Credit Cards (1 Viewer)

[pollardsvision]

Quick things.

Your credit score takes a small ding every time you apply for a credit card. It's not a big deal and goes away after 6 months or so. But if you're going to be looking at buying a house you want to take those dings now so they're gone by the time you're looking for a loan.

I would focus on building credit history rather than which 1-3% rewards card benefit you get. Try getting some store merchant cards. Your score is based off of your amount of credit, amount you use, and what varieties. And take some crappy ones. Who cares. Just have 4 or 5 lines open. Then 6-12 months down the road look at what you might get that's better.

Thank you. Couple more questions. I just remembered that I do have a business card with a $5K limit from my bank. Had it almost 2 years without authorizing, but I'll start using it for small stuff and paying it off immediately. 

Will that card effect both the business and my personal credit, or just the business? (FIL and I own the corporation 50/50 and are both on this account).

I need to start using it either way, as the business will need to get a $60,000 loan for a balloon payment in 3 years and the only credit accounts tied to the business are vendors (have always been in good standing with all). I'd assume those vendors and the 5 years of equity in the restaurant would be enough, but I guess it couldn't hurt to have a credit card account in good standing too. 

 

[Charlie Harper]

Regular rotation (Bolded to highlight what each card is used for):

Costco Visa: 4% gas, 3% restaurants and travel, 2% Costco, 1% everything else

Amazon Chase: 3% Amazon purchases, 2% gas/restaurants, 1% everything else

Amex Blue: 3% supermarkets, 1% everything else

Citibank Double Cash: 2% on everything else.

Not used:

Capital One Quicksilver: 1.5% on everything.

Charge everything I can, pay in full every month, so no interest is charged, and I get between 2% and 4% back. All with no annual fees. Yay for free money!!!

If can trust yourself to pay it off every month, no reason not to have a bunch of cards.

 

[pollardsvision]

I'm not sure on the business card question but guess it would help if you're the authorized signer. Every year you're allowed to pull your own credit report for free. It won't give you your credit score for free but it will show you all the credit information that companies look at. So you can see both what credit lines are being considered for you personally and any negative history that shows up. If you do see negative history, you can try to contact the creditor and ask them to remove it. There's no downside; worst thing they can say is no.

Sure. Paying the minimum is fine. It shows that you have credit and pay it on time. It's a bad idea from a personal finance perspective as their interest rates are ghastly but from a credit perspective it's perfectly ok. The only negative on it would be the utilization rate so I wouldn't carry a significant amount of the available credit. But less than 20% of the available won't hurt. And no need to pay after every transaction. It doesn't matter. If you want to be diligent about it just set it up to give you a reminder once the monthly statement is ready and then pay it then. As mentioned above I use the Mint app to keep me abreast of my various accounts. In addition to giving you heads up when a payment is ready and due, you can also pay it directly from the app once you link your bank account. Only thing to be careful of is that once you start relying on it you have to make sure it is up to date if you change any online account passwords. Because once it can't access your account it won't give you notices. Happened to me a couple of times.

And as said above, I wouldn't consider asking for or getting a mortgage until you have your house in order. You're less likely to get approved and will face higher rates if you do. Which can be incredibly expensive over the life of the loan. And every time you apply for a mortgage you would get the short-term credit request ding. Which isn't a big deal in the scheme of things; it goes away shortly. But you'll want a robust score so it's not a short-term issue especially if you want to comparison shop various lenders. So for now I'd just go out and get 3 or 4 or 5 cards, whatever you qualify for. You just want to establish a history. So if you go to a clothing store and they ask you if you want to get one, say sure. If you have to take a secured card, do that. If you have to do a crappy annual fee card, do that. The $39 or whatever is inconsequential compared to the money delta in a mortgage. In the scheme of things the whole thing is a bit of a monkey show. But it is the way the system works so just maximize within it.

Yeah, I went ahead and set the business card for minimum auto draft as a back up in the unlikely event I just forget. Should keep it well under 20%. We've gone 2 years without needing any credit and I'm not trying to start now. Good to have just in case, I guess.

Mortgage is definitely a ways off. I went ahead and just got a 2nd secured card for me. Got denied for the regular Discover It card, but the secured version actually looks pretty nice. No annual fee and same rewards structure as the regular card (1% everything, 2% dining/gas). Other secured card (Capital One) also has no annual fee, so that should be a nice set-up for a while until I can start qualifying for regular cards or the Sam's Mastercard. That Capital One account is still only 5 months old. I suspect I'm still at least a couple months away from being able to get store cards (Lowe's or HD would be the only places I go regularly that have a card, other than Sam's).

 

[BigJim®]

Thank you. Couple more questions. I just remembered that I do have a business card with a $5K limit from my bank. Had it almost 2 years without authorizing, but I'll start using it for small stuff and paying it off immediately. 

Will that card effect both the business and my personal credit, or just the business? (FIL and I own the corporation 50/50 and are both on this account).

I need to start using it either way, as the business will need to get a $60,000 loan for a balloon payment in 3 years and the only credit accounts tied to the business are vendors (have always been in good standing with all). I'd assume those vendors and the 5 years of equity in the restaurant would be enough, but I guess it couldn't hurt to have a credit card account in good standing too. 

Good idea to utilize if you've been inactive 2 years. Most cards have some sort of inactive closure policy.

Credit reporting can vary depending on whether you are a personal guarantor or an authorized user. Terms of your account should be available online, and should describe credit reporting practices for cardholder types. As was mentioned by another, making minimum only payments doesn't provide any credit reporting benefit and would only increase cost of credit use. Consumer reports only carry high level information, such as duration since open, line assignment, utilization, and times delinquent > 30 days. The business account is probably reported to Dun & Bradstreet, but doubt D&B has more detailed reporting than consumer reports.  

 

[RUSF18]

Anyone else find themselves in a similar position where it ends up being cheaper/better to book vacation packages through a site like Orbitz than using CC rewards points? I find this to especially be the case when staying at hotels outside the US that aren't part of the larger chains where points can't be transferred, and have seen this with the last few trips I've booked. For example, I just booked a week in Bermuda through Orbitz. Flight and hotel package was $3300 for me and my wife. 

I have about 125K Chase UR points currently, "worth" about $1600 when including the 20% discount you get for redeeming. The same package above going through UR will run me just over $4K, or $2400 out of pocket. At that point I'd be better off taking the cash value of the points, $1250, and applying it what I'm paying for the Orbitz package and the trip costs me $2050ish. 

Am I missing a better way to go about this when trying to use the points, or is it just a product of travel sites being able to offer better packages than what the rewards sites can do?

 

[VA703]

Regular rotation (Bolded to highlight what each card is used for):

Costco Visa: 4% gas, 3% restaurants and travel, 2% Costco, 1% everything else

Amazon Chase: 3% Amazon purchases, 2% gas/restaurants, 1% everything else

Amex Blue: 3% supermarkets, 1% everything else

Citibank Double Cash: 2% on everything else.

Not used:

Capital One Quicksilver: 1.5% on everything.

Charge everything I can, pay in full every month, so no interest is charged, and I get between 2% and 4% back. All with no annual fees. Yay for free money!!!

If can trust yourself to pay it off every month, no reason not to have a bunch of cards.

good list

Ive been stalling on the Costco visa,, is it 4% gas everywhere or just Costco?

ive been using citi double for everything. it may be time to get amex blue and the costco

 

[Charlie Harper]

good list

Ive been stalling on the Costco visa,, is it 4% gas everywhere or just Costco?

ive been using citi double for everything. it may be time to get amex blue and the costco

All gas stations up to $7500(?).

 

[Charlie Harper]

Anyone else find themselves in a similar position where it ends up being cheaper/better to book vacation packages through a site like Orbitz than using CC rewards points? I find this to especially be the case when staying at hotels outside the US that aren't part of the larger chains where points can't be transferred, and have seen this with the last few trips I've booked. For example, I just booked a week in Bermuda through Orbitz. Flight and hotel package was $3300 for me and my wife. 

I have about 125K Chase UR points currently, "worth" about $1600 when including the 20% discount you get for redeeming. The same package above going through UR will run me just over $4K, or $2400 out of pocket. At that point I'd be better off taking the cash value of the points, $1250, and applying it what I'm paying for the Orbitz package and the trip costs me $2050ish. 

Am I missing a better way to go about this when trying to use the points, or is it just a product of travel sites being able to offer better packages than what the rewards sites can do?

That's why I only do cash back rewards.

 

[RUSF18]

That's why I only do cash back rewards.

It's nice to always have that as a back up...but there are definitely times when straight point redemptions can put you out ahead of taking the cash. When we did Europe a couple years ago, we stayed at a mixture of hotels and AirBNBs so I just used points for our flights. Instead of paying $2K out of pocket by booking through any other travel site, $1600ish worth of (cash back) rewards points covered the flights. 

 

[pollardsvision]

good list

Ive been stalling on the Costco visa,, is it 4% gas everywhere or just Costco?

ive been using citi double for everything. it may be time to get amex blue and the costco

There are certain"non-qualifying stations". "Certain Non-Qualifying Purchases. You will only earn 1% cash back, not 4%, for gas purchased at superstores, supermarkets, convenience stores and warehouse clubs other than Costco or for fuel used for non-automobile purposes." Best I can tell, that's pretty much everywhere except Costco.

Sam's does 5% on gas and is specific about the exclusions (CostCo, BJ's, Kroger, Publix, and a couple of others I think). They only do 1% on Sam's Club purchases though, which likely makes Costco (2%) a much better card for most people. 

 

[pollardsvision]

Hey, @Matthias do you know how utilization rate is calculated? Is it the average balance over the course of the month? Average final statement balance? Total month balances?

For instance, on that business card. $5K limit. Say, I want to make sure the utilization rate stays under 10%. $500 cash flow for a week or two can sometimes come in handy. Say I make two $500 purchase in a month, two weeks apart, but pay the first a week after it posts and the next as the final month statement payment. That's $1000 put on the card in a month, but never with a balance over $500 and a chunk of the month with a zero balance.

I remember you said there's no benefit to paying balances immediately (as opposed to single, full statement payments). Not sure exactly what you mean by that.

 

[RUSF18]

Chase Sapphire Reserve just announced...

http://thepointsguy.com/2016/08/chase-announces-the-sapphire-reserve-card/ 

 

[Capella]

Chase Sapphire Reserve just announced...

http://thepointsguy.com/2016/08/chase-announces-the-sapphire-reserve-card/ 

In

 

[eoMMan]

Chase Sapphire Reserve just announced...

http://thepointsguy.com/2016/08/chase-announces-the-sapphire-reserve-card/ 

$450 annual fee? 

Yikes.

 

[RUSF18]

It's at a minimum an easy $550 profit even if not taking advantage of any of the other perks or redemptions. 

 

[Charlie Harper]

There are certain"non-qualifying stations". "Certain Non-Qualifying Purchases. You will only earn 1% cash back, not 4%, for gas purchased at superstores, supermarkets, convenience stores and warehouse clubs other than Costco or for fuel used for non-automobile purposes." Best I can tell, that's pretty much everywhere except Costco.

Sam's does 5% on gas and is specific about the exclusions (CostCo, BJ's, Kroger, Publix, and a couple of others I think). They only do 1% on Sam's Club purchases though, which likely makes Costco (2%) a much better card for most people. 

Hmm..I get it doesn't work at Safeway, Sams, with gas, but for a regular Chevron? I'll have to check the math.

 

[jamil]

so for the guys just signing up for cards for the sign up bonus miles - do you cancel the card before the year is up to avoid the fee?

 

[Polish Hammer]

.

 

[Captain Cranks]

$95. Waived the first year.

Crap. Already have 1, 2? Chase cards. Applied last week for another one that has 1.5% cash back. Got, "further review" for the first time in years. Probably the no more than 5 new cards in 2 years. Crap crap. 

Yeah.  I got rejected by Chase a few weeks ago for the 'too many cards in 2 years' issue.  I'd be all over this new Sapphire card otherwise.  

The best deal I ever received was the Ritz Carlton card where you got 140,000 Marriott points and $300 travel credits per year for $450 annual fee.  It actually works out to $600 in travel credits since Chase looks at it in terms of calendar years, not 12-month periods.  This new Sapphire card looks similar.  

 

[Captain Cranks]

so for the guys just signing up for cards for the sign up bonus miles - do you cancel the card before the year is up to avoid the fee?

Mos' Def'.  

 

[RUSF18]

$95. Waived the first year.

Crap. Already have 1, 2? Chase cards. Applied last week for another one that has 1.5% cash back. Got, "further review" for the first time in years. Probably the no more than 5 new cards in 2 years. Crap crap. 

That's the Preferred fee. The (new) Reserve is $450. Same as Amex Platinum. Neither gets waived for year one.

 

[ex-ghost]

And still up for debate if 5/24 rule applies for this new card. Link for applying for card was released already for a few hours and then pulled back. Many who were over 5/24 were approved. 

 

[sbonomo]

Hmm...I will need to research this - sounds like a great deal.  Less and less restaurant's are taking amex these days so it may be time to make the change.

 

[Chadstroma]

Sometimes. Nowadays I've gotten into just asking them to transfer my available credit line onto one of their no-fee cards. Keep the available credit line and length of relationship. The Citi card was the first one I outright cancelled in a while and that was just because they pissed me off.

If you are really passed at a company... the better way to get back at them is to keep the card and not use it. That costs them money through reserves. Closing it does them a favor. Of course, assuming you don't have an annual fee.

 

[jamil]

Sometimes. Nowadays I've gotten into just asking them to transfer my available credit line onto one of their no-fee cards. Keep the available credit line and length of relationship. The Citi card was the first one I outright cancelled in a while and that was just because they pissed me off.

Switching it to a no fee card tough to do? Or is it as simple as a phone call?

 

[pollardsvision]

How widespread is this 5/24 rule?

I'm currently at 4 cards, and I'm not sure what the date will eventually show on one of them (it was issued in Nov. '14, but I didn't activate it until Aug. '16). It'd be great if the history showed Nov. '14, but I don't expect it. Other oldest is 6 months old.

At some point, I'd really like a card with good rewards at Sam's, and I really don't care about much else. That's where most of my money goes, along with Amazon (Amazon Store Card getting 5% is great there, and they issued even with my so-so credit).

Looks like the best options for Sam's are Chase Freedom (5% in 3 QTR's this year), Citi DoubleCash, or the Bank Americard (2%, but limited to $2500/qtr). I'm probably quite a bit away from being able to get the Freedom or the Double Cash, but I think I could get the Americard within a couple of months.

The Americard would be great, except that I'd spend 4X the reward limit (Freedom has modest limits too, but I'd still come out better with it). Is there a good chance that the Americard being the 5th card would kill my chances at the Freedom for 18 months?

 

[Chadstroma]

How widespread is this 5/24 rule?

I'm currently at 4 cards, and I'm not sure what the date will eventually show on one of them (it was issued in Nov. '14, but I didn't activate it until Aug. '16). It'd be great if the history showed Nov. '14, but I don't expect it. Other oldest is 6 months old.

At some point, I'd really like a card with good rewards at Sam's, and I really don't care about much else. That's where most of my money goes, along with Amazon (Amazon Store Card getting 5% is great there, and they issued even with my so-so credit).

Looks like the best options for Sam's are Chase Freedom (5% in 3 QTR's this year), Citi DoubleCash, or the Bank Americard (2%, but limited to $2500/qtr). I'm probably quite a bit away from being able to get the Freedom or the Double Cash, but I think I could get the Americard within a couple of months.

The Americard would be great, except that I'd spend 4X the reward limit (Freedom has modest limits too, but I'd still come out better with it). Is there a good chance that the Americard being the 5th card would kill my chances at the Freedom for 18 months?

I saw some research on general profiles of different levels of credit scores. The "average" profile of consumers with 800+ scores and down. The higher the scores the more credit cards there were. 

As for length of a card showing on a credit report, it will show when you got it and it doesn't matter when you activated it.

 

[Sand]

That's the Preferred fee. The (new) Reserve is $450. Same as Amex Platinum. Neither gets waived for year one.

Yep - got mine the other day.  $300 travel credit - so really only a $150 fee.  They'll cover TSA pre ($85).  Free entry for you and your companions to airport lounges (with what Delta lounges cost now this is a huge benefit).  3x rewards on travel (which includes restaurants) - effective 6% back.  A whole crapload of other stuff, including primary CDW on rentals.  

With the amount of travel I do this card is easily worth keeping.

 

[Sand]

How widespread is this 5/24 rule?

http://dealswelike.boardingarea.com/2016/05/26/chase-524-rule-not-100-affect/

 

[Random]

How widespread is this 5/24 rule?

Its never stopped me from applying for a card I wanted.  I've been denied by chase for "too many new cards" but also approved for co-branded (Hyatt, United) cards while well over 5/24.  

That said, I figure I have >5% chance of being approved for the Reserve.  I might try in branch, but not expecting much. 

 

[Polish Hammer]

Just wanted to clarify something about the Costco card after I went in and asked a question.  The card has something like 4% back on gas, but there is the disclaimer that charges at a convenience store will be at 1%.  Obviously most gas places these days are tied to c-stores, so this seems to devalue that 4%.  In the store I asked the associate that was pushing the card about this.  Here is how he explained it:

• If you go to a Wawa (I'm from PA) and pay at the pump, you get 4%.  It's a non-issue.
  
• If you go to a Wawa, and go inside to say "put $30 on pump 7" you'll get 1%.  This is b/c people could be putting food, beer, other items on with the gas charge and the 4% could get too inflated.
  

Hope that info helps some of you out.

 

[sublimeone]

Looking for a recommendation. I currently use the Chase Ink Business Plus card for my small business. It's been a pretty good card for me, especially since I get 4x on internet, cable, phone & office supplies which accounts for about 55% of all my activity. 

We have a personal card that we use for travel and since we don't travel all that much we don't really need any more travel points. The thing I like about the Chase card is that I could redeem the points for Amazon gift cards but I recently received a notification from Chase that they are changing the exchange rate and that Amazon is now going to cost 1.25X more than before.

So, I'm looking around. If anyone has a rec it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Charlie Harper]

Just wanted to clarify something about the Costco card after I went in and asked a question.  The card has something like 4% back on gas, but there is the disclaimer that charges at a convenience store will be at 1%.  Obviously most gas places these days are tied to c-stores, so this seems to devalue that 4%.  In the store I asked the associate that was pushing the card about this.  Here is how he explained it:

• If you go to a Wawa (I'm from PA) and pay at the pump, you get 4%.  It's a non-issue.
  
• If you go to a Wawa, and go inside to say "put $30 on pump 7" you'll get 1%.  This is b/c people could be putting food, beer, other items on with the gas charge and the 4% could get too inflated.
  

Hope that info helps some of you out.

I checked my last statement and the other local gas station I filled up counted at 4%. It's not a chain gas station like Valero or Chevron but I got the full bonus.

 

[Charlie Harper]

It's nice to always have that as a back up...but there are definitely times when straight point redemptions can put you out ahead of taking the cash. When we did Europe a couple years ago, we stayed at a mixture of hotels and AirBNBs so I just used points for our flights. Instead of paying $2K out of pocket by booking through any other travel site, $1600ish worth of (cash back) rewards points covered the flights. 

But at what percentage are those points? From my card rotation I'm getting between 2-5% depending on category. Most flyer programs I've seen are about the same percentage.

 

[cstu]

How widespread is this 5/24 rule?

I'm currently at 4 cards, and I'm not sure what the date will eventually show on one of them (it was issued in Nov. '14, but I didn't activate it until Aug. '16). It'd be great if the history showed Nov. '14, but I don't expect it. Other oldest is 6 months old.

At some point, I'd really like a card with good rewards at Sam's, and I really don't care about much else. That's where most of my money goes, along with Amazon (Amazon Store Card getting 5% is great there, and they issued even with my so-so credit).

Looks like the best options for Sam's are Chase Freedom (5% in 3 QTR's this year), Citi DoubleCash, or the Bank Americard (2%, but limited to $2500/qtr). I'm probably quite a bit away from being able to get the Freedom or the Double Cash, but I think I could get the Americard within a couple of months.

The Americard would be great, except that I'd spend 4X the reward limit (Freedom has modest limits too, but I'd still come out better with it). Is there a good chance that the Americard being the 5th card would kill my chances at the Freedom for 18 months?

I'm trying to cut down on the number of cards we use and have it down to this:

Amazon Store card - can't beat 5% cash back. Only use it for Amazon purchases.

Costco Visa - 4% gas, 3% travel and restaurants, 2% Costco purchases

Starwood Amex - Earn Gold (good upgrades) with Starwood with $30k spend a year. No foreign transaction fees.  Put everything else on it.

 

[NutterButter]

I'm trying to cut down on the number of cards we use and have it down to this:

Amazon Store card - can't beat 5% cash back. Only use it for Amazon purchases.

Costco Visa - 4% gas, 3% travel and restaurants, 2% Costco purchases

Starwood Amex - Earn Gold (good upgrades) with Starwood with $30k spend a year. No foreign transaction fees.  Put everything else on it.

I need to get on this.  I still use the amazon chase card which only gives back 3%.

 

[rascal]

Citi Double Cash gives 1% cash back on purchase and 1% when pay it off

 

[Polish Hammer]

Any suggestions on how I can tell if I should go with the Costco Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve?  We shop at Costco a lot, but also travel a lot (both for work and pleasure).  I really don't want to be someone that carries and uses multiple cards and having to keep things straight on what I charge to what card.  How can I figure this out?

 

[matuski]

Any suggestions on how I can tell if I should go with the Costco Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve?  We shop at Costco a lot, but also travel a lot (both for work and pleasure).  I really don't want to be someone that carries and uses multiple cards and having to keep things straight on what I charge to what card.  How can I figure this out?

I'd go with the Sapphire Reserve.

Without knowing your exact spends, only you can figure this out... but the Sapphire Reserve signup bonus and annual travel credit should outweigh any variables in favor of Costco.

 

[sbonomo]

Chase Sapphire Reserve just announced...

http://thepointsguy.com/2016/08/chase-announces-the-sapphire-reserve-card/ 

Did anyone get this?  What do you think?

 

[wilked]

I have it. Fantastic 

 

[Rirruto]

Did anyone get this?  What do you think?

It's really a no-brainer to give it a shot. You pay the $450 annual fee on your first billing cycle, but you can get the $300 travel credit from now until December. It re-sets in January, so you end up with $600 in credits vs. $450 in fees in the first year of having the card. If you're not getting value after that, just cancel. Travel encompasses everything from hotels and airlines to uber. I bet most people hit that number without thinking a lot about it.

That's my strategy. I'm not sure I travel enough for it to be worth it, but it's basically $150 free dollars since I plan to stay at a hotel/airbnb before New Year, and even if I don't take a trip, I'll drop $300 on dumb psuedo-travel expenses before September of next year. Then I'll re-assess whether I want to keep it going forward.

 

[Sand]

I have it. Fantastic 

As do I.  Already got my $300 travel credit back.  Should be getting the $85 for TSA Pre back soon here. So already the card only costs $65 for me, not including the bonus, etc. Taking a flight on Monday and looking forward to using my Priority Pass in Atlanta and Dulles.  Monetary wise easily worth it for me to keep forever.  Only thing that I declined to use so far is the car rental "bonus".  Hertz was still well cheaper for me.

 

[wilked]

I have one regret with it. 

It it got so popular they ran out of metal cards and I got a plastic one

weak

 

[pollardsvision]

Finally got some rewards I can work with, I think. Went from denials for everything two months ago to approvals for a Chase Freedom and a Bank Americard this week. This was the combination of cards I really wanted to maximize cash back from Sam's spending. Limits are still fairly low ($3700 combined on all cards plus the $2200 for the Amazon card), but I can work with low limits. Paying on each card essentially the day each new transaction posts and leaving $5-10 still showing on the day the statement closes lets me use way more than the limit while still showing a low utilization. I think I should be able to get close to $1000 cash back per year, especially if the Freedom does Sam's for 3 quarters again next year.

Do the Chase Freedom categories usually change a lot from year to year?

 

[matuski]

I have one regret with it. 

It it got so popular they ran out of metal cards and I got a plastic one

weak

This sucks.  Mine arrives today/monday, hope it is metal.

They gave me a stupid high credit limit.. this normal?

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Just got the Amex Blue Preferred. 6% cash back on groceries, 3% on gas. Then some monthly specials. 

Also have Capital One Quicksilver. 1.5% cash back on everything. 

I have a Citi card that i just have one autopay on to keep it active.  I had another one that I never used and they canceled it on me  my credit score is still 840 though  

I pay all off monthly, however, Amex has 0% for 12 months, so I might put some medical bills on there in case money is tight around holidays before my bonus (November baby). 

I would consider the chase sapphire preferred if i could use it for work travel. 

 

[Rirruto]

I left my plastic Reserve at a restaurant in another city, and the replacement they sent me was metal. 

 

[SacramentoBob]

Just got the Amex Blue Preferred. 6% cash back on groceries, 3% on gas. Then some monthly specials. 

I would consider the chase sapphire preferred if i could use it for work travel. 

Amex Blue Preferred is great.  One of the best cards out there.  Chase Sapphire is also great if you travel a lot.  Put all car rentals, hotel reservations, plane tickets, airport parking, dining out on that card.

 

[Sand]

This sucks.  Mine arrives today/monday, hope it is metal.

They gave me a stupid high credit limit.. this normal?

Yes - mine was.  Way more than I would ever use.

Amex Blue Preferred is great.  One of the best cards out there.  Chase Sapphire is also great if you travel a lot.  Put all car rentals, hotel reservations, plane tickets, airport parking, dining out on that card.

If you travel a lot the Reserve ends up being the better card.  Either way the primary CDW on either of those is enough for me to keep one.  I think the Reserve also adds a whole bunch of other insurances - baggage, trip interruption, evacuation, etc.