Best credit card for rewards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chase is the #1 Wall Street funder of tar sands -- one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on the planet. Their investments in the tar sands sector directly result in human rights abuses and environmental disasters.

https://www.ran.org/press-releases/jpmorgan_chase_exposed_as_1_wall_street_funder_of_extreme_fossil_fuels_as_climate_activists_are_arrested_deploying_3_story_banner_at_bank_s_nyc_hq/

Does the issuing bank make money off of you if you pay the balance every month?

Yes, credit cards collect fees from every seller when you make a purchase.

This is like asking if the casino always wins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chase is the #1 Wall Street funder of tar sands -- one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on the planet. Their investments in the tar sands sector directly result in human rights abuses and environmental disasters.

https://www.ran.org/press-releases/jpmorgan_chase_exposed_as_1_wall_street_funder_of_extreme_fossil_fuels_as_climate_activists_are_arrested_deploying_3_story_banner_at_bank_s_nyc_hq/

Does the issuing bank make money off of you if you pay the balance every month?

Yes, credit cards collect fees from every seller when you make a purchase.

This is like asking if the casino always wins.

I thought visa and MasterCard etc make money on each purchase, not the issuing bank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chase is the #1 Wall Street funder of tar sands -- one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on the planet. Their investments in the tar sands sector directly result in human rights abuses and environmental disasters.

https://www.ran.org/press-releases/jpmorgan_chase_exposed_as_1_wall_street_funder_of_extreme_fossil_fuels_as_climate_activists_are_arrested_deploying_3_story_banner_at_bank_s_nyc_hq/

Does the issuing bank make money off of you if you pay the balance every month?

Yes, credit cards collect fees from every seller when you make a purchase.

This is like asking if the casino always wins.

I thought visa and MasterCard etc make money on each purchase, not the issuing bank.

I don’t think they would “partner” if they were not sharing the profits somehow, although you may be right.

[Anonymous]

People here may not like it but Citi/American Platinum Select. It obviously ties your miles to American, so that works better if you are more into domestic travel originating at the east coast airports rather than international travel.

1:1 miles per dollar spent, though 2 miles for every $1 at restaurants or gas stations or with American Airlines. Plus 50k miles when you open an account, which is pretty much enough for a cross country flight. Points add up quick if you're the type of person who charges everything.

I personally was looking for a card that would give me status with one airline and among other things allow for preferential boarding on flights -- as I was getting sick of always been in group 9. This guarantees you at least group 5 boarding. I looked at Chase Sapphire which everyone recommends but IDK I didn't really see the appeal unless you are REALLY committed to traveling a lot AND really want to be going overseas a lot -- seems like all their partners are foreign airlines. Unsophisticated to say on DCUM but 1-2 trips per year is pretty much enough for me and those trips are more likely to be Charleston or Orlando or Vegas rather than Australia or Croatia.

But I figured if I change my mind on that -- build up the points with American in a year or so, let them sit for domestic travel and then "advance" to something like Chase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People here may not like it but Citi/American Platinum Select. It obviously ties your miles to American, so that works better if you are more into domestic travel originating at the east coast airports rather than international travel.

1:1 miles per dollar spent, though 2 miles for every $1 at restaurants or gas stations or with American Airlines. Plus 50k miles when you open an account, which is pretty much enough for a cross country flight. Points add up quick if you're the type of person who charges everything.

I personally was looking for a card that would give me status with one airline and among other things allow for preferential boarding on flights -- as I was getting sick of always been in group 9. This guarantees you at least group 5 boarding. I looked at Chase Sapphire which everyone recommends but IDK I didn't really see the appeal unless you are REALLY committed to traveling a lot AND really want to be going overseas a lot -- seems like all their partners are foreign airlines. Unsophisticated to say on DCUM but 1-2 trips per year is pretty much enough for me and those trips are more likely to be Charleston or Orlando or Vegas rather than Australia or Croatia.

But I figured if I change my mind on that -- build up the points with American in a year or so, let them sit for domestic travel and then "advance" to something like Chase.

Chase Sapphire partners are:
•British Airways

•Air France/KLM Flying Blue

•Korean Air SkyPass

•Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

•Southwest Rapid Rewards

•United MileagePlus

•Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

The United linkage was huge for us as it covers both domestic flights and international partner airlines such as Lufthansa. You can also book hotels anywhere with it. Also Southwest is huge for domestic flights. You can transfer chase points to United if you want to book through United (we were able to combine United points and Chase points for one trip). The only thing you have to be committed to for Chase to be worth it is one trip or even just one hotel night worth $150+ (the membership fee).

[Anonymous]

^Yeah - didn’t mean to say Chase has no US airlines. But I’ve never even flown United or Southwest - neither is a hub near me; I live near American and Delta hubs so those made more sense. But who knows — maybe I’ll get into the travel thing in a few years and leave the American card behind and jump onto the Chase bandwagon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People here may not like it but Citi/American Platinum Select. It obviously ties your miles to American, so that works better if you are more into domestic travel originating at the east coast airports rather than international travel.

1:1 miles per dollar spent, though 2 miles for every $1 at restaurants or gas stations or with American Airlines. Plus 50k miles when you open an account, which is pretty much enough for a cross country flight. Points add up quick if you're the type of person who charges everything.

I personally was looking for a card that would give me status with one airline and among other things allow for preferential boarding on flights -- as I was getting sick of always been in group 9. This guarantees you at least group 5 boarding. I looked at Chase Sapphire which everyone recommends but IDK I didn't really see the appeal unless you are REALLY committed to traveling a lot AND really want to be going overseas a lot -- seems like all their partners are foreign airlines. Unsophisticated to say on DCUM but 1-2 trips per year is pretty much enough for me and those trips are more likely to be Charleston or Orlando or Vegas rather than Australia or Croatia.

But I figured if I change my mind on that -- build up the points with American in a year or so, let them sit for domestic travel and then "advance" to something like Chase.

Chase Sapphire partners are:
•British Airways

•Air France/KLM Flying Blue

•Korean Air SkyPass

•Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

•Southwest Rapid Rewards

•United MileagePlus

•Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

The United linkage was huge for us as it covers both domestic flights and international partner airlines such as Lufthansa. You can also book hotels anywhere with it. Also Southwest is huge for domestic flights. You can transfer chase points to United if you want to book through United (we were able to combine United points and Chase points for one trip). The only thing you have to be committed to for Chase to be worth it is one trip or even just one hotel night worth $150+ (the membership fee).

The other thing Chase Sapphire points are good for is redeeming as if they were cash through Chase Ultimate Rewards travel -- if you have the Sapphire Reserve, you get 1.5 cents per point. Never have to worry about blackout dates or award fare classes not being available (though obviously the more expensive the ticket is, the more points it costs), and it's easy to combine cash and points if you don't have enough points to cover the whole fare. Plus you earn frequent flier miles on the flight. You can do that for flights on any airline, whether it's one of their transfer partners or not. That's been how we've used most of our points, not transferring them to airline miles.

[Anonymous]

I don't think Chase Sapphire Reserve is worth the high annual fee. You're better off with a 2.5% cashback card (many of which have annual fees 1/5 of the Chase fee)

[Anonymous]

I’m looking at the chase sapphire reserve.
It sounds like travel (from rewards) has to be booked through their ultimate rewards website? But I can’t see how prices/ points compare to other travel sources until I get a login/ sign up. Is this correct? How is their travel- pretty easy to find the place you want to travel? Comparable prices?

[Anonymous]

citi double cash. keep it simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m looking at the chase sapphire reserve.
It sounds like travel (from rewards) has to be booked through their ultimate rewards website? But I can’t see how prices/ points compare to other travel sources until I get a login/ sign up. Is this correct? How is their travel- pretty easy to find the place you want to travel? Comparable prices?

Yes, comparable prices. Flights are the same prices as airline websites. Southwest does not appear in the searches, but you can call Chase and they’ll use your points to book. (They have good customer service.) Hotels might be a little more than booking directly through the hotel, but nothing significant. One issue is that you don’t earn hotel rewards points if you book through Chase. They even have vacation rentals and cruises as options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:citi double cash. keep it simple.

We use this card a lot. But not 99% of the time.

[Anonymous]

https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/

[Anonymous]

I'm getting 2.3% from Northpointe Bank. I like it.

[Anonymous]

^^^^ Whoops! Wrong thread.