What's Your Favorite Credit Card (With Benefits)? (Looking to Get My First One)

LCourtesy2000 on 24/04/2019 - 10:39
Last edited 26/04/2019 - 21:15

Straight forward, I know, but I'd like to know what CC you're using and why. I'm planning to finally get one, so I want to know which one offers the best benefits, especially for someone whose financial life has just begun (fresh credit score).

Thank you a lot in advance!

Update: I'd also like to know if it is possible to get a CC in Thailand as a foreigner, because I'm going to move soon. I was considering something like this: https://www.umayplus.com/cashcard but I'm not sure if it is possible for me to get it (or any).

Financial Credit Card

Comments

  • Danstar on 24/04/2019 - 10:55
    +1

    Amex all the way

    Essential (no annual fee) or the one with the $400~ annual fee

    • ascorbic on 24/04/2019 - 12:07
      +1

      Since devaluation, Amex is no better than what the banks are offering in terms of % cashback (points redeemed for gift cards). The only selling point now is the occasional good Amex offer ($.. back when spending $… at …).

    • [Deactivated] on 24/04/2019 - 12:28

      only reason im keeping my amex is for shop small in november - other than that i'd had cancel ages ago

  • geek001 on 24/04/2019 - 11:01

    I think you will need more than one!

    For travelling and buying stuff online:
    28 degrees card - good for mastercard flight delay lounge access + overseas wifi access + buying stuff online.
    Citibank debit card - good for buying stuff online + overseas ATM cash withdrawal.

    For day to day:
    Amex Essentials card - good for collecting points + various Amex cashback offers.
    From time to time, you will get an offer for "no annual fee" Visa/Mastercard Platinum credit card posted on Ozb. Get that in case some shops do not accept Amex. Or you can just apply for supermarket Visa/Mastercard credit cards to collect supermarket points.

  • 87percent on 24/04/2019 - 11:01
    +2

    https://www.pointhacks.com.au/ will have all your answers

  • monkeydo on 24/04/2019 - 11:07

    I had the AMEX Explorer. But I started with the 100,000 bonus points offer which gave me a good head start. However, Amex points system has changed as of the 15th of this month and a lot of people are questioning if it's worth to continue. I'm personally moving on to a Velocity card as it will fit my needs better (travel points). Best for you is to check websites like https://www.pointhacks.com.au/ They do research on the different cards and look deeper into what's good and what's not so you can make your own decision.

  • ronnknee on 24/04/2019 - 11:09
    +2

    If only OzBargain had pages full of detailed information on these kind of topics, oh wait.

    • Domingo on 24/04/2019 - 11:40
      +4

      Only to people who buy more tin foil than they can afford to make hats.

    • Samsungnote10 on 25/04/2019 - 17:35

      So if i get a credit im going to start behaving like a baffoon?????

      On the assumption I already dont

  • kolorijo on 24/04/2019 - 12:03
    +1

    Have a look https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/credit_card_guide

  • DingoBilly on 24/04/2019 - 13:35
    +1

    Something to consider is how far you want to game the system and how much effort you want to put in.

    Generally speaking, so long as you pay off your balance in full every month and get an ideally no annual fee card you'll be well off. You should never have to pay interest or annual fees (unless you profit off the annual fees). The AMEX cards with free flights are pretty good value though for example (i.e., you pay $300 a year annual, but if you take an annual flight for that cost or more you're coming out ahead). The only caveat to AMEX is you can't use it everywhere (or you have to pay a surcharge) - so you'll almost always want to pair an AMEX card with a normal VISA/Mastercard. You may also consider things like whether the card does things like travel insurance or similar, and whether you prefer flying with Virgin or Qantas (or don't care at all) can also influence which card you pick.

    You can take it a step further once you're comfortable with all this and have an everyday "normal" card, and then start signing up for credit card sign-up offers and just cancelling them after you earn the points. What I mean is, you can sign up to a card with a $199 annual fee offering 100,000 points for a minimum spend, get those 1000 points and then cancel the card. You can then either sell those points for at least $1,100 or so or you can use them to redeem flights. Either way, if you do this often enough you can generate a fair amount of additional income/savings through these points. The only caveat to that is being wary of signing up too many cards as it can negatively affect your credit rating. But that's something you can worry about in future if you do decide to go down that path.

  • ShortyX on 24/04/2019 - 14:17

    We find the Coles Rewards card very good for us. It earns 2 FlyBuys points for each $1 spent on the card, then you add normal FlyBuys points from shopping at Coles, Kmart, Target, Liquorland and First Choice Liquor (the credit card has the FlyBuys barcode on the back so you only have to carry one card).

    You can set an automatic redemption rate of 2000 points for $10 (0.5%) discount (automatically shows at registers when scanning the FlyBuys barcode).

    The annual fee is $99 and there are no international transaction fees.

    Make sure you pay the balance in full every month.

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