favorite credit cards?

bluee

bluee

Line Up and Wait
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AL
I thought I'd start a new thread on favorite credit cards, instead of adding to the current thread on fraud. Coincidentally, USAA called me today about fraudulent activity on my credit card, which has been cancelled.

What's your favorite credit card? I also want a new one that doesn't have a foreign transaction fee.
 
USAA, without a second place finisher in sight.

Excellent service and, as you are likely finding out right now, when they flag fraudulent activity and have to cancel the card, the new one comes - right away - by FedEx.
 
I know, I love USAA. They are great to deal with, and this is the second time I've had to replace credit cards. They were also great when my wallet was stolen. BTW, the fraudulent activity was small enough amounts that we probably would have thought, did I do that? what did I buy for $25? I'm glad USAA caught that. They said the address didn't match.

But I also think we should have a second CC, one with no foreign transaction fees.
 
I have USAA, BoA and AOPA (BoA) that I carry regularly.

BoA called me on a small charge in a state I have never visited. They blocked it, checked with me, canceled the card and reissued.

I carry USAA but not used it. I carry zero card balances.
 
Don't know about favorites, but I carry a Costco AMEX that will pay back $403 this year and I use my GM card to put my training expenses on to make them easier to track.
 
I hate to ask this, but what is the mission? Other than no foreign exchange fee, what
is important to you?

I like what I am hearing about USAA protecting you from fraud.

I have come to loathe American Express Delta Rewards card. It seemed no matter how many points I racked up, the number of points needed for a flight kept increasing. Plus they expired my wife's points and I had to pay too much to get them back. Then I wanted to combine mine and her points but they were going to make me pay another huge fee (about $900) to transfer about 80,000 points to my account.
And every time I tried to call AMEX about anything it took another 10 minutes to tell the I didn't want to add more services or upgrade to a platinum again. And they kept calling telling me they wanted to help me take more advantage of their card by charging more on it. They wouldn't leave me alone or take no for an answer.

I now have a Marriott Rewards card that I use a lot. We like to stay at Marriotts and that helps offset the cost of Avgas for our one or two night trips. They kept sending me better and better offers until I finally broke down and got one.

I was turned off by Capital One because one time I took them up on their offer to transfer a $25,0000 balance from AMEX (used to purchase some laboratory equipment) at NO interest for 18 months. That sounded great until my next statement. I charged around $5k per month on their card and now they were charging me interest on the whole balance every month because my payment went first to pay off the zero interest loan. That sort of ruined the benefit.

If I didn't think I would really make use of the Marriott card, I would look for a card with no benefits and a high limit that I could pay off each month.
 
I'd throw another vote for the Costco AMEX. Great services, great kickback. Also works at aviation fuel pumps for 3% back up to the maximum per year, which you can hit pretty fast filling airplanes. :)
 
I went through this not to long ago. I have USAA platinum Master card and it was great. I had the total rewards program, which was linked to my checking account. Thus, no matter what I bought I got points for. About two weeks ago, I got my first non-USAA credit card. I went with the Chase Sapphire preferred car. It does have a $95 per year fee, but for what I use it for, I'm ok with that. It allows me to transfer points to any of my reward systems I have in place. An example, I can transfer the points from Chase to my hertz gold club and get free rentals. Then when I get the car with my chase CC, I get 2 points for every $1 spent. The same has been true for my marriott and hilton memberships too. The same thing applies to flying! So yes, I pay an annual fee, but I have a lot to show for it. 24/7 dedicated service, 50,000 bonus points, no foreign transaction fees, and concierge service (which, I haven't fully taken advantage of yet).
 
I don't have any credit cards, but I use a Perkstreet checking account debit card for 2% cashback. "Technically" no fee, but it costs me $47.50 a year in lost interest income to keep atleast $5k in the account in order to get the 2% cashback rate.

If you have <$5k in the account then you get 1% cashback after the introductory period expires.
 
I also have USAA, but what a lousy return. Had for 25 years the GM Mastercard actually 4 of them one for each member of our family. All told, we saved over $43,000 off the purchase of new cars.

Thinking about Capitol One. USAA is great about fraud protection. I have them for all insurances except my motorcycle, They do my brokerage account as well.
 
Why do people think fraud protection is for THEIR benefit? I hate our Alaska Airlines BoA for the very reason some of you like your cards. Every time we travel more than one state away we get a phone call after one purchase and a declination after our second unless we've returned their call. How does that help ME?

Once we leave Alaska that card is so gone.

Capital One is not much better. But the reasons I do like it is because it was a pre-credit card reform act card and so has a better points deal than ones they are offering now; there is no annual fee; and no foreign transaction fees (including waiving the Visa foreign fees too - a lot of cards advertise no foreign fees without disclosing you still are responsible for the Visa or MasterCard fee.)

Now that we are looking at living in a United Airlines monopol...er, market, we are looking at the Chase Signature United MileagePlus Explorer. Been waiting to see what happens with the Continental merger.
 
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USAA - Over the years they've called me twice about fraudulent charges.

Each time they asked if I had made some specific purchase. I hadn't, and they really didn't fit our purchase pattern (dog food from a store in Paris, for example). Both times, over the phone, I heard a mouse-click followed by "Your card has been cancelled, you will get a new one in the mail."
 
I have a Penfed cash rewards card. Until just recently they just changed the "cash back" to points it was a 5% back on gas paid at the pump (excluding AV gas) and 1% on everything else (including AV gas) in a statement credit at the end of the month.

The new policy is "points" with 5 points per $1 on gas (again AVgas is not treated as a pay at the pump transaction) 3 per $1 on groceries and 1 for $1 on all other transactions (including AV gas). With a 25,000 point bonus for switching to the points that I can use for a $250 visa gift card. (Otherwise it was getting changed to 0.25% cash back.)

Regarding fraudulent transactions, that's actually why I left suntrust. On three separate occasions they denied transactions (one at dinner with the fairly new girlfriends family after everyone had handed me cash) because the transaction was out of pattern. Needless to say that was the last straw with them. PenFed has been great, the only time I've been called, (there hasn't been any fraud on the account) I missed the call, and they requested a call back. I confirmed the charges, and went about my business. Customer service has been great and I've moved my auto loan to them at a rate of 2.49%.

I also have an Amex, but it almost never gets any use.
 
I don't do anything that pays in "points"... that just reeks of the kind of stuff you see in a Las Vegas Casino to hide the value of the money being spent/lost.

Anyone care to comment on whether or not they have a "points" card they have actually done the math on, that returns something useful?

And oh by the way... I'm shocked at all of us... no one has the AOPA card, and a revolving membership to the Wine Club paid for on it? ;) ;) ;)
 
denverpilot said:
Anyone care to comment on whether or not they have a "points" card they have actually done the math on, that returns something useful?
Click to expand...

I utilize points, and I have used it for useful stuff. My AMEX card (which I don't use much at all anymore) was essentially 1 point = 1% cash towards whatever. It worked well with buying airlines tickets and such.

The PenFed card - is also basically 1% on everything 5% on gas in points, and at 10000 points, a $100 visa gift card, 25000 points, a $250 visa gift card, etc. I do put anywhere from 3.5k-12k a month on the card so it's free money in my pocket. IMHO - the reason that card places go to points vs cash back/etc is the points requires interaction from the cardholder. If I had to guess, it's a whole lot like the 200m or so that goes unused from gift card purchases that pushes the credit card holders towards points as a large number of them will never get used. I do have to add - I don't buy things to get points, but I do spend money and there's no reason not to get a little kickback on it.
 
when i was in college i had an AOPA card but that was back when they offered real rewards, cash back for purchases at the airport. 10% IIRC. I would buy gas for the FBO planes when I was no the road, get 10% back and submit the receipt to the customer for full reimbursement. Was a nice way to help buy more macaroni and cheese. Then they switched to BoA and went to points and i cut up the card.

Now I have a Visa through my credit union. it is fine.

Still wish someone would issue a card with Dave Ramsey's face printed on it. I'd go for that in a heartbeat.
 
tonycondon said:
when i was in college i had an AOPA card but that was back when they offered real rewards, cash back for purchases at the airport. 10% IIRC. I would buy gas for the FBO planes when I was no the road, get 10% back and submit the receipt to the customer for full reimbursement. Was a nice way to help buy more macaroni and cheese. Then they switched to BoA and went to points and i cut up the card.

Now I have a Visa through my credit union. it is fine.

Still wish someone would issue a card with Dave Ramsey's face printed on it. I'd go for that in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
BofA AOPA does points, but you can convert them to cash. $25K gives $250 cash.
 
Mattl said:
I utilize points, and I have used it for useful stuff. My AMEX card (which I don't use much at all anymore) was essentially 1 point = 1% cash towards whatever. It worked well with buying airlines tickets and such.

The PenFed card - is also basically 1% on everything 5% on gas in points, and at 10000 points, a $100 visa gift card, 25000 points, a $250 visa gift card, etc. I do put anywhere from 3.5k-12k a month on the card so it's free money in my pocket. IMHO - the reason that card places go to points vs cash back/etc is the points requires interaction from the cardholder. If I had to guess, it's a whole lot like the 200m or so that goes unused from gift card purchases that pushes the credit card holders towards points as a large number of them will never get used. I do have to add - I don't buy things to get points, but I do spend money and there's no reason not to get a little kickback on it.
Click to expand...


I agree with Matt. I'm spending the money anyways. I don't use my CC to buy things I cannot afford... I use it to get the points and money back. Another nice thing about Chase is that they send me an annual break down of how I spent my money, thus I can change my spending habits. I use excel to track my budget, however, my spending cash is just that.... I have no clue how my wife and I spend it. We get what we want and don't think about it.... So it's nice to get the statements where it says, you spend $X on such and such...
 
tonycondon said:
so the benefit went from 10% to 1%?
Click to expand...
It was never 10% on everything, AFAIK. For FBO charges, including fuel, it's 2 points per dollar, so 2% on that stuff. And there used to be a maximum annual limit on how much they would pay, which is gone now.
 
denverpilot said:
Anyone care to comment on whether or not they have a "points" card they have actually done the math on, that returns something useful?
Click to expand...
I often redeem points, usually for a gift card at either Amazon or Target, both of which I shop at regularly.
 
denverpilot said:
I don't do anything that pays in "points"... that just reeks of the kind of stuff you see in a Las Vegas Casino to hide the value of the money being spent/lost.

Anyone care to comment on whether or not they have a "points" card they have actually done the math on, that returns something useful?
Click to expand...

If there is no annual fee and you don't carry a balance then what is the down side?

Though with an airline card even with an annual fee you'd probably come out ahead of a points card assuming you fly a decent amount.
 
alaskaflyer said:
If there is no annual fee and you don't carry a balance then what is the down side?
Click to expand...
Exactly. I would put as much on a credit card as I could even in the absence of points. I don't like dealing with cash or check.
 
tonycondon said:
Now I have a Visa through my credit union. it is fine.

Still wish someone would issue a card with Dave Ramsey's face printed on it. I'd go for that in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...

I guess I forgot my Credit Union card. I rarely use it. It's free and has an incredibly low rate if you were running a balance.

I'm a true believer in Credit Unions. I chuckle at reading all the online boards full of complaints about banks...

So you're saying Suze Orman doesn't do it for you, Tony? ;)

http://theapprovedcard.com/index.php

(It's not a very good card for the intended purpose of helping folks with zero/bad credit - higher fees than similar cards, and weird rules associated with it.)

I just thought that'd give any Ramsey fan a good laugh. Ramsey has his good points and bad points too, really.

They both push personal responsibility for your finances, which is a pretty good (if a largely ignored) message in a country with $793.1 BILLION in Consumer Debt.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-c...ustry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php

We fight the "War On Drugs" while pushing debt addiction on every man, woman, and child... even a few dogs out there with credit cards... in the country. It's an epidemic.

Credit cards are the modern equivalent of the "Company Store". Decades of slavery, passed from generation to generation.
 
I use our Credit union credit card, (Visa) never carry a balance over to the next billing period.
 
So, to the OP, for your second one, I don't know any card better than Capital One in avoiding international transaction fees. As I said there are several including some great CU cards that don't charge 'bank' foreign fees but they still pass through the Visa and MasterCard 1% kickback. Discover is 2% not sure what Amex is these days but it used to be 2.7%. Capital One is the only one that eats that for you. I assume for all their cards but certainly on their signature level ones. I use my airline card for most purchases because airline miles tend to be a better deal than "points" assuming you can use them reasonably easily, but I travel a fair amount to Canada and for vacation (plus I order things from Canada and that is a foreign transaction) and I have the Capital One for that.
 
I just realized the thread should have been titled:

"What's in YOUR wallet?"

:rofl:
 
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