Cash Back Credit Cards?

[JP.mpls]

Cathy63, I recently signed up for the Costco Citi Visa card. I thought it only paid back a percentage on Costco purchases and gas, and the annual fee is basically your Costco membership. Are you saying this card also pays back a percentage on everything?
Thanks, JP

 

[Dtail]

This reminds me, for some credit cards taking the cash back or credit statement is less value than taking a gift card.
Yet others (Bank of America Travel card, or Barclay Arrival + card) taking the statement credit on actual travel purchases after the fact is worth a lot more than taking a gift card or simple statement credit (not applied to travel).

So depending upon the card, a person can maximize the benefit during redemption.

I actually use the BOA Travel card for our recurring automated bills and typically not for travel.
I maximize the points by transferring the points to my BOA Premier card and then redeem it for cash through that card.

 

[JP.mpls]

Cathy,
I just checked their website. I'm answering my own question:
4% on "eligible" gas.
3% on "eligible" travel.
2% on Costco purchases.
1% on everything else.


This is my backup card. I've been using it at Costco and for gas. I'm using a Capital One (1.5% on everything) card for all other purchases.


I might switch over to the Citi Double Back visa through Fidelity (2% on everything.)


Thanks, JP

 

[akck]

We’ve basically switched from using a miles card to using our Costco Visa card for most purchases. The miles card is now used mainly for air travel. As a result, we’ve gotten back cash in excess of $1,000.

 

[Drake3287]

This reminds me, for some credit cards taking the cash back or credit statement is less value than taking a gift card.
Yet others (Bank of America Travel card, or Barclay Arrival + card) taking the statement credit on actual travel purchases after the fact is worth a lot more than taking a gift card or simple statement credit (not applied to travel).

So depending upon the card, a person can maximize the benefit during redemption.

Very true. I take the travel credit instead of cash which in the end pays me more cash back. Sort of a confusing card but once you figure it out it's easy to use.

 

[Drake3287]

And for those of you that still have the United Airlines Mileage Plus Visa card and hate paying an annual fee, they also have an unadvertised card with no annual fee. It only give half the miles though.

 

[Sojourner]

Uber Visa card: 4pct cashback in dining, 3pct on hotels and airlines. Plus they credit you a certain amount towards suscriptions like Netflix each year. No annual fee. No foreign transaction fee. No catches. Has the uber logo on it. I rarely use uber. I just like the high cashback.

Seems like a strong contender for my next CC. The 4% cash back on dining and UberEats, and 3% on airfare, hotels, and AirBnb is the best I've seen for a no-annual-fee card that doesn't require other memberships or accounts (e.g. Costco, Fidelity, etc.). Also gives $100 cash back signup bonus. Not bad!

 

[COZICAN]

Not much makes me happier than to buy a toy (guns, knives, bike parts etc) online then turn around and transfer the exact amount from cash rewards. It's free stuff!

Coz

 

[sheehs1]

A little late to this thread. I actually put half the purchase price of my new car on my Cash Rewards Card. I would have put the entire thing on there had I remembered to up my credit limit prior to the day before...but I had not.

Turned around paid it off when the statement came. It was only 1% but that 1% was $250.00 cash back Rewards.

This thread reminded me to apply for a better Cash Rewards Card. Did that today. SunTRust MasterCard, 5% gas and groceries for the first year-2% after that, 1% on everything else. I could probably have done better but it is linked to the bank I use.
Free money...that is for sure.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We use Amazon Visa for 4% on Amazon purchases and Fidelity Visa for 2% back on everything else. We haven't played the sign up bonus games this past year but they are really free money for very little work and inconsequential credit score hits. We haven't paid for anything out of pocket from Home Depot in years thanks to gift cards bought with credit card sign up bonus points.

 

[Sunset]

A little late to this thread. I actually put half the purchase price of my new car on my Cash Rewards Card. I would have put the entire thing on there had I remembered to up my credit limit prior to the day before...but I had not.

Turned around paid it off when the statement came. It was only 1% but that 1% was $250.00 cash back Rewards.

This thread reminded me to apply for a better Cash Rewards Card. Did that today. SunTRust MasterCard, 5% gas and groceries for the first year-2% after that, 1% on everything else. I could probably have done better but it is linked to the bank I use.
Free money...that is for sure.

Good to know, I tried that on my last vehicle but they would only let me put $3K on the card.
Next time, maybe I'll hold out or walk.

 

[Drake3287]

Me to, I've tried putting a couple of car's on a card over the year's and they've only allowed a few thousand to be put on it. Certainly the granddaddy of all credit card purchases!

 

[Scuba]

We like the Fidelity 2% card. Have had it for years. Very simple and the credits automatically come into our checking account each month. We aren’t willing to do the extra work to juggle around with too many cards, but in the last year we did get the Amazon VISA for 5% off on Amazon purchases, and the Target Red Card, also 5% off and free shipping for online purchases. That’s about all the complexity we’re willing to deal with day to day.

One other thing we do is that we have a 0% balance on one card. It started out on a different card. We paid minimum payments and as it was about to become due, opened another 0% card with zero balance transfer fee and just used it to pay off the old one. Hoping we can do that again when it comes due in July, but not sure because we don’t get that many offers with no balance transfer fee. Lots of cards charge 0% on transferred balances but in the fine print they usually charge 3% to transfer the balance. We reject all such offers and only accept the rare offer that will transfer a balance for free AND charge zero interest on that balance for 15-24 months. Pretty nice to have free money!

 

[sheehs1]

Good to know, I tried that on my last vehicle but they would only let me put $3K on the card.
Next time, maybe I'll hold out or walk.

I had called the credit card company the day before to make sure I understood their limits and that if I did it, I would receive the Cash Back Rewards. I did try to up my limit, but I needed to apply and it would take 3 to 4 days (In reality probably longer). I was picking up and paying for the car the next day. I could have waited but I wanted to get it over with as I don't enjoy purchasing vehicles.

The dealership finance director had no problem with the amount I put on my card ($25,000). I was writing a check for the remainder.

I think it has more to do with the dealership than limits on the card. Don't know if it was because it was basically a cash deal with no loan involved...or not. Since the dealership is "eating" those interchange rates, it may have something to do with that as well.

I'd definitely scope out what the dealership allows before a final purchase to get Cash Rewards back! And I would get competing dealerships involved if I had to! I did this on the purchase price and the last round of quotes gave me another $2,000 off the vehicle. Did I say, "I don't enjoy purchasing vehicles!" I don't like the haggle process!

 

[jazz4cash]

We like the Fidelity 2% card. Have had it for years. Very simple and the credits automatically come into our checking account each month. We aren’t willing to do the extra work to juggle around with too many cards, but in the last year we did get the Amazon VISA for 5% off on Amazon purchases, and the Target Red Card, also 5% off and free shipping for online purchases. That’s about all the complexity we’re willing to deal with day to day.

One other thing we do is that we have a 0% balance on one card. It started out on a different card. We paid minimum payments and as it was about to become due, opened another 0% card with zero balance transfer fee and just used it to pay off the old one. Hoping we can do that again when it comes due in July, but not sure because we don’t get that many offers with no balance transfer fee. Lots of cards charge 0% on transferred balances but in the fine print they usually charge 3% to transfer the balance. We reject all such offers and only accept the rare offer that will transfer a balance for free AND charge zero interest on that balance for 15-24 months. Pretty nice to have free money!

I try not to put too much effort into juggling card offers either, but for several years NFCU has had a no fee 0% for 12 months offer for balance transfers and I've used this to pay off other 0% balances and one year I even took a cash advance and put it into a 4% CD. Alas, they modified the offer this year so it is 1.99% for 12 months instead of 0% so it doesn't have any appeal to me.

 

[Drake3287]

Charging a vehicle. Not sure if this is true or not but once when I tried to put the vehicle down payment on a credit card the finance guy told me I couldn't use a loan (credit card) as the means of a cash down payment.

I think in reality paying for a new car with a credit card is up to the dealer and how much they'll willing to payout for credit card charges. With most new car's having a slim margin these day's that credit card fee takes a big bite out of a sale. In most of my recent purchases they've only allowed a few thousand on the card because of "dealer" limits.

 

[sengsational]

With most new car's having a slim margin these day's that credit card fee takes a big bite out of a sale. In most of my recent purchases they've only allowed a few thousand on the card because of "dealer" limits.

Maybe it's like this...if you negotiate a really good deal, they'll deny the use of a credit card, but if you've not done such a good job at negotiating, they're willing to take the credit card as payment because otherwise you might walk and find out you could save $1K by going across town.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I just noticed I fat fingered my earlier post. We have the 5% back on Amazon purchases with their Visa, not 4%.

I paid one of our kids' college tuition one semester to get credit card points, and then the school reversed the charges and paid the tuition with financial aid. I had a lot of trouble trying to get that sorted out but in the end the bank let me keep the points. Otherwise I was going to dispute the reversal since the school wouldn't budge even though I never requested nor authorized the reversal. The rest of the financial aid money went into a bank account, so they could have just put all funds in there. I think they just wanted to avoid the CC fees, even though that was one of their accepted forms of payment.

 

[38Chevy454]

We primarily use the Costco Visa for almost all of mine and DW purchases. Just got the notice that we are getting $965 cash rebate coming next month! I know we also got back more than the $50 membership fee on the Costco rebate, so that adds on top of this. Just can't recall the amount as that was many months ago. It is usually around $100-150 I think.

 

[Gotadimple]

We primarily use the Costco Visa for almost all of mine and DW purchases. Just got the notice that we are getting $965 cash rebate coming next month! I know we also got back more than the $50 membership fee on the Costco rebate, so that adds on top of this. Just can't recall the amount as that was many months ago. It is usually around $100-150 I think.

And if you travel overseas, this card has no foreign exchange fee.

 

[tapahelp]

I am credit card hoarder and have near $400K in total credit limit on 30+ accounts. I have scanned this thread and thought there may be some credit cards that members here are not considering.

Here are a few:

1. You should consider getting one or two category cards which rotate 5% category every quarter for up to $1,500 purchases. Chase Freedom and Discover IT are the popular cards in this list. Maximize your spend on these for the best return for your spend. Discover IT also doubles your cash back in the first year making it a 10% card for the first year. Also, read up on Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Amex Member Reward’s systems.

Some credit card users use some creative ways to maximize their cash back. For example, getting a Costco Cash Card when purchases at Costco are in the 5% category. This also beats the 4% cash back you get with Costco Anywhere card.

2. Get a 1.5% card like Chase Freedom Unlimited and Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve cards if you travel. You can transfer points to CSR/CSP.

3. Foreign Transaction Fees are only part of the issue. You have to look at the currency conversion rates offered on your cards.

4. Alliant Credit Union Cashback Signature card: If you like cash back, this card is hard to beat in first year. 3% for the first year with no annual fee and 2% cash back and $89 fee rest of the years. You will need to join the CU to get any of their products.

https://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/visa-signature-card

You can convert it to a no-fee card after first year.

5. 2% Cash back cards like Fidelity Rewards Visa and Citi Double Cash have minimum redemption limits on cash back earned.

6. Citi, Discover, and Amex have online credit limit increase button or link. Request increases every 6 months. You can lower utilization and limit hit on your credit score even if you are not going to use $30,000 limits you will accumulate eventually. This also helps keep your overall utilization low if your other cards have low limits. This is very useful if you’re considering doing balance transfer of large amounts.

 

[Dtail]

I am credit card hoarder and have near $400K in total credit limit on 30+ accounts. I have scanned this thread and thought there may be some credit cards that members here are not considering.

Here are a few:

1. You should consider getting one or two category cards which rotate 5% category every quarter for up to $1,500 purchases. Chase Freedom and Discover IT are the popular cards in this list. Maximize your spend on these for the best return for your spend. Discover IT also doubles your cash back in the first year making it a 10% card for the first year. Also, read up on Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Amex Member Reward’s systems.

Some credit card users use some creative ways to maximize their cash back. For example, getting a Costco Cash Card when purchases at Costco are in the 5% category. This also beats the 4% cash back you get with Costco Anywhere card.

2. Get a 1.5% card like Chase Freedom Unlimited and Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve cards if you travel. You can transfer points to CSR/CSP.

3. Foreign Transaction Fees are only part of the issue. You have to look at the currency conversion rates offered on your cards.

4. Alliant Credit Union Cashback Signature card: If you like cash back, this card is hard to beat in first year. 3% for the first year with no annual fee and 2% cash back and $89 fee rest of the years. You will need to join the CU to get any of their products.

https://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/visa-signature-card

You can convert it to a no-fee card after first year.

5. 2% Cash back cards like Fidelity Rewards Visa and Citi Double Cash have minimum redemption limits on cash back earned.

6. Citi, Discover, and Amex have online credit limit increase button or link. Request increases every 6 months. You can lower utilization and limit hit on your credit score even if you are not going to use $30,000 limits you will accumulate eventually. This also helps keep your overall utilization low if your other cards have low limits. This is very useful if you’re considering doing balance transfer of large amounts.

You didn't mention anything on BOA. Below rates also include having 100k at ML/BOA.
Cash Rewards - no annual fee, just new this week now has a rotating 5.25% various categories which can be updated each month up to 2,500 per quarter.
Premier Rewards - $95 annual fee, but $100 reimbursement on baggage fees. 3.5% on dining and wholesale clubs with no maximum, 2.625% on everything else.
Travel Rewards - no annual fee, if you book travel through BOA the rate is a bit over 4% with no foreign transaction fees.

 

[tapahelp]

You didn't mention anything on BOA. Below rates also include having 100k at ML/BOA.

Cash Rewards - no annual fee, just new this week now has a rotating 5.25% various categories which can be updated each month up to 2,500 per quarter.

Premier Rewards - $95 annual fee, but $100 reimbursement on baggage fees. 3.5% on dining and wholesale clubs with no maximum, 2.625% on everything else.

Travel Rewards - no annual fee, if you book travel through BOA the rate is a bit over 4% with no foreign transaction fees.

BoA cards were already mentioned by someone in a post above. It is great for those who can get premium rewards rates.

 

[Done]

4. Alliant Credit Union Cashback Signature card: If you like cash back, this card is hard to beat in first year. 3% for the first year with no annual fee and 2% cash back and $89 fee rest of the years.

After the first year, this card moves to 2.5% cash back with a $59 annual fee, so you'd still be ahead with >$11,800 spending compared to a free 2% card.

 

[scrabbler1]

Any BofA Cash Rewards card user see the new options for changing the categories eligible for the higher cash-back percentages? I heard it is being rolled out today but I haven't seen anything in their online banking yet. Or it's there and I can't find it, so I am the usual outsider looking in. I'll give it another few days in case it's being rolled out on a staggered basis.