Credit card rewards

read nerd wallet and the points guy and make your own decision to fit your spending habits and points preferences.

We can't recommend anything until you specify if you just want cash back rewards or travel points/miles.

Look into these:

Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Sapphire Preferred

Chase Hyatt
Chase Mariott
Chase Southwest Airlines

Barclaycard Arrival +

Lots like AMEX

For straight cash back I like what the new Bank of America Rewards Card offers.

Uber Visa from Barclays has been great.

- 4% back on all dining (including fast food and bars)
- 3% back on travel (flights and hotels)
- 2% back on all online purchases
- 1% back on everything else

Plus $100 when you spend $500 in first 3 months.

quote:

---

I don't travel enough for travel miles ect.

---

You really don't have to travel often to get some good value in using a travel card. Sometimes the hotels such as Marriott or Hilton branded cards offer some pretty dang good bonuses.

One quick example was three years ago I got 100K points on a Hilton after spending $3,000. I collected points for about 6 months and ended up going to the Sandestin Hilton with the family for four nights for free. That would have cost me $1600 if paying out of pocket.

quote:

---

You really don't have to travel often to get some good value in using a travel card

---

Exactly. Unless you never travel a card that gives miles or points towards travel is a good thing for when you DO travel. The spending bonus alone is usually good for a free flight or two on a vacation.

I think it’s tough to beat the following stack:

Chase Sapphire Reserve (3% back on travel and restaurants)
Chase Freedom Unlimited (1.5% back)
Chase Freedom (Quarterly 5% categories)

Now the Reserve comes with a $450 fee, which is essentially $150 if you do any travel because you are refunded for the first $300 spent on travel in a given year.

What’s great about this (when you have the Reserve) is that when you redeem points for travel, they redeem at 1.5x. So if you have earned 100 points you can redeem them for 150 points to travel (hotel and air, rental car).

I only redeem points to travel so essentially I put all travel and dining on the Reserve and earn 4.5%, rotating quarterly category on the Freedom for 7.5%, and then everything else on Unlimited for 2.25%.

quote:

---

. USAA has a card that offers 2.5% on all purchases, but you have to bank with them.

---

I have this and only this credit card. I use the cash rewards to buy cases of wine or cover other dumb (er..delicious) purchases.

I use the Fidelity Rewards Visa for my everyday purchases. Cash back sweeps straight into your Fidelity account every month. I don't remember the exact math but it's like 1% on everything on first $5k in the year and then 2.5% on everything. We run everything through the CC and then pay it off every month so I get like $1500 cash back a year. The only things I don't put on the card are bills with CC convenience fees greater than 2.5%.

I also have the AmEx Blue Cash preferred. I like to use AmEx for internet purchases and travel because I feel it offers better protections. The rewards are not quite as good as the Fidelity. There are some higher cash back categories (grocery, gas and pharmacy?) where you get 5% but I think it also has a higher minimum to get the next tier.

I did the math one time and the Fidelity was slightly higher and you don't have to worry about places that don't take AmEx (everywhere takes Visa) so I went with the Fidelity as my go to.

No annual fees with either card.