Best Cards for Non-Bonused Spend?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 134
Best Cards for Non-Bonused Spend?
Trying to find the top earning cards for non-bonused spend.
2.625% "Cash Back" - BofA Travel Rewards with platinum honors status. Must be redeemed for travel which somewhat reduces value as it's bonused spend on other cards, but still easily beats the slew of straight 2% cash back cards.
2 MR - Amex Business Plus on first $50k spend
1.5 MR - Amex Every Day Preferred. Drawbacks are the $95 annual fee and 30 transactions per cycle.
1.5 UR - Chase Freedom Unlimited
Anything better out there?
2.625% "Cash Back" - BofA Travel Rewards with platinum honors status. Must be redeemed for travel which somewhat reduces value as it's bonused spend on other cards, but still easily beats the slew of straight 2% cash back cards.
2 MR - Amex Business Plus on first $50k spend
1.5 MR - Amex Every Day Preferred. Drawbacks are the $95 annual fee and 30 transactions per cycle.
1.5 UR - Chase Freedom Unlimited
Anything better out there?
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend; Moderator: American Express, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Credit Card Programs, Diners Club, Signatures
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,884
Last year's discussion here, for reference:
2016 "best" credit card for general spending (non bonus category expenses)
2016 "best" credit card for general spending (non bonus category expenses)
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 134
Last year's discussion here, for reference:
2016 "best" credit card for general spending (non bonus category expenses)
2016 "best" credit card for general spending (non bonus category expenses)
Ah...forgot about this card. If I recall correctly, limits were low and it was a pita to use. Will take another look at it. Thanks!
Last edited by philemer; Oct 27, 2017 at 11:23 pm
#5
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Florida
Posts: 274
There is also the Alliant Credit Union Visa Signature - 3% cash back the first year, then 2.5% cashback after that. $59 annual fee waived the first year.
http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/ba...signature-card
http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/ba...signature-card
#6
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: BAY AREA
Posts: 1,124
Trying to find the top earning cards for non-bonused spend.
2.625% "Cash Back" - BofA Travel Rewards with platinum honors status. Must be redeemed for travel which somewhat reduces value as it's bonused spend on other cards, but still easily beats the slew of straight 2% cash back cards.
2 MR - Amex Business Plus on first $50k spend
1.5 MR - Amex Every Day Preferred. Drawbacks are the $95 annual fee and 30 transactions per cycle.
1.5 UR - Chase Freedom Unlimited
Anything better out there?
2.625% "Cash Back" - BofA Travel Rewards with platinum honors status. Must be redeemed for travel which somewhat reduces value as it's bonused spend on other cards, but still easily beats the slew of straight 2% cash back cards.
2 MR - Amex Business Plus on first $50k spend
1.5 MR - Amex Every Day Preferred. Drawbacks are the $95 annual fee and 30 transactions per cycle.
1.5 UR - Chase Freedom Unlimited
Anything better out there?
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 134
There is also the Alliant Credit Union Visa Signature - 3% cash back the first year, then 2.5% cashback after that. $59 annual fee waived the first year.
http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/ba...signature-card
http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/ba...signature-card
Ooooh. Didn't know this could be redeemed for cash. Straight 2.625% back along with the 50k bonus... count me in!
#9
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: BVI
Programs: AA 1mm
Posts: 9
There is also USAA Limitless at 2.5% on everything with no annual fee. You have to be able to get a USAA account though, and have USAA checking with direct deposit every month. Also, you cannot live in a state that they do not like.
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 134
Thanks for all the suggestions! Glad to see that I haven't been leaving that much on the table.
This thread made me do a deeper dive... realized I've been undervaluing MR points. I exclusively use them to transfer to airlines for premium awards with the bulk of my transfers to partners during bonus windows. Uncertainties of the bonus aside, this definitely makes (in my mind) 1 MR > 1 UR and will correspondingly cause a shift in spend.
This thread made me do a deeper dive... realized I've been undervaluing MR points. I exclusively use them to transfer to airlines for premium awards with the bulk of my transfers to partners during bonus windows. Uncertainties of the bonus aside, this definitely makes (in my mind) 1 MR > 1 UR and will correspondingly cause a shift in spend.
#11
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: TYS/BNA/ATL
Programs: UR, TYP, MR, C1, AA, UA, WN, BA, AS, AV, AC, Choice, Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, Wyndham, Marriott
Posts: 1,959
Trying to find the top earning cards for non-bonused spend.
2.625% "Cash Back" - BofA Travel Rewards with platinum honors status. Must be redeemed for travel which somewhat reduces value as it's bonused spend on other cards, but still easily beats the slew of straight 2% cash back cards.
2 MR - Amex Business Plus on first $50k spend
1.5 MR - Amex Every Day Preferred. Drawbacks are the $95 annual fee and 30 transactions per cycle.
1.5 UR - Chase Freedom Unlimited
Anything better out there?
2.625% "Cash Back" - BofA Travel Rewards with platinum honors status. Must be redeemed for travel which somewhat reduces value as it's bonused spend on other cards, but still easily beats the slew of straight 2% cash back cards.
2 MR - Amex Business Plus on first $50k spend
1.5 MR - Amex Every Day Preferred. Drawbacks are the $95 annual fee and 30 transactions per cycle.
1.5 UR - Chase Freedom Unlimited
Anything better out there?
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...purchases.html
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 134
There is another thread on this:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...purchases.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...purchases.html
Gah! Always assumed earnings was the same on both Personal and Business Platinum cards. The 1.5 for trans > $5k on the Business is nice! Will likely forego the Everyday Preferred now.
#13
Join Date: May 2008
Programs: AA PLT 2MM
Posts: 2,026
#14
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: TYS/BNA/ATL
Programs: UR, TYP, MR, C1, AA, UA, WN, BA, AS, AV, AC, Choice, Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, Wyndham, Marriott
Posts: 1,959
it depends on much you spend per month in those non-categories. If you're high spender, I'd go with USBank Altitude Reserve + Samsung Pay.
#15
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: American Airlines Plat Pro, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 207
You can also us the US Bank Altitude Reserve with Android Pay to turn lots of non-bonused spend opportunities into bonused spend. It gets 3x on mobile wallet transactions, and an increasing number of both online and brick-and-mortar places accept it.