After an adventure with someone committing fraud with our debit card we decided to get a rewards credit card and using it for everything possible: basically use it then immediately make a payment for however much we charge. One step more than using the debit card but no biggie. So groceries gas Amazon any bills that will accept it etc.
My wife would prefer a flight miles card because our three adult kids (and grandkids) are all 12 hour drives from us now as well as other family.
It’s hard to figure out what’s the “best” card. We just want the most miles for the buck. With the least restrictions. But I may be missing something.
First card, Chase Sapphire Reserve: 3% in points on dining/travel, 1% back on everything else. You can then redeem those points for 1.5x face value to book travel or transfer to airline points programs, and in covid times, on dining with the “pay yourself back” program. So it’s effectively 4.5% back on travel/dining. There are a bunch of other bonuses too; $300 back per year on all travel, free global entry, airline lounges, Lyft Pink, Doordash+, etc. It costs $550/year which scares stupid people away.
Second card, Chase freedom unlimited. 5% back in points on groceries, 1.5% back on everything else. Use this for everything not travel/dining/Amazon. These points can then be transferred to the CSR for a whopping 7.5% back on all groceries and 2.25% back on all other purchases not travel/dining/groceries.
Third card, Amazon prime. 5% on all Amazon purchases. Don’t use those points to buy stuff at Amazon, redeem them back to the card balance, because then they can be used to pay for stuff at Amazon and get 5% back there as well. Only use at Amazon and Whole Foods.
I realize all this can sound imposing, but it’s really quite easy. Dining/travel, use CSR. Amazon? Amazon. Everything else, Chase Freedom.
If you really don’t want to deal with any complexity at all, get the citibank double cash card for a flat 2% back on all purchases.
Double check this, but I believe when you make any travel purchases with this card it automatically confers travel insurance. We have saved about $1500 in travel expenses because this card covered miscues with travel. For example, we were flying back to St. Louis from Miami and our connecting flight in Dallas got cancelled due to weather. We had to stay in a hotel overnight. The card covered that and our dinner and our cab fare to and from the airport. We were in a nice Dallas hotel and we charged an expensive dinner and it was all covered. Total bill was about $500.
Another aspect to look at is if you’re the type that likes to build up points rather than actively spending them all the time, make sure you get a card where said points don’t expire.
OK, I’m in the stupid people category. Why is $550 a year not a big deal? We want one primarily for flight miles. My recent flight to and from my daughter costs me $385, which is obviously less than the $550 this would cost me.
You get $300 back day 1 making it $250, and the other bonuses easily pay for itself many, many times over. You only need to spend $5k on travel/dining across the entire year to get $250 back. Everything after that is gravy.
And that ignores the lyft pink, doordash+, global entry, lounge access, etc. You also get 60k bonus points as a one-time signup bonus, which is worth $900.
There’s a lesser version of the Chase Sapphire, the Chase Sapphire Preferred that’s only $95 per year. They are giving you 100,000 airline points for signing up for it if you use it to spend $4000 in the first three months.
For us, the main thing we’re looking for is just airline tickets. I don’t think the Lyft, etc. will be of significant benefit. We will investigate the Sapphire Reserved vs. the Preferred. Looks like you need to spend about $4000 in the first three months to get the bonuses.
Yep, the Preferred only gives 1.25x bonus on points so those 100k are worth $1250. It’s much cheaper, but other than that amazing sign-up bonus and much lower fee, not a comparable card.
I looked closely at the Chase Sapphire card a few years back, but I wasn’t convinced the math reconciled well enough with my spending (patterns and numbers, both). Some years, I’d expect the rewards to come together beautifully. Others, maybe not.
I just looked through my records and so far this year I redeemed $1168.90 from the Chase Pay Yourself Back program. So that’s about 78k points.
The only way the CSR doesn’t make financial sense is if you don’t spend a lot of money on travel or dining. If you primarily cook at home and don’t take expensive trips. Remember, you only need to spend $5k/yr on travel/dining to break even, and then you start making money. If you spend less than that, get the double cash card. or the CS Preferred as it has a ridiculous signup bonus right now worth $1250.
