学习使用信用卡

一直以来，家里主要用一两张信用卡，回扣都差不多是1%，所以也就一直对信用卡没给予太多关注，主要是刷卡不多，大多与出租房有关的费用都不走信用卡，前些年又经常贷款，也不想让信用卡影响信用分数（实际上这属于多虑了）。

现在终于闲暇了，最近也不会贷款了，外出也多了，又看了JY老大和goingplaces等撸卡大佬的信息，受益匪浅，觉得也该选几张对自己合适的信用卡。

在使用信用卡上，有一个所谓的“双卡策略”，就是选一张保底的卡，再选一张经常购物回扣高的卡，比如你的主要消费是grocery，那就可以选一张grocery回扣高的卡。

当然，这个“双卡策略”很容易延伸成“多卡策略”，选一张保底的卡，再选几张在不同类别回扣高的卡，比如grocery，旅店，餐馆等各自回扣高的卡，这个得看自己的具体消费。

先说说保底的卡，目前市场上有很多没有任何限制，回扣是2%的卡，比如比较流行的几张:

Wells Fargo Active Cash Card Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Citi Double Cash Card Synchrony Premier World Mastercard

这样就可以保证，至少会有2%的回扣。

我自己选的是Citi Double Cash Card，这是Mastercard，我没有其它的Mastercard，所以想要一张Mastercard。

再说说我最近申请的其它几张卡的利弊。

1.  The Amex Hilton Surpass （以下简称Surpass）

去年外出住店时，正好看到JY老大推荐Surpass，就马上申请了一张，感觉这张卡蛮适合我的，年费是150，除了可以利用Hilton连锁店的优惠外，其它常用的几项像grocery，restaurant，gas都可以拿到约3%的回扣（6个 Hilton Honor点数，每个Hilton Honor约0.5分）。其中的grocery不包括Walmart，Target，Costco等superstores。但我家买菜主要在HEB、中国城的中国店、以及Costco。除了Costco外，前两种店都可以拿到3%的回扣。

2.  Amazon Prime Visa

在Amazon上买东西有5%的奖励，这也是申请这张卡的唯一原因。这张卡不会随身带着，只需要把它绑定到Amazon账号就行了。

3.  Chase Sapphire Preferred

几周前申请了一张Sapphire Preferred，目前还没撸到开卡的点数。这张卡年费95，尽管我刚开始用，但初步感觉除了开卡的点数外，其它用处好像不大。它最大的亮点是在Chase Travel Portal上订机票或旅店等会有5%的奖励，但Chase Travel Portal上的机票的价格似乎比其它地方要高（前些日子WSJ的一篇文章中也曾提到），再说Amazon Prime Visa也有同样5%的奖励。Restaurant有3%的奖励，但前面的Surpass也一样可以达到3%。其它的就基本达不到保底卡的2%了。

当然这张卡我刚开始用，可能还没体会到其中的奥妙！

4.  Costco Anywhere Visa

几周前也申请了一张Costco Anywhere Visa，但感觉这张卡用处也不大。在Costco购物会有2%的奖励，但前面提到的保底卡也有2%的奖励（但保底卡必须要是Visa）。Restaurant有3%的奖励，但Surpass和Sapphire Preferred也同样可以达到3%。

唯二的亮点是Gas 和Travel。Gas有4%的奖励，但不适用于所有的加油站（过几天有时间我会把周围所有的加油站都试试，每个加2加仑，看看哪个加油站可以到4%），再说一年加油也花不几个钱。Travel的3%奖励是唯一的优势，但Costco卡redeem不灵活，太麻烦，我在犹豫即便有点优势也不如用Sapphire Preferred等卡。

另外，我感觉有网友提到的The IHG One Rewards Premier不错，以后有机会可以申请一张。

其实，我没耐心像那些大拿们一样撸卡，只是想找出几张适合自己的卡长期使用。

建宁  2024/2/17

我的经验

有关保底的卡，其实2%的cashback 并不多，我用BOA premium rewards, 1.5%, 但如果你有10万在BOA（保括所有帐户，including brokerage account), 就还乘以1.75，所以是2.625返点。我用这个卡交estimated tax，因为费用为1.87% and back 2.625%

 

另外CSR is better than CSP, it includes rental primary insurance, also 3%travel, restaurant, a lots more benefits 

 

I also use chase ink business, which is 5% for office and internet, phone,tv. I have Airbnb, so it accurate a lot points.

 

Pay all my utilities (auto pay) mostly use credit card, 5% or 1.5% points, the really cash back should be more than 5% and 2%.

venture x 旅行用不错

学习了

一直不知道它们的Travel Portal好不好用？

看得云里雾里。我觉得从生意上刷卡，转换成自己享用，数目大有意义。或开/关卡若等闲，且充满乐趣赚点。我小户人家该是用处不大

客气了。喜欢看你分享的帖子。有的Util 公司收固定费用，比如$1.65或者$2.50。你也可以一次性多付。

同意。小户最大的好处其实就是开卡那个点数几百块，但又开又关，还得花出去，花不出去还得买gift card.

我也赞同，但选几张可以长期使用，一劳永逸的卡，也是必要的。

Chase卡们的好处不只是积累点数，更重要的是可以随意换成酒店或航空公司award用，尤其是换去hyatt非常合算

CSR比CSP好很多，虽然年费高一点，但有free global entry申请费，$300用在任何和travel有关的消费还返，rental car insurance，旅途意外情况 insurance，Priority lounge membership 等等。出国旅行没有任何transaction fee，这是出国旅游专用卡。

最近的Chase freedom unlimited的特殊promotion，平时5%travel （booked through chase），3%dining，3%drug store； 其它1.5%，但到年终double所有的points，所以最后相当于10%travel，6%dining和drug store，3%everything else；另加上面CSR的benefits。

Chase Ink business和freedom unlimited的缺点是有internatinal transactdion fee，只能在美国国内用。

选卡不能只看点数，还要看卡带来的其他benefits，还有以后用这些点数是否容易和合算。

 

对的。chase点以前转united 也很值。回国商务舱来回只要14万miles. 现在united 点贬值太厉害

它家portal还可以

我喜欢用它的fine dining, 感觉它家portal比较smart. Venture X的主要好处是几乎免费，还提供unlimited 2%，外加 lounge access, 另外不需要其他卡就可以转点。

Chase 必须CSP, CSR 或ink Preferred 才能转点。Ink cash 是一绝, 5%. 但是要ink preferred 配合才能转点。ink 家族没有lounge access, CSR 有。

我选的就是“一劳永逸”卡，哈哈，以前的“劳”。我用卡少，一年只能攒下佰数，就不想费脑。固定支出都银行转账。

其实，同样是“羊毛出在羊身上”的道理。比如用支票付地税，无费，用信用卡付，加收2%。返现1%，或多返现1%，都不是我多赚。

Cash back在撸卡是小数，大数主要还是需要不断的开新卡拿 opening bonus.

这个卡要信用分数800以上才申请得到

CSP also has primary rental car insurance

Both CSP and CST have primary rental car CDW coverage.  The difference is CSR has a higher upper limit on car theft which IIRC is more than $50K, plus covers certain brands/models CSP does not cover.  Honestly for ordinary needs CSP rental car coverage is more than adequate.

CSR othe major benefit is the Priority Pass and also the new Chase airport lounges.  But if you dont travel enough, or your long trips are all in business class (you get airline lounge access by class of service), this benefit also does not have much added value.

Other miscellaneou extra benefits are really useless to many people. 

Chase travel portal is worthless as the prices there often higher, negate a good part of the discount paying with UR pts.  Worse, for airline tickets in the case of changes / cancellation, it is far easier / better to directly deal with the airlines than deal with Chase travel.  Personally I stopped using points to "buy" travel on Chase Portal even before Pandemic.  Not worth the few bucks saved with too much headache when you need help.

Both cards can transfer UR pts to airlines / hotels partners at 1 to 1 ratio.  For airlines, Air Canada, British Airways often have 20 to 30% transfer bonus one to two times a year.  United used to be the most popular choice but not anymore due to the big devaluation March of 2023.  There are several other partners have niche value, for those who want to maximize their points value.

On the internet blogs that have talked about "gaming CCs for maxi gain" has a saying of Chase "Trifacter",  CSR or CSP, + Freedom + Ink Cash.  All points earned combine to the CSR or CSP for better value.  Freedom Flex is a mastercard (strange for Chase!) that has 5% earning up to $1500 spend per quarter.  This quarter is at grocery stores excl the wholesale clubs + Walmart and Target.  The quarterly 5% bonus is on a rotation basis.  You do need to activate the offer on Chase online. 

Ink Cash offers 5% earning at Office Supply Stores up to $25K a year.  These Office Supply Stores have gift cards for sale, particular the Cash Equivalent Visa or Mastercard gift cards.  They run promotion at least once a month, that those hefty activation fees are waived during that one week promotion.  I buy those cash equivalent cards and use them for ANYTHING I can use to pay with a CC - essentially making all grocery shopping / miscellaneous shopping a 5% earning year round. 

The "net" annual fee difference is,  CSR $250 ($550-$300 travel credit), versus CSP $95. 

Too bad the Florida Power and Light does NOT take CC payment.  Condo association fee used to only charge $14.95 for CC payment up to $5K but raised to a whopping 2.95% since Jan 2024.  So back to eCheck payment again.  Sad.

Lots of people pay their Fed Est Tax with CC to meet the minimum spend for sign up bonuses, I believe the lowest site charges 1.87%.   This can work depends on of course one's own calculation. 

Ink Cash can combine to CSP/CSR no need to hv Ink Preferred

CapOne lounge access has changed to Worse.  Beginning Jan 1st 2023 it cuts airport restaurants and Spa.  Jan 1st 2025 it will cut access to CapOne's own lounges as well as Plaza Premium longes which in many airports are the main non-airline lounges access with Priority Pass.  It will charged a "reduced" rate of $45 per guest per access.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/capital-one-removes-lounge-access-venture-rewards-spark-miles/

So now all eyes on Chase whether it will follow suit.  So far Chase has not cut airport restaurants when AMEX cut it 3 years ago and CapOne cut it last year.

Our household has only One CSP.  UR pts can be combined to one single account.  There is no need to have multiple fee-based Chase In House cards unless you have the actual needs.

During the Covid years Chase had some very lucrative Pay Yourself Back program for purchases made at grocery stores and home improvement stores, to let people using their CSR point balances when travel was essentially at a complete stop.   We took advantage of that, clearing about $30K statement credits at 1.5 ratio from CSR account then downgraded it to a Freedom Unlimit.  After the 4 years "bonus jail" time was up, we got the CSPs again when the 100K Sign Up Bonus returned.  Now only keep 1 CSP in the household for the point transfer purpose, as well as travel due to 0% forex fee.

Also one BIG difference on the Travel Credit - Chase CSR's $300 can be offset on ANY travels booked anywhere, automatically posted.  CapOne's Venture requires you to book travel on its travel portal in order to get the credit.  Huge difference to many people including we who DONT use these gauging travel portals, not to mention losing hotel elite benefits of complementary breakfast, 2pm or 4pm guaranteed late check out, upgrade when theire is availability, Welcome Gifts, etc,   if you booked thru 3rd party.  (not to mention you often get the undesirable rooms).

Long long long time ago we once owned CapOne Venture when it had a "million miles match" that was a SUB matched to one's FFP miles balance up to 100K.  We cashed them out thru redemption against travel expenses charged on the cards.  We looked at it again after CapOne completely revamped the program.  However because we dont care for booking travels on a portal - unless the places we go have no chain hotels,  we book all our travels thru airlines and hotel chains own websites for various factors that a travel portal would not cover.  For places that dont have chain hotels, Booking.com is our goto booking site.  Their choices are far more, and their customer services are very good.  So those travel portals like Chase or CapOne are a benefit we do not use. 

Which cards work better for you ALL depends on how your usage pattern is, and where your biggest needs are - in other words, whether you get the most bang (value) for your bucks (spend), depends on what your goals are. 

For us, the formula is very simple - flying longhaul business class offers the biggest bang for the bucks, next to it is the point bookings with chain hotels when situation is right.  Our points often can worth 8 to 10cents each point, sometimes multiple higher.  That is much higher than a 2cent return on a 2% cash back card, especially we have been having 5% on 70% of household expenses. by way of Ink Cash / Office Supply stores combo.

 

 

 

 

Air Canada is a good sub

Star Alliance, can book UA, EVA, SQ, ANA... 

As long as you have an open mind, not only look at the flights between US-China - there are A Lot of other options that still work.

Even BA to fly AA or JL would work (limit to Economy because Business costs too many Avios).

Besides both AC and BA have 20 to 30% transfer bonus from Chase and AMEX, at least once a year.

2023 there were 2 times 20% to 30% transfer to AC. 

很少有人只為了幾百獎金而開卡 不值得. 門檻需要$700到$1000+

Except GE, all CSR hv CSP also hv. 选卡不能只看点数，还要看卡带来的其他. +1

You can get the GE $100 reimbursement from multiple other cards, including the first year fee waived United Explorer. 

The $300 Travel Credit on CSR is to offset the $550 Annual Fee to bring the Net Annual Fee to $250 - still higher than CSP's $95.  Therefore the difference on Annual Fee is $155.

To me, this would be the extra to pay for Priority Pass lounge access benefits.  This is important if your international  long haul flights are in economy - the lounges might be the most comfortable part of your long travel time as the flights can be really painful.  Domestically inside US the lounge access is useless due to lounge crowding issues inside US.  Even the AMEX Centurion lounges are Very Bad.  If the airport has PP participating restaurants, you would be better off to use the restaurant benefits that Chase CSR's PP still provides while both AMEX and CapOne have cut it long ago.

CSP also has no foreign exchange fee.  Dining at 3x travel at 2x, only 1x less at Travel than CSR.  That is, for $1000 travel spend the difference is $10. 

Both cards have Primary Rental Car CDW coverage, both cards have travel insurances and extended warranty etc.

The only difference is the maximum coverages are higher on CSR than on CSP.  Though those are honestly meaningless differences as very seldom people could use that.

Freedom Unlimit extra earnings are considered as a Sign Up Bonus.  Your LAST earning date might be the end date of the current extra earning offer - that means it will push back your next sign up bonus by a Full 12 months, i.e. 36 months than 24 months.  There are a lot of discussions on the Net about this clever move Chase has done. 

 

谢谢！

谢谢。需要好好学习撸卡技能。去年不小心拿点数买了全家从中国会美国的商务舱。感觉太爽了。

您的帖子含金量真高，有时间把您的所有帖子都看一遍，谢谢分享！

码字不易，多谢详细解说。venture卡会cut lounge access. Venture X不会。我说的是后者。

我就是很多争议支出包括棒部分客户付账都走信用卡

我AMEX一年好几百万分，买机票订酒店非常好用。

我的信用应该不到八百

我先申请的venture，拿到bonus points后再申请的venture x.

健寧兄客气了. 我想分享的是主流媒體也經常教導美國大眾如何更好地利用自己的好信用 中國人也應該學習如何利用這些好處。

信用卡開卡獎 +福利這是美國金融體系中獨特的存在，在其他地方都不存在。 生活在美國，擁有良好的信用和收入，為什麼不利用這些優勢呢？

所以做一些科普. 希望中國人放下偏見.  懂得的人都懂.  

網路上有很多英文 Blogs 談論這些  中文blogs 雖然很少見，但存在, 他們主要從英文網站收集資訊。