Credit cards

[LivingAlmostLarge]

How many credit cards do you have and which ones? What are the rewards and what do you us it for? How much do you spend and how much rewards?

I am shopping for new credit cards plus last time we traveled we got to screwed and our account was stolen the only Mastercard we had though we had amex and discover, which aren't taken everywhere.

[disneysteve]

We have 3 (well really 4) active cards. Our main card is a Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card. This gets the bulk of our spending, in the neighborhood of $3,000/month.

We have a Chase Freedom Visa that used to be our AOL Visa. I have a few monthly bills that automatically charge to that card. We also use it for the quarterly 5% bonus categories.

Finally, we each have a Discover card in our own names (that's why I said it is really 4 cards). We use those strictly for the 5% bonus categories.

[disneysteve]

As for the rewards, the Marriott card obviously earns us Marriott points which we use for free hotel rooms.

The Chase card we get cash back. I just redeemed $120 a couple of weeks ago.

The Discover cards also do cashback or you can take it in the form of different gift cards which sometimes have a bonus, like $20 of reward credit for a $25 card, for example.

[kork13]

I have 5 credit cards, but really only use 4 of them. All of them are cash-back rewards cards of some variety except for the one I don't use often, so every time the cash back hits the rebate amount ($25-$50), I just use them get a cash credit against my card balances.

- Primary card: Capital One Cash Rewards Visa, charge ~$500-$600/mo, and earn 1% on everything plus a .5% "anniversary bonus" each year. I use it for almost all of my purchases not otherwise noted for the other cards. I'm going to replace this card in a few months (after I receive my next anniversary bonus).... Currently looking at switching to CapOne's "Quicksilver Cash Rewards Visa", which seems to have replaced my current card in their line-up -- it earns a flat 1.5% on everything, plus currently has a $100 signup bonus).
- Pentagon FCU Platinum rewards Visa, charge ~$250/mo, and earn 5% on gas, 3% on grocery, 1% on everything else. I really only use it for gas & groceries.
- Amazon.com Cash Rewards Visa, charge $100-$200/mo, and earn 3% on Amazon.com purchases, 2% on restaurants & drugstore purchases, 1% for the rest. I only use it for restaurants & Amazon.com.
- Discover card, used only for whatever the rotating 5% category happens to be. Spending in a given month can be as little as $50 or as much as $200+.

I'm not sure exactly how much I earn each month or year, but just working off of my general estimates, I probably earn about $20-$23 per month in rewards on an average of $950/mo in charges... So an overall average rewards rate of 2.1%-2.4%.

[rennigade]

Right now I have 7 credit cards.

A discover and amex Ive had since the beginning of signing up for credit cards.

2 chase southwest cards...each had a promo offer of 50k miles...after some spending I reached the 110k miles mark...which gives you one of the most sought after rewards, the "companion pass." This allows my companion (wife) to fly with me for free whenever I book something through southwests site. Whether I pay or use miles, the other person flys free. Pretty cool perk. I received the pass in August 2013 and its good until December 31, 2014.

I also have the Marriott visa card. Its pretty decent. Gives you a free night each anniversary of when you opened the card I believe. Theres an $85 annual fee...as long as you travel each year or stay in a hotel each year its worth it considering most marriotts per night are over $100. We went to Alaska a couple months ago and the Marriotts there were around $250/night...so that free night really helped. $250 - $85(annual fee) = $165 savings Other than the free night I never use this card for spending.

Just signed up for a citi card. 50k points after spending $3k in 3 months. Annual fee waved for first year. My wife and I both signed up for this. Going to get to 60k points each and cash them in for a roundtrip flight to Italy for 2015. We'll book our flights before the annual fee kicks in, and as long as we dodge going through heathrow, each ticket shouldnt cost more than $300(fees) + 60K points...compared to $1000+ for a ticket during the high season when we plan on going. So that will save us approx $1200 - $1400 combined.

My last card was an amex gold...also had a promo offer of 50k points. No annual fee for first year. Cashed in my points a couple months ago for $600 in cash. Just cancelled card last night.

A quick way to rack up points is to send money through amazon payments to someone you can trust. I send my wife $1000 each month using a rewards credit card to generate easy points. No fees as long as you stay under $1000 each month. The best way to go about this is to have 3 people you can trust. Person A sends it to Person B. Person B sends it to Person C. Person C sends it to Person A. Thats how you generate 12k in points a year for a couple minutes of work.

Im a huge fan of credit card promotions. I usually do a few each year. I guess my credit score takes a hit each time I open a card but I havent noticed much of a difference. I checked it a yearish ago and it was around 790 at the time...and this is after ive been playing the credit card game for years.

As long as you can keep track of when to cancel your cards to avoid the annual fees and how to spend enough money in the time frame needed for the promotional offer...its a no brainer to jump on board. (and also to pay off each card at the end of the billing cycle...this goes without saying!)

[MonkeyMama]

4 cards:

--Target - 5% off Target purchases (we use for groceries mostly)

--American Express Blue - 3% off gas and 6% off groceries (plus, can buy gift cards at grocery store for 6% off - we use for Amazon purchases) - rewards are cash back

--Fidelity American Express - 2% off all purchases - cash back rewards

--Credit union visa - 1% off everything - cash back - use for places that don't take American Express - and I like to have a credit card that is not a big bank.

IT sounds uber complicated, and I definitely like things simple, but the rewards are too enticing. I just pay them all off the first of every month, so not too much to keep track of.

P.S. We have made far more money (thousands of dollars) off one-time rewards, as rennigade has pointed out. We open a card, earn the reward, redeem the reward, and close the card. An easy way to earn $500 tax-free.

[JoeP]

One.

We really don't travel much, so airline and hotel comps are not something we look for or would necessarily use.

We also don't buy very much with the card, so we really wouldn't bet getting money or gift cards back. To get money back, we'd have to shift our spending method from cash to card, which we are not particularly interested in doing!

[TBH]

5 cards between the two of us, total.

* Fidelity Mastercard that puts 2% in our son's 529 account. This is our main card. Charge $1000 to $2000 a month, although I'm trying to cut back on that and use my debit card more. Even though I pay the credit cards off every month it's still easier for me to overspend with the credit card.

* Wells Fargo Visa that puts 1% toward our mortgage balance. All our automatic bills and regular monthly and quarterly donations are on this card, totaling about $500 a month. I also sometimes use it for big expenses like plane tickets. I never take this card out of the house. That way if my wallet gets stolen (again) I don't have to change all our autopayments.

* US Air Mastercard. I just opened this card for the sign-up bonuses--25K miles, plus two companion tickets for $99 each. I thought that was a good deal til I saw some of the sign-up bonuses you guys are getting!

* Discover card that my spouse has had for like 20 years. He rarely uses it, just keeps it open for the positive effect on his credit score, and because we like to keep separate credit cards and bank accounts in addition to the joint ones just in case.

* Kohl's store card. I put $200 or so on this card maybe twice a year. Should probably get rid of it. That Target card sounds tempting. We shop at Target more often than Kohl's.

* Until recently I had a Citi card that I used just for gas and groceries because 5% back, but their customer service people pissed me off one time too many and I closed it a few months ago.

[disneysteve]

We really don't travel much, so airline and hotel comps are not something we look for or would necessarily use.

We also don't buy very much with the card

It is definitely important to think about how you will use the card and what types of rewards are most valuable to you. For us, Marriott points are great. To others, they may be nearly worthless. For some, airline miles are a big perk. We hardly ever fly so that would be of no value.

Another thing to consider is if the credit card rewards tie in with any other reward programs. The points earned on our Marriott card get combined with the points earned from staying at Marriott properties. It's all one big program. So by using the card, instead of 10 points/dollar spent, we earn 15 points. Plus for being Silver level members, we get an additional 2 points and we're going to hit Gold level this year which will give us another boost and some other perks. Without the credit card, that wouldn't have happened.

[kv968]

4 cards...

Primary - Bank of America - 3% on gas, 2% on groceries and 1% everything else. Plus an extra 10% if I deposit the rewards in my BOA bank account

Chase Freedom - only use it when the 5% quarterly category comes around. Otherwise its 1%.

Capital One - 2% on groceries and gas and 1% on everything else. Don't use that one much.

Kohls - Use it only when I get the extra 30% coupon in the mail.

I also got a $250 bonus when I signed up for the Chase card and $200 for the BOA card.

[LuckyRobin]

I think we have six:

BoA Alaska Airlines VISA--our main spending goes on this, DH's plane tickets, travel food, hotel costs, and all of our autopays like Netflix, gym, storage, cell phone etc. Airmiles

2 BoA Master Cards--not used. One used to be MBNA. We keep one on us to use in case the VISA machine goes down. The other stays in a drawer.

Capitol One VISA--not used.

Costco AMEX--used for gas and Costco shopping and the occasional DVD Express or Redbox rental--cash back

Chase VISA--not used. Was originally gotten for an 18 month 0% balance transfer, long since paid off.

Once we buy a new house, I will close out some of these. I just don't want to mess with anything that might affect our credit score until after we've applied for a mortgage.

[Petunia 100]

I have 6.

Capital One Quicksilver Visa - Cash rewards 1.5% on everything. Primary card.

American Express Blue - Cash rewards 3% groceries, 2% gas, 1% everything else. Primary card for gas, also groceries on rare occasion when I am in a grocery store which accepts it.

Chase Freedom Visa - Rotating 5% categories only.

Wells Fargo Home Rewards Visa - 1% on everything, redeemed as principal payment on Wells Fargo mortgage. Used to be primary card.

B of A Visa - Haven't used in years, and don't intend to use it. Haven't closed because it is my oldest open account. I am tired of all the junk mail, so I may just go ahead and close it.

Temporary card - NFL Rewards Visa - Opened to get bonus rewards. Will close once bonus is earned and redeemed.

I like to earn as much as I can, but I will be honest, this system is starting to seem like a lot of work. I am considering going back to using the WF card only, and closing all the rest except Chase Freedom. After the B of A card, it is my oldest open account. Plus, I do like it when gas is one of the 5% categories.

[Petunia 100]

2 BoA Master Cards--not used. One used to be MBNA. We keep one on us to use in case the VISA machine goes down. The other stays in a drawer.

It's the same network. If the store temporarily can't accept Visa, then they temporarily can't accept MasterCard either.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Cool. I have to look into some of these cards.

[moneybags]

For those of you with Discover cards and do online shopping - (if you don't already know) Discover has a program if you go through their site you get extra bonuses usually 5-20%, similar to ebates, but added to your rewards. The list of stores is limited, but there are several I usually shop at.