There are a few no annual fee credit cards that do this. The only catches that they usually have a limit of $300/yr in cash back (but that is $6000 in gas and groceries), and you have to be sure that you buy gas from an obvious gas company like Exxon, if you buy it at 7-11 they don't recognize it as a gas purchase.

The one I have is the citibank dividend Platinum select. They even have a no fee balance transfer at 0% for a year on top of everything else.

http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/car...plat/index.jsp

Thx. We don't spend much on gas but with two teenage athletes, I wish we only spent $6000 on groceries.

My wife has the Citi Dividend. I have the new Chase Cash Plus Rewards.

Both are 5% on gas/groceries but capped at $300.

We typically get around $40 back a month on those items. Easy money.

I put airline tickets on Citi Premier Pass and everything else on Amex SPG.

I just applied for the Citi Professional card. 3% cash back on restaurants and office supplies. Yet one more card I'll have to carry :rolleyes:

I just have to chime in here, and agree with divaof travel that hotel programs, especially Hyatt's FFN, can be extremely lucrative. In fact, of the many deals that I've found on FT in since I've been on it, I think the hotel deals have been the most valuable. The Hyatt board has been a great resource on how to maximize this. Now that priceline rates aren't qualifying rates, it isn't as extraordinary a deal, but Hyatt has hooked me with their properties, and I am willing to pay published rates in order to use the promotion.

It isn't "budget travel" but you get to experience extremely luxurious and memorable properties at moderate rates. A luxurious hotel can add a great deal to the travel experience. For example, I figured that the Park Hyatt Paris cost me $100/night last year. With diamond status, you also get an upgrade to a nicer room and a very lavish free continental breakfast, though even without status, it still represents a great value. There is no other way that you could ever get this particular hotel for this price, and even a blah Paris hotel on priceline would run ~$100/night.

Even if you don't need the hotel nights, it can be worthwhile booking Hyatt stays for the credit. There is a reason why the "phantom stay" thread in the Hyatt forum is fairly active! However, as a caveat, as with all deals, some work and flexibility is required. Availability is limited, and you need to book both fairly quickly and be flexible with the dates, ie plan on mid-week only stays. I would guess that in ~1 month, probably all the FFN availability for the nicer hotels will be booked, and then you need to depend on last minute cancellations which would be difficult to plan around.

(On a side note, my other top hotel deal was the 2-for-1 with upgrade to junior suite/club access Intercontinental Le Grand that was in effect until December of last year. Again, each room night probably cost ~$160; while the true budget traveller can book a random hotel for much less, this was extraordinary in terms of bang for the buck.)

I would recomend the ATT Universal Rewards Card.
No annual fee, 5 points/$ at supermarkets, gas stations, drug stores, etc. with a 75,000 Point cap. That would be $15K spent in these categories instead of 3K.
5K points sign-up bonus.
Then use your points for invoice credit.
Or - if you fly - you can get significantly more than 1 cent/point value out of them. Like it takes 50K for Europe - NO BLACKOUT DATES! So you can redeem 50K points for that August trip to Itally the airlines want $900 for, etc.

Sometimes a package (airfare + hotel) booked on expedia, orbitz or travelocity is too good a bargain to pass up; you still get airmiles, but generally the hotel is "generic" no miles toward hotel programs.
If you fly to Las Vegas (or other gambling locations) regularly, even "low-rollers" will get their rooms free; so you are getting airmiles but no hotel points.
I did join the "Priority Club (Intercontinental)" only because of an air miles promo. I would have to stay too many times at higher cost than I would usually pay to warrant continuing with them for another year (not to mention the added fee for renewal.) [I know free upgrades and other bonus promos are nice; but I can "live" without them :) ]

Let me know how a low roller like myself can get that free room. So far Westin, Alladin, Mandalay Bay, Mirage are offer $20-40 off a $150-200 room so this low roller

Ken in Phx

Maybe the topic shouldn't be so harsh...clueless is such a demeaning term. I just think there are different degrees of travel savviness. Those of us that enjoy "gaming the system" are truly the most savvy. Knowing how to use BTF to beat PL and using the 5% cash back cards from Citi and Chase (my wife and I have 3 of these cards) are all examples of our savviness, but to what degree is one savvy? Copping a free stay at the Paris Hilton, been there, done that, I think is truly a feat of savviness, and those of us here at FT can appreciate it, but I was able to score another 30,000 HH points from my free Paris Hilton stay. Does that mean the rest of you are clueless?

99% of my coworkers, friends and relatives could care less about my travel exploits. To even discuss it with a non-traveler can make one sound like a pretentious snob unless we run across the individual like ourselves, who may have been searching for something like FT, so I now limit my discussions to FT forums or maybe my seatmate in flight. My wife is tired of hearing it. We all know people that don't use ff #s or hotel loyalty programs, the right credit cards or cash in for the right rewards, even among FT regulars. We should not try to educate them. If everyone were all equally knowledgeable, the loyalty programs and credit cards would cut back their benefits, because we are currently the minority and these programs exist only because other less knowledgeable folks (the ignorant masses?) out there who subsidize our ability to game the system. At the extreme end of gaming the system, one may have to think whether one's time could be put to better use (e.g. SPAM, mileage runs) or if there is an ethical issue in doing some of the things we do. I use FT to judge where I may cross the ethical line. As an example, I just used hotel points to get a new pair of Bose Quiet Comfort II headphones from the hotel points catalog. At this point you might think I'm clueless for wasting my hotel points this way. However, the points came from two hotel stays (total 7 days) with a total outlay of $240, paid by my employer. Now I've gone from clueless to savvy, but since gaming the system this way most FT'rs probably are not aware of, or even if aware, would not attempt, did I just go from clueless to savvy to unethical?

The Plaza and Las Vegas Club (downtown casinos) usually send out quarterly mailings which include free rooms and other amenities. The upscale strip casinos aren't as generous, but for weekday rooms, they routinely have very good "casino" rates. About two years ago, Terribles (off the stip) was charging $9.00 per night for early december (one of the slowest periods in vegas.)
Signing up, by giving your e-mail address, will frequently get you nice offers.

Is this for real? You have to call them and can only get back $50 at a time? And they send you a snail mail check?

As soon as you've earned 50 Dividend Dollars or more, call us at 1–866–676–4672 or visit www.citicards.com so that we may send you a check for the total accumulated Dividend Dollar amount shown on your monthly billing statement. We cannot issue you a check unless you contact us. Checks cannot be issued for amounts less than $50 unless you've already received checks totaling more than $250. Cardmembers must be registered for Account Online in order to request a check at www.citicards.com.

This one has almost identical T&C.

As soon as you’ve earned 50 Cash Rewards Dollars or more, call us at 1-866-676-4672 or visit www.universalcard.com so that we may send you a check for the total accumulated Cash Rewards Dollar amount shown on your monthly billing statement. We cannot issue you a check unless you contact us. Checks cannot be issued for amounts less than $50 unless you’ve already received checks totaling more than $250. Cardmembers must be registered for Account Online in order to request a check at www.universalcard.com.

Anyone know of a card where they just credit the cashback on your statement? One with no forex charge would be the ultimate!

See my post #80. You can use your points for statement credit or many other things. Flexibility.

If you use it for other things, you can get much more than 1 cent/point value.

This points version of the card is also better because of a free sign-up bonus 5K points (use for $50 statement credit) or other things (free plane tickets, gift certs, etc. And the 5 points/$ limit is 75,000 points - so much higher!

OK Im clueless. Tell me everything I need to no but keep it short!

OK:
1. Accumulate miles
2. Accumulate points
3. Use above wisely
4. Read FlyerTalk often to best accomplish 1-3.

:)

Thx. Very good anser!!!