Friction in using CC points

[Tiger8693]

I have Sam's Master Card for gas (5% cash back on gas, 3% cash back on restaurants), and a Chase Hyatt Visa for Hyatt points. I have found Hyatt to have the best "value for points redemption" with some as low as 5k/night, higher end or larger city up to 15k-20k per night, but still much lower than IHG or others. I recently went for the Chase Sapphire for a 60k bonus which can be used for travel at 1.5 value of points, or I can transfer to the Hyatt points at 1:1. Besides the Sam's card which I use for all gas and dining, everything else is on 1 card up to this point the Hyatt Visa, not the Chase Sapphire to get the bonus. Probably have $2k-$3k per month in spend.

Haven't paid for a Hyatt hotel in the past couple of years. There are some locations I have been though where they are not present.

 

[googily]

Just as an FYI, the Chase Freedom (not the unlimited one) has "PayPal" as a 5% category this quarter. This basically means large swaths of online purchases are available to be included.

Also, I've started being good about reminding myself to check the Shop With Chase portal before buying from bigger stores, and often that's another 2%, and sometimes more.

Then I transfer those points to my Chase Sapphire account, to be used for travel redemptions at 1.5 points per dollar.

So, that's the equivalent of 7.5%. The only downside is that I'm going to run through that 5% ceiling pretty quickly. [emoji2957]

 

[Janet from FIRE Planet]

Wait, why would it matter if the cash back is a statement credit? I always take my cash back as a statement credit. If I charge $1000 and get $20 cash back, then charge another $1000 next month but after the statement credit I only have to pay $980, I still get another $20 cash back, not $19.60, because I charged $1000, not $980.

Or am I overthinking it, and you just prefer to have cash in another account? But with a statement credit I'd be paying $20 less from my checking account, and so I have $20 more in there either way, right?

Here are more reasons for you:

3. Chuckanut thought of reason #3 "IIRC, there are cards that value a 'point' at less than 1¢ when taken as a statement credit."

4. Reason # 4 is, I do not have to remember rules to receive my cash. The statement credit makes me follow certain rules to redeem the points.

5. Reason #5 is I can use my Fidelity cash payment for the minimum amount due (if I am strapped for cash) whereas the statement credits cannot be used this way. BTW, I've never been a cash-strapped kind of gal.

 

[pc95]

Divide out expenditure categories on certain Cards:

Here are my current ones ->

Penfed Visa 5% on gas No annual fee - cash back -- (no longer available now)

Sapphire Reserve: 3x points on Travel and 3x Restaurants $450 Annual fee $300 travel credit. Travel booked on their site receives a 50% bonus rate - ie 100,000 points gives $1500 of purchase power.

Amex Blue 3% on Groceries No annual fee

Costco Citi Visa Card: Buy Electronics for 4 yrs of total warranty (2 years extra warranty) No annual fee.

Freedom Card: 5% rolling categories No annual fee -- points can be moved into Sapphire points for 50% bonus.

Amex Platinum: for travel (luxury card more or less) lounges - 3 additional friends/family for $180/month --> (give as gifts); $550 steep annual fee; $200 Uber Credit, $200 Airline credit makes up for it. Also Hilton Gold Status. Only apply if you travel a good amount. Otherwise not a good card.

Southwest Priority card: for domestic travel $149 annual fee -- 7500 annual points allotted (worth close to the annual fee)...4 (four) $30 upgrades paid for upgraded seating positions ($120 nominal value). Lets you board early 4x essentially throughout the year. Have used this twice when missing T-24 hr mark for Southwest earlier check-in. Its a nice backstop feature. I use Southwest about 12 times a year - so they are my primary domestic airline.

 

[PatrickA5]

Southwest Priority card: for domestic travel $149 annual fee -- 7500 annual points allotted (worth close to the annual fee)...4 (four) $30 upgrades paid for upgraded seating positions ($120 nominal value). Lets you board early 4x essentially throughout the year. Have used this twice when missing T-24 hr mark for Southwest earlier check-in. Its a nice backstop feature. I use Southwest about 12 times a year - so they are my primary domestic airline.

Have you ever tried this and been denied an early boarding? I usually buy "Earlybird" feature so I don't have to worry about the 24 hour check in. I've always gotten an "A" boarding pass with Earlybird, but this would save the fee - if it actually works.

 

[pc95]

Have you ever tried this and been denied an early boarding? I usually buy "Earlybird" feature so I don't have to worry about the 24 hour check in. I've always gotten an "A" boarding pass with Earlybird, but this would save the fee - if it actually works.

No, I'm 2 for 2 with Priority Card. Generally I'm good with late A's as long as I remember to do T-24 within seconds. I only used it recently as I had a need to exit the plane quickly for work. They do say its based on Business Select capacity. First time I did it I got like A-13 or so, last time was A-5.

I think earlybird is a sham and have never bought it. I think for $25 its worth to set a reminder email and then an alarm on the day of to not pay. Luckily for me, enough people do not buy it either in my experience. There is a bit of convenience in it, and maybe if a few dollars I might consider it. Even without it, I get A-40 to A-60 ~80% of the time. It depends on your time and route.

I've been using Southwest continually for over 20 years. I remember the 'good ol days' when only a small percentage were using online checkin and would always be in the front for about a couple years. Then everyone kinda caught up over several months to a year during the very early 2000s. Good ol days also were paid 8 RTs for a free RT anywhere. Very generous. Now more people are flying and airlines trying to do a business-balance-beam.

 

[PatrickA5]

No, I'm 2 for 2 with Priority Card. Generally I'm good with late A's as long as I remember to do T-24 within seconds. I only used it recently as I had a need to exit the plane quickly for work. They do say its based on Business Select capacity. First time I did it I got like A-13 or so, last time was A-5.

I think earlybird is a sham and have never bought it. I think for $25 its worth to set a reminder email and then an alarm on the day of to not pay. Luckily for me, enough people do not buy it either in my experience. There is a bit of convenience in it, and maybe if a few dollars I might consider it. Even without it, I get A-40 to A-60 ~80% of the time. It depends on your time and route.

I've been using Southwest continually for over 20 years. I remember the 'good ol days' when only a small percentage were using online checkin and would always be in the front for about a couple years. Then everyone kinda caught up over several months to a year during the very early 2000s. Good ol days also were paid 8 RTs for a free RT anywhere. Very generous. Now more people are flying and airlines trying to do a business-balance-beam.

I might look into the Priority Card. To me (and family) EarlyBird is worth it, but probably not for others. We fly as a family on vacation and one of the times we didn't get it, we forgot the 24hr check in. All of us ended up with middle seats scattered. Personally, I wish SW had assigned seating. But, it's better than the old days where people would start sitting down in line a hour before the flight. Thanks for your reply.

 

[travelover]

On Southwest, only one in the party needs to get a low number, then just save the other seat(s) until the rest board.

 

[PatrickA5]

On Southwest, only one in the party needs to get a low number, then just save the other seat(s) until the rest board.

Won't work if the others have high "C" numbers. Our flight last week had someone in the front trying to save the Isle and Window seat until the very end. Flight attendants wouldn't have it. I'm sure that's fine if the rest of your party has B's.

 

[pc95]

Saving seats and that sort of thing, just like security in general is a case-by-case basis. You may have flight attendants enforcing it, you may not.
I travel often on Southwest and have been for years; imo they have the best rewards program domestically. Though for overall, including timeliness, I like Alaska too - but Alaska doesn't service my usual route with many flights.

To make it work with Southwest you do need to be diligent about checking in T-24 on the bulls-eye. On occasion have missed it and got the seating fun-house.

I am pleased with the Priority Card benefits. The annual fee is a fair value for them.

 

[jazz4cash]

On Southwest, only one in the party needs to get a low number, then just save the other seat(s) until the rest board.

I think that works with beach chairs too and all you need is a towel.

 

[travelover]

I think that works with beach chairs too and all you need is a towel.

 

[Chuckanut]

I've been long convinced that cash-back is the way to go, not points. I use the cash to upgrade seats, hotel rooms, etc.) And I never want to pay a yearly fee to have a CC.

But, I wandered off the farm this week. Amex offered me 150,000 Hilton points to upgrade to their 'new' Hilton Honors Surpass card. And it has a $95 yearly fee. I figure that I can get at least four nights out of the 150K points. At a price of about $120 a night, the math works out.