Inside our wallets: Our favorite credit cards and (simple) reward strategies
The world of credit cards can be a little overwhelming. From understanding interest rates and fees to points-hacking and rewards , it can be hard to figure out which cards are actually worth having.
That's why today, we're literally opening our wallets to show you the credit cards we each carry around. But don't worry, we're not points-optimization wizards spending hours tracking categories or timing applications. We're just two regular gals who've figured out how to get some pretty sweet perks without making our money lives too complicated.
📌 Time Stamps:
[00:00:00] The cards in our wallets right now
[00:05:00] Emily's personal credit cards and annual fee philosophy
[00:09:00] Cassidy's credit card lineup and favorite card
[00:15:00] How we split spending between different cards
[00:21:00] Our business credit cards (spoiler: we have the same one!)
[00:27:00] Why keep business and personal spending separate
[00:29:00] How we actually use our points and rewards
[00:35:00] Our credit card philosophies and how they've evolved
[00:43:00] Credit score checks, regrets, and final thoughts
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Transcript
Emily: Are you drowning in money questions but too embarrassed to ask? Tired of scrolling endlessly through conflicting financial advice that leaves you more confused than when you started? Welcome to the Finance Girlies podcast, your cozy corner for all things finance. I'm your host, Emily.
Cassidy: And I'm your host, Cassidy. We're both finance writers for brands like Forbes Advisor, USA Today Blueprint, and Yahoo Finance. Throughout our careers and personal lives, we have come to one realization. When we keep our money worries to ourselves, we end up feeling alone.
That's why each episode, we tackle those burning questions you've been afraid to ask with no judgment, no jargon, just real talk about real money. Ready to finally get answers? Let's dive in.
Cassidy: Welcome back to episode 22 of the Finance Girlies Podcast. Today we're getting into a topic we've never [00:01:00] really unpacked on the podcast before, and that's our credit cards.
Emily: Specifically the cards we actually use, not the ones from some blog’s top 10 Best Travel Cards list, but the ones in our wallets right now, both personal and business.
Cassidy: Yeah, and we're typically not the kind of people who open like five credit cards a year and optimize point transfers and fly first class for free on the regular and just have, like, totally hacked our credit cards to give us a lavish lifestyle.
Emily: Yeah, that'd be nice. But we're not quite there. Our approach is a lot more casual, probably a lot closer to how most people use credit cards in real life.
Cassidy: So we're gonna start just by literally walking you through each of the credit cards in our wallets right now and why we have each one and what we like about them and things like that. So, Emily is gonna kick us off. So to start, do you just wanna talk about what maybe, personal credit cards you have and why you picked them?
Emily: Yeah, between my husband and I, I [00:02:00] think we have five credit cards. Of those five, there are two we use for most purchases. One is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and another one is the Capital One Savor Card. And then we also have a Discover It card, the Discover Miles card, and a Capital One Quicksilver card.
The Discover It and the Capital One Quicksilver were just mine and my husband's first cards we got in like our early twenties. And they're both just simple cashback cards. Then the first one we got like, together after getting married was the Discover Miles card, and I'll get to why I regret that later on in the episode. But I don't think that was a great choice.
And then more recently we got the Savor card to spend on groceries. It has some great grocery points, and the Chase Sapphire Preferred for travel.
Cassidy: Awesome. Do you know if any of your credit cards have an annual fee? And if so, do you think it's worth it?
Emily: Yes, so just one [00:03:00] of our cards has an annual fee and that's the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which is $95 a year, and I do think it's worth it. So it comes with a $50 annual hotel credit. So as long as you use that essentially, that annual fee is only $45. And when I think about it, we've spent way more than $45 worth of points each year that we've had that card.
So to me that fee is definitely worth it.
Cassidy: Awesome. Do you have like, any favorite perks or rewards for any of your credit cards?
Emily: Yeah. With the Chase card, one of the biggest perks is that sign-on bonus that you get if you spend, you know, a certain amount of money within the first three or four months. Those offers vary throughout the year and from year to year. So, you can kind of keep an eye out for when the best offers come on board.
But that was a huge perk. We got a pretty good sign on offer and were able to pay for some pretty expensive flights to go cross country for a wedding and [00:04:00] vacation. So that was great. We've also gotten, I think, one referral bonus through that card for having a friend who ended up getting that card just sign up through our link and we got some points for that. So that was really nice.
We also get five times points on Chase travel. And then two times points on all other travel. And I think a great feature of having a Chase travel card is access to the Chase Travel portal, which, it opens up a whole new world of like, points and offers and things you can't find elsewhere. So that's really handy.
And then for the Savor card, the really, the only perk or reward that we take advantage of regularly is the 3% cash back on groceries. 'Cause we don't eat out a lot. And so we do buy a lot of groceries and it's nice to get some good cash back.
Cassidy: Yeah, so it sounds like even though you have five credit cards, you mainly use the Chase Sapphire and then the Capital One Savor Card. Those are like your two go-to [00:05:00] cards.
Emily: Yeah, and you know, we have like one card set up, for such and such utility bills and another for different, you know, recurring subscriptions. So all the cards are being used, but just.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm.
Emily: You know, small recurring transactions. Yeah.
Cassidy: Yeah. But just for everyday things, it sounds like you're mainly using the Savor card for groceries
Emily: Mm-hmm.
Cassidy: Your Chase card.
Emily: Chase for everything else.
Cassidy: Yeah.
Emily: Yeah. And what about you? What cards do you have in your wallet?
Cassidy: It's so funny, I also have five credit cards, but similar to you, some of them I'm like, we, we have one thing set up to charge to you every month, and honestly, I like, I would cancel you in a heartbeat because I just don't really use you. And then I have a few credit cards I absolutely love. So I'll run you through all five, starting with the one that I love and use the most, and then kind of going in descending order.
So my go-to credit card, the one that I adore, the one that I think is totally worth it is my Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express card. It's [00:06:00] also my newest credit card I've had, I think, I think I've had it over a year at this point, but I really love it. And then I do have a Discover It card and then an Amazon Prime card through Chase.
Um, And then an Alaska Mileage Plan card for like Alaska Airlines and then an REI co-op MasterCard. And so just to kind of run through the, like why I picked each card and also kind of why I don't use some of the cards anymore. I feel like a lot of the like really specific cards like the REI card, for example, we got, when we were going to REI a lot, like we were really into hiking for a few years.
We were like, it just makes sense to have this credit card 'cause you earn like 10% cash back on every REI purchase you make. So I was like, this is a no brainer. It's fine. Same with Alaska Airlines. There was a period where a lot of our flights just happened to be in Alaska. So I was like, well, it makes sense to have the [00:07:00] Alaska credit card. Like we can get the companion fair, we can get the signup bonus. All of that stuff just makes sense. And then same, if you listen to our Dry March episode, you know that I have been a heavy Amazon user in the past. With the Amazon Prime card, with Chase, like you get 5% cash back on every Amazon purchase.
Emily: Ooh.
Cassidy: So, and also we were shopping at Whole Foods a lot too, and you also get 5% cash back on the groceries you buy at Whole Foods. So it was just like. Yeah, it was a really, really good card. Really beneficial. Discover It was like one of the first credit cards that I ever had, like, maybe we'll get into this later, but early on in my adult life, my philosophy was I only need one credit card. Like it is good enough. And for me it was the Discover It card. 'Cause it has 5% rotating cash back categories. So I think in general you may just earn like maybe a percent or two on your purchases, but then every quarter there are a few [00:08:00] categories where you can earn 5% cash back on those. And it may be like subscription services or groceries or Walmart or something like that.
And so that was like my good baseline card. But now I have the Discover Sky Miles platinum card and I love it.
Emily: Tell me about that one.
Cassidy: Yes. It is the card where I see, like, the most tangible benefits, and I think it's because like I do, I, I guess, travel a lot. Like either to visit friends or to visit family or to like have family come out and visit us.
And with that card, first of all, I signed up for it and I got like the Sky Miles bonus. I forget how many Sky Miles you get once you meet the bonus, but I've also gotten a lot of free flights just through Sky Miles because you earn like triple the Sky Miles points for than you would like if you were just booking the flight on a different credit card. And so a lot of the smaller flights that I'll take, like the airport I [00:09:00] usually use is the Seattle airport. So if I'm going from like, Seattle to L.A., Seattle to Denver, Seattle to San Diego, like smaller flights like that. A lot of those flights, I just book with points and I pay like an $11 fee and that's it. And they're free and that feels so good.
But then you also do get a companion fair every year, which is like, you pay for one flight, get one flight free. You just pay for the taxes on that flight. And then another big perk, honestly, this is the biggest one for me, is you get free complimentary upgrades.
And I have gotten upgrades so many times since having this card. Right after I first got it, we took, you know, it was the same business trip to Mexico that you and I have talked about before. I booked it with my Delta Sky Miles card and I just booked like regular economy seats and on the way there, and on the way back I got a free upgrade to first class.
And I know, so I had like a real meal, on like a real plate, and like, I [00:10:00] know, I know. And like unlimited snacks and drinks and just a funny little side story, like I was so happy to get the free upgrade, but I've like, never been in first class, obviously I didn't know how it worked. And I remember like, sitting in my seat for the first time and before we took off, the lady was like. Do you want anything for breakfast? And in my head I was like, I've gotta pay for breakfast, I'm sure. And I was like, I didn't. And I was like, I, I, I already had breakfast, it's fine. So I was like, no, I'm good. And she was like, are you sure? And I was like, yeah, I have stuff. And then I proceeded to watch everyone around me in first class get their free breakfast on like the real plates. And like, it looked so good. And so I, I called her back over and I was like, actually, can I please have breakfast? And she was like, let me see if there's anything left, but I'm sure you can. But it was just so funny. I had, I had no idea how first class worked. That was my only time getting upgraded to first class.
But I've [00:11:00] had also several upgrades from regular economy to like Delta Comfort Plus, um, that actually happened. I went to Colorado last week and there and back I got free upgrades to Comfort Plus, and you just have like more leg room, you get better snacks, more drink options, so. I don't know. Those are honestly the benefits that make me the most excited.
Every single time I book a flight, I'm like, will I get a free upgrade?
Emily: Okay, my jaw has been down this whole time. One, you get better snacks and Delta Comfort Plus?
Cassidy: Yes. Usually you really do. It's a surprise. You know, usually your options are like a biscoff, cookie pretzels, or a granola bar maybe. There's this basket that floats around in Delta Comfort Plus, and it has actual bags of chips, actual bags of pistachios, chocolate bars, different granola bars [00:12:00] like gummy bears.
They, there's just like all kinds of stuff in there, and a lot of times you'll just grab one thing out of the basket and they'll be like, do you see something else you want? Like you can take more than one thing if you want.
Emily: Oh my gosh.
Cassidy: And so, yeah. So last time I got a bag of chips and a chocolate bar. And the person beside,
Emily: That’s what I would have picked, too.
Cassidy: Yeah. And the person beside me got I think two bags of chips and two chocolate bars. I was like, you're being a little aggressive with your ability to just take things outta that basket. I would not have the guts to take four things. Yeah. Yeah. And I think if you do drink alcohol, like, you get a free alcoholic drink.
Like the person beside me also had like two beers on the flight, all free.
Emily: Wow.
Cassidy: And I had two seltzer waters. Yeah. Yeah. She just brought me two. I originally, I was like, I just wanna seltzer water. And then she came back and she was like, I'm actually gonna give you two of them because the cans are really small.
I was like, what even is this luxury?
Emily: Oh wow. Okay. [00:13:00] We might have to do a follow-up episode just on this card.
Cassidy: Yeah. Okay. My, my other benefit that I like is you get priority boarding, which, there is the whole debate of why rush to get on the plane when you're just gonna ultimately be on the plane longer? But as someone who always has a carry-on, one of the biggest stressors for me if I'm in one of the last boarding zones is, will there be space for my carry-on? Or will I have to ultimately check it? And so I love priority boarding, just for the mental reassurance of no matter if they need to check carry-ons, your carry-on is gonna make it on the plane
Emily: Yes.
Cassidy: In the overhead bin.
Emily: That's a great perk.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm.
Emily: Okay, so how much does it cost to have the pleasure of all of those perks and any other annual fees for any of your other cards?
Cassidy: Okay, so the Delta Sky Miles card does have a $350 annual fee, which is very steep, I would say. There are [00:14:00] travel, like there is one coveted American Express travel card that like, gets you into lounges and stuff. This card does not, and I know that that card has like a $650 annual fee, which, who knows, maybe one day I'll get to the spot where I'm like, that feels worth it. But for right now, that does not.
I'll comfortably pay the $350 because of all of the free upgrades. And also you get the companion fair once a year. Right. So it's like that's a $350 value easily. Yeah. And then there are other benefits to that card that I don't necessarily take advantage of, like, you get a free checked bag on every flight if you are someone who checks a bag, you can also get $120 a year in ride share credit through Lyft, I think. And then if you book your hotel through delta.com, you get like $150 credit a year for that too. So they're just lots of little, little perks.
Also our Alaska Airlines card has a $95 [00:15:00] annual fee, and this is one of the cards that, you know, we just have like a random bill set up to go to it, and we don't really use it that much unless we're booking a flight with Alaska.
But yeah, it has a $95 annual fee. And I actually do think it's worth it too because you get a companion fair. And we do use that companion fair every year, like for the past two years. I have two nephews that live across the country and we've used that companion fair to like fly them out here for a week.
So then we're only buying one plane ticket instead of two. So I don't know, there are some perks that way, but that is one of the cards where I'm like, I could take or leave you because I don't really use Alaska Airlines that much. I'm clearly becoming a Delta loyalist.
Emily: Yeah. Yeah. This conversation is already just like reiterating to me how cool credit cards can be sometimes, like some perks are insane. Speaking of, what are, I know you've already mentioned some, but what are your favorite perks and [00:16:00] rewards that you get with your cards?
Cassidy: Okay. I mentioned earlier that there are three of the five credit cards that I use a lot, and those are the Delta card, the Discover Card and the Amazon card. And so of course my favorite perks with the Delta cards, everything I just talked about, like the free flights and the upgrades and the early boarding and things like that.
My favorite thing about the Discover Card is the 5% cash back on various categories. And then the Amazon card is like 5% cash back on Amazon purchases and Whole Foods. I moved last year and there's not a Whole Foods in my area anymore, but when I lived in Seattle for five and a half years, Whole Foods was where I was shopping, and so it was so nice to get that 5% cash back on everything. Yeah.
Emily: Yeah, that's big. So how do you normally split up your spending between your cards?
Cassidy: Usually if I'm buying something on Amazon, which once again, plug for Dry January, I'm no longer trying to do, I'm trying to avoid Amazon, but [00:17:00] if I do make a purchase on Amazon, it's gonna be on the Amazon credit card. Like that's pretty much the only thing I use that credit card for.
But then beyond that, like, usually I try to put everything else on the Delta card unless I'm shopping at a place that doesn't take American Express, which does happen kind of frequently, that's when I’ll whip out the Discover card and put it on there. So really like the Delta card is my daily driver, like it's the card I'm using the most. But then I will sprinkle in the Discover card here and there too, 'cause it was my favorite credit card for years until I got this Delta card.
Emily: Yeah, that makes sense. So what would you say like drew, you to getting your most recent cards, was it like cash back, everyday perks or like the luxury, luxury is may be the wrong word, but the amazing travel perks.
Cassidy: Yeah, I think usually when I'm drawn to a card, it's because I know that I can meet the signup bonus for it. I don't think I've ever gotten a credit [00:18:00] card where I've been like, I'm not gonna be able to get this signup bonus, but I want this card anyway. and we'll talk about this more with our business credit cards, but usually I'm always like, I will wait to get you until I know I can get that signup bonus.
But then beyond that, it's usually a card where I'm like, the perks that you offer, or like the things that I need to do to get the perks that you offer are things that I'm gonna do anyway.
Emily: Right.
Cassidy: You know, like if it's the 5% cashback rotating categories, I'm like, these are categories that I know I'm gonna be making purchases in, so I want you, similar to what you said with your Savor, it's like, you’re gonna use that card for groceries, so you're gonna be able to like maximize it.
Emily: Yeah.
Cassidy: That’s kind of my thought process is like, can I get the bonus and are your perks something that I'm like, actively already doing in my life and I can just use you for those things and get your perks.
Emily: Mm-hmm. That's interesting. I don't have any cards. Well do I? Hang on, okay. I misspoke earlier. I actually have the Discover It [00:19:00] Chrome card, which is slightly different from the Discover It card because I wanted to point out, the Discover It Chrome card does not have rotating categories. Instead it's just like flat cash back on certain categories all the time.
And unlike you, like, I am not interested in the rotating categories because I know myself and I know I'm not gonna be wanting to check every quarter and like making sure I'm aware of the current category. So that's one reason I tend to go with like, the flat cashback cards or the ones that have specific perks for specific spending categories because I will not keep up with the rotating categories. I know that about myself.
Cassidy: Yeah. I feel like I used to, like, I went through a period where I would stay on top of the rotating categories, but for probably the past year or two have not really, and maybe that's because I just use that card less in general. But I don't think this version of me today is like, I'm gonna stay on [00:20:00] top of those categories.
Like when I look today, I noticed that we are almost a full month into the second quarter, and I hadn't even activated like this quarter’s 5% cash back category. So, but I also don't really think I've used a card, but I was like, whoops, it's fine.
Emily: Yeah. You mentioned like, wanting to potentially close some cards. Have you ever done that before?
Cassidy: I have. The very first credit card I ever got, I think I was a senior in high school, 18, it's like the credit card I had through college, and it was like a Citi, like a Citibank student card. And I did close it, maybe like once I got married, but I also like should I have kept it open? Maybe. But I really also wasn't tracking, like did it affect my credit score?
I just remember I was kind of in a minimalist mindset where I was like, this is one less card that I'm gonna have to keep up with and no matter what it does to my credit score, I think I'll recover. And I just really don't [00:21:00] wanna have to keep up with this card and like, is there fraudulent activity and all of that stuff.
So I did close it, but in hindsight, like, was that the right or wrong thing to do? I don't know.
Emily: Hmm.
Cassidy: You know, 10 years out, my credit score is good. So I'm like,
Emily: You're doing fine. Yeah.
Cassidy: It’s fine. It's fine.
Emily: Okay. Now, do you wanna talk about our business credit cards?
Cassidy: Yes.
Emily: And obviously this won't apply to everyone, but as you and I are both freelancers, we have credit cards for our businesses. So…
Cassidy: Yeah.
Emily: Should I go first? Do you wanna go first?
Cassidy: You can start yeah, we'll just, we'll do the big reveal now and that is that Emily and I have the same exact business credit card and it, it was kind of an accident, like I think we realized after the fact that we have the same business credit card. So yeah, we can talk about what the card is and why we chose it and all that stuff.
So yeah, kick us off.
Emily: Okay, so we both have the Chase Ink Business Unlimited card. And [00:22:00] when I was looking to get a business credit card, I did consult a bunch of like, “best of” credit card lists because I didn't totally know where to start in terms of business credit cards. So I was looking for like, best business credit card for freelancer, best business credit card for a small business owner because I'm sure it's the same for you, like I do not have high expenses at all. I knew I wouldn't be doing a lot of spending, but I did want a business credit card for like, the consumer protections that it offers, and, if possible, I wanted to get a few perks as well.
So when I was looking, there was another card, I believe it was a Chase card that I was interested in because it also came with travel perks. And I would say travel is probably the biggest chunk of my business spending over the course of a year. But, kinda like you alluded to earlier, I didn't think I could qualify for that welcome bonus. [00:23:00] And that kind of like, turned me off from getting a card for a while. I was like, I don't wanna apply for this card and not get the welcome bonus, but I really don't think I can get the welcome bonus.
Finally, I just kind of gave up. I was like, I really want to get a business credit card. I'm not gonna worry about getting the perfect card right now. I'm just gonna get the one that covers all the bases, checks the boxes, seems like an all-around good card. And it had a more reasonable signup bonus.
So that was my thought process. What about you?
Cassidy: Yeah. I held off on getting a business credit card for years because similar to you, my expenses are so low and I was like, I'm really fine with using my business debit card. It's fine. Not making that many purchases or anything. But then I was talking to other freelancers and they were like, well, I actually like using my business credit card because any of the rewards that I rack up, I get to use on like the personal side of things. So it's like if [00:24:00] I have Chase travel points, like I can use those to redeem a free flight for me personally, or you know, a hotel or whatever. And I was like, Hmm, maybe that would be kind of cool. So there was one year in particular where I joined this year-long program and the program cost kind of lined up perfectly with like, how much I would need to spend to get this credit card bonus.
So I was like, well, this might be my only opportunity to like, have enough expenses to be able to qualify for a bonus on a business credit card, and so that's what I did. But similar to you, I started out looking up “best of” list for business credit cards 'cause I don't know anything about them. And by and large, all of them had perks or spending categories that didn't really apply to me.
Like some of them were like get 5% cash back on office supplies. But
Emily: Yeah.
Cassidy: I have my computer and I don't need office supplies. Or it was like, get 5% cash back on advertising, but I'm [00:25:00] not paying for advertisements for my business. So, that's kind of what led me to the Chase Ink Business Unlimited. 'Cause it was just like a flat whatever, percent on all purchases. And then, yeah, like I said, I was enrolling in a course where I knew the payment for that would match up enough to get the bonus. So I was like, yeah, let's go ahead and do this card. It looks good enough. Then you have the consumer protections too.
You can earn a little bit, however much that is, and it's good.
Emily: Yeah, sounds like a similar thought process. What kinds of purchases do you put on yours?
Cassidy: I think I put every business expense that I can on there, unless it's something like I'm paying quarterly taxes and the IRS charges like a 3.5% fee if you like pay with a credit card versus a bank account, like those are the only instances where I don't use the credit card, but, pretty much any business expense I will throw on there.
Emily: Mm-hmm. Yeah, same. Do you have any different strategies as far as how you use the [00:26:00] points on your business card versus personal?
Cassidy: No, I, I've actually only used the points once, and I did use it last year. I went on a trip to Iceland and I used some of my points to book the rental car that we needed.
Emily: Hmm.
Cassidy: But that's the only time I've used the points for that. I've just been kind of letting him sit there.
Emily: Yeah, same. I have not used any points yet.
This might be important for anyone who has a business and is wondering why you need to keep business and personal spending on separate cards. What are the pros of doing so?
Cassidy: I do think first and foremost, like it's just so much easier to have things separated. Like it's easier to see exactly how much your business is bringing in, in terms of income, but also outputting in terms of expenses. Like if everything's jumbled up into one account that you use for personal and business expenses, it, it's gonna be really, really hard to divvy all that out whenever you [00:27:00] need to, especially when it comes time to do your taxes.
But then also I think the separation is good. For example, if your business is an LLC and like a limited liability company, but you're also intermingling all of your personal expenses with your business expenses, if someone ever did try to sue you, it's gonna be really hard to determine like, what's a personal asset that's shielded by this LLC and what's like a business asset.
And so I think just for your own liability protection and just to keep things like accounting and taxes simpler, like you really do wanna keep all of your business income going into a business bank account, all of your expenses either coming out of that business account or coming out of like a business credit card of some sort.
Emily: Yeah, I agree. It's like one of the best things you can do right from the beginning, even if you don't have a business credit card yet. Just opening a business checking and savings account is good enough for a little bit.
Cassidy: Yep. And if you need a plug. No affiliation [00:28:00] whatsoever, but my favorite business checking account is Blue Vine.
Okay. Now let's talk about how we spend our points. I know we've mentioned for some of our, you know, like our business credit cards, for example, they're kind of just sitting there, but maybe different for each card. So do you wanna start off by talking about how you use things like cash back, travel, things like that?
Emily: Yeah, so, our Savor card is just a simple cash back card, so we have cashed in on those points just a handful of times. Most recently used some cash back to actually, we got like an Amazon gift card as a gift and used it toward a purchase, but like there was a little bit of a difference we still had to pay, so we were just able to use those points, or cash back, sorry to cover it. But yeah, to be honest, a lot of those points have just been sitting around waiting to be used.
[00:29:00] However, we have used a lot of our Chase travel points and we always use those on trips, like for hotels. Most recently I think we booked a hotel with our points, the year before we booked flights with our points. But yeah, we don't tend to hoard them. We tend to use them whenever we're planning a trip.
Cassidy: Yeah, I feel like it varies for me with cards, like I've mentioned my business credit card for example, those points are just kind of sitting there. And then for the Delta Sky Miles card, you're redeeming Sky Miles for flights essentially. And those all go through periods like if I do need to book a flight, I'll, I'll first check like, do I have enough points to cover this? And then. That'll kind of be the determining factor.
For the Discover Card though, you know, you just rack up cash back and there are several ways to redeem it. Like you can pay yourself the cash or you can apply it to your statement, or you can redeem the cash back for different, like e-gift cards and stuff.
Emily: Mm.
Cassidy: And honestly, that's usually what I do [00:30:00] because with Discover specifically, like for example, you might, could get a $50 Chipotle gift card for $45. So you're getting, you know, you can get gift cards for like 5%, maybe 10% off, whatever the face value is. So if it's a place I'll, I'll know we're gonna go to like Chipotle is a big one because my spouse loves Chipotle, so a lot of times I'll be like, you know, well, we're saving a little bit.
But also like last year I crocheted my mom a blanket and I like got an e-gift card from Michael's through there, I paid less for the gift card than it's face value. So I was like, I'm saving a little bit of money. And these are rewards points anyway, so it's not like I'm actually paying the $47 or however much it was to get the gift card.
So that's how I usually, yeah. So that's how I usually think about that. And then with the Amazon card, we're almost always using the points 'cause as you accrue points, like you can redeem them on Amazon, like at checkout, it'll be like, do you wanna [00:31:00] use your $8 in rewards points? And I'll be like, sure.
Emily: Yeah,
Cassidy: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Emily: Do you check your points often, like your points balances?
Cassidy: I feel like pretty often, like it's not built into my routine, but I do feel like, maybe every other month I'll just be like, ooh, I wonder how many Sky Miles I have? Or I wonder how much cash back I have for Discover. So I don't have a system with it, but I do, I think, check it pretty often. What about you?
Emily: Not often. Usually I just check them whenever we're planning a trip and like planning to use our Chase points, or like anytime we're doing like, a big budget overhaul or like an in-depth kind of money date or something, and we're like in all of our accounts anyway, then I'll just check while I'm in there.
But it's rare.
Cassidy: Yeah. What's been your favorite redemption to date for any of your credit cards?
Emily: Yeah, I think using, and this was cashing in on like our [00:32:00] signup bonus that we got through the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. We used those points to pay for flights out west last summer and we were traveling there for a wedding, but we made it into like a whole vacation and spent a week visiting where we used to live in Jackson, Wyoming.
And the flights were super expensive to get out there. But we didn't have to pay for them, so that was awesome and made that trip possible. What about you?
Cassidy: Yeah, that's, hands down my answer there is just like no better feeling than redeeming your credit card rewards for a free flight.
Emily: Yeah, it's awesome. It's so nice.
Cassidy: Yeah, it really is. Do you feel like you've had any oops moments with like, either your credit cards or points that you wish you'd handled differently?
Emily: No, but I feel like I wish I had known more earlier, like I wish I had been aware of points and cash back and everything earlier in my life. I didn't get my first credit card until I [00:33:00] was like, in my early to mid twenties, like, probably 23 or 24.
Cassidy: Wow.
Emily: And that first card, I hardly put anything on that card for the first couple of years and just like, missed out on a whole bunch of cash back.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm.
Emily: Not so much an oops moment, but you know, you live and you learn.
Cassidy: Yeah, I don't have an oops moment with points specifically, but I do have a cautionary tale. There was one time I really needed cash back from an ATM and I realized I didn't have my debit card, and I was like, I know that you can get cash back from a credit card, and I do pay my balance in full every month. So like, I'll just get this cash and it won't matter. But there ended up being, I don't even remember what the fee is. I won't pretend to spill out a number, but I think I was charged like, a percentage of the money that I withdrew as a fee, and there was like another fee tacked onto it. And I just remember being like, [00:34:00] what the crap? Like I had no idea. I thought if I just paid the money back before my statement, that it was fine. But cash advances have fees no matter what.
Emily: Yeah, yeah. That's a good reminder.
Okay, let's get into our credit card philosophies.
So I think we should start by saying credit cards can be great tools. We've gotten into that, but you have to use them with intention. So first things first. Neither of us ever carry a balance. And that's because we don't want to pay interest on a balance.
So essentially like, we use our credit cards as if they were a debit card. We don't spend money that we don't have in our checking account to pay them off in full every month. Because doing so can just lead to a debt spiral with the crazy high interest rates that credit cards have.
Cassidy: Yeah, I was actually gonna say, I believe that credit cards are actually [00:35:00] extremely, extremely predatory. If you are in a cycle where you're only paying the minimum payment, for example or there's just like no way to keep up with the payments. They're, they're just accruing interest because the interest rates are so, so, so ridiculously high, and the minimum payment is designed to have you end up paying two or three times whatever your balance is by the time you pay the thing off.
So like, if you're paying the minimum payment on a $5,000 balance, you could easily end up spending. 10 to $15,000 over the years paying off that $5,000 balance. And that just makes me wanna vomit. Like it's so disgusting.
Emily: Yeah, the perks are not worth it if you're getting into debt. So pay off your balance.
Cassidy: If you can.
Emily: Yeah, if you can,
Cassidy: Any little extra helps. Yeah.
Emily: Yeah, that's a good point. We've already talked about this a little bit, but I do wanna touch on annual fees again because I don't know about you, but, when I first got a credit card, I was like, [00:36:00] why would I ever pay an annual fee when I can get a no fee card?
Cassidy: Same. I was like, it's never gonna be worth it. And now here I am being like, I'll gladly spend $350 for my Delta.
Emily: Right. Yeah. And I often hear about, like, the top tier Chase travel card, which is the Chase Sapphire Reserve. That card has a $550 annual fee, and I know I've heard so many people say that it is 100% worth it. You just have to like, weigh the cost of the annual fee with the monetary value of the perks that you get.
So I think I mentioned this earlier, but like the card we have with a $95 fee, you know, it comes with a $50 annual credit and we just used like a handful of points, honestly, it felt like it was not much to book a free night at a hotel, at the airport before an early flight, which I'm sure cost around like $140 and, you know, we didn't have to pay for it.
[00:37:00] So in that case, a hundred percent worth it.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm. That's my same philosophy too. It's like, will the monetary benefits that I'm getting from this card outweigh what I'm paying…
Emily: Mm-hmm.
Cassidy: In fees and if it's yes, and it, it usually is like a no brainer for me.
Emily: Yeah. Do you think you have to game the system to benefit from credit cards?
Cassidy: I feel like you and I are proof that you don't have to. Like, could I have more credit card points or rewards today if I was super granular about being like, I can get the most cash back or perks or whatever, if I use this card for this purchase and this card for this purchase? Sure. But I'm also not the kind of person that's gonna expend that mental energy to keep up with all of that.
I feel like the way the system is working for me currently is good enough.
Emily: Yeah. There is so much you can learn and like, do with your credit card points if you want to. But it can also be overwhelming. [00:38:00] So I like to tell myself I'm doing so much better than I was even a few years ago.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm.
Emily: Like, I've learned so much and the fact that, you know, I've been able to redeem points for certain purchases at all is kind of amazing, so.
Cassidy: Yeah.
Emily: Yeah, you can keep things simple and still benefit for sure.
Cassidy: Yeah. Okay. Speaking of that, how do you feel like your approach to credit cards now versus how you thought about them in maybe your early twenties has changed?
Emily: Yeah. I was like, hesitant to get a credit card at first, not because I thought they were bad. I think it was just, they felt scary and grown up.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm.
Emily: Uh, and so as I said, I didn't get one until I was like 23 or 24. And when I first got my original credit card, I only ever used it at gas stations. Part of the reason was that was like, that is one of that card's, bonus categories. And [00:39:00] I was like, a little scared about having a credit card and wanted to be super responsible and like, have a low credit utilization ratio.
Also, I should mention it was a secured card, which means you pay a deposit upfront and that is your line of credit you can borrow against. So my credit line, or my credit limit was like, hilariously low. It was like $200. Um, so only spending it on gas was like a way to keep that credit utilization low, which is good for your credit score.
But now I use a credit card for pretty much everything. But I've never carried a balance, ever and that has always been a part of my philosophy and I make sure that I have the money in my checking account before I use a credit card.
But yeah, now I love using credit cards to earn points on everything and to just have that added peace of mind that you get with credit cards because they have much better consumer protections.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm.
Emily: [00:40:00] Has your philosophy changed?
Cassidy: Yeah. I will say that like, I feel very fortunate in that when I was in ninth grade, I actually did have a personal finance class that I took in high school. And if I had to trace back like, my love of personal finance or my interest in it, that is also like one of the places that it started.
And I remember we had to read this book in class and this was just like a chapter in the book or whatever, but it was like, Sally gets a new credit card and she goes to the store and buys a brand new big screen TV and a pizza, and then she proceeds to only make the minimum payment on that big screen TV and pizza. And then it walks you through like, the big screen TV and the pizza cost a thousand dollars, but because she only made the minimum payment, she ends up paying like $3,000 by the time she's paid it off and it takes her over 10 years. And that one thing, which it's probably a skewed version of what is [00:41:00] actually in the books, I don't remember. But that's just kind of like what stood out in my mind. I was like, oh my gosh, like only paying the minimum payment is really bad. And it like, talked you through the benefits of paying off the card in full and like, that's how you reap the rewards.
So that stuck with me really early on, and so I think that is what kind of led to me getting my first credit card when I turned 18, but then also being really diligent about only charging to it what I had in my bank account and could then pay off in full at the end of the month. And one of the things that I did back then, and that I still do, is I just set up an automatic payment to my credit card to pay the balance in full. So like with, with any credit card, you can set up an automatic payment for it every month. And usually you have the choice of being like, only pay the minimum payment every month, only pay my statement balance, or only pay my available balance or your current balance.
And so I've always just been like, pay off that current balance, it's fine. But beyond that, early on my [00:42:00] credit card philosophy was, I will only need one credit card for as long as I live. I will not be someone that has just cards spewing out my ears because I don't want to keep up with that many cards. That sounds stressful. And also, I will never pay an annual fee for a card, like we said.
And those things have shifted. I have six credit cards splayed out before me on my desk as we're recording this episode right now. And two of those cards have annual fees that I think are worth it. So that part of my philosophy has changed. But the core of really treating it like a debit card and being really intentional about not giving the credit card companies any of my money, is, is still true and still feels good.
Emily: Nice. Well, let's end with a quick fire round where we each answer some questions quickly. And do a little explanation if we want. So do you check your credit score regularly?
Cassidy: Yes, I have the Credit Karma app and I know that you have so many different credit [00:43:00] scores. That's kind of like a common myth that people think you only have one credit score. You actually have a lot of them and Credit Karma shows you a few scores that aren't necessarily like your TransUnion score and all of those that you would see if you like, applied for a car loan or something.
But it's good enough for me. I love it. I probably check it like, every month or two.
Emily: Hmm.
Cassidy: What about you?
Emily: No, I don't. And I probably should or just like, would like to be aware of that. But I don't.
Cassidy: Yeah. Also, a lot of your credit cards on your statement, it will show your current like VantageScore.
Emily: Yeah. And actually I use Discover for, you know, I have Discover credit cards and bank accounts, so when I log in for my banking, I actually, I do see my credit score. But I don't like, intentionally check it very often, I will say.
Cassidy: Yeah. Okay. How many credit cards do you have?
Emily: Five, not including my business card. So I guess that makes it six, and that is between me and my husband.
Cassidy: Oddly enough, same.
Emily: Wow. Last question. Do [00:44:00] you have any regrets about cards you've opened or closed?
Cassidy: I have cards that I opened at a time when I was actively using them and enjoying the perks, like I mentioned the REI card, but now I haven't shopped at REI in years, so I'm like, I really don't need this card anymore. So in that way I regret it. But at the time I was really, really using the card to its fullest advantage.
And then same with my Alaska Airlines card. I'm like, I can take you or leave you at this point. But yeah, those are the two for me that I'm like, eh, I don't know. What about you?
Emily: Yeah. I regret the Discover Miles card as I think I mentioned earlier. My initial Discover cashback card that I got, that was my first card, was great. And I thought I would like this one.
I, we were interested in getting a travel card but I don't know if you know anything about this card. They have like, restructured the perks in a way that, it's not really a travel card despite the name. It is just another cashback card, and this was before I really understood points [00:45:00] and travel cards and more of the intricacies of credit cards. And it, it was just not a very beneficial card. So we may end up closing it.
Cassidy: Wow. Nice.
Emily: So let's wrap up here by reemphasizing that credit cards don't have to be complicated.
Cassidy: Yeah, I really don't think you need to be like a points wizard or anything like that to make a credit card work for you.
Emily: If you're earning rewards, avoiding interest, and using the card in a way that aligns with your goals, then you're doing great.
Cassidy: Yeah. And if you decide at the end of the day that you don't wanna use credit cards at all, that's okay too. I think that really hinges on like, do you think that you can be the kind of person to pay the balance off in full and not run up a balance where you're only making the minimum payment. And I think for some people they're like, I think I need the physical guardrails of a debit card to be like, I can only spend the money that I have in this account to keep my spending in check.
And if that's something that you have to do for yourself, no shame, like, that, [00:46:00] that is a really great thing to do too.
Emily: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree with that. Just make sure your cards are working for you, not against you.
Cassidy: Yeah, we'll see you next week.
