DH and I charge a lot of money on both our Discover and Chase Freedom cards. We have been loyal Discover Cards for years but then switched over to Chase not too long ago.
I like the fact that Chase has higher limits on their quarterly 5 percent bonus categories. They give 5 percent back up to 1500 (usually) whereas Discover caps it at a measly 300 most of the time. I also don't like that with Discover, you have to spend 3,000 before you start getting a full 1 percent back and Chase offers that right off the bat.
But Discover Card has been good to DH and me since they send us invite-only offers where we spent X amount of money over X amount of months and then get bonus cash back money. In the past year, I've gotten a bonus 150.00 cash back and DH has gotten a bonus 250.00 cash back. I also had a very easy offer of spend 500 monthly over 3 months and get a bonus 50.00 too. These extra bonuses are on top of the regular 1 percent and 5 percent so when you factor all that in, they are paying us back anywhere from 3 to 6 percent back on everything we buy. Then redeem those for the partner gift cards (where you redeem 20 but get a 25 GC) and we are probably getting 8 to 10 percent back on everything we buy.
So I switch between Chase and Discover depending on who gives me the better deal at the time. We probably collect somewhere between 750 and 1000 in rewards every year. DH has his own Chase and Discover acct and I have my own Chase and Discover acct.
Also, I don't make it a habit to pay bills late but it does happen. If you charge a lot and pay your account in full and have a good payment history, they will waive late and interest fees every single time for you. And if they won't do it for you, speak to a supervisor and ask to close your account and they'll change their tune right away.