The thing is get a fee-free card, pay off the balance and collect the points — you can not just be “convenienced”, but ahead. I completely agree with buying from reputable dealers. We wait until we have enough books on our wish list so we can get free shipping from Amazon for example. You can save, time, money and frustration. Plus institutions like Amex and PayPal double your insurance on purchases.
Oh, and call them and have the preposterous limits reduced from $20K+ to say $1000 (they hate this - tee hee). If you pay it off monthly, you never need it, and if it gets lost your liability is immediately limited.
Absolutely. I get a 30 day + float on anything I buy, a 2.5% cash back on anything - provided of course that I pay it all off at the end of the month. It’s free money if you manage it.
Plus I don’t have to carry much cash on me and if the card is lost/stolen I call within a few hours and it’s disabled and a new one is on the way.
I had a card up to a few years ago that had points for a book store. Our family reads A LOT - I didn’t pay for a book during the entire 9 years I held it. Filled 3 bookshelves+. Now that’s an investment. (then they decided to charge a fee - sigh)