dingo

I do not have an MC presently. I have two Visa's, SPG AMEX, Plat AMEX. I'd like either a low or no fee card. Also, is there one that is heads above the rest in terms of miles even if there is a fee involved?

jittichai

I would say AA Citibank World MC would be the best for 10,000 bonus miles (but I got actually 20,000 bonus miles :P) The annual fee of $85 is waived for first six months. You can decide whether to have it and pray for reduced fee (by telling them you wanna cancel) or actually cancel it.

Another benefit is reduction of redeemed mileages for particular routes. For example, 17500 miles for SFO-BOS instead of 25,000 miles, etc.

Madgalena

I think hands down the Amtrak Mastercard: one point per dollar, one-to-one conversion to CO or UA in units of 5000, no annual fee, and no foreign transaction fees. A great card.

evilmang0

Hi Jittichai,

I have just gotten myself the MC gold but the lady wouldn't budge on granting me more miles than advertised, which makes me curious as to how you got them to give you such phenomenal amount of miles. Any tricks?

pinniped

If you want miles out of an MC/Visa, I like the AA card.

If you want homegrown points, the MBNA Worldpoints Mastercard seems to be the best. I don't know every homegrown points card out there though.

If you want cash rebate, Chase's Perfectcard appears to be the first true no-bullsh*t 1% rebate card. No annual fee as long as you actually use the card and the 1% shows up as a credit the next month. No calling to redeem rebates, no waiting until end-of-year, no thresholds to hit. This looks like the best MC rebate card for the low/mid spender. (Big spenders who want cash back should probably go with Amex's tiered rebate cards.)

It all depends on what you want...

(On the Amtrak card: can you be in that program forever without ever riding a train? I thought I read somewhere that you had to actually take 1 train trip every so often to stay active.)

jittichai

Well, something weird happens to my AA citibank account. Citibank has given three times of 10,000 bonus miles to me. I opened a credit card account for only two months and the bonus miles were posted three times. I actually intended to cancel it before annual fee kicks in. But if it still continues giving 10,000 bonus miles to me again next month, I will certainly keep it.

Now that I got like 30,000 bonus miles without any cost or work at all. :P

Rawhide

I have the Chase Continental World MC. They are giving 10K signup bonus, a couple of free lounge passes, and a free companion ticket every year. Mrs Rawhide got those bonuses. I have had mine for a year, so all I got was the 10K bonus miles for Continental.

afang

For miles: AA Citi Cold Mastercard

Cash Rebate: Citi Dividend Platinum Card.

erlftex

The MBNA Quantum is the best Mastercard out there. Offers SIMULTANEOUSLY the World Points program & a cash back program, depending on what you feel like using your points for. Plus a free concierge service, free travel insurance, all the usual warranty/auto insurance benefits, and all for NO annual fee. You have to have very good credit, though.

anthonyanthony

Would I be able to enroll my existing Quantum MC in these programs, or would I have to apply for a new account?

BARGAINHUNTER

OH NO - they're deducting out the bonus points they added by mistake! I had signed up for a card in Oct. & got my 10m bonus in Nov. and again in Dec.

Now they've deducted out the 10m from December (I didn't even realize I had rec'd double - thought they took my bonus 'cuz I cancelled card)>

Can they do this? I read the agreement/terms and it specifically states ... "By signing the application, I authorize Citibank to report AAdvantage miles earned to American Airlines®"

It doesn't say they can deduct miles from my account - for ANY reason. The rep at Citicards says "it was posted in error on 19,000 accounts and we're just fixing it". Letters apparently were sent out Jan. 19 2004 notifying everyone.

Whatcha' think??

erlftex

Anthonyanthony--

Sorry, I just noticed you had asked me a question and I never responded! I am sure that you already acted, but I believe that you cannot enroll an existing card in the MBNA program.

Btw, there is a new card by MBNA that gives 1.5% cash back to your Fidelity account. I am now on that one.

beachfan

I was surprised Amtrak didn't get more press on this thread. I use it for all foreign transactions as it earns (indirectly) UA/CO miles and is only a 1% exchange rate surcharge.

I'm interested in phasing out my UA MP Visa, as I'm moving to American. The American fee seems a little steep, is it waived for Platinum (or Platinum Ex)? I had my United fee waived as a 1k, but because of the switch, I won't be top tier on either.

Suggestions welcomed, Visa or MC (I'm happy with my Starwood Amex), for use domestically.

rnprasad

I think Amtrak card from MBNA is a nice card without annual fee, but if you are looking for Oneworld alliance miles here is another choice. Ebay anything points card from MBNA comes with no annual fee and these points can be converted into Asiamiles. Based on the current conversion rates you get 1.1 mile/dollar spent on the card. People have been touting asia miles on the coupon connection in the past and there are even claims that one asia mile is valued at 2 AA miles. Even if it is partly true, then you have a winner with this card.

Hope this helps someone here.