Yea I know credit cards are bad, but I pay my balance off monthly and don’t abuse it. I currently have a Cabelas card and have had for close to a decade. Wonder what’s out there that has a good rewards program, I just don’t do much shopping at Cabelas, and the only time I do shop there is to cash in on points

I had bad luck with dishonest billing in the past. Like the bill being post marked 3 days after the due date and getting 30$ late fees.

So now I just have one at my local credit union to keep my credit rating high. Care a tank or two of fuel and pay it off. It has some kind of cash rewards but I hav never bothers with it. I think the interest rate is 9.99% but seldom Carry a balance.

But being at my local credit union it's easy for me to watch my accounts.

I really like Discover

CC are bad! If I don't have the money in the bank I don't buy.

Good advice, but you need one to do a lot of things. Try renting a car, flight or hotel without one. Plus I like having the security blanket of if stuff goes sideways when I'm away from my local bank or safe, I can fall back on it.

CC aren't bad. Not paying them off in short time is.

I am also looking for the optimum one, like the OP is. Interested to see the replys.

While I despise Chase's heritage, Ive had their card for 34 yrs and have never had any problems. I don't know how long you have to have it to get the perks but I get 5% back on something every quarter. For the 3rd quarter I'm getting 5% off gas anyplace. One quarter I get 5% off at Walmart and grocery stores. The other 2 quarters are for like travel and restaurants and hotels and don't use those that much.

Ruralking was promoting a card for 5% off at Ruaralking then after I got sign-up and in a little while they dropped it to 2%

Capital one is pretty good. And if you use there online shopping and rewards your receive 3-8% more back from the retailers. The card itself is 1.5% cash back on everything. Adds up in a hurry.

X2...have never had an issue with Discover. I pay it off every month. In cases where my number was stolen, they always erase the charges.

I have been contemplating an Amazon card...5% savings on Amazon purchases.

I like cash rewards better than points.. cash you can use anywhere, points are only good at that particular store. To answer the question. The best credit card is a paid off one.

Alaska Airlines Visa card. The only thing I don't like about it is the bank is Bank of America.
However, it builds up miles very easily, and every year I get a companion ticket for $99 which I use for one of my crewmen. This feature alone saves me about $1200 a year for an expensive flight that I would normally need to book at full fare.
Alaska airlines has a very generous and easy to book mileage system imo.

Same here but Alaska Airline's politics have become untenable for me. I will use a different airline, even if it costs more, whenever I can.

Probably a stupid question but on the cash back cards how do you get your cash? Do you just go to an atm?

I also have an Alaska Airlines and between the companion ticket and the 50,000 miles a year I get on it, it saves quite a bit in flying. I just wish Delta airlines had more flight options to and from Alaska so I could switch airlines. Same reasons as white17 and Alaska’s Service keeps getting worse and worse.

They give you a cash option, they will take it off your balance or put it in your bank account. I always just take it off my next balance. Us bank you have to have atleast $20 before you can get it, but the time before you lose it is way out there.
They also have a list of places that you can use points and get it off your purchase.
If in any of them that will send a check to you it takes forever.
I keep one special checking account that I have auto pay that pays all balances on CC, utilities, insurance and such so I don't forget any of them
. I haven't had any late fees or interest in years. And just that one checking account for just that helps me watch it a lot easier to keep track.

nerdwallet.com

I have one that I pay off every month. They pay me around $1,000 a year to use it through the cash back deal. Mine's a PNC visa.

I have 2 Capitol One cards, 1 Chase card and 1 Discover card. They give me 2% to 5% cash back depending on what I am buying, from where and what the current deal is. I usually get around $100.00 back a month. I have not paid a credit card company any interest for over 20 years.

Credit card companies hope to get you to build up a large balance and then have you pay interest forever. Don't let them do it.

Around 20% of my junk mail is credit card offers.

Keith

Cap one quicksilver is a great one. here is some ratings at nerd wallet

https://www.nerdwallet.com

chase freedom is another good one

I sure do agree with that sentiment, I can't figure out what is going on with them, up until fairly recently they were the best. I still can't find any other airline that comes even close to what I need though.

X2

I agree, however I pay several bills with my card and then just write one check at the end of the month instead of several. I try to never carry a balance and it has only happened a couple of times in the last decade, but it gets taken care of the next month

Discover for me never any troubles. i spend anywhere from 500 to a thousand dollars every other day on fuel . shure dont try to keep that much cash or checks on me logging. I also like it for buying parts online ,most big orders i can place, and two minutes later get a call from Discover verifying the purchases .( I do like that. )

I do the same but with a debit card.

What is a firearms supporting CC? And that also supports the oil industry. I have an AK. Air card but BoA is one that won’t support lending to the oil producers.

^^^^
I wish there is somehow we could talk AA into changing banks.

AA changing banks. I didn’t know it cost to belong to AA. Lol

CC's aren't bad, it's the person who uses them who needs to exercise some self control.
How do you rent a car, or do a lot of other things without a CC?
And no, debit cards are not an acceptable alternative; thieves can drain your savings account via a debit card.
Debit cards are an invention of the banks to increase their revenue and make things easier for them.

I do lots of flying for work and hunting trips. I have one of the American Airlines cards through Citi. I put all of my fuel and food on it and pay it off each month. It builds up points like crazy. It is rare that I have to pay for a plane ticket anymore

I thought that the debit card criticism might come up! It did…LOL

Citi double cash back card. 2% cash back on all purchases. I have a wallet full of cards, I never carry any balance, and I pay for everything I buy with them. Rewards can add up more than you would think. I get at least 1k cash back every year. Can't beat free money. 2% on everything is the best I have seen, if you are like me and don't care to spend time deciding which card to use for which purpose, the double cash back card is the best imo.

We have two cards, a Discover and a Wells fargo Visa. We use them for almost everything we buy and pay them off every month so we never incur an interest charge. We never use a debit card as we've had too many instances of being hacked and it's much easier to close the credit card. We also follow a budget and rarely have much for unplanned expenses which helps keep the balances in check. Discover has quarterly 5% cash back up to $1500 on certain places you shop (last quarter was gas stations, easily made that with the price of diesel fuel/ gas). Our Wells Fargo Visa has a 2% cash back with no cap. Once the rewards get high enough we usually use that money to pay for something that we need but didn't budget for, for example a new pair of work boots, etc.

I got a bank of America card. They gave me 2 or 3 hundred dollars to sign up for it. I get 2% cash back on everything I buy and 3% back at certain retailers of my choosing. For example I put a house with attached garage and then built a separate garage last year. I chose the "hardware" category and got 3% back on everything I bought from lumber yards to hardware stores. I'm done building now, gas is high I switch to the gas category and get 3% back on all gas station purchases 2% on everything else. There are other categories as well like travel and groceries. Can't remember them all. The cash back adds up. I just use it to pay on the balance every month. I use the card a lot however I pay it off every week if not sooner

X2, they really keep an eye on things.

Capital One Spark Card & Wells Fargo have good cards with 2% Cash Back, I use one for business and one for personal. All good as long as you pay balance every month. These days you can set up and auto pay and not worry about late fees. Of coarse you have to make sure the cash is there all the time.

So I use credit cards extensively. I have them set up so the balance is paid off automatically every statement. I use them for business and personal use. I try to put everything on a rewards card. I use one for travel rewards, a Cabelas card, and a Chase Freedom, with which I usually take my rewards in Amazon gift cards. Chase Freedom also has Bass Pro gift cards, Home Depot and a boatload of other businesses’ gift cards.

I really like my Chase Freedom card and the customer service has always been excellent for me. You could check them out.

Only have 1, and it's capitol 1.
Don't know if it's the best but gotta have one for certain online purchases.

I have an alaska airlines card and a gm rewards card.
I max out the rewards on the gm card then use the Alaska card the rest of the year.
You get a $99 dollar airline ticket each year. Some free bagage and miles rewards.
We go every year to alaska so it works out great.

Phillips 66 card, 25 cents a gallon of when used with their app.

ttt

Citi Double Cash here. 1% on purchase 1% when bill is paid. Never carry a balance. I will take the $1000+ a year they give me for paying for and making purchases that I was going to make anyway. Basically I pay for my yearly airplane ticket and some pocket money for my Alaska trip with the reward every year.

I converted to the Double cash from Cabelas several years ago. I kicked the idea around of getting an airline credit card, but I like the idea of getting the cash from the double cash and spending it where ever I want vs being tied to a specific airline or store like Cabelas.

You can get a debit visa or M/C from most banks and use it just like a regular cc. Just set it up as checking account and transfer the money you need into it. The Bank is responsible for any money that crooks might swipe.

There are teams and teams of people in tall buildings trying to figure out how to screw you with a CC. You really need to stay on your toes if you dance with them iMO.

I bought a truck in Indiana awhile back and figured I would rent a car one way (which I found out is much more expensive then round trip) I get to the rental place and he said I needed a major credit card to put on file. I told him fella I don’t even have a minor credit card but I am paying cash. Still wouldn’t do it, so plan B was fly out there and my wife found a one way plane ticket for only about 20 or 30 bucks more than the rental place. I know you hear about the cash bonuses people get by using them and that’s fine but I’ve also seen people get themselves in bad debt from them. I steer clear of them. There might have been other times a credit card was needed but I can’t remember, either way I don’t like them.

If you have self discipline issues a cc is a bad idea. I pay mine as soon as the debt posts online. No depending on USPS to get the bill to me ontime. If I want to carry a debt over time I borrow from the bank. Let that bill get very big you wont do it again.

Everyone who uses a credit card spends way more money than they would if they didn't have one. The credit card companies know that; the 2-4% they give you back is a gold mine for them. You can use a debit card for almost anything you can use a credit card for, very few exceptions.

Same here. I use a couple of credit cards to my advantage. I haven't paid any credit card interest in over 40 years. Capital One and Chase Freedom. Used to have Cabelas but I find cash back more flexible.

Citi - Double Cash here. I make 2% on everything that you pay off. 1% on the spend and 1% of the pay.

It really works out well when you have to make purchases for someone else to be reimbursed for. i.e. work i.e. school.

I like to think its an easy way to get 2% off of large purchases but they (the dealership) normally don't let you say buy a car with it.

To get it I just click rewards and turn say 1000 points into $100. They just apply it to the balance or deposit it into my account whichever I click.

Something new its doing now is the points show up on the screen when you swipe it and you can just use the points for that purchase if you want.

I let it build up and use it to pay for Christmas or to buy a shotgun or something.

If you know how to manage money, a credit card is great. I am retired and use mine for everything I can. I get 2% rewards on all purchases. I get my statement at the beginning of the month and have until the end of the month to pay it off. When I get my statement, I pay the balance due and get my 2%. Better than savings account interest. I cashed in my rewards for 2023 the first of this month and got almost $1500 back and used that to buy another gun. Pretty good free money. However, if a person is one that cannot manage finances or does not have the means to pay their credit card balance monthly, stay away from them. The interest will eat you alive.