I keep it simple. Cards with a sign-up bonus almost always have a higher effective % back than any cash back credit card, so I put almost all my spend on a card which I’m trying to hit a bonus. Once I do that, on to another card
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I am not worthy. I used to churn cards a lot more often for the sign up bonuses, but I just don’t have the time or patience for it anymore.
We use a Chase Sapphire Reserve for nearly everything because we value (…valued…thanks COVID) the points so highly for travel.
For about 5 years I churned the Southwest Visa cards to earn us the companion pass after we moved to Seattle from the east coast. We had it from ~2013 to 2018 and, at that time, were flying roughly twice a month for weekend trips and vacations. I didn’t ever track the math as well as I should have, but my back of napkin math says we saved about $60k in that time.
You all impress me with the continued grinding down to the penny. Well done.
The category max limits with many of the other cards is what gets me. Discover caps them really low on the 5% quarters at $1500. Others will allow you to go up to $6000 or so a year but still we would run over those amounts.
We tack on personal travel to business trips a lot overseas and domestically so the miles and free flights don’t appeal that much. Plus we already have a ton of miles on AA advantage card.
All the gas goes on the business card(this is another rabbit hole I am realizing I need to investigate now…). Plus I buy a lot of gas at Sam’s Club as the premium is many times $.70-.80 a gallon cheaper saving $15 a fill up. Sam’s always seems to have special agreements with the CC vendors that you do not get the bonus rewards with them. Or maybe that was old news only with Discover?
It sounds like the Chase Sapphire is another card to look into for sure. Thanks for the good info and conversations.
You can always just get multiples of the same cards.
This is why I asked if you were going mainly for simplicity, because if you’re willing to juggle more cards the rewards are higher (but so is the effort).
These cards were designed for routine use by normal people, many of whom carry a balance and pay interest.
Bloodthirsty rewards whores who pay their bills in full every month generally aren’t very profitable. 
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Whether or not you’re a business owner. The business ones are nice because even if you’re a personal guarantor, they don’t show on your personal bureau.
I also have a Chase Ink business unlimited cash rewards card, and cobranded hotel/airline rewards cards (some business/person, some both) that I only use for the cobrand (so my Marriott card is 99% Marriott hotel stays). I did cancel several this past year when the annual fee came due and had not used them in 9+ months, mindful I can always sign up again as a “new customer” and get that bonus.
And I never forget Chase’s 5/24 rule…
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The business cards expand the opportunities even beyond where I was going with my comment a minute ago. 
I was just thinking about multiple identical consumer cards.
I just closed my Citi Expedia card when the AF posted, and almost immediately after that Expedia announced a major points devaluation for the most lucrative type of redemption for reservations made after 1/31… which is why a weekend in Charleston suddenly landed on our calendars.
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My main biz is LLC so I actually have a legitimate reason but reading it sounds like many folks just make up a sole proprietor to acquire the cards.
Sounds like Chase for biz is something to look into. Honestly I am looking to move my business banking too and Chase finally opened up branches in my town and state this year. Maybe that is the route to go.
You do you, but I wouldn’t go crazy. The 3 years I lived in Columbus, I moved my business and personal banking to Chase because there wasn’t a single BofA, and every week was a new surprise. My personal favorite was the time they WHOOPS lost a wire transfer: they took my money and initiated it, it just never left their four walls. The only benefit was having a business personal banker to (pardon the pun) chase things down — every time I heard “we’ve never seen this before…”. I gave them another try in 2019 for a new money bonus, verified by phone and with the branch manager I would be eligible, and when it came time to pay they said “huh you aren’t eligible”, had the customer service notes saying I should be, and still refused. If they are the last bank on earth, I’ll keep cash in a mattress.
The only thing Chase seems to offer that nobody else does is a lockbox service if you ever need that: it was very reliable (checks they received were scanned and deposited), but it was comically over-engineered with layers of security theater.
Chase’s CC products and customer service are great: IMO they are as good as BofA’s are bad. I’ve diversified banks and cards over the years, sticking with one is both a fantasy and a way to lose out on lots of rewards/benefits.
I hear you. I’ve got about 4 banks and credit unions I deal with personally. Some are just lines of credit and accounts they made me set up for credit lines. None of them do it all well and it pays to diversify for sure between national/regional/local and credit unions.
For business it is very nice to have it all in 1 shop and my bookkeeper and CPA are happier I know. It is just hard to find one that does everything right with business banking just like personal. They all have their plusses and minuses.
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Here’s a passive thing that everyone can do.
Get the Dosh app, set up an account and register all of the credit cards you use regularly.
I don’t actively go to their app to look for offers, but when you spend at participating merchants and pay with a registered card you’ll get a kickback.
Occasionally and through sheer luck a surprise will show up for a dollar or two (sometimes more, sometimes less), but just this week I got an email out of the blue after paying for our Costco renewal…
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Quickbooks/Freshbooks/real ERP make this so easy now. The only thing you have to remember as a business owner is to keep your business charges on the credit cards you designate for biz, and personal charges on those cards, and never mix. That’s not to say that I might not have obtained my Marriott credit card as a personal credit card, but there is never a charge on a “business card” that doesn’t belong to the business.
And as long as I am giving out a nickel‘s worth of free advice, every single year at this time I order a 26 pocket accordion file: the front pockets are for my personal receipts and the back pockets are for my business receipts, I just stuff them in there as they come in and I only have to go back if there’s a question or a problem. Over 10 years now and this system keeps me so organized with almost 0 effort (just remember to shred them after the IRS and state reporting/audit requirements expire):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017D6QFM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
This is pretty much what I do, and I agree that QB makes it very easy. Although I do mix infrequently and classify the personal expenses into an account labelled, not surprisingly, “Personal Expenditures.”
My own mix of credit cards:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve (the $300 travel credit helps a lot w/ the annual fee, and Chase is kind of loose w/ what qualifies as “travel”)
- Chase Ink Business Preferred (although maybe I should switch to US Bank Cash+ Visa, based on @trism’s post; does my monthly cell phone bill count as a “utility?” I imagine not…)
- Citi Costco
Personal:
- Capital One Visa Signature (for simplicity; we don’t travel much, though, so I’m wondering if I should get something else)
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There are the official two category names I normally choose on the Cash+ (you can choose two 5% categories from several each quarter):
TV, Internet & Streaming Services
Home Utilities
We don’t have cell phone bills, so I obviously haven’t tried. On its face, given the category descriptions I’d doubt it.
I use the card to pay for gas/electric, trash pickup, our ISPs, and SiriusXM at renewal time.**
Water bills didn’t pencil out (payment system won’t allow me to overpay, and the fixed-rate credit card fees exceed the rewards on such small payments).
** I have Netflix prepaid well into the future with Netflix gift cards purchased at Lowe’s for 10% back (thank you, Chase and Amex). I also have a healthy Amazon gift card balance and collection of other miscellaneous gift cards purchased the same way (Ebay, Five Guys, BP come to mind).
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Churner in the house!
Just rename this thread credit card Hackr lol,
I signed up for Chase ink business preferred last year and the bonus was something like $1000 for $5000 spent in 3 months.
Bonus: they cover cell phone damage up to $650.
Interested to see what other more savvy cc users are doing.
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There are plenty of websites and blogs with super details about how to go about doing this. It was my first real hobby, and one that pays for itself.
There was a YouTube video of this guy doing exactly that, crazy how you can game the system instead of falling victim to it like how most do.
And mortgages. And investing. And owning/operating your BMW, Tesla, Volvo, Subaru, etc.
It’s certainly beneficial, it does not pay what it used to. In the mid-2000s you could make so much money on no fee cash advances on 0% cards for 12 month, invest that in CDs or Money Markets (that paid real interest), and pay it off. All of it tax free arbitrage.
Many of the programs are good now, they’re not great.
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I used to roll all of the debt over for ever to keep it on 0% cards and keep the money invested at 5% plus guaranteed returns.
Then the 3% balance transfer fee become ubiquitous and that game was over.
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Lol, I wasn’t in the US then, but thats like saying the leasehacking game was strong in 2018. Anyways, card churning is still pretty good, althu yes, its not as good as it was in 2016-17. I stopped counting cards when I exceeded 30,
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