Update: Citi ATT is a great card to have as well. It earns 3x Thank You Points at many online merchants. Doctor of Credit has a great post on what earns 3x and what does not. This can be great for certain gift cards. Miles to Memories also has a nice post on the same subject.
Reselling is very capital intensive. If you are putting a couple hundred thousand or more on your credit card every year, every little percent helps a lot. 1% on 100,000 is an extra $1,000 in your pocket every year.
That being said, you also want to keep things simple for a variety of reasons. Between tracking expenses for taxes and returns to stores, fewer cards is much better, as long as it doesn't significantly hurt your overall return.
Here are the credit cards that use on a regular basis or would use if I had them or could maximize their benefits. I am not an accountant and you should talk to your accountant about the ramifications of using a personal card for business purchases. I have stopped using these cards for personal use for those reasons but once again, talk to an accountant.
Spending on business cards has the added bonus of not affecting your credit score.
Keep in mind that I love cash. I love cash much more than I love travel so I am heavily biased towards cashback and my credit card choices reflect that. I fly economy so points don't do much more than cash. Just please don't tell anyone that a Blogger is recommending cash.
Bank of America Travel Rewards with Preferred Rewards
The travel rewards card earns 1.5 points for every purchase that is good towards travel redemptions. You can redeem for cash but it will only get you .6 cents per point. The great thing is if you have $100,000 with Bank of America or their affiliates like Merrill Lynch you will earn 2.625% towards travel purchases. It's also a Visa which is great.
That goes a long way but you have to have a lot of money in reserve for that one.
You can also try to get a 50% bonus on the business version. That's 2.25 points per dollars. Not bad.
I would not bother with this card unless you can get the bonus.
Any number of 2% cards:
Whether it be the Fidelity American Express (soon changing to US Bank instead of FIA), the Citi Double Cash or the Capital One Spark ($59 annual fee year 2), there are plenty of 2% cashback cards out there.
Most of my gift cad purchases go on these types of cards.
Chase Ink is the card to get for anyone reselling. You can earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points at office supply stores, internet, phone and cable. You can use it for iPads at Staples and earn oodles and oodles of points.
Points can be redeemed for cash (1 point to 1 cent ratio) or transferred to Airline/Hotel partners if you have the $95 annual fee version. You can also book travel directly through the Chase Portal with the annual fee version. Your points are worth 1.25 cents towards travel in that scenario. Check out this Devil's Advocate post on the topic.
Keep in mind that the merchant category is determined by the merchant. Try your Chase Ink everywhere once. You might be surprised to find what codes at 5x for no apparent reason.
1) As noted in the update: the Citibank AT&T card is great for reselling. 3x Thank You Points for many online merchants
2) Barclays Arrival Plus - 2.1% cashback on all purchase which can be redeemed for travel. Has a $89 annual fee so you would need to spend $89,000 to break even with the extra .1% over a 2% card without an annual fee, I have one for quarter four when I can't keep available on pretty much any of these cards.
3) American Express Simply Cash -business card which earns 5% cashback on Office Supply stores with no annual fee.
Reselling is very capital intensive. If you are putting a couple hundred thousand or more on your credit card every year, every little percent helps a lot. 1% on 100,000 is an extra $1,000 in your pocket every year.
That being said, you also want to keep things simple for a variety of reasons. Between tracking expenses for taxes and returns to stores, fewer cards is much better, as long as it doesn't significantly hurt your overall return.
Here are the credit cards that use on a regular basis or would use if I had them or could maximize their benefits. I am not an accountant and you should talk to your accountant about the ramifications of using a personal card for business purchases. I have stopped using these cards for personal use for those reasons but once again, talk to an accountant.
Spending on business cards has the added bonus of not affecting your credit score.
Keep in mind that I love cash. I love cash much more than I love travel so I am heavily biased towards cashback and my credit card choices reflect that. I fly economy so points don't do much more than cash. Just please don't tell anyone that a Blogger is recommending cash.
General Purchases - Non Bonus Spending
Bank of America Travel Rewards with Preferred Rewards
The travel rewards card earns 1.5 points for every purchase that is good towards travel redemptions. You can redeem for cash but it will only get you .6 cents per point. The great thing is if you have $100,000 with Bank of America or their affiliates like Merrill Lynch you will earn 2.625% towards travel purchases. It's also a Visa which is great.
That goes a long way but you have to have a lot of money in reserve for that one.
You can also try to get a 50% bonus on the business version. That's 2.25 points per dollars. Not bad.
I would not bother with this card unless you can get the bonus.
Any number of 2% cards:
Whether it be the Fidelity American Express (soon changing to US Bank instead of FIA), the Citi Double Cash or the Capital One Spark ($59 annual fee year 2), there are plenty of 2% cashback cards out there.
Most of my gift cad purchases go on these types of cards.
Chase Ink
Chase Ink is the card to get for anyone reselling. You can earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points at office supply stores, internet, phone and cable. You can use it for iPads at Staples and earn oodles and oodles of points.
Points can be redeemed for cash (1 point to 1 cent ratio) or transferred to Airline/Hotel partners if you have the $95 annual fee version. You can also book travel directly through the Chase Portal with the annual fee version. Your points are worth 1.25 cents towards travel in that scenario. Check out this Devil's Advocate post on the topic.
Keep in mind that the merchant category is determined by the merchant. Try your Chase Ink everywhere once. You might be surprised to find what codes at 5x for no apparent reason.
Discover
You may no longer be able to sign up for the Discover Double promotion but it is still worth it to have a Discover card for access to the rotating categories and, more importantly, access to Discover Deals.
Discover Deals often has the best shopping portal earnings potential like 5% at Best Buy and often 10% at Macy's and Kohl's. Just make sure to check out the exclusions before you shop.
I put over $15,000 of spending on my Discover Card last month alone and almost entirely through Discover Deals.
I know I'm asking for trouble. Here's hoping I don't get any :)
Honorable Mentions
1) As noted in the update: the Citibank AT&T card is great for reselling. 3x Thank You Points for many online merchants
2) Barclays Arrival Plus - 2.1% cashback on all purchase which can be redeemed for travel. Has a $89 annual fee so you would need to spend $89,000 to break even with the extra .1% over a 2% card without an annual fee, I have one for quarter four when I can't keep available on pretty much any of these cards.
3) American Express Simply Cash -business card which earns 5% cashback on Office Supply stores with no annual fee.
Between these 3 types of cards I put well over 90% of my spending for the business. The only time I waiver is when my credit limit does not support using them anymore or if there is an especially lucrative promotion going on. I sometimes use store specific cards as well like Target and Kohl's but that is rare as well.
What credit cards do you use and love that I didn't mention? Let me know in the comments.
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