Cash Back Rewards Cards Thread

[tj_PE]

I know for a fact all 3 of us are flying to North Carolina via Southwest.  Should we still get the Chase Freedom or Sapphire?

yes, I would get both eventually. The freedom gets you 5x in certain categories every quarter, and the sapphire lets you apply those points toward travel with a 25% bonus on redemptions (ie, a 400 dollar plane ticket would cost you $320 worth of points) 

then, toward the end of this year, i would recommend getting two different southwest cards (under one person), hitting the minimum spend requirements for both in jan/feb, and gain the SW companion pass for TWO years (if acquired in 2021, it's good til end of 2022)

that's what i'd do! because you'd build a base of chase UR points, get a ton of southwest points, be able to add little one as companion and he flies for free, and use points to book your flights for a while! 

 

[tj_PE]

(you can also transfer chase UR points to southwest to fly)

 

[Master slacker]

Simple guy chiming in!  Mrs. MS and I have one card (well, one for her and one for me - same number) for everything.  We've used a single card for nearly 13 years now.  We use USAA for mortgage, CC, checking, savings, insurance, etc...  Again, simple.  Life's already too hectic, why inject more trouble?

 

[DLD PE]

Simple guy chiming in!  Mrs. MS and I have one card (well, one for her and one for me - same number) for everything.  We've used a single card for nearly 13 years now.  We use USAA for mortgage, CC, checking, savings, insurance, etc...  Again, simple.  Life's already too hectic, why inject more trouble?

Appreciate your input.  You're able to use yours to pay your mortgage?

 

[tj_PE]

Simple guy chiming in!  Mrs. MS and I have one card (well, one for her and one for me - same number) for everything.  We've used a single card for nearly 13 years now.  We use USAA for mortgage, CC, checking, savings, insurance, etc...  Again, simple.  Life's already too hectic, why inject more trouble?

if you don't want to you don't have to. but if you can get more out of your regular spending by switching which card you pull out of your wallet, why not go for it? 

 

[tj_PE]

Appreciate your input.  You're able to use yours to pay your mortgage?

i think they have the mortgage thru usaa 

 

[DLD PE]

i think they have the mortgage thru usaa 

Makes sense.

 

[mudpuppy]

TJ and I have a travel hacking PM that's been going on for two and a half years... So imagine our excitement when someone brings this up in a public thread!

The first thing I'll say is the credit card game can be a slippery slope, you'll be tempted to get more and more cards, and outside of cashback cards each one works with a different currency.  Sometimes you can find extraordinary value with each currency, but keeping track of each and managing them can be complicated and time consuming.  Sometimes there are great deals with points, but finding them isn't always easy and sometimes they vanish in an instant.  However, as engineers we enjoy the analytics of figuring out the best deals with each currency and the payoff in the end can be awesome.  

For some people it's a fun hobby and for others it may just be a PITA to keep track of everything and in that case a good cashback card is a great option.

I managed to get two free first-class tickets to Hawaii for our honeymoon and paid for more than half our hotel nights there (13 nights total) with points.  And this year we're going to Ireland for a week for free (free flights and hotel) with Delta miles.

The down side is I'm sitting on 600,000 Hilton points (worth around $3,000) and I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with them.  I'd love to use them on a villa in the Maldives, but that's a big commitment for using vacation time.  And TJ finally convinced me to get a Chase Sapphire Reserve that I'll rack up a bunch of Ultimate Rewards points on that I'm also not quite sure what I'll use for yet... but hoping maybe to snag a couple business class tickets to Tahiti.  

As for the Southwest question, if you really want to fly with them I'd second what TJ said about getting the two cards to earn the companion pass.  If I recall correctly, that gets you priority boarding and some other perks too.

 

[Master slacker]

if you don't want to you don't have to. but if you can get more out of your regular spending by switching which card you pull out of your wallet, why not go for it? 

 

[tj_PE]

I don't carry all my cards at once. I carry 1-2 cards, transit pass, my ID, and whatever cash i have on hand. 

and i don't keep receipts  

 

[JayKay PE]

I don't carry all my cards at once. I carry 1-2 cards, transit pass, my ID, and whatever cash i have on hand. 

and i don't keep receipts  

you're a monster.

I keep mine until I can add them to my budget/confirm they cleared the c/c account, and then I toss them.

 

[tj_PE]

you're a monster.

I keep mine until I can add them to my budget/confirm they cleared the c/c account, and then I toss them.

i just review my transactions like once every couple weeks 

 

[JayKay PE]

i just review my transactions like once every couple weeks 

To reiterate: you're a monster.

...but I do think it's interesting to see everyone's spending methodologies more than their habits.  For some reason that is way more interesting to me/a less discussed item.

 

[tj_PE]

TJ and I have a travel hacking PM that's been going on for two and a half years... So imagine our excitement when someone brings this up in a public thread!

The first thing I'll say is the credit card game can be a slippery slope, you'll be tempted to get more and more cards, and outside of cashback cards each one works with a different currency.  Sometimes you can find extraordinary value with each currency, but keeping track of each and managing them can be complicated and time consuming.  Sometimes there are great deals with points, but finding them isn't always easy and sometimes they vanish in an instant.  However, as engineers we enjoy the analytics of figuring out the best deals with each currency and the payoff in the end can be awesome.  

For some people it's a fun hobby and for others it may just be a PITA to keep track of everything and in that case a good cashback card is a great option.

I managed to get two free first-class tickets to Hawaii for our honeymoon and paid for more than half our hotel nights there (13 nights total) with points.  And this year we're going to Ireland for a week for free (free flights and hotel) with Delta miles.

The down side is I'm sitting on 600,000 Hilton points (worth around $3,000) and I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with them.  I'd love to use them on a villa in the Maldives, but that's a big commitment for using vacation time.  And TJ finally convinced me to get a Chase Sapphire Reserve that I'll rack up a bunch of Ultimate Rewards points on that I'm also not quite sure what I'll use for yet... but hoping maybe to snag a couple business class tickets to Tahiti.  

As for the Southwest question, if you really want to fly with them I'd second what TJ said about getting the two cards to earn the companion pass.  If I recall correctly, that gets you priority boarding and some other perks too.

priority depends which sw card you get, but yeah. 

hyatt has some fantastic properties!! i have like 140k in marriott but i also have the free night certificates from the card so i always end up using those. nice that i can transfer marriott points to some airlines though! that was an option when i was looking at my south africa trip

I was sitting on like 80k united 80k american and like 300+k chase points. used the united and some chasetounited transfers, and my american points for my 3 leg biz class tix and i get to fly in the new united polaris cabin!!!!!!!!!!! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee im just so excited to be able to lay down on a flight!!! 

 

[mudpuppy]

Yep, that's what my wallet looks like!

 

[MA_PE]

@tj_PE and @mudpuppy you guys must spend a lot of $$$ to get the big credit rewards.  Do you do a lot of work travel?  When you cash in rewards/points you don’t get any additional points so how do you replenish the stash.  Without getting too personal how much are you charging a month?  From my review of the terms from the many offers I receive in the mail, one needs to spend some fatty money to get substantial benefits and most of them have annual fee of ~$100.

 

[Orchid PE]

I need to figure out some way of getting points/cash back for my driving miles lol. I drive a sh!t ton of miles every month, but don't spend a lot on gas.

 

[tj_PE]

@tj_PE and @mudpuppy you guys must spend a lot of $$$ to get the big credit rewards.  Do you do a lot of work travel?  When you cash in rewards/points you don’t get any additional points so how do you replenish the stash.  Without getting too personal how much are you charging a month?  From my review of the terms from the many offers I receive in the mail, one needs to spend some fatty money to get substantial benefits and most of them have annual fee of ~$100.

I've accumulated them over about a year and a half - two years. @mudpuppy gets to use his personal cards for big business expenses. Mine is mostly from signup bonuses. They're usually $1000-4000 in 3 months. For the higher ones, I time them when I have big purchases coming up like exam / course fees, big travel purchases etc. a couple card signups I was able to charge a trip for 3 people and be reimbursed for their portions which worked out well. 

I spend maybe about 1k a month. plus or minus. on (future) travel, food, and I'm able to pay all of my utilities with my cc. my big trips i go on, require prepaid stuff, so I pay those a few at a time so the trip doesn't cost a bunch in one month. 

 

[mudpuppy]

@tj_PE and @mudpuppy you guys must spend a lot of $$$ to get the big credit rewards.  Do you do a lot of work travel?  When you cash in rewards/points you don’t get any additional points so how do you replenish the stash.  Without getting too personal how much are you charging a month?  From my review of the terms from the many offers I receive in the mail, one needs to spend some fatty money to get substantial benefits and most of them have annual fee of ~$100.

All of my work travel has to go on a company card, which sucks!

But yeah, a good portion of my hilton points came from sign up bonuses, which usually require $3-4k in spend in 3 months to get the bonus.  We spend about $40k/year on credit cards personally and as TJ mentioned I've been lucky enough to put about $20k/year in expenses from a nonprofit I work with on my own cards, but that will end next year when I'm no longer treasurer.

I charge everything I possibly can on a credit card without adding a fee.  It adds up pretty quickly when you consider utility bills, insurance, groceries, gas, eating out, etc.  We were able to put the deposit on buying my car on a card too.  About the only things I don't put on a card are the mortgage and property taxes, and a tiny bit of spending cash for random stuff.

I'm jealous of my friend that owns a business and puts $800k/year on credit cards.

 

[DLD PE]

TJ and I have a travel hacking PM that's been going on for two and a half years... So imagine our excitement when someone brings this up in a public thread!

The first thing I'll say is the credit card game can be a slippery slope, you'll be tempted to get more and more cards, and outside of cashback cards each one works with a different currency.  Sometimes you can find extraordinary value with each currency, but keeping track of each and managing them can be complicated and time consuming.  Sometimes there are great deals with points, but finding them isn't always easy and sometimes they vanish in an instant.  However, as engineers we enjoy the analytics of figuring out the best deals with each currency and the payoff in the end can be awesome.  

For some people it's a fun hobby and for others it may just be a PITA to keep track of everything and in that case a good cashback card is a great option.

I managed to get two free first-class tickets to Hawaii for our honeymoon and paid for more than half our hotel nights there (13 nights total) with points.  And this year we're going to Ireland for a week for free (free flights and hotel) with Delta miles.

The down side is I'm sitting on 600,000 Hilton points (worth around $3,000) and I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with them.  I'd love to use them on a villa in the Maldives, but that's a big commitment for using vacation time.  And TJ finally convinced me to get a Chase Sapphire Reserve that I'll rack up a bunch of Ultimate Rewards points on that I'm also not quite sure what I'll use for yet... but hoping maybe to snag a couple business class tickets to Tahiti.  

As for the Southwest question, if you really want to fly with them I'd second what TJ said about getting the two cards to earn the companion pass.  If I recall correctly, that gets you priority boarding and some other perks too.

Thanks for the info and congrats on your honeymoon!

We're not really travelers (I don't even travel for work) and any traveling we do is for family lately.  Southwest just has the best prices for direct flights from Nashville to Raleigh.  We've never had a problem flying with them.