Originally Posted by
barely_flying
newbie here... go easy on me please.
I've recently become fascinated with this forum. I don't fly for work and rarely have a chance for a vacation. With an overseas trip coming up, I hastily signed up for a Capital One card because they have a no annual fee, and no foreign transaction fee card. So I have two questions for y'all:
1. On flyertalk though, it seems like many people jump on great CC deals all the time. I'm just wondering how many cards people usually manage at once. Haven't seen this topic much so if it's taboo to talk about how many CC people have open at any given time, the mods please feel free to delete this.
2. Does it make sense for me to open a hotel or airline CC even if I don't travel all that much? Is there a way to calculate how many cards I can afford to keep open versus whether it's worth the annual fee?
I too have read this board with great skepticism, and figured everyone to be travel junkies who are misinformed about the real value of rewards programs. The truth is though, reward programs do...offer rewards. Many cards make $ense to own, and some do not.
Like already mentioned the first year is free for many of these cards. And some cards actually make sense for the infrequent traveler who wishes to travel more.
Here is my personal arsenal at the moment
1) Fidelity 2% cashback Amex. No annual fee, 2% cashback, no gimmicks.
2) AA Visa - meeting my $1500 spending requirement on the card. No perks, $95 annual fee. First year free. 75k miles. Easy miles! Will definitely cancel!
3) AA Amex - meeting my $4000 spending requirement on the card. Without a doubt I will cancel. 75K easy miles. No perks, unless you consider travel protection, and other "commonly found travel card perks, (think rental car insurance, delayed luggage reimbursement)
4) Continental OnePass - 50k miles. (2) presidents club passes per year ($100 value), 1st checked bag free. Priority boarding I think too? If Continental/United turns out to be carrier I will fly on quite often I MAY keep this card. the presidents passes are nice little perks as are the bags. But you have to make sure you use these perks. Easy miles, no spending requirements
5) Intercontinental Visa - Easy 80k targeted e-mail offer. No spending requirements. This is a hotel card, and these cards may make the most sense out of all the cards really. This one in particular has a 10% rebate on reward redemption's, so my 80k is really 88k. 5 points for every $ spent @ their properties. 49/annual fee with the first year free. Here are 3 unique and awesome perks. No foreign transaction fees, should you decide to go international you will have the right card to do it. 1 free hotel night per year. Who doesn't stay in a hotel at least one night a year? This offsets your $49/annual fee entirely, and may in many cases more than pay for itself. Gold status I think it is? I am not sure, but that is so you hopefully get free upgrades to suites or larger rooms.
I want a Southwest 50k mile card, but JPM says that I have applied for credit too recently from them (just got the Priority Club visa, and the Onepass from them).
Cards with 2-5% cashback are the way to go, and purchasing gift cards at that so to receive an additional few % off at retailers you frequent. That is for "everyday spending", when I am not out trying to hit spending requirements. It just so happens that all my credit card purchasing is basically being redirected to Citibank AA cards for the next few months. But I don't think any mile card is very enticing in the $ value per mile which is a pity because it makes their cards really unattractive unless you spend a lotttttttttttt. Using their shopping portals becomes a great way to spend with your card, through their portal, and get a decent amount of points. But their bonus points are in areas you see yourself spending not necessarily a whole lot of. E.G. Flowers. Sure some people buy flowers online, and for the sake of miles it is "cheap" if you are already spending money on flowers. But if you aren't then it is simply just helping you rationalize the spending. Although lets be real, you buying flowers for your girl puts money in the economy, gets you brownie points, and you only live once so why not have some fresh flowers around.
Credit impact can be negligible per say. A large number of inquires will only count as one inquiry (I applied for like 6 cards and my credit score got hit with 2 hard inquiries). These are only visible for 2 years, and ideally keeping these cards open is the way to go as it makes you have a longer average credit life span.
Most hotel cards offer some sort of free night/yr thing which offsets their costs.
But don't kid yourself. These cards encourage travel/vacation. Everyone dreams of that vacation and says they can't make it happen for a number of various reasons, but now you have a some free hotel nights here, and some miles there.....
Rental cars become the biggest expense if they are required, and then food/activities. I say go for the cards, close them at 1 year unless they offer to drop the annual fee for you, and I would always try and keep the cards open if possible.