Originally Posted by cak144
This is a little off-topic, but not entirely. I have been a FTer for several years and have learned a lot. I don't fly a lot and earn rewards primarily from credit cards. I have been involved in purchasing savings bonds, gift cards, CD's, etc. using credit cards. However, I have never understood why many people use miles cards rather than cashback cards. I have the 5% Citi cards for gas & groceries, 5% Discover card for restaurants, 5% Discover card for home improvements, but my primary card for other purchases is the MBNA Fidelity 529 card which pays a straight 2% for purchases up to $75,000. I actually have three of these cards - in my name, wife's name, and son's name. The reward money is transferred quarterly to a Fidelity 529 account which I then withdraw immediately. There is no federal income tax or penalty since there are no earnings. Are there any airline cards or hotel cards where if you spent $75,000 per year, you will receive $1,500 worth of airline tickets or hotel stays? If there are, please let me know.
I just redeamed 3 tickets that would cost a total of $7500 for more than 30 day stays to europe with a stopover for next summer in large part using amex skymiles. People who cash in business and first class awards recieve a lot more value than that. Also the 10,000 qualifying miles Amex skymiles platinum gives for spending 25k has a lot of value to some. Double miles for gas and groceries is worth about 10% the way we used it this time. If we factor in bump compensation it gets even better. If you used 80k miles for a $6,000 j or f international award the double miles portions would be worth around 15% per dollar spent.
Use 50,000 for a ticket you could have purchased for $200 and you are better off with cash back cards.