What credit card?

So I have a credit card from my local credit union which has been good for building credit and such but I would like one which does a little more for me (aka cash back). I only use my card for internet purchases (aka car parts basically) and the full amount of every month. Does anyone have a good suggestion?

Is there a Costco near you? We have been using their American Express card as a Debit Card, paying it in full every month. There is a 3% back on gas, 2% on something, 1% on something kinda deal. Plus their gas is cheaper than others in the area anyway, so it saves a bit of money.

The APR stinks compared to a regular card, but that shouldn't matter if you aren't getting over your head and charging too much.

Discover has their 5% cash back commercials running.

You don't get something for nothing. Whether it is rate, other costs or terms that allows them to rapidly and suddenly change the terms of your card, there is something more expensive about a card with rewards.

Regardless of the card you use you need to read and completely understand the terms. They vary by card, even at the same source.

Chase Saphhire. Spend $3k in 3 months, get $400 cash back.

I'm going to do that, then cancel it. Then wait for the next good rewards card deal to come along.

inb4zOMGyou'llruincredit

My current card has 12.9% APR, no annual fee and 25 day grace period. So with paying back as soon as I get the slip means that I have payed $1.49 in interest this year.

carguy123 wrote: You don't get something for nothing. Whether it is rate, other costs or terms that allows them to rapidly and suddenly change the terms of your card, there is something more expensive about a card with rewards.

Not necessarily. I have a card that gives me $.10/L off on gas, and it cost me NOTHING. The card companies count on you not being able to manage your money, and end up carrying a balance.

Zomby Woof wrote:

carguy123 wrote: You don't get something for nothing. Whether it is rate, other costs or terms that allows them to rapidly and suddenly change the terms of your card, there is something more expensive about a card with rewards.

Not necessarily. I have a card that gives me $.10/L off on gas, and it cost me NOTHING. The card companies count on you not being able to manage your money, and end up carrying a balance.

Correct. I have a BoA Worldpoints card. The rate is 5.9%, there is no annual fee, and I've never paid them a penny in interest. It gives me 1% cash back - not a lot, but I just cashed in $500 worth of rebates the other day.

Boys, there are any number of ways to get you. Just because they haven't gotten you yet, doesn't mean they won't. They make the rules and they never give you something for nothing.

Why would they give you something for nothing? They are in the business to make money.

It's like Vegas and the house always wins.

They will only get me if I do something stupid, like not pay my balance in full on time.

Almost 10 years later, that hasn't happened. They make plenty of money from retailer fees on the dollar volume I move through that card. I buy everything I can on it.

It's not like the credit card companies lose out when you manage them to have zero balance.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/story/2012-05-10/credit-debit-card-swipe-fees-retailers-banks/54889030/1

(Oh look I checked the date to make sure it was current this time )

FWIW I use a Platinum Plus Mastercard branded by AAA. The card gives 1% back on all purchases so when I travel for work I make an extra hundred bucks or so. I pay as soon as I have an internet connection.

Also Platinum cards tend to have other benefits attached to them like rental car insurance or an extra year's worth of warranty on electronic items. It's worth looking into things like that.

carguy123 wrote: Boys, there are any number of ways to get you. Just because they haven't gotten you yet, doesn't mean they won't. They make the rules and they never give you something for nothing.

Nope.

They're playing the odds, knowing full well what they are. People who carry a balance lose. Those who do not, win.

Yup, even Vegas casinos pay out some money to lure in the marks

I use an Amazon-branded card. Gets me cash I can use at Amazon. Convenient. And since I've never failed to pay on time I've never paid them a cent.

Zomby Woof wrote: Nope. They're playing the odds, knowing full well what they are. People who carry a balance lose. Those who do not, win.

Yep. Just like in Vegas the deck is stacked in favor of the house, but not ridiculously so. There's plenty of room for people to come out ahead "if they play their cards right." The banks are playing the long game here, betting that they can make a good profit on those who play poorly.

If it were such an obviously lopsided game, nobody would play.

carguy123 wrote: You don't get something for nothing. Whether it is rate, other costs or terms that allows them to rapidly and suddenly change the terms of your card, there is something more expensive about a card with rewards.

You sound like Dave Ramsey. LOL. (actually I like SOME of his stuff)

carguy123 wrote: Boys, there are any number of ways to get you. Just because they haven't gotten you yet, doesn't mean they won't. They make the rules and they never give you something for nothing. Why would they give you something for nothing? They are in the business to make money. It's like Vegas and the house always wins.

Unfortunately for me, the way they pay for the rewards cards is by charging the merchants more. I berkeleying hate rewards cards. Because of rewards cards, and merchant agreements that make it illegal for me to charge a credit card customer more than a cash customer, everyone pays a bit more money to get their car fixed, so I can pay the berkeleying "Noncompliant card" fees.

Sorry, but I have to agree with carguy123, also (so that probably means he is wrong?).

Years ago, I had a card that AT&T came out with called an "All in one card". Back before cell phones it was a pain to be a long way away from home and needing to make a long distance call usually meant calling collect or having a ton of change on you. AT&T changed that with a card you could use to pay long distance calls with. The ads for this card trumpetted "no annual fee". And it didn't have one...at first. But because I wasn't charging much on my card and what I charged was paid off in a month or two, AT&T started charging me a fee for carrying a zero balance. I was penalized for not having any balance that could accrue interest. (They were stuck, they couldn't start charging me an annual fee. And, since my credit was good and I paid my bills on time, they couldn't raise my interest rate.) The "zero balance fee" came to about $2 a month or $24 a year, but it was the principle of the thing. So I got ride of the card.

I have a very good credit card with my credit union. 11% interest and no annual fee. BUT, the interest rate changes if I miss a payment or don't pay the minimum payment or just pay late....and it's legal. Banks see credit cards like car dealers see used cars: it's their current "cash cow". Banks and credit unions only lose money on credit cards when you declare bankruptcy...and they have made it harder for folks to do that.

You NEVER get something for nothing.

I've been with American Express for over ten years. A lot of that was on a no-rewards student credit card, but even then their service was nothing short of phenomenal. The only company with better service is USAA, but since I don't want all my eggs in one basket, AmEx gets my business.

If you like having a human available to fix things and usually a competent and friendly one at that, think about one of the many AmEx cards.

after making some (most?) of the stereotypical college credit card mistakes, It took a few years to pay the balances down. I never used them, and in relative terms they weren't that high, it just took me a while to do it. At the beginning of last spring, it had been a year and some time and I'd seen how well the rewards programs had been working out for many people so I decided to do the research.

this tool proved the most helpful: http://www.nerdwallet.com/rewards-credit-cards also just found this one tonight while looking for that first one: http://www.creditcardtuneup.com/

I ended up going with the Discover Escape card based on that first tool's recommendation. Over a year, I ended up with ~$600 in rewards split between travel credits (2/3rds) and amazon purchases (1/3rd). Both have the highest return for your rewards points (ends up being 2%) for Discover. Using the points on amazon is really, really easy. You can use any amount of the points you've earned up to whatever your total is, you don't have to get to a threshold like 5k or 10k. Did a lot of Christmas shopping that way. I've paid the balance every month so over the year I'm only out the, I think $60 annual fee and the occasional hassle of a place that doesn't take discover.

I think part of the trick to effectively getting rewards from a card is going into it being realistic about how you'll use it. I was surprised at the recommendation of the discover card because just reading and looking at other places had had other cards looking better on paper. Unless you're building up a new car every month, you may want to consider what other purchases you could use the card for when doing your research.

We have a Capitol One Visa and a Paypal Mastercard. The Paypal MC helps us with points toward paypal purchases and the Cap One has a great points/air miles structure.

Honestly... cards, points, whatever... its entirely dependent on what you value as a benefit. If you rarely fly, then an "air miles" card does you no good. As with all cards, the benefits are only if you actually pay. They give you those benefits based on the fact that most people pay more in interest than they get in benefits. Pay on time and you benefit from the folks who don't.

Would you buy a canoe with that Mastercard, karla?

Dude, I've been using rewards cards for going on 17 years. They're not "something for nothing," the rewards are an incentive for you to use their card which gains them transaction fees. They make 2.5% or more per transaction, so the difference between anything they give you and 2.5% is their markup. So they make money whether or not you carry a balance.

Really you're giving money away if you don't use a rewards card. My wife and I received over $250 in rewards last year and paid $0 in fees and interest.

We like the Amazon card but they only pay 1%. Right now we're using a Household Bank card that pays 2%; I'm not sure how they justify that and whether the offer is still available, but it's been really nice.

I don't care what the rate is because I would never carry a balance on a card. I have a home equity line at 3.5% that's empty at all times and a good savings. But the rate on a good card will be decent even if it's a rewards card.

I predict this thread getting taken over by spambots. Just sayin'.

We use our Sam's Club Discover. 3% cashback. Costs us $100/year for the sam's membership and platinum member to get the 3%. We average $700 cash back every February. So net is $600 in the pocket.

We use our Discover for EVERYTHING. All gas, food, utilities (phone, DISH, trash, cell bill) and any "fun items". We used it 2 years ago to pay for the wife's master's degree. We pay each month off in full, every month. That card has never had a balance in the last 7 years. Our biggest year was $990, our smallest was $500.

I haven't carried a balance ever and they ~love~ me because nearly every dollar I spend on anything earns them a transaction fee. I get something like 1% cash back on everything + more on restaurants, gas, office supplies - It's the Chase Ink card and I have it in the name of my business and myself.

For close to 10 years I used a Chase United Miles Plus card. Between qualifying air travel segments, bonuses, spiffs and spend x by when promotions, last summer we cashed in all the miles for 2 business class round trips from Washington DC to Barcelona Spain. Well, well worth it.

The best card for me is the one that requires the least of my time. I use automatic payment for everything. ~Everything~. If you don't have a way for my bill to pay itself without my intervention - I'm absolutely not going to use your product. Now that that's everyone it comes down to who's got the best web experience. I'm considering giving Chase the heave-ho 'cause the website is a pain. Also - when I have to activate a new card - if you require me to call from a "home phone" -whatever that is anymore - and park me on hold while you try to upsell me a payment protection plan? The last time I got that I pressed # for customer service and closed the account.

If you have good or better credit, you can be quite demanding.

As for those who insist there's no 'something for nothing" deals in credit and finance - all of these companies are in a business of averages. For every educated consumer who takes advantage of every perk, there's a hundred who overspend, carry a balance, and miss payments - all of which earns bags more money for say, Chase than they have to pay me. And as I said - what they earn on transaction fees for the horrifying amount of money I spend eating, buying car stuff, tools and house stuff is a big multiple of the percent they're kicking me.