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Old 01-07-2022, 12:28 PM   #21
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2% cash back Fidelity VISA. $4,317 cash back last year. Yeah! Ahh crap! That means we spent $216,050 on our credit card. Oh my.
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Originally Posted by FLSUnFIRE View Post
Primary cards used:
Wells Fargo 2% and several offers a year I use to get bonus rewards -Do not like how they manage the rewards but worth the headache
Chase Freedom (Standard rotating 5%)

HH Amex (mostly take advantage of the statement credit offers)
TD Bank (3% dining, 2% grocery -use for restaurants and is the card I carry with my phone around town)


Cash back earnings 904.18 on total spending for the year of $20,874 (expenses paid out of pocket). Includes one $200 bonus and a $150 referral bonus.
Ha ha, for those that come on here and think everyone here is high-rolling (or cheap!)!
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Old 01-07-2022, 12:54 PM   #22
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Used to be bigger into the cash back. I like that I can tap into the Busienss Cards as well, but haven't rotated out much lately since being denied a few times applying for Chase...I think there is some rule you can't have more than 5 cards over some amount of time or something I am not certain. I cash in the rewards points each month towards cash back, and sometimes extend them into bonus with gift card purchases to places we know we will use adding an extra 5 to 10% cash back depending on the gift card promo.

DW and I both rotate Chase Freedom and try to maximize category cash back but this month is Groceries and eBay...who the heck uses ebay anymore? We will use some of the grocery cash back but we only spend about $100 a week so what that comes out to $1200(.05)= $60 this first quarter. I don't have an extra freezer otherwise I would stock up...and recently we have learned that Wal-Mart, Target and CostCo are cheaper then trying to attack the 5% category from our grocer who is sometimes 5% higher on some items. I do get points towards gas discounts at the grocer so a little more incentive, but I drive 20%+ less since the pandemic came along.

Chase Amazon - I shop amazon a lot with my business and we sometimes max the 5%.

DiscoverIT - Grocery Stores and Fitness club, with overlapping grocery categories and having my own home gym, this card is useless this quarter.

I have room for a couple more cards, but need to close out some other accounts first before I apply. Citi Double Cash and CapitalOne SaverOne along with the Amex Blue cash preferred and BankOfAmerica Customized cash would mean basically no matter what you would earn 2% on the dollar, likely with a lot of 5% cash back and even some 6% on all groceries. If I had to apply, I might look into those.

I had about 84,000 ultimate reward points but just cashed in 12,500 for $125 to the checking account. so now I have about 71,000 on a Business Ink card. I should really do something with those points.
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Old 01-07-2022, 03:48 PM   #23
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$1200 on Fidelity 2% on everything Visa.
$787 on Ibotta an instant rebate app which I count as being the same as CC points.
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Old 01-07-2022, 05:35 PM   #24
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$787 on Ibotta an instant rebate app which I count as being the same as CC points.
I love Ibotta, but you cannot count it the same way you do credit card rewards. I know that in my case, I often buy stuff with Ibotta that I would not purchase otherwise because I can get it free (or better, in some cases). It's kind of like in the old days with mail-in rebates. I would never count that as free money, as I would credit card rebates, although sadly many people on the Ibotta boards do.
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Old 01-07-2022, 05:39 PM   #25
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Those of you with big Fidelity credit card rebates should really look into stashing $100k in stock/ETFs at Merrill Edge, so you can qualify for Bank of American Preferred Rewards at the Platinum Honors level. You can get 2.625% back on all purchases with their Premium Rewards card once you are at that level, and 3.5% on dining and travel.
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Old 01-07-2022, 05:43 PM   #26
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I love Ibotta, but you cannot count it the same way you do credit card rewards. I know that in my case, I often buy stuff with Ibotta that I would not purchase otherwise because I can get it free (or better, in some cases). It's kind of like in the old days with mail-in rebates. I would never count that as free money, as I would credit card rebates, although sadly many people on the Ibotta boards do.
I don’t “count” on anything. I look at all of it as a bonus. Fun money.
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Old 01-07-2022, 05:53 PM   #27
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I don’t “count” on anything. I look at all of it as a bonus. Fun money.
You literally said, "which I count as being the same as CC points."

Like I said, if you spend $10 on something you wouldn't normally have purchased because it's free after Ibotta, you can't then consider the $10 you get back as free or fun money.

<Rant mode on>
I am amazed at the number of people who post on the Ibotta FB group how they treat their Ibotta money as vacation cash because it's free money.

Oh, and don't keep more than $20 in Ibotta because they can close your account at any time if they think you did something wrong. Ibotta is not a bank, and it is not your money until you withdraw it.
<Rant mode off>
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Old 01-07-2022, 05:57 PM   #28
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You literally said, "which I count as being the same as CC points."

Like I said, if you spend $10 on something you wouldn't normally have purchased because it's free after Ibotta, you can't then consider the $10 you get back as free or fun money.

<Rant mode on>
I am amazed at the number of people who post on the Ibotta FB group how they treat their Ibotta money as vacation cash because it's free money.

Oh, and don't keep more than $20 in Ibotta because they can close your account at any time if they think you did something wrong. Ibotta is not a bank, and it is not your money until you withdraw it.
<Rant mode off>
You are twisting my post into something completely unintended. Rant somewhere else.
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Old 01-07-2022, 06:01 PM   #29
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I should switch to paying for my Amazon purchases with their CC. We spent $16k on Amazon last year. I got 2% back on my Fidelity CC. I could have gotten 5% back using their card.

I also spent $6700 at Lowes which includes a 10% military discount. So I saved $800 with that.
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Old 01-07-2022, 11:46 PM   #30
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I should switch to paying for my Amazon purchases with their CC. We spent $16k on Amazon last year. I got 2% back on my Fidelity CC. I could have gotten 5% back using their card.

I also spent $6700 at Lowes which includes a 10% military discount. So I saved $800 with that.
If you got the BOA Customized Cash card , and stashed $100K at ML , then the preferred rewards with give you 5.25% back on ALL your online shopping not just Amazon.
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Old 01-07-2022, 11:55 PM   #31
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If you got the BOA Customized Cash card , and stashed $100K at ML , then the preferred rewards with give you 5.25% back on ALL your online shopping not just Amazon.
But remember that the CCR maxes out at $2500 per quarter, so it would not be a solution for the high purchase amount mentioned here ($16k). But similarly, for the person who shops at Lowes, Home Improvement is one of the categories, so that would be a good solution since they were under $10k/year.
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Old 01-08-2022, 12:32 AM   #32
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Over $200k on CC charges!?! Wow. Here I thought $50k was ridiculous, and we pay virtually every bill (including property tax on two houses) via CC. We had roughly $1500 in bonus money back. Plus a BA Companion ticket and a bunch of Marriott bonuses, and 50k AA miles. I don’t keep exact track. Typically we’ve been getting $900 to $1000 bonus for dropping $50k ea in two Capitol One accounts for 3 months, but they made the offer much later in 2021, so it will be payable in 2022. However, I pulled the $100k from an account that pays 1.25%, while CO only pays 0.3%, so there is a loss against the $900 this year of about $250, so the net gain from them is actually more like $650. Plus free TT Premier from Fidelity, LOL!
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Old 01-08-2022, 06:15 AM   #33
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Does anyone on this thread have a minimum dollar threshold for dealing with this stuff? I decided a year or two ago that below a certain amount it wasn't worth the hassle unless the reward was a certain dollar amount or more.

I guess I'm a bit surprised that people with high spending rates are still chasing bonuses of a few hundred dollars. Probably the same old story: hard to turn off those habits. But the thread on how to save on TT every year seems especially amazing - I doubt anybody on those threads would notice if they actually paid $50 or $100 or whatever TT costs, and TT is one of those products that for this crowd is worth the money to buy. (I get my tax prep software "for free" for myself and about five other people by volunteering with a tax prep organization )
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Old 01-08-2022, 11:08 AM   #34
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Does anyone on this thread have a minimum dollar threshold for dealing with this stuff? I decided a year or two ago that below a certain amount it wasn't worth the hassle unless the reward was a certain dollar amount or more.

I guess I'm a bit surprised that people with high spending rates are still chasing bonuses of a few hundred dollars. Probably the same old story: hard to turn off those habits. ....
I don't bother with any bonus offer on a bank account less than $200, and a credit card has to be a bonus of $300 or maybe $200 but the card better have some other great features.

As for the spending, I find it pretty effortless - every 3 months I write down and carry in my wallet which card to pull out to pay:

Restaurants - Sapphire 3%
Grocery (not Walmart/Target) Freedom 5%
Everything Else -BOA Travel 2.6%

Since I online shop from home, that is not on the list as I only use a different card for it.
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Old 01-08-2022, 11:55 AM   #35
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Does anyone on this thread have a minimum dollar threshold for dealing with this stuff? I decided a year or two ago that below a certain amount it wasn't worth the hassle unless the reward was a certain dollar amount or more.

)
I have a $300 minimum for bank bonuses and a $500 minimum for credit card bonuses. I did do the Amazon credit card for only $200, but I wanted that card for ongoing Amazon spend.

Usually, I keep a credit card for about a year after receiving the bonus and then close it.
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Old 01-08-2022, 01:09 PM   #36
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I have two cards - Discover and Freedom Flex - that I use for the 5% bonus. This gives me 5% bonus for groceries for six months this year. I spend a lot on groceries.

The other big 5% is gasoline. Alas, both discover and Flex have that discount in the same quarter. Discover has a restaurant discount in the 3rd quarter which may be useful if I do a road trip. The PayPal discounts are in different quarters. That may up my use of PayPal. The Flex card's 5% cash-back with Walmart in the forth quarter was very useful this year. More and more I find that Amazon prices are creeping up compared to Walmart so even though there is no Walmart store conveniently nearby, I find I am becoming more of a customer.

It sounds confusing, but in reality it isn't. A few minutes at the start of each quarter and I have things setup. I don't bother juggling cards with minor expenses under about $30 such as my monthly Ooma bill. I like to save several dollars per transaction with a healthy transaction frequency. When in doubt or if I make a mistake, I usually use my 2% card and don't worry about it.

These days bank cash-back credit cards earn me far more than the pathetic interest on most of my CDs.
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Old 01-08-2022, 01:41 PM   #37
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Non-chain restaurants that do lots of carryout have been pushed to the edge by covid. Consequently, around here they have been asking patrons to pay with cash so the restaurant can avoid the high fees of the cash-back cards. We've been doing so to help these small places stay afloat.


How does that work? Do cashback cards cost more for merchants than other cards?I have not seen any local retail stores around here pushing cash over cards. If anything contactless payment forms are gaining ground.
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Old 01-08-2022, 01:42 PM   #38
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PenFed 2% back VISA earned $2208.
Capital One 1.5% VISA earned $308.
Chase Amazon 5% back I don't track but use it a lot on Amazon.

This is enough to cover DW's Xmas spending habit.
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Old 01-08-2022, 02:25 PM   #39
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I have a $300 minimum for bank bonuses and a $500 minimum for credit card bonuses. I did do the Amazon credit card for only $200, but I wanted that card for ongoing Amazon spend.

Usually, I keep a credit card for about a year after receiving the bonus and then close it.
I'll typically do it for $200-300 for checking and $400 for credit, but I keep the cards open (unless there is an annual fee, of course). Most banks do not seem to care about the total amount of credit you have outstanding, it's more the amount of credit you have with them. Bank of America seems to care the amount about your total amount of credit. I opened a new Premium Rewards card in my wife's name a couple of months ago, and they only gave her a $2500 credit limit. Had to work around that to get to the $4000 required spend for the $500 bonus, but I made some early payments, and it worked out. That one will likely get cancelled after the first year

I inadvertently applied for a credit card at a branch a few months ago. I was doing a mystery shop to see if they gave you paperwork to sign before submitting the application, at which point you would say that you changed your mind and not submit the application. The employee failed and did not give me a chance to change my mind before she hit submit. Much to my surprise, I was approved for the card. I had just applied for another card with the same bank about a month earlier (that one was intentional) and did not think that they'd give me another one so soon. I considered cancelling the card when it arrived (there was no way to cancel the application since I had been instantly approved), but decided to keep it since the signup bonus was $800.
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Old 01-08-2022, 02:30 PM   #40
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How does that work? Do cashback cards cost more for merchants than other cards?I have not seen any local retail stores around here pushing cash over cards. If anything contactless payment forms are gaining ground.
I have heard that rebate cards cost the stores more than non-rebate. Some restaurants around here are charging a surcharge of up o 4% for using a credit card, which really bothers me (fortunately I get 5.25% back from my BofA CCR card).
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