUG.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-debit-prepaid-card-programs-390/

 

[WinniWoman]

I keep it simple. Just like I can't be bothered with points based timeshares, I can't be bothered with points based credit cards. And I don't fly enough anyway.

I go for cash back- The American Express Blue Cash Preferred. $75 annual fee. 6% back on supermarkets and 3% back on gas and certain department stores and 1% on everything else. Everything (and I mean everything) gets put on that card. If you spend $1000 in the first 3 month of having the card you get $150 bonus.

We have to eat and we use a lot of gas commuting- that alone makes the annual fee worth it. I look at the cash back (which you can have credited to your statement) as my vacation spending money!

 

[am1]

I keep it simple. Just like I can't be bothered with points based timeshares, I can't be bothered with points based credit cards. And I don't fly enough anyway.

I go for cash back- The American Express Blue Cash Preferred. $75 annual fee. 6% back on supermarkets and 3% back on gas and certain department stores and 1% on everything else. Everything (and I mean everything) gets put on that card. If you spend $1000 in the first 3 month of having the card you get $150 bonus.

We have to eat and we use a lot of gas commuting- that alone makes the annual fee worth it. I look at the cash back (which you can have credited to your statement) as my vacation spending money!

With this approach you are leaving money on the table. With a little more effort you can get a better return on your spending.

 

[Talent312]

With this approach you are leaving money on the table. With a little more effort you can get a better return on your spending.

I'd nominate this as snide comment of the year; not a valuable contribution.
How would you know? I'd say that's a decent rebate for gas-hogs.

As for us: We mostly use a Cap-One Venture which offers a 2% credit on all
travel expenses, and a HHonors Am-Ex for Hilton spending.
.

 

[am1]

I'd nominate this as snide comment of the year; not a valuable contribution.
How would you know? I'd say that's a decent rebate for gas-hogs.

As for us: We mostly use a Cap-One Venture which offers a 2% credit on all
travel expenses, and a HHonors Am-Ex for Hilton spending.
.

Because it is the truth. Why not add a second card that offers 2% back on everything at a minimum. Everyone should have two cards in their wallet especially if one is american express. An extra 1% on all non grocery and gas expenses would go a long way.

 

[WinniWoman]

With this approach you are leaving money on the table. With a little more effort you can get a better return on your spending.

I do have other cards- Discover (I have the More and the Open Road card)has rotating 5 % categories quarterly that I take advantage of if I think it will matter; In fact- I just got a $200 bonus from Discover Open Road Card from a program they were running over the summer. I have MasterCard (2 of them) and Visa (2 of them), too, that both have cash back programs. But- our main expenses are food and gas. And- there is something to be said for having all the bills consolidated on one statement. Simplicity. (I got just about $1000 so far this year. I'm happy with that).

 

[presley]

There's plenty of opinions on credit cards and some people don't factor in their time spent playing credit card games. Recently, I started using Chase Freedom 1% cash back for all my business purchases. They have some 5% categories that change quarterly. Right now, it's 5% back for gasoline. I think last time it was for Amazon purchases.

I decided playing the point game wasn't for me. I want to use cash to buy airfare and rental cars because cash opens the door for all choices and I will never be limited to which seats I can buy or if I can fly direct vs. making transfers.

Last year, my husband was using his points for airfare on his credit union card. He spent over an hour looking up flights. He was going to have to do a layover, while Southwest (not covered by the points booking) had direct flights to his destination. I told him to call and ask them for cash instead and book Southwest. He booked it on a credit card and 2 days later, the cash was put into our account and we paid the credit card balance for the trip. We had cash leftover, too, which we wouldn't have had if he booked his flight on United with the points.

 

[am1]

I decided playing the point game wasn't for me. I want to use cash to buy airfare and rental cars because cash opens the door for all choices and I will never be limited to which seats I can buy or if I can fly direct vs. making transfers.

I am solving that by having points in all hotel, airlines and 3rd party transferable to the first two groups that I can.

 

[am1]

That is great. It is not much more work to use two cards. It is also a good habit to use all your cards once in awhile.

I do have other cards- Discover (I have the More and the Open Road card)has rotating 5 % categories quarterly that I take advantage of if I think it will matter; In fact- I just got a $200 bonus from Discover Open Road Card from a program they were running over the summer. I have MasterCard (2 of them) and Visa (2 of them), too, that both have cash back programs. But- our main expenses are food and gas. And- there is something to be said for having all the bills consolidated on one statement. Simplicity. (I got just about $1000 so far this year. I'm happy with that).

 

[WinniWoman]

That is great. It is not much more work to use two cards. It is also a good habit to use all your cards once in awhile.

Yeah- I know. To keep them active.

 

[grupp]

Have you used discover card? United has multiple levels
To book a flight. Saver etc do u know if that is the case if
U book united through discover?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

I will actually be getting my discover card in the mail this week, so have not used it. You really don't get miles in the true sense, but use them to pay off travel expenses charged to the card, which also includes hotels and rental cars.

If you fly United, one of the chase reward cards would be good card. You can use the Reward points to transfer to hotels or airlines, purchase travel through their website, or get cash back.

I prefer Ink Bold because of the 5 points per dollar categories. There are some easy ways to manufacture some cheap points if you need some extra miles for a trip. Although it is suppose to be a business card and has a high spending requirement.

 

[VegasBella]

I keep it simple. Just like I can't be bothered with points based timeshares, I can't be bothered with points based credit cards. And I don't fly enough anyway.

I go for cash back- The American Express Blue Cash Preferred. $75 annual fee. 6% back on supermarkets and 3% back on gas and certain department stores and 1% on everything else. Everything (and I mean everything) gets put on that card. If you spend $1000 in the first 3 month of having the card you get $150 bonus.

My thoughts are similar but not exactly the same. I love my Blue Cash Preferred as well. But we max out the 6% on groceries pretty quickly so we will probably add another one to the household. We have one card that has rotating categories that gives 5% back on the category so we use that one during certain periods. Then we have a 2% one as a fall-back for everything else, plus a couple other cards that offer special types of advantages, for example we got a Capital One Venture to help us pay for flights to Hawaii.

Anyway, FlyerTalk has tons of good info about credit cards benefits. It's super in-depth though and they are not the friendliest bunch so tread carefully.

 

[DazedandConfused]

I just got the new JetBlue Plus card and so far it is awesome (if you like JetBlue)