Credit Cards

[Stea7jjdyEddie]

Ladies and Gentlemen I have a quick question....

I am looking to get a new credit card and want to participate in the rewards program. I know lately there are tons of commercials with all credit cards that supposedly have no restrictions on airlines, hotels and various gifts. But that is never the case there is always that FINE print no one ever reads!!!

I rather get some personal input from all of you, being you always seem to give great advice on other topics....

If you could either post or pm me some information that would be greatly appreciated on what programs you participate in.


Steaddyyyyyyyy...........

[freon]

What's the best deal depends on how much you spend, what you spend it on, and what kind of rewards you want. Check out Fatwallet Finance for some discussion http://www.fatwallet.com/c/52/ There's a FAQ that might help here http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/mess...hreadid=158558

In my book, the best reward is cash, and probably the best deal out there for average spenders with a normal distribution of spending is the Citi Dividend Platinum. 5% gas, grocery, drugstore, 1% elsewhere, $300/year reward max. Discover just released a line of "specialty" cards, so you can get higher % back for, say, home improvement, but rewards start dropping off after $1500 of use, so it's best combined with another non-specialty card.

If you have an existing card, you can call them and see what rewards programs they offer, and probably convert your card.

Of course, if you don't pay off your balance every month, interest paid cost you FAR more than you'll make with ANY rewards program.

[Stea7jjdyEddie]

Freon thanks for the quick response and the discussion board I am going to check that out.

As for the Citi Dividend Platinum I have applied for that but I have my banking with CITI bank and a credit card with them, and have had numerous problems with them.

I do have outstanding credit score and pay all my bills on time just want to be rewarded for using a certain credit card and build up good credit with one as well.

As for CITI bank I am in the process of changing them to Bank of America

Do you a preference on the bank that you use?

[freon]

I use whomever will give me the most reward and lowest fees. As easy as it is to move money, there isn't much reason to keep all your banking in one place. I mostly use the Citi Dividend card, but if you want to avoid them, I'd say second choice would be AmEx Blue Cash. They're 1.5% cash back, but only after $6k of spend, lower tiers below that. Double rewards for grocery, gas, and I think home improvement, paid out annually. Chase Profit card is similar, but Chase generally gets very poor feedback on Fatwallet for customer service, and my experience with them is consistant with that. Discover might not be a bad choice, but their rewards are either tiered without anything special for gas/groceries or reverse-tiered -- extra back for a specific thing, and then substandard after the max spend ($1500).

You also might check out local credit unions. My CU has a flat 1% cash back card, plus MUCH lower fees than commercial banks for deposit accounts. You might consider moving your deposit banking to a CU and keeping Citi for the reward card. I've never had any problems with their card services, though other NYC people on FW have also said their branch services suck.