M6SCOTT

So, son is going to college. I want to pay everything on a travel rewards card and then pay off the card each month in full. The school does not take Visa!

What is the best travel rewards card I should get that is a Mastercard or A/X ?

Jaimito Cartero

Where are you and he located? US? How much will you be charging each month?

What are you travel goals? Free flights? Hotels? Cash back?

flightmedic

If they don't take Visa did you verify that they will take the other types of cards? When my kids were in college I could only pay the tuition by credit card if I wanted to pay an additional fee.

Presuming they will accept another card you first need to determine what you are trying to accomplish with points/mileage. Is this for flights? Hotels? If flights, where are you based, where do you hope to travel to and which airline do you feel works best for you. Many of the cards are linked to one major alliance.

M6SCOTT

UVA does not take Visa. They do take everything else. We will fly Nashville to Richmond or Nashville direct to Charlottesville.

I want to pay everything on the card, about 50K a year, broken up 2 or 3 times a year. I will pay off the entire balance as soon as the statement arrives. Credit is 800 + income not an issue. Little to no debt.

Trying to find the best travel rewards card that is not a Visa. Usually we are on American or US Air. Sometimes Delta.

84fiero

So you'd like to be able to redeem rewards primarily for Nashville-Richmond/Charlottesville flights...or are there other future travel goals you'd like to be able to redeem for (international, etc)?

M6SCOTT

Most of the reward points would be used for travel to and from Charlottesville for my wife and I or flying my son home on his breaks. Maybe possibly flying to the Caribbean or Europe but almost 90% from Nashville to Richmond or Charlottesville.

Mtek

If your new to the game, and assume your going to get a few cards, and therefore a few credit pulls, I'd start with Barclay arrival. Its an easy $440 off any travel expense (over $25) and can be very flexible. Baggage fees, parking, hotel meals, etc.

For the long haul, you need to know the dominate airline servicing the 2-3 locations you mentioned and apply for those cards

Good luck!

M6SCOTT

Any card I get to pay U V A with cannot be a Visa.

CDKing

Start with DL Amex or AA MasterCard and go from there.

Here is a link to the credit card forums

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...-programs-390/

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

The Barclays Arrival+ card is a MasterCard. But it only awards you a travel credit of 2.2% on what you charge. Other cards will earn you miles (or points that can be converted to miles) which could then be redeemed for award flights if award seats are available on your desired dates of travel.

Suggest that you price out cash tickets for BNA-CHO/RIC-BNA on some future dates when you think you might travel, and then check aa.com to see if "SAAver" award availability currently exists on AA flights (BNA-ORD-CHO/RIC), or US (BNA-CLT-CHO/RIC/LYH). The best deal for SAAver seats on the BNA-CHO/RIC/LYH route on AA or US is by redeeming British Airways Avios for those flights: only 9,000 Avios each way, with no extra fee for close-in award bookings (in case you decide to make a spur-of-the-moment visit). The Amex PRG card earns Amex Membership Reward points, which can be converted to BA Avios -- occasionally with a 40% or 50% transfer bonus. See the FT Amex forum for a current 50,000-point sign-up bonus that you might be able to get for the Amex PRG card.

(As you probably know, there is no nonstop service currently from BNA to CHO, RIC, or LYH. Travel on any airline will require at least one stop, and most likely a change of aircraft, as well.)

Of course, with several large credit-card payments to be spread out over the course of a year, you could qualify for sign-up bonuses for several different MasterCards and Amexes. It all depends on how much of this game you want to play.

MSPeconomist

The advantage of a DL AmEx Platinum or Reserve card is that it give you status miles based on spend thresholds as well as redeemable miles. You can get Silver status with DL (or almost get there) just on your kid's college expenses. AFAIK they will give him an authorized user card in his own name if you want this.

Note that many colleges impose a fee (several percent) for paying with a credit card, similar to the fees for paying most taxes with credit cards. This can exceed the value of the miles or points earned on the card.