Best in the West.. Which credit card is the best for rewards and such?

The_Spaniard

Long story short, I have a debit card through my credit union and a Capital One credit card with a piddly limit of 1k and zero rewards benefits. It just dawned on me that this totally sucks! So I'd like to get a new credit card (don't worry I pay off the balance every single month) with some kick ass rewards and a bigger limit. I'd like some recommendations. I was thinking about the Amazon credit card that gives you various percentages of points on purchases both on and off Amazon as well as a signing bonus. But then I stumbled across this article talking about the Citi Forward Card. Five minutes of googling will get you ALL KINDS of recommendations. I'd like to consolidate these recommendations into something a bit easier to choose from.

So here is a bit of info to help figure out what a good new credit card might be:
I do a ton of shopping on Amazon, to a lesser extent some regular Best Buy purchases
I buy lots of games/media and electronics
I'm a Costco member
I travel to Europe once a year, and Northern California once a year, but have never done any kind of miles thing, so this might be something to look into if it can get me cheaper or even FREE tickets
When I go to Europe I stay with family, so hotel points aren't a huge draw for me
Continuing on the Europe thing, a card with no foreign transaction fees would be nice
I pay off my balance every month
A card that extends manufacturer warranties is huge
I would use the card for as long as it continued having good deals, so cards with incentives that increase year over year could be nice
Last I checked(few years back) I had a great credit score of at least 730

Go nuts guys, please give me some ideas and recommendations as to what you think the best card for me would be considering the facts I just gave. Also let me know if I left out any important factors.

Six

Costco Amex. It's awesome.

a5ehren

Chase Freedom (I think this is the best overall cash-back card at the moment)
Costco Amex (Pretty good too)
Amazon Visa (If you spend a lot of money there)
Capital One Venture (If you travel various airlines and want to focus on travel rewards)
(Insert Airline Card Here) (If you always fly the same airline. The Delta Amex is nice because you get 2 free checked bags even if you don't have status.)

Straygatsby

I've been a user and fan of the Southwest Visa for, sheesh, almost a decade now? They recently changed up their points system a little bit, but you can still rack up flights pretty easily, and they're incredibly flexible about how and when you use them.

Darkewolfe

I quite like my Amazon Visa for a no-fee card.

When you travel to Europe, do you fly with someone? Are those the only two flights you take? The American Express Platinum has an annual fee of about $500, but if you fly frequently it's is one of the best perk cards out there.

GnomeTank

Really anything Amex, but the Cosco Amex specifically. Amex is really great if you pay your balance off every month. In fact, a lot of Amex cards require you to do so. Only certain products they offer are actually meant to carry a long term balance.

My Amex is the only real credit card I carry anymore. I have no real "limit" (I do, but it's soft, and because I have great history with them, they'll extend it pretty easily) and I earn a cash back reward, which is nice. Mine is just a flat Amex, but I believe the Cosco one has some Cosco specific benefits.

Six

I mean, if you're already a costco member, the costco amex is free. Plus it acts as your costco card, so you dont need to carry both. Plus it has your picture on it, so you dont need to get your ID out if you're ever asked, just say "look on the back of the card."

It's awesome.

BoomShake

I would recommend checking out NerdWallet. It'll help you find the best reward card for you based on what kind of rewards you like (cash, miles, etc.), what kind of things you buy, how fast you pay things off, etc.

Edit: Whoops, I hadn't clicked the article link in your original post, which happens to go to nerdwallet.

Enc

I have a very competitive Amazon Visa that rakes up points quite quickly that I use to pay for books, movies, misc that I buy through them in a super easy and straightforward manner. I pay it off every month and in return I get free shipping and the occasional extra item when I make orders.

Out of all the cards I've had, I like it best because it is really easy to apply points to something I would already be buying. Points translate directly to dollar values and all you have to do is type how many you are using when you order something. It's pretty neat.

The_Spaniard

I don't fly on any particular airline, just whatever is cheapest, so I wouldn't want to be tied to a certain airline for points.

Edit: I was just thinking about it. The Capital One Venture card, for example, gets you about 2 "miles" for every dollar spent. So to pay for one round trip ticket to Europe that's (rounding down a couple hundred bucks) a nice even 1000 dollars round trip, would cost me 50 grand. Seeing how insane this is, would I just be far better off paying for my tickets like I always do, just completely forget about trying to earn miles, and just go for a card with an awesome return rate on various kinds of purchases that net me cash back/gift cards/certificates?

The_Spaniard

I've spent a few more days looking about, and I still don't feel like I'm any closer to making a decision. So many cards, so much info, and so many variables!

finalflight89

I have the Chase Freedom card, and I like it's versatility. Makes it easy to not have to worry about rewards - it's just 1% cash back on everything, and 5% cash back on rotating categories like gas or groceries. Basically $1 for every $100 I spend.

Six

The_Spaniard wrote: »

I've spent a few more days looking about, and I still don't feel like I'm any closer to making a decision. So many cards, so much info, and so many variables!

How much are you actually planning to put on this card in a year? In the end, the rewards may not really make that much of a difference.

a5ehren

Yeah, I generally prefer straight cash-back (or rewards that can be converted to cheap gift cards or statement credits) over miles. Unfortunately, you just missed a promo from Chase where they were offering $300 worth of points after $500 in purchases for a new Freedom sign-up. It's $100 now (which is still OK).

zerzhul

finalflight89 wrote: »

I have the Chase Freedom card, and I like it's versatility. Makes it easy to not have to worry about rewards - it's just 1% cash back on everything, and 5% cash back on rotating categories like gas or groceries. Basically $1 for every $100 I spend.

This is exactly what I use, and for the same reasons. It's easy to use, and easy to redeem the rewards/cash.

LaPuzza

I really like Discover. Their site and customer service are fantastic. The overlooked value is in the gift card rewards. For example, they run a promotion where grocery stores give you 5% cash back. I spend 800 bucks in grocery stores, I get $40 in cashback. I can get the $40 in cash, or in a $50 gift certificate. They work like real gift certificates, whether electronic or mailed, so you can use them in conjunction with any other discounts.

I really like their moble ap, too, because you can redeem cashback on the spot for a certificate. If I see a shirt I want in Gap, taptaptap I have an e-certificate, show my phone to the girl at the register, and I walk out with a shirt. I can do the same thing at Gamestop or Dick's Sporting Goods or a lot of other places. I basically don't spend money at the mall anymore unless I'm in the food court.

Essee

LaPuzza wrote: »

I really like Discover. Their site and customer service are fantastic. The overlooked value is in the gift card rewards. For example, they run a promotion where grocery stores give you 5% cash back. I spend 800 bucks in grocery stores, I get $40 in cashback. I can get the $40 in cash, or in a $50 gift certificate. They work like real gift certificates, whether electronic or mailed, so you can use them in conjunction with any other discounts.

I really like their moble ap, too, because you can redeem cashback on the spot for a certificate. If I see a shirt I want in Gap, taptaptap I have an e-certificate, show my phone to the girl at the register, and I walk out with a shirt. I can do the same thing at Gamestop or Dick's Sporting Goods or a lot of other places. I basically don't spend money at the mall anymore unless I'm in the food court.

This is exactly what my mom has told me about Discover (good cash back, great customer service, etc.), and she's been with them for years and years now (though she does have a couple other cards that she likes a lot less). Another thing I really like about them is that when you make a purchase that LOOKS like fraud to them, they don't just flip out and make the card decline immediately like the idiots behind our BofA Visas do (which almost screwed us over when we were buying plane tickets a month ago; the one she put on her Discover card went through fine, but the biggest flight was on the BofA card and we had to contact the travel agency three more times to get that charge to go through). They just contact you immediately (same-day) to follow up on the suspicious purchase. That makes a LOT more sense to me, and it's really pissed me off when my card has been locked for fraud by BofA's credit card company in the middle of the day when I make "too many" purchases. I've had to have my fiance pay big grocery shopping bills on his card instead because of that crap.

Anyway, yeah, Discover is her favorite credit card company for sure. I'm probably going to grab myself one of their cards as my next card considering what she's been saying about them and the way I've seen them handle problems both recently and in the past.

Namrok

Basically here is what you are looking. Every reward card I have ever looked at offers 1% cash back as your base. After that, they offer between 2%-5% on certain categories up to certain amounts.

I actually have two rewards cards. I have an Amazon Visa and a Chase Freedom card. I use them for what they are best at scoring rewards with. It works out pretty sweet.

The_Spaniard

Oh I just remembered one more variable, cards that extend manufacturer warranties. That's something I should have right?

jclast

I'll throw in my vote for the Amazon Visa. I don't remember what rate Ihave, but I pay it off every month and whenever I want to buy something on Amazon it's cheaper than usual (or free) because of the rewards points that I can spend at checkout.

I think the points breakdown is prett good for how I spend, too. 3 points / $ on amazon, 2 points / $ on gas and groceries, and 1 point / $ everywhere else.

The_Spaniard

jclast wrote: »

I'll throw in my vote for the Amazon Visa. I don't remember what rate Ihave, but I pay it off every month and whenever I want to buy something on Amazon it's cheaper than usual (or free) because of the rewards points that I can spend at checkout.

I think the points breakdown is prett good for how I spend, too. 3 points / $ on amazon, 2 points / $ on gas and groceries, and 1 point / $ everywhere else.

I've since heard that there are some cards that beat the Amazon card at it's own game giving more points for Amazon purchases than the Amazon card.

kuhlmeye

I was going to come in here and advertise for Discover, but it looks like someone already has.

I will say, regarding Amazon, that I don't think they give you any extra cash back for buying on Amazon. What they did do recently is allow you to link your discover card and pay for stuff with Discover Cash Back. They also don't force you to use all of it if you don't want. If you have $100 cash back, and are buying something thats $100, you could choose to use it all, or pay X of your own money if you don't want to use up all your cash back in one go. Discover also has their "online mall" that they offer varying degrees of extra cash back from. Like, 5-20% depending on what store you buy from.

Also, Discover's service department has been excellent. I think the longest I've waited on the phone with them is 5 minutes. Also, new card designs whenever you want! For free!

Shazkar Shadowstorm

i really like my chase sapphire preferred, but i also got 50,000 bonus points for signing up... if that promotion isn't still running then i dunno, but the points were transferrable to hotels, united/continental, amtrak, bunch of other things

and customer service is super great, call any time and there is someone talking to me right away


BUT
if you have a costco membership the costco amex is a good idea, my parents have that one

Akilae729

I've had the Citi "Dividend World Select" card for ~4 years.

Basic, no fees, 1% cash back, and 4-5% cash back on certain categories throughout the year. (Used to always be 2% cash back on gas and groceries, those were the days). Great card if you always pay off your balance. There is always a 0% interest for 6 months cash advance thing going on with the card as well. This allowed me to pull a bunch of money out for a trip to china, and not pay any interest on it.

Thanks to floating work purchases on it, I think I've gotten over $1200 in free money from Citi Bank. They also have really good 24 customer service, decent online banking, and were extremely helpful when someone stole my CC info and made $800 worth of purchases at a Circle K.

This is the VISA version but I have a MasterCard.

https://creditcards.citi.com/credit-cards/citi-dividend-card/

Akilae729

Essee wrote: »

LaPuzza wrote: »

I really like Discover. Their site and customer service are fantastic. The overlooked value is in the gift card rewards. For example, they run a promotion where grocery stores give you 5% cash back. I spend 800 bucks in grocery stores, I get $40 in cashback. I can get the $40 in cash, or in a $50 gift certificate. They work like real gift certificates, whether electronic or mailed, so you can use them in conjunction with any other discounts.

I really like their moble ap, too, because you can redeem cashback on the spot for a certificate. If I see a shirt I want in Gap, taptaptap I have an e-certificate, show my phone to the girl at the register, and I walk out with a shirt. I can do the same thing at Gamestop or Dick's Sporting Goods or a lot of other places. I basically don't spend money at the mall anymore unless I'm in the food court.

This is exactly what my mom has told me about Discover (good cash back, great customer service, etc.), and she's been with them for years and years now (though she does have a couple other cards that she likes a lot less). Another thing I really like about them is that when you make a purchase that LOOKS like fraud to them, they don't just flip out and make the card decline immediately like the idiots behind our BofA Visas do (which almost screwed us over when we were buying plane tickets a month ago; the one she put on her Discover card went through fine, but the biggest flight was on the BofA card and we had to contact the travel agency three more times to get that charge to go through). They just contact you immediately (same-day) to follow up on the suspicious purchase. That makes a LOT more sense to me, and it's really pissed me off when my card has been locked for fraud by BofA's credit card company in the middle of the day when I make "too many" purchases. I've had to have my fiance pay big grocery shopping bills on his card instead because of that crap.

Anyway, yeah, Discover is her favorite credit card company for sure. I'm probably going to grab myself one of their cards as my next card considering what she's been saying about them and the way I've seen them handle problems both recently and in the past.

What magic card is this?

EDIT: It looks like the student version has the cash back rewards, and the 5% cash back reward is for gas this summer (where i'm gonna drive something like 20,000 miles). Application pending....

The_Spaniard

I just saw a commercial today for a particular Citi ThankYou card, where you get 30 thousand thankyou points for signing up and a free national airline ticket a year as a bonus. Any thoughts on that card?

Edit: Blerg never mind 125 dollar a year fee...

Muriden

I worked for the AMEX Rewards division for a few years so I'm pretty partial to their system (knowing the beast), but I also carry a Discover card. One thing that would probably interest you for both of these rewards types is that AMEX and Discover's rewards systems integrate into Amazon. So if you are accumulating a lot of rewards you get a decent chunk of your Amazon purchases taken off. I don't have the Amazon VISA card but it looks like it has a similar system in place.

The_Spaniard

Well what do you know, I've completely forgotten about this thread and still no closer to deciding on a card. Anyway I'd like you guys to know I've appreciated the advice so far. It would be easier to pick if there were a few that everybody was recommending.

khain

Just pick a card, I'm going to guess that you don't spend all that much per month so the difference between cards isn't going to be that high. The only thing I'd keep in mind is that if you only want one credit card don't get a Amex or Discover since enough places won't accept them that you need to carry a backup card.

The_Spaniard

khain wrote: »

Just pick a card, I'm going to guess that you don't spend all that much per month so the difference between cards isn't going to be that high. The only thing I'd keep in mind is that if you only want one credit card don't get a Amex or Discover since enough places won't accept them that you need to carry a backup card.

Well I do have a debit that can be used as an alternate. As it is now I use my debit 90% of the time and then occasionally use my credit card just to keep it active. But if I got a card with awesome rewards I'd flip that.

Siska

Keep in mind that debit cards tend to a lot have less fraud protection than credit cards.

The_Spaniard

Siska wrote: »

Keep in mind that debit cards tend to a lot have less fraud protection than credit cards.

Yup, that's one reason I want to have a new main card to take its place.

Malgaras

The_Spaniard wrote: »

Siska wrote: »

Keep in mind that debit cards tend to a lot have less fraud protection than credit cards.

Yup, that's one reason I want to have a new main card to take its place.

Actually, for the most part, this isn't true anymore. Legally, liability for fraudulent charges on a debit card is limited, but more importantly most (if not all) card providers now mandate in their agreements that card issuers provide identical fraud protection for the debit cards as they do for their credit cards. The main difference is that with a debit card, you can be out the money while you sort things out while you have a month with a credit card before seeing any financial impact. However, once again, some credit card providers (I believe MasterCard and some others, maybe all, were doing this), are requiring issuers to give immediate refunds on disputed charges which evens things out even more. That's not to say that owning a credit card is a bad thing, but I just want to point out that the fraud issues between debit and credit cards are minimal compared to how they used to be.

As for a credit card, one pointer I would give is that a straight cash back card(or one with points that can be redeemed for cash/statement credits) is almost always going to be the best deal. While rewards cards that give gift cards or items or whatever can SEEM like a better deal, the price in points vs retail value of the reward almost always leaves you way behind. For example, on my card, I can get a 1 to 1 credit on my statement for rewards dollars or I can buy things like a $65 iPad case for 120 rewards dollars.

As for specific credit cards, I would definitely look at a Costco Amex as it's free with your membership already and has decent cash back rewards (3%gas, 2%restaurants/travel, 1%anything else).

Another card worth looking at would be Blue Cash from Amex. It also has a really nice cash back program (3% on groceries, 2% on gas, 1% on everything else) and no annual fee. There is also the blue cash preferred which, while it has an annual fee ($75), MAY actually be better for you as the rewards are 6%/3%/1% instead of 3%/2%/1%. You'd have to look at your spending history and do the math.

Both of those card also provide the standard stuff you see from most rewards cards now like warranty extension, return protection, and all that crap.

One more thing to keep in mind with rewards programs that have different rates for different categories is that it is based off off of where you make the purchase, not what you buy. For example, I have the Amex Blue Cash and since I buy gas at Costco, I only get 1% back instead of 2% since Costco doesn't come up as a gas station(or a grocery store apparently). Costco gas happens to be cheap enough here that it's not worth it to buy anywhere else anyway, but it's something to note. Meanwhile, I've heard of some people buying gift cards at the grocery store for other places they shop at just so they can get the higher cash back.

Hope this helps some.

DeShadowC

The_Spaniard wrote: »

Siska wrote: »

Keep in mind that debit cards tend to a lot have less fraud protection than credit cards.

Yup, that's one reason I want to have a new main card to take its place.

This varies to widely from place to place. For instance at my credit union if you're even in the next city over, an hour or so away, things can get flagged as possible fraud, but on the credit side of things the purchases have to be multiple thousands of dollars or in another country before they come up.

The_Spaniard

I've updated the variables in the OP a bit, and I'm softly leaning towards Costco Amex, but that's just at this particular moment. I could learn a new detail about another card that could swing me wildly in another direction the next day.

Six

You're wildly over thinking this.

TychoCelchuuu

Yeah, the difference in money/rewards value between any of the cards in this thread is going to be like, $50 a year.

The_Spaniard

Six wrote: »

You're wildly over thinking this.

Probably am, but this will most likely be the card I use for the foreseeable future, I'm talking years if not decades.

khain

Why do you think that you're signing a life long contract for a credit card? Just pick one and if you don't like it or find a better one then switch. The reason that there isn't a consensus is because everyone spends their money differently and so do you so just use one of the online calculators or take a couple cards that people recommend and find which one works best for you.

Six

The_Spaniard wrote: »

Six wrote: »

You're wildly over thinking this.

Probably am, but this will most likely be the card I use for the foreseeable future, I'm talking years if not decades.

That you think you're locked in for some reason or that the differences will really amount to all that much anyway shows that you're wildly over thinking this.

a5ehren

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

Yeah, the difference in money/rewards value between any of the cards in this thread is going to be like, $50 a year.

If that. Really, the Costco Amex is a really good card (especially if you were going to join Costco anyway) and you're better off just making a decision and starting to earn rewards than waiting around to decide.