I'm planning to finally apply for my first credit card. I barely travel except for maybe sometimes visiting my friends within the US or family in Japan (twice a year). Reading the forums I was thinking of applying for the Hilton Honors Amex card and Starwood Guest credit card for hubby (since he travels more for work) but I have a question...do I still get to earn points/mileage even though I pay off what I owe within the grace period? Also, which is the best credit card to get for everyday purchases (shopping, supermart, gas etc.) Thanks!

Consider getting a AA card with generous sign up miles -- shop around; you may get 10 to 20K miles for signing up. Also, you get miles for dollars spent regardless of when you payoff. Good luck.

The Starwood and Hilton cards are good choices, but one thing to note is that lots of places, esp. outside the USA, don't accept Amex at all, due to the higher charges to merchants. So, it's useful to have at least one Visa or Mastercard.

All cards that earn something do so whether you pay it off immediately or not.

Please see also The "What Credit Card Should I Choose?" Master Thread

swv77, not only do you get the miles no matter when you pay off the amount but the reality is that in many cases you get the miles as soon as the date the monthly billing is sent out to you. That has been the case with my AMEX cards and my two affiliate MC and Visas. If my billing date is the 17th of the month, with my cards I will get the miles credited to my FF account on that date, not when I pay it off. That can be very helpful if you're close to an amount of miles you need for a specific award and need them right away. Has this been the experience of other FTers? The miles post on the billing date, not the date the bill is paid?

You get the miles even if you pay the card off each month. You do not get any miles for the interest charges if you carry a balance.

You can't go wrong with the Starwood Amex. The United 1/2 mile per $ with no annual fee is a nice backup card.

I carry the Starwood Amex and the Citi Dividend Mastercard. I use the Citi card for all supermarket, drug, and gas purchases (5% rebate at those retailers) and the Starwood Amex on everything else (unles they don't take Amex, in which case I use the Citi as backup and get 1% rebate). This system has worked out well for me.

Yes, you can. Amexsux

Personally I prefer the CitiAA card, with frequent bonuses for using the card to buy AA tickets (30K bonus miles in 2004 alone) and holiday merchant bonuses (10K last year - easy to get). And the customer service has been topnotch, despite some outsourcing.

Boraxo,

A little fraudulent with your post here. Starwood is the best option for the O.P.

Not many people are spending 30k buying AA tickets. Plus OP would be capped on earning of 60k miles a year with the crappy Citi AA card. In addition to that there is a $50 ann fee.

Hmmm. Starwood or Citi AA. It is a no-brainer, unless you have an Axe to grind with Amex. Then you are forced to claim that earning AA miles instead of hotel points with the option to transfer to multiple airline programs is a better option. And that earning 1 mile for each $1 is somehow better than 1.25 miles to $1.

Ken in Phx

Couldn't have put it any better, Bravo!

There is nothing fraudulent about warning someone to check out how Amex has treated some of its customers. The OP may find that it is better to avoid the aggravation of dealing with Amex CSRs, though YMMV.

As for 30k, you completely misunderstand my post. Two of the 10K bonues were for buying a single roundtrip ticket (one per 10k bonus) on AA - and there was no minimum fare. I think the tickets I bought were both priced <$150. The 10K bonuses were in addition to the flight miles. The final 10K bonus was for purchasing $1,000 worth of merchandise from online merchants such as Lands End, OfficeMax, Circuit City, Gap, etc. In some cases I even returned the items (though it was not my intention to do so when ordered, clothes don't always look or fit the same on a computer screen.)

I am not aware of SPG Amex running any 10K bonuses similar to these but if I missed one I'm all ears.

I know it is considered heresy here to attack the wonderful SPG Amex card. It is not my intention to start a fight, just to let the OP know that there are other options with other benefits that he might find more suitable.

In addition, Citi AA Miles count towards AA lifetime Gold and Plat status.

[B]There is nothing fraudulent Two of the 10K bonues were for buying a single roundtrip ticket (one per 10k bonus) on AA - and there was no minimum fare. I think the tickets I bought were both priced <$150. The 10K bonuses were in addition to the flight miles.[/B]

Targeted offers for 10k really wouldnt apply to the OP. They would have to get lucky to even get the targeted offer. Besides the OP doesnt fly often, so the bonuses wouldnt be a plus. Also you are still stuck with AA miles. Who wants that? Only an axe grinder.

Ken in Phx

I don't fly much either and I don't own any axes though admittedly I don't respect Amex

AA miles are allowing Mrs. Boraxo and me to fly free in C to Europe. So I find them quite useful OTOH, SPG seriously devalued my points by raising most of the Euro Westin properties from Cat. 4 to Cat. 5 earlier this year.

But like I said, YMMV.

If you are talking about corporate responsibility, this is a fryingpan and fire comparison. The site you reference appears to be about financial advisors, which aren't really related to the credit card question at all.

Citigroup, on the other hand, has had an ongoing disrespect for private data. It tried collecting cardholders' specific buying habits and selling the data to retailers. It has a long history of selling off private data, and even advocating laws to reduce privacy!

Now, don't get me wrong, I agree that Amex is a slimey operation, but Citibank is one of the few which is worse.