re: Credit Card Rewards and Points Discussion

Rux, would you mind posting your email? I have some questions and don’t want to clutter the thread/board.

will shoot you an email tomorrow. Respond whenever you feel like it.

I assume one of the first questions you will be asked is what do you want out of your new card - Cash back? Longer intro 0% APR to help with those large purchases you need to make? Flexible reward points that can be spent on a variety of ways?

I am guessing travel rewards (plane/hotel points) isnt a priority since you mentioned you dont travel often but the last card you opened is a citi aadvantage card which pairs with american airlines. So maybe you're thinking of traveling eventually?

There are a lot more knowledgeable posters in this thread that can help you narrow down your search. But without knowing anything about what you're looking for and taking pure travel cards out of the equation, I'd suggest looking into the chase sapphire cards. Chase Ultimate Reward points are very flexible as they can be used for cash back, online shopping, travel, etc. so you aren't tied down to one specific way to spend them. There is a 50,000 point bonus after spending $4000 in the first three months which is considered one of the best intro bonuses available. Since you already own the Chase Freedom, you can pair the Freedom & Sapphire to build points very quickly (use the freedom for the quarterly bonus categories at 5x points and use the sapphire for travelling/restaurants for 2x or 3x points depending on which sapphire card you get). Maybe even consider opening the Chase Freedom Unlimited card (no annual fees with this one) with a Sapphire card together to complete the Chase Trifecta thats often talked about. The Freedom Unlimited card will give you an additional 1.5X points on all purchases not included in the bonus categories of the Freedom & Sapphire cards.

Just a quick first suggestion to look into. Again, much more knowledgeable posters in this thread can likely help you much more.

Edit: Chase Ultimate Rewards points are more valuable when used on travelling. Which I am sure other posters will point out . So that is why the Sapphire cards are considered some of the best travelling cards. But, as I mentioned, without knowing what you're looking for specifically that's just a quick suggestion since the points can be used a number of ways. If you come back and say you specifically want a cash back card or something else specific, then that likely changes the entire suggestion.

Long time lurker, but have gotten alot out of this thread so hopefully can contribute back a bit.

As everyone else has said depends on what you want. It looks like you have a good set of Cashback cards between the BOA, IT, and Freedom.

For a big new purchase (and assuming you don't want specific types of points like Chase Ultimate Rewards/Amex Membership Rewards), I'd also consider the Citi Double Cash Back card. This isn't just for the cashback, but they have Price Rewind, Purchase Protection and Extended Warranty coverage that comes included with the card at no annual fee. I would double check though, because there was some talk of them getting rid of these around the same time that Chase got rid of theirs. And apparently they have a bonus for $100 back after $500 spend.

Also, remember that you don't have to redeem UR or Amex rewards for travel. You can always just exchange them for gift cards (even if it's not the best redemption).

Also, if you use reddit, the Churning subreddit has a daily discussion and question thread that I've used before for advice. Very knowledgable and very active.

From that link, the Freedom unlimited is 3% cash back for the first year

No sign up bonus though

Direct Link

Limitations on point pooling would absolutely be a dealbreaker for me. The reason the Chase ecosystem is so attaractive is because you can funnel everything to your best card. If that ends, I would have a hard time justifying keeping any cards with annual fees.

The only way they could stay afloat (unless you're right about the inertia angle) is to revamp their low level cards. Why would anyone settle for 1.5% on a Freedom Unlimited when there are 2% cashback cards also with no fee? The only reason my Freedom Unlimited is my "all other spend" card is because I can transfer points to my Reserve. And conversely, part of the reason I can justify the $150 net fee on my Reserve is because I can transfer those points to it.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I think my Chase Hyatt card is the only card with an annual fee I would hold onto.

The best values are overseas, but I have yet to go through a year in which I didn't easily get $75 worth of value out something easy like the Centric French Quarter in Nola or the Regency in Austin if I didn't have some other major travel destination in mind.

Another negative is Blachawk killing the portal deals for vgc this week. I bought over 30k since January and made a few dollars @ 2% not counting the URs. That helped make the CSR $150 cost more palatable. Now with that gone, the loss of price and return protection and maybe not being able to pool from other cards I'm not sure I'll keep it.

I'm going to have to start reading more