Why I’m Switching from Team Travel to Team Cashback – A 3-Year Journey

A Reddit user has been aiming to maximize their credit card rewards for three years — but is making a major shift. Previously, the poster thought that travel credit cards were the best way to go if they wanted to get the most bang for their buck. Now, however, the original poster (OP) instead firmly believes that cash back cards are the way to go. 

Here’s why the poster has switched to the cash back camp, along with some details about why cash back cards may be the better choice for many. 

Here’s why a Redditor is switching from travel to cashback cards

The OP provided a very detailed explanation about the reason he’s switching to cash back from travel cards, and his reasoning makes good sense. 

First, he’s not thrilled with most of the banks that issue the best travel cards. He has an issue with virtually all the big travel cards, including:

• Card issuers that charge high annual fees but give a ton of pointless statement credits to justify them — which many people don’t end up really getting much value from
• Card issuers that don’t have good bonus categories and that make it harder to maximize your points
• Card issuers that make it hard to get approved due to strict rules about how many cards you can open in a period of time, or due to severe restrictions on what your credit score and other financial credentials need to be. 

He’s also found that many of the airline rewards programs that these cards transfer their miles to have also gotten worse — including airlines moving to dynamic pricing, restricting the number of first-class bookings that go to award members, and devaluing point bookings.

With all of these issues, the OP said he can’t justify paying a fee for travel rewards cards anymore, only to have difficulty redeeming his points and to find himself coping with a lot of hassle. 

With a simple cash back card, all of this annoyance is eliminated. You can just get between 2% and 5% back on all purchases, depending on which card or cards you use, and can redeem the rewards easily as a statement credit or into your bank account without worrying about whether the redemption options you want are going to be available or going to hold their value. 

Why cash back cards are often the better choice

The OP is 100% right about all of the issues with the travel cards, and he’s also correct that cash back cards can be simpler. In fact, cash back cards can make the most sense for a lot of people because they just make things easy.

You can use the money you get from cash back cards to save for travel purchases if you want to, but you aren’t locked into more spending on a vacation just to be able to take advantage of your card’s perks.

With cash back cards, you literally get paid back for all of the spending that you do, making things you buy cheaper, and there’s nothing to think about as far as trying to game the system or max out rewards — you know exactly what rewards you are in line for at all times.

Many other Redditors also said they had made a similar switch from travel to cash back cards, and if you are ready to find a simple credit card solution with a rewards program that actually works for you, start shopping around today to find an all-around great cash back card with generous perks and simple rewards that you can use to make all of your everday purchases.

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