Need a good credit card
- Thread starter wendybdh
- Start date
morningstar
Cathlete
A card that gives you something will generally have a higher interest rate, and will encourage you to use credit rather than cash more often, a bad habit to get into. It's better to choose a card with the lowest possible interest rate than one with all the bells and whistles.
Morningstar is right. The most important is to pay it off.
If you do pay it off like we do, we have two cards that I think are good:
One is from Chase directly and gives 5% back on groceries gas and pharmacies (I got a check for several hundred back last year) and that is all we use it for.
The other one we have is an amex, starwood (sheraton hotels). It gives good hotel points and we are staying at Disney for free with it for 10 days this year. We try to put as much as we can on it (including daycare for 2 kids
) so it adds up. All kinds of household bills go on this card and we get a lot of points that way. I think there is a yearly fee but I can't remember what it is.
These two cards work great for us but only because we pay them off every month. If you don't pay them off, then the rewards are much less than the extra interest you will pay. We had the Disney card but we got rid of it, it didn't work as well for us.
Hope this helps.
If you do pay it off like we do, we have two cards that I think are good:
One is from Chase directly and gives 5% back on groceries gas and pharmacies (I got a check for several hundred back last year) and that is all we use it for.
The other one we have is an amex, starwood (sheraton hotels). It gives good hotel points and we are staying at Disney for free with it for 10 days this year. We try to put as much as we can on it (including daycare for 2 kids
) so it adds up. All kinds of household bills go on this card and we get a lot of points that way. I think there is a yearly fee but I can't remember what it is.These two cards work great for us but only because we pay them off every month. If you don't pay them off, then the rewards are much less than the extra interest you will pay. We had the Disney card but we got rid of it, it didn't work as well for us.
Hope this helps.
Sunshine1528
Cathlete
First off I don't carry balances on my credit cards either - unless it is an emergency and then I'll pay off as soon as possible.
I got the Amex through Costco (doubles as my membership card) and just got over $500 check the other day. I use it for everything I can and it has some decent % returns. 3% on gas, 2% on travel and 1% on everything else. I like it cuz it cuts down on the # of checks/debits that run through my checking account and is much easier to balance with only a few entries per month. This card does have a very high interest rate if you don't pay it off.
In fact, they are pretty much not making a dime off of me ! Am surprised they haven't dumped me.
I got the Amex through Costco (doubles as my membership card) and just got over $500 check the other day. I use it for everything I can and it has some decent % returns. 3% on gas, 2% on travel and 1% on everything else. I like it cuz it cuts down on the # of checks/debits that run through my checking account and is much easier to balance with only a few entries per month. This card does have a very high interest rate if you don't pay it off.
In fact, they are pretty much not making a dime off of me ! Am surprised they haven't dumped me.
wendybdh
Cathlete
We rarely carry a balance on our credit card and I hear about people using theirs for everything and getting great rewards. I wasn't thinking about the fact that most of them that have the great perks also have the highest interest rates. I guess I'll just stick to the ones we have, minimal perks but low interest rate. Thanks.
We have an amazon.com credit card and we love it. We don't do a lot of flying, so we weren't interested in a frequent flyer card, but you can buy pretty much anything on amazon.com... last year I saved all the gift certificates and did almost all my Christmas shopping on Amazon, and barely spent any "real" money on Christmas.
We use it for everything - groceries, gas, etc. so we get a lot of rewards, but never carry a balance... it's just easier than carrying cash, and easier to track and make sure we're sticking to our budget. You need to make sure you're able to only spend what you have the cash for before deciding to use a CC this way though.
We use it for everything - groceries, gas, etc. so we get a lot of rewards, but never carry a balance... it's just easier than carrying cash, and easier to track and make sure we're sticking to our budget. You need to make sure you're able to only spend what you have the cash for before deciding to use a CC this way though.
spicegirl
Cathlete
Love my Nordstrom Visa! Most everything I buy goes on this card that gets paid off at the end of the end. Then, pretty regularly "Nordstrom Notes" come in the mail....I call it my FREE Nordstrom $$$$$. I'm currently doing my whole kitchen re-model on this card. Nordstrom.....Here I come!