best credit card rewards program?

Doesn't look like this has been discussed here for a few years.

What are some good credit card rewards programs out there? We have been using the Disney Visa card for a while, but after cashing in points on a recent visit to Disney, we aren't interested in that any more.

Airline cards might be an option (United, Delta, Southwest), as long as the points rack up as fast or faster than 1% cash equivalent.

A cash-back card would probably be best, since in theory the money could be used for anything.

But an annual fee would be a deal breaker.

We never carry a balance, always pay it off each month, but use it a lot for expenses so we want to maximize our return.

What is everyone else using?

 

Airline cards can be good for the boarding and luggage check perks. It all depends on how much you fly. Fly a lot and you are already in a high level and get those perks. Fly too little and / or spend too little on that airline and it doesn't pay for the annual fee.

Capitol One has some decent deals, but it depends on how much you charge on it in a year which one is right for you. If you charge a lot, paying the annual fee can actually pay off.

Discover card is pretty good if you don't charge a lot because they don't charge a fee. You need a backup, as it isn't accepted everywhere. I like their freeze the account using the App thing if you temporarily misplace your card. I expect this will become a feature of other card issuers before long.

 

I have a chase united card that they don't offer anymore. I don't care about cash back, all I cared about was miles/ points and boy has this thing worked out in that respect. I like this card and the ones they replaced mine with.

Amex used to have the best points program but they switched it over to a new program and it went from great to the suck.

That cash back crap you hear of is bunk. I have one of those as a back up and MEH, never amounts to anything worth while. I'll go with points/ miles and get a breitling in a few months.

 

I have a First National Bank one that I've had for nearly 10 years now. The rewards are good ($100, $250, $500 cash back at times), but I'm not sure if it's the rewards, or the money I'm spending ...

 

I do all my flying on United so I have the Chase Mileage Plus Visa. Spending goes towards miles as well as PQD for status. You get free checked bag and priority boarding status.

The majority of the spending I do is on my AMEX premier rewards card. Rewards points can be used on damn near anything. Shopping, airline, travel, paying your bill etc

I also have an AA mastercard but I never use it and never fly American if I have a choice.

 

I've got a Cash Rewards program with Bank Of America. It's only a small % on each purchase, but a little bit more for gas, or grocery. I get an added 10% if I roll it back into my BoA checking account, so I do that when I want to redeem it. I, also, do not carry a balance. So I'm not paying interest on anything.

 

Oh yeah, I do have the Delta Am Ex as a backup, only signed up to get the 50,000 or whatever bonus miles added to my Delta balance (no longer fly Delta). So it's just a back up.

Anyone use the Southwest Airlines card? Never flew SW, but their points program might not be too bad, and they fly a lot of places now. But the only card I can find has a $99 annual fee : (

 

I use Capital One Spark for business - rewards is 2x flight mileage. Pretty good deal, they have other options as for cash back, etc. at various rates, but I prefer the 2X miles. You can trade in for products or cash credits as well.

 

In my experience, the best reward is to not have a credit card. They try to make you feel better about charging you 5-20% interest by giving you $10 of it back or some shit.

Perhaps it is just my lack of self-control or impulse buying habits, but I just can't do credit cards. I think they are a rip off and it is too easy to get into trouble with them. I had 2 of them in college and went apeshit. It was too easy to buy shit with them, almost like the stuff was free. I got rid of them and told myself once I get them paid off I will never have another one (especially since my Debit Card is a Visa).

At least now when I get something, it is like a real expense because I pay for it right then, and I don't have to worry about interest.

 

My dad was of that same opinion as well. He never carried any cards.

I'm of the opinion though that you need to carry credit in order to establish good credit.

 

I built up some credit when I had those cards, plus I have a mortgage on the house.

But I also intentionally took out loans to build credit (that is how I was able to get the cards in the first place). I went to 2 different banks and took out loans, then just put the money in an account. The loan payment was automatically drafted out of the account. So I never actually held the money, nor had to make any manual payments...and it helped build my credit.

 

If you pay it off, the rewards act the same way. I don't think credit cards are a bad idea, as long as you're responsible with it - like anything in life.

I still remember stories of guys ending their race season, five digits deep in debt.

 

I use Samuel Jackson's card, the Capital One Quiksilver. 1.5% cash back on everything. I don't care what the interest rate is on the card, because I'll never pay a cent of it. Have it set to automatically pay the balance every month.

Although I avoided credit cards for several years, I realized i can pay 1.5% less on every single purchase while continuing to build credit. Can't think of a downside to this strategy for someone with self control.

 

Sounds like self-control was the issue here, not the credit cards

In all seriousness, credit is a great tool to have. I use the Citi Double Cash for "regular" purchases (1% cashback at purchase and 1% at payoff; thus 2% on everything) and I use the Amex Gold Premier Rewards for gas and larger purchases. Citi doesn't have an annual fee and the Amex does ($195 I think), but the Amex pays for itself if you use the perks that are offered.

If you spend $10,000 in a year, you get $200 in rewards at 2%. No reason to pass that up.

 

I've just recently reestablished my credit.
I have 3 Capital One cards , all are very good.
But the best bang I've gotten is from Citi Bank .
1% on purchases, another 1% on payments.

 

Yes, we (well, my wife anyway...) have good restraint and never over spend or carry a balance on CC. Pay that thing off every month. So why not use it to get something back on the money you spend rather than not?

Some good suggestions here that I'll need to check into.

 

Another vote for Citibank doublecash. Can't beat it

 

I have a few cards I use regularly (and don't carry a balance/pay interest on any):
1. Chase Sapphire: 2% restaurants, 3% travel, but the best perk is you get 20% off travel if you purchase with points. So I never cash out the points and just use it to buy plane tickets/hotels which makes it an even better deal. Small annual fee.
2. Chase Freedom: No annual fee. Only use for whatever the 5% category is for that category. Transfer the points to the Sapphire and redeem through that.
3. PenFed Cash Rewards: No annual fee, 5% cash back on gas, with no max benefit. Plus it's a direct statement credit (no, you need to accumulate 10,000 points and then we mail you a gift card, etc.), so it's just a flat 5% off gas essentially. I still haven't figured out how to buy u4.4 with it though
4. Citi DoubleCash: No annual fee, 2% cash back on everything. As discussed by others, this is the easiest "I only want one, no fee card".

I had a dedicated Chase United card. That thing sucked ass. I accumulated a lot of miles, but United is a terrible airline and redeeming miles through them sucks. Sapphire is WAY better for flying rewards (and gives you a ton of other options). Avoid airline cards like the plague.

 

And not having any credit card is:

#1 just pissing money away for no reason, especially if you're someone who spends a lot... and even BETTER if you travel for business and get reimbursed. I've gotten thousands back in a year which is just free money. The only excuse is lack of self-control, but then admit that you're essentially paying that opportunity cost because of a personal issue

#2 When you card number gets stolen (which will happen eventually), it's 10000x easier when it's a credit card versus a debit card. A credit card is just fake money -- they haven't taken anything when a fraudulent charge pops up. But with a debit card, your actual money is GONE until the bank decides to put it back. I refuse to use my debit card anywhere except for an ATM (and even those are not fraud proof).