Originally Posted by pushback
So, my standard mode of operation is to:
* Use
this card at Costco. (Tiers up to 1.5% plus the 2% I get for being an Executive Costco Member for a total of up to 3.5%)
* Use the Costco card at restaurants.
* Use the Citibank Business AA card at restaurants that are on the rewards network program (I get miles + 15% cash rebate). I am making an exception to that now because of the UA 25K miles promo.
* Use the Citibank Dividend Card at grocery stores and gas pumps (5% cash rebate)
* Use the MBNA AOPA card for my flying (5% rebate)
* Use the MBNA Fidelity 529 MasterCard for everything else (puts 2% rebate into my daughters' 529 college account)
It all drives my wife nuts.
Here's my SOP:
* Use CapOne No Hassle MC when traveling outside USA (0% forex fee + rewards).
* Use BofA debit card for very small purchases like Starbucks (100% match-the-change promo for 3 months, $250/yr MAX).
* Use the Citibank Dividend Card at grocery stores, walgreens and gas pumps (5% cash rebate, but $300/yr. MAX
).
* Use Citi-AA MC for everything else (frequent bonus offers esp. for AA flights really add up).
* Wife uses Chase-UA VI for everything else (so we can take advantage of UA bonus offers like netflix ^ ).
Drives my wife nuts, too, but she has become spoiled in C/F and knows what is necessary...
Addendum: After further investigation, I learned that the CitiBusiness restaurant rebate does not apply to ALL restaurants
but only at certain idine restaurants on certain days - and for most is at the low end of a 7.5%-15% range. Better than nothing, but not too useful unless you already plan to patronize these places [See separate discussion on United thread regarding quality of idine restaurants]. For those who have a CitiBusiness card and want to register for the idine rebate, here's a better link:
http://citibusiness.rewardsnetwork.com/index.jsp