You're intrigued. I can tell.
Originally Posted by
SkiesBlueH20
I like Choice B cash rewards, but I have not seen anything more than 1% cash back. What cards do you know of that have 2% back?
The most popular one here is the Fidelity Investment Rewards Amex:
https://www.fidelity.com/cash-manage...-express-cards
2% on everything, must be deposited into a Fidelity account but they have a no-fee cash management account you can use, then transfer to another bank if you want to.
Also, for choice A, it seems you would have to consolodate all of your points towards 1 reward to make use of this. I know you can move point around with Chase, but is this possible with different cards?
Depends on what you want to redeem for. The signup bonuses tend to be in multiples of 25k, which happens to be exactly enough for a domestic round trip in most programs. But each signup is as high as 100k, which is enough to go almost anywhere without transferring.
And you said "if done the right way, this will not damage your credit", how do you do it the right way?
Lots of threads here and on creditboards.com about managing credit. The most important factors are always paying your bill in full and on time; never letting statements close near your credit limit; keep at least 6 months buffer (preferably 1 year) between any applications and applying for a mortgage or other loan; keep several cards for the long haul to keep a high average age of accounts. If you do these things, your scores will stay at or near the top bracket and you'll have access to the lowest interest rates when you need it. See also
http://www.myfico.com/crediteducatio...yourscore.aspx
(Heads up for long-time FTers: That page was just updated and is a little more detailed.)
And why do you cancel at 11 mos? Do you have to pay annual fee at month 12 or something?
Yes. Tho there are quite a few cards that have benefits that offset the annual fees or that often give out retention bonuses.
If you're still looking at Choice B, go get yourself that Fidelity Amex and enjoy! If you want to be more aggressive, there's a ton of reading for you to do. First, figure out where you want to travel and what level of quality and explore the forums here for each mileage/points program to understand how they work - at least the major ones (United, American, Delta). Most have "sticky" threads for newbies. There is a substantial learning curve and only you can decide if it's worthwhile for you.