Rotating Reward Credit Cards

[james.hendrickson]

Anybody messed around with these rotating reward credit cards?

[DaveInPgh]

Until recently, I used the Chase Freedom Visa for all of my purchases. I honestly never paid much attention to what their 5% categories were because my alternative card is a BP Visa. The BP card is one of the first credit cards and I earned plenty of free gas over the years. However, I no longer live near a BP station and it just isn't convenient to make a special trip in order to use that card. So the Chase card was my main card regardless of the categories.

Personally I found it annoying that I had to activate the new category every quarter. Yes, it is as simple as one click from my email, but I get enough email and it seems silly to make customers activate their reward categories.

I switched to a Fidelity rewards card that offers 2% back, which I have transferred automatically into my brokerage account.

[creditcardfree]

Yes. Currently using Discover for 5% back on all our Amazon purchases. It has been quite a lot with our daughter starting her second year of college.

I don't exactly like the rotating categories or use them to their full benefit, but I will use them.

[disneysteve]

We have a Discover card and a Chase Freedom card. Yes, we always try to take full advantage of the quarterly discounts. For example, currently the Chase card has 5% back on restaurants. That was great for us since we were on vacation for 2 weeks in July eating out almost every meal and also spent a weekend in NYC this month.

Some periods, the bonus categories don't appeal to us, like home improvement stores and movie theaters, so we just stick to our Marriott Visa then.

I put a small piece of masking tape on the front of each card and write down what the bonus categories are so I don't forget.

[corn18]

I used to rotate but now I just use my Chase 2% on everything card with no limit on cash back. That works out great for us because we charge a lot every month ($8k-10k / month), so the unlimited cash back matters. Some of our other rewards cards put a cap on the cash back.

Tom

[disneysteve]

Some of our other rewards cards put a cap on the cash back.

They do, but I've never really run into the limits. We only charge about $4,000/month total between 3 cards.

[DaveInPgh]

The Fidelity card is unlimited 2% as well.

I decided to go with that card because I needed to amp up contributions to a non tax advantaged retirement account. I set up regular contributions for each pay period, but this card is a way for me to make extra contributions without any extra effort.

[james.hendrickson]

I gotta say...I've never paid attention to the rewards points, but some people are really, really good at hacking them.

I met this guy Eric Rosenberg in Portland last year. The guy regularly manages to get 60,000 free airline miles when he signs up for new cards. What he does is use the cards to buy money orders, then deposits the money orders in his bank account, then uses the cash to pay back the cards - triggering the purchase limits and getting the miles.

Its a loophole.

I'm posting his stuff because I think he does a good job travel hacking.

http://personalprofitability.com/complete-beginner-guide-travel-hacking/

[disneysteve]

What he does is use the cards to buy money orders, then deposits the money orders in his bank account, then uses the cash to pay back the cards - triggering the purchase limits and getting the miles.

Its a loophole.

I used to do something similar when savings interest rates were higher and fees were lower. I would charge 10K to my Discover card, deposit the money in my MMA, then pay it back just before the due date. There was a transaction fee but it was minimal compared to the interest I earned.

I had to stop when they removed the cap on the fee and rates dropped making it no longer feasible. I never thought about the money order method. I guess as long as there's no fee for the purchase (which would surprise me) that would work like a charm.

[TheCudder]

We have a Discover card and a Chase Freedom card. Yes, we always try to take full advantage of the quarterly discounts. For example, currently the Chase card has 5% back on restaurants. That was great for us since we were on vacation for 2 weeks in July eating out almost every meal and also spent a weekend in NYC this month.

Some periods, the bonus categories don't appeal to us, like home improvement stores and movie theaters, so we just stick to our Marriott Visa then.

I put a small piece of masking tape on the front of each card and write down what the bonus categories are so I don't forget.

Same here, I use Chase Freedom specifically for the rotating categories, and Capital One QuickSilver (1.5%) for everything else.

[GoodSteward]

I used to do something similar when savings interest rates were higher and fees were lower. I would charge 10K to my Discover card, deposit the money in my MMA, then pay it back just before the due date. There was a transaction fee but it was minimal compared to the interest I earned.

I had to stop when they removed the cap on the fee and rates dropped making it no longer feasible. I never thought about the money order method. I guess as long as there's no fee for the purchase (which would surprise me) that would work like a charm.

I know MoneyGram counts as cash advance. I wasn't aware when I used it to send someone some help, and then got a fee plus interest on my bill. I wasn't happy. I would assume money orders count as cash advances, but I suppose it depends on the card.

I didn't like the rotating options. I don't like feeling like I NEED to use it more in one category just to take advantage of the offer. Instead, I changed to using a different card that offered a better continual rewards option all year. On the old card, one rotation was extra rewards from Home Depot....I don't even live near one and I sure don't need to run up there every week to buy stuff. Another was entertainment and eating out. Those are two things we purposely keep very low to avoid wasting money. Ratation based rewards just didn't make sense for me.

[disneysteve]

I know MoneyGram counts as cash advance. I wasn't aware when I used it to send someone some help, and then got a fee plus interest on my bill.

Back when I was doing it, the cash advance fee was capped at $5, I think. But I was making 10 times that much in interest on the money. Then they removed the cap on the fee and made it a % of the amount. That's when I had to stop.