Sometimes (hopefully more often than not) I save money compared to a cash back or fixed -
value points card and sometimes I don't, but I don't have sudden Delta flight expenses as long as I have enough points to cover my flights.
A cash back card is a lot like a fixed -
value points card: instead of getting one point (worth one cent) for every dollar you spend, you simply get one cent back from every dollar you spend.
What you want is a fixed
value points card, which is not the focus of this article.
Also, just note that the Westjet card is a fixed
value points card and not a «Travel points» card as I have defined it in this article.
But unlike fixed -
value points cards, like the Discover It card or Barclays Arrival Plus card, or co-branded airline cards, Ultimate Reward points are flexible and more valuable since you are protected from hotel and airline devaluations.
There are a few reasons why the Canadian cash back / fixed
value points cards line up well with US cards in terms of consumer offerings.
Not exact matches
Because of the way frequent flyer programs work, you can usually get a lot more
value from a lot fewer miles than credit
card points.
The
card earns Membership Rewards
points, the currency in Amex's loyalty program, which can be exchanged for statement credits or cash back, used to book travel through Amex's travel website, or, to get the most
value, transferred to any of 17 airline and three hotel transfer partners (transferable
points are among the best).
The online service, which allowed selected friends to see and comment on one's credit
card purchases, went belly up in 2011, though it was
valued at $ 46 million at one
point.
If you exchanged your Chase Ultimate Rewards
points for cash to purchase the ticket, or if wanted to use fixed -
value points worth one cent each — such as miles you can earn with the Capital One Venture
card — you would need 120,000
points to cover the whole trip.
Entrepreneurs in the field say that focusing on the price of Bitcoin is missing the
point — its
value is as proof of concept for a new kind of payment system not reliant on third parties like governments, big banks or credit -
card companies.
Redeemed
points will have the highest
value when redeemed for airline rewards, commercial taxi and Uber rides, and select gift
cards.
If you manage to get a
value of $ 0.0134 per
point when transferring, the Chase Freedom Unlimited ® can beat all other flat - rate cash back credit
cards — including the Citi ® Double Cash Credit
Card.
However, as we noted above, if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred ®
Card as well, the effective rewards rate on the Chase Freedom Unlimited ® can be higher than 2 %, provided you transfer your
points and get a
value better than $ 0.0134 per
point.
By having the Chase Sapphire Preferred ®
Card on your account, the
value of Chase Ultimate reward
points goes from $ 0.01 to $ 0.0125 or more.
Bank of America
card is a fixed -
value point program.
The uncertainty in achieving a redeemed $ 0.015 per
point value is where the credit
card companies make much of their profits.
You could, of course, use
points from a fixed
value travel
card that offers «travel credit» like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus, but booking through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal is often just as good.
The redemption
value is different if you choose to redeem your
Points for other rewards such as travel and hotel options, merchandise, gift
cards, and / or statement credit.
Frequent travelers might get more
value out of a
card that offers extra
points on travel spending, and you won't get much in the way of perks and protections out of the Venture
card.
You can pay with your credit
card directly and earn 3x
points or you can use Ultimate Rewards at 1.5 cents /
point in
value when you book through it.
Those Membership Rewards
points can be redeemed for statement credit, gift
cards, and Uber credits, but you'll get the most
value out of using them to book travel through amextravel.com or by transferring them to an airline or hotel partner:
Using the Citi ThankYou ® Premier
card also increases the
value of the ThankYou ®
points earned.
While a lot of the
value of the Starwood Preferred Guest ® American Express Luxury
Card lies in its ability to earn
points, The Platinum
Card ® from American Express focuses on giving cardholders a number of luxury and cost - saving travel perks.
We compared a variety of different
cards, evaluating them based on their annual fees, APRs, Credible Rewards
Points Value and other details, to bring you some of the best rewards credit
card of 2018.
When you take the high
value of Starpoints into account, the sign - up bonus on this
card becomes a lot bigger than the sheer number of points would suggest: Earn 25,000 Starpoints ® after you use your new Card to make $ 3,000 in purchases within the first 3 mon
card becomes a lot bigger than the sheer number of
points would suggest: Earn 25,000 Starpoints ® after you use your new
Card to make $ 3,000 in purchases within the first 3 mon
Card to make $ 3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.
For all these
cards, the
points earned go into your Membership Rewards account and can be used to transfer to travel partners for a great
value.
To calculate a
card's rewards rate, multiply the
value of the
points / miles by the number of
points / miles you get for a specific purchase.
Of course, like almost all rewards
cards, using
points towards purchases of products, gift
cards, and other miscellanous prizes is typically the worst way to get real
value for your hard earned
points.
The redemption
value is different if you choose to redeem your
Points for other rewards such as travel options, merchandise, gift
cards, and / or statement credit.
The redemption
value of your
points depends on which credit
card you have.
With generic travel
cards, you can redeem your
points for cash back, flights, hotel stays or statement credits, but you get the best
value for travel - related purchases.
This may seem low, when compared to the
point - earning of other
cards - however, Starpoints carry a significantly higher
value than other rewards
points.
There are so many ways to maximize the
value of your Chase Ultimate Rewards
points earned from using your Chase Sapphire Preferred ®
card.
And in the meantime the
value of credit
cards has fluctuated from
point one all the way up to a
point to a Bitcoins for a bitcoin cash and now is dwindles to.
This can potentially increase the
value per
point for the
cards from $ 0.01 to $ 0.0125.
In some cases, you might be able to redeem cash or
points for a gift
card with a face
value that does more good than a statement credit or cash back.
Each
point carries a $ 0.0125
value, just like on the Chase Sapphire Preferred ®
Card.
For example, on the Chase Sapphire Reserve
card, if you spend $ 4,000 within the first three months of having the
card, you'll receive 50,000
points — that's estimated to be a
value of $ 750.
The company's product portfolio consists of charge and credit
card products; expense management products and services; consumer and business travel services; stored
value products, including travelers checks and other prepaid products; network services; merchant acquisition and processing, and servicing and settlement, as well as
point - of - sale, marketing, and information products and services for merchants; and fee services comprising market and trend analyses and related consulting services, fraud prevention services, and the design of customer loyalty and rewards programs.
The
card comes with outstanding rewards, with Starpoints from the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program having one of the highest average dollar
values per
point in any loyalty program we've researched.
While the opportunity for
point value is lower, cash back programs are simple and cardholders are guaranteed a predictable rate of return from their credit
card rewards, without having to decipher loyalty programs or search for award availability.
The FlexPerks credit
card offers a lot of opportunities to earn high -
value travel
points, and the best use is when it's redeemed for airfare at over 150 airlines for up to a 4 % rewards rate.
In these cases, the FlexPerks Travel Rewards
card works like a cash back credit
card where you are directly transferring your
points towards cash
value products, and each FlexPoint spent can be worth anywhere between $ 0.01 to $ 0.02.
We extract the
value per
point through the Marriott Rewards
card by dividing the dollar cost of a stay by the same cost in
points.
A mile is
valued at 0.7 cents /
point, much lower than booking cash tickets using credit
card points which are usually 1 cent /
point at minimum.
We believe the
value of the Citi ThankYou ® Premier Credit
Card is in redeeming reward
points for travel through the ThankYou ® Travel Center.
However, the Citi ThankYou ® Premier Credit
Card gives users 25 % more
value when used to book travel through the ThankYou ® Travel Center - boosting
point value to $ 0.0125.
This means that account holders with an existing
points balance, won't be able to leverage a new
card to improve the
value of their accumulated rewards.
There is potential to squeeze additional
value out of the
points you earned with the Citi ThankYou ® Premier Credit
Card, if you transfer them to a partnered loyalty program.