What are your top five credit cards and why?

[TyrannicalDuncery2]

Nice job on Addition Fi, @Wu-Credit . Did you beat the geofence in a clever way?

[TyrannicalDuncery2]

I've only got 5 at the moment, early in my journey. Here goes, in order of volume:

1. Elan Max. This is the card I use the most, I took over my parents' utility bills.

2. SYW. This covers most of what Elan doesn't cover, but only as long as the promos last.

3. Alliant Visa. This was the first card I got after getting serious; in retrospect I should have gone for something like Citi DC or Fidelity with an SUB and no lockup, but this was when interest rates were lower. I use this mostly for discounted gift cards online and truly "random" stuff, plus a few hundred/year on hotels. Mostly displaced by SYW.

4. Good ol' local CU. I keep this on a drip-feed until a promo hits.

5. Union Plus. I keep this on a drip-feed for the perks.

Honorable mentions for my Affinity debit and various prepaids. Planning to grab 1-2 CCRs and 1-2 Kroger-types, then switch to a low-speed SUB-chasing strategy with my core setup still rickety. I'll be suboptimal on a few categories, missing out on some of the ecosystem offers, not built to scale spending, and not optimizing the Citi ecosystem which I'm a fan of. But I'm okay with that, because at that point I think even a couple of small SUBs per year will offset the flaws in my setup. Plus I might pick up some Citi cards as I chase the SUBs.

I'm irrationally terrified of business cards (although I set up a tiny legit web shop just in case I change my mind); if I had guts (which I don't), I would get the business CCR and start paying my parents' mortgage through Plastiq (I'm pretty sure that works), maybe property taxes too, then continue chasing the business SUBs in parallel with the personal. It would also fill my small gap for professional services. Maybe I'll get there.

I've got no good way to pay rent other than check. Maybe I can make it work with the online offers and Plastiq but I think there are recent DPs to the contrary. I don't care about airlines/hotels, don't drive much, and don't plan to become a huge spender. I only end up needing one Max/Cash+ for family and other arcane reasons (unless Cash+ turns out to work with Moocho, that could honestly be worth it by itself). But I've changed my plans numerous times based on the great contributions from y'all here. It could happen again. Maybe I'll move to Wisconsin, lmao.

[Wu-Credit]

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@TyrannicalDuncery2 wrote:

Nice job on Addition Fi, @Wu-Credit . Did you beat the geofence in a clever way?

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Thanks @TyrannicalDuncery2 ! They have a branch in my county. I found out about the card after joing membership and signing up for a checking bonus back in September. Applied and approved this month. Posted my DP in the approvals thread.

[xenon3030]

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@TyrannicalDuncery2 wrote:

Awesome, @xenon3030.  Thanks much! How do you find out which stores offer prices on instacart not marked up? Is it just this filter?

Also, what card do you use at costco to get the ~5% discount? Order online through CCR? Some other way?

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The instacart app mentions such information for each store (in-store prices, pick-up or delivery only,...).

 US Bank AR (in-store) and BOA CCR (online) and my best cards for Costco.

[Alcuria]

AAA Travel Advantage Visa (5% gas (my biggest expense), 3% groceries in-store (works at Walmart) )

Amex BCE (3% gas, 3% groceries in-store (except Walmart, BJ's), 3% online order of physical goods, etc)

PayPal Cash Back MC (3% PayPal, 2% all else)

Amazon Prime Store Card (5% - I use Amazon for food purchases for my cat masters and some for me)

Capital One Quicksilver One (1.5% everything) -and- it has a $59 AF (haha!).  Account is about 25 years old. I and a close friend (AU) ran tens of thousands of dollars through that card over seven years. She’s living back in Japan for now, and I use the card at places we used to go together out of a sense of gratitude for our time together and a reminder of how much fun we had and how much we miss each other (she’s still an AU in Japan). Totally illogical and goofy to some I’m sure, but right for me.

[ptatohed]

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@Alcuria wrote:

AAA Travel Advantage Visa (5% gas (my biggest expense), 3% groceries in-store (works at Walmart) )

Amex BCE (3% gas, 3% groceries in-store (except Walmart, BJ's), 3% online order of physical goods, etc)

PayPal Cash Back MC (3% PayPal, 2% all else)

Amazon Prime Store Card (5% - I use Amazon for food purchases for my cat masters and some for me)

Capital One Quicksilver One (1.5% everything) -and- it has a $59 AF (haha!).  Account is about 25 years old. I and a close friend (AU) ran tens of thousands of dollars through that card over seven years. She’s living back in Japan for now, and I use the card at places we used to go together out of a sense of gratitude for our time together and a reminder of how much fun we had and how much we miss each other (she’s still an AU in Japan). Totally illogical and goofy to some I’m sure, but right for me.

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[mgood]

I'm all about 5% cash back - or 5x UR with Chase.

• Discover it Cash Back x2 for 5% back on rotating categories (effectively 10% back on the new one since I'm still in the first year) - currently gas stations
• Chase Freedom Flex 5x on rotating categories (with the CSP as a points multiplier and for access to transfer partners and travel portal) - currently restaurants
• Citi Custom Cash 5% on a major spend category not covered by Disco or Chase this quarter - currenlty groceries
• US Bank Cash+ for some 5% categories that are a little different from those above - TV/internet/streaming and sporting goods stores
• US Bank Shopper Cash Rewards for 6% at Walmart and Best Buy but it will likely get PC to a 2nd Cash+ when the first year is up and the $95 annual fee kicks in

[galahad15]

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@ptatohed wrote:

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^^ Impressive!  Great lineup gala.  

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Thanks @ptatohed!    Your card colletion is also definitely super-impressive as well!

[Alcuria]

Amazon Prime Store Card (5% - Whole Foods / Amazon.com (lots of food purchases for my cat masters and some for me))

An update that this card has become more valuable for me now that Whole Foods the card at the same 5% level as for use on Amazon.com.

I pick my spots at Whole Foods - shopping specials (and eating before I go to the store!) has yielded good savings. But I can see how easy it could be to drop some serious cabbage in this store.

[longtimelurker]

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@Alcuria wrote:

Amazon Prime Store Card (5% - Whole Foods / Amazon.com (lots of food purchases for my cat masters and some for me))

An update that this card has become more valuable for me now that Whole Foods the card at the same 5% level as for use on Amazon.com.

I pick my spots at Whole Foods - shopping specials (and eating before I go to the store!) has yielded good savings. But I can see how easy it could be to drop some serious cabbage in this store.

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Since Amazon took over, there have been some significant price drops in WF on a range of items;  And prime giving an extra 10% off on sale items, plus the 5%, while not making things cheap, makes it suitably justifiable!