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What do you guys think of reward credit cards like Chase Freedom/Discover Card that give you cash back and have rotating categories that allow you to save more and have no annual fee VS Travel credit cards like USAirways MasterCard that give you miles for your regular purchases that you can redeem when traveling but come with annual fee? If you had a choice which one would you use or which one would you suggest for me? I'm planning to travel within US no more than 1-2 times a year and usually spend about $500/month using a credit card and just want to find out if I should stick with my cash back or go with a travel credit card.
We have the Delta Skymiles AMEX as we live in MSP where Delta has a monopoly on non-stop travel, which means very high fares at times. We travel quite a bit (probably 6-8 roundtrips a year, at least) and the miles come in very handy. Our AMEX also gives us one free companion fare a year, free checked bags, priority boarding, discounted Sky Club fees, and the other standard AMEX perks. We also charge almost all of our daily expenses and utilities, which means we get all the mile boosts too (usually 20,000 bonus miles towards status every year).
In your situation, any credit card that charges an annual fee is not worth it. You don't charge enough to ever offset that cost. I would stick with the standard reward cards that either give you reward points or a percent in cash back.
I use a combination for the best return. the easiest would be fidelity amex 2% cash back & capital one quicksilver for 1.5% cash back (when they don't take amex).
Thank you guys for replies! I'll keep the USAirways Card for now to get the 40K miles offer which should equal a free plane ticket when I travel somewhere next year, but I'll cancel it before the annual fee is due.
I've applied for too many cards this year but I'll definitely be on the lookout for the Fidelity AMEX and Quicksilver cards, thanks!
What do you guys think of reward credit cards like Chase Freedom/Discover Card that give you cash back and have rotating categories that allow you to save more and have no annual fee VS Travel credit cards like USAirways MasterCard that give you miles for your regular purchases that you can redeem when traveling but come with annual fee? If you had a choice which one would you use or which one would you suggest for me? I'm planning to travel within US no more than 1-2 times a year and usually spend about $500/month using a credit card and just want to find out if I should stick with my cash back or go with a travel credit card.
Thank you!!!!
I have a few cash back cards and use them most often, however I got a Southwest card with a $69 annual fee when I was going on a cruise last year, as it had a deal to get $50,000 bonus points when you spent a certain amount (I used it for everything, and reached the amount within a couple months, paid in full each month of course)). I had enough from the bonus miles to get 2 roundtrip tickets from NJ to Florida and 2 roundtrips later from NJ to Chicago for me and my niece, so well worth $69.
I would also check out hotel rewards cards. I think you get more from hotel points than airline points. I have a Marriott Rewards card and can earn free nights.
I have a cash back card. I have the costco amex, there are categories, but they don't rotate. But there are also some other cards with a straight 2% on everything that I've seen some others post about. I can always use cash, but airline miles would be an item that I could maybe use, or I would end up trying to fit them in when it didn't really make sense. That doesn't feel like a net gain to me in the same way that straight cash does.
I agree you don't spend enough for the miles card.
We have a Chase Explorer card with United. My husband travels a lot of business and we charge everything to the card and pay it off each month. We rack up the miles. Last year two free tickets to Kaui, 2 free tickets to Guatemala, and one to Florida. This year, 2 free tickets to London. And we already have enough miles for two domestic tickets. So that's what works best for us.
I'm planning to travel within US no more than 1-2 times a year and usually spend about $500/month using a credit card and just want to find out if I should stick with my cash back or go with a travel credit card.
You can put your various monthly expenditures into Credit Card Tune-up and it will help recommend cards to consider. creditcardtuneup.com.
my brother is getting married and the hotel to stay in for the wedding is a radisson. so i decided to sign up for the club carlson card to use the bonus points for a nights stay. i got 85k bonus points and 1 night costs 36k points. so right off the bat you get 2 free nights. if i paid cash, i believe it was 185 or so, so thats $370 value right there (there is a $75 annual fee but you also get 40k points bonus every year you are with them so it pays for itself there). also, you get more benefit the longer you stay because you get a free night if you book at least 2 nights there.
anyway, it seems like a good card if you will be staying at radison (or affiliated) hotels.
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