Is anyone else at the age where the point game doesn’t seem worth it over a simple 3% cashback on robinhood gold or another catch all? I’ve had some phenomenal redemptions with points in the past, but feel like sweet spots have been harder and harder to find each year and with all the point cards going with the coupon book to get value, a cash back setup seems more enticing. Very tempted to cut down to a RH gold and an amex plat schwab/gold setup (for the 1.1cpp to schwab), or just straight to RH gold.
Current cards:
Amex platinum Schwab
Amex Gold
Venture X
CSR
Chase freedom flex
Chase freedom unlimited
Amex Hilton Aspire
Tempted to cut everything with an AF outside of amex plat/schwab since generally i can use the credits and it can mesh well with the 3% catch all. Or is full cashback the better move?
Is cash back better than points now?
byu/IApogee inCreditCards
Posted by IApogee
22 Comments
For some people, definitely cash back is better. But it doesn’t have to be either/or — you can do both very easily. Get a Citi Custom cash/Double cash and a Citi Strata Premier. Custom cash gets you 5% back and when paired with a Strata premier, the 5% back can either be points OR cash back. Supper flexible. The moment I no longer see value in points, I’ll just cash it all out as a statement credit.
Points have only ever been better for a narrow subset of people—those who regularly travel for pleasure and have the flexibility to do so on weird dates booked far in advance. For those people, points can still get far more value than cash back. For others, no.
With the chase trifecta you can also do both
If you enjoy luxury travel and have the wealth to pay for it (via the opportunity cost of forgone cash back) then points are great. For everyone else go cash back imo.
I’ve always been Team CB, so from where I’m standing it’s always been better 😉
Yes.
Points usage is intentionally obfuscated to bait normies into valuing them more than what they’re worth, and then never using them.
It is certainly “easier” to put together a Cashback card rotation that gets you 2% to 6% back on everything. Whether or not travel points are worth it probably depends on how much and what kind of travel you are doing.
For me leaning to a hybrid approach of either at any given point in my life but for me right now points bc a trip I use in mind I would never reach with cash back / SUB hunting .
For me cash back isn’t worth the hassle of multiple cards and over optimizing and I wouldn’t do it for cash back
With points I would do more than 1 card and have a plan for the points but if I have no trips in mind then I’d do cash back
Both. Cash back to investing account. Points to transfer to Hyatt
Always cash back for me as it’s easier to understand. And you can transfer those partner airlines our hotels with higher conversation rates
Always has been.
Notihng wrong with CB, but consider some of your issues may be related to the fact you have three points systems going at the same time.
The only reason I have a points setup is because if BILT and getting value on my biggest monthly spent. Rent/mortgage. The new cards make it a bit harder to earn, so I’ll see how that plays out going forward.
Before Robinhood card, I accumulated VentureX points, but points are a pain in the ass to redeem and to get the best value, you have to hunt deals and deals are limited and not for everyone.
Cash is more flexible and you could invest it and make more to purchase points or just pay out of pocket.
M
This is the way!!!
RH Gold, plus a good card for groceries, plus maybe one other card on a category where you have a lot of spend… and then chill. That’s it.
It’s simple, low stress, no annual fees except $50 for RH Gold, and pretty darn competitive with any reasonably well-optimized setup, and all but the most overboard penny-pinching concoctions. I’m convinced that’s the best setup for like 90% of people who don’t travel *very* frequently and/or don’t even want to deal with the headache of managing points.
Heck, the $50 annual fee for RH Gold even pays for itself *several* times over if you take advantage of the IRA match. And/or if you use the free $1k margin, assuming 5% yearly return!
Bilt 1.0 also used to be a good addition until recently… may it rest in peace 🪦🕊️. I guess we’ll just have to see how long RH Gold lasts before it gets nerfed and joins the likes of Bilt and USBAR lol
Anyway, post-Bilt 1.0, this is my new setup, and so far I’m super satisfied. Honestly, I’m starting to become a cash back evangelist myself — and I’d say go for it.
I do purely cashback with no AF cards and toss them all into VOO (s&p 500 etf). at potentially 8% return and compounded over time that’s better return than anything i put into travel. Tired of the bs points game, just need something simpler.
Short answer yes, but if you rely on traveling for work or are a frequent flyer then you have to take that into consideration.
Cash back is better unless you’re somebody who travels via airports frequently.
The value of cash is pretty straightforward… it’s cash
It’s up to you how you value the points and how you would use them
For me, short domestic flights with Virgin or KLM come out to 2-3cpp so those are definitely worth it. But for longer flights im getting .7cpp and that’s checking 3 different transfer partners. It’s way better to get cash back cause points research is hard and rarely get a good deal. I don’t use points for hotels cause idk how to get good deals outside of 1cpp. For 1cpp I’d rather spend cash and earn 10x points on the spend than use points and earn nothing. For flights it depends. For everything else cash is better. Points kind of suck right now.
Travel points are becoming harder to maximize but depending on your travel style it can still come out ahead.
For me personally, I am traveling full time for the next year or so as an expat, and tend to book last minute flights and business class so the math wins out over cash back. I also churn cards.
In my recent experience:
– The points boost changes have been surprisingly good for me after I got the CSR with the intention of triple dipping credits. Easy to find good deals at 1.65+ CPP for hotels which historically has been limited to Hyatt and some other niche transfer partner redemptions
– I can still get ~1.5 CPP a lot of times for short haul Y flights with partner airlines due to booking last minute and inflated cash fares. My plans often change a lot last minute so having the flexibility to not pay cash is great, especially with the more favorable cancellation policies
– Cash back rates will never match the CPP calculations for long haul J flights. CPP calculations are never truly accurate when comparing with the cash price for long haul J, but if I was team cash back I’d never get to experience flying J with the earning rates
That being said after I finish my travel phase I will likely switch to a hybrid set up utilizing some of the higher cash back rates like Amex BCP, Citi CC, etc. but in the meantime there’s always more cards to churn which favor team travel due to the number of churnable airline/hotel cards vs straight cash back
I kind of have a hybrid setup. Chase trifecta that I primarily use for United and Hyatt, but have used at 1cpp cash back when I get a surplus. I also have a lot of United and Hyatt just from my work travel, so sometimes I’ll just cash some out because of that.
I also have Amex Plat and Gold for MR. I primarily use those for Delta domestic, so I don’t get insane value out of them, but it works for me.
My recent catch-all has actually been my Apple Card. It’s not exciting, but 2% back on non-category/bonus using Apple Pay (plus a few 3% categories and very occasional bonus) is pretty decent and easy.
I used to travel for work nearly every week and racked up points/miles from flights/stays in addition the reimbursable spend on my personal cards. That was sometimes as high as $80-100k per year. I haven’t really paid for my own flight in over 15 years….but the cycle gets exhausting. I can see myself moving to a simple cash back setup at some point, but I’m not there yet.
This is why I love the Autograph. No annual fee and redeemable for cash or points. Best card in the game for me by far.