https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 10 Jul 2026 22:47:48 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1982517 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:50:15 +0000 PurplePumps 1982517@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. High Heels: ah. I think it was 2 % on groceries/gas/pharmacy and 1% on all else, and it was after the first $1500 that is only half of that. Something funky like that, I just tuck that card away until small business Sat or at Costco that only takes Amex now. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1982501 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:38:32 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 1982501@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PurplePumps: yea the rewards apply to all Amex cards not just the fee ones. The benefit of the blue preferred is really just the 6% back on groceries and 3% back on gas. I believe the regular blue is 3% back on groceries and not sure how much back on everything else. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1982486 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:32:14 +0000 PurplePumps 1982486@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DisneyBee: @Mrs. High Heels: I actually have the Amex blue (something), but it has no annual fee and it has the same cash back offers that you describe so you don't have to pay a fee for those perks or the cash back. I'm not sure what exactly the different in the fee vs non-fee card is though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1982432 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:05:52 +0000 DisneyBee 1982432@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. High Heels: Thank you for your explanation. How often do you check for offers? Do they come out like once a week or once a month? I actually logged in to my Amex True Earnings card, and I saw those benefits. None apply to me for now. I'll have to talk to my hubby and see if we should change to the Blue Cash Card now....probably after we receive our rewards check in February. </p> <p>Thanks @shopaholic for starting this helpful post. </p> <p>Now I have to look into another MC/Visa card that's worthwhile. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1982389 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:52:46 +0000 shopaholic 1982389@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lawbee11: Not yet, but I really ought to! I'm planning to switch over to Venture - maybe these rainy days I'll do it! I've been using my Chase less and just using my Gap and Nordies cards so I get rewards I'll actually use. But I really DO need to change. Overwhelmingly, I've been suggested Venture! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1982326 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:30:44 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 1982326@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DisneyBee: you make back the annual fee for blue preferred too because you get 6% back on groceries up to $6000. So if you cap that out (spend $600 on groceries per month and you'll cap out by 10 months! Costco and target don't count as grocery stores though), then you'll already save $360. Then you get 3% back on all gas purchases too so it all adds up quick! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1982317 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:26:25 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 1982317@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DisneyBee: sure! They have a section/tab when you login for special offers that you redeem for statement credit. For example, one that recently came out for us was spend $5 at McDonald's and get $5 statement credit, so basically that meal was free. Other ones we've gotten this year are spend $100 at staples or Home Depot and get $25 statement credit. What we do in places like that is just buy giftcards at those stores, and it's an easy free $25. </p> <p>Another awesome thing about Amex is that they participate in small business Saturday every year, so if you use your card at any stores considered a small business, they will give you $10 statement credit back. You can use one card up to 3x throughout the day. I used mine 3x for 3 different meals of $10 each so our meals that day were considered free. </p> <p>I'll take a screenshot of what the special offers/promo section looks like when I get to my computer, but hope this makes sense! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1982239 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 12:55:58 +0000 DisneyBee 1982239@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What a great post! </p> <p>@Mrs. High Heels: You mentioned that the Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card has a special offers to make up for the annual fee...can you explain? </p> <p>Now I'm thinking of switching from our Costco True Earnings to the Blue Cash card. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1979064 Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:11:40 +0000 lawbee11 1979064@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shopaholic: We have a United card through Chase and the rewards aren't that great. After reading so many recommendations for the Capital One Venture and doing some research I decided to apply for that one today. The rewards look so much better! Did you ever decide? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927672 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:44:49 +0000 shopaholic 1927672@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sunny: @aegie: @Mrs. High Heels: Oh great to know! Thanks so much for all the tips! Looks like I have some homework, but thanks for all the Cliffs/Spark Notes! ;P </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927645 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:35:06 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 1927645@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shopaholic: groceries is pretty much all grocery stores (sprouts, trader joe's, whole foods, ralph's, albertson's, gel son's, vons, h-mart, zion)... but not costco or target. for costco, we use our SPG amex card!</p> <p>if you already have the capital venture and visa southwest cards i'd skip the sapphire - it's just another travel rewards card! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927621 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:26:59 +0000 aegie 1927621@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shopaholic: Amex classifies whole foods, TJ's Hmart, my chain grocery store (shop rite), and a few other specialty grocery stores as grocery stores. Target and Costco do not get lumped into grocery. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927577 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:04:51 +0000 sunny 1927577@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shopaholic: Amex classifies all the typical places I buy groceries as "grocery store" except Costco, Target and Fred Meyer (kind of like Target). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927568 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:01:09 +0000 shopaholic 1927568@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh my gosh! You Bees are the best with a wealth of info for me to look into! Thanks! I should have prefaced the post saying that DH and I have a main Southwest Visa card we use together and Amex and Capital Venture that only gets used for travel and certain things. </p> <p>My lil Chase card is just one I've had forever and I use for random shopping, etc. So not like I'm racking up a ton of points anyhow, but I still feel like the rewards are just getting less and less over the years. </p> <p>I'll probably look into the Chase Sapphire and Freedom, and maybe the Starwood one! Hotel points sound good! </p> <p>Question: How does the groceries stuff work? I mainly shop food at Trader Joes, Costco (Amex), Sprouts, WF, and Asian markets. Not really big supermarket chains. Are these markets still eligible for cash back? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927511 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 15:38:11 +0000 sunny 1927511@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shopaholic: are you willing to use more than 1 card or do you just want 1 card?</p> <p>We have several we use for different purposes.</p> <p>We have the Amex Blue Cash everyday for 3% on groceries (no annual fee).</p> <p>We have the Chase Sapphire Preferred for 2x points on dining and travel. </p> <p>We have the Chase Freedom &amp; Discover card which are no annual fee cards which we use for the 5% quarterly bonuses. Discover also has a great online portal for extra cash back.</p> <p>Finally, we have the Fidelity 2% amex and 1.5% visa for general cash back. I don't use these often anymore but if I am making a purchase that doesn't get a category bonus, I would use these.</p> <p>If you don't want to use more than 1 card, I would try to figure out how much you spend in categories like groceries, gas, travel, dining and other and see which one fits your needs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927387 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:31:55 +0000 plantains 1927387@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have SPG Amex and Virgin Atlantic Elite MasterCard. Starwood is amazing for hotels especially if you do cash and points. That card is worth its weight in Gold. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927378 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:24:44 +0000 aegie 1927378@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LindsayInNY: I'm not sure. I assume it is? I started with a gold account years ago and about 4 years ago I got a letter saying they would upgrade me to platinum and waive the yearly fee for a year. Couldn't say no to that! LOL </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927222 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 13:05:35 +0000 LindsayInNY 1927222@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@aegie: Is the Platinum available to everyone? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927147 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:02:34 +0000 aegie 1927147@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@yoursilverlining: they juuuust started letting us use credit cards in 2014. I think they don't want to pay for the cc processing fees, but it's easier for them to just do auto pay instead of checks every month. But I hear ya .... when i lived at a condo, it was SOOO nice paying rent via CC too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927127 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:50:08 +0000 yoursilverlining 1927127@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@aegie: so jealous your daycare let's you pay via cc! Ours doesn't, even though it's a large international chain! So frustrating every month to think of how many points I could be racking up if only they would let us pay by cc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927101 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:36:48 +0000 aegie 1927101@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have an Amex Platinum that makes up for the annual fee in perks + points conversion. I can use the points in so many different ways that it's worth it for me. some years I stock up on gift cards when they have specials (less points for $ value) and some years I'll use them for vacations. I pick an airline and they give me $200 worth of credit on that airline every year, plus free wifi through boingo. I got the global entry fee waived through amex. Plus I get to go into most airline lounges free. I also get free towing services through Amex which is nice and I've used twice already. plus they have pretty good amex specials every month at stores i frequent which is nice (costco, cheesecake factory, whole foods, etc). I use it to pay for daycare and then pay for it automatically every month so it doesn't accrue interest. I actually use the amex for most of my bills and for each bill, have an automatic payment to pay for it so it's like i'm cycling the payments around to get points. But it's a good way to get points on things I'm spending money on anyways. </p> <p>I also have a chase sapphire that I love since amex isn't taken everywhere. Plus a gap card which I only use at gap stores for the rewards. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927062 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:07:46 +0000 BadgerMom 1927062@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Another vote for the Capital One Venture.</p> <p>Capital One has zero foreign transaction fees (most cards charge 3%).</p> <p>Double points when redeemed on travel purchases. And it doesn't even have to be the entire ticket cost, if you have 1,234 points you can take $12.34 off any travel purchase you've made. So it's basically the same as 2% cash back as long as you have some travel purchases every now and again to redeem the points. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927061 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:07:24 +0000 PurplePumps 1927061@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I refuse to pay an annual fee for a card, but over the years I've ended up with 3 or 4 cards I use regularly.<br /> My main card is a Bank of America Cash rewards. 3% gas, 2% grocery/pharmacy and 1% all else, with a 10% bonus on the rewards for transferring the rewards back to a Bofa bank account.</p> <p>I have a Citi Dividend and Discover with rotating 5% cashback categories. (Chase freedom has this too). </p> <p>And Discover for the Merchant cash back rewards,typically 5%, 10% during holidays most the time, and sometimes as high as 15% for places like Target, Kohls, Macys, etc..</p> <p>Between the 3 cards, I easily get back about 1k cash back a year. And then with the discover card, you can redeem that for discount gift cards too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927038 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 10:52:18 +0000 2PeasinaPod 1927038@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm a Discovercard gal. I apply my cashback rewards every year around Christmas time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927034 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 10:49:28 +0000 luckypenny 1927034@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We love or chase sapphire rewards </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1927032 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 10:48:49 +0000 wheres_c 1927032@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I suggest checking out this thread for bonuses, especially on airline CCs.<br /> <a href="http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs/1177334-special-credit-card-offers-master-thread-subscription.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs/1177334-special-credit-card-offers-master-thread-subscription.html</a></p> <p>I have an American Airlines CC, and I have redeemed flights to England, Peru, Canada this year. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1926997 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 10:28:55 +0000 CRGmama 1926997@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Capital one venture for all the reasons listed above! They also have great customer service. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1926908 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 09:35:40 +0000 Sparkler 1926908@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Capital One has great rewards. We use it for everything we buy and I can hardly remember the last time we paid for flights. Plus, if you travel internationally it is the only credit card I am aware of that doesn't charge the 3% foreign transaction fee (we used to have an AMEX and for hotels and dinners out in foreign countries this was a huge expense). HIGHLY recommend! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1926903 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 09:33:04 +0000 mrsjyw 1926903@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Same as @Mrs. High Heels: AMEX is our main card. We also use Chase Sapphire as a secondary rewards card. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/best-credit-card-rewards#post-1926896 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 09:30:57 +0000 snowjewelz 1926896@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I used to have Chase Freedom and now mainly use Chase Sapphire and like it a lot! </p>