The Best Credit Card For Spending On…

IMHO, “switch your method of payment at the end of the rental” is a very bad idea to get an extra 50 cents. What happens when some knock off rental place tells you a week later you had damage on the car?

@menachem_m:
It’s more than 50 cents, but typically damage is pointed out and known at the time of return, no?

I know the program has hideously devalued, but the Surpass card still gets you 6X on grocery with no cap

@mw:
I value Hilton after their most recent massive devaluation at about 0.3 cents each, so even at 6x I wouldn’t use it over other cards that don’t even have groceries as a bonus category.

How about the capital one quicksilver which gives your 1.5% cash back on every purchase with no limits and no minimum redemption requirements?

Gasoline, why not use AMEX until the end of the year?
Most if not all members get $5 off purchase of more than $25 at a BP pump.
Alternatively Blue Cash Preferred Card AMEX will give you 3% cash back. Given the recent and future devaluations of UR, 3% cash back is hard to beat.

Hello,

I just wanted to comment, that interestingly enough my Freedom (and my wife’s as well) still give me 10 points per purchase. We never got a letter and it hasn’t changed.

@ari:
Barclay Arrival gives 2.22% cash back and a $400 signup bonus and only pulls from Transunion.

Quicksilver gives less cash back, has a much smaller bonus, and does hard pulls from all 3 credit bureaus.

@ABC:
Sure, but that’s just for the next 45 days, this chart is in general besides for limited time promotions.

Even with the devaluations 2 UR points is worth more than 3% cash back.
Plus the Ink cards also earn 1% cash on top of the 2 points at select stations.

@BB:
Lucky you 😀

i notice you never talk about the city prestige card…

@ar:
What about it?

Which card would you use to pay school tuition?

Why is Ink (2x) better than Sapphire (2.14x) on gas?

@Devorah:
That would go under general spending.
Or better yet open some cards with big signup thresholds to meet.

@@Yehuda:
Sapphire earns 1.07 on gas.

O right, whoops!

wow dan very extensive and well put together!

is it better to spend a little on all my cards or most on one or two cards ignoring the rest?

Dan, thank you so much, that’s such a useful post

Dan, you are awesome ! Thanx for this info.

the TrueEarnings® business Card from Costco and American Express gives 4% back

@Dani:
I optimize all my spending but go as crazy as you’re comfortable with.

@Joel:
@jacob:
YW!

@bob:
Thanks, updated.

@Dan:
what do you mean by “go as crazy as you’re comfortable with?”

@Dani:
I have dozens and dozens of active cards and can maximize every purchase.

Most people don’t have the patience for that and should stick to a few top-notch cards like Sapphire Preferred, Ink Plus/Bold, Freedom, or Starwood.

Or Barclay Arrivals if they don’t want to deal with real miles that can more more lucrative than cash back.

I actually use Amex w their premium insurance for rentals. It costs like $24 a rental but if you’re renting for more than a few days it’s worth the primary no deductible physical damage with excellent customer service. I dealt with them once and they were IMO top notch.

@Ejb:
Don’t see why it’s worth paying an extra $24/rental if you have a United card.

Anyway AMEX has a $19.99/rental option as well that you should look into.

@Dan:
thanks for replying Dan. I’m honored to have The Dan himself respond. been a follower for years now…

DAn, so with the United card I should decline all insurance options on the rental? (CDW, Personal accident insurance etc)

@Yosef B Chicago:
It covers CDW.
No card covers liability insurance.

Don’t many cards cover CDW?
What exactly does primary mean when it comes to car rentals?

@Yosef B Chicago:
If you have a different insurance (you have your own car ) so you will still be covered by the united card, MASHEIN KEN with the sapphire preferred.

Thanks for a very clear and thorough post!

Dan,use my Hilton card at grocerys and I get 6 points per dollar so I can use it for studying at Hilton hotel’s.

re: any Ames for plane tickets. I have heard that the Amex does not cover you in case of travel delays, delayed baggage, or as well for lost baggage is Chase cards – I’m thinking sapphire. would that cancel out the extra point earned?

Dan the United Club card gives the same benefits as the United explorer for primary coverage on car rentals in the US plus it also gives you more miles back (1.5 back?) So the United Club card is the better choice for us car rentals?

The penfed cash rewards card , if you can get it, gives 5% back on gas all year and the credit gets deposited into your cc statement at the end of every month. No need to redeem anything.

What’s the best card for entertainment spending? Like concert and sporting event tickets.

As a follow-up to my entertainment question, are Citi Thank you points worth anything? cause they offer 3X ThankYou Points on Dining out and Entertainment.

Hi i realy want to get the Blue Cash Preferred however I already have the blue cash every day and the Starwood and when i try to apply this message pops up “You have been identified as a current American Express Cardmember. You may have seen an offer advertised for this product previously, but the offer is not available to current American Express Cardmembers”. Is there any way around this?

@yitz:
Click on the link using incognito. To browse incognito in Chrome just hold down Ctrl, Shift, and N and the same time. In IE and Firefox you can access this mode by holding down Ctrl, Shift, and P buttons on your keyboard.

Bear in mind the Platinum card from AMEX does not offer purchase protection on items bought out of the US!
I learned this last week after trying to get a refund on a swarovski purchase in Toronto duty free shop.

if you don’t have your own car always use your sapphire card for car rental (or if you have a business and rent a lot by hertz you could save up to 10% )

Dan I thought all Chase Cards give primary CDW not just the Explorer Card. If that is the case which card would you then use?

@Devorah: if you have the ink card and live next to a staples or office max you could buy the $200 gift cards and get 1,035 chase points for $6.95 add. fee

@Yosef B Chicago:
Primary means you don’t need to file a claim with your own car insurance.
United does this in the US, most others don’t.

@Igor Ivanovich:
YW!

@sam:
Not sure what kind of studying you do, but a middle of the road Hilton needs some 40K points and a top of the line needs 95K points.
Even at 6x it’s not a great option.

@JB:
Very possibly, but this post was strictly about the points.

@Davidd:
Yes.

@Steve:
Only if you qualify for PenFed and only if you have the Plus version which has other requirements besides just having a credit card.

@What about entertainment:
I’d put that in general.

@What about entertainment:
TY points are not nearly as valuable as other point currencies. I’d take 2.14 Chase points over 3 Citi points every day.

@Gary:
It does offer purchase protection but return protection is only in the US.

@Sue:
That’s only true outside of your home country.

Hi,

Does PGGM delta still work. i was about to do it and saw that EC charges are non-refundable. if so what is the best option for Amex $200 credit?
Thanks in advance

can a Blue Cash Everyday be changed into a Blue Cash Preferred?

Hi Dan. I will be staying at hotels 4 nights a week for the next 6 months or so. I have the option of Marriott, Sheraton and Hilton. I think I should choose 1 and also get the credit card for that chain. I have Hyatt Diamond so I should be able to status match/challenge to any of those. Which would you recommend I stay/get the card for? Thanks so much!

I was thinking of doing that with my ink but the tuition is 11,000 and I would need 55 cards and would be paying 382.25 in fees. Would that still be worthwhile?

And in case you say SPG is the best…is the current 25K bonus for the credit card, the best it typically gets? Thanks!

Wow! Thanks!

@Karga Yid:
Still works for refunds within 24 hours, see DDF.

@yoni:
Call and ask.

@Josh:
Starwood.
Ask for the Platinum challenge.

@Devorah:
Huh?
Spending $11,000 on 2 new Ink cards would earn you 111,000 points, worth many times that fee.

@Josh:
It goes up to 30K every August.

@Menucha:
YW!

nice job dan!!

This is probaly the most informative post this year.

Thanks so much for all your help!!

Your awesome and responsible for saving people millions of dollars, and creating new jobs (mileage brokers).

@Dan:
not sure an=bout that, I opened a share account with penfed and once i did that i was eligible for all their credit card offers, I didn’t have to qualify for anything else. They do make sure you have good credit but thats all. The evn have the penfed platinum cash rewards cards which gives 5% on gas 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else, those points are redeemable for a visa gift card.

@moshe shimon:
@Moshe:
Thanks for the feedback!

@steve:
My guess is that you are grandfathered then.

when will the last survivours lose there chase 10×10 benifits to the new rules?

Thanks Dan! Very appreciated. Have a good day 🙂

Dan,

I logged into my AMEX account today to see an offer to upgrade my Business Gold Rewards card to Platinum and get 30,000 MR points for spending $10k in 5 months.

If I don’t care for the other benefits (United Club, Ink and Business Gold Rewards give me most of them) is it still worthwhile?. That would equate to paying 1.5 cents per MR point! (Unless I can downgrade and get a pro-rated refund, which I would do once I get all the points, but is that doable?)

I guess I should add that my main goal right now is to get enough ANA points for 2 Business class tickets to Israel on US Air while they are still available as a partner. I have about 95k MR points and 55k SPG points.

Unless you can suggest a better way to get 2 Business Class tickets to Israel (I currently have about 95k SkyPesos in my DL account).

I didn’t see a post about drug stores. What card should I use to optimize my purchases of vanillas and paypal cards?

Dan, that’s impressive.
I use Capital One Venture Rewards for almost everything: 2 points per dollar spend on EVERYTHING. It also charges no foreign fees. Is there a better card than this for overall expenses? I also have an Amex Delta Platinum for Costco, for charges where I want an extended warrantee, and for those charges that do not take Visa. I use my United Explorer for car rentals and business travel (mostly on United).

I purchased a ticket on Priceline, Turkish Air from NY to Tel Aviv and used AMEX Gold Premier rewards card. I only got 1 point/$ spent. Called and was told that you get triple points only if you buy directly from airline and not from discount site.
Is that correct? Thank you.

@mark:
No idea.

@Josh:
You too!

@Gingi:
It’s an OK offer I guess. There have been better.

@Mark:
Cards to meet spend thresholds? SPG?

@Stu:
If you want cash back then Barclay Arrival earns more.
If you want real miles than lots of other cards are more lucrative.

And Delta miles are the worst. Get a Starwood card. Why do you even have a Delta Platinum level card?

@Toby S.:
Most charges from Priceline and Orbitz and passed through to the airline to charge so you do get triple points.

Note that Sapphire gives 2.14 points per dollar even when it’s not charged directly by the airline.

Dan, I did 2 BM, and chase wrote back that the application was a duplicate (applied for 2 diff cards on 2 BM) and they would respond about one application.

why?

@JB: *”lost baggage AS Chase cards”

Amex Plat covers lost or damaged luggage but not delayed luggage. However, if you register with Amex Plat for Premium Luggage coverage, if it delayed you will get coverage, meaning if it comes 3 hours late, you can spend up to $500 to replace your stuff. They charge you per trip ordered, around $10.

You must check with them to confirm exact details. It seems like they may not be enrolling new plans.

Chase has coverage which is IIRC a bit less generous.

If you have plans to get tickets with a short stop-over, it is likely that you will receive luggage late, depending on airports. Spend a few minutes before you buy so you ensure that you are covered.

See here on the forums for starters, http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=28864.0 with other links there…

Dan, what if you don’t have a car so no car insurance. Then you would primary car insurance on most cards, no? Like the Chase Sapphire.

@Mark I believe Club Carlson gets 5x

Dan, I use the Delta Platinum b/c of the free companion ticket and their 10K bonus in points for every 25K in spend – no limit. I use the companion ticket every year and it provides more than $150 in value.

Dan – thanks for this post. On car rental, doesn’t the Ink Bold offer similar insurance coverage to the Chase United Explorer? thanks

Dan thanks for all!

sub total? if I’m selling the points/miles/evios, which card gets paid the most for it?

How does one deal with all the annual fees on “dozens of cards”? I am new at this and not quite understanding the strategy. Credit pulls? Annual fees? Do you shutdown cards after a year? Help!

How come there are no CAPITAL ONE cards, like the VENTURE?

@EB:
Because there are much better options than that.

@Dan

“American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card
…earn 15K points when you spend $30,000 within one calendar year. Points are earned only on eligible purchases”

That means from when I opened my card I have a full year to reach 30k, Correct?

@Avi S.: No you don’t close it! You can almost always downgrade any card after a year to a lower card from that same bank and there is no fee.

Dan, I’d love to hear your opinion on paying income taxes by credit card. The rate is 1.87%. You say that at minimum you value Chase UR points or SPG points at 1.8 cents to the point making this a break even proposition at worst. Thoughts?

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Pay-Taxes-by-Credit-or-Debit-Card

another way to look at this – an easy way for those of us independent contractors to hit the mega bonuses and get the companion ticket from United etc.

I am trying to book 3 rooms in a hotel in Santa Barbara, CA using credit card points later this year. I have Spg points and Ultimate rewards points which i can use. SPG has no close properties and the Hyatt will only allow one room with points for their Santa Barbara property. Hilton and Marriot want a ridiculous amount of points for their motels (1-3 value).

Does anyone know of a way to transfer point to an airline through SPG and then use those points for a hotel? or any suggestions?

Dan, any thoughts on Capital Venture Rewards card. They are saying that one gets 2x miles on every purchase.

Also, my main goal is upgrades — upgrading from economy to Business Class.