About to get a credit card and wanted to get some recommendations. Is there a specific one that someone should start off with or do I just shop for best interest rate?

Amex blue

What will most of the purchase you make be? Grocery? Airfare? Gasoline? Hotel? Restaurant? What will the purpose of the card be? Once you give an answer for that, it will be easier to direct you to where.

Really just random purchases I guess. Would be nice to put some vacation or Christmas stuff on it as well.

Problem is with "vacation" it's all about how credit cards code certain things. For instance, AMEX Plat. gives 5x on airfare, but only 1x on hotels.

AMEX Blue Preferred ($99 fee/annually) gives 6% back on groceries and 3% back on gas.

Costco could be a good one for "vacations" because you can shop Costco's vacations.

Uber gives 4x points on restaurants (bars included) and that could work well.

It's all a matter of what you see yourself using it for the most to maximize rewards/cash back offers.

I've actually been considering dropping my Amex platinum and getting the chase sapphire reserve...

IrishTxAggie said:

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I've actually been considering dropping my Amex platinum and getting the chase sapphire reserve...

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i never used the platinum to its real potential. And I never felt like the Amex points accumulation was very quick or powerful when using. My reserve account has exploded. So much that we will spend a week in Maui at a Hyatt property using points.

Reserve also has $300 travel credit so the $450 fee is really only 150.

Think I might do both after I get a chance to do some reading up a little more. If I do, I'll PM you for your referral code if I can get the same sign-up bonus.

Sapphire Reserve and Amex Bonvoy Brilliant are my two mains

I've never had a CC before. Does my first card need to be a "starter" card?

I'll second the chase sapphire reserve.

CapitalOne savor is decent. 4% back on restaurants. If you search around, you can find a bonus offer for $500 back after spending $3,000 in 3 months. Free for the first year, $95 after that.

Google the "Chase Trifecta". It's the sapphire reserve (for the perks, travel and dining), freedom(for rotating categories at 5X points) and freedom unlimited (for 1.5X points on anything else). Then you pool your points on the reserve to redeem.

HYC_AG said:

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Google the "Chase Trifecta". It's the sapphire reserve (for the perks, travel and dining), freedom(for rotating categories at 5X points) and freedom unlimited (for 1.5X points on anything else). Then you pool your points on the reserve to redeem.

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ink business

Anyone know if a meal prep company like Freshly would be considered groceries for any of these cards?

RG20 said:

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I've never had a CC before. Does my first card need to be a "starter" card?

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For a starter card start with one that has no or a low annual fee (chase freedom? Or one from the bank your checking accounts with). After you establish credit play the points game

Pay off the card every week, or every paycheck, or every month at the longest. Never spend more than you have unless it's an emergency! Interest rates should be irrelevant because you should never pay interest (it only accrues if you don't pay your card at the end of the billing cycle). Debt is a bad habit that's hard to shake. Don't ever start it!!!

I like my AMEX Blue Preferred ($99 a year), benefits mentioned above.

I also have been happy with my Chase Freedom Visa. No annual fee and 1% cash back on all purchases and every quarter there are bonus categories that are 5%.

The Chase card is pretty much the same as a Discover card but they are less annoying and aren't trying to get me to borrow money with their "checks" or trying to get m to take out a loan. I have had a Discover since 2002 so I don't close the account, but their marketing is damn annoying.

I agree with gvine07...get a no fee card that you can keep for years and years if you are just starting off.

"After you establish credit play the points game" 100% agree

Average age of credit makes up 15% of your credit score so for a beginner I suggest building a foundation before jumping in the points game. The Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) is amazing but I would never recommend a $450 annual fee credit (even though that includes a $300 travel credit) to keep for years and years. Its much easier to keep a card that has no fee.

I recommend the Chase Freedom Unlimited. 3% cash back in the first year. No annual fee.

After the first year is up, think about getting a points card with a large bonus. If you travel, CSR is a good one.

Citibank also has a 2% cash back card with no annual fee.

I had their Dividend card for 1% back for years. I called them to see if they would match the 2% that Fidelity offers, and they did and switched me to the new card.

chris1515 said:

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Citibank also has a 2% cash back card with no annual fee.

I had their Dividend card for 1% back for years. I called them to see if they would match the 2% that Fidelity offers, and they did and switched me to the new card.

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Good job. I have the BoA Preferred Rewards card. It pays 1.5%, no fees, and works for me because I've been banking there 30 years. It pays 2.625% if you keep enough $ in savings, checking, and brokerage combined. ~1500/year cash back is good enough to keep me from shopping around too much.

Ragoo said:

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Big fan of my chase sapphire reserve.

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Just cancelled mine and now use capital one Savor card the most.

Sapphire Reserve was awesome, especially the 100k initial sign up bonus.

Edit: also use chase for SWA cards and have companion pass through 2020.

I canceled all other AMEXs I had and went with Amex Bonvoy Brilliant. The $450 annual fee is not so bad when you get $300 rebated every year from staying at Marriott's.

On top of that I got the bonus 100,000 Marriott points plus gold status. I have yet to use Priority Pass but that is very cool to have. From IAH I can get into KLM or AirFrance Lounge. Or go into Landry's at C terminal and spend $28 that is reimbursed.

Biz:

AMEX Plat & Gold... but it is only because of the multipliers

Personal:

AMEX Rose - Groceries and Dining - 4X points

Alliant Visa - 3% cash back first year, 2.5% cash back after that (the chase unlimited freedom is 3% back in first year as well, but caps at $20k spend)

https://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/visa-signature-card

I just switched from Blue Cash Preferred to Amex Gold for the 4x multiplier on groceries and restaurants.

We lose a little on the grocery end but will more than make it up on the restaurants that BCP was coding at 1%.

Chase Amazon Prime. Note that I don't travel much so travel rewards aren't really beneficial to me. Maybe when the kids are older and we can travel more frequently again.

AggieFrog said:

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Chase Amazon Prime. Note that I don't travel much so travel rewards aren't really beneficial to me. Maybe when the kids are older and we can travel more frequently again.

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This one is great for Amazon and WF buys.

One of the advantages of the better travel cards is that if you use them to rent a car you get Primary insurance covered through the card. So you can opt out of the coverage they try to sell you when you pick up the car. It's important to note that many credit cards have Secondary covered and only a select few have Primary.

Cards with Primary coverage:
-Chase Sapphire Pref/Reserve
-Chase United Mileage Plus

Also, with some of the AMEX cards (ex: Platinum), it comes with Secondary coverage but you can pay extra to opt in to get Primary.

Chase Southwest does too

Chase Southwest only has secondary coverage. Below are the current T&C:

"

• Auto Rental Collision Damage WaiverDecline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is provided for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., coverage is secondary to your personal insurance."

Better than nothing but Primary means you can avoid your personal insurance all together. Claims go to the credit card company. With secondary, the credit card only covers whatever your personal insurance doesn't.

The majority of cards have secondary.

Thanks AggieMainland, i didn't realize the difference and I have United Mileage Plus. I'll start using it more for rentals.

Yeah, I didn't know the difference either until late last year when I started doing research on which card to get next. I ended up with the United card since I've already had the Chase Sapphire Preferred and previously canceled it.

Hmmm. Maybe I'm grandfathered because I just used it four days ago while in Costa Rica to get out of all of their mandatory crap. I even have a letter from Chase stating it because you need it to show the rental agency.