Credit cards - need recommendations!

[Dash man]

I think if you report the fraud within 60 days the liability is $50, but most banks waive it. I also have USAA and have never had to pay a dime for fraudulent use. I do check my activity daily to ensure there is no strange activity.


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[audreyh1]

On using credit cards to pay taxes - the IRS has a couple of outfits that charge a fee of 1.87%.

Some folks consider that rate to be a good one for buying airline miles compared to the typical offers which may be more like 2.1c per mile. So it's a consideration for buying award miles. And if you have a card that gives you a multiplier like 1.5x or more even better deal.

Some airlines will give you loyalty program status just from credit card spend - AA? Others do not count it (except for certain program requirements) - DL, UA.

 

[mystang52]

Re: fraudulent use of credit card. In my 40+ years of having credit cards, there were literally 3 or 4 times it happened to me. I caught all but one within a day,and the remaining one was caught by my credit card company.
Especially for those of us who are ER'd, I think it's time well spent to devote 1 minute each day to check credit card activity. Even in my w*rking days, I'd do it each morning before I started my w*rk day. And, yes, it literally does take one minute, and worth the peace of mind.
I never had to pay that $50 maximum liability.

 

[pb4uski]

I update my credit card charges on Quicken every other day or so and monitor the charges as I accept them.

 

[JPatrick]

Re: fraudulent use of credit card. In my 40+ years of having credit cards, there were literally 3 or 4 times it happened to me. I caught all but one within a day,and the remaining one was caught by my credit card company.
Especially for those of us who are ER'd, I think it's time well spent to devote 1 minute each day to check credit card activity. Even in my w*rking days, I'd do it each morning before I started my w*rk day. And, yes, it literally does take one minute, and worth the peace of mind.
I never had to pay that $50 maximum liability.

Yes, spending that one minute per day is a good idea, not only can you catch fraud in its infancy, but if you are in a particularly "spendy" period, if provides an excellent slap in the face/ wake up call.

 

[JPatrick]

I/we have 1 credit card, it's from USAA I have zero idea if we get any cash back or promo,s .

USAA recently shook up their credit card offerings somewhat, and now provide some decent rewards.
Our basic card gives us 1.5% back on all purchases, and a few months ago they did a 5% rebate on all gas purchases.
It pays to know what you are/should be getting in the way of rewards.
To not take advantage of these goodies is like failing to collect the company match on a 401k.

 

[PapaBear67]

Chase Sapphire is my steady eddy. I also have had Marriott, IHG, Starwood, JetBlue, Southwest, etc, but the Sapphire is good if you want to have some flexibility on where you are going to use your points.
But I keep a dozen are so in play at a time, so I can pick up the bonus points. However if I only had one card, it would be Sapphire.

In retirement, I am a fan of my chase Shappire card. Like the original poster, I was a moderate traveler in my work career, and I was a Marriott Chairman's Preferred. I used a Marriott Black card during that time. Post work it made no sense. Plenty of good no fee cards out there. Pick one that suits your lifestyle. We like to travel, so Shappire fits perfect for us.

 

[KmmFIdreamer]

Depends on where you are. In Denver, there is no surcharge to paying with a credit card, so that's what I do.

I used my Denver property taxes for last year and this year to get the bonus points on airline cards. (I have gotten 7 free flights on Southwest in the last year and have booked 3 more round trips for the family this fall so that is kind of my go to card. I still have enough points for another 1/2 dozen flights at least.)

I picked up a Hawaiian Air card for our fall family trip and will decide if I want to keep it later. I used all the bonus points to get DH a free flight and used the 1/2 price ticket for DS so it all worked out good. They don't fly out of Denver so I am connecting in Seattle this trip. I just got a no annual fee Hilton card for the overnight hotels in Seattle. (I paid the dentist for that bonus point offer - my expensive new crowns are at least worth something! Hated to spend the $$ but better than the alternative of having to eat jello the rest of my days....)

I refuse to get a Frontier card though because I just buy the cheapo $29 to $49 flights on them anyway - it seemed like a waste of effort to get a card for them..... I have spent way to much very uncomfortable seat time racking up points on Frontier anyway. Almost every time I wish I wasn't such a cheapskate and had bought a Southwest ticket instead ....

I couldn't find a way to pay my Summit County property taxes though with a card, so they are just getting a check.

I have had a Discover card too for years - but only use it for the 5% special cashback categories.

 

[DrRoy]

I am very close to your situation. I travel a lot for business and have a Marriott card. I also have a Chase Visa, and I am <1 year to RE. I do not believe that I will be staying much at Marriott after I RE and I have just closed that card to open one with IHG (Holiday Inn). I love a feature of their program where you can get a room almost anywhere for 5000 points and $70. To me that gives the most value for your points and the points last much longer. A free room of $100-200 per night is 15-25,000 points. I like the Chase Visa for many things and seem to average nearly 2% rebate including promotions. The Fidelity card is also attractive.

 

[audreyh1]

Re: fraudulent use of credit card. In my 40+ years of having credit cards, there were literally 3 or 4 times it happened to me. I caught all but one within a day,and the remaining one was caught by my credit card company.
Especially for those of us who are ER'd, I think it's time well spent to devote 1 minute each day to check credit card activity. Even in my w*rking days, I'd do it each morning before I started my w*rk day. And, yes, it literally does take one minute, and worth the peace of mind.
I never had to pay that $50 maximum liability.

If the card issuer has decent notifications, you don't even have to go check daily. Chase, Amex, and BofA do a good job about notifying on "card not present" transactions and the like. I get an email within seconds when such a transaction goes through. I'm hoping when Fidelity switches to Elan that we'll get better notifications. FIA card services has been lacking in this area.

 

[walkinwood]

If the card issuer has decent notifications, you don't even have to go check daily. Chase, Amex, and BofA do a good job about notifying on "card not present" transactions and the like. I get an email within seconds when such a transaction goes through. I'm hoping when Fidelity switches to Elan that we'll get better notifications. FIA card services has been lacking in this area.

Add CapitalOne to the list of cards with good notification.

The Barclaycard Arrival plus card (and I assume other Barclaycard products) are really bad at the email/text alerts. You get the alert only after the transaction are "posted" - usually a day or two after you make the purchase. And the email just gives you the dollar amount, but not the vendor name. It is pretty much useless.