Looking for new credit card advice

[BrianD]

My wife and I are looking for a new credit card. We are moving all of our accounts away from our current bank, and the new credit union doesn't offer one. I'm looking for a decent company that has a decent rewards program. We use our card a bunch, but rarely carry a balance. Anybody have any credit card companies you use and would recommend?

[Coffee Warlord]

Check out Chase Sapphire.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Been using the SW Airlines card for several years. Love getting all those free flights.

[sterlingice]

I'm a fan of the Chase Sapphire to the point where I actually paid the annual fee this year but that's only because we were needing the miles to get a trip. That said, it's more complicated than that and I probably won't keep it for another year just because I'm anti-annual fee. However, their points do convert 1:1 for quite a few airline and hotel partners and that's how we got airfare and some hotel for our upcoming trip to Russia.

First, I'm going to assume you aren't going to carry a balance and you're just going to be trying to find the best rewards. If that's not the case, then you introduce some really complex calculus about what an airline mile/hotel point/etc is worth versus what interest you'll be saving.

Also, you mention "a decent company". If you're talking Chase or Citi or Cap One, etc- they're all fairly crooked and play similar games. There are probably people who can break it down more granularly than that but I have cards from each of them and it's a pretty similar experience (tho the Sapphire has better service but I also pay for it and I'm not sure it's that much better). Then again, I had my wallet stolen a couple of years ago and I didn't have any issues with any of the companies: I didn't have to pay for any of the purchases I didn't make and they all were shut off within a half hour as soon as I called the stolen card line.

Really, I think it's about what rewards you are looking to get. And I can speak in broad strokes.

If you just want cash back, I'm not as familiar with the options as we were trying to save up for a trip. But for points, I find it best to piggyback on something you already have a lot of miles on. For instance, I had a lot of Continental (now United) miles so my best choices were to pick up the Continental card or Sapphire, which converts 1:1.

I got the miles I needed for airfare and then converted some into hotel points with Marriott, another Sapphire 1:1 with hotels in Moscow I wanted to stay in. As an aside, this is typically a bad idea as it's believed you get a better bang for your buck in airline vs hotel. However, we were still short so I recently applied for the Marriott Visa and with those bonus signup miles, we got enough to stay two blocks of five nights (Marriott offers a B4G1 on hotel point stays so it's best to stay in blocks of 5- which is just fine for an international trip).

The point of all that was to illustrate that the ideal is to build on miles you already have. Don't just start on Delta miles when you never fly Delta as you'll never accumulate what you need. Also, keep in mind what you're aiming for from the start (for us, it was a Russia trip).

Flyertalk is a good spot to sift through the various travel offers out there right now. I'm sure there are some bonuses going around right now, tho nothing as lucrative as a couple of years ago. When we were neck deep in the financial crisis and they were handing out cards with insane bonuses if you could qualify, I picked up an AA Amex that gave me 85K miles and the Sapphire was at 50K or 60K for a signup (~30K now):
Credit Card Programs - FlyerTalk Forums (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs-599/)

SI

[ozias]

I don't use them but Bank of America keeps running advertisements, and include these...


1% cash back on purchases, 2% on groceries and 3% on gas for the first $1,500 in combined gas and grocery purchases each quarter
Plus earn a 10% customer bonus when you redeem into a Bank of America® checking or savings account
Get a $100 cash back bonus after you make at least $500 in purchases within 90 days of account opening
Introductory 0%† APR for your first 12 billing cycles for purchases, and for any balance transfers made within 60 days of opening your account. After that, a Variable APR that’s currently between 12.99% and 22.99% will apply. 3% fee (min $10) applies to balance transfers. Please see Terms and Conditions for payment allocation information

If you're not going to carry a balance the apr won't really affect you in any way, and you can get a free $100 just by spending $500 within 90 days, and if you use the card often, it shouldn't take you 3 months to spend the 500.

If you're a member of Credit Karma check out the different types of cards they recommend. It's free to join and remain a member, plus it will help you keep track of your credit report.

[Desnudo]

You can find some good Amex programs. For example, I have a Fidelity Amex which is a straight 2% on everything plus the substantially better customer service.

[BrianD]

You can find some good Amex programs. For example, I have a Fidelity Amex which is a straight 2% on everything plus the substantially better customer service.

Amex has a yearly fee, right? That is one other thing I am looking to avoid. Have you had any trouble using it in certain places? Is it accepted everywhere?

[sterlingice]

Amex has a yearly fee, right? That is one other thing I am looking to avoid. Have you had any trouble using it in certain places? Is it accepted everywhere?

I found that it worked about 97% of the time. However, I carried around a Visa just in case.

SI

[TargetPractice6]

If you don't do a lot of traveling, Chase Freedom is a great alternative to the Sapphire. You get 5% cash back in categories (groceries, gas, Amazon, etc) that rotate quarterly and 1% everything else. Some quarters are better than others, but usually there is at least one category that is useful to me. I'll also add that the customer service was great when I informed them about a fraudulent charge. They immediately refunded the transaction, cancelled the card, and overnighted me a new with no questions asked.

I also have an Amex Everyday Blue that's 3% on groceries, 2% gas and department stores, and 1% elsewhere. I'll use this one at the store and pump in the quarters that the Freedom doesn't cover them.

[sterlingice]

Chase Freedom can be handy in that you can store up points and transfer them to Sapphire if you choose to get a Sapphire later. So, for instance, get a Freedom this year and use it. Then get a Sapphire next year and keep it just for the first no annual fee year and then transfer over your Freedom points. That assumes Chase doesn't get rid of the transfer in the next year and they still have a first year annual-fee free for the Sapphire.

SI

[Desnudo]

Amex has a yearly fee, right? That is one other thing I am looking to avoid. Have you had any trouble using it in certain places? Is it accepted everywhere?

The only place you run into problems is small businesses that sometimes don't want to deal with the transaction fee

[gstelmack]

You can find some good Amex programs. For example, I have a Fidelity Amex which is a straight 2% on everything plus the substantially better customer service.

We have this for online purchases, and a Disney Rewards card through Chase for around town stuff. So one that goes to our investment account, and one that saves up for the next trip to Disney.