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.

[Bearcat]

If a lender allowed credit card payments for a mortgage/loan, they would 100% pass on the credit card fees, which would most likely completely negate your card perks and more.

It would make zero sense for them to make x% from you in interest just to pay 2 or 3% to process credit card transactions.

[BigRedChief]

If you are chasing rewards, you shouldn’t care about the interest payment. It’s going to be high. Maybe as much as legally allowed. You will pay it off every month. So it doesn’t matter.

If you can’t pay it off every month, get a different card without rewards.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I checked with my bank, Truist. No dice. No way.

Have you asked your credit card company to mail you blank checks? Could pay that way. Gottem

[-King-]

What cards are you guys using for travel rewards? I need some "free" trips and upgrades in my life.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by -King-

What cards are you guys using for travel rewards? I need some "free" trips and upgrades in my life.

What types of rewards are you hoping for? Preferred airlines? Hotels? Destinations?

[-King-]

Originally Posted by DaFace

What types of rewards are you hoping for? Preferred airlines? Hotels? Destinations?

Delta and Southwest. I have Delta Gold and Southwest Premier but I feel like those are beginner cards and I'm not getting all I could from them.

Honestly, I'll probably be a sucker for whatever card I can get the most initial miles bonus from. I don't think I'm a good enough credit card spender to really rack up rewards after that.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by -King-

Delta and Southwest. I have Delta Gold and Southwest Premier but I feel like those are beginner cards and I'm not getting all I could from them.

Honestly, I'll probably be a sucker for whatever card I can get the most initial miles bonus from. I don't think I'm a good enough credit card spender to really rack up rewards after that.

I used to put a lot of miles on a Southwest card, and getting to the companion status was awesome. But then my spending dropped, and then it was not a valuable card at all. It's all or nothing with them.

[blake5676]

I’m a pretty firm believer that Chase Ultimate Rewards points are the best in the game. For my use, they have the best transfer partners and conversion rates. But I fly SW more than any other airline. A handful of cards in their lineup offer various signup bonuses but you can Google when is the best time to take advantage. My Chase Ink Business Preferred gets most of my spend followed by the Freedom Unlimited.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by -King-

What cards are you guys using for travel rewards? I need some "free" trips and upgrades in my life.

I think there's several factors when choosing a travel card.

Home airport - When I lived in Chicago, Midway was my preferred airport and I now live in PHX so Southwest makes the most sense as there's an abundance of direct flights.

Type of travel - If the bulk of your travel is for work, then I also prefer Southwest as the cattle call boarding system doesn't bother me since I'm usually traveling light, and if you travel enough you're usually A list anyway. If you're mostly traveling as a family then you might prefer assigned seating (although in my experience Southwest tries their best to keep families together but kids can't sit in exit rows so it kind of defeats being A list if you're traveling with kids).

Destinations - Southwest is mostly limited to domestic flights only so if your goal for the points is international travel then other airlines might be more appealing.

Random thoughts - bags fly free on Southwest so that can be nice. Some people like airport lounges, and while I do to, with TSA pre-check I typically time my arrivals a few minutes before boarding so airport lounges really only play if I have a layover which goes back to your home airport, are there a lot of direct flights or are you always going to be connecting? If spending time in airports is something you'll do a lot of, then an airline with lounge bennys may be more appealing.

So it really depends on what works best for you.

Southwest Companion Pass is a great perk. My wife is my companion and since its just the 2 of us and we can work anywhere its really nice. If I fly for work, I pay and get reimbursed for the air travel, my wife flies for free, hotel (Marriot points) gets reimbursed, Uber gets reimbursed, and per diem makes for a nearly free trip for 2 people outside of our personal spend which goes towards points.

[DaFace]

There are a few different options for choosing a travel card that just depend on what you're hoping to accomplish. If you're purely just looking to cut down on the costs of doing what you're already doing, it's really just a matter of collecting some information and doing some math. If you're wanting to get into travel perks (e.g., free TSA PreCheck, trip insurance, lounge access, etc.), you have to start thinking about balancing annual fees with the value of the perks. And if you want to do aspirational travel (e.g., business class international flights, luxury hotels, etc.), you have to commit to doing the legwork to figure it all out, but the payoffs are significant.

So with that in mind, here are some thoughts on the major options:

1. Airline specific cards. These generally aren't terribly exciting, but they'll get you some modest perks. It sounds like you already know these a bit, so I won't spend much time here.

2. Chase Ecosystem. You can transfer to Southwest from the Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve if you want to go more fully into the rewards game). If you pair the Preferred with a Freedom Unlimited, you'll can get 1.5x on everyday purchases and 3x on dining and groceries. If you have any interest in "big" redemptions, Chase transfers to United and Aeroplan, which are two of the easier spots to get good value on international business class. The CSP also gives you a 25% boost if you just use it to "erase" travel purchases (so basically a cash redemption).

3. CapitalOne Ecosystem. The Venture card (or Venture X if you want to unlock travel perks) earns 2x on everything if you use it to erase travel purchases, or they also transfer to Aeroplan and a wide variety of international airlines. You can pair it with a Savor One to get you 3x on dining and groceries to put it on par with the Chase ecosystem. (I find the VX to be one of the easiest to get value out of the $400 AF if you're interested in lounge access.)

4. American Express Ecosystem. AmEx transfers to Delta but, while I think you can get GREAT value out of their miles, it's the hardest of these three to use well. You'd need either Gold or Platinum card to do it, and I'm guessing the Gold overlaps with the Delta card you already have. If you want to go deeply into the luxury travel world, I think that AmEx is great, but otherwise, I'd recommend one of the others. (The one caveat here is that you could possibly get a HUGE sign-up bonus on the Platinum, but you'd have to commit to dealing with the $695 AF and all of the perks, which doesn't sound like a good place to start.)

Small pitch that I can get referral bonuses if you're interested in any of the Chase or CapitalOne cards, so let me know if those are of interest.

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by DaFace

There are a few different options for choosing a travel card that just depend on what you're hoping to accomplish. If you're purely just looking to cut down on the costs of doing what you're already doing, it's really just a matter of collecting some information and doing some math. If you're wanting to get into travel perks (e.g., free TSA PreCheck, trip insurance, lounge access, etc.), you have to start thinking about balancing annual fees with the value of the perks. And if you want to do aspirational travel (e.g., business class international flights, luxury hotels, etc.), you have to commit to doing the legwork to figure it all out, but the payoffs are significant.

So with that in mind, here are some thoughts on the major options:

1. Airline specific cards. These generally aren't terribly exciting, but they'll get you some modest perks. It sounds like you already know these a bit, so I won't spend much time here.

2. Chase Ecosystem. You can transfer to Southwest from the Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve if you want to go more fully into the rewards game). If you pair the Preferred with a Freedom Unlimited, you'll can get 1.5x on everyday purchases and 3x on dining and groceries. If you have any interest in "big" redemptions, Chase transfers to United and Aeroplan, which are two of the easier spots to get good value on international business class. The CSP also gives you a 25% boost if you just use it to "erase" travel purchases (so basically a cash redemption).

3. CapitalOne Ecosystem. The Venture card (or Venture X if you want to unlock travel perks) earns 2x on everything if you use it to erase travel purchases, or they also transfer to Aeroplan and a wide variety of international airlines. You can pair it with a Savor One to get you 3x on dining and groceries to put it on par with the Chase ecosystem. (I find the VX to be one of the easiest to get value out of the $400 AF if you're interested in lounge access.)

4. American Express Ecosystem. AmEx transfers to Delta but, while I think you can get GREAT value out of their miles, it's the hardest of these three to use well. You'd need either Gold or Platinum card to do it, and I'm guessing the Gold overlaps with the Delta card you already have. If you want to go deeply into the luxury travel world, I think that AmEx is great, but otherwise, I'd recommend one of the others. (The one caveat here is that you could possibly get a HUGE sign-up bonus on the Platinum, but you'd have to commit to dealing with the $695 AF and all of the perks, which doesn't sound like a good place to start.)

Small pitch that I can get referral bonuses if you're interested in any of the Chase or CapitalOne cards, so let me know if those are of interest.

I have the AM EX platinum Delta card. I believe the Annual fee is $595 but that includes Sky Club access and one free companion ticket a year. So it is usually a wash.

[Pointer19]

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief

I have the AM EX platinum Delta card. I believe the Annual fee is $595 but that includes Sky Club access and one free companion ticket a year. So it is usually a wash.

I remember at school being one of the first to get the AMEX Platinum - must've referred a few dozen people at least who likely did the same. They waive the annual fee, so it has spread like wildfire through the military. Now the Centurions are all full of troops in sweatpants next to the businessmen in suits; there used to be a hour minimum wait to get into the SEA Centurion before they moved to a bigger location. I've created a monster.

[|Zach|]

I have used and enjoyed Chase Sapphire Preferred and the welcome bonus was pretty generous it has not taken all that much for me to get just shy of 1k worth of points for travel or cash or whatever.

I do need to get a freedom card and keep pumping into that ecosystem. I totally for got about the $50 annual hotel credit until it was thrown on there to reduce a hotel stay for tomorrow night.

I also really like Chase's online platform everything looks good and just works.

Probably not active enough or high roller enough for reserve and I wish Chase and Delta were aligned but alas.

[ThaVirus]

Does anyone here churn bank accounts? I’ve been noticing a bunch of “earn $500 after 90 days of opening an account and setting up direct deposit” or “earn $500 after depositing X amount into new account” types of promos. Most recently I just saw one from Fifth Third Bank and I believe I saw one with SoFi as well.

Wondering if it’s something people do or not worth the effort..

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Does anyone here churn bank accounts? I’ve been noticing a bunch of “earn $500 after 90 days of opening an account and setting up direct deposit” or “earn $500 after depositing X amount into new account” types of promos. Most recently I just saw one from Fifth Third Bank and I believe I saw one with SoFi as well.

Wondering if it’s something people do or not worth the effort..

I've done it for an account here and there, but not really to churn. I don't see any reason it wouldn't work, though.