credit card

[Suzmama]

What credit cards do everyone have? I have been thinking of switching to a Working Assets card. I'm interested in what everyone else is doing and if there is a credit card company you really like.

[InchByInch]

We decided not to go with Working Assets because they donate a lot of money to pro-choice organizations. Instead, we simply went with a Bank of America card that gives us a reward point for every dollar spent; we pay off the balance every month-- and by this Christmas we'lll have enough points to pay for a camera we've been wanting for a while!

[phathui5]

We have no credit cards. This is what works best for us.

[MonkeyPrincess]

We don't use credit cards.

Although, shortly we plan on getting a secured card with $500 on it to help our credit score. I don't particularly care about the credit thing, but dh does. He goes along with so much of what I want without question, its the least I can do for him.

[nd_deadhead]

I use a Discover card for practically everything, and pay it in full every month. I make VERY good use of their cashback bonus program.

Edited to add that so far this year I have earned $350, which I redeemed for $320 in gift cards to companies that increase the reward (in one case I redeemed $100 bonus for a $200 gift card; another time it was $100 for a $120 gift card).

There are lots of ways to earn a 5% cashback bonus; I try to take advantage of tese whenver I can.

I also use a Target Visa card, only at Target. Spend $1000; get a coupon for 10% your entire purchase at Target.

[kirstenb]

I have a Wells Fargo CC, which gives me reward points for every dollar I spend. I pay in full every month. I also have a 1st Financial Bank CC that I have had forever- I never use it but I keep it for emergencies because I have a large limit on it.

[kmb9906]

We use a Chase VISA. We charge every monthly expense - groceries, gas, oil changes, ANYTHING and then pay the bill in full each month. We earn reward points that can be used for a variety of things. Last year, we used the points to get two airline tickets to Vancouver (out of Allentown, PA) and a rental car. Our weeklong vacation to Canada costed us nothing in the way of airline tickets and car rental.

[kanga1622]

We have a Discover and a Chase Visa. Both have cashback systems and that's the only reason we use them. We charge everything we can and pay in full every month. We generally save up the rewards and then cash them all in around Christmas to buy gifts for our families (mostly books for the kids). Last year we redeemed them when we bought our house to buy paint and other "moving in" supplies.

[SusannahM]

We use an AT&T Universal card because we get Thank You points. I was getting 5 points/$ at grocery stores, gas stations, and drugstores. Now, I'm just getting 2, but there are other cards from Citi that have the introductory 5 pts/$ at those kinds of stores for a year. I need to apply for one of them to start getting my 5 pts/$ again. We used to be able to redeem it for Target gift cards at a rate of $.01/Thank You point, but now there are no more Target gift cards. However, I can redeem for cash or for travel at good rates. So, I'm happy, I just want to keep getting 5 pts/$ at the grocery store and gas stations.

[Kyamo]

CIBC VISA Dividend Card, no annual fee, at the end of the year you get a % of your total purchases in the year off your Dec bill.

Going to switch to a TD card that does almost the exact same thing, because they will give us a higher credit limit.

We put EVERYTHING on the card and pay it off in full every month.

[TiredX2]

We have:

Costco Amex. 3% on eating out & gasoline, 2% on travel, 1% on everything else (cash back)

Amazon Visa 1% back, turned into Amazon.com certs

Disney Visa 1% back, turned into disney gift cards. FREE STROLLER RENTAL at Disney Land (yes, that is why we got it).

Any expenses that can be put on a card are put on a card. We pay, in full, every month.

[Jilian]

We have a credit card from our credit union. No rewards, thank-yous, or any of that. Just a low interest rate that comes in handy when we need to use it. But we haven't used it in 6+ mos and aim to keep it that way. We had a citi rewards card for a while and charged on it to get the rewards. But we found we were not paying off the entire balance every month like we swore we would so it wasn't worth it. Rewards are great but paying 13%+ in interest to get a tiny percentage in rewards isn't worth it.

[AnalogWife]

We use an Amex with Delta Miles....I use it for most anything provided they accept Amex, and throughout the month make payments online, that way I don't get sticker shock once the statement comes in and I can keep on top of things since I don't want to carry a balance. What's Working Assets?

[Suzmama]

http://www.workingassets.com/About.aspx

Thanks for all the posts!

[mommy2naomi]

We use a GMAC Equity Mastercard, it makes pre-payments to our GMAC mortgage. Last year it was close to $400. We always pay the full amount every month so its ideal for us, its like free money.

[travlr]

Originally Posted by mommy2naomi

We use a GMAC Equity Mastercard, it makes pre-payments to our GMAC mortgage. Last year it was close to $400. We always pay the full amount every month so its ideal for us, its like free money.

Originally Posted by TiredX2

We have:

Costco Amex. 3% on eating out & gasoline, 2% on travel, 1% on everything else (cash back).

We have a Wells Fargo CC that pays 1% of purchases as prepayments on our mortgage. I use that card for everything except Costco, eating out, gasoline and travel. I use the Costco AmEx for those things for the cashback.

I like the IDEA of Working Assets. It's an easy way to make charitable contributions, but I don't like someone else choosing the charities (it looks like you only get to vote on who receives the $$) and I think the 10cent contributions per transaction are really small. With anything over a $10 purchase, you're better off with a cashback card and making your own donation. Plus then you can take the tax write-off.

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by travlr

We have a Wells Fargo CC that pays 1% of purchases as prepayments on our mortgage. I use that card for everything except Costco, eating out, gasoline and travel. I use the Costco AmEx for those things for the cashback.

Really? I saw that the other day (we also have a Wells Fargo Mortgage) but it looked like there was a yearly fee. Do you have a yearly fee? Any other info/links/etc...? That looked like a good one to me!

[savithny]

When Bank of America bought out the owners of our old credit card, they proved themselves Bastards and Villians (as DH likes to say). We've never carried a balance and have perfect credit. They started moving our statement due date backwards trying to get us to have a payment late.

When I called and told them our old issuer had given us a set date the bill was always due, I was told, "NO they didn't, that was impossible. We certainly can't do that."

I went to my credit union. They issue cards themselves. They use a small company to manage the billing, but I can make the payments at the bank, or transfer money between my checking account and the CC account. THey're wonderful, the customer service is great, and I know they have the same underwriting guidelines they use for mortgages and other loans - that have meant their foreclosure rate has not gone up in the last 3 years.

My mom tipped me off to the fact that credit unions issue cards - I wouldn't have ever thought to sign up for one, since I assumed the one they advertised was through BOA or some other big awful scam-artist company.