JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 We're looking at switching from ours, which is tied to American Airlines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Don't want to hijack here, but may I say for the record that AA sucks. Flying from here (DFW) it is nearly the only option for business travel if you're heading out of state. They royally suck. But, since I forced into using them I do have them for rewards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I love my Amazon.com card. I shop at Amazon a lot, so using the card gives me 3% back there and 1% back everywhere else. The best part is that there's no yearly limit (a lot of cards limit your yearly bonus to $300). Every 2500 points you get ($2500 spent on non-Amazon purchases) gives you a $25 Amazon gift certificate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I love American Express Membership Rewards. You can redeem the points for flights on several airlines (including JetBlue) and hotels. You can also redeem the points for concert tickets, sports tickets etc. Its really a great service. Also, the levels are pretty easily attainable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erynthered Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I love American Express Membership Rewards. You can redeem the points for flights on several airlines (including JetBlue) and hotels. You can also redeem the points for concert tickets, sports tickets etc. Its really a great service. Also, the levels are pretty easily attainable. I'll second that. Wifey and I have been saving our points for some time. We want to use them for Round trip first class tickets to Australia We have just about 300K points so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootindy Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I recommend either Discover Card or American Express Blue Cash over a reward card - both give you $$ back which is usually a lot more than you'd get back from a rewards program. Discover you can cash out in $20 increments at any time, Blue Cash is once a year, but has a high cash back % once you hit more than $6500 a year in charges. Plus, with the Amex card you automatically get an extra year warranty for any item purchased. Discover can also give you extra $$ on gift cards to a lot of different online stores and restaurants if you go that route instead of taking the cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I recommend either Discover Card or American Express Blue Cash over a reward card - both give you $$ back which is usually a lot more than you'd get back from a rewards program. Discover you can cash out in $20 increments at any time, Blue Cash is once a year, but has a high cash back % once you hit more than $6500 a year in charges. Plus, with the Amex card you automatically get an extra year warranty for any item purchased. Discover can also give you extra $$ on gift cards to a lot of different online stores and restaurants if you go that route instead of taking the cash. I've had a Discover card for decades. You're right about cashing out. I've never used the retail discount feature, though. I will say, they are a pretty upstanding outfit. I also have a Citibank (nee AT&T) MC that I use only for medical co-pays, and they have played the quick billing game for years. I pay mine off every month - after having been taught a costly lesson years ago. But 6 months or so ago, I neglected opening up the envelope and ended up having to pay by phone. For a fee. They recently - I assume because of lawsuit - have made big changes in their billing paperwork. I laugh when folks rail against oil companies - banks wrote the book... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I've got a Priority Club card, since I do alot of traveling for work. Lets me use the points for those weekends the wife and I want to get away. I'm sure there are better programs out there, but I like this one. Check out CreditCards.com to compare different programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFerguson Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 fatwallet.com I personally don't want miles or points or gift cards. I want CASH. COLD HARD CASH. Discover is a good one. Chase Freedom. AMEX Blue Cash. Citi CashRewards card is currently offering 5% cash back for first three months of the card, with NO LIMIT on the amount of cash back you can earn. The ones in bold are my two main ones. If would agree that if you do want points, AMEX membership rewards is a good program to get in, especially for their travel redemption program. You can book a flight directly through their travel website, which is basically travelocity. 1 point = $0.01. The only reason why I had that card was for a sign up bonus of 25000 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sullim4 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I'm a big fan of the AMEX Hilton HHonors card. 3 pts per dollar for any purchase, 5 pts at gas stations, grocery stores, cell phone bills, Hilton properties, and the post office. $20k in purchases during a calendar year nets you HHonors gold status for free. These add up really quickly, and the nice thing is that as long as there is a standard room available in the hotel of your choice, they'll let you grab it for points (with no upcharge). 125k points nets you 4 nights at a category 6 hotel (Waldorf-Astoria, Hilton Hawaiian Village, etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFerguson Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I've had a Discover card for decades. You're right about cashing out. I've never used the retail discount feature, though. I will say, they are a pretty upstanding outfit. I also have a Citibank (nee AT&T) MC that I use only for medical co-pays, and they have played the quick billing game for years. I pay mine off every month - after having been taught a costly lesson years ago. But 6 months or so ago, I neglected opening up the envelope and ended up having to pay by phone. For a fee. They recently - I assume because of lawsuit - have made big changes in their billing paperwork. I laugh when folks rail against oil companies - banks wrote the book... Why didn't you just pay your bill online? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Why didn't you just pay your bill online? Personal choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsWatch Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I looked into this. When you pay online the phone bill they have the right to send e-mail (junk) to you as well just as they do when they send it to you in the envelope. I am not authorizing a utility to send me junk mail so they can save money and just send me my bill electronically. On matter of rewards I like the Chase United card. I have been able to double and triple dip at times, I have been able to use it for travel awards with relatively little effort and if you want to you can use award points to pay fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I looked into this. When you pay online the phone bill they have the right to send e-mail (junk) to you as well just as they do when they send it to you in the envelope. I am not authorizing a utility to send me junk mail so they can save money and just send me my bill electronically. On matter of rewards I like the Chase United card. I have been able to double and triple dip at times, I have been able to use it for travel awards with relatively little effort and if you want to you can use award points to pay fee. Whenever I have the rare occasion to talk with utilities, credit outfits, and the like, I get that message "...this may be recorded for quality assurance reasons". I announce that I, too, am recording the conversation and if there is objection to that and objection is not stated, I proceed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 It's been a while since I have traveled enough to make it worth my while, but Diners Club always had the most kickass rewards program. The problem was simply that, outside of airlines, hotels and some restaurants, you just didn't find a lot of companies that took Diners. Ultimately they slapped a MasterCard logo on it, so you can use it most anywhere. But as I had mentioned, I don't travel like I did in a previous life, so the only rewards program I'm on is the random "Daddy, you're my best buddy" I get from my son. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelloNewman Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 If any of you want to save for college get the Upromise credit card. It gives 1% of the transaction into your unpromise acct....www.upromise.com....good thing to have when saving for college tuition IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 But as I had mentioned, I don't travel like I did in a previous life, so the only rewards program I'm on is the random "Daddy, you're my best buddy" I get from my son. Is there an annual fee for that program? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Is there an annual fee for that program? It depends on the day of the week. Some days it seems like it's totally free and sometimes I feel like I can barely afford the annual fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philly McButterpants Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 I'm a big fan of the AMEX Hilton HHonors card. 3 pts per dollar for any purchase, 5 pts at gas stations, grocery stores, cell phone bills, Hilton properties, and the post office. $20k in purchases during a calendar year nets you HHonors gold status for free. These add up really quickly, and the nice thing is that as long as there is a standard room available in the hotel of your choice, they'll let you grab it for points (with no upcharge). 125k points nets you 4 nights at a category 6 hotel (Waldorf-Astoria, Hilton Hawaiian Village, etc). Gotta bump this one . . . I luv my HH AmEx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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