The Barclaycard Arrival Plus ® World Elite Mastercard ® earns some brownie points with
its general spending categories.
Without much customization you can view
general spending categories.
With the plus giving better rewards on
the general spending categories in exchange for the annual fee, it's really just a matter of math.
Airline rewards cardholders usually accumulate reward miles at a rate of 1 mile per $ 1 in
general spending categories, and up to 2.5 miles per $ 1 on specialized categories (which are often purchases with the card's affiliated airline).
Not exact matches
The Chase Sapphire Preferred ® Card doesn't perform quite as well in the
general rewards
category, only offering 1 point for every dollar
spent.
In
general, points vary between 1 % to 4 % depending on
spending category and how FlexPoints are redeemed.
If a particular airline, hotel, or travel card you are interested in offers anything less than 1.5 % back on
general spending, or a specialized
category, you should consider going with a cash back card instead.
In
general, points vary between 1 % to 4 % depending on
spending category and how FlexPoints are redeemed.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred ® Card doesn't perform quite as well in the
general rewards
category, only offering 1 point for every dollar
spent.
In
general, as people got older they fell less and less into the smaller
spending categories.
If your
spending in these
categories is limited compared to other places,
general travel cards like the Barclays Arrival Plus ® World Elite Mastercard ® or the Capital One ® Venture ® Rewards Credit Card will offer nearly twice as much in overall rewards.
For a
general overview of
spending, I want to see the bathroom remodel transactions in the home maintenance
category.
Consumers earn 1 % back with the Korean Air Visa Signature card when
spending in other
categories, so someone who uses the credit card to charge both Korean Air tickets and
general household expenditures will get a weighted average of the two rewards rate.
I also know that you can get 5 % for gas / groceries and use 3.75 % chase on 3 other
categories not covered by your 5 % gas / groceries but I don't
spend enough in
general to make getting a Blue Cash for 5 % worth it.
What does matter is what percentage of your total
spending will be located in what
category: bonus or
general?
For
general spending the card will net you 1 % in rewards and 2 % when used in the bonus
categories.
When you have different
categories, you're making sure you aren't raiding your
general savings when you
spend.
General 2 % cash back may not be the most optimal card if you
spend more on special
categories (or use the card for such purposes): in that case, the 3 % from Chase or the 5 % from Discover may go a longer way for you as a rewards card.
So, if you have a
general budget
category called To Savings or maybe a main
category called To Savings with a few different sub-categories like Emergency Fund, Vacation, Christmas, it means that the money is leaving your
spending account to be placed into these specific separate «Savings Accounts» or «Goals».
In
general, there are three
categories: Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), which are backed by the federal government; proprietary reverse mortgages, which are basically private loans; and single - purpose reverse mortgages, which come together with limitations in terms of what you can
spend the money on.
This is not the best earning scheme out there — there are many cards on the market that enable you to build up bonus points on special
categories of
spending, and even a few cards that offer a higher
general rewards rate.
Also, be sure to have a good
general rewards card that earns at least 1.5 percent on all purchases for all
spending that does not fall into a bonus
category.
That means consumers will earn 1 percent on
general purchases, whether it is a flat rate across all purchases, or the rate earned outside of featured
categories of
spending.
Consider, for example, if you
spent at least $ 125 per month on a rewards
category that earned a 5 percent cash back bonus and
spent an additional $ 1,000 per month on other purchases — you would essentially earn 10 percent cash back on bonus
categories and 2 percent cash back on
general purchases.
Furthermore, cardholders with multiple Chase Ultimate Rewards cards can combine the 1.5 percent rate that they earn on
general spending on the Freedom Unlimited card with the 2 to 3 percent that they earn on travel and dining from their Chase Sapphire cards and the 5 percent that they earn on the rotating
categories on the Chase Freedom card, to earn an even larger number of Ultimate Rewards points.
If you plan on redeeming your Starpoins for a
Category 4 redemption which you value at $ 150, then as a
general member with Starwood you would be earning a 3 % rebate on your
spending at Starwood, while an elite member with the Starwood American Express would be earning a 7.5 % rebate.
I can't think of any credit cards that have
general retailers as a bonus
category so, in most cases, the best you can hope to earn is 1 point or mile per dollar
spent at stores like Macy's, Nordstrom, Barnes & Noble etc... but, once again, gift cards can be the answer.
The point value for each was gathered in purchasing
categories, including value on airfare, hotels, restaurants, gas, groceries and
general spending.
While the Citibank cards exceed that for the bonus
categories, for
general spend this is still very good!
On top of the
general rewards rate, you get two points for every dollar
spent at U.S. gas stations, restaurants and supermarkets, which are very lucrative
categories.
An ideal
general -
spending card for business owners with moderate to high
spending needs spread across a wide variety of
categories.
Like its
general - purpose counterparts, the Discover it ® for Students offers 5 % back in rotating bonus
categories that you activate, on up to $ 1,500 in
spending per quarter, and 1 % on everything else.
Since the card offers bonuses in
categories where people tend to
spend a lot of money — restaurants and gas — you can stick to using this as a
general card for all your purchases without having to worry about juggling cards or managing rotating
categories.
If you typically use cards with higher rewards rates on popular
spending categories, such as groceries and gas, you can juggle these with your Cash 365 card to earn a higher
general rewards rate on purchases that don't qualify for a bonus rate.
If you don't know which
category you
spend in the most, it may be a good idea to pick a
general category flat - rate card that doesn't specify more points for certain
categories.
-- Top - producing agents earning more than $ 100,000 per year
spend more in
general across all
categories but
spend more money on online lead generation, national real estate websites and search engine marketing.