Changing Credit Cards....

Hi J.,
Look into getting a Discover card. There are frequent bonus point offers and the points translate to many different things inluding cash back!
Happy new year.
C. D

J., I just got a Captitol One card with 0% finance charge for transfers until December '09 with no transfer fee. So if you want to do away with interest to pay off the card, this seems good. Make sure you call and ask if they have a transfer fee. A.

I love my discover card and use it every chance I get. They give you a percentage of money that you spend back (I think it is 2%) and although it accumulates slowly, I like being able to apply it right back to my card's charges.

Good luck!

I have to agree with the Amazon.com Visa card. We've just been using it for all purchases that take Visa and then having them send us a check when the rewards points get high enough. The trick is to not use it for more than you'd normally buy and to pay off the balance every month so you aren't paying any interest. It's been wonderful. Even before they started allowing us to get regular checks, the Amazon dollars were highly useful too, as there are a lot of items that come up with the best price on Amazon. Especially if it's something you're buying through Amazon too, and you can get free shipping. I try to pay as little shipping on the internet purchases as I can. I have a friend of mine who uses the Amazon one as well, and I believe she is able to pay her mortgage on it and then sends the resulting rewards check in to help further pay the mortgage. That extra $25 or $50 a month can be a really nice thing to have. My husband tries to find ways he can maximize the points (bill paying, etc) we're getting without adding any fees. He loves that they send actual checks now, instead of just Amazon points. You just have to check the web site now and again to let them know to cut and mail your check.

Good luck!

We have an AMEX through Costco which gives us a lot of $$ at the end of the year in the form of credit at Costco. (last year was $500+) We do a lot of shopping there so that works for us. I also have a Discover that I like. Once you accumulate enough reward "points" you can redeem them in many forms including at various merchants which which will double their value. (Crabtree & Evelyn will do that and I love it) This Amazon one that other moms mentioned sounds good too so I'll have to check that out.

Capital One is great. You can pick your reward. You can get gift cards for tons of stores or credit on your acct. I just picked the credit. It is like getting free cash just for using the card. I love it.

My husband and I use our Amazon card constantly, and have for many years now. I love it! Amazon sells everything, and many times at the best prices. I just love that I always seem to have some Amazon dollars to play with to buy us those little 'extras' that tend to cost a lot.

Last xmas I bought ALL of my xmas presents with Amazon dollars.

I love my American Express and Rewards Points...we go on vacation once a year and pay for a large chunk of the trip with points. They have a great travel dept as well..we're going to Vegas for a couple days to meet friends next week and I got GREAT SEATS pre-booked b/c I used my AMX.
You need to pay your balance monthly, which will keep you from overspending, but you can hold a balance if you must - high interest though.

I'm a cash-back Mama and use a Discover Card 100% of the time. Please remember that if you do not pay your monthly balance in full each month, then the "cost" of the credit card is SO much more important than the reward program. If you plan on revolving a balance, shop for the lowest interest rate, regardless of the reward. The reward you will earn almost never pays for the interest you pay. Best wishes!

Hey J.,

I have had a number of different 'awards' gathering credit cards. I have to say the BP visa seems to be the most lucrative (sp?). We have had TONS of free dollars in free gas and you can request cash as well. It seems to add up fairly quickly especially if you purchase your gas at BP to begin with, I think you get 5% rebate for all BP purchases and at least 1% on all other purchases. I had good success with the Citicard Upromise card as well, we earned over $1000 in college money for our son, but that was over several years.

I have the United Mileage plus card and it was awesome when I was traveling a lot for business and charging everything from rental cars to flights AND was earning lots of miles by flying, but now that I don't travel hardly at all, the miles just don't add up very fast, so I wouldn't recommend that one for that reason.

Good luck.

I highly suggest getting a UPromise Citi Mastercard (www.upromise.com). If you haven't already set up a UPromise college savings account (for free) for your little one(s), you're missing out on free money. My son is a year and a half old, and simply by registering my grocery cards and shopping through the UPromise website, I've saved about $350 in a 529 account for my son's college. This is with absolutely NO extra spending on my part. And the Citi-Upromise card gives you 1% of all purchases made with the card back in contributions to the account you set up. Contributions are swept into the 529 every quarter, so you see the benefits pretty quickly. If you have any questions about it, let me know. Good luck sifting through the options!

Hello J.,
I used to have an AA miles credit card as well. Once I finally got my flight out of it, I was looking for a new one as well.
Citicards has lots of different options, if you care to surf through those. I have a mastercard with them that give me cash back and has no annual fee. So the card is free and you get a percentage back of the money you spend. Every time you have accumulated over $50 in these cash back $ you can request a check online with a click of a button. I think they also have some better deals with some over 400 merchants if you use this card, e.g. ordering flowers, veggies, etc. I just never looked into it.

https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/filter1Search.do?const...