Points or Cash Back | Which Credit Card Rewards Should You Earn? – Waller’s Wallet

I have used CB a few times but I'm definitely more team points

This was a great video. I mainly use points however this video has now made me think I have a new strategy.

I have plan A award cc points, plan b book with brand air or hotel if better option and plan c for cash if any of the other options not apply so cash is king. Order : reward then branded cc then cash cc

Dustin off topic but read this below. I was engaged in a conversation with another reader on TPG and they posted this.
Check it out, it could be a subject of a good video.
But after quite a fair bit of research, I believe I may have another option to make the Chase trifecta (or bifecta in my case) work. Recently discovered Curve which is a service that allows you to load all of your credit cards onto their physical card in a virtual fashion. All very basic until you realize that should you pay in a different currency that you card is good for, they will convert (no fee) the purchase price to your card currency, effectively making it "no foreign transaction fee" (they compete with Revolut in Europe but I believe they have a much stronger value proposition). And before you ask, I tried and the purchases are coded properly on the credit card provider side (entertainment, dining… gave it a try with my CSR, they show up as "CRV*+regular code" on my statement). You can even use it for withdrawals at an ATM effectively earning miles when you get cash (but there if "fair use" policy with a strict limit to discourage churning – credit card provider may also realize it's not a regular purchase and charge fees). Cherry on the cake : you can switch your purchases to one of the other cards you saved on your Curve account after the fact (for a few days only), which is great if you realize that you didn't use the best card at the time of purchase. Pretty much game changing for me. I just signed up for the Freedom and will be using it through Curve – I will get those 1.5% of UR points without any foreign transaction fees. Curve is a free service if you use it for less than a few hundreds of free-FX transactions a month (equivalent of 500 pounds) – I may upgrade to the 10EUR/month option (no limit) if I feel like I can better maximize my spend that way. Only downside is that their cards look pretty cheap. Just thought I would share this with the community – feel like this may be a silver bullet for expats!

Travel cards can be mixed with cash back if you travel. If you don't travel (airline flights and/or hotels), then cashback is the only rational choice.

Wouldn't a chase card with UR be best since you can use points or redeem for cash?

That`s 7/2019

Just normalize the use to cash value and go with that.

It's not rocket science. If one is not sure just do cash back

Very reasonable logic here. As usual. But for right now I do the cashback. I feel as if you do the points its definitely harder to hit the minimum spend. And really that should be the big factor for a points card. But you should absolutely have both if possible. Because cashback can always bail you out a lot easier.

I agree.  Everyone is different, and everyone places differing value on what they spend their money on…that's no different than any other aspect of life.  The biggest issue I have with the credit card "game" is terminology.  Because those terms fool people.

I primarily use cash back credit cards.  Not because they offer me superior value, but because they offer me superior savings.  There is a difference.

On the "savings" side; there exists an amount of money that people must spend on necessities.  And unless we all go to living off grid, making our own clothing, and hunting our own food, I think we can agree on most of them.  Things like house/rent payments, necessary transportation expenses (e.g. work), food, utility bills, medical expenses, and at this point probably even cell phone and internet fees apply.

When we use a cash back credit card to procure necessities, and get say…5% back, we're saving; because less of our money is going out of our wallets for things that (for the most part) we must have.  That money can then be turned into actual savings…earning interest, getting us closer to a lower stress retirement.  You know…actually saving.

When we start moving away from those basic things and into categories like elective travel, expensive hotels, and "experience" related expenses…we've long left necessities behind and moved into "value".

Now, that's not a bad thing for anyone fortunate enough to have the means to do those elective things.  But doing them with credit card points doesn't "save" anyone (except possibly the banks) money.  It does costs them less (in some cases much less), but it doesn't "save" them any money at all.

Elective travel (even necessary travel) costs money.  For instance:  I get four free tickets to go see the Blues play…now several things have to happen for this trip to take place.  1.  I need to not be working at my job.  Maybe vacation time, but definitely not earning money while I'm in St. Louis.  2.  I need to get myself and my family to St. Louis.  3. I need to feed myself and my family (at least once).  4.  I may need to secure lodging (though not always).

There are some other things, but I think everyone gets the idea.  My last set of "free tickets" to a sporting event, cost me over $500…plus two vacation days.  I feel like I got off pretty inexpensively too.  Hotel room $150, round trip fuel about $50 (not counting the rest of the "per mile" vehicle costs), event parking $30, Amtrak ticket to take my daughter back to college $45, and four instances of four people dining out…plus some food at the event.

Did I get great value?  Absolutely!!  The tickets had a face value of $150 each.  All four of us had a great time!!  Would I do it again?  In a heartbeat!!  But I didn't "save" a dime…I spent money that wasn't necessary.  And so do we all…every single time we travel (points or no).

Overall though, my credit card mindset is; to use them to make my everyday life less expensive, and they do.  When I do elective travel, I don't get the same value out of my credit card returns as others that optimize with points…but on actual savings…I think I do ok.

Again, I agree that it depends on the individual and their lifestyle.  I do have a points card (Venture), and If I traveled more, additional points cards would likely make more sense.  But for now, I'm just trying to live life at 100%, but pay for it at 95%.  Great topic man.  Keep up the awesome work with your channel!

Good points. I'm a mix of both points & cash back. My next family trip will be flights on points, hotel & rental car paid for with cash back (funneled through a card, of course!), since the hotel room was too specific to appear on any travel portal or pay for with points. And, I can beat portals on rental car easily.

Do you stick with the same bank for your points and cash back cards? Or are they different banks?

I’m a newbie what cards give you points or cash back plz!!!