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Credit Card with Frequent Flier rewards

Josh123

Josh123

Diamond Member
Anyone know of a great credit card to sign up for that issues frequent flier miles with each purchase? My wife and I use a credit card for everyday purchases and right now we are using a Best Buy Rewards Zone card. I'd rather be able to rack up some flier miles so we can take trips so does anyone know of a good card?
 
Just as an FYI(well, somewhere like this I'd expect people to know anyway, but worth mentioning just in case) Credit cards charge merchants a fee when you use their card. So, even if you're getting something like frequent flier miles, you're eventually going to pay for it in increased product cost.
 
nonameo said:
Just as an FYI(well, somewhere like this I'd expect people to know anyway, but worth mentioning just in case) Credit cards charge merchants a fee when you use their card. So, even if you're getting something like frequent flier miles, you're eventually going to pay for it in increased product cost.
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Debit cards charge fees too. Bounced checks cost tons to businesses. Heck, even paying an employee to count cash/change and run to the bank costs money to businesses.

Running to the bank as a customer for cash routinely costs money (many ATMs do too) and leaves you vulerable to robbery. Checks often cost money to buy and the time it takes to balance them certainly is worth something to customers.

All forms of transactions cost the company and the customer. Pretending that credit cards are the only way to pay with costs is silly.

That said, reward credit cards charge a bit more at the moment than debit cards or non-reward credit cards. But we'll split half that cost with the customers who don't use reward cards and still get the full reward (ie we come out ahead and those who don't use reward cards come out in last).
 
In general, a good cash reward card turns out better than an airline miles card. There are times where an airline miles card does well for the customer, but usually free cash and the ability to buy anything you want (including airline tickets) just works out better.

Miles may expire (cash doesn't). Miles may be on an airline you don't want to fly or can't fly due to no service where you are going (cash works on all airlines). Miles often give you blackout dates or excessively high mileage costs (cash always works). Miles may not be enough to get you on the flight you want (partial free cash always helps you buy the flight you want). Miles often are at a 0.5% reward rate when you convert it into tickets and get even worse if you travel on most dates that don't give good mileage prices (cash is often at 1% with bonuses up to 5% back). Mileage cards almost always have a heafty yearly fee (cash cards rarely do). Mileage cards sometimes charge a fee to get tickets (I don't know any airlines other than Ryan Air which charge fees for using money).

I just want you to compare a mileage card to a cash card before assuming a mileage card is better. A mileage card MIGHT be better, but they often aren't.
 
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Get one with a good signup bonus. I got 50,000 Continental miles just for signing up for my Chase card.
 
whenever i did the math cash reward cards worked out better. if you live in a city with a major airline hub, check out that airlines specific card they may give better benefits than the generic miles cards, but really i dont know. give me the $.
 
Thanks for the input guys, I'll check out some cash reward cards.

How is this? Chase Freedom (VISA)

Earn $200 Bonus Cash Back after you make $500 in purchases in your first 3 months
5% Cash Back on up to $1,500 spent on dining, department stores, movie theaters and charitable organizations from 10/1/11 - 12/31/11
You'll enjoy new 5% categories every 3 months like supermarkets, gas, drugstores and even home improvement stores. It's free and easy to activate your bonus each quarter!
Unlimited 1% Cash Back on all other purchases without limits on what you can earn
Up to an additional 10% Cash Back when you shop online at select merchants through Chase
No annual fee and rewards never expire
 
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Josh123 said:
Thanks for the input guys, I'll check out some cash reward cards.

How is this? Chase Freedom (VISA)
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I have that card and use it as my main card. If you can get it (needs good credit) then you'll have no complaints about it.

It isn't as good as it used to be as the rewards are now just 1% and a revolving 5%. But, still I've got close to $2000 in cash from that card and I've only had it 3.5 years (spent $84,000 over the years as I use it for everything). So far, I've had good service from Chase.
 
My wife and I want to fly to california this winter to see my wifes sister.

I need a card with flier miles, where I can spend something like $1,000, get 10,000 air miles, pay the card off, close the card account, but get to keep the air miles.
 
Amazon's card offers free flights. You can get a free domestic flight for 25,000 points. 1 point for normal purchases, 2 points on things like restaurants and gas, 3 points on stuff at Amazon. Its pretty solid if you shop at Amazon a lot.
 
nonameo said:
Just as an FYI(well, somewhere like this I'd expect people to know anyway, but worth mentioning just in case) Credit cards charge merchants a fee when you use their card. So, even if you're getting something like frequent flier miles, you're eventually going to pay for it in increased product cost.
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This is the reason why you WANT to use a rewards card. All the people paying cash are subsidizing your rewards.
 
Texashiker said:
My wife and I want to fly to california this winter to see my wifes sister.

I need a card with flier miles, where I can spend something like $1,000, get 10,000 air miles, pay the card off, close the card account, but get to keep the air miles.
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:colbert: Why don't you pay in cash like you preach? What happened to credit cards are the devil?
 
ponyo said:
:colbert: Why don't you pay in cash like you preach? What happened to credit cards are the devil?
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If I can spend $1,000 and get $2,000 worth of tickets, I would have to be stupid to pass that up.

And I never said credit cards were the devil. I just like to stay debt free.
 
Texashiker said:
If I can spend $1,000 and get $2,000 worth of tickets, I would have to be stupid to pass that up.

And I never said credit cards were the devil. I just like to stay debt free.
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Domestic round trips in coach start at 25,000 miles, so 2 of them would be 50,000. If you can find a ticket for <$300 it generally makes more sense to pay cash. Most cards are $1 for 1 mile, so 50k = $50k, though most offer multipliers if you fly certain airlines or play those games.

With that said, some cards like the Sapphire Preferred Card have 50k sign up bonus if you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months of having the card. You likely have to book through them though.
 
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