Best Mastercard Deal?
 

Gang,

I have decided that I need a mastercard to go along with my Visa and American Express Card. There are a few promotions that require paying with an American Express.

I am a Hilton, Marriott, and UA patron. I have the Hilton Amex, Marriott Visa and UA Visa card.

Anyone have any travel branded Mastercard they would recommend?

I do not carry a balance.

Thanks in advance.

William

Considering you're an AA plat, I'd recommend the Citi AA mastercard.

Citi AAdvantage Mastercard...no brainer. 25,000 miles, spend of $750 in 4 months, and fee waived first year. Enjoy the free flight!

And the 25,000 AA miles can be transfered to Hilton Honors for 50,000 Hilton points. Sleep well

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8703e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

The Citi AA MC is certainly a great deal, and the card can be churned for multiple bonuses, if you wish. But if you want to keep the same card year after year, there is that pesky annual fee after the first year.



If you don't want to pay an annual fee, and you like to ride the rails, you might also consider the Amtrak Guest Rewards MC offered by Chase. No annual fee; earn 2 points per dollar on Amtrak purchases, and 1 point per dollar otherwise. AGR points are redeemable for Amtrak travel (3,000 points = a one-way coach ticket in the Northeast region, e.g.)



There's usually a 5,000-point sign-up bonus available for getting the card. Go to http://www.amtrakguestrewards.com for more info if interested.

Yup. Third one on the top row- https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/f...WARDS&x=81&y=8 Cancel after 60-90 days and reapply for another 25K AA miles. :)

Phil, I am still a little new at this. I got my first Citi AA Mastercard last month in November. I was going to just apply for an identical card in January, after 65+ days had passed. Would it be better for me to close the origional account first? I was going to waite about 4 or 5 months , and then close it.

I cancel my old one before I apply for a new one. Not sure how critical it is. Go to the Other Credit Card Programs Forum and do some reading. Lots of good info there.

I use a Chase Subaru Master Card. No fee. 3% on all purchases. $500/year cap or rewards. Subaru bucks used to purchase a Subaru or maintanance from a Subaru Dealer. Mrs. Scubadiver loves her new Outback.

There is a similar deal for a GM affiliated card.

The downside is you gotta' want a Subaru. You can't use Subaru Bucks for aught else. The $500 cap means I only use the card for 2 months/year ($16,666 spend.) Then it goes in the box 'till next anniversary.

The upside is the bucks don't get devalued like airline or hotel points.

You dont want to say that you got the car with award points, or !? :eek:

And you've got to assume that GM will still be in business and those GM points will be worth anything when you go to use them...:D

Likewise, with the GM Card you've got to want a GM.

That said, I know a bit about the card. Had one since 98, and I actually did want a GTO once they went on sale mid 2005 and dealers were letting them go for under $26K, and the card saved me $3400 on top of that, making the thing cost under $23K for a 'baby corvette' (same 400 HP engine), and full leather interior.

That said, they've changed the program big time since I first signed on, and thankfully they have grandfathered all the old program cards.

I wouldn't touch the new card though.

Main bad points of new vs old:

3% VS 5% :td:
Redemption Caps VS No Redemption Caps :td::td:

only good thing is the new card has no earning caps like the old one that was capped at $500 (i.e. spend $10K a year).

It's hard to buy a whole Outback with the $500/yr reward cap. $1500 toward the Outback, and $1000 toward my brand-new WRX though.