jtruta

Is the relatively new Fidelity Amex 2% rebate to one's Fidelity account a bona fide improvement to Citi's Thank You points program. Would appreciate any recommendations about the merits of shifting my major spending to the Fidelity card.

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk.

If you were to use the Search this Forum function you would find these existing discussions which should help you decide what's best for you:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...rd-lineup.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...edit-card.html

Also, Fidelity's competitor Charles Schwab has offered a 2% cashback VISA for quite awhile:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...verything.html

safigan

Count TYP at a penny per point and your decision should be easy.

jtruta

Thanks for your responses. Looks like Fidelity Amex is worth applying for, for its 2% rebate.

KALYANP12

I am not sure, where to post this. Mods...Feel free to move this to an appropiate thread/forum.


I spend about $25,000 annually on my credit cards. Right now, my primary card is Amex Blue Cash. Cash back is teired, (5% for Gas, Grocery and Drug Store after $6500 spend, and 1.25 for every day purchases). I got a cash back of about $225 the last couple of years.

All of this spend, is personal, I do not travel a lot for business. I visit India with my family every year. I always fly economy, as I pay for the tickets. I would love flying business class with miles in my next trip. All of my family members are United 1P. I try to fly *A to get United miles. I have 190k United, 180K AA Miles and 90K Hilton points.

I am looking for recommendations about which card to use as primary. Reading through various forums in FT, I understand that a lot of folks prefer the SPG Amex and the Fidelity Amex (2% cash back). Right now, I am using Citi AA Amex and Chase United MP, applied both of them for the 75K bonus and 50K bonus miles respectively.

Thanks a lot for the input.

virmaior

$25k/year is not really that much spend.

I would recommend signing up for both the SPG Amex and the AA Amex.

If you sign up for the AA amex the right way, you could get 100k AA miles
The SPG is at 25k right now for its bonus with some spend reqs. I believe.

KALYANP12

Thank You Virmaior!

budugu

I am pretty much in the same situation (minus the family part). U seem to be generating less than 1% with the amex cash card. That i guess is a non here at fatwallet. I am sure some one like MIA might have a better recommendation but at 25K you are better of with a cash back card (fidelity) or some thing like Discover Escape miles which has bonus 24K miles promotion (1K miles per month). I travel on Qatar / Emirates /Etihad etc which have a 20K per leg upgrade policy(? ... which might not be the greatest ... SPG amex i guess is the only option in that case). I find Ameripise WEMC very useful as the lounges in india / Dubai / Doha are very nice... and can take 2 guests... (also 1.5% cash back - 150 annual fee). That might be another option.

freqflyercoll

If you signed up for SPG AMEX through Nerd wallet, you can get 10k signup + 15k bonus for spending 15k in 6 months...although it sounds liek you might have to get a little creative since at 25k/yr, you won't spend 15k in 6 months...

cotr

Wanted to get general FT advice on the whole UR thing...

I currently have the Sapphire Preferred and the Ink Plus (got it only for bonus). Due to my work, I am a United 1K and a Hilton Diamond so I have plenty of points in both of those (about 500k each).

My goal is to just maximize cash/point back and my predicament is that I cant decide between Chase Freedom or the Fidelity Amex (have fidelity accounts).

I also have the Amex Clear (electronics purchases) and Citi Forward (cellphone insurance) and a Amex Gold business but I have no desire for their puny general 1:1 returns.

tl:dr, Chase Freedom or Fidelity Amex?

bribro

If you value UR points or United miles at >$0.02, then Freedom for non-bonus categories on your CSP, Ink or Freedom.

mia

Thread title edited to specify question posed in root post, and transferred to Credit Card Programs forum.

cotr

Correct me if I am wrong,

mainly to get 2.07ppc off UR is to transfer to FF program and redeem?

Otherwise its 1.07ppc to redeem for GC, merchandise, or other things and 1.2ppc to purchase travel via UR?

bribro

In most cases, the best value for UR points comes from transferring them to United or Hyatt. A common valuation is $0.02 per point, but it's different for everyone. Any other use for UR points (statement credits, gift cards, merchandise, etc.) is a waste IMO. Especially gift cards because you can buy those for 5x using your Ink.

vagrants

I agree with what you said, but all are beside the point for the OP because of the 500k points/miles and elite status because I got an idea that the OP has no intention or slight intention of transferring the UR points to airline/hotels.

Sorry, OP, all I can say is which reward structure you like. Unlimited 2% or 5x for $1.5k with rotating categories and the versatility of UR points.