Ask the Readers: Which Credit Cards Do You Use?
Published on - April 13th, 2012 (Modified on - July 30th, 2012) (by J.D. Roth) Though I steer clear of writing about credit cards at Get Rich Slowly, I use them all the time. I used to be an anti-credit card zealot. Because irresponsible use of credit cards had led me to tens of thousands of dollars in consumer debt, I thought they couldn’t possibly be used for good.
My attitude toward credit cards has changed over the years.
- First, my wife showed me that it was perfectly possible to use a credit card without ever carrying any sort of debt.
- Then I started writing this blog, and you, the readers, continually argued that credit cards weren’t necessarily a bad thing.
- Finally, in 2007 I picked up my first credit card in ten years; in the past five years, I’ve used it without incident and have accrued hundreds of dollars in discounts and travel deals along the way.
So, I’ve changed my stance on credit cards. I now see that they’re a tool. But they’re a dangerous tool. I often say that credit cards are like chainsaws. When used carefully, a chainsaw be a powerful tool. But if you’re careless, a chainsaw can cause great damage. So too with credit cards.
Nearly two years ago, I polled GRS readers to see which credit cards you use. The question garnered more than 200 responses. At the time, I promised to go through and tabulate the results, to post them to the blog so that we could all see which credit cards were most popular with the smart folks who read this site. I never followed through. Now, 21 months later, I’m curious about this question again, but feel like the responses to that first post are outdated. As a result, I want to repeat the survey.
So, today I’m asking once again: Which credit card(s) do you use? Why do you use it? How, when, and where do you use it? Do you have personal rules for credit card use?
As for myself, my credit card portfolio remains largely unchanged:
- My credit-union debit card remains my go-to card for most transactions.
- My main personal credit card is the Capital One No-Hassle Cash Back card, which I use for large purchases or items that I’m certain aren’t impulse buys. (I never use a credit card for impulse purchases.)
- I now have a second personal card. About a year ago, I picked up a new rewards card from Chase and British Airways. I don’t use this card often — only for travel purchases really — but I’ve managed to accumulate 125,000 air miles through various bonuses.
- I also have two business credit cards, each with its own purposes.
Also unchanged is my personal philosophy toward the use of credit cards. I set some rules for myself in 2007 when I returned to the world of credit cards, and I still follow them. Namely, I:
- Pay off the balances every month.
- Never buy anything on credit unless I already had the cash in the bank to pay the bill.
- Make my decision about what to buy and then decide how to pay. (Instead of saying, “Oh, I have a credit card, so I can buy this.”
- Never use my credit cards for impulse purchases.
That’s enough pontificating, I guess. What I really want to know is how you use credit cards. Which credit card(s) do you use? Why do you use it? How, when, and where do you use it? Do you have personal rules for credit card use? Have you ever been in credit card debt? How do you steer clear of that now?
This time, I’ll follow through. I’ll compile all of your responses to this question into a master list of readers’ favorite credit cards and I’ll share that sometime in May. Until then: If you do choose to use credit, use it wisely.
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I have a capital one cash back rewards mastercard and my credit union debit card. I pay it off completely every month and I’ve never been in cc debt. While I’ve have always been against “the man” and against “the establishment” i do get some smug joy when they basicly pay me to borrow their money. Its nice to think the house doesn’t always win.
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I use the Capital One Newcomer card. 2% CB for travel expenses (accomodation, car rental etc), 1% CB for everything else, no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees. This was the first and still the only unsecured card I could get after we moved to the USA about nine months ago.
I use it pretty much for every purchase we make to get the cash back. I make a payment to this card every week, no matter what the balance is. This way the billed amount is long paid before the due date is even close. And it keeps the reported utilization on a very low level.
I just got a secured Orchard Bank card. For the sole purpose of enhancing my credit record (even lower overall utilization and another account with a different creditor).
It’s a shame when I think about our long built credit lines in Germany. They added up to about € 120,000. Here they are useless and we have to start from scratch again. I feel insulted when I have to beg the bank for a $250 increase…
I like the perks of the Amex Bluecash. But it seems like Amex is only accepted at more expensive stores and gas stations so it doesn’t make any sense to aim for this one. I rather buy stuff/gas at the cheaper places instead of paying a 10% premium only to get 6% back.
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Target Visa for 5% off all purchases and a percentage is donated to a school of my choice. Lowes for a choice of 5% off purchase or no interest (I always choose the 5%). COSTCO AmEx because I get enough money back to pay for a premium membership. Always pay off each month, never had cc debt. Kohl’s because they send me coupons each month. Used today for an accessory for my daughters prom, and I received 20% off for using the card.
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I have 2 cash back credit cards that I use for almost everything, both VISAs (Discover More and Chase). I try to use them strategically, always staying aware of which offers 5% cash back in a particular quarter. I ALWAYS pay off the balance at the end of the statement period, so I never pay interest. I have a third card through my local postal credit union, but I don’t use it on a regular basis. I got it to use when I travel overseas because it does not charge any foreign transaction fees.
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well, all i know is: anyone here who has gone into detail about points and rewards and miles and flipping interest and maintenance fees to game the cc system “responsibly” and “intelligently” to better their own financial lot…
durn well better not be those same folks who make all sorts of snarky comments about extreme couponer methodology in gaming the grocery system.
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We upgraded our Amx to a cash back card about a year ago and have made almost $700. Totally worth every penny of the $75 annual fee.
6% cash back on grocery store purchases (about $700/mo for our family =$42 in rewards)
3% of gas/drug store purchases (around $400 in spending = $12 rewards)
1% everywhere else
Redeemable directly to the account in $25.
Nothing like an automatic discount for buying the largest budget items we have!
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I have the Capitol One Venture visa, which gives 1.4 percent cash back applied to travel expenses; I use this for most purchases because I live overseas.
I also have the Chase Continental Visa, which gave me a 50,000 mile bonus last year, 30,000 of which went to a one-way international flight. I keep this card open, because they waived the annual fee two years in a row.
I also have a USAirways mastercard, which I keep open for credit history.
Last year I got one one-way flight and about 200 dollars in cash, despite investing a bit of time in looking for rewards. This is worthwhile, but I haven’t had the same luck as some readers who apparently get 2,000 dollars or more in rewards a year. I have had a particularly difficult time with Delta’s rewards program in the past and have sworn off American Express.
I live within a tight budget, but I find that I am more likely to spend cash than to use my credit cards, for some reason; it seems like my tendency is the opposite of most people in this respect. Cash tends to burn a hole in my pocket.
Tom
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Discover card for all everyday purchases and to pay bills. We use the cashback rewards for restaurant gift cards.
AT&T Universal MasterCard (my original card from college) for when Discover isn’t accepted.
AMEX which has been sitting unused for at least 2-3 years now after they refused to refund me the late charge from missing my payment date ONCE in a decade of use! Didn’t close the account, though, because I like our excellent credit score.
Target card we recently acquired after realizing how much we spend there monthly and only getting 1% back from Discover vs 5% at the register (plus the discount on the in-store Starbucks my hubby loves to frequently every weekend).
We pay all our balances off in full every month and the last time I paid any interest on a card was before I met my husband over 11 years ago (and even then it wasn’t much because my debt was under $500). I suspect he had more cc debt during his first marriage thanks to his ex’s no working just spending lifestyle which thankfully is her new husband’s problem now.
We don’t track every purchase or have a budget – we are just frugal on the necessities so we can splurge guilt-free on our “toys” and vacations, although even those purchases aren’t excessive (we rarely buy DVDs or games like we used to and borrow from the library instead which also saves on clutter). We put away a good chunk of change monthly between 401Ks and regular savings as well.
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I have an American Express Blue Sky card. It provides $100 of travel credit for every $7,500 I spend on it. I use it for every purchase that I can, and I pay the entire balance every month. I’ve had a credit card for 17 years, and I’ve never paid one cent in interest charges.
I can’t wait to see the results of this poll.
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Fidelity MasterCard: 1.5% cash back on everything (automatically deposited into Fidelity brokerage after amount reaches $50). Occasionally offers bonus categories or promotions like $25 statement credit if you spend $199 on travel or companion ticket if you charge your insurance. They have been really good in flagging fraudulent activity (denied two fraudulent attempts last year and alerted me so I could cancel card.) Cable and gym auto billed each month.
Chase Freedom Visa: only for 5% bonus categories and online purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards mall (if item is cheapest or same as can be found elsewhere), which gives more more bonus points. I use the cash back toward airline tickets (again, if the fare through their travel service is the same as the lowest fare I can find elsewhere.) As previously mentioned, Chase checking account holders are eligible for 10% bonus points on total spent/10 bonus points per use.
I use for everything possible and also use for business expenses (chose not to get company’s corporate Amex) plus medical expenses, both of which are reimbursed.
Only requirements I have are no annual fee and pay off in full every month. (never prepay before billing cycle ends–I know, why would you, but I did once–because you won’t get the points.) I like keeping the annual spending reports both provide.
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All of the reward cards I have (Discover More, Amex Blue Cash Preferred, Chase Freedom, PenFed CU Visa Platinum) allow me to pay off the balance before the monthly statement is generated without withholding points or cash back I’m due.
And the reason for paying off the balances before they’re due? This can affect your credit scores. The credit card companies report your balances only once each month–when your statement is generated. Your score is partly based on your credit card debt to credit limit total ratio. Say your total credit limit for all your cards is only $5000. And say your monthly balances total $1500. That ratio is 30% which can lower your credit score. Even though you pay off the balances each month, the credit bureaus only see that you’re using 30% of your available credit. But if you pay off the balances BEFORE the statements are generated, the credit bureaus see zero balances and your ratio is zero (or near zero) and your score goes way up.
Again, this mostly affects people with relatively low total credit. If your total credit limit on all your cards is say $40k or higher, then showing a monthly balance total of $1500 to $2000 yields a ratio of at most 5% which is optimal for your credit score. So, one of the best and easiest ways to increase your credit score if you have good credit but a low total credit limit is to apply for credit limit increases.
As for cards with annual fees, I realize most people are averse to them. But it would be wise for these people to first consider what benefits they may be passing up simply because there’s an annual fee. For example, the Amex Blue Cash Preferred card gives 6% back on groceries (3% on gas, and 1% on everything else) and there is a $79 annual fee. “$79??!! No way,” would be the typical response (according to the majority of posts here). But how much do you spend on groceries a month? If you do the math, and take into account the $79 fee, if you only spend $165 on groceries per month, you’re getting 2% back on your purchases. If you spend $219, you’re getting 3%, at $330, 4%, and at $659, you’re getting 5%. Those monthly purchase amounts are not huge for many individuals and families. You can’t get rewards like those (all year long) on any other card (fee or no fee).
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I used to have a 2% cash back Visa card that I would use for everything, then BofA bought them out and now I have the 3-2-1 cash back BofA card that I use for everything. I miss my 2% cash back card.
My advice, find the card that will give you the most cash back per month depending on your spending habits, then make sure to pay off the cash balance each month. Other rewards may be nice, but cash is king. You can use cash for whatever you want.
I disagree with the author that you shouldn’t use credit cards for impulse buys. As long as you pay off the balance each month, and it doesn’t change your buying behavior, it’s better than using cash. You get the cash back from the rewards and you make a little extra on the float (the interest earned between the time of the purchase and the time you pay your credit card bill). I try to use my card for all my purchases, but I track what I spend meticulously and I make sure I can afford what I charge. Mint.com is a good website where you can create a budget and track your spending.
Full disclosure: I don’t own any equity in Visa, BofA, or Intuit (company that owns Mint)
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Amex Blue Cash. After you spend $6500 it’s 5% cash back on gas, grocery, and pharmacy purchases and 1% on everything else. Before that it’s 1/2 % and 1 %. I pay it off every 2 weeks or so and never carry a balance so I don’t care what the interest rate is.
My back-up card when they don’t take Amex is a Priority Club Visa that earns me hotel points and carries a $49 annual fee, but in return you receive a free night at any Priority Club hotel. Basically, we like to travel, but feel guilty splurging, so we got this card which gave us 80,000 bonus points for signing up so we took a few trips.
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I use Chase Freedom for 5% categories and got $300 for signing up.
I used Navy Federal for whatever isn’t in the 5%. I get 1% up to 10,000 spent a year and 1.5% for everything above that.
I have a USAA card I no longer use because the cash back doesn’t compare.
Finally I have my first credit (First Financial Bank USA) card with no rewards and an insane apr, but also a high credit limit. I keep it open for history and utilization ratio.
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I got my first credit card when I was a senior in high school in 2002 after I got hit with a series of $30 overdraft charges for overdrawing my account, initially, by less than $1. After I recovered, I realized the problem was that I operated with almost no margin for error because I was making minimum wage. So I got a basic credit card through my bank to use in place of a debit card to insulate me from a yoyoing daily balance. The idea was to stop cluttering my checking account with a zillion little debit charges and instead pay one bill a month.
As I became more financially independent, that credit card became a cornerstone of my financial management plan and my cash flow. I have never carried a balance on that card; I only buy things I already have the money for in my account. I pay for gas, groceries, dining out, entertainment, etc. once a month. I audit our spending habits separately from rent/now mortgage, utilities, insurance, student loans, etc. But I do audit both very, very closely.
I still have that same card a decade later–it’s now a Chase Slate Visa. It has some obsecene credit limit now. But I never use it anymore because my husband and I have a joint Chase Freedom card with a lower APR and cash back (highly recommend). We did carry a balance on that credit card the first year we had it because it was no interest for one year and we had an, ahem, unanticiapted obstetrican and labor/delivery bill right after we bought out house. We paid it off before the no-interest period ended. I was grateful to have that tool available to us in period of financial hardship.
Now I pay our credit card bill the day the statement is issued online so that I zero the balance as soon as possible. That also means I have a built in cushion of 20 days — or one whole paycheck. Before I got to my emergency fund, I can delay paying the credit card bill until the next paycheck posts without accruing interest or fees. Of course I can only do that once, but this goes back to my traumatizing experience as a teenager with no margin of error. I have a margin now.
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I do a bunch of work travel so I have a few cards. I’ve recently separated my work cards and checking accounts from my personal in order to better track those numbers.
Work Cards
Starwoods Amex – awesome for travel and rewards, I love the awesome travel redemptions. A few friends and I did some calculations on the cash value of the points and it’s great, equivalent to almost 2.5%
United Mileage Plus MasterCard through Chase – I get double points on flights but this card is really not worth it. I don’t recommend it. I’m switching over to the Capital One Venture Miles card
Personal
Bank of America Power Rewards (Visa) – Get 1% cash back. Typical cash back card with some quarterly bonuses. There are probably better cards but this one has no monthly fee.
Tips: 1. Once a year I call up Amex and Chase and ask them to waive my annual fee. It works! I usually get the money back or an equivalent amount in points.
2. Automate payments online – I never miss a payment and have never paid interest. But one should be vigilant about watching the transactions
3. I also ask the companies to up my credit limit about once a year. That improves my credit score.
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We use the (Canadian) TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card.
Ever since they teamed up with Expedia, booking travel has been a PITA, plus the flight deals aren’t as good. We’re thinking about changing, but don’t know where to go. Maybe your survey will help!
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I have an Chase Amazon Visa card and a Visa credit card from a credit union that I have an account with.
I pay it off in full each month though there was one month when I carried a balance due to unexpected purchases. I attempt to never buy anything unless I will be able to pay it off and have never had credit card debt.
I use my credit card for most purchases though I buy groceries with my debit card.
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Credit cards are like razor blades …one slip and you cut yourself – badly!Credit cards are lethal to emotional spenders. I gave up the card addiction when my children became teenagers. I never use them, think about them or speak about them….just in case little ears are listening!!
Of course they’re not bad but they don’t do you alot of spiritual good either!
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I have a Discover Card and a Capital One Platinum Master Card. I use my credit union debit card for most things, though. The debit card is nice because it has a rewards program which I do pay $20 a year for but I make back about $75 just for using my debit card which I would do anyways.
I use the Discover for the cash back and I only got the MasterCard because I wanted a back up in case Discover wasn’t accepted somewhere. Other than providing me with credit, there is no advantage to this particular card other than a low interest rate and now that everything is paid off, I don’t plan on ever paying credit card interest again. One day I may look into a better rewards card.
I paid off a bit over $14,000 in credit card debt in March. I had been carrying credit card debt for about 20 years and at the worst point I owed more than 16K. It took me 3 years once I buckled down and decided to disappear my debt, I am so glad and happy it is gone!!!
I have learned my lesson–like many folks who posted, I look at credit cards as a FORM of payment, meaning that I already have the money in the bank and am paying by credit for convenience.
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Mostly use Discover for the cashback, but Chase Freedom gave me $$$ to take out the card – so we use it during the 5% back reward months.
Never been in debt. Always paid it off monthly.
Would NEVER pay an annual fee for any card.
Looking around for a card just for airline miles – with no annual fee.
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I just recently got the Chase Sapphire card and am IN LOVE. My husband and I live in San Francisco but our families are in Philadelphia, so having a credit card that offers double point on travel is great. It also offers double points on dining, which living in a food mecca is our second largest monthly expense after housing. We pay our balance in full each month so the rewards come at no expense to us. We have a wedding to go to in September and I just booked our $880 airfare using points– nothing like a free trip to New Orleans!
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I have six different credit cards but use only four on any given month and always pay off the entire balance on each every month.
The reason I have so many different cards is each card serves a particular purpose. I use my American Express Blue Cash Preferred card strictly for grocery purposes because I get 6% cash back. This card has a $79 annual fee (the only card I own that has one) which might seem high to some but is easily recouped if you spend over $110 in groceries each month.
I use my PenFed Credit Union Visa card strictly for gasoline purchases because it gives me 5% cash back. Hawaii has the highest average gas prices in the nation so paying $4.45 for a gallon instead of $4.69 is incredible.
I use either my Chase Freedom Visa or my Discover More cards for various things like dining out or hardware store purchases depending on what their quarterly 5% discount categories are.
I try to pay for EVERYTHING with a credit card to maximize the rewards. How do I avoid overspending? By following a monthly budget. I use YNAB (You Need A Budget) and its method allows me to keep a one-month income buffer so at the start of every month I pay all my bills at one time and know exactly how much I’ve allocated for each budget category.
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I have one citibank MC that I have had for over 20 years that has a very high credit line and I use it once a week to buy pizza at a local joint. I also have a Disney Visa 1% rewards card, that I use for everything (bills, on-line purchases, gas, groceries, you get the picture) for the rewards. I also have a lowes CC for home purchases becaus eit give me a 5% discount on all purchases.
I want to point out that these cards are paid off monthly and rewards and discounts are used to my advantage and not the CC companies!!!
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I favor the AMEX Blue Cash as it seems to be the better of the cash-back lot. I pay off the balance throughout the month via their website and accumulate about 10 bucks a month. Second, I carry a Visa from Chase. Not my favorite issuer but the relationship and my credit history with Chase is more than 25 years.
I use the AMEX Blue Cash card to pay for much of my grocery, gas and restaruant expenses. The Chase Visa is only used when the AMEX card is not an option.
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Please compile these and report back, I don’t have time to read through all the comments
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I use credit cards whenever possible and always pay them off in full so I don’t pay any interest. I refuse to pay an annual fee for a credit card, and I don’t travel much, so I go for cards with cash back rewards rather than airline miles.
My two main cards:
1) Fidelity American Express (which gives me 2% cash back into my investment account for all purchases)
2) Chase Freedom Visa (which gives me 1% cash back on all purchases and 5% on certain categories that change quarterly).
I use the Chase Visa if I’m making a purchase in a 5% category, and the Fidelity AmEx otherwise (unless a merchant doesn’t take AmEx, in which case I use the Chase Visa).
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I use a Discover card for the 5% cash back in rotating categories, and I really love their online user interface. It’s by far the most intuitive one for me.
I also have a Capital One World master card. The one with the 50% more cash commericals. I use it at places discover is not accepted and for categories that discover is not offering 5% cash back.
I have a Kohl’s card and a Macy’s card that I rarely use but I got because of the coupons in the mail.
All of my CC are paid off every month.
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I commented on the original article and will now update here. Once again, UK reader, might not be applicable for everyone.
The Paypal/Santander card program closed recently, so I switched to a Capital One World card. It offers a 1% cashback rate with 5% cashback for the first three months to a maximum of £100.
My wife still has her MBNA/Play.com card. This returns points on a 1% basis.
And we still pay them off in full each month via Direct Debit.
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I have 2 credit cards. The first is a Discover card which I use for everything! I love the cash back bonuses.
I also have a Citibank Preferred MasterCard. I use it when a business does not take Discover (rarely).
My husband has an airline MasterCard which he has had for many years. It has an annual fee so I would like to get rid of it, but it is his primary card and makes up pretty much all of his credit history, so we haven’t decided whether to do that or not.
We are considering getting a joint credit card instead of using our separate cards. The two I’m considering would either reward us with 1% of our purchases going to our mortgage or to retirement savings.
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I have a few cards I use:
1. PenFed CC for 5% back on gas
2. Amazon card for 3% on all amazon.com purchases
3. Upromise card for minimum 3% on online purchases through upromise.com. The vendor offers additional cash back. This cash back gets automatically deposited into my SallieMae high interest savings and I get a 10% bonus on all of my cash back every year.
4. Chase Freedom for 1% cash back on all other purchases that where I can’t use the above cards to get cash back.
I’ve managed to get a good amount of savings from these cards – $50 to $70/month from the Chase card alone. I use a spreadsheet to keep track of all of the cards and pay them off each month. It seems like it would be a lot of work but it really isn’t. I’m an accountant so I actually enjoy it.
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I use a Fidelity Rewards Visa that is linked to my Fidelity accounts. Because it is linked I get 1% cash back (roughly, there’s a complicated points system) if I deposit it straight into a Fidelity account. I don’t mind doing that, since it is free money into my Roth IRA.
I put pretty much every purchase on it since it’s easier to have them in one spot than over multiple cards and easier to keep track of things than cash is. Plus, the more I use it the more free money I get.
And yes, it truly is free money. It has no annual fee and I never carry a balance; I have no idea what the interest rate on the card is since it doesn’t matter to me. Within 2 days of getting a bill I look at it and take care of paying it by scheduling the billpay to be as soon as the systems will let me so I don’t have to worry about things not going through or system malfunctions or late fees — if something happens there is plenty of time to sort it out. I do not understand the idea of buying on credit. To me a credit card is exactly like a debit card, only I can choose which account I pay it out of.
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I have 2 credit cards.
Card 1 gives me rewards (cashback) and also earns me “dividend points” as it’s part of a co-op. It’s used for large purchases (over £100) as in the UK, there are additional legal protections for large purchases made with a credit card (but not a debit card). I also use it for all online transactions.
I use my debit or cash for everything else.
My second credit card is never used. Because my credit and debit card are with the same bank, it’s my insurance against something going wrong there, or having my wallet stolen.
It’s with a bank I hate, so I avoid using it, and just literally keep it for emergencies.
Both cards are set up on automatic payment of the full amount, so I don’t care about interest rates.
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I’ve been using the Chase Freedom card for about a year. It has no annual fee, 1% cash back on most things, and the rest is up to 5% in various catagories. I don’t worry much about if I’m spending in those catagories, because I do ALL my purchases on this card. I pay it off each month.
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I use quite a few cards for various purposes. But I always pay off the balance every month so the interest rates don’t matter. I just aim to maximize rewards. All are rewards cards in some fashion.
– Costco Amex : we pay for costco membership anyway, and this ends up reducing the cost. Plus, 3% back on gas, 2% back on travel & restaurants, 1% back everywhere else
– Discover Card : my oldest card, it used to be my go to card, but now I just use it for the shop discover extra cash back rewards. And I like that you can link it to Amazon and pay for Amazon purchases with your rewards.
– Capital One Visa : used for international travel since there is no foreign transaction fees.
– AA American Express : my newest card, got it for the sign up bonus miles. This is going to cover our anniversary flight to hawaii. But I’ll probably cancel it before I have to renew it and pay the membership fee.
– Chase Freedom Mastercard : Mostly just used for the 5% cashback bonuses. When they took away that big bonus when you racked up $200 in rewards, I pretty much stopped using it unless there was a good enough bonus.
– Citi Simplicity Cash MC : supposedly 5% back on gas, 1% everywhere else, but this is capped. So when I’m not shopping at costco gas, I usually use this card for gas.
– REI Visa : Only used for REI purchases, my husband and I do a lot of hiking and camping, and it’s nice to get something extra back on REI sale purchases too.
I used to have a bunch of store cards, but they weren’t worth keeping. Usually one or another of my credit cards with have an extra 5% cashback or something if you click through on the credit card site (and I like to shop online) so it’s about the same bonus as you could get with a store card.
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My primary card is attached to my primary bank account, a Visa from Wells Fargo. I also have a Mastercard from USAA, a Discover card, a Chase Freedom card, and a Citi Dividend card. All my cards are cash back rewards. I always pay the bills in full and none of them have any fees. It’s great to make an extra few hundred a year!
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Amazon (Chase) visa- most of our purchases, 2% back on everything, more at a few vendors, we use the cash back to buy diapers, ink cartridges, etc.
Target store card – to get the 5% off on all Target purchases and free shipping online (since I regularly shop at Target)
Amex – this is actually only in my husband’s name but we use this for any large purchases since it adds a year to any warranty. TVs, laptops, vacuum cleaners, that type of stuff that is more likely to break.
REI Visa – we only use this for REI purchases, which aren’t too extensive but every once in a while we buy a bike or something there so it increases our yearly “dividend” for REI (cash back only for REI). But we appreciate the customer service at that store and the service so it’s worth it for us (and there are no annual fees).
British Airways – We got this card when they were offering the 100,000 mile special 2 years ago. We have since used those miles recently on a trip and we’ll be cancelling the card before the $95 annual fee kicks in. We won’t be able to use it enough to offset the fee.
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I love my Amex for the extended warranty. I just used that last year when my microwave that died 6 months out of warranty. They credited my account within two weeks, and the process was quick and painless. Overall, it was a great customer experience.
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I recently learned a disturbing fact about ShopSafe, a service offer by Bank of America to their credit card customers that allows you to generate virtual numbers to use with online shopping. Any merchant, legit or otherwise, can use your ShopSafe virtual number to obtain balance and payment information about your actual credit card account. Try it for yourself. Generate a ShopSafe number and give it a $1 and 1 month limit. Call the number on the back of your real BOA card and when their automated system asks for your 16 digit card number, use the ShopSafe number you just generated. What you hear back may surprise you. Since I do not have accounts with Citi or Discover, I don’t know if the services they offer have the same issue or not. Maybe someone who does can try it out and let us know.
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I have a Chase Freedom, and an AMEX Blue Cash Everyday. Supermarkets (3%), and gas (2%) on the AMEX (unless it’s a 5% category on the Chase card). Then use my Chase Freedom card for anything in the 5% categories, and 1% on everything else.
*note- AMEX just changed the terms on their blue cash offerings, so i’ll need to evaluate them to see if it changes my spending habits.
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