Want a CC for rewards/points. Help me out please.

[coffeelover]

I would like to sign up for a new cc just for the rewards/bonuses/points. I plan to pay it off each month and would like to put our next vacation on this card.

Tell me about your best cards.

Thanks everyone.

[jodelino]

I like the Chase United Mileageplus Explorer Card because:

United is the best carrier for flying between my nearest airport & the airport I like to travel to. Cardholders not only collect miles, they get one free checked bag for everyone in their party and 2 free passes to the United airport lounge per year (comfy places to hang out with free booze, snacks, and wi-fi, in case of a long layover or flight delay).

I find that of all the frequent flyer accounts I have (Delta, US Airways, SW, American, and United), United is the easiest with which to get the free flights on the days & routes that I want. They have a very flexible redemption program: you can plan ahead & get flights for the lowest number of miles, but you can usually get last-minute flights too, though for more miles. It is easy to book one-way flights.

If you shop online, you can go through the United.com portal and get multiple miles for your purchases with occasional mileage bonuses (mileage varies but you can get, for instance: 8 miles/dollar at drugstore.com, or 3 miles/dollar at Apple; it can really add up).

You start with a 30,000 mile bonus (enough for a free flight between the US & Canada) and one no-fee year, so it's at least worth a try to see if it works for you. I just added a United business card, not only for the mileage signup bonus, but also to keep my business expenses organized separately, so I have 2 United mileage cards, and so does my husband--we have flown free between US & Canada three times this year, so it's working for us.

The chase.com website is easy to use too. Of course, don't get this card if you're not going to pay your bill in full and on time!

[seattlecyclone]

I like the Sallie Mae card offered through Barclaycard. It gives 5% cash back on grocery stores, gas stations, and bookstores (Amazon counts as a bookstore), with 1% cash back on everything else. The Citi Double Cash card (2% back on everything) also looks quite good for the stuff I'm not getting 5% on with the other card. I intend to apply for that card one of these days.

[Mortgage Free Mike]

There are so many options.

For travel, I like the Barclaycard Arrival and Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards. Both offer great sign-up bonuses. I believe the Barclaycard is free the first year. The Chase card charges an annual fee right off the bat. When redeemed for travel, the Barclaycard has effectively a 2.2% cash back rate. If you fly Southwest, however, you might want to look into that card for the 50,000 points bonus they offer from time to time. If you don't like the card, you can always cancel it. I know they say that's not good, but I've done it several times and it hasn't caused me too much trouble. My credit score is still near 800.

[themagicman]

What are the biggest categories for your spend? Do you spend a lot on groceries and gas? The I agree that the sallie mae is probably your best bet
Do you spend a lot of going out to eat? What are you high spending categories?

[juuustin]

Sapphire Preferred and Barclaycard Arrival+ are my two main cards for joint purchases with my wife.  I have a Freedom card as well.

We have had Sapphire Preferred since getting married about 2.5 years ago and it has a great rewards structure, but it is getting worse unfortunately.  When we signed up, the annual fee was waived for the first year and we received a 7% points dividend per year.  Our dividend has been between 6,000 and 8,000 points each year so it essentially has paid the annual fee for us.  The dividend is going away, however.  For new signups it doesn't exist and it is being phased out for everyone else.

This leads me to the Barclaycard Arrival+.  The signup bonus of 40,000 miles was nice and pretty easy to achieve, and the 2.2% redemption rate is awesome (you get 2% for all purchases, but when redeemed on travel, you receive a 10% refund of the points redeemed).  The fee was also waived for the first year.  As it stands, I have two cards with annual fees, but that will probably get cut down just to the Barclaycard in the coming months.  I love the Sapphire Preferred but I don't have enough spend to get the most out of both of them.  I would go Arrival+ if I were you.

[ZiziPB]

I like my Fidelity Amex - no annual fee and 2% cash back on everything.  Simple and I don't have to keep track of rotating categories, special deals, etc.

[nawhite]

There are so many options.

For travel, I like the Barclaycard Arrival and Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards. Both offer great sign-up bonuses. I believe the Barclaycard is free the first year. The Chase card charges an annual fee right off the bat. When redeemed for travel, the Barclaycard has effectively a 2.2% cash back rate. If you fly Southwest, however, you might want to look into that card for the 50,000 points bonus they offer from time to time. If you don't like the card, you can always cancel it. I know they say that's not good, but I've done it several times and it hasn't caused me too much trouble. My credit score is still near 800.

If you can fly Southwest often and you want to up your "credit card reward fu", it's really hard to beat going for a Southwest personal and a Southwest business card at the same time when they offer the 50,000 point bonuses. Getting 110,000 points in one calendar year gets you a "Companion Pass" that allows your SO (or anyone you choose) to fly free anytime you fly on Southwest until December of the following year (i.e. 13-23 months depending on how you time it). We paid $140 in annual fees and have gotten over $3500 in benefits from these two cards.

My go-to now though is the Barclay World Arrival card. It probably would be perfect for your situation. $444 as a signup bonus, first year fee waived and 2.22% back toward travel expenses on every purchase you ever make (and it actually has a chip for international travel and has awesome insurance for rental cars).

[coffeelover]

What are the biggest categories for your spend? Do you spend a lot on groceries and gas? The I agree that the sallie mae is probably your best bet
Do you spend a lot of going out to eat? What are you high spending categories?

High spending is gas and groceries. But I shop a lot at Aldi and they as far as I know only do debit. ( I did hear they may have changed this but haven't checked yet.)

700 a month or so for groceries for family of 7.
300 a month budget for gas, usually only use 200 to 250.

Other then that we don't have anything we really spend money on. We may get take out once or twice a month at a cheap place near us. That's about it.

[themagicman]

What are the biggest categories for your spend? Do you spend a lot on groceries and gas? The I agree that the sallie mae is probably your best bet
Do you spend a lot of going out to eat? What are you high spending categories?

High spending is gas and groceries. But I shop a lot at Aldi and they as far as I know only do debit. ( I did hear they may have changed this but haven't checked yet.)

700 a month or so for groceries for family of 7.
300 a month budget for gas, usually only use 200 to 250.

Other then that we don't have anything we really spend money on. We may get take out once or twice a month at a cheap place near us. That's about it.

Sallie Mae will only give you 5% on the first $250 on gas and the first $250 on groceries a month so that might not be best. I would look into AMEX blue cash preferred. 6% back at groceries (Up to $6,000 a year) and 3% back on gas. Does have an annual fee but its only $75.

I haven't heard that about Aldi but if they did start allowing it, than it would be nice! I hope they do!

[JimLahey]

What are the biggest categories for your spend? Do you spend a lot on groceries and gas? The I agree that the sallie mae is probably your best bet
Do you spend a lot of going out to eat? What are you high spending categories?

High spending is gas and groceries. But I shop a lot at Aldi and they as far as I know only do debit. ( I did hear they may have changed this but haven't checked yet.)

700 a month or so for groceries for family of 7.
300 a month budget for gas, usually only use 200 to 250.

Other then that we don't have anything we really spend money on. We may get take out once or twice a month at a cheap place near us. That's about it.

Sallie Mae will only give you 5% on the first $250 on gas and the first $250 on groceries a month so that might not be best. I would look into AMEX blue cash preferred. 6% back at groceries (Up to $6,000 a year) and 3% back on gas. Does have an annual fee but its only $75.

I haven't heard that about Aldi but if they did start allowing it, than it would be nice! I hope they do!

I've read about people getting approved for two Sallie Mae cards. Another option would be for Coffeelover's SO, assuming they have one, to get their own Sallie Mae card. That would essentially double the caps. Though it's a moot point if the majority of groceries are bought at Aldi.

[MandalayVA]

I like my Fidelity Amex - no annual fee and 2% cash back on everything.  Simple and I don't have to keep track of rotating categories, special deals, etc.

This.  My Costco AMEX is pretty cool too--you can get up to 5% back on some purchases and the reward is a rebate check. 

[coffeelover]

I like my Fidelity Amex - no annual fee and 2% cash back on everything.  Simple and I don't have to keep track of rotating categories, special deals, etc.

This.  My Costco AMEX is pretty cool too--you can get up to 5% back on some purchases and the reward is a rebate check.

I'm a costco member and have considered getting a AMEX through them. Is it only 5% on purchases through them or basically overall? I don't do a lot of shopping there but enough to justify the last deal they did with the free stuff with membership.

[pistachio]

Thanks for the post! It had been a few years since I shopped for a credit card. After reading the responses I figured it was worth looking around again. I ended up signing up for Bank of America's cash back reward card. 2% for groceries, 3% for gas, and 1% for everything else. Plus 10% extra on your points when redeeming to a Bank of America checking account.

The cards I rotated around before were:

-Fidelity Amex: 2% cash back when redeemed to a fidelity account
-Chase Freedom: 1% cash back on all purchases with 5% revolving categories

As a side note, I think it's kind of sad that when searching sites for these cards it says you have to have excellent credit to qualify for the better rewards cards. But I guess there's a reason why they can't offer these kinds of cards to everyone.