Rewards Credit Cards

[Yoda]

I had the Citi Rewards MC but I didn't realize that they capped my points so I missed out on thousands. I got pissed and immediately cancelled their ass.

I have an Amex now but the points accumulate so slowly. I don't even know how many points I have nor do I care anymore.

What are the general specs on both cards? What makes the Amex accumulate slower?

Citi was great and I highly recommend it for points. Every 6 months we would have $400-500 worth of pts. I think the program that I have for Amex is half of that. Amex is great because there are other fringe benefits.

[AussieDodger]

It really depends on how much you plan to put on it. My personal card gives 1% cash back and that's pretty good b/c we don't put that much on it. But my business card is a Visa airmiles card. I'm able to put my office rent on this card and almost all of my business expenses and the air miles rock. I was just able to buy an entire vacation for next march break entirely on air miles. Plane tickets to LA, hotel, rental car and a 7 day cruise all on air miles With the 1% cash back I wouldn't have had enough to pay for even one of those things.

My mum has a Visa airmiles card for her bar, and she just went from New Zealand to Ireland, Paris, the west coast of America and home again all on airmiles. If you have enough money going through them they're pretty awesome.

[rlode67628]

I went to a Frank Abagnale speech (he was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me if You Can) and one thing he recommended was to pay all your bills with one credit card that gives cash back, and then pay that bill with a check. I'm still in high school so I don't have a credit card but if any of you guys do it or try it out I'd be interested to know how much you save.

[RugbyD]

I went to a Frank Abagnale speech (he was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me if You Can) and one thing he recommended was to pay all your bills with one credit card that gives cash back, and then pay that bill with a check. I'm still in high school so I don't have a credit card but if any of you guys do it or try it out I'd be interested to know how much you save.

Depends on what bills you have. If you ca put mortgage and car payments on a credit card that would really jack up your cash back. Throw in an interest-bearing checking account and that lets you get 15 days more interest on money you would use to pay bills through your checking account plus your cash back. However, i you are allowed to put mortgage and other large payments on your CC< make sure the CC has a very high credit limit or esle your credit score will get dinged as your bill will regularly eat up a large portin of your credit availability.

[Snakes Gould]

i was thinking about just getting a credit card to use for gas. i fill up about 3 times a month at about $50-$60 a pop. $150-$180 a month, and then id pay it off right away using my checking/savings account. i wanted to do this mostly just to build some credit and i know ill be able to pay it off right away. There's so many to choose from, i just dont know which direction to go.

[Field]

So does anyone here buy everything with a credit card? I usually purchase large items with my cc and small purchases with my debit card. I'm thinking about just using my cc all the time and paying it off right away to take advantage of some of the deal mentioned earlier. I usually keep a large buffer in my savings account so paying off monthly cc bills would never really be an issue. Unless some sort of unforseen, 'black swan' event occurs in my life .

[RugbyD]

So does anyone here buy everything with a credit card? I usually purchase large items with my cc and small purchases with my debit card. I'm thinking about just using my cc all the time and paying it off right away to take advantage of some of the deal mentioned earlier. I usually keep a large buffer in my savings account so paying off monthly cc bills would never really be an issue. Unless some sort of unforseen, 'black swan' event occurs in my life .

assuming you never carry a CC balance, it only makes a difference if you benefit from not using your debit card. This can be in the form of using a rewards-based CC or having an interest-bearing checking account.

[markj11]

So does anyone here buy everything with a credit card? I usually purchase large items with my cc and small purchases with my debit card. I'm thinking about just using my cc all the time and paying it off right away to take advantage of some of the deal mentioned earlier. I usually keep a large buffer in my savings account so paying off monthly cc bills would never really be an issue. Unless some sort of unforseen, 'black swan' event occurs in my life .

I use my cc for everything I can and pay it off every month. My checking acount draws 4%. Last year interest + cash back = around $1000. This year it should be around $1400 since I have been building a house and paying all the bills I can with the CC. Also, my constrution loan is set up so that when I need money I let the bank know and they deposit it into my checking acount. So I put everything on the credit card then at the end of the month let the bank know how much I need. The few days that money is sitting in my acount it is drawing intrest.

[wurmz07]

I really need to get my credit rolling, having to pay a $400 deposit per line from verizon because I have absolutely no credit isn't what I want to do.

[Yoda]

I should clarify that 'fringe benefits' for AMEX are mostly travel related. I can book flights that are cheaper, get access to tickets that are sold out, etc.