I hope we can fill the comments section with a variety of opinions here, based of course on each of your personal preferences. I’m sure some of you are working for high-value premium cabin award travel and a mileage card is your number one choice. Others are looking to maximize cash back.
I realize any card you are working on reaching the minimum spend bonus on, is always preferable. But I’d like to see what we are using for that non-bonus, plain old ordinary credit card purchase.
I hope we can fill the comments section with a variety of opinions here, based of course on each of your personal preferences. I’m sure some of you are working for high-value premium cabin award travel and a mileage card is your number one choice. Others are looking to maximize cash back.
I realize any card you are working on reaching the minimum spend bonus on, is always preferable. But I’d like to see what we are using for that non-bonus, plain old, ordinary credit card purchase.
2% cash back cards
The old-time standard seems to be a card that earns at least the equivalent of 2% cash back. Are any of you using your airline or hotel cards for plain old ordinary spending? Is it to reach a particular goal for a reward you’re working on? Or do you really think any card offering one point, mile, etc. is worth more than the 2% minimum we all should be reaching for?
The Fidelity 2% cash back card has been the old standby for many years. It now faces competition from a variety of other cards. I’m not talking about quarterly bonus cards (but I would be interested in how many of you use them).
The Alliant Cashback Visa now offers 3% cash back the first year and 2.5% cash back after. The Chase Unlimited Freedom is 3% in the first year up to $20K then back to 1.5% thereafter.
To those first-year “enticers” are probably working for many of you, but my question again is: Where Do You Go After That?
Cash back with transfer perks
For most of you now, the Citi Double Cash card and Amex Business Blue Card could replace the Fidelity card. Transferring cash back to ThankYou points can add great value while leaving the cash-back option on the table.
I certainly would rather have 2 Membership Rewards points than 2% cash back. Because I can transfer to cash back with my Schwab Platinum card if I need to.
My current cards
I’m stuck with a pretty good option in the Bank of American Travel Rewards Card with Platinum Honors 75% bonus for having a big balance in my affiliated Merrill Lynch account.
Without that bonus, it would be a scrawny 1.5% card with limited redemption options. Since the rewards can only be used to offset travel-related charges paid for with the Travel Rewards card.
The better choice for me would be the Premium Rewards card from Bank of America because I’d earn the same 2.625% cashback. It is actually redeemable for cash back into my Bank of America or Merrill account.
My dilemma
I’d love to make the switch, but with as many new inquiries as I have, I have virtually no chance of being approved. But if you are looking for a nice sign-up bonus of 50,000 points, worth $500, and have a decent balance in an account with Merrill or Bank of America, I think that’s the best option available now.
Take a look at the bonus level categories based on the size of your account. Or just pick up the 50,000 points with $3,000 spent in 90 days. The $95 annual fee is not waived.
Final thoughts
Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but I’m hoping somebody has an option that consistently earns them higher than 2.625% without a timeline or restrictive redemption opportunities.
Thanks for commenting on your best non-category bonus card, plain old vanilla daily spend. I’m sure people will benefit from your contributions and suggestions.
Chase Business Ink Plus. My wife and I (we each have our own) maxed out the 50k office category this year and last year. Just wanted to mix in as much normal spend as possible hoping the non-bonus business will factor in their decision not to drop us as customers if we’re ever flagged for a review. Though I have my retirement funds at Fidelity and they’re mailing me pre-approvals for their 2% card like every month, I still rather keep my non-bonus spend with Chase to try to be a good customer. I value chase points that much.
Blue business plus for me when I’m not trying to meet a minimum spend.
Thumbs up choice there. Good solid card with no annual fee
My every day card is the CFU with points transferred to my CSR for an effective 2.25%. Same for my Ink Cash card for gas, internet, and cell phone. Chase Freedom for quarterly 5X categories. Transfer all UR points to my CSR. If Chase stops the ability to transfer points, I will stop using the cards and look for other options. Just not focused on cash back right now. I’d rather accumulate points for traveling.
I pay 6 mortgages through Plastiq with the Barclay Aviator Silver card to earn AAdvantage miles as well as MS’ing with a Citi AAdvantage card at Simon Mall and giftcards.com through the AAdvantage eShopping portal to get 2 miles per dollar spent. I have a specific goal in mind for doing this.
I’d like to get a CFU for my wife, but I thought the 3X first year offer was no longer available??? I haven’t been able to find a working link.
I use the exact same strategy with all the Chase cards for UR. I cannot find CFU link for 3X either. Let me know if you come across. How does the Plastiq work? Are their fees?
Vanessa – Yes, there is a fee for using Plastiq. I think it is normally 2.25%, but almost every month I get offers for 1% up to $10,000. And, you can only use Mastercard or Discover – no VISA or AmEx. As I said in my previous comment, I have a specific goal in mind for AAdvantage miles, which is why I pay the mortgages and stomach the fee.
Ed I’m very new to MS just learned a little at Chicago Seminars. I too have a huge need for AA points and have a hard time getting them. I have several rentals that I have a mortgage on and this might work for me. I have never used Plastiq. I guess your bank is ok with it.
Melissa – No problem with the bank. Plastiq sends the payments electronically to my bank. You just need to be sure to put the property address in the “Payment Notes” box and your loan number in the account number box.
Between my mortgages, giftcards.com through AAdvantage eShopping and Simon Mall, I’ve earned approximately 100,000 AAdvantage miles since July. Don’t plan on slowing down as long as the Simon Mall promo remains.
That’s amazing. I need to learn how to do this. I need another 150 k AA points for flight to Maldives. Do you worry about a shutdown on your card? I have only had my AA Aviator card for 3 months
Melissa – I have the Barclay Aviator Silver card and a Citibank AAdvantage card. I don’t do any MS on the Barclay card because I’ve heard – but not confirmed – that Barclay isn’t MS friendly, and I want it for the benefits of the card like $25 per day meal and beverage credit and the Wifi credit that I would hate to lose. I use the Citi AAdvantage card for MS because of the high credit limit allows me to do it all on one card every month.
Ed that’s good to know about Barclays. I would be looking to use
platiq to pay Mortgages and commercial rent. That’s not considered MS right? Even if using Plastiq
Melissa – Yes, I think you’d be fine with that.
I’m in the 1st year of my Discover miles card but they gave me a paltry credit limit and won’t budge. Besides, I think they’ll jack me before my year is up with the MS I’m doing and credit limit cycling. So I’m not using it much for non bonus spend.
I’m a big Hyatt fan. I likely value the points more than most at $0.02 but I consistently get higher value than that. Now with the Hyatt tier bonuses I can get outsized value. Every $25,000 in spend gets 10 qualifying nights. Since the top end of the tiers (70, 80, 90, 100 nights) receives a suite upgrade or 10,000 points, I see this as a minimum 40% bonus on my points (10,000 extra points on $25,000 spend).
Since I’ll max out all 100 nights this year (and will stop Hyatt card spend on the 100th night earned), I consider I’m getting a 40% premium on my spend or $0.028 per point. I consider that the low end and likely get higher value. I’m not even considering how the spend helps me with the even more lucrative mid tier bonuses with Hyatt.
Getting tons of Hyatt points also frees up UR points to other transfer partners.
That makes my Hyatt the go to card.
I realize you asked for less restrictive options and Hyatt is restrictive, but since it frees up my UR points I had been exclusive with Hyatt for, in a way the Hyatt points earned on the card frees up options.
Kirk, Lots of people I talk to doing exactly the same thing with Hyatt. I’ve got a Globalist buddy that books a room for me in his name then adds me about a week before arrival. He gets the stay credit and I get the bennies. Works almost all the time so far. Key there: So Far
Last year into April of this year was the 3x unltd CFU. This year I max’d out the extra 1.5 point for 6 months of $5k spend on my Bonvoy Biz card along with the extra point on $25k spend increments on the Brilliant card.
Next year who knows? Hoping Chase repeats the 3x unltd CFU for my hubs. If nothing else looks better, I will go with the normal 1.5 CFU (transferred to my CSR) like Ed C.
Which Hyatt card do you have?
World of Hyatt
Kirk, I’ve debated a similar strategy, but do you feel the tier benefits associate with the WOH Chase card at 1 point per $1 spent is more lucrative than a Chase Freedom Unlimited that earns 1.5 WOH points per $1 spent via transfer to my ink preferred?
Depends on your strategy. I can’t get the CFU card but if I had it my strategy would likely change. I will stay about 50 nights at Hyatt this year. I would probably use the WOH card to make Globalist then spend on the CFU if I had it since 1.5 UR points trumps 1.4 Hyatt points after the 60 night tier level reached.
UR points are of course more valuable than Hyatt points as well.
Good question. I am envious of all of you with that card.
Thanks, Kirk. You’ve given me a bit to ponder.
I use my Barclay Arrival Card for the 2.05%. It is one of my older cards and I don’t have any other 2% cards. I hate that you can only redeem for travel rewards. But this year we have a lot of travel redemptions.
You can book a random hotel on hotels.com, then cancel reservation after the charge posts, and you can still redeem points against that charge
Hyatt until I reached Globalist. Not it’s Altitude Reserve when I can pay with a mobile wallet or BofA Premium Rewards when I cannot use mobile wallet. I did a PC from a personal Alaska card to Premium Rewards. @Rick look into a PC on your Travel Rewards card.
Thanks Max B. I guess I’m just stubborn enough to wait them out until I have fewer inquiries so I can get the 50K sign up. LIke that’s ever gonna happen. You’re right. Product Change is the right move
My non category bonus spend cards are the gift cards that I purchase at Office Depot with my Ink Cash and elsewhere with my Freedom 5x category. So I get 5x rewards on almost all purchases, all the time, everywhere.
One downside to this is no credit card protections for larger purchases. Great for day-to-day spend however.
Right, but I don’t need credit card protections on most purchases. If I do want that then I use an everyday preferred or a Chase card. I also use store bought gift cards to purchase meals, grocery shop, buy gas, etc. I use them for everything because 5x rewards is top end bonus and it limits my need to liquidate via money order thus saving me time and money.
Double Cash for me. With a Premier card to go along with it, 2x TYP is great for non-bonused spend.
For the next 5k of spend, though, it’s my BoA Alaska card since I was targeted for 2% cash back on top of my Alaska miles until the end of the year up to 5k spend.
Barclaycard Arrival+. Being able to stay wherever we want for nothing is amazing. This summer? A three bedroom, two bath trullo in the heart of Puglia with incredible views, and less than an hour from beaches on both the Adriatic and the Ionian seas.
In winter a small hotel on the Pacific coast of Mexico, above the ocean, where the rooms are comfortable, the views spectacular. The people know our names, and we can walk to any of four beaches and into town in 15 minutes or less.
I used the Alliant Credit Union 3% cashback to the hilt for Year 1, while I was doing a remodel. Year 2, I continued to use it for about 10,000 in unbonused spend, plus a $20,000 HVAC installation. THEN, they raised the annual fee to $99. Beware that they will NOT refund the annual fee if you ask to close the card once the fee is billed: It’s a wholly consumer-unfriendly ripoff of “notifying you” of the fee on a prior statement, in small type…… THEN, when you actually get billed for it, it’s “too late” to cut and run. Now that this is noted, and with the $99 fee wiping out the cashback altogether on the first $4000 of spend, I’ll be obtaining a fee-free card since I simply don’t want to play games with Alliant if this is their ethics. ALSO: for some reason, Alliant simply won’t credit your account with the bonus—- they take 3-6 weeks to credit your earned money to your bill. Nah—- games. I’ll stick with a 2% fee-free card and only perhaps consider Alliant again if I anticipate having gigantic unbonused spend that absolutely requires a Visa. AMEX’s Business Plus provides me $50k worth of 2x MR points. It’s a great alternative given how much we travel.
I’m sure they’re happy to have you leave them with “your antics.” I think their intent was successful
I don’t understand your slamming me, Elmer. I used their card for $80,000 of shopping over two years, Alliant doubled the annual fee to $99 recently. Several months later, when the fee finally showed up on my statement, I called to close the card because from here on out you have to charge $4k before you see a cent of cashback, and I don’t have that much spending this coming year. I’ve gotten Amex’s card which awards 2 points on the first $50,000. The rep told me to pound sand, the $99 was on my statement so I’d already “bought the card for the next year” (which is UNLIKE any other card I’ve ever had– they all let you cancel within a few days of getting billed). So I’m going to skip their 2.5% card next year and just get a fee-free 2% card, since I already get 2% or more from Amex. I hope you enjoy having Alliant’s card and it works for you. I think their model is anti-consumer, and trickery to squeeze one more annual fee out of departing cardmembers, You imply there’s something wrong with my wanting to cancel the card because I decided I don’t plan to charge much more than $4k on it in the upcoming year. My approach is businesslike and rational. Yours is hostile and apparently you enjoy slamming others with different needs. Get a life.
SST – I agree 100% with your post. I didn’t get where he was coming from slamming you like that. I buy houses and flip some and keep some for rentals and spend a lot of money each year on remodeling expenses. It all goes on miles or points earning cards. Didn’t realize there was anything wrong with that…..
some quick math says giving up 25% of your cash back isnt a good deal even if you are paying 99$ for it.
UNLESS you don’t plan to put much on this card. My math is that I probably won’t use Alliant’s card for more than $5000 in spend. (Anything else goes on 2x point No-fee Amex). I’d net $25 cash back after the fee with Alliant. If I switch to a 2% no-fee card, I’d net $100. THAT is quick math.
Double Cash, combined with Premier uplift and Rewards+ rebate on redemption. This works well for us.
Great comments today. I love to see the interaction and supporting each other. BTW I have a few referrals for Amex biz blue. No annual fee. 15k sign up bonus for $5k spend in 3 months. Email me if you want 2X MR on 50k per year. Ringersoll104 AT gmail.com
Ed where do you get the 1% up to $10,000 offers?
Melissa – They just come via email from Plastiq or show up on my account page.
USAA Limitless 2.5% cashback. It’s no longer accepting applications, glad I jumped on it when I did. No requirement for the 2.5% other than a $1000/mo DD
For UR points, I buy Visa Gift Cards from Staples at 5X using Chase Ink Plus cards. For AMEX MR points, I buy Visa Gift Cards at our grocery stores earning 4X with AMEX Gold Card. Then for any normal non-bonused spend, I use the Visa gift cards as debit cards to pay bills. This way I get either 7.5X in UR points after transfer to CSR, or the 4X AMEX UR points. A lot easier than trying to figure out which card to use where….and….a lot higher yield on spend!!!!
@ Bill – I like the return on that strategy, just not prepaying a lot (for me) of expenses!