What's a good American Express card to get?

[ArkiStan]

I've been wanting to apply for an American Express card for a while. They seem to have interesting perks overall that often aren't available with MC or Visa. Thought I'd finally try it out.

I'm guessing I probably won't be eligible for something top of the line. I'm a partner in a startup company in its early stages so my monthly income is anywhere between small and non-existent. My credit score is not bad, but probably not wonderful either.

Naturally, I don't spend that much monthly, so I don't need a ridiculous credit line, but I do shop for electronics and other things online quite a lot and travel once or twice a year.

In terms of perks and benefits, what is a good AmEx card to apply for?

[Markel]

This probably wouldn't apply to your situation, but I have the Costco Amex card. No annual fee, 3% back on gas and restaurants, 2% on travel, and 1% back on everything else. I try to use it for major purchases to also take advantage of the free extra year of extended warranty.

[Jeffbx]

I have the Delta one. I get tons of miles from it, and as an added bonus, no charge to check a bag for you or anyone traveling with you. Going on a trip with the family next week & that perk alone is going to save me $250 (5 bags x $25 x there and back).

Of course, that's only a perk if you happen to fly Delta a lot...

[Prngr44]

I love my Blue Cash. Usually get 4-500 cashback every year.

[ArkiStan]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. I've been looking through all their options and I'm basically trying to decide between the "Blue Cash" card and the Delta card. I did the math and per dollar spent, the value of mileage is far greater than the cash I would receive. It makes particular sense since I know I'll be traveling at least a couple times a year. But the thing is I already have a Citibank card that gives me 2 miles per dollar spent for American Airlines, and I think it's wise to focus on one airline.

So I'm considering the "Blue Cash." My only concern is it gives 5% cash back on gas, groceries, etc, but I don't have a car and I eat out a lot so I do very little grocery shopping. Other than groceries and gas I think I only get 1-1.25% cash back. I know it's better than nothing, but I'm looking for some other options.

[mcs328]

I have the Costco Amex card but that's $50 a year which is the price of membership to Costco. I believe the Blue Cash is only good if you spend over a certain threshhold. $3000 I think before you get %5.

[Chgoman]

You mentioned in your first post that you don't spend a whole lot. If so then the blue cash may not make sense for you. The good cash back tiers don't kick in until you've spent $6,500 during the year. If it takes you a few months to get there and you don't spend on gas and groceries, then the benefit won't be very good.

You may be better off paying $45 for a basic Costco membership to get the Costco Amex if you eat out a lot. The 3% back on restaurants will make up for the memebership fee pretty quickly and then you'll be earning a lot more during the year.

While you're thinking about it head over to envaulted.com and sign up for their interest list. In a month or two you'll get an invitation to join and they give you an additional 1% back on everything and more at certian locations that rotate every week. That makes the Costco card like getting 4% on gas and restaurants, 3% on travel and 2% on everything else.

[ArkiStan]

You mentioned in your first post that you don't spend a whole lot. If so then the blue cash may not make sense for you. The good cash back tiers don't kick in until you've spent $6,500 during the year. If it takes you a few months to get there and you don't spend on gas and groceries, then the benefit won't be very good.

You may be better off paying $45 for a basic Costco membership to get the Costco Amex if you eat out a lot. The 3% back on restaurants will make up for the memebership fee pretty quickly and then you'll be earning a lot more during the year.

While you're thinking about it head over to envaulted.com and sign up for their interest list. In a month or two you'll get an invitation to join and they give you an additional 1% back on everything and more at certian locations that rotate every week. That makes the Costco card like getting 4% on gas and restaurants, 3% on travel and 2% on everything else.

Great tip. I'll check out envaulted! Thanks.

Can someone elaborate on how Amex defines "restaurant" under the Costco program? Does it include everything from McD's to high-end places? What about a corner deli or a Starbucks?

As for the higher cash back percentage tiers on the "Cash" cards, I definitely spend more than $6500 a year. How does this work? Let's say I start now and it takes me 3 months to break the $6500 point. How long will I keep the higher cash back rates? Does it get reset to the default rate (1%) each year?

[Chgoman]

Every anniversary of the card you start back at the lower tier. For the first $6500 you spend in a year you get .5% on everything and 1% on Gas, Grocery and Drugstore. After you hit $6500 for the remainder of the year you get 1.25% on everything and 5% on Gas, Grocery and Drugstore. If you don't spend much at the higher tiers on this card and take 3 months to get to Tier 2 then your probably only averaging barely over 1% over the whole year.

If that's the case you'd better of with the Costco card getting 1% on everything and then the restaurant spending will pull the percentages quite a bit higher.

If you spend a lot of money during the year and spend on gas and groceries, the Blue Cash is great. I get about $700 a year back on mine, but we do a lot of driving and have a family of 4 to feed

[cruelpupet]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. I've been looking through all their options and I'm basically trying to decide between the "Blue Cash" card and the Delta card. I did the math and per dollar spent, the value of mileage is far greater than the cash I would receive. It makes particular sense since I know I'll be traveling at least a couple times a year. But the thing is I already have a Citibank card that gives me 2 miles per dollar spent for American Airlines, and I think it's wise to focus on one airline.

So I'm considering the "Blue Cash." My only concern is it gives 5% cash back on gas, groceries, etc, but I don't have a car and I eat out a lot so I do very little grocery shopping. Other than groceries and gas I think I only get 1-1.25% cash back. I know it's better than nothing, but I'm looking for some other options.

Delta Amex gold is offering 40k miles after you spend $1k in 3 months with first year on the card free. Do that, cancel the card, and get a Amex Blue.

[ArkiStan]

While you're thinking about it head over to envaulted.com and sign up for their interest list. In a month or two you'll get an invitation to join and they give you an additional 1% back on everything and more at certian locations that rotate every week. That makes the Costco card like getting 4% on gas and restaurants, 3% on travel and 2% on everything else.

Should I wait to get my envaulted membership before applying for the card? Or can the envaulted perks be applied to an existing card?

[Prngr44]

Hrm... Now you guys have me wondering if a travel card would give better benefits. I typically put 20k on my Amex annually. How many "points" does a typical round trip air fare cost?

[ArkiStan]

Hrm... Now you guys have me wondering if a travel card would give better benefits. I typically put 20k on my Amex annually. How many "points" does a typical round trip air fare cost?

I did the math for a friend's Asiana Airlines (a Korean Airlines) Amex card. Like most of the better mileage cards out there, she gets 2 miles for every dollar spent(spent anywhere).

For example, nowadays you need around 75,000 miles for a free round-trip overseas flight. A typical flight to Korea costs around $1800 from NYC. So you'd pay $37,500 and get $1800 worth of flights. That's 5% value back on money you spend anywhere. This is without any of the welcoming bonus deals (eg. "get xyz thousand free miles when you signup", etc).

Your results will differ depending airline and destination, but if you're a regular traveler the value of the mileage you get is great.

Prngr44, with the money you spend, you'd get around 40,000 miles annually. With Delta, you can get a free round-trip economy flight for as little as 12,500 miles, so you could get up to 3 free round-trip flights a year, which could be worth over a grand. Of course there are a lot of restrictions for buying flights with mileage. (mileage expires, seats are limited, sat nite stay required, off peak travel required, etc). Cash has no restrictions.

Here's the delta mileage chart:
http://dmn.delta.com/skymiles/direct/charts/us49/



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[attgig]

one other thing, you mentioned you're a partner in a startup? might want to think about a 'business' card.
for example, the costco card if you get the 'business' version, gives you 4% gas vs 3%. delta annual fee for business is 95, vs 150 that i'm seeing on their site.

if you have that option, search around for a business card.

[attgig]

btw, i have blue, costco and starwoods. I've racked up bunch of starwoods points, and plan on using it for a trip this year.

blue - i got when i was in college. used it a ton before they changed the terms (the 6500 buck thing). after that, i switched to costco, and started using starwoods later on.

[Chgoman]

As far as envaulted goes, you might as well sign up now since it takes a month or two to get the invitation to join. The company is still in it's beta phase, but it's reputable.