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Which credit cards are you using?

BarbmC

BarbmC

TUG Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2016
Messages
129
Reaction score
66
Location
Phoenixville, PA
Resorts Owned
Marriott Ocean Club
Marriott BeachPlace
Marriott Vacation Club points owner
During this pandemic - where we can't travel, I've usually been using my cash back credit card (1.75%) not going for either Marriott or Airline rewards- ,maybe because I don't know when there will be a return to travel. Curious what everyone's been doing. Saw the Marriott Visa is going to allow us to use our $300 credit on restaurants, and give 6X on groceries. What are your thoughts?
 
We are transitioning away from our travel cards because we are not traveling for a while and have plenty of points and credits in our miles and air accounts.

1) We had excess Chase Sapphire points and cashed about $2000 worth in each account out at the beginning of the pandemic. We were concerned that the banks would reduce the cash out ratio lower than 1:1. We earned most of the points with sign up bonuses and 5x multipliers so this was a good payout. We figured that we could save the $4000 better on our own for future travel in a bank account without worry of a devaluation by the bank. We also were finding little value in the Chase portal since they switched to Expedia.

There now are new cash out for 1.5:1 so will take advantage of that for groceries etc. So will continue spend on the Chase cards.

2) Signed up for at 2% card and will put all non bonus spend on that.

3) Downgrading the hotel cards such as the Bonvoy Brilliant. May upgrade again in the future if they provide a bonus offer.
 
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We still use our air miles cards.

Bill
 
Mainly 2% Cash back: Citi DoubleCash, Elan Fidelity card

Chase Sapphire Reserve: We've got a lot of Chase UR points on this card, which we normally use for travel. But since we're not traveling, will cash out some of those points to erase grocery and home improvement store purchases. 5 points per dollar at groceries through the end of June (will effectively be 7.5 cents if we use those points to erase our grocery charges).

Credit card usage overall is way down. I guess we're not doing a good job of supporting the economy because we're stuck at home. Amazon spending and walmart.com are up quite a bit, however.

A reminder if you're like us and spending more at Amazon: purchase through Amazon Smile to support your charity of choice. Go to smile.amazon.com
 
I've been using my Barclay AA card as I put some recurring payments on it last fall to accrue airline miles and have been using it whenever I buy groceries or for online purchases.. (As long as I pay the balance each month, no interest, so I keep using it.) I used points for 2 RT tickets to PVR for our November vacation and have enough for one more RT for November 2021 right now. I would like to get the 2nd ticket miles before cancelling the card in 2021. Besides, after going to PV in November, I will get my deposit refunded to that card - it is a hassle to change now.

My Sam's Club Synchrony stopped the 5% cash back on gas and 1% on all other purchases for now :(. I only use it for Sam's purchases and gas, so since I am not driving as much, I have not lost much. :) I like it because of the Scan & GO function - I could change that to the AA card if they do not change their no % rule.

I keep my BoA cards active because they have the highest limit and I always tell them when I am on vacation out of the country so that if we need medical assistance, we have plenty available for an emergency.
 
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I am still using all my Travel cards. Only change has been to adjust for some of the different Promos being offered right now.
 
I'm still using my travel cards. I have adjusted to ensure I use certain cards for grocery shopping since at least three of mine have tripled their points for grocery purchases.
 
Chase Sapphire Reserve for dining + keep points for 2022 travel.
We use Chase;s Amazon card for well, Amazon.
For everything else, we use Citi's Double Cash Back.
 
We are cancelling our travel type credit cards over the next 6 months. We will be cancelling 3 Marriott Bonvoy Visa and Amex cards between my husband and I, as even before COVID-19, we struggled to use those annual single night hotel stays that come with the credit cards. Chase Sapphire Reserve will also be cancelled because we cannot justify the high cost of the card since we don't see ourselves travelling much outside of Vistana and Marriott timeshare. I just opened a new Bank of America Visa Premium Rewards card with generous cash back. I also get a 75% bump published cash back rate because of our relationship with the bank. To summarize, we will rely on 4 credit cards. Amex Bonvoy card for everything Marriott and Vistana related, Costco Visa for Costco and gas, Amazon Visa for Amazon and WholeFoods and BOA Visa for everything else. We put at least 80K on our credit cards each year and while I have not done my Math, I think we should get back $2K a year or so.
 
GetawaysRus said:
Mainly 2% Cash back: Citi DoubleCash, Elan Fidelity card

Chase Sapphire Reserve: We've got a lot of Chase UR points on this card, which we normally use for travel. But since we're not traveling, will cash out some of those points to erase grocery and home improvement store purchases. 5 points per dollar at groceries through the end of June (will effectively be 7.5 cents if we use those points to erase our grocery charges).

Credit card usage overall is way down. I guess we're not doing a good job of supporting the economy because we're stuck at home. Amazon spending and walmart.com are up quite a bit, however.

A reminder if you're like us and spending more at Amazon: purchase through Amazon Smile to support your charity of choice. Go to smile.amazon.com
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Pretty much the same for me. Elan Fidelity card for most things because of the 2% rebate. Amazon Chase for Amazon purchases because of the 5% rebate. Chase Sapphire Reserve for dining because of the 4.5% rebate if applied to our next travel reservations. Amazon Smile donations are small per purchase, but they do add up over time.
 
American Express Aspire card, Amex Marriott Bonvoy card, Chase Sapphire card, and Discover Card
 
Been using Costco Visa. I think one of us will keep our Chase United and the other our AA Barclaycard. Four airline cards between us adds to $360+ in annual fees. We will be flying less often over the next few years but appreciate the United Club passes and the chip/pin feature of the Barclaycard, although doubt we will be headed to Europe again if we do end up cancelling September's trip to Royal Regency. The no baggage fees of the airline cards are another nice feature.
 
We mostly use a Fidelity card with 2% cash back. Have been using two Chase Southwest cards, mine and my wife's, for travel. Planning to drop my wife's because of its larger annual fee. An attempt was made to drop it but we agreed to continue it when annual fee was reimbursed for this year. Chase has threatened to lower our spending limit on my card since we have not been using it lately!
 
We primarily use a Delta-Reserve [AMEX] for the miles. The card is valuable for lounge access.
We use the Marriott Brilliant [AMEX] for anything Hotel/Vacation [MF/Rooms] due to the 6-Points/$.
We use a Costco-Citi [VISA] card for all places that don't take AMEX. Definitely for all Costco transactions due to the 4% rewards [2%-Executive + 2%-Visa].
 
Still using Citi AA MC as our primary, even though we have plenty of AA miles, because we have so many online accounts tied to it, the yearly fee is low, and they switched to contactless. However, we've also increased use of our Citi Costco Visa by tying it to new accounts.
 
Amex gold for groceries & eating out.
Amex blue business plus for everything else.
I will be downgrading my Hilton aspire this year. Keeping my Southwest Priority since we fly southwest a lot and the benefits are easy to use even if we don’t fly this year.
my other card is Citi Double cash in case Amex is not accepted.
 
Southwest Priority as they are our primary carrier (both for work and personal travel), Marriott Bonvoy VISA (both DW and I), and our AMEX Platinum for airfare for the 5x points.

Not changing anything - YET. Of all the US carriers I think SW has the least chance of a major devaulation of rewards and it is a major contributor to us achieving Companion Pass. We'll still keep our Marriott cards because we own at Marriott Vacation Club and Vistana, plus Marriott is my go-to for work travel. Wavering on the benefit of the AMEX Platinum right now in a non-travel world, but you still get some pretty good discounts (Uber, Sachs) to offset some of the crazy yearly membership fee.

I'm betting on a return more or less to the previous normal by this time next year through a vaccine, treatment, or mutation of the virus to a less-deadly version (as we've seen with some other coronaviruses). I have a heavy travel calendar packed in 2021.
 
jmhpsu93 said:
I'm betting on a return more or less to the previous normal by this time next year through a vaccine, treatment, or mutation of the virus to a less-deadly version (as we've seen with some other coronaviruses). I have a heavy travel calendar packed in 2021.
Click to expand...

I agree. We may drive to the beach in a few weeks and we have a planned fall trip (Tahoe) but nothing yet for 2021.

We only have travel rewarding credit cards and we're not spending anywhere close to normal. So the new increases for grocery spending are appreciated.
 
Chase Prime for all Amazon
Chase Freedom for 5% back categories
Chase Freedom Unlimited 1.5% cashback for anything that doesn't have a better return (personal purchases)
Discover for 5% back categories
Citi double cash back for as much as I can that doesn't fit into any of the other ones (business purchases)
I need to remember to use my AmEx Hilton card for restaurants because it will reimburse me for the next 2 months.
 
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