Riddle me this. Credit card style.
December 4, 2010 8:02 PM Subscribe
Is the Fidelity Retirement Rewards card the right one for me? If not, which one is.
TL DR version: which is the best rewards credit card to pay off ~$200 in spending each month.
I received a solicitation a few months ago for the Fidelity Retirement Rewards AMEX and I've been considering it on and off since. I like that it offers a manner of contributing to retirement. I do have both a 401(k) and ROTH IRA but I'm not able to fully fund either.
I know about bankrate for evaluating cards, but I find it harder when what I'm looking for isn't necessarily one of the choices. I'm used to looking for teaser low APR or balance transfer, but I don't need either in this case.
I recently balance transferred a chunk on my AMEX to a lower rate offer in order to keep that from continuing to mushroom. My spending habits are much better than they were but my credit card debt is as follows:
*15K on a mixed low/still pretty good rate BT. The low rate is "for life" and while I know they can change that, my credit is solid and I don't think they will. Still pretty good is .99 for 18 months (April 2012) and is 7.99 when the promo ends. I had paid down almost all of the really low rate until this BT which was from a 15%
*3.5K on the AMEX. Couldn't BT it all. Aim to pay this off within six months. This has been my primary card for ~4 years. Great rewards (Starwood) but high APR and AMEX isn't taken everywhere.
The issue is I don't want to continue to charge to the AMEX while paying it off. The charges that I foresee (and pay off every month) are as follows:
cable/internet bill, gym membership and weight loss plan membership. Total is ~200-210/month. Others I can and do pay cash/debit from bank account for. Budgeted for without a problem. Issue with spending on the AMEX was I'd see the bill was so high - why not charge more. I've moved away from that byt I believe a monthly clean slate will help me keep to that. This spending would let me hit the minimum on the AMEX to get the $50 to my IRA, but I don't know if there's something more beneficial I should be looking at.
I have other cards and very good credit (760+ real FICO) but none are much, rewards wise. An Amazon VISA (find it just encourages spending I don't need to do), a Continental Mastercard from when I used to travel more and a Discover (not widely accepted). Is there another card I should consider? Something else entirely? I prefer one that doesn't give gift cards because it just encourages spending I don't need.
TIA for your assistance. Throwaway email for questions/etc: credit_card_debt@ymail.com
TL DR version: which is the best rewards credit card to pay off ~$200 in spending each month.
I received a solicitation a few months ago for the Fidelity Retirement Rewards AMEX and I've been considering it on and off since. I like that it offers a manner of contributing to retirement. I do have both a 401(k) and ROTH IRA but I'm not able to fully fund either.
I know about bankrate for evaluating cards, but I find it harder when what I'm looking for isn't necessarily one of the choices. I'm used to looking for teaser low APR or balance transfer, but I don't need either in this case.
I recently balance transferred a chunk on my AMEX to a lower rate offer in order to keep that from continuing to mushroom. My spending habits are much better than they were but my credit card debt is as follows:
*15K on a mixed low/still pretty good rate BT. The low rate is "for life" and while I know they can change that, my credit is solid and I don't think they will. Still pretty good is .99 for 18 months (April 2012) and is 7.99 when the promo ends. I had paid down almost all of the really low rate until this BT which was from a 15%
*3.5K on the AMEX. Couldn't BT it all. Aim to pay this off within six months. This has been my primary card for ~4 years. Great rewards (Starwood) but high APR and AMEX isn't taken everywhere.
The issue is I don't want to continue to charge to the AMEX while paying it off. The charges that I foresee (and pay off every month) are as follows:
cable/internet bill, gym membership and weight loss plan membership. Total is ~200-210/month. Others I can and do pay cash/debit from bank account for. Budgeted for without a problem. Issue with spending on the AMEX was I'd see the bill was so high - why not charge more. I've moved away from that byt I believe a monthly clean slate will help me keep to that. This spending would let me hit the minimum on the AMEX to get the $50 to my IRA, but I don't know if there's something more beneficial I should be looking at.
I have other cards and very good credit (760+ real FICO) but none are much, rewards wise. An Amazon VISA (find it just encourages spending I don't need to do), a Continental Mastercard from when I used to travel more and a Discover (not widely accepted). Is there another card I should consider? Something else entirely? I prefer one that doesn't give gift cards because it just encourages spending I don't need.
TIA for your assistance. Throwaway email for questions/etc: credit_card_debt@ymail.com
Bankrate.com lets you put in your credit score range and it'll give a list of good credit cards for people in that range. They also sort by card type.
Double-check first that you'll actually get rewards for those payments. These sound like monthly bills that you'd pay through the cards bill-pay service. I don't know if you'd get points for that. A lot of times you only get points with purchases from merchants.
posted by ifandonlyif at 6:53 AM on December 5, 2010
Double-check first that you'll actually get rewards for those payments. These sound like monthly bills that you'd pay through the cards bill-pay service. I don't know if you'd get points for that. A lot of times you only get points with purchases from merchants.
posted by ifandonlyif at 6:53 AM on December 5, 2010
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posted by metahawk at 12:40 AM on December 5, 2010