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Unpopular opinion: the latest changes to H1B visa program are acceptable and ultimately serve a good purpose in the long run.
Kindly use constructive feedback in your responses.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/trump-administration-taking-action-tighten-foreign-worker-visa-requirements-protect-american-workers/
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From the CM bowl…
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Any thoughts on ARKK and MGK ?
Well. ARKK is back.
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Just so you're aware, I do not know of a single mortgage servicer that accepts payment through a credit card. It's default and locked to a bank account.
Do us a favor - if you’re going to utilize a credit card moving forward, make sure you utilize someone’s referral code within this bowl. Everyone benefits and it’s free $.
Check ones that max points on your common spending items. People love Chase Sapphire.
I do. 85k bonus points.
I do chase sapphire reserve - great point system and membership perks
Rising Star
There’s 3 primary credit card “points” ecosystems:
- Chase
- Capital One
- American Express
Each one has partnerships with airlines and hotels for their ecosystem. You should check and see which partners are most compatible with your desired travel.
I use Chase, and am pretty happy with it. I think Sapphire Reserve has gotten a little outrageous with the annual fee, but the Sapphire Preferred is still pretty solid for 1/5 the annual fee. Looks like the current Sapphire Preferred referral bonus is 60k pts, which is around $600 of value when used for travel.
Feel free to ping me if you want a referral (I get 15k pts if you sign up)
Citi has a decent ecosystem system too. Especially for earning and low fees.
I personally am in the Amex and Citi ecosystems for points. Might join cap1 and Chase too in due time.
Maybe start with a credit card that gives you 2% cash back on everything (e.g. citi double cash, wells fargo active cash). Remember to pay your card in full every month and be responsible, points or cash back are not worth it if you get into debt.
Citi Costco Visa and the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred. Hard to find better cash back than these two. Cash is king for credit card rewards. Exception is sign on bonuses.
Amex Blue Preferred is worth the annual fee. 6% cash back on groceries!
Happy to give you more detailed recommendations via DM but my biggest recommendation is use credit cards that give points over cash back if you’re looking for travel related redemptions. My first cards I got and I recommend are chase related. Based on the amount you travel I’d recommend the chase sapphire reserve or sapphire preferred. These are your go to cards for travel and dining. They do have annual fees but you should be able to offset. Next I’d recommend getting the chase freedom flex and freedom unlimited. These are GREAT no annual fee cards. The freedom flex has rotating 5x pts on categories that change quarterly (e.g., groceries, gas, amazon, etc.) and the freedom unlimited is 1.5x back on all purchases. The great thing here is the points can transfer to your sapphire card and having the sapphire card increases the minimum value of your pts. Preferred increases value by 25% and reserve increases by 50%.
The value here is transferring pts to travel partners. That’s where people get 2+ cents per point redemption. In the long term you can look at Amex cards but the reason I recommend starting with chase is because it’s easier to understand and find value but also there are downgrade paths. If you decide you don’t want to keep the sapphire because of the annual fee you can downgrade to a no annual fee card and keep your average age of credit good. Amex gold and platinum, while great cards, require you to cancel to remove the annual fee.
Let me know if you have any questions and good luck!
I have the X1 card and love it. No fees and 2x on everything, 3x if you spend $1,000+/month. But I also have the reserve as my main card for travel
https://x1.co/r/uEYjSvK/?md=copy-link%26copy_exp%3Ddiscovery%26image_exp%3Dpoints
X1 is cool and I hope it grows in the future but I don’t like the no sign up bonus and limited travel redemptions as compared to Amex/chase/cap one
CSP/CSR + Chase Freedom Unlimited.
CSR if you have a lot of restaurant/travel spend and would benefit from the additional perks. CSP otherwise.
Feel free to DM if you want to talk specifics or want a referral.
I have Amex blue and chase sapphire. Amex has 6% cash back on a bunch of ordinary expenses - streaming services, cell, etc. Chase has great points and bonus of 85k. I have a PayPal acct and linked my card to it so I can get points on all online shopping. Check out bank rate .com to see what you are most likely you qualify for and search for best deals. Good you’re getting a card to build credit history. Just pay it off monthly. And stick to points vs airline miles so you have more options.
Pro
Get a credit card and shift as much of your $5K monthly spending to the card and pay it off in full every month. Not sure how much of a limit you'll get on your first card. Funny thing with credit cards is it takes forever to get your limit increased to fully cover all your monthly spending. i.e. My credit score is around 800, I've had my oldest card for 20 years, HHI is 200K+ and my limit is now only around 10K.
For a 2% everything card, I would recommend Citi Double Cash, as the cashback you earned can be converted to Citi ThankYou points, which have good airline transfer partners.
Good points. And I agree. Not looking to buy things out of my price range. Just looking to use this on primarily reoccurring payments then paying it off every month.
Thanks for the info everyone. Very helpful.
You don’t have any credit cards at all?
Had one I used in the past to build credit. Haven’t actively used one for a few years.