- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Opening new personal credit card for rewards purposes. Which one’s right for me?
Posted on 4/29/24 at 3:23 pm
Posted on 4/29/24 at 3:23 pm
Posted this in the CC Rewards and Points Discussion thread too.
A little background, wife and I have always just had CC’s that didn’t really pay much on rewards, and I wasn’t comfortable enough to say “Hey, let’s run a lot of our expenses through a credit card for the rewards.” They were used more for emergencies.
So, fast forward to now, we own a retail business and are running all of our inventory through a Chase Ink Businss Premier. Store does well enough that paying in full monthly is not a problem. It ends up being around $400k per year. I’ve just been getting my 2% cash back and rolling along.
In the meantime, our personal financial situation (through some inheritance) has improved to where we are debt free (other than the house), and now I would feel comfortable running some day to day expenses through a CC and start playing the rewards game. I don’t want to get complicated, but if there’s a way I can fly or stay somewhere for free, I want to do so.
Someone mentioned pooling points with Chase Sapphire in the other thread. Can someone explain a little how this works? I assume that if I have a Chase Sapphire account that my business can deposit the Business Premier points into the Sapphire account?
To kind of give a background on our typical yearly lives, we go on a couple true vacations per year, probably 4-6 weekends out of town per year, and then travel for business 3-4 times per year. We fly rarely, maybe on a plane once every 2 years, but if I had rewards that were tied to flying, renting cars, etc. we’d explore that option more. Wife’s a Hilton Honors member, I’m a Marriot and Hyatt member, but we really just stay where ever the best deal and most convenient place seems to be.
So what’s a good direction for me to go?
Chase Sapphire? Reserve or Preferred?
A little background, wife and I have always just had CC’s that didn’t really pay much on rewards, and I wasn’t comfortable enough to say “Hey, let’s run a lot of our expenses through a credit card for the rewards.” They were used more for emergencies.
So, fast forward to now, we own a retail business and are running all of our inventory through a Chase Ink Businss Premier. Store does well enough that paying in full monthly is not a problem. It ends up being around $400k per year. I’ve just been getting my 2% cash back and rolling along.
In the meantime, our personal financial situation (through some inheritance) has improved to where we are debt free (other than the house), and now I would feel comfortable running some day to day expenses through a CC and start playing the rewards game. I don’t want to get complicated, but if there’s a way I can fly or stay somewhere for free, I want to do so.
Someone mentioned pooling points with Chase Sapphire in the other thread. Can someone explain a little how this works? I assume that if I have a Chase Sapphire account that my business can deposit the Business Premier points into the Sapphire account?
To kind of give a background on our typical yearly lives, we go on a couple true vacations per year, probably 4-6 weekends out of town per year, and then travel for business 3-4 times per year. We fly rarely, maybe on a plane once every 2 years, but if I had rewards that were tied to flying, renting cars, etc. we’d explore that option more. Wife’s a Hilton Honors member, I’m a Marriot and Hyatt member, but we really just stay where ever the best deal and most convenient place seems to be.
So what’s a good direction for me to go?
Chase Sapphire? Reserve or Preferred?
This post was edited on 4/29/24 at 3:34 pm
9
Posted on 4/29/24 at 4:47 pm to prostyleoffensetime
I got the preferred the reserve didn't seem like it's worth the $550 fee unless you travel a ton but if you don't fly then it probably isn't worth it
Hyatt probably gives you the most value for chase points out of the transfer partners you can find some crazy cheap deals there. Marriot is more of a rip off when it comes to transferring points
You can transfer all your points from other Chase cards to the Sapphire to use for travel redemptions. You will be absolutely rolling in travel points if you charge $400k a year
Hyatt probably gives you the most value for chase points out of the transfer partners you can find some crazy cheap deals there. Marriot is more of a rip off when it comes to transferring points
You can transfer all your points from other Chase cards to the Sapphire to use for travel redemptions. You will be absolutely rolling in travel points if you charge $400k a year
This post was edited on 4/29/24 at 4:53 pm
Posted on 4/29/24 at 5:39 pm to prostyleoffensetime
I always fly out of IAH. Not a ton but prob 7-9 times a year for work then a couple of times for fun. Company pays the annual fee for a United rewards Chase card. Got 60,000 bonus miles for signing up. Can’t remember what miles I get for purchases are but they seem to add up quick.
For reference, your average flight is free for about 15k miles. Plus other perks include priority boarding, free checked bag, and passes to United Club at the airport (free booze/food).
I’ve been happy with it. Note, IAH is a hub for United and flies pretty much anywhere direct. Not sure if it’s worth it if you’re not near a hub airport of some airline.
For reference, your average flight is free for about 15k miles. Plus other perks include priority boarding, free checked bag, and passes to United Club at the airport (free booze/food).
I’ve been happy with it. Note, IAH is a hub for United and flies pretty much anywhere direct. Not sure if it’s worth it if you’re not near a hub airport of some airline.
This post was edited on 4/29/24 at 7:31 pm
Posted on 4/29/24 at 7:34 pm to prostyleoffensetime
I believe the Chase Saphirre preferred just announced a higher sign up bonus so your timing is pretty good.
I had the reserve and currently have the preferred. I have a AmEx platinum and gave up the reserve as I couldn’t justify keeping both at the time. What is nice about the reserve is the $300 travel credit. When the fee was $450, just that alone helped pay for the card. It’s a little harder at $550.
As someone pointed out, the Hyatt points transfer is one of the best uses for points. You get that with either the preferred or reserve. The reserve does give you a better discount when using the points to pay for travel through the chase portal.
I had the reserve and currently have the preferred. I have a AmEx platinum and gave up the reserve as I couldn’t justify keeping both at the time. What is nice about the reserve is the $300 travel credit. When the fee was $450, just that alone helped pay for the card. It’s a little harder at $550.
As someone pointed out, the Hyatt points transfer is one of the best uses for points. You get that with either the preferred or reserve. The reserve does give you a better discount when using the points to pay for travel through the chase portal.
Posted on 4/29/24 at 9:06 pm to prostyleoffensetime
For personal expenses I mostly juggle between Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Unlimited and Chase Sapphire Reserve. Whichever card offers the best point earnings on a purchase is the one I will use. I end up rolling all the points to Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel redemption. There are some circumstances where I'll deviate from this, but it's a pretty simple strategy overall. The Chase Sapphire Reserve has an annual fee, but the other cards do not.
Posted on 4/29/24 at 9:45 pm to prostyleoffensetime
If you want simple, consider the Venture X. You earn 2 points per dollar and anything that codes as travel can be wiped away with your points. It’s got some solid benefits as well. If you want to maximize value, I would recommend Chase. How you intend to use the points (destinations, brands, etc.) will ultimately determine the best cards for you. The best strategy will involve multiple cards. I primarily have Chase since I do a lot of stays at Hyatt. If you want airport lounge access, get the Reserve. If that’s not a big deal, the Preferred would be the card to get. The Reserve’s $300 travel credit is pretty easy to use so the annual fee is basically $250 and would get you some other perks. Note that the Ink Business Premier card is the only Ink card that you can not transfer points to your other cards. Also note that with that much spend, you could easily spend your way to Globalist status with Hyatt, which is pretty valuable. Free breakfast, upgrades, etc…
This post was edited on 4/29/24 at 9:57 pm
Posted on 4/29/24 at 11:17 pm to prostyleoffensetime
The Chase Ink Premier is the only Chase card that does not allow you to transfer points to other cards/airlines/etccc
Keep that in mind if hoping to use it for travel rewards
Keep that in mind if hoping to use it for travel rewards
Posted on 4/30/24 at 7:11 am to prostyleoffensetime
don't do it. don't get a card that forces you to spend $10,000 to only get a $100 reward.
Posted on 4/30/24 at 8:22 am to prostyleoffensetime
I have the AMEX Platinum and the Chase Freedom Unlimited. The AMEX doesn't have great cash back (5x points per dollar spent on travel, 1x for everything else) but it has a ridiculous amount of statement credits. $240/year for streaming services, $200 hotel credit, $200 airline credit, $200 Uber credit and complimentary gold/elite status at Mariott, Hilton, AVIS, and Hertz. Also gives you lounge access. It's a steep annual fee of $695 but it's pretty dang easy to break even at a minimum just based on the things above. Main reason for signing up with them was they had 150,000 point sign up bonus.
They also have great transfer partners but you have to really study up on that (like the poster said above) to get real value out of that.
I put everyday purchases on the Chase card and big purchases on the AMEX.
They also have great transfer partners but you have to really study up on that (like the poster said above) to get real value out of that.
I put everyday purchases on the Chase card and big purchases on the AMEX.
Posted on 4/30/24 at 3:34 pm to prostyleoffensetime
This question gets asked quite often and the answers are usually Chase Saphire or CapitalOne Venture/X.
If you aren’t loyal to a particular airline or aren’t looking to get a specific rewards, you could probably look to see which of the above has the better sign up bonus and go with it.
But I’d recommend researching each to see what’s best for you.
If you aren’t loyal to a particular airline or aren’t looking to get a specific rewards, you could probably look to see which of the above has the better sign up bonus and go with it.
But I’d recommend researching each to see what’s best for you.
Page 1 of 1
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News