The Credit Card Rewards Game

[DaFace]

It came up a bit in the thread about spare change, but it seems like there are af few of us at least enjoy playing "the game." So here's a place to talk about earning strategies, brag about your favorite redemptions, get advice, etc.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Yeah, I've actually used Spirit and others a few times now because the Phoenix to KC flights that used to occasionally be $100 one way on Southwest are now rarely even the $150 they got bumped to a few years ago. I've also found a couple of cheaper options on United and others that never would have been considered ~5 years ago.

I'll always prefer the lineup method over crowd the gate method though.

I prefer the "stay in the lounge until 20 minutes before departure and walk straight onto the plane after everyone's sitting down already" approach.

[CapsLockKey]

Only worth it if you frequent Sam's Club but I do most of my shopping there so got their credit card and a plus membership which gets 2% back on everything from there and it's worth it for eyeglasses discount alone. Extra 3% back with the CC and 5% on gas from anywhere.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by ptlyon

True ****ing statement. I loved capital one, transitioning to Marcus has been a CF. In fact have my new marcus card and haven't activated it yet. Afraid what kind of CF that will be and want a working card for a fishing trip next week.

MOTHER ****ING COCK SUCKERS.

Capital One was AWESOME. Their app was fantastic. The Marcus app is like going back to Gen 1 smart phone shit.

My employees call me constantly about issues. Nothing like being stuck in BFE needing fuel but the ****ing card decides to have a weird safety feature kick in. God damn.

I finally received 6 new cards in the mail today. They look really cool, matte black color. The lady that I spoke to last week said they had millions of cards that had to be mailed the next 2 weeks.

[DRU]

I would suggest your options are flawed. Cash back isn't beginner status.

I use a PayPal MasterCard with 2% on everything and 3% when used through the PayPal wallet.

I use a CapitalOne Spark 2% for business purchases.

Sprinkle in Discover, Chase Freedom, etc. for the 5% in specific categories.

With business and personal expenses charged to a card and paid in full each month, we end up with ~$3500 in cashback each year (tax free because cash back is considered a discount, not income.)

This cash goes directly into my ROTH where I drop it into index funds.

Having started at age 30, an average return of 9% would result in $1.03M of 100% tax free cash sitting in the account, just from cashback alone.

(Note: I understand that averages lie and actual returns would be different, but this is the general way people look at investment returns so that's what I used. In reality it could be lower, or quite a bit higher than 9% when including alternative investments like crypto, real estate, lending, etc., but the point stands. And yes, you can do all of that inside a ROTH.)

[scho63]

My Discover Card and Amex provide some nice rebates. I don't fly anymore or travel so I probably miss out on some big scores.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I'm not a "churner" per se, but I do sign up for a few cards a year for the bonuses.[/list]

So how do you handle the amount of extra cards you end up with? Close them out after a certain amount of time?

[Dunit35]

We only get 1% on our discover. Pay it off every month but only bring in $400-500 in free money a year.

I’d like to get a better rewards card but I don’t want to mess with my credit score.

[lewdog]

Amazon Prime Card gets me 5% back on all Amazon purchases. And we use Amazon a **** ton.

[Nirvana58]

Citi double cash card. 2% back on everything. No annual fees. Pretty much hard to beat.

Amazon Prime Card. 5% for all Amazon.

Lowes business amex. 5% off anything Lowes. Plus 2% back in reward points. Will deliver pretty much anywhere you need for 20 bucks with card. Great for big orders.

Those 3 cards basically cover anything I need to buy.

[Rasputin]

I don't use credit cards

[Buehler445]

Just stick everything on an Amazon card for the points. Far from advanced.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

So how do you handle the amount of extra cards you end up with? Close them out after a certain amount of time?

Yeah, pretty much. It's a common misconception that having a bunch of cards hurts your credit score. The danger is more getting to the point that you can't keep track of everything. I currently have 14 open credit cards and a credit score of 818 (according to Credit Karma). My score has actually INCREASED as I've gotten more into the game - mostly because I have like $250k in total available credit and never use more than like $5k of it.

But as for getting rid of a card that you don't need anymore, a few general guidelines:
-If there's no annual fee, you can just put it in a drawer forever if you don't want to risk a hit to your credit by closing it. Worst case they'll close it on you for inactivity.
-Try to keep a handful of cards forever (preferably cards with no AF). That will keep your average credit length up. Related to the above, if you have a long-term card that you don't really need, just put some minor annual expense on it (but be sure you're keeping track of it so you don't miss a payment).
-Another option is to "product change" a card. This mostly only works within card families, so you can't change an Amazon card for example, but Chase will let you change a Freedom to a Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, Capital One will let you change a Venture X to a Venture or Venture One, etc.
-Don't close a card in less than a year. They don't like that. But if you wait until your AF hits your statement at 12 months and THEN call them, you won't have any issue closing the card and getting the AF refunded.

Again, I'm not an expert at this stuff, but those are some of the ways I think of it.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by DRU

I would suggest your options are flawed. Cash back isn't beginner status.

I use a PayPal MasterCard with 2% on everything and 3% when used through the PayPal wallet.

I use a CapitalOne Spark 2% for business purchases.

Sprinkle in Discover, Chase Freedom, etc. for the 5% in specific categories.

With business and personal expenses charged to a card and paid in full each month, we end up with ~$3500 in cashback each year (tax free because cash back is considered a discount, not income.)

This cash goes directly into my ROTH where I drop it into index funds.

Having started at age 30, an average return of 9% would result in $1.03M of 100% tax free cash sitting in the account, just from cashback alone.

(Note: I understand that averages lie and actual returns would be different, but this is the general way people look at investment returns so that's what I used. In reality it could be lower, or quite a bit higher than 9% when including alternative investments like crypto, real estate, lending, etc., but the point stands. And yes, you can do all of that inside a ROTH.)

Sure, I don't disagree with that perspective. What I might disagree with is whether that constitutes the "game." The real fun starts when you are actually getting more like 15-20% "returns" on your spending because you're constantly churning cards for the sign-up bonuses and getting redemptions of 5-10 cents per point. (I'd call that "expert" level.")

[Iconic]

im a noob to this stuff but started dabbling into the whole chase trifecta thing. plan to eventually have a chase superfecta including the chase business card for the gas bonuses.

ideally want to get into amex but i think that's something i won't achieve until im in my late 30s and my income and life are stable.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Iconic

im a noob to this stuff but started dabbling into the whole chase trifecta thing. plan to eventually have a chase superfecta including the chase business card for the gas bonuses.

ideally want to get into amex but i think that's something i won't achieve until im in my 40s and my income and life are stable.

A lot of online blogs make it sound like the Amex Platinum is a no-brainer, but it's REALLY hard to make up a $695 AF. I still haven't taken the plunge on that one, though 1) I probably will at some point - their SUB is currently 150k for me, and 2) I actually pay a friend $175/year for my wife and I to be authorized users on his so I can get into Centurion lounges. That last part is probably dumb, but I love the perk.