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I'm getting ready to buy a Blazer and redeem about $2000 from my GM Card. Now I'm looking for another Visa or Mastercard reward card to replace the GM Card. Anybody have any good ideas?
I'm looking for something other than the standard FF mile cards offered by the airlines, unless you know of one that is significantly better than the most common ones. A rebate card or an alternative points card would be more interesting.
Anyone have any experience with the Marriott Visa card? I already use Marriott from time to time, so I'm thinking that might be a good one.
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Perhaps, you might want to try to apply for the co-branded Amazon NextCard. It gives you one reward point per dollar charged on regular purchases, and some bonus for Amazon purchases on top ot that. Then, you can redeem 500 Amazon points for $10 gift certificate to amazon, which works out roughly to 2% reward.
Of course, considering that some Amazon prices are higher than other merchants', and that they might not stay around for that long...
Hopefully that helps.
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http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum112/HTML/000050.html
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greenpoints.com is offering a card. Can redeem points for a variety of things.
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Originally posted by CaliforniasCentralCoast:
greenpoints.com is offering a card. Can redeem points for a variety of things.
I would avoid this card if you ever find yourself needing to contact your credit card's customer support. I tried on 3 occasions and sat on hold for nearly an hour each time before giving up. Finally got through after about 30 minutes on the fourth try. I was trying to get my limit raised, but no go. They won't do it until 6 months have passed. I needed a higher limit, so I had him cancel the card right then. but like I said, if you ever find yourself needing to speak with customer support, don't get this card.
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each year I use my GM Mastercard until I reach the $10,000 limit (500 earned dollars @ 5%) and then I switch to My Southwest Visa Card. If you get this now, you get NO FEE for the year, 2 thousand miles when you first use the card, you can transfer 5,000 dollars from other cards (not just major, gas and department stores, too) and you get those 5,000 points, too....over however many months, as this does not need to be done all at one time. Then you only need to spend $9,000 (and boy, isn't that EASY to do with the hoidays coming up! - groceries and cell phone and gas add up to a big chunk of that in just months) and you have a FREE Airline ticket. The GM card is still the best value since you get 5% on your money. This works out to less than 3%, but it is the best deal for me.
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I forgot to say that it takes only 16,000 miles (16 flight credits at 1000 each) to get a free ticket on this plan. Better than the 24-25,000 needed on the others.
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Thanks for the replies...
Over the weekend, I found two airline cards that seem to outshine the others: Northwest and Delta.
Northwest is a basic 1-for-1 card, but they are throwing around some pretty sick bonuses for a limited time. It looks like you could get around 15K miles in bonuses by having the card, using it to reach a $1000 in Northwest Airlines' spending, and keeping it for a year. The "NWA Spending" is the kicker - you actually have to fly Northwest to get some of the bonus miles, but $1000 is only a couple of flights.
The Delta card has an offer than almost sounds too good to be true, so if somebody already knows the catch to this, feel free to post it. If you sign up for a Delta Skymiles card, and spend $10,000 on the card in the first six months (not a lot if you can use it for biz expenses), they will give you up to 50,000 miles as long as you've earned 50K miles on any airline (doesn't hafta be Delta). And, of course, you get 1-for-1 on most purchases, and they have a wider array of double-miles merchants than some other cards.
Has anybody looked at either of these offers? I'm especially interested in the Delta one...
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One thing I forgot to mention: Northwest's card is a Visa. Delta's is an American Express Optima.
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There is a catch!
You had to be one of the first 10,000 for the Delta promotion. You won't even know until May (I think that was the month) if you were one of the first 10,000. You will have spent all that money (yes, you still get the miles) and may not get big bonus.
There is also a fee. Other catch: You MUST spend $10,000 in six months....it is an all or nothing proposition if I read it correctly. This was in the paper and I am sure that 10,000 applications were filled out right away....not many in a national promotion. If they could have guaranteed that you were one of the lucky ones, then I would say this was a good deal.
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Update: I'm taking the Delta Skymiles Amex Gold Card. Check out this thread - I've posted some more details there.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/003488.html
To recap: I called Amex and confirmed that I'm in the first 10,000 applicants. I took the Gold Card, which I felt was a better value for me (than the Plat Card) because I'm not seeking Medallion status on Delta (I don't really fly them).
I will use the card for business expenses, and won't have any trouble reaching $10,000 in spending.
For $10,000 in spending, I will earn somewhere between 70000 and 75000 Skymiles. That's a 10K signup bonus, approx. 12-13K in actual spending points, and the 50K bonus next September. Knock on wood...hopefully this will all go as planned!!
It's an age-old debate about how much 1 FF mile is worth, but the way I use 'em, it's about 2 cents. Using that, we're talking about also a 15% award here, which is incredible for a credit card.
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Hi all!
I know this is gonna sound ridiculous...but it looks like no-one mentioned the NEA card yet! That seems like the all-time best deal, at $35/year and a free ticket at $10k/$15k -- it's been discussed over and over in The Buzz.
Just inserting my useless 2 cents :-)
YeZZaph
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http://www.valueconsumer.com/CreditCards/CreditCards.htm
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"The NEA Credit Card Program has been developed for NEA members and their families only. If a member decides not to renew his/her membership, that person and their family will no longer be eligible to receive the preferred rates, fees and special promotions (including Travel Rewards) offered through the NEA Credit Card Program. If eligible, a replacement card will be offered."
The NEA Card is a sweet deal, but I'm not a member. I've read the other threads where people have posted that MBNA doesn't really check membership in the NEA, but who knows what they'll do in the future. I'm not sure if I want to take the risk that my rewards will get canned before I can use 'em.
After doing quite a bit of research, I've found the following:
(1) Amex has a variety of really sweet deals out there for miles, points, cash, etc. That seems to be the best card to use for rewards whenever possible. 7 Delta miles for 1 dollar is unbeatable for my next $10,000 in spending.
(2) A few Visa/MC cashback offers will get you 1 to 1.5 percent. Some require some serious spending.
(3) Many cards offer rewards in the form of goodies worth up to 2 or 2.5 percent. Two drawbacks: (a) a narrow range of available goodies in most cases, and (b) high retail value quotes on the free stuff making the reward seem like more than it is. Example: "Earn a free portable CD player worth $99" C'mon, it's a discman, I can find it new on the 'Net for $59.
(3) Airlines run nice promos for Visa/MC mileage cards (such as what NWA is doing now). If you can jump in at the right time, you might get some sweet bonuses.
(4) Travel rewards cards unaffiliated with a single airline. Example: the NEA Card. I've seen two or three other variants with similar structures to the NEA, but the NEA is admittedly the sweetest I've seen so far.
My conclusion out of all of this:
(1) "Goodies" cards are typically overrated.
(2) Cashback Cards might be the way to go, even though 1% isn't a large number. If I charge only $5000 a year, I think I'd rather have $50 back every December than a free coach ticket 4 or 5 years down the road. JMHO.
(3) Having said that, the airline cards with the right bonuses can get you into that free seat in a year or two. Likely better than the rebate card.
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...but, as far as rebates go:
The GM Mastercard is 5%. That is not bad. I have over 3,000 right now to use towards a GM car and I redeemed over 3,000 5 years ago. Now they have a cap of 500.00 per year earned - simply use it, then switch over when you spend 10,000 until the next fiscal year. In most cases (not all) 10,000 miles is only worth approx. 1/2 an airline ticket or about 150.00 (assuming super savers, etc). $500.00 is a better run for my money (since I will buy a GM product).
This card does not have a fee.
While the Delta deal is sweet, I don't have a balance of 50,000 miles on a spt. statement and I don't have a guarantee that I will spend 10,000 in a 6 month period (always have, but it is not a business card with major travel charges each month).
Thanks for sharing all your research. It is amazing how many deals are out there. It is overwhelming!
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Does anyone have the information on the Northwest VISA? Promotion number? Phone number to call? I have information on one, but it's only for 5,000 miles and supposedly expired 9-30-00. An early post mentioned 15,000 miles.
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I think NW Worldperks card is issued by US Bank in MSP. Try calling them or go to usbank.com