2% credit card?

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146
Nailed it. Amex offers are can be freaking amazing which reminds me of a new thread I want to post soon, maybe I'll post it tonight. There have been so many times a sweet Amex Offer like $20 off $100 Staples/Amazon/Home Depot offer is available and I wish I had multiple Amex cc's. Do you know if 4 Amex credit cards is still the limit? I'm not interested in a charge card and yep I know there's a difference.

After watching this story I'm seriously considering investing time into learning the fine art of flight hacking by starting with applying for a few new credit cards.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-debit-prepaid-card-programs-390/

Although our supermarket spending is < $2,500/yr I might upgrade to the Amex BCP anyway if the points/reward make it worth it.
If AMEX has a 4 card limit, that's the first I've heard of it...which sucks because I just got my 4th of you include the corporate card under my name.

Also yes, the AMEX offers are awesome. The best ones are the ones you sign up via twitter or Facebook. The last ones I did was 20 off 20 at Sam's club.com.... I just got some $20 gift cards heh..
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,794
266
116
If AMEX has a 4 card limit, that's the first I've heard of it...which sucks because I just got my 4th of you include the corporate card under my name.

Also yes, the AMEX offers are awesome. The best ones are the ones you sign up via twitter or Facebook. The last ones I did was 20 off 20 at Sam's club.com.... I just got some $20 gift cards heh..

Agreed, I recently tried a new trick signing up for multiple offers with a single Tweet check the wiki, tried it and it worked!
 

SP33Demon

Lifer
Jun 22, 2001
27,929
142
106
Nailed it. Amex offers are can be freaking amazing which reminds me of a new thread I want to post soon, maybe I'll post it tonight. There have been so many times a sweet Amex Offer like $20 off $100 Staples/Amazon/Home Depot offer is available and I wish I had multiple Amex cc's. Do you know if 4 Amex credit cards is still the limit? I'm not interested in a charge card and yep I know there's a difference.

After watching this story I'm seriously considering investing time into learning the fine art of flight hacking by starting with applying for a few new credit cards.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-debit-prepaid-card-programs-390/

Although our supermarket spending is < $2,500/yr I might upgrade to the Amex BCP anyway if the points/reward make it worth it.

Are you married? If so, just get 4 cards apiece = 8 cards per household. That would be beast.
 

SP33Demon

Lifer
Jun 22, 2001
27,929
142
106
5% gas on up to $250 in purchases a month
5% grocery/supermarket on up to $250 in purchases a month
5% bookstores/amazon on up to $750 in purchases a month

the grocery limit is low for a family, I'm gonna apply for a double in a few months. :)

Yeah the grocery is low, but just swap in an AMEX once the $250 limit is hit. :)
 

lothar

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2000
6,674
7
76
Nailed it. Amex offers are can be freaking amazing which reminds me of a new thread I want to post soon, maybe I'll post it tonight. There have been so many times a sweet Amex Offer like $20 off $100 Staples/Amazon/Home Depot offer is available and I wish I had multiple Amex cc's. Do you know if 4 Amex credit cards is still the limit? I'm not interested in a charge card and yep I know there's a difference.

After watching this story I'm seriously considering investing time into learning the fine art of flight hacking by starting with applying for a few new credit cards.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-debit-prepaid-card-programs-390/

Although our supermarket spending is < $2,500/yr I might upgrade to the Amex BCP anyway if the points/reward make it worth it.
The reported (but unpublished) limit for USA-issued accounts is four credit cards. In addition you may hold an unspecified number of charge cards (Green, Gold, Platinum, Centurion).
AMEX network cards issued by other banks are irrelevant for these purposes. The Costco card is issued by American Express, and counts against the limit while the Fidelity card is issued by Bank of America, and does not for example.

About those points and miles cards, I'm not a fan of them because they only provide 1-2 points per dollar of purchase when I'm already earning 5 points per dollar on my various cards in multiple categories.
It seems the only benefit of these miles/airline cards is to enroll for whatever promotional "xx"k(ex: 50,000) points/miles for spending a predefined amount(ex: $3,000) in a predefined period(ex: 3 months). In other words, you have to sign up for multiple cards per year for their introductory or promotional offers, spend the amount to get the promotional points, cancel card and use said points before they start charging annual fees(some of them may waive it for a year if you ask which would give you a 2 year breathing room)

After reading ~10 pages of the "Beginner's Guide to Miles and Points" on his website unless I'm misunderstanding...This seems like too much work for too little benefit.
At the end of the day, that guy's website mentioned that the Starwood Preferred is one of the best he recommended because it earns one of the highest reward rate which was 2.2 points per dollar as estimated by him.
I'll keep my 5 points per dollar thank you very much.
 

lothar

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2000
6,674
7
76
If AMEX has a 4 card limit, that's the first I've heard of it...which sucks because I just got my 4th of you include the corporate card under my name.

Also yes, the AMEX offers are awesome. The best ones are the ones you sign up via twitter or Facebook. The last ones I did was 20 off 20 at Sam's club.com.... I just got some $20 gift cards heh..
You don't need a twitter or Facebook to get AMEX offers.
Proof: I've gotten them, including the Sam's club.com one that you mentioned. I've never had a Twitter or a Facebook account, and I never will.

Agreed, I recently tried a new trick signing up for multiple offers with a single Tweet check the wiki, tried it and it worked!
You can also login to your AMEX account in "X"(where "X" is the number of AMEX card accounts that you have) Chrome tabs right next to each other, select the offer in the 1st tab and apply it to the first card; select the same offer in the 2nd tab and apply it to the second card, etc...Keep going until you're done and all the offers will appear on all your cards.
 

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,705
117
106
Has anyone heard of the Amex EveryDay credit card with no annual fee?

How does it compare to the Amex BCE?

You earn points vs. cash back so it depends on what's important to you. Points go much farther with travel and since this card has no annual fee, you can get your sign up bonuses with the Platinum/Gold cards, cancel them before your annual fee hits, and store the points with your Everyday Card.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146
Has anyone heard of the Amex EveryDay credit card with no annual fee?

How does it compare to the Amex BCE?

It's the same thing except instead of straight cash back you get travel points. Pick your poison. Personally, I stick with cash-back. I hate points for travel, thats what my airline miles are for.
 

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,705
117
106
It's the same thing except instead of straight cash back you get travel points. Pick your poison. Personally, I stick with cash-back. I hate points for travel, thats what my airline miles are for.

You have the flexibility to transfer those points to a variety of frequent flyer miles. You can get much more value per point from 2 cents to 9 cents+ per point. That's much more than your straight 2% cash back. Only worth it if you travel though.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146
You have the flexibility to transfer those points to a variety of frequent flyer miles. You can get much more value per point from 2 cents to 9 cents+ per point. That's much more than your straight 2% cash back. Only worth it if you travel though.
Yup. I understand

But I also don't want too much placed in points\miles.

Unlike cashback, once converted to miles they expire if your account is inactive for 12~24 months depending on the airliner
 

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,705
117
106
Yup. I understand

But I also don't want too much placed in points\miles.

Unlike cashback, once converted to miles they expire if your account is inactive for 12~24 months depending on the airliner

I just keep my points until I'm ready to use them then I xfer.

But yeah, if you want to travel, points all the way. If you never travel, then CB is better.
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,794
266
116
Thank you both, I also prefer straight cashback.

While we're on the topic of credit cards, what do you think of this offer?
 

uhohs

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2005
7,658
39
91
it's good if you're ok with doing a small charge and payment on it every month. some use it for some low dollar autopay like netflix or something.
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,794
266
116
it's good if you're ok with doing a small charge and payment on it every month. some use it for some low dollar autopay like netflix or something.

Yep that's my intention charging Netflix or other monthly autopay services.

I know it's not huge but it's relatively zero effort for $100/yr which is kinda hard to beat.

1) Buy something every month.
2) Pay more than your minimum or entire balance before due date.
3) Receive $25 per quarter.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,856
1,048
126
^
"Cash back is automatically credited to your card balance"

"our cash rewards will be automatically issued in the form of a statement credit to your card account, unless you indicate otherwise. You may choose instead to have your cash rewards deposited directly into a Bank of America® checking account or savings account or a Merrill Lynch Cash Management Account®. "

$8/mo. for Netflix works out to be $96/year. So this card amounts to free Netflix. :D Wish Amazon Prime was a monthly fee, but I guess it's all the same in the end.

EDIT>> approved so here I go. Thx for another freebie Rossman.
 
Last edited:

duragezic

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
11,234
4
81
I could probably get a better one. I have a Chase Freedom which is 5% rotating, 1% everything else. The Discover is not as good because it is 5% rotating, but only 1% after a certain amount. I never hit that amount so it's like 0.5% at best. Most of the time the categories are not good and I don't spend much on them, so even the Chase it's effectively only a little over 1%.

And I always muck up the rotating categories. Like I'll get 5% on Amazon on the Discover, think "okay time to order Amazon stuff I've been meaning to for months", and then use the Chase. I've put through multiple $250+ orders on the wrong card over the years, LOL.
 
Last edited:

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,705
117
106
I could probably get a better one. I have a Chase Freedom which is 5% rotating, 1% everything else. The Discover is not as good because it is 5% rotating, but only 1% after a certain amount. I never hit that amount so it's like 0.5% at best. Most of the time the categories are not good and I don't spend much on them, so even the Chase it's effectively only a little over 1%.

And I always muck up the rotating categories. Like I'll get 5% on Amazon on the Discover, think "okay time to order Amazon stuff I've been meaning to for months", and then use the Chase. I've put through multiple $250+ orders on the wrong card over the years, LOL.

So is Chase. $1500 per quarter on bonus categories.
 

uhohs

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2005
7,658
39
91
I have both the Chase Freedom and Discover IT and thought they had the same limits of 1500 per quarter at 5% for rotating categories and 1% for everything else. I don't remember any difference in policies/limits.

Also Discover had a double cashback for a year promo, but I'm not sure if that's still available.
 

duragezic

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
11,234
4
81
So is Chase. $1500 per quarter on bonus categories.
I meant for the Discover that outside of the 5% categories (which after the limit go to 1%, as you said), the 1% otherwise cashback does not kick in right away.

I looked it up again and it is only 0.25% cashback until you spend $3000 in a year. And for "discount warehouse" purchase (I assume Walmart and such), it is only 0.25% always. So it's pretty crappy.
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,794
266
116
^
$8/mo. for Netflix works out to be $96/year. So this card amounts to free Netflix. :D Wish Amazon Prime was a monthly fee, but I guess it's all the same in the end.

EDIT>> approved so here I go. Thx for another freebie Rossman.

Hmmn I never quite thought of it that way, the rewards basically pay your Netflix subscription. Until of course Netflix jacks up the price and/or BOFA changes the offer.

$100/yr with zero effort, surprised that card isn't more popular.

Do you currently have any other BOFA or Citi credit cards?

Happy to help. :cool:
 

uhohs

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2005
7,658
39
91
I meant for the Discover that outside of the 5% categories (which after the limit go to 1%, as you said), the 1% otherwise cashback does not kick in right away.

I looked it up again and it is only 0.25% cashback until you spend $3000 in a year. And for "discount warehouse" purchase (I assume Walmart and such), it is only 0.25% always. So it's pretty crappy.

Please link that, I've never seen that before.
https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/credit-card-rewards.html
looks like the double cashback for the first year promo is still going too.
 

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
30,160
3,302
126
amex blue cash preferred - 6% on groceries up to 6k
penfed visa platinum 5% on gas, no limit
chase sapphire 2% on flights/hotels ($95 fee, but makes sense if you travel a fair amount)
chase freedom for 5% categories
fidelity 2% for everything else

i get around 2k back a year with all that.

why pay $95fee for a 2% card on travel when the fidelity amex card gives you 2% for everything?