Looking for a new daily spender.

[Fuerza]

Ok, currently I use PenFed Platinum rewards the 5-3-1 Visa Signature. I like the Visa Signature however I'm beginning to think that the rewards structure is lack luster. The points don't hold a full penny value. They are valued at 80% roughly.

I like the idea of spending on a Visa, but I need a change. I could switch things up to my Citi AA Exe or use one of my cash back point cards. As far as points I have MR, UR, AA and SPG. Im earning AA point regularly and get MR and UR on various other MS routes. I'm kind of leaning toward CSP which I don't have and its current 40k UR bonus.

Barclay Arrival isn't an option. Thoughts recommendations? Thanks!

 

[jamietopol]

How about the Citi Double Cash card? 2% back on every purchase. No annual fee.

 

[Fuerza]

How about the Citi Double Cash card? 2% back on every purchase. No annual fee.

I've got FIA Amex 2% and Priceline 2 points.

 

[talonesi]

^ +1 - I also have been sporting the Priceline 2% as my primary and have the FIA Amex in my drawer incase Priceline is discontinued.

 

[PointsEarner615]

+1 on the FIA Amex -- just a fantastic card for daily spend. The $$$ really add up into the brokerage account.

Early on in the month, I tend to use the Sallie Mae MC for groceries and gas for the 5% cash back. No annual fee there as well.

 

[FlyingExplorer]

Barclay Arrival isn't an option.

Why?

 

[Fuerza]

Why?

Priceline is a better card. 2 priceline points are worth 2 cents for ANY statement credit while 2.2 Arrival points are only worth 1 cent unless redeemed for travel.

Also something to consider is the break even point of Arrival plus vs a 2 points card without an annual fee. You have to spend more than $47,687 to earn more rewards with Arrival than a traditional 2 points card.

What I want in daily spender is a supplemental points earner vs something that could miss the mark. Which is where I'm going with PenFed card.

 

[RamboAroundTheWorld]

Priceline is a better card. 2 priceline points are worth 2 cents for ANY statement credit while 2.2 Arrival points are only worth 1 cent unless redeemed for travel.

That's an odd way of looking at it. The whole point of the Arrival card is to bolster your rewards precisely for travel. They're great points to bank for the future and they don't expire.

 

[PainCorp]

I've been very happy with my UR combo of CSP/Freedom. Even if you only value UR at 1.5c, you can still do much better than cash back cards when you factor in the value of the Freedom 5x. I value them about 2c which makes these no brainers for me.

I still MS for cash and points, but not as much with other cards. I do about 15k+ a month on CSP, and maybe $1-2k on other cards depending on deals and where I need points.

The question we need to know is what do you want to use the rewards for. That is what really will affect an informed recommendation of what card(s) you should look at.

 

[KennyBSAT]

Priceline is a better card. 2 priceline points are worth 2 cents for ANY statement credit...

That's all well and good if you got the Priceline card back when it earned 2 points per dollar, but it doesn't help anyone now.

 

[Fuerza]

I've been very happy with my UR combo of CSP/Freedom. Even if you only value UR at 1.5c, you can still do much better than cash back cards when you factor in the value of the Freedom 5x. I value them about 2c which makes these no brainers for me.

I still MS for cash and points, but not as much with other cards. I do about 15k+ a month on CSP, and maybe $1-2k on other cards depending on deals and where I need points.

The question we need to know is what do you want to use the rewards for. That is what really will affect an informed recommendation of what card(s) you should look at.

Good point. I like cards that have the potential to pool together. Hence CSP Ink and Freedom would be a great combo. Or Amex MR with plat, PRG or Mercedes Benz. My travel plans are pretty calculated being a family it's tough to wing it. My preferred Airline is AA followed by SW. I don't have a preferred hotel, when we do travel we prefer resorts over hotels. Booked either direct or through Priceline Travelocity ect. The problem with that is resorts don't generally fall into Hilton Hyatt or SPG ect. Our general spending is Gas/groceries at the highest category then restaurants. We go out to eat a lot. I don't like to MS my daily spender I like to keep the accounting separate from household spending.

 

[PainCorp]

Good point. I like cards that have the potential to pool together. Hence CSP Ink and Freedom would be a great combo. Or Amex MR with plat, PRG or Mercedes Benz. My travel plans are pretty calculated being a family it's tough to wing it. My preferred Airline is AA followed by SW. I don't have a preferred hotel, when we do travel we prefer resorts over hotels. Booked either direct or through Priceline Travelocity ect. The problem with that is resorts don't generally fall into Hilton Hyatt or SPG ect. Our general spending is Gas/groceries at the highest category then restaurants. We go out to eat a lot. I don't like to MS my daily spender I like to keep the accounting separate from household spending.

So daily spend with no MS? I would look at the Freedom card and CSP. No FTF, they can be combined or redeemed for cash (if absolutely necessary), and the combination of 2x eating out, and the 5x from Freedom should help. I tend to pull away from Amex as a main spender due to acceptance issues.

The other half of it, since AA doesn't partner with Chase, would be to do BA+, or another 2% card and pair that with the Discover it or Freedom on it's own. Return on spend wouldn't be as high, but has far more uses.

 

[36902BRF]

For me (or rather wife because she doesn't like to deal with too many cards) her daily spenders are:
Sallie Mae mostly for 5% on gas capped at $250/month but enough for us and 5% on Amazon (we buy a fair amount of grocery like stuff on Amazon monthly) capped at $750. Groceries are capped at $250/month which we blow right past and wife won't keep track of spending so I don't have her use it for that.
Priceline (like you the grandfathered 2% version) for pretty much everything else.

For me it is pretty much DC at G/G/D stores and whatever card I am working on minimum spend for elsewhere.

I had an OBC but got hit in the first round of closures. I may look at the new capped card in the new year as some sort of daily spender for wife/combined with some MS (to get past initial annual spend requirement). Though the limit isn't great at least they have told us where the line in the sand is now.

Also I agree with your analysis of Arrival I don't see it as all that attractive over the 2% Priceline card.

 

[Matt]

We had a discussion this week in the Saverocity house about our monthly spending, while we aren't totally frugal, we really don't do a lot of regular spend - i'm sure you guys are in a similar situation. Point being.. even if you spend another $1000 per month on 'stuff' the difference between a 2% card and a 2.2% card is only $2.

Of course, it is worth noting that I don't consider GGD purchases everyday spend (because they are category multiplied areas) nor do I consider dining since I currently hold a CSP (wouldn't pay a fee on it) so that covers coffees/snacks as well as dining/bars. All told, it's pretty hard for me to spend much at all on an everyday card...

Maybe worth thinking how much you actually spend like this before worrying too much about the card - and most likely, as said upthread, any annual fee is likely to make the card no longer viable if used solely for this everyday area.

 

[VerMagnusson]

As Matt said, everyday spend is so minimal that it doesn't make too much difference to me if I'm earning 1% vs. 2% on it. Instead, I like to do my everyday spend on cards that I'm MS'ing to mixup the variety of vendors and throw in some non-bonused spend on the card. Keeping my relationship with the banks (or at least trying to) is more important to me than the meager extra gains on everyday spend.

 

[shootenducs]

I'm in the same boat as Matt. I don't have a lot of regular exp. I told the wife one time we were out and its kinda sad when I'm excited that we get to spend money to mix it up on our cards...

 

[jtcho78]

our CC use is:
OBC - mine got shut down on Black Friday, but we still have my wife's OBC. i am minimizing the MS on that OBC just enough to cover my costs on other MS methods. still use this for grocery/drug
Costco AMEX - lots of household spending at Costco, plus gas
Priceline 2% (grandfathered) - most everything else like online purchases, medical bills
CSP - dining
I too will mix up some of MS cards (Ink, Marriott, Club Carlson, AA) with some daily spending here and there.

 

[PainCorp]

Maybe worth thinking how much you actually spend like this before worrying too much about the card - and most likely, as said upthread, any annual fee is likely to make the card no longer viable if used solely for this everyday area.

Well with BA+ people always forget, you aren't just getting .2% for that AF, you're getting one of the few Chip-and-PIN cards in the US and no FTF. While the former might be changing in the next few years, it's hard to find an AF free card with no FTF. I could easily recoup my AF on a foreign trip or two in saved FTFs.

 

[HiYoSiver]

BA+ added World Elite MC Benefits which can be helpful while traveling.

 

[Fuerza]

We had a discussion this week in the Saverocity house about our monthly spending, while we aren't totally frugal, we really don't do a lot of regular spend - i'm sure you guys are in a similar situation. Point being.. even if you spend another $1000 per month on 'stuff' the difference between a 2% card and a 2.2% card is only $2.

Of course, it is worth noting that I don't consider GGD purchases everyday spend (because they are category multiplied areas) nor do I consider dining since I currently hold a CSP (wouldn't pay a fee on it) so that covers coffees/snacks as well as dining/bars. All told, it's pretty hard for me to spend much at all on an everyday card...

Maybe worth thinking how much you actually spend like this before worrying too much about the card - and most likely, as said upthread, any annual fee is likely to make the card no longer viable if used solely for this everyday area.

All true. A clear definition of everyday spending in my household is defined as spending at GGD Resturants, Costco, dollar store for diapers, Clothing stores, insurance cell phone and cable payments and just about every nickel and dime expense that wouldn't be categorized. In a perfect world my wife would be on board to carry 5 different cards to earn 5x rewards at different stores. She isn't and neither am I. I'm Not looking for a perfect answer as we all know 5x everywhere would be that answer. I like PenFed 5-3-1 platinum rewards but rewards have been nerfed and it doesn't feel like it's earning like it could. Just looking at a close 2nd or 3rd option to put all the above expenses in one place.

 

[inflightmeal]

Mine is the Barclay A+ for non-bonus cats. I love it.