Anyone else here big on Credit Cards - in a good way?

50KalIf you have a job that allows you to buy items on a personal cc and you get reimbursed, you can rack up some serious points.

I knew a manager at small county airport who did this with a Cabela’s cc that was super high interest but had triple bonus point on it. He was buying 1,000 gallons plus a month (triple that if it was high fire danger and retardant bombers were in town).
Because it was always paid off by the county he just sat back and reaped the profits.

ski.loonMy old job allowed me to purchase hotels/flights on my personal cards. Got a TON of chase points doing this.

Turd__AuthorityChase sapphire reserve is dope. Got in when they were still giving away 100k points so that was sweet. I travel a lot so it really helps. The benefits are nice.

Have two other non travel cards and barely use them except for a few recurring purchases or for the Discover 5% cash back calendar.


If you're a businessman/lady you can really profit on credit cards. I had a buddy who traveled weekly for work and got reimbursed for it, so he put everything on his card and racked up mad points. Anytime we went somewhere he covered all the travel. As long as you pay off your statements in full each month, credit cards can be profitable.

Turd__AuthorityIf you're a businessman/lady you can really profit on credit cards. I had a buddy who traveled weekly for work and got reimbursed for it, so he put everything on his card and racked up mad points. Anytime we went somewhere he covered all the travel. As long as you pay off your statements in full each month, credit cards can be profitable.

Sdot.We have two kids who are now both over two years old, so we have a total of four Alaska Airlines cards (one business, three personal) to get awesome mileage rewards plus companion fares, which saves us thousands each year. And then we have a Capital One Venture card, but I've never used any of the points. I've got a number of other credit cards, but I never use them - just have them for good credit. We treat our credit cards like debit cards and never carry a balance. I saw my share of credit hell in my early 20s, and fortunately, credit card debt was one thing I've always somehow avoided.

I'd be interested to read some info from the sites you listed. I haven't really dug into the details of credit card benefits because Alaska Airlines benefits are so huge and important for Alaskans, but once COVID hell has passed some, I'll probably look into this. Thanks for sharing.

1337I use the Chase Sapphire and have over 100,000 points racked up. Their travel booking portal is really top notch and you can find really good flight deals on it (usually cheaper than other sites). No idea when/where I'll use them, but stoked to have them in the bank!

Dustin.You shouldn't hold the Capital One Venture card and pay the annual fee if you don't use it. Redeem the points for airline tickets or cash and then cancel it, otherwise you are just paying $95 a year for nothing. In addition, you should cancel credit cards that don't benefit you. Yes, your credit may drop a point or two for a month, but the difference is negligible and quickly recovered if you are doing everything else right. Each credit account opens you up to another opportunity for fraud, phase out the ones that are pointless over time and your score will barely move.

Finally, a credit score is just a measure of how good you are at borrowing money....don't get too attached to it. If you can buy the car/house/whatever you want at the lowest rate, it's high enough (this stops at about 720-760 for most applications).

Dustin.I just cashed in all ~160,000 of my Chase points for cash. It's not as good a deal as flights, but cash in hand to invest these days is way more valuable than miles I can't use. Could be a great option for you if you don't have a trip planned.

Monsieur_PatateI'm not out there subscribing to a bunch of cards for the sign up bonuses and then cancelling after I make the threshold like some folks I know if that's what you mean (a friend of mine claims to generate roughly $10k year from being a huge credit card nerd and having anywhere between 10-20 credit card accounts open at a given time).

But I do try to optimize my wallet by trying to find the card that will generate me the most return for everything I spend regularly on. So I first listed the categories I spend money on:

Everyday life:
- Rent
- Utilities
- Groceries
- Gas

Travel:
- Airfare
- Hotel
- Dining out

And then for each tried to find the "best" credit card to have, here is what I came up with:

- Amex blue cash preferred for groceries & gas
- Chase sapphire reserve for all travel spending: dining out, airfare and hotels
- Chase freedom for utilities when it is one of the quarterly categories (and also whatever the quarterly category is goes on there, prioritized over the other two when that happens)

Not really able to use the credit card for rent because rentler charges a fee that would offset whatever points I would otherwise earn.
All the spending outside of these categories goes on the Sapphire reserve so it nets me 1.5 cents per dollar (point value).
And lastly I transfer the chase freedom points to the sapphire reserve account to increase point value when redeeming (and I redeem those exclusively for airfare)

That's my setup, I think I found a fairly simple, yet optimized system.

What about you guys?

ski.loonTotally agree. I have about 10 different cards, credit score is about 790 and I'm 25. I easily make at least 2000 profit each year from my cards even after considering the annual fees. All about being responsible

Dustin.I just cashed in all ~160,000 of my Chase points for cash. It's not as good a deal as flights, but cash in hand to invest these days is way more valuable than miles I can't use. Could be a great option for you if you don't have a trip planned.

TnskiI should get a cash/points whatever back for purchases but as for credit cards, aren't the interest rates something like 15% or more?

1337Definitely thought about that - I just lose the 25% bonus they're worth redeeming for travel ($1250 in flights vs $1000 in cash) and I have been saving them for when i need to travel for a project that I'd be paying out of pocket for.

Dustin.You shouldn't hold the Capital One Venture card and pay the annual fee if you don't use it. Redeem the points for airline tickets or cash and then cancel it, otherwise you are just paying $95 a year for nothing. In addition, you should cancel credit cards that don't benefit you. Yes, your credit may drop a point or two for a month, but the difference is negligible and quickly recovered if you are doing everything else right. Each credit account opens you up to another opportunity for fraud, phase out the ones that are pointless over time and your score will barely move.

Finally, a credit score is just a measure of how good you are at borrowing money....don't get too attached to it. If you can buy the car/house/whatever you want at the lowest rate, it's high enough (this stops at about 720-760 for most applications).

Dustin.You should NEVER care about the interest rate. If you are ever planning on spending more than you can pay back that week, do not get the card, do not use the card. When used as a debit card (aka, you pay the charges right when they show up from your checking account), you never pay interest but get the points/cash back.

TnskiI haven't had a credit card since the 90's and definitely don't need one now but seems the interest rate would be something to be concerned about or am I missing something.

ski.loonYou are only charged interest if you don't pay your statement each month.

ScaryDumpTruckI'm not the biggest fan of credit cards
Spend $1,000, get $10 back. Also, if you have a credit card it influences you to spend more money, the rewards are simply there to make you spend more money. You'll probably just buy things you don't need to just to get those points up.

**This post was edited on May 3rd 2020 at 5:13:23pm

TnskiI know that but sometimes people can't always pay because of loss of income(injury, pandemic etc) so idk just seems wise to get the best rate in case of the unforseen, whatever.

ScaryDumpTruckI'm not the biggest fan of credit cards
Spend $1,000, get $10 back. Also, if you have a credit card it influences you to spend more money, the rewards are simply there to make you spend more money. You'll probably just buy things you don't need to just to get those points up.

**This post was edited on May 3rd 2020 at 5:13:23pm

The referenced post has been removed.

theabortionatorAs far as flighta flights are cheap as fuck. If you find cheap flights. Idk a flight is like a 16 hour kax thing. Ill fly eco anywhere. The rest of the month/months if traveling is where it adds up. Idk. The most I've spent on an international flight in the last 6 years is like 750 from NYC to Joburg. Sure there are some deals but a lot if people don't even take advantage of them anyway. My buddy did fly first class to Japan once so i get it. Idk i also know a lot of people in CC debt. If you know for sure what you're doing and actually use the perks it's great. Obviously most people fuck themselves over which is why it's offered.

1337Yeah, I only use credit cards for purchases I can pay for and never carry a balance more than a few weeks. They offer rewards and protections over a debit card. They're nice too as a freelancer so I can pay on a CC when I have a check coming but not necessarily the balance in my debit to cover the purchase immediately. But it's important to constantly pay them off and never go into debt with them.