Never See People Pay with these Credit Cards…
Are you like me whereby, when you are lining up to pay for something, you scope out what type of credit card the person in front of you is using to pay? I do that all the time. Of course I cringe when they do not have the loyalty card or pay with cash.
For today’s post, there are a few credit cards that I really believe are great to have in your wallet to use for every day purchases, but for one reason or another, I actually never saw someone use it to pay for something while in line.
Granted, within the frequent flyer community, I know people who have the card, but actually seeing a stranger use it to pay for gas, groceries, drug store, etc.? Na-da!!
Anyway, here’s the list of credit cards that I think are amazing to use for every day spending, but for one reason or another, I have never seen a stranger using them at the cashier:
- $75 annual fee
- Earn 25,000 Mileage Plan sign up bonus miles upon approval
- Earn 3 Mileage Plan miles for every $1 spent on Alaska Airlines purchases
- Earn 1 Mileage Plan mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 1 annual coach Companion Fare
- Receive $50 off a new Board Room membership initiation fee
- $120 annual fee
- $50 annual fee for a supplementary cardholder (first year fee waived)
- Earn 20,000 points when you spend $500 in the first 3 months of having this card
- Earn 2 points for every $1 spent at participating SPG and Marriott Rewards hotels (between November 15, 2016 and November 15, 2017)
- Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all purchases
- Spend $30,000 a year (anniversary year of having the credit card) to receive an automatic upgrade to Starwood Gold Preferred Guest membership
- Spend $40,000 a year (anniversary year of having the credit card) to receive a Free Weekend Night Award
- $699 annual fee
- $175 fee for supplementary cardholders
- Earn 50,000 sign up Membership Rewards bonus points (or 60,000 when referred) (after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months)
- Earn 1.25 point for every $1 spent on all purchases
- Receive a $200 Annual Travel Credit
- Receive a complimentary and discounted companion tickets and upgrades
- Airport lounge access worldwide
- Access to elevated status with many hotel & car rental loyalty programs
What about you? Are there any amazing credit cards that you think are worthwhile to have, but never actually saw someone using it?
I have the Cap One Aspire which gives me 2x on everything. However, I only use it at places that only allows mastercard and visa. I use AMEX SPG for all non-bonused purchases(walmart and all plastiq payments for example). These points are hard to accumulate but are so valuable, much more so with the marriott transfer rate. 93,000 spg to 280,000 marriott points got me 5 nights at ritz carlton Tokyo. I hope this card is around for a long time.
I hope so to about the Capital One Aspire. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
You used to see those Amex cards frequently at Costco, before they switched to MasterCard.
I just got the Amex Gold card, but am having trouble finding enough places that accept it to meet the minimum spend!
Yes. May come down to buying gift cards of retailers that you know you will use beyond the minimum spend period.
My daily driver is my Amex Platinum but I picked up an Amex gold to help me with grocery and gas.
Sweet!
Does anyone know where you can buy Costco gift cards and pay with Amex? I want to use my SPG Amex to buy Costco gift cards rather than use a MC at Costco.
Amazon.
Can you expand on this. Was on Amazon.ca. I do not see any option to buy Costco gift cards?
Watch for when you can buy dollar for dollar: https://www.amazon.ca/50-Costco-Cash-Card-expiration/dp/B01415Y79Y
Ridiculous suggestion below. $75 for a $50 card. If anyone has any real places to get the card please post. I’ve never seen them outside of Costco.
That’s why I said wait till it’s $1 for $1. EBay + PayPal is the same issue cause it’s not $1 for $1. Otherwise, can just go for PayPal or Amazon gift cards to meet AMEX minimum spend.
You shouldn’t cringe, you should be happy because they are subsidizing yours (and mine) points/miles habit. If everyone did what some of us do, those opportunities would go away because banks would be losing money.
Thumbs up to that!
It’s very interesting… Most of my expenses (business related) go to the Amex Platinum. However it’s not my day to day card so you will never see me paying with this card
That’s a really good point. Some people may have these cards but not actually use them.
The other day I was at the grocery store and saw someone writing a cheque…I’m generally cycling through new cards enough that I’m using whichever has a minimum spend at the moment, with little attention to category bonuses, save for very large purchases.
Interesting. I’m surprised they took it. What if the cheque bounced?
If you lived on the West Coast you would see the MBNA Alaska Airlines world Elite MasterCard, I see it quite often, great card to have as Alaska Air flies out of Victoria, and Vancouver.
Glad to hear it’s being used somewhere!