As a business owner who pays the majority of the company bills with Amex, I agree Amex Plat is great - plus it gives access to the airline lounges when flying, which is huge in case you get a long layover or bad weather screws things up.
Discover always good with Cash Back, and my Cap-1 Card also has cash back (plus they run great cash backs at places like lowes, etc -= iirc the lowes special cap-1 had was 10% of your spend as cash back for about 30 days).
Citibank AA Visa great if you like flying American Airlines ... they kinda suck out of Buffalo for service (only Barbie jets but thats another topic), but their "lifetime" status is earned based on all miles accumulated, not just butt-in-seat miles like the rest of the programs.
Amex Blue Cash, 5% cash back on gas, groceries drugstores, and 1.25% cash back on everything else, though you have to spend $6500 on your credit
card to get to those levels of cash back, so it's not a good card if you don't spend a lot of money on your credit card.
I put everything on my cc, so I easily spend $2500 a month using it.
http://www201.americanexpress.com/getthecard/learn-about/BlueCash
Enjoy unlimited cash back potential
Your Rebate is awarded annually for each Rebate Year (12 consecutive billing periods) in the form of a statement credit. For the first $6,500 of Eligible Purchases, the rebate is 1.0% for Everyday Purchases and 0.5% for all other Eligible Purchases; for Eligible Purchases of $6,500.01 or more, the rebate percentage is 5.0% for Everyday Purchases and 1.25% for all other Eligible Purchases. "Everyday Purchases" are Eligible Purchases made at the following categories of U.S. merchants that are not departments of superstores or warehouse clubs: supermarkets, drug stores, and automobile gasoline stations (for purchases of automobile gasoline only, except that any purchase in excess of $400 at an automobile gasoline station will not qualify as an Everyday Purchase). "Eligible Purchases" are charges to your account for goods or services that have not been returned or otherwise credited to your account. Eligible Purchases do not include interest charges, fees, cash advances or other means of accessing your account, convenience checks, balance transfers, or the purchase of American Express® Travelers Cheques and American Express® Gift Cheques or other cash equivalents. We reserve the right to exclude charges that we determine are not made for personal, family or household purposes; with the good faith intention of consuming the item charged; or with the intent to avoid a per-transaction rebate threshold. Additional terms and conditions apply. Your Rebate is awarded annually for each Rebate Year (12 consecutive billing periods) in the form of a statement credit. For the first $6,500 of Eligible Purchases, the rebate is 1.0% for Everyday Purchases and 0.5% for all other Eligible Purchases; for Eligible Purchases of $6,500.01 or more, the rebate percentage is 5.0% for Everyday Purchases and 1.25% for all other Eligible Purchases. "Everyday Purchases" are Eligible Purchases made at the following categories of U.S. merchants that are not departments of superstores or warehouse clubs: supermarkets, drug stores, and automobile gasoline stations (for purchases of automobile gasoline only, except that any purchase in excess of $400 at an automobile gasoline station will not qualify as an Everyday Purchase). "Eligible Purchases" are charges to your account for goods or services that have not been returned or otherwise credited to your account. Eligible Purchases do not include interest charges, fees, cash advances or other means of accessing your account, convenience checks, balance transfers, or the purchase of American Express® Travelers Cheques and American Express® Gift Cheques or other cash equivalents. We reserve the right to exclude charges that we determine are not made for personal, family or household purposes; with the good faith intention of consuming the item charged; or with the intent to avoid a per-transaction rebate threshold. Additional terms and conditions apply.
Get cash back even faster
card to get to those levels of cash back, so it's not a good card if you don't spend a lot of money on your credit card.
I put everything on my cc, so I easily spend $2500 a month using it.
http://www201.americanexpress.com/getthecard/learn-about/BlueCash
Enjoy unlimited cash back potential
- Get up to 5% cash back at supermarkets, gas stations, and drugstores, plus up to 1.25% cash back for all your other purchases.3
- There's no limit on the cash rewards you can earn.4
Your Rebate is awarded annually for each Rebate Year (12 consecutive billing periods) in the form of a statement credit. For the first $6,500 of Eligible Purchases, the rebate is 1.0% for Everyday Purchases and 0.5% for all other Eligible Purchases; for Eligible Purchases of $6,500.01 or more, the rebate percentage is 5.0% for Everyday Purchases and 1.25% for all other Eligible Purchases. "Everyday Purchases" are Eligible Purchases made at the following categories of U.S. merchants that are not departments of superstores or warehouse clubs: supermarkets, drug stores, and automobile gasoline stations (for purchases of automobile gasoline only, except that any purchase in excess of $400 at an automobile gasoline station will not qualify as an Everyday Purchase). "Eligible Purchases" are charges to your account for goods or services that have not been returned or otherwise credited to your account. Eligible Purchases do not include interest charges, fees, cash advances or other means of accessing your account, convenience checks, balance transfers, or the purchase of American Express® Travelers Cheques and American Express® Gift Cheques or other cash equivalents. We reserve the right to exclude charges that we determine are not made for personal, family or household purposes; with the good faith intention of consuming the item charged; or with the intent to avoid a per-transaction rebate threshold. Additional terms and conditions apply. Your Rebate is awarded annually for each Rebate Year (12 consecutive billing periods) in the form of a statement credit. For the first $6,500 of Eligible Purchases, the rebate is 1.0% for Everyday Purchases and 0.5% for all other Eligible Purchases; for Eligible Purchases of $6,500.01 or more, the rebate percentage is 5.0% for Everyday Purchases and 1.25% for all other Eligible Purchases. "Everyday Purchases" are Eligible Purchases made at the following categories of U.S. merchants that are not departments of superstores or warehouse clubs: supermarkets, drug stores, and automobile gasoline stations (for purchases of automobile gasoline only, except that any purchase in excess of $400 at an automobile gasoline station will not qualify as an Everyday Purchase). "Eligible Purchases" are charges to your account for goods or services that have not been returned or otherwise credited to your account. Eligible Purchases do not include interest charges, fees, cash advances or other means of accessing your account, convenience checks, balance transfers, or the purchase of American Express® Travelers Cheques and American Express® Gift Cheques or other cash equivalents. We reserve the right to exclude charges that we determine are not made for personal, family or household purposes; with the good faith intention of consuming the item charged; or with the intent to avoid a per-transaction rebate threshold. Additional terms and conditions apply.
Get cash back even faster
- Spend more than $6,500 on your Card and boost your cash back from 0.5% to 1.25% on every purchase you make. Plus, you can go from 1% to 5% on everyday items like groceries and gasoline.
- Get cash back faster by adding family or friends to your account at no extra charge - their eligible purchases count toward your Blue Cash rebate.
- Get cash back on recurring bills you already pay, such as gym memberships and phone bills, by enrolling your Card in Automatic Bill Pay.5
You can get an Amex that's not a platinum card for way less than $450. That's a big nut but the big benefit like i said is access to the airline lounges. You get into American, Delta & US Air (not sure bout United). The cost is around $450 each if you were to buy them individually.
If you get a green card from Amex, I think the fee is like $75.00 a year. Then the fee to join membership rewards is $25.00 - i think that's a one time fee. You can earn the same # of points, etc on an Amex green as the Plat card, so you can get the cost way down.
From what I've seen the best way to compare cards is to equate one point to be equal to one cent. Thus if you did amex green at $75.00 a year, you would have to charge at least $7,500 a year on the card to break even. After that it's just money back for you. On my business it means a ton of points for me, and it's really worth it (plus Amex has given my business a very favorable line of credit, so I'm able to buy time with no interest charges associated with it- another huge plus for me).
The other plus you'll see with Amex is that they will run specials, where you get a bonus for transfering your membership rewards points in any given month of up to 40% .... so, 10,000 rewards points can turn into 14,000 miles. In my case, 100,000 Amex Rewards points turns into 140,000 miles, so instead of getting 4 free round trip tickets I end up getting 5 free round trip tickets (25,000 miles each) and then have another 15,000 points left over.
Most airlines start a domestic round trip ticket at 25,000 miles and go up from there. Domestic First Class is around 40,000 miles.
Hotels vary greatly. Marriott Rewards has category's for their hotels
1 night at a category 1 hotel (think fairfield inn) is 7,500 points
1 night at a category 2 hotel is 10,000 points
all the way up to
1 night at a category 8 hotel is 40,000 points (think ritz carlton on Hawaii)
If you're looking for hotel rewards, Chase has a Marriott Rewards Visa card, which gives:
22,500 points with first spend
1 free night stay (not sure which category)
3 points for every $ spent at a Marriott hotel
1 point for every $ spent elsewhere
Elite Status (only Silver but it's better than nothing)
10 nights credit towards higher elite status
for every $3k spent another night credit towards elite status
Lastly, if you build up enough points to take a 7 night stay, you get 15,000 points refunded after the stay is completed.
If you get a green card from Amex, I think the fee is like $75.00 a year. Then the fee to join membership rewards is $25.00 - i think that's a one time fee. You can earn the same # of points, etc on an Amex green as the Plat card, so you can get the cost way down.
From what I've seen the best way to compare cards is to equate one point to be equal to one cent. Thus if you did amex green at $75.00 a year, you would have to charge at least $7,500 a year on the card to break even. After that it's just money back for you. On my business it means a ton of points for me, and it's really worth it (plus Amex has given my business a very favorable line of credit, so I'm able to buy time with no interest charges associated with it- another huge plus for me).
The other plus you'll see with Amex is that they will run specials, where you get a bonus for transfering your membership rewards points in any given month of up to 40% .... so, 10,000 rewards points can turn into 14,000 miles. In my case, 100,000 Amex Rewards points turns into 140,000 miles, so instead of getting 4 free round trip tickets I end up getting 5 free round trip tickets (25,000 miles each) and then have another 15,000 points left over.
Most airlines start a domestic round trip ticket at 25,000 miles and go up from there. Domestic First Class is around 40,000 miles.
Hotels vary greatly. Marriott Rewards has category's for their hotels
1 night at a category 1 hotel (think fairfield inn) is 7,500 points
1 night at a category 2 hotel is 10,000 points
all the way up to
1 night at a category 8 hotel is 40,000 points (think ritz carlton on Hawaii)
If you're looking for hotel rewards, Chase has a Marriott Rewards Visa card, which gives:
22,500 points with first spend
1 free night stay (not sure which category)
3 points for every $ spent at a Marriott hotel
1 point for every $ spent elsewhere
Elite Status (only Silver but it's better than nothing)
10 nights credit towards higher elite status
for every $3k spent another night credit towards elite status
Lastly, if you build up enough points to take a 7 night stay, you get 15,000 points refunded after the stay is completed.
