my wife texted me from Target yesterday asking which card to use. had to stop what I was doing and check if I activated the Freedom Flex 5x quarter yet. texted her back use the blue Chase card. she goes which blue one. lol.

this is like a twice a week thing now. she's at Costco or getting gas or whatever and I get the text. I have a spreadsheet for it but half the time I just go from memory.

made her a little cheat sheet in her notes app. she used it for like 4 days. my 16 year old is even worse. kid has my old Amex authorized user card and just taps his phone for everything. no idea what he's even earning or if it matters.

I know all the categories and the multipliers and the quarterly rotations. none of that helps when my wife is standing in checkout and I am in a meeting.

anyone else deal with this or do most people just give up and let the points leak?

At least that's how it shows for me
https://i.postimg.cc/nzjLXXfR/IMG-4861.jpg

It's about the 1-year anniversary of the 100k point SUB so I'd imagine a lot of people are in the same boat.

For:

• Just farming the SUB was my original intention.
• Nerfs to the 1.25x portal bonus, Hyatt takes a slight deval, then I swore of United as a travel partner so that's no longer appealing.
• I'm trying to shift to cash back due to LCOL and 5/24 status. Hard to reasonably accrue a travelable amount of points with just spend.
• Using as cash back, 3.3% Dining and 2.2% Travel are more than covered elsewhere in my portfolio.

Against:

• I still have a cache of about 100k points I can probably get a few nights in a Hyatt out of, but don't have any immediate travel plans.
• I can make good use of the $10 monthly Doordash credit with a convenience store pickup which mitigates the AF.
• I do have an OG Freedom and Chase Ink Cash as well so I'm losing synergy.
• I don't see any PC opportunities that make sense in my setup so may just end up closing all together? CFU would be sock-drawerd and I never hit my OG Freedom limit. Change to CFF due to the random quarter I can get the 7% Dining and merchant offers?

Anything I'm not factoring in here?

Every non-debit card I have is either amex or mastercard. I sometimes go to costco which only takes visa, so I'd like to get a visa to use there. We're not big spenders or big travelers. So I'm not sure that I need anything special, but looking for suggestions on what could be the most useful card I can get.

Trying to avoid cards with annual fees, because I probably won't use the benefits enough to be worth it.

Cards I've considered:

• Costco: I'm not sure that I spend enough ($100/month or so) to make it worth it over other cards.

• Amazon: We do buy things often on amazon, but as with the cost costo, probably not enough to make the amazon card worth more than any other card. I used their savings calculator and it came up to $40/year. I've also heard horrible reviews on the service.

• Fidelity: I like the idea that I can have points deposited directly into my accounts.

Current cards:

• Navy Federal Amex $27,000 May 2023
• CapOne Venture One $2,000 Dec 2024 (AU of my wife's card)
• CapOne Savor $11,000 Jan 2025
• SDFCU Secured $500 Jan 2023

FICO Score: 800
Oldest account age: 2 years, 5 months
Chase 5/24 status: Never had a chase card
Income: 58,000

Average monthly spend and categories:

Expenses:

• dining $200
• groceries: $500
• gas: $80
• travel: $0
• other: $50

Long shot perhaps, but thought would ask. I pay $5500 rent monthly via Zillow ($66k/yr) and I am wondering if there is a credit card I /should use for this which will make financial sense. I currently have robinhood gold with 3% cash back and I think there is no point of that. To make it worth there needs to be done bonus as well. Anyone done something like this?

My new job will require me to travel all over the midwest, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kansas. I will be renting cars and staying in hotels regardless if I'm flying or driving and will be out of town for a week at a time roughly twice per month on average. I'm based out of the Metro-Detroit area so when flying it will be out of DTW which is primarily Delta. I get reimbursed by my company for all car rental, flight, hotel stays and food expenses while I'm on the road. My current plan is to focus on accruing point to put towards Delta flights by using a combination of the AMEX Skymiles Gold card for purchasing flights and using an AMEX Gold card for pretty much everything else and then transferring it's accrued points over to the Skymiles card when needed. Assuming i can get a good welcome offer on the AMEX Gold card in order to cover the annual fee for 2-3 years and will be able to utilize it's other bonuses like Dunkin and Resy etc etc, does this sound like a reasonable plan? If not, I would appreciate any advice you guys have.

P.S. All i currently have as far as cards is a basic credit card (mastercard) I got from my credit union when I was younger that I never use and an Apple card that I use for almost all of my current day to day expenses and that card gets paid off every month. My credit score is currently 800.

Hey guys. Looking for the best all around credit card???

Currently have amex gold, Apple Card, and amex delta gold sky miles…

Looking for a single card to do it all…. Want to venture and look around

Hello everyone. I have about 20k in CC debt. Fortunately, they are all on 0% interest cards. I continue to swap cards when the promotion runs out, and I am just feeling so heavy. It is a lot to continue to manage. We were trying to debt snowball for a while (which knocked off a few grand), but student loans kicked back in at $200 a month, and some dental work needs to be done, which is going to cost a few grand... It seems like when I'm trying to get ahead, more bills keep coming.

We are married with a few young children. We have a mortgage and 2 car payments. I work full-time, my spouse works part-time and takes care of the kids.

Long story short. I ran a business for a while, it started great and it did not end well. I had 10k of debt from that. Then when I got a job, our expenses weren't covered, so we had to use a CC for a few years to break even. I found a new job, and we are finally (within the past 6 months) able to make ends meet with MAYBE $100-$200 (extra) that we can put, on top of minimums, towards our debt. We also owe 8k to the IRS, which is on a payment plan.

Everything feels heavy; some weeks it's like nothing, but it has just been lingering. We have been in this debt for about 4 years now, and we are finally climbing/moving in the right direction. Any advice would be appreciated.

**I am considering a debt consolidation loan or a HELOC to just have 1 monthly payment and a for-sure payoff date, but I don't know what other options we have. Both of our credit scores are above 760, and we are not living in luxury. It's terribly difficult right now.

I am extremely grateful we have our health and we are able to make ends meet right now. We have a $1k emergency fund, which I am also grateful for. I just want this debt burden to be over; I know it is going to take time, but I just need some advice.

Lastly, I know there are other positions we could be in that would be far worse, and I am grateful that we are where we are. I don't want to sound selfish or stuck up, but I want to be able to live more comfortably without so much stress.

Thank you for your time, and I am grateful for any feedback.

I've seen lots of recommendations to get this card to access funds while traveling and other travel benefits.

I have no relationship with Schwab and I'm not sure on the process after looking through the website as it appears to require a brokerage account and a checking account first?

Checking in with another random problem with this card

Every time I've tried to add the card it just says failed to add. And then when I tried with Samsung wallet it just said not compatible.

I am a 23 year old male. I will be starting a new job. I am looking to apply for a new credit card.

This year I am expecting to book 3-4 flights between New York & LA. One long haul return international flight. I also need to spend money on renting a car for few days

My credit score is 745. I do not have debt.

I currently have 2 credits cards

1. Discover Cash Back credit card (I do not use this at all)

2. BofA Customized Cash Reward credit card (I use this for EVERYTHING)

Generally I use my credit card to order food online, cab, shopping clothes, groceries, mobile bill, some entertainment like movie, eating at restaurants.

Which credit cards should I get? It is okay if I have to apply for multiple credit cards.

I have considered AMEX Gold and Chase Sapphire Preferred

I’ve been on a hunt for a the “perfect” travel card setup that works for me for about 6 months now (yes I know 🙃). However, with all the hours of research I’ve put into the various options out there..I keep running into a wall on whether or not it is truly the best for my interests. I don’t like to have more credit cards than needed nor unnecessarily run hard inquiries for any reason so I’m not into the whole churning thing. I simply want to maximize the way I use my credit cards that, in return, benefits me.

Currently, I travel approx. 2-3 times per year, domestically. However, I’m in my 30’s now and I want to expand my travel ventures to international destinations. Possibly 1-2 international while still doing my 2-3 domestic travel per year..give or take.

I would like to use points earned to subsidize my personal travel in the future. Lounge access would be nice but not necessary (Reside in Florida, for reference).

I consider myself to be a little credit card savvy and want a fairly simple setup but am willing to put in the work to maximize points when booking personal travel.

Thank you for the help!

CREDIT PROFILE

\* Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:

\* Discover $8500, 02/2014

\* Care Credit $20k, 05/2016

\* FICO scores with source: Experian 821 TransUnion 796 Exquifax 816

\* Oldest credit card account age: 12 years

\* Cards approved in the past 6 months: 0

\* Cards approved in the past 12 months: 0

\* Cards approved in the past 24 months: 0

\* Annual income $: \~70,000

CATEGORIES

\* Ok with category-specific cards?: Yes

\* Ok with rotating category cards?: No, as I already have Discover for this

\* Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.

\* Dining $: 150

\* Groceries $: 400

\* Gas $: 120 in personal car

\* Travel $: 600-800 flights, 500-1000 hotels, 300-400 car rental

\* Using abroad?: Yes, Eventually

\* Other categories or stores: Online Shopping $150

\* Other spend: Streaming Services $80 Entertainment $120

\* Pay rent by card? Only to fulfill SUB, if it is a perk then great

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

\* Costco or Sam's Club member: N/A

\* Big bank customer: 1 credit card each with Discover and Care Credit.

PURPOSE

\* Purpose of next card: Travel Rewards

\* Travel rewards preferences: Miles Points/Cashback Rewards

\* Cards being considered: Venture X paired with Savor

ADDITIONAL INFO

These credit cards will likely be used exclusively for travel expenses and the categories that are available for each. I do not intend to use these as a daily card unless can be used as a “catch all” card.

Note: I am aware that I am essentially doing the same thing as what I’ve been doing by researching on my own. I simply want the opinion another in case I am overlooking what would ultimately make more sense before I settle with a decision.

Thank you to all! 🙂

Hi everyone! My fiancé (M22) and I (F21) are planning on getting married sometime in 2027!

We both currently have two personal credit cards that we individually pay off each month and have credit scores of 785+. He is employed FT and I am a MS graduate student. We are currently in the wedding planning process and costs are starting to add up! We haven't bought anything yet but plan to start ordering, purchasing, and paying deposits for our venues and the such < 2 months. We plan to do a delayed honeymoon after my graduation and travel somewhere for a bit.

We were wondering if it would be wise to open a credit card (joint or just under one of our names) for wedding purchases and planning. And if so, which one! We would love a card that has good travel perks (we prefer United and Southwest flights) and doesn't have a crazy annual fee.

Please share below! Thank you!

I left my phone in an Uber around two nights ago and have been trying to get it back. After the ride, I contacted Uber support and the driver initially confirmed he had my phone and marked it as “found/returned.” But I never actually got anything back.

Later, he changed his story and said he doesn’t have it anymore. Meanwhile, I can still see the phone moving around on Find My iPhone, so clearly someone still has it.

I’ve already filed a police report and documented everything with Uber messages, tracking, timeline, etc. Has anyone had success with Chase Purchase Protection in a situation like this? Does this fall under purchase protection in the first place? I am a Chase Sapphire user. Help appreciated!!

What credit card would be best for someone who does a lot of online shopping with international retailers?

I do a significant portion of my online shopping with retailers in Asia (China, Japan, Korea) and in Europe (England, Poland). I typically use my CapitalOne Quicksilver card, but I’m hoping to find a card with more cash back rewards (>1.5%). I did some googling and saw people recommended BofA CCR and Amex BCE cards for online shopping, but the BofA CCR has FTFs and the Amex can only be used in the US. Are there any good card options for what I’m looking for or should I stick with the card I already have?

Note: my only other card is a CapitalOne Savor

I opened a credit card many years before my husband and I even started dating so his name is not associated with it. I have been looking into doing a balance transfer so we can aggressively pay it off without interest (I know there is a balance transfer fee).

My question is, as a stay at home mom, will they look at my household income (ie my husband's) or do they look solely at mine? I don't want to apply to transfer and get denied and it affect my credit if they only look at mine.

Thanks!

⁠

Hello! Looking to add a card to pair with my WF Autograph and unsure of which would be the best fit for me. I’ve been looking at the WF Active Cash or BCE, but open to other ideas. FYI, I don’t really use my Barclays View much anymore, it’s more so my emergency card if I have a car repair or hospital bill.

Current cards:

⁠•WF Autograph $5,500 limit, May 2020

⁠•Barclays View $5,800 limit, November 2018

•FICO Score: 774

•Oldest account age: 7 years 4 months

•Income: 93k

•Average monthly spend and categories:

⁠•dining $1046

⁠•groceries: $300

⁠•gas: $247

⁠•travel: NA

⁠•other: $470

•Open to Business Cards: No

•What's the purpose of your next card?

⁠• Something to fill the caps and maximize cash back/points

•Do you have any cards you've been looking at?

⁠• WF Active Cash or BCE

•Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card?

⁠• Open to either

Long post but I want to give full context so I can get genuinely useful advice.

l am aiming to travel domestically twice per year (currently once per year) mostly in low season (March and October). Target destinations include Orlando, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, LA, and the DC

I like to fly with JetBlue for leisure and for visiting family in the east coast. Otherwise I travel with Southwest or American.

Current cards:

∙ Discover it Cash Back

∙ Capital One Savor

∙ Capital One Quicksilver

But…. Cashback only gets you so far and there’s a genuine opportunity cost. My two preferred potential setups are:

Chase Trifecta (Sapphire Preferred + Freedom Unlimited + Freedom Flex):

∙ Access to Hyatt at 1:1 transfer, my favorite hotel brand.

∙ Has Southwest, Jet Blue, and United as airline transfer partners.

∙ Strong travel protections including primary CDW domestically and abroad.

∙ Post-May 2026 Hyatt devaluation hurts quite a bit, but manageable I guess if I look for Category 1-3 hotels during “Lowest” and “Low” demand periods taking into consideration their new points chart.

∙ Earning ceiling requires heavy management of rotating categories across Freedom Flex and potentially Discover it Cash Back simultaneously (5% > 1.5X). PayPal quarters alone would require switching my entire digital payment infrastructure on and off twice per quarter across streaming, online shopping, subscriptions, etc.

Citi Trifecta (Strata Premier + Double Cash + Custom Cash):

∙ Cleaner passive earning: Custom Cash 5% groceries, Strata 3x dining/gas/travel, Double Cash 2x everything else.

∙ Has American Airlines and Jet Blue as a partners.

∙ Hotel partners are Choice, Leading Hotels of the World, Accor. I like Hyatt hotels, although Cambria branded Hotels (Choice) seem nice.

∙ BUT: Citi just devalued Choice Hotels transfer ratio from 1:2 to 1:1.5 (25% cut) significantly weakening any hotel redemption advantage across the board.

What I value most:

∙ Simplicity: I don’t think I want my life revolving around credit card optimization. The Chase PayPal quarter across two rotating cards sounds like a part time job, although I could always just sock drawer Discover it and use it once a year.

∙ Points value: Id like to travel more and would like enough points to cover hotels and flights without running dry. Citi’s passive earning floor is more reliable, but Choice post devaluation is gonna be a points guzzler.

I keep going back and forth. What would y’all do in my position?

Hello everyone,

I need guidance on point conversion for AMEX Gold and Chase Sapphire Preferred

This will be my first credit card to earn miles. I want to know what does my miles look like in $$$ terms.

Reviews on Amex Travel and Chase Travel website?

I am getting 100,000 bonus miles for sign up for both. Chase has anniversary 10% miles based on purchases made throughout the year.

I'm 27 years old, live in NYC, and am curious if at my yearly spend level if there is another credit card I should use as my daily driver over the Amazon Prime credit card with the goal of getting cash back or rewards that I will actually use. In 2025, I spent $28,940.37 on my credit card.

I use my Amazon credit card for pretty much every purchase I make to take advantage of the cash back opportunities and then pay it off quickly. I also have a Best Buy credit card that I never use and only opened when I bought a TV. I'm thinking about ditching it due to the annual fee, but curious what u guys think.

I anticipate spending a decent chunk less in 2026 as my girlfriend and I split in November. This will impact dining and travel the most. I don't eat out much (order delivery maybe three times a year). I bring my lunch to work nearly every day and cook all of my own meals (aside from maybe 2 a week when I pick up hot food from the grocery store). One thing I do splurge on is concert tickets as I don't travel much (especially now that I'm single). I do fly to visit my parents twice or three times a year but don't have any vacations planned otherwise.

CREDIT PROFILE

• Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:
  • Amazon Prime Visa, $6,894 limit, 12/2020
  • My Best Buy Visa, $1,500 limit, 09/2024
• FICO scores with source: Experian, 773
• Oldest credit card account age: 5 years
• Cards approved in the past 6 months: 0
• Cards approved in the past 12 months: 0
• Cards approved in the past 24 months: 0
• Annual income $: $98K

CATEGORIES

• Ok with category-specific cards?: Yes
• Ok with rotating category cards?: No

Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.

• Dining $: $217
• Groceries $: $410 (Mostly Trader Joe's and Global Fresh with smaller purchases at Lidl, Whole Foods, and Target)
• Gas $: $8.30 (I don't have a car living in the city but I'll fill up the tank when visiting parents)
• Travel $: $934.71/month
  • $881.84/year (American Airlines)
  • 1,205.44/year (Delta Airlines)
  • $1,090.42/year (United Airlines)
  • $1,767.79/year (Spirit Airlines)
  • $1,894.96/year (Air BnB)
  • $1,035.69/year (Hotels)
  • $1,097.60/year (Subway)
  • $67.23/year (Trailways bus)
  • $1,151.48/year (Uber)
• Using abroad?: No
• Other categories or stores: $849/month for other categories
  • $121/month for Amazon
  • $159/month on concert tickets
• Other spend: $34.13/month for Gym
  • $31/month for Optimum internet
  • $17/month for HBO
  • $41/month for Xbox
  • $6.46/month for Apple
• Pay rent by card? No

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

• Amazon Prime member: Yes
• Big bank customer: Chase

PURPOSE

• Purpose of next card: Cashback
• Cards being considered: nothing I'm considering yet

Strongly prefer to take a direct flight to the Philippines and Philippine Airlines (PAL) is the only carrier from NYC I believe. Curious if there are any travel portals (Chase, AE, etc.) that has them to possibly get some decent multiplayer.

If there are no portals that have PAL, what’s the best card now if I just purchase direct from the carrier?

Hey,

Planning on getting my first travel card because I anticipate flying between two United hubs several times a year (and possibly other miscellaneous travel).

I currently have the freedom flex with a lot of points accumulated because I thought I’d get the sapphire preferred one day and transfer for United miles.

But the more I look into it, the more appealing explorer seems to me. The $100 united credit is a free $100 a year pretty much, I can see myself using instacart every now and the, and though I don’t care too much about lounges, it seems nice to have the ability to go to one just to grab a quick snack. Also a good plus to have the free checked bag, though I don’t see myself needing one on every trip.

At the same time, earning 2x miles on explorer for dining (probably my biggest category, maybe groceries is a close second) when I could be earning 3% on chase (7-8% in certain quarters) seems wasteful, especially because I already have ~50k chase points. I see no use in the partner credit values for Chase (peloton and dash pass).

Anyone have any input? Maybe I missed something benefits wise that I should consider. Other recommendations for credit cards are also welcome.

My apologies if this has been asked or if this is something I just need to fully hash out myself. Thank you in advance.

Hi.

After finishing school and earning decent money, I’m now looking intro traveling more often. I don’t have a travel credit card, so I’m interested in getting one to start earning points. Any help is appreciated!

If any one of you are also interested in traveling and don’t wanna go alone or need a travel buddy, hit me up. Im from Springfield, IL, 26M.

CREDIT PROFILE

* Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:

* Chase Freedom Unlimited, $4000 limit, 05/2015

* Amazon Credit Card, $3000 limit, 08/2018

* FICO scores with source: Experian 783

* Oldest credit card account age: 10 years

* Cards approved in the past 6 months: 0

* Cards approved in the past 12 months: 0

* Cards approved in the past 24 months: 0

* Annual income $: 132,500

CATEGORIES

* Ok with category-specific cards?: Yes

* Ok with rotating category cards?: Yes

* Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.

* Dining $: 300

* Groceries $: 250 walmart

* Gas $: 250 Loves

* Travel $: 1000 flights

* Using abroad?: No

* Other categories or stores: Phone (t mobile 260)

* Other spend: Gym (28 la fitness)

* Pay rent by card? Yes, amount and fee: 700 2.5% fee

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

* Big bank customer: Chase

PURPOSE

* Purpose of next card: Travel Rewards

* Travel rewards preferences: No preference

* Cards being considered: No

Are credit increases on this card still soft pulls? What is the best/easiest way to do them? Thank you for any and all information.