what is the best Mastercard for points?
 

With the Hyatt stay two nights, get one free promotion, I need a mastercard to take advantage. Can anyone make a recommendation? I primarily accrue miles in United, Continental, and Starwood.

Thanks!

Check out the no-fee Amtrak Mastercard.

Not much of a signup bonus, only 500 points, but it's free (good if this isn't going to be your primary card) and Amtrak points convert in 5000 point blocks 1:1 into Continental, United, and Midwest Airlines. Oh, and the points also convert 1:2 into Hilton.

Also, since this card is issued by MBNA, the usual extra 2% rip off foreign currency conversion fee is not applied. This is the only card I use for travel outside the U.S.

With the Chase Rewards Card / Perfect Card (they keep renaming it but otherwise it stays about the same), which is an MC, you get a 6% rebate on all gas purchases the first 3 months, 3% rebote on all gas purchases thereafter, 1% rebate on everything else, and no annual fee as long as you make at least 9 purchases (any amount) per year. If you use this card for just MasterCard promos like Hyatt's and otherwise just for all your gas purchases, you're likely to get more net from it than from any points card I can think of (given the programs you prefer to accrue in).

The MBNA Amtrak card has thresholds for doing transfers that you need to be aware of, and the transfer opportunities have changed there in the past. You don't want to accumulate a bunch there and then find out it's either not enough for a transfer or that your preferred transfer destination is no longer available, especially if you have no use for actual Amtrak rewards. Whereas with the Chase rebate, it's savings on your credit card bill every month (the rebate you earn one month applies to your total bill the next month), with no thresholds to worry about.

I have something called the Chase Freedom Mastercard which is similar to the one described by Stefan Daystrom except that it is an ongoing 5% for gasoline purchases and 1% for all others. There is no fee, but the nine purchase per year requirement is effective. Since I mostly use it for gas and
Hyatt (domestic) stays during the FFN promotions, I easily get the nine and the cashback feature beats any miles deal all to death. I have spent about $1000 this year and already received about $35 in cash rebated. $35 is worth at least 2000 miles in most programs (but maybe 10,000 OnePass miles :D ).

So does anyone know where/how to get the Chase Freedom Mastercard? I get lots of CC offers in the mail, but i don't remember seeing this one. Thanks.

I'm not sure for now but once Diners Club card joins the MasterCard/re-branded(?), it will the best MasterCard for the points. :)

Chase no longer offers the Freedom card to new applicants. It's been rebranded as the PerfectCard as described by Stefan.

Interestingly, I received an app in the mail for the PerfectCard with no annual fee (i.e. you are not required to use it 9 timer per year).

I just called to have my perfect card. The reps talked me if you do not use that more than 9 times after second year, It will need $19.99 annual fee. Thanks.

Unless you want to cycle through some airline/hotel Mastercard signup bonuses, the Chase Perfectcard is the best one for small-time use. It appears to be a legit 1% - i.e., the 1% is credited right back to your next statement. (As opposed to invested for the bank for six months or a year, and then given to you in a check or something like that.)

Depends what other souces of miles he has into these accounts. Also, value of miles depends on travel needs - for many travellers, they are worth 1 cent or less - other like me always redeem them for needed expensive tickets. Totally depends on travel needs.

In case you didn't notice, the poster of the original question (whom I was replying to) was specifically looking for a MasterCard (to use mostly for MC-specific promos), but all the programs he actively particpates in currently only partner with either Visa or Amex. If that weren't his case, my recommendation might be completely different (for example, a 1 mile/$2 no-annual-fee card for one of those FF programs).

Please explain to me how needing expensive tickets makes it worthwhile to subject yourself to a 90% devaluation by going through a points-transfer service or how earning a few hundred points a year on a card which has a 5000-point transfer threshold? (Because those seem to be the main point/mile-earning options he has right now with MasterCard relative to the FF programs he prefers.)

AT&T Universal MC
 

For someone looking for a MasterCard, this looks like the best deal, for the next year anyhow. An ad I saw in the Parade section of the Sunday paper a few weeks ago...

AT&T Universal MasterCard

0% on Balance transfers until March 1, 2005

Full 5% cash back on purchases made at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations until 6/1/05, full 1% cash back on all other purchases up to a maximum of $300 annually

No annual fee, no balance transfer fees

Limited time offer, must apply by 7/15/04, ph 1-800-506-8737

Well, 5000 Amtrak points are much easier to reach than perhaps you realize.

1) The card comes with a 500 point signup bonus
2) There's an offer for 1000 miles for updating promo/selecting estatements

So that's 1500 points already.

Say the cardholder only points $1000 on the card in 12 months.

They still need 2500 points in order to transfer out. But that's seriously easy - credit hotel stays @ 500 points each (Hilton double dip, Starwood, Loews & OMNI are currently 1000 pts/stay), 500 points for a Hertz rental, 5 pts per dollar spent at the Guest Rewards mall, flower club pts, etc.

I did not see that ad, but I recall an older version of that card offering a delayed-1% rebate.

You spend the money now, we give you a rebate once a year.

That only approaches a real one-percent rebate for the spending that takes place at the tail end of the "year".

But moreso that the (admittedly small) investment loss on that money, I just don't like the idea that I'm married to a card for any period of time waiting for an award. I don't trust banks to do anything correctly, especially if they are allowed time to think about it. That's why I like SPG Amex and the next-statement-rebaters like PerfectCard. If I decide I want out of that card, it only takes me a month or two to fully part ways with all of my rewards.

FYI, it's somewhere in-between. The small print reads "You may accumulate a maximum of $300 in Cash Reward Dollars in any calendar year, payable in $100 checks."

I have had one of these cards for years, and mine earns points that require "thresholds" to get "cash" back, and the only kind of "cash" you can get back (that's a good value) is "gift cards" at one of number of common nationwide retail chains.

Thus you should check carefully how and when you get the "cash back" before you assume that it's better than the Chase card.

Meanwhile, the two "hooks" in the offer you quoted don't make sense to do together. The 0% is on balance transfers only, and the cash back is on purchases only, and if you are carrying a balance, then your purchases are subject to an interest rate too (and MUCH bigger than 0%!!!), because I'm sure the card has a fine print clause which says something to the effect that monthly payments are applied in whatever order makes them the most money, ie, if you transferred $2000 and make $100 in purchases and pay $200, the $200 reduces your 0% rate $2000 to $1800 and your $100 at the HIGH interst rate gets added! Thus by mixing a 0% transfer and "cash back" purchases at the same time, you'll lose a lot more money in interest rates than you'll save with the "cash back".

How about one of the continental MC's from chase?

Stefan Daystrom, Your right - if someone is truly going to only spend a couple hundred $ a year on a card, your suggestion may be the best. But if they are really only going to spend a couple hundred a year, it really doesn't make a lot of difference which card they go for. $2 - yeah, its something, but not worth much of my time trying to figure out.

I guess I assume the OP would use the card enough to make it worth it. I would recomend the MBNA Amtrak card - if the OP does any significant spending internationally this alone will make it quite worthwhile. As gleff helpfully pointed out there are many ways to earn Amtrak points - getting to 5,000 is not that hard. But if the OP really is only going to use for $200 a year and not do anything else to earn Amtrak Points (for UA miles), your right, this is not a good option.

May not help the OP, who wasn't interested in AA miles, but if they work for you Citibank offers a few versions of MC with sign-up bonuses in the 10,000+ mile range and no fee for the first 6 to 12 months - so you can cancel it after you get the Hyatt bonus. More in the AA forums. One of the threads is here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=325872

The three offers on on the Annual Fee Cards page of the Credit Cards section of my website below. 15,000, 12,500, or 10,000 miles for first use, and free for 1 year or 6 months.