Not sure that this is a topic for the Cafe but I've been thinking about doing this...getting a credit card for our daily purchases - gas, groceries, medicine, etc. I'm looking at the ones that either earn % of cash back or the ones that give points to redeem for miles or cash after 12 months. I can't decide which one would be the best. Some say they are not good at super stores or warehouse clubs in the fine print - which wouldn't encompass more than a very small percent of what we spend (I avoid Walmart like the plague).

Of course, I'd pay this credit card off once per month - we are strickly a no balance forward family.

What card do you use? What is your opinion - good, bad or something else?

Thanks~!
Melanie

If you had posted this say, 10 years ago i'd have said no. However, we do use our cc for so many daily purchases. makes it so much easier to balance the checkbook with fewer entries. I make sure I can pay if off monthly when it comes, and I get a reward. Pick the card that should give you personally the best return. I don't care to be tied to air miles (since they change the requirements frequently anyway) so mine is cash back or participating merchants trhough Discover. My opinion is good as long as you pay off monthly, no, my opinion is great as long as you pay off monthly. You are getting paid to use someone else's money. How great is that!

dl

We have the Disney Rewards Credit Card that we pay off monthly with no finance charges. For every $100 you get $1 disney credit that they give you a disney gift card and add to your card when you request your credit. This is great when you go to Disney since you can use it on anything.

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Carolyn
At the Jersey Shore

If you pay the balance in full every month, then using a CC for everyday purchases and getting a reward for it is the way to go, in my opinion. Besides the reward, you get to borrow someone elses money for a period of time (depending on billing cycles) for free. Be sure to get one with no annual fee though.

I have a couple. My primary is the amazon.com Visa. It's nice to get that $25 GC every month or so... I also have a Marriott Visa because I travel quite a bit and love to stay Marriott when possible. I get my Marriott rewards points and my Visa points for each stay, so it's a nice double-dip. Both of these cards are chase cards.

I think last time this came up here, someone who was personally against CC use said that they were able to get cashback or some other bonus by using their debit card. I'm not sure about the details of that and not motivated enough to look it up , so hopefully they will chime in. I prefer to get the free use of money, so prefer to use CC over debit card.

By the way, what do you think the hassle would be??? I don't have any hassle using a CC.....quite the contrary.

cj/

I use Amazon Visa for almost everything online including paying my bills (ie water, phone, cable, etc) online with autopay. You earn gift certificates to spend at Amazon:

*Earn 3 reward points for every dollar spent at Amazon.com
*Earn 1 reward point for every dollar spent on purchases elsewhere, such as grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants and more
*For every 2,500 reward points, you'll automatically receive a $25 Amazon.com Reward Certificate in the mail
*No Annual Fee

I also have the Costco American Express card which earns enough to cover my Costco membership plus a nice check to spend at Costco every Jan/Feb. I use this card for food, gas, and everything else that is brick and mortar:

*Earn 3% Cash Back for eating out, 2% for traveling, 1% everywhere else, including at Costco
*No Annual Fee with your paid Costco Membership
*No Limit on the Cash Back earned

Those are the only two cards that we use and we pay the balances EVERY month -- no ifs, ands, or buts.

I use mypoints.com credit card. I got 3000 points for signing up and 1 point for every $1
They have alot of different gift cards you can redeem points for.

I have the Southwest Credit Card. It ties in with your Southwest Rapid Rewards. It's $59/year, but you get a credit for every $1200 you spend and for every 16 credits you get a free ticket. Along with my husbands travel it's very worth it. We've taken numerous vacations and not had to pay for airfare. SW even flys to Hawaii now! Oh, and you can also transfer tickets. Several times we've had one about to expire and will give it to a friend if they have a trip - they love it.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

for the sw card what is the "credit" you spoke of? thanks

the 1200$credit partt to clarify above ?

It's just a tracking credit. Once you get 16 credits (it can be $1200 spent on the credit card or legs of travel) then you get a free ticket. Does that make sense?

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

For all of our personal and family purchases, we use the Chase cash back reward card. For all my business expenses, I use the Amazon Chase Card. I stopped getting net 30 days on business accounts because I'd rather earn GC's LOL. On my business account alone I earn an average of $100-$250 a month in Amazon GC's!

They are great if you pay them off in full. If you carry a balance, they are not good. Plus, don't get one that charges an annual fee.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

We also have a Marriott (Chase) visa that we have used for almost every purchase for years. At one point I was only writing one check a month. The points accumulate quickly and can be used for Marriott or transferred to airline miles. We've been to Hawaii twice, Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and Disney World all on Marriott's points.

Renee

We use our cc to travel since we also pay it off monthly..There are a lot of bonuses one can get for points without flying..You really only have to spend $1200 to get a ticket on Southwest?? Is it limited to one ticket per certain time period?? Our monthly bill is this plus more each month since we put everything on a charge..
I'm not sure if I can post websites, but there is a travel one which points out the ins and outs of travel and cc use..There's also a poster there who has his own site..Am I able to post these? If not I can email it to anyone if they are interested..
Thanks

We use Citicard Diamond Preferred. 5% back on gas, grocery and drugstore, 1% on everything else. We redeem for gift cards for places like Penney's, Chili's, Applebees, LLBean, Olive Garden. We haven't "paid" for a restaurant meal in quite a long time. All my son's back to school basics like sneakers and jeans came from Penney's for "free". We put absolutely everything on the cc. Pay it off in full when the bill comes in. I even put our swimming pool on it a few years ago. This offer came to me thru the mail several years ago. Now the 5% seems to be only for 12 months, but ours is forever. Still a great deal because after a year you can search out another card. Alot of them give you a $50 or $100 bonus after the first use. Go for it!

We use the citibank UPromise card for our daily expenses which we pay off monthly.

You get 1% of your total purchases toward college savings for the kids. It has already allowed us to save several hundred $$ for our kids' college --- what will that get us, though, by the time they can use it - maybe a few books for the 1st semester???

We're really happy with this plan, though. It doesn't change what we spend, we just always know that we're getting a little back for doing what we would have done, anyways - paying off the balance each month of this one credit card.

There seem to be some good options out there! We just like the idea that it's going to college expenses someday.

No, you get 1 credit for each $1200. After 16 credits you get a free ticket.

We spend more than that each month, too, so that combined each month with DH business travel we get several free tickets per year.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

thanks lisa..

We pay our off each month. I charge EVERYTHING that I can on my visa. Groceries, gas cell phone any bills that I can pay. I rarely carry cash. In about 1 more year we will have enough to pay for a 7 day cruise on Royal Carribean for 2. It will end up taking us a little over 3 years to do it. We love cruising so this was great for us.

I use the mypoints Visa also. Here is some info from their website:

0% FIXED APR for 6 months on Purchases and Balances Transferred Now (not on Cash Advances)*
No Annual Fee
1 Point for every $1 of purchases on the card everywhere you spend*
DOUBLE Points on MyPoints Points-per-dollar merchants through 06/30/08*
1,000 Points upon first card use within one year
What to do
Earn more Points every day with the MyPoints® Rewards Visa® Card. From filling the tank to filling the fridge, earn 1 Point per dollar for all of your purchases on and offline.* And earn DOUBLE Points* through 06/30/08 whenever you shop online with MyPoints Points-per-dollar merchants. It's the fastest way to earn more rewards from MyPoints. Apply today and get a response in 30 seconds!

I have a Target Visa that gives me a 10% off coupon every time I spend $1000 at Target (and/or $2000 everywhere else). This card has a good rate and terms. Target is the store I shop at most and I grocery shop at Super Target most of the time so I get the 10% off coupon at least 8 times a year.

We also have a Hilton Hhonors Citibank Visa and have enough points for 14 nights at any Hilton chain hotel. We've been racking up points for six years, however. The rate on this card is not super low (doesn't really matter, since we pay it off every month), but the terms are good too.

It really depends on what kind of rewards you want -- cash, points, discounts, etc. Be sure to read the 'fine print' -- billing cycles, interest rates, late fees, etc. Even if you plan on paying it off every month, something may happen and you may not be able to one month so it's good to know what the terms are, just in case. Also, I think some rewards cards charge a fee or require you to carry a balance to get your rewards, so obviously look out for those.

Sarah.....mom to Jason & Devin

We use the VISA DISNEY card for Disney Points.
We have over 600 now and will be taking a trip to Disneyworld in Nov. of 2008.
Hope to have 1000 or more by then!

We use the KROGER MASTERCARD for groceries and gas.
This gives us 15c per gallon off on gas when we have spent $100 on groceries.
And they send us checks to use on groceries and also coupons!

They both get paid off EVERY month!

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Square dancing is friendship set to music!

I also use My Points Visa and love it! I usally get $25 in gift cards each month, but that also includes some of my non credit card points (such as bonus mail). There is no annual fee and they have been really great to work with. The card itself also lets you go online and check your credit SCORE for free each month and gives you tips and tricks to up it. All in all I love the card.

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saraedawson@yahoo.com

Mommy to Jake, Alexis, Abigail and Joshua, Wife to Matt

I also use the mypoints credit card and it is the only one I use. I pay it off online each month. I have gotten tons of gift cards in the mail and they come pretty quick.

Thanks SO VERY MUCH for all the input. I now have expert opinions that I'm about to make a good (no great...) choice! I love the idea of being able to pay some of our bills online via the credit card - which would mean more points/miles/dollars!

Again I appreciate y'all taking the time to help me out!

Melanie

I use the Amazon Visa for almost all of my purchases & then I use the Amazon gift certificates for Christmas shopping each year.

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Shannon - SAHM to 3 kids (Ages 16, 13 and 8)
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Joh 10:10 ...I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

1Pe 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Tit 3:2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.