What Credit Cards do you use/suggest?

We really like the Chase Sapphire card, no foreign transaction fees, and we use the points for travel. They also have a good fraud dept and called us when someone tried to use our card.
 
We have been using the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card for nearly every purchase and bill we have in lieu of using our checking and debit accounts. It has allowed us to budget easier, and gain points for every penny we spend, even on utility bills. It's paid off every month, and at the end of the year I can download a PDF of all of our expenditures for the year. There is a small annual fee, but the sheer amount of rewards we get from the card far offsets the fee. If we have a purchase we need to carry, we have a Wings Financial Platinum card.

When I was flying internationally, the Amex stayed in the wallet and I only used a Capital One card with a very low limit, just in case it was stolen. If I was still flying internationally, I would have considered the Amex Platimum, because of the airport lounge access. It would have been worth the very high annual fee just based off of how much deadheading I did.
 
This has not been my experience with my Credit Union, who issued me a Visa debit card. I've had two occasions of fraudulent transactions and in both cases they said, "no problem" and handled it. Maybe it's just a service they offer me with no obligation?

Sure, but what I meant was a legitimate charge for a bad item. Say you've just bought something that broke two days later, and the vendor won't exchange it. You've got some options with a credit card; none with a debit card.
 
Most banks seem to have more customer-friendly policies though, since the $50 isn't worth pissing off a customer enough that they go elsewhere (it costs more than $50 in marketing to get a new account opened).

Out of curiosity, do you know how much it costs a bank to lose a customer? I am on a warpath with Wells Fargo and want to point out to them how their disgusting customer service is costing them...
 
Amex Platinum
Amex Blue Cash Preferred
Discover It
Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards

We don't use our debit cards. At all. Yes, the banks (NASA Federal Credit Union and USAA) have great customer service if there is a problem, but the bottom line is that those cards are tied to our bank accounts. Credit cards are not.

We push absolutely everything we can (including utilities) through the Amex cards. The Blue Cash Preferred has AWESOME gas/grocery rewards. Almost our entire budget is done through Amex with a simple, single PIF every month.

Discover runs some good (for us) promotions throughout the year. Oct-Dec will be online purchases, they do home improvement in the summer/spring. We use the card to maximize the cash back on those programs and PIF.

Capital One Quicksilver gives a flat 1.5% cash back on all purchases, without categories, points, etc that most rewards cards utilize. No annual fee. No foreign transaction fees. It's used if a merchant doesn't accept Amex.

There are a ton of cards available, with a wide range of perks. Completely ditching the debit cards, we found adding another Amex perfectly set up what we were trying to achieve.

Browse around, you're sure to find a card or two that will give you some nice perks.
 
Out of curiosity, do you know how much it costs a bank to lose a customer? I am on a warpath with Wells Fargo and want to point out to them how their disgusting customer service is costing them...

I still use University Federal Credit Union in Austin even though I haven't lived there in years. Because awesome service. Hasn't been a problem using them despite living in DC. On the odd occasion I have to mail in a deposit, they handle it fast. Really a lovely bank and group of people.
 
Out of curiosity, do you know how much it costs a bank to lose a customer? I am on a warpath with Wells Fargo and want to point out to them how their disgusting customer service is costing them...
I would just leave Wells Fargo anyway, just about any credit union would be a billion times better. USAA is not a credit union, but also really good.

It costs a bank about $200 to get a new retail checking customer, though they will spend more to get more profitable customers. Buying other banks is usually cheaper than growing their own deposit base.
 
I would just leave Wells Fargo anyway, just about any credit union would be a billion times better. USAA is not a credit union, but also really good.

It costs a bank about $200 to get a new retail checking customer, though they will spend more to get more profitable customers. Buying other banks is usually cheaper than growing their own deposit base.

Just a point of order regarding USAA....they are a decent bank (we use them for household stuff.)

They are horrifically, awfully, ridiculously incompetent as a mortgage company.
 
We are going with Chase. Our mortgage was sold to them and the few questions I've had they have been very helpful. If they screw us over we will probably go USAA or a Credit Union.
 
Just a point of order regarding USAA....they are a decent bank (we use them for household stuff.)

They are horrifically, awfully, ridiculously incompetent as a mortgage company.

I've had three USAA mortgages... they sold each of them off within 3 months of each closing.
 
We are going with Chase. Our mortgage was sold to them and the few questions I've had they have been very helpful. If they screw us over we will probably go USAA or a Credit Union.

Take an afternoon and head over to Austin and meet with the folks at UFCU. They're great.
 
I'm looking into getting one for travel and just paying it off every month. Alaska had a debit card with B of A which was amazing, but they got rid of it before I could sign up. Is the Delta Amex card probably the best for free travel, lounge access, upgrades, ect?

I know UA has a Chase card, I don't know much about it other than the UA perks it offers. UA would be my choice above Delta with the SFO hub, definitely not for their service haha.
 
I don't do much traveling on my own dime so I really like my Executive Costco card for the money back on my Costco and gas purchases. Everything else goes on my banks reward credit card. The only thing I use my debt card for is gas stations that take it for the cash price.
 
Bnfzpvv.jpg

2% on Travel and Dining

J7caMES.jpg

6% on groceries
3% on gas

each one of these cards has more than made back its yearly fee for me.
 
Delta Gold Card's a nice perk, and tying it into all the associated programs like SkyMiles Dining and the aforementioned car rental insurance gets some pretty good deals going in a hurry. I just finished paying down a nasty mechanic bill that had to go on the card as I didn't have the money on hand, but suddenly having a free ("free") ticket is nice.

As for a bank, I've been a PNC member for as long as I can remember. I tried BoA but their customer service straight up lied to me and I started getting hit with service charge after service charge. That account closed quickly!

(and "free" if you count the $567 bill for the brakes as not paying for an airline ticket)... :rolleyes:
 
Back
Top