FMF Reader Shares Success Story

Here's an email I received this morning:

I know you like getting emails like this and wanted to share another "glad we made this decision" story with you.  About a year ago, I was evaluating our personal finances.  From your posts, I saw how much you liked the American Express Blue Cash Card.  It made me question whether we should continue with our Visa United card (which earned us frequent flyer points). 

My husband and I talked it over and we decided that it was time to make a switch.  We believed that a) airlines would eventually cancel the frequent flyer programs as they are looking for ways to save costs, b) with two small children, we only fly about once every two years and that's to Europe to see our families and c) we'd prefer to have the cash and the flexibility to decide what to spend it on.

We took your recommendation and set up the combo system of American Express Blue Cash Card and Chase Freedom Cash Visa which has worked really well.  My husband is a general contractor and we discovered that there is also a Chase Contractor Cash Rewards Card so we signed up for that too to really maximize both our personal and business spending.  (I've got a business version of Chase Freedom Cash Visa as well for my consultancy business.)

But the best bit is not the cash rewards (much as we like them)!  Last week, I received an email from United letting me know that the number of frequent flyer points required to book a Standard Award seat from the US to Europe was going up from 50,000 currently to 110,000 in 2009!  http://www.united.com/page/article/0,,59,00.html (Note:  they've already increased it from 50,000 to 100,000 for the rest of 2008.)  So, while they have not canceled the program, they are making it harder to use the flights internationally (the number of points for US flights stays the same).

Luckily, we had booked our 2009 trip to Europe in August 2008 and had already used up the majority of our points earned before we switched the cards.  In the meantime, we are grateful that we are not having to spend twice as much money (in reality, wait twice as long) to save up the required points to have enough for our next trip to Europe in 2011.

Yes, I LOVE stories like this! That's what this site is about -- giving ideas that people can use to improve their finances. I'm glad she sent me this testimony -- it made my day!

Comments

[Kevin M]

Can't go wrong with cash - although in my experience some of those reward cards are tightening up as well.

[Rich]

I got the Chase Freedom card last year around April and up until about June this year I used that with my Capital One cash card. Then I realized that it would be smarter to build up my rewards on the Chase card by making all my purchases on the card and not just groceries, gas and fast food. Needless to say my cash rewards balance began to shoot up and now I'm only one billing cycle away from $200 rewards dollars (I currently have about $192), which I'll be using to get the $250 check!

[Shaun Connell]

Unfortunately, my credit card is the "noobie" credit card -- it's a first-timer. Hopefully I'll be able to get a different one within a year or so. ;-)

Looks like a lot of overseas travel; not much frugality there.

[Michael B]

Good job! Regarding airline ff miles - they are not worth it. I've been a platinum business flier for American for 10 years. Each year they make changes. The biggest change you DON'T see which is not publicized is the reduction of free seats on a plane. They have less and less of the minimum miles seats which are taken by resellers as soon as available. What's left are the "anytime" seats which take up to 100,000 miles for coach. Miles are a rip off. Go for rebates.