Best Credit Cards to help Subsidize Travel

[SelectSys]

For years I have carried and used an AMEX card for business. I also keep an affinity Visa for personal use as well as a Capital One Visa for international travel.

 

My old affinity card was an AAdvantage Visa. I gave up on this 4-5 years ago when I started travelling 100k+ actual miles and then switched to a Marriott Visa. This worked out fine as the AMEX membership rewards sort of filled in the gaps for hotels and travel on other airlines.

 

Well my travel patterns have changed and I don't collect near the number of AAdvantage miles as when I travelled cross-country and internationally on a frequent basis. With airfares going up and my mileage balance shrinking along with trying to keep a family of 4 flying I am going back to the AAdvantage card.

 

As a result, I will drop either the Marriott or AMEX from active use. My first instinct is to no longer use the AMEX as these points don't transfer to either of my primary travel providers - American or Marriott. Can anyone provide a rationale not to do this? Why should I keep using the AMEX card and ditch Marriott instead. Note - I don't care about getting appliances or any non-travel related award.

 

Also, which AAdvantage card would you recommend? I don't need to worry about any yearly accrual limits.

 

Thanks in advance to any that can help!

[Darkwolfe]

You'll save the most by moving to a Zero Credit Card system for all your finances. Save up for the cruise and create a vacation budget if you need one. Use debit cards instead as they have the same fraud protections the "Use me, Abuse me" credit cards do.

 

Credit Cards are flat out banned in my house. That little detail alone will help me retire in my 50s instead of 10-15 years later. :)

[SelectSys]

You'll save the most by moving to a Zero Credit Card system for all your finances. Save up for the cruise and create a vacation budget if you need one. Use debit cards instead as they have the same fraud protections the "Use me, Abuse me" credit cards do.

 

Credit Cards are flat out banned in my house. That little detail alone will help me retire in my 50s instead of 10-15 years later. :)

 

You are correct that credit cards can be dangerous. I pay mine off monthly, but I am sure I spend more than I would if I carried cash.

[pms4104]

You are correct that credit cards can be dangerous. I pay mine off monthly, but I am sure I spend more than I would if I carried cash.

We also pay off the full balance each month, and I don't believe we're spending more $$$$$$ than if we used cash. Further, we don't have ATM and debit cards.

 

Currently, we are earning 5 percent back on gas, 3 percent on groceries and department store purchases, 1 percent on all else. When our rewards reach $200, we'll get a $250 check. I view these rewards as free money that we wouldn't get if we paid expenses by other means.

[SelectSys]

We also pay off the full balance each month, and I don't believe we're spending more $$$$$$ than if we used cash. Further, we don't have ATM and debit cards.

 

Currently, we are earning 5 percent back on gas, 3 percent on groceries and department store purchases, 1 percent on all else. When our rewards reach $200, we'll get a $250 check. I view these rewards as free money that we wouldn't get if we paid expenses by other means.

 

I agree with your perspective regarding cash back or rewards making the use of credit cards the cheapest method of paying for goods and services - if you pay your bill off on time and the discipline not to spend frivolously.

[NorthernLite]

Keep the Marriott. We have enough points from visiting my MIL that we spent 5 days pre/post at the Civittavechia Courtyard in 2006. Now we can spend a week in a class 7 near the Louvre next summer. In between we stay at the Newark Marriott the night before departures at Bayonne and half of those are free. Yep, paid off in full monthly.

 

Is AAdvantage any good if you tend to fly less than 10,000 miles a year? 20K, forgot the DH. Flights other than Southwest/TranAir back from Tampa or FLL kill us.

[ccryder]

Currently, we are earning 5 percent back on gas, 3 percent on groceries and department store purchases, 1 percent on all else. When our rewards reach $200, we'll get a $250 check. I view these rewards as free money that we wouldn't get if we paid expenses by other means.

 

 

Not to be too nosy, what card do you use? We have a mastercard that gives 3% back on all purchases. 5% on gas would be great as this is the main reason we use a card. Thanks

[pms4104]

Currently, we are earning 5 percent back on gas, 3 percent on groceries and department store purchases, 1 percent on all else. When our rewards reach $200, we'll get a $250 check. I view these rewards as free money that we wouldn't get if we paid expenses by other means.

 

 

Not to be too nosy, what card do you use? We have a mastercard that gives 3% back on all purchases. 5% on gas would be great as this is the main reason we use a card. Thanks

Not nosey at all.

 

We are juggling three cards ... Chase Visa and Chase Master Card (both Freedom Reward cards) and DiscoverCard.

 

With the Chase Freedom Rewards cards we get 3 percent back on any of 15 around-town categories like gas, groceries, department stores, utilities, etc. and 1 percent on all else.

 

Discover runs 5 percent promos quarterly, and you must enroll each quarter. Currently, 5 percent for gas and hotels and in the next quarter, it'll be 5 percent on groceries and at least one other category.

 

So, right now, our gas goes on Discover and our groceries on Chase. In the Fall, we'll sign up for Discover's new promo and charge groceries to that and gas to the 3 percent Chase Cards.

 

We are using Discover only for their 5 percent promos, as everything else is "up to" whatever percent based on the amounts charges, and 1 percent doesn't kick in till you charge some $1500 or $2000.

 

Chase is the one that will send us the $250 check when our rewards reach $200.

[CT Valley Cruisers]

Between my DH & I we have AAdvantage & Hilton AE the points are interchangable. I've used these for air & Hilton hotel stays many times.

DH has a Capital One for use in Europe r/t the no exchange fee. Allows us to make purchases & obtain foreign $. We also use Princess visa for onboard purchases to get obc.

The rules of full pymt when the bill arrives and don't buy if you can't afford it should always be followed.

[gtalum]

You'll save the most by moving to a Zero Credit Card system for all your finances. Save up for the cruise and create a vacation budget if you need one. Use debit cards instead as they have the same fraud protections the "Use me, Abuse me" credit cards do.

 

Credit Cards are flat out banned in my house. That little detail alone will help me retire in my 50s instead of 10-15 years later. :)

 

Dave Ramsey fans, eh? ;)

 

Credit cards can be dangerous, but when used properly (despite what Dave says) they actually save us a ton of money.

 

I could retire when I'm in my 50's, but I probably won't. I run my own business and I love what I do. :)

 

The card we use right now doesn't subsidize travel, but it pays down our mortgage principal. We have a Countrywide mortgage, and the Countrywide Visa pays a 2% rebate on all of our spending on the card towards our mortgage principal.

 

I also actually MAKE money by taking 0% balance transfers and putting the money into an ING Direct savings account. It used to be a lot more profitable when the 0% deals with $0 transfer fee were very widely available and when ING was paying ~5% interest, but I still make a little bit even today at 3% and with less frequent and shorter 0% offers.