Originally Posted by
Eddie98
I'm in the same boat. Also out of Atl, mostly domestic travel. Leaning towards the Reserve card. I don't think I can spend that much on the card per year.
How do people charge that much? Do they pay everything with the card? Mortgage, auto, Ins, etc I guess. Most times you get charged a fee with paying with CC.
Originally Posted by
gil_happy
For me, luckily I had many purchases for work, e.g. supplies, trips, etc. Of course as you mentioned, I do try to make every single purchase through my AMEX, but I will not use if I'm charged a surcharge just for the sake of using it (like mortgage company).
Agreed, you must put everything on the card that you possibly can. For example, your insurance payments: Paying your policies in full is helpful for me as well, as my insurer charges an installment fee for paying by the month which I don't find to be worth it. I have also paid tax bills with the AMEX where it was accepted. I don't have the advantage of using mine for work expenses since I have to use my Corporate card. You don't have to automatically shy away from this just because there is a fee involved. You just have to run the numbers to ensure that the fee is less than or equal to any return you are getting. I've historically redeemed Skymiles at a minimum of 3 cpm (knock on wood), so as long as this continues, a fee of 2-2.5% should not be a deterrent when it can mean the difference in whether or not you meet the minimum spend. However, I would probably pass if the fee were to approach or exceed 3%.