Which credit card do you use the most?

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ps99472

ps99472

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Recently signed up with discover and has gotten quite a bit of cashback (~$300 in 6 months)..  If you shop online, shopdiscover gives the most amount of cashback... go 5% on both iPad and Sony TV.  Recently they have a 5% promo on restaurants, which came quite handy.

the costco AMEX is our second choice..  2% on restaurants but it's year round... we usually generate a rebate check around $5-600 a year... bit of a hassle that I have to cash it at costco only.. wish we can just redeem for credit online (like discover)

Of course AMEX wins hands down if you ever need to dispute anything. 
 
Primary- Discover.
Costco only- Amex. I don't use my card outside Costco, mostly to keep track of my annual Costco expenses.
Chase Visa/ Amazon- got this a year ago, and since I am an Amazon addict, it's working great!
I had Wells Fargo Visa- probably the worst reward card :-)
 
I use mainly Amex, with a REI visa as my backup.  I know a some people that churn cards every year and get crazy amounts of miles and free rooms/vacations.  It's actually quite amazing.  The best place to learn how to churn cards and which cards give the best benefits is on the flyertalk.com forum.  Those ppl have taken card churning to an artform.
 
@cz and ps9:

Don't you find some places that don't accept Discover? I have a Discover card and wanted to use it as primary but some places don't take it (this has been a while ago). I actually got it when Costco used to take Discover many years ago.

I've read the best reward card is either Citibank or Chase.
 
AMEX is my backup, otherwise I'll cycle through my mastercards and visas so they don't cancel my account due to inactivity... 
 
Fidelity AMEX.  2% Cash back everywhere.  Receive $50 right after statement comes once you hit $2500.  Then  Costco AMEX for gas only since its 3% (was doing restaurants on here til they changed it to 2% so use fidelity

Although since I knew we had a big trip planned I stocked up on some other cards to get bonus points after spending a certain amount in the first few months:

Chase Hyatt - two free nights at any Hyatt anywhere.  Many people are doubling down with their spouse and are getting 4 free nights at the Grand Hyatt in Paris or Tokyo which can run over 800 bucks a night.
Chase Sapphire Preferred - $700 credit towards a flight
AMEX Starwood - three free nights at any Westin/Sheraton

would of also done Citi Thank You Premier, but didn't think I could hit the spending threshold in the short timeframe on top of the other cards.
 
PenFed rewards card for gas (5% cash back)
Chase rewards card for their quarterly 5% cash back specials
Capital One rewards card for everything else which gets me 1.50%
 
we use AMEX starwood preferred guest. Last summer we spent two weeks in europe and all of our hotels were free. otherwise we would have spent $300-$500 per night.
 
Whatever card has the bonus offer.  AMX for everything else. 

This quarter Chase Freedom for groceries (5%).  Chase Amazon card had a offer of spending $1500 to get 4000 points (equivalent to $40 back).  Bank of America/easyrewards usually has a 5% on gas or dining or groceries up to $50 every quarter. Once it was free night Marriott voucher for spending $250.  Once it was switch to their new cash back card, spend $500 and get $100.
 
quick follow up.  if we look at the best online rates for the hotels we stay in, we typically are getting a $300-400 room for about 10000 points or return of 3-4%.  frankly, if we priceline it, we should be able to get the same rooms for about $250 so the return is only 2.5% and many cash back cards can do similar or even better.  the reason we dont change it is because as logical as we are, its hard to shell out real money for a nice room and its easier to save and stay in crappy digs.  having hotel points forces us to stay in really nice places that we normally wouldnt otherwise.

also, if you arent spending at least $10000 a year, SPG amex would be a waste.  i use it as my company card and hence accumulate a good amount of points per year.
 
rkp said:
quick follow up.  if we look at the best online rates for the hotels we stay in, we typically are getting a $300-400 room for about 10000 points or return of 3-4%.  frankly, if we priceline it, we should be able to get the same rooms for about $250 so the return is only 2.5% and many cash back cards can do similar or even better.  the reason we dont change it is because as logical as we are, its hard to shell out real money for a nice room and its easier to save and stay in crappy digs.  having hotel points forces us to stay in really nice places that we normally wouldnt otherwise.

also, if you arent spending at least $10000 a year, SPG amex would be a waste.  i use it as my company card and hence accumulate a good amount of points per year.
Click to expand...

what tier on the starwood chart were those hotels in Europe usually?  Since you said 10,000 points I'm guessing category 4's?
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/account/starpoints/redeem/point_comparison.html

We only got it cause of the 30k bonus points (using it for 3 free nights at westin kauai/princeville) but am trying to decide whether to keep it and take on the annual fee.

it has been awhile since I have looked. Its basically spend $5,000 to get 10,000 points?

 
irvinehomeowner said:
@cz and ps9:

Don't you find some places that don't accept Discover? I have a Discover card and wanted to use it as primary but some places don't take it (this has been a while ago). I actually got it when Costco used to take Discover many years ago.

I've read the best reward card is either Citibank or Chase.
Click to expand...

Most of the Asian places don't accept Discover. I keep Chase as my backup.
 
26inirvine said:
what tier on the starwood chart were those hotels in Europe usually?  Since you said 10,000 points I'm guessing category 4's?
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/account/starpoints/redeem/point_comparison.html

We only got it cause of the 30k bonus points (using it for 3 free nights at westin kauai/princeville) but am trying to decide whether to keep it and take on the annual fee.

it has been awhile since I have looked. Its basically spend $5,000 to get 10,000 points?
Click to expand...

europe was almost all cat 5s and we probably got 5-6% value in europe because of strong euro and how expensive everything is in the summer.  stateside, we almost always find great cat 4 westins in city centers

its 1 point per dollar so spend $10000 for 10000 points.  the card really makes sense if you travel internationally and spend enough in a year to earn a few free nights.  priceline is much stronger stateside and you can get 5 star city centers for 50-60% of the best price most of the time
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
The founder of Visa Black Card is my buddy so I use his product of course. Ideal card for flash around Irvine and SCP.
Click to expand...

your post intrigued me.  i didnt realize buy.com founder created the black card...thats crazy to be able to trademark the phrase...

i was in meetings with scott a few years ago when i covered SoCal for my company but dont really remember him.  your circle of friends is high rollers IHS.  from newport beach super villa owner indiedev to this guy...
 
The Amex Centurion card used to be referred to as the 'Black Card' and initially had a fee of $1000/yr (later to $2500 and not sure what it is now). Looks like the Visa Black Card trademarked the term in 2009.  Here's one recent review I found from someone that has both of them:http://www.cardratings.com/american-express-centurion-vs-visa-black-card-review.html

Anyways, I use the Starwood Amex for most purchases and try to spend the points at nice hotels/resorts.  We've also got the Southwest Visa (they had some great signup promo), the PenFed Visa, and the Citi Dividends Mastercard (only used with Google Wallet).
 
@RKP, Blum loves Wyoming and so do I. We love the great outdoor where nature is a part of the house yard. The lowly friends I have are most of you here at TI. I want to stay grounded with reality.
 
The AMEX Starwood looks interesting, do the points expire after a certain amount of time?  We don't travel much and it's a bit harder now with the kid but free hotel stays at 5 stars might change my mind.
 
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