Cash Back Credit Cards?

[ocean view]

I’ve had the Citibank 2% card since 2010. We pay as much as possible with it and never had a problem, never even been hacked (knock on wood). I take a statement credit each month for the rebate.

We don’t bank with Citibank, so I have it set up as a payee with my online bill pay, just like all the utilities. No big deal. I always have the payment sent so that it is credited 1 day before the bill is due. No reason to give them your money early, unless you are up against your credit limit. In that case, just ask for an increase. If you pay it off every month they won’t decline the request.

Is there a reason you pay off your balance before even being sent a bill? They will give you 20 days or so to pay before they assess interest.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

By far, my workhorse card for day-to-day purchases is DiscoverIT. I started out when Discover first came out (a cash back was novel then). As I recall, the company’s roots were Sears but could be mistaken about that.

Yes, Discover was Sears' baby. Wikipedia article here.

I recall the days when Sears would only accept their store card or Discover. No Visa, no Mastercharge, no Amex. Back when they were worth shopping at, that was a PITA.

 

[Tiger8693]

We use the Fido VISA 2% card to pay virtually all our bills. Along with the bill pay and brokerage the cash back system runs itself. However, We have cut back on using it in some instances due to repeated theft of the cc number.

We also have Hilton and Delta AMEX cards we use only with the points/miles programs at those vendors.

So you set up the Fido Visa as a Payee in your Fidelity Cash Management account? Any tips on doing that? I haven’t seen a way to do it so far....

Thanks

 

[JP.mpls]

ERD50, is there an annual fee on the Fidelity Visa 2% card? Is that 2% for everything?
My 401K was recently moved over to Fidelity. Is this card free for people with a Fidelity account?
Thanks, JP

 

[FIREd_2015]

ERD50, is there an annual fee on the Fidelity Visa 2% card? Is that 2% for everything?
My 401K was recently moved over to Fidelity. Is this card free for people with a Fidelity account?
Thanks, JP

No annual fee for Fidelity 2% Visa card. Yes, it's 2% for everything. I think you may have to open a regular account with Fidelity in addition to the 401k because that's where the 2% rebate gets credited. Another characteristic is there is a transaction fee for international purchases so you'll want another CC for international purchases.

 

[jazz4cash]

There IS such a thing as a free lunch using a good cash back credit card. I HATE the ones that change categories quarterly. I use PenFed for gas(5%), Amazon Chase (1-5%), Fidelity (2%), Target(5%) and Lowe’s (5%). I try to use them for everything even if it’s just a few bucks. If I buy a $10 item, I picture the clerk asking me if I’d like to pay $10 or $9.80. My response will always be $9.80! I’m gradually adding autopay for monthly utilities if they don’t charge a fee. These are on autopay. My homeowners and auto insurance go on a credit card too. It adds up fast. I mostly push payments from my checking accounts but all these cards will also pull payments from a checking or savings account.

 

[pb4uski]

.... I'm currently looking at the Citi Double Cash credit card. Supposedly 2% on all purchases (1% when buying, 1% when paying off), no caps, no annual fees. Sounds good, but again, that makes me nervous.....

We have had the Citi Double Cash card for a couple years now. DS has one as well, in fact, he is how we became familiar with it. Nothing to be nervous about... we pay our balance in full every month so I have an auto-pay set up where they draw the balance from our local checking account each month. the only thing that I need to do is to make sure that there is enough money in our checking account to cover the auto-pay, which I would have to do anyway. In effect, 2% on every purchase and no need to wonder what card to use with what category this month.

In addition, I like that they offer a generous extension of the manufacturer's warranty.... so I used my Citi card to buy some appliances last summer:

One credit card provider — Citi — stands above the rest when it comes to the extended warranty benefit. In particular, all Citi cards that I checked — ranging from the $450 annual fee Citi Prestige to the no annual fee Citi Double Cash Card — offer the following extended warranty benefit:

• Extension of the manufacturer’s warranty by two years, with total coverage not exceeding seven years from the purchase date
• If an extended warranty is purchased, Citi’s coverage begins at the expiration of that warrant
• Coverage up to $10,000, capped at the lower of the purchase price and the cost to repair or replace

As far as I can tell, Citi credit cards are the only cards to offer a two-year extended warranty; the extended warranty benefit offered by other credit cards is no longer than a year. Citi doesn’t seem to have a minimum manufacturer’s warranty required for coverage either, so a one-month manufacturer’s warranty could be extended by two years.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/best-cards-for-extended-warranty/

I also like Price Rewind where you can register purchases and get a credit for the difference between what you paid and other prices available within 60 days of your purchase.... we've actually collected some on Price Rewind. https://www.citipricerewind.com/

 

[cathy63]

If you are a Costco member, look into getting the Costco Visa from Citi. It replaces your Costco membership card, but it's also a regular Visa card that you can use everywhere. It has no annual fee (other than the normal Costco membership fee you are paying anyway) and there's no need to sign up for any categories or keep track of anything or open a savings or investment account anywhere else. You just get a coupon every February that you can redeem at Costco for either cash or merchandise. There are other ways to get a few bucks more if you want to play the game of keeping track of categories and juggling cards and all that, but if you just want an easy way to get a rebate on your expenses, this card works fine.

You pay the bill online the same way you pay other bills online. Either login to the Citi website and transfer money from your US Bank checking account, or login to US Bank and use their online bill pay service to pay Citi.

 

[audreyh1]

If you are a Costco member, look into getting the Costco Visa from Citi. It replaces your Costco membership card, but it's also a regular Visa card that you can use everywhere. It has no annual fee (other than the normal Costco membership fee you are paying anyway) and there's no need to sign up for any categories or keep track of anything or open a savings or investment account anywhere else. You just get a coupon every February that you can redeem at Costco for either cash or merchandise. There are other ways to get a few bucks more if you want to play the game of keeping track of categories and juggling cards and all that, but if you just want an easy way to get a rebate on your expenses, this card works fine.

You pay the bill online the same way you pay other bills online. Either login to the Citi website and transfer money from your US Bank checking account, or login to US Bank and use their online bill pay service to pay Citi.

Worth mentioning that the foreign transaction fee was dropped last year so I use it for all European hotels and most dining 3% cash back.

BofA accepts ebills from Citi, so automating payments is easy for us.

 

[gwraigty]

So you set up the Fido Visa as a Payee in your Fidelity Cash Management account? Any tips on doing that? I haven’t seen a way to do it so far....

Thanks

There is no difference in setting up the Fidelity VISA as a payee vs. setting up any other payee. Do you have other payees set up in Fidelity BillPay?

 

[Tiger8693]

I’m assuming I have read something wrong in the previous posts, since no one is replying to my question.

Does anyone have a CC set up as the Payee in their BillPay. Meaning, that bills set up to be paid through BillPay, are paid by the CC?

TIA

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I've got a Capital One Quicksilver (1.5% cash back) Discover (1.5% plus 5% on "category" spending that rotates quarterly) and Costco Citi (4% on gas, 3% on travel/restaurants, 2% on Costco purchases). Right now the Discover card features a 5% rebate on grocery purchases. Of course I often hit the $60 "cashback" key at checkout. What a great ATM alternative, getting a $3 rebate instead of getting hit with a $3 surcharge.

 

[steelyman]

I’m assuming I have read something wrong in the previous posts, since no one is replying to my question.

Does anyone have a CC set up as the Payee in their BillPay. Meaning, that bills set up to be paid through BillPay, are paid by the CC?

TIA

Although Discover is the card I use for routine purchases, recurring expenses that aren’t utilities (e.g., streaming, Internet) are automatically billed to an AmEx card. There’s no bank involved until the AmEx bill comes due.

The utilities are paid by electronic draft (ACH?), taken directly from my checking account.

“BillPay” is a pretty generic term, but I think my answer is yes and no (in “Kermit-speak”, “nes”)

 

[Tiger8693]

Although Discover is the card I use for routine purchases, recurring expenses that aren’t utilities (e.g., streaming, Internet) are automatically billed to an AmEx card. There’s no bank involved until the AmEx bill comes due.

The utilities are paid by electronic draft (ACH?), taken directly from my checking account.

“BillPay” is a pretty generic term, but I think my answer is yes and no (in “Kermit-speak”, “nes”)

Ok. Yes, I do have a couple of utility type bills paid directly through the card, Just haven’t found an online bill pay system yet that will allow me to shut the credit card as a payee. I thought some of the previous posts had done that, but maybe not.

 

[mountainsoft]

Is there a reason you pay off your balance before even being sent a bill?

I treat our credit cards more like an extended debit card. We can buy things without having to worry about whether our checking balance will cover it. But I do whatever it takes to pay off those credit balances as soon as I possibly can (the next day if they show up online for me to pay them). Usually that just means paying it from checking, but occasionally I may need to pull money from savings or other accounts if we've overspent that month (such as our new washer/dryer last month).

I guess I'm weird, I just don't like owing anyone. I sleep better when the credit card balances are all zero.

 

[Ready]

As others have stated, there is no reason to use a credit card that doesn’t pay a minimum of 2% cash back, and it sounds like there may be a few that pay more than 2%, with some caveats. I can’t imagine why you’ve waited so long to make the switch. You have left a lot of money on the table.

 

[audreyh1]

So you set up the Fido Visa as a Payee in your Fidelity Cash Management account? Any tips on doing that? I haven’t seen a way to do it so far....

Thanks

There is no difference in setting up the Fidelity VISA as a payee vs. setting up any other payee. Do you have other payees set up in Fidelity BillPay?

There is a convenient link to Fidelity BillPay from the Credit Card view.

I go over to the credit card view (select in account list on left side), then in the payment Payment Summary section I select Fidelity Billpay, and it lets me select an account, the amount (I choose last statement balance), and the date when to pay "deliver by".

Then press the "Pay with BillPay" button.

It's added to the Fidelity Billpay list.

There maybe something extra to enter like the credit card number the first time you do this.


Ooops - didn't understand your question. I answered your clarifying post below.

 

[mountainsoft]

We have had the Citi Double Cash card for a couple years now. DS has one as well, in fact, he is how we became familiar with it. Nothing to be nervous about... we pay our balance in full every month so I have an auto-pay set up where they draw the balance from our local checking account each month.

I took the plunge today and applied for the Citi Double Cash card. Hopefully it works out with my style of paying bills. If not, I suppose I can always cancel it. They're only giving us a $5300 credit limit, but that's way more than we'll ever need.

I can't even remember the last time we applied for a credit card. Still makes me nervous for some reason.

 

[audreyh1]

I’m assuming I have read something wrong in the previous posts, since no one is replying to my question.

Does anyone have a CC set up as the Payee in their BillPay. Meaning, that bills set up to be paid through BillPay, are paid by the CC?

TIA

No - if you are trying to pay bills with the credit card, this is done not done through Fidelity BillPay, but by going to whichever provider of the bills you want to pay and adding the Fidelity VISA credit card number to the provider automated payment setup.

 

[AnneG]

We have recently received several offers of cash back rewards cards that also come with a one time cash bonus after a certain spend and 12 months of 0% interest. I've decided to take advantage of them, at the same time consolidating my spend from several other rewards cards down to one or two.

We have some upcoming purchases that we could pay for from savings, but I'll use these cards to reap the rewards and cash back bonuses and pay them off over a 6-12 month period.

The key is, you have to make sure you're set up on autopay (either from your bank or the CC company directly) because missing a payment will usually net you more penalties than the rewards are worth.

We signed up for the Capital One 1.5% cash back with a $250 bonus last year - I'm really curious to see if I get a 1099 from them for the bonus - does anyone know if this is the case?

 

[Splash]

Main card Capital One Quicksilver with 1-1/2% cash back automatically credited to account, no foreign currency exchange fees, excellent customer service.

Backup card Chase Freedom with 5% rotating categories quarterly. Need to request cash back be applied to account periodically.

Also have an Elan Visa that is only used for on-line purchases. No fees, no cash back.

All cards set to autopay in full on due date using bank bill pay.

Not a Fido or Costco customer so those cards are not options. However, the Citi Double Cash Back card sounds like a good deal. May need to change things up.

 

[Drake3287]

I haven't read all these replies but yes getting a cash back credit card is like free money, much better then airline credit cards also.

I have the BofA Travel Rewards Visa card and easily get $2,000. back each year in cash. No annual fee and no foreign transaction fee either. My reward points are based on my total BofA deposits, higher the amount of deposits, the higher the reward points are.

And like many here I literally charge EVERYTHING and pay it in full each month. Haven't paid a cent in finance charges in years.

There is no perfect cash reward card for everyone. Do your homework.

 

[gwraigty]

I’m assuming I have read something wrong in the previous posts, since no one is replying to my question.

Does anyone have a CC set up as the Payee in their BillPay. Meaning, that bills set up to be paid through BillPay, are paid by the CC?

TIA

I did reply to your question. You're mixing up the terminology, IMO. A payee in Fidelity BillPay, is a company/individual that you've set up with your bank for the purpose of paying them electronically via your checking account.

To mountainsoft, I have a couple of utility bills automatically charged to my Fidelity VISA, like audreyh1 described. I have my Fidelity VISA set up as a payee with Fidelity BillPay. When I get my electronic VISA bill, I review it, then go to Fidelity BillPay, enter the amount due and the date I want it to be paid. It's that simple. You should be able to do the same with your existing checking account and any of your credit cards if you have access to online billpay.

 

[Amethyst]

OP, I was suspicious for several years, and let some attractive signup incentives and cash-back go by. But the ER Forum convinced me to go after them, and now we use them for everything.

The Citi 2X Master Card is the all-around favorite. No fuss, no muss, everything's managed online.

Some day the CC companies will decide to end the gravy train, so get on it while it's running!

EDIT: Oh- just saw your post about the low credit limit. They will raise it a bit every 6 months, if you ask via the web site. Ours is up to $30K, but it took a few years.

We have a simple Visa credit card through our local US Bank. No bonuses, no cash back, but we've had it for most of our adult life. We always pay our balance off every month (usually every week or two).

I recently started looking at cash back credit cards. They sound like free money, earning some cash back for things we're buying anyway. But when things sound too good to be true I start to get nervous.

Most of the cards I've seen sound too complicated, with annual fees, or having to pick categories (or have them chosen automatically), or caps on earnings. That sounds like too much work for my liking.

I'm currently looking at the Citi Double Cash credit card. Supposedly 2% on all purchases (1% when buying, 1% when paying off), no caps, no annual fees. Sounds good, but again, that makes me nervous.

One of the things that concerns me is the logistics of managing the card. My current Visa card is at the same bank I have my checking account, so it's easy to log on and transfer money to pay off the card. I'm not sure how I would handle this with a credit card at a different bank than I use for my checking account (I want to keep my current checking account so we have access to the safe deposit box at my local branch).

My local US Bank does offer a cash back card, but it has all of those categories and caps and stuff that I would rather avoid.

Anyway, I'm curious who uses these cash back credit cards and how they work for you. Any down sides the reviews and promotional information fail to mention?

 

[foxfirev5]

No - if you are trying to pay bills with the credit card, this is done not done through Fidelity BillPay, but by going to whichever provider of the bills you want to pay and adding the Fidelity VISA credit card number to the provider automated payment setup.

Yeah, you have to use the card to get the cash back. Then use Bill Pay to payoff the card either manually or auto pay.