Current choices for Cash Back Credit Cards

[gwix98]

Hi all,

I’m looking for opinions and suggestions for a new Credit Card. Preferably with no Annual fee and at least 1.5% cash back. I’m a careful user of CC’s and currently have only two. (Isn’t that enough?)
I’ve had the Alaska Air card for years as Alaska served my needs. But, since I’m not comfortable traveling in the pandemic, cancelled it at AF renewal. I’m concentrating on cards that now pay just cash back. I put almost all our expenses on a CC and never pay interest. So let me know what you think.

 

[MichaelB]

The Fidelity Rewards Visa gives 2% cash back and has no annual fee.

 

[kaneohe]

The Fidelity Rewards Visa gives 2% cash back and has no annual fee.

you do need a Fidelity acct to deposit into to get 2%; else 1%.

 

[mystang52]

I don't have it, but I believe PayPal has a credit card that pays 2% back, and no fee.

 

[jazz4cash]

I don't have it, but I believe PayPal has a credit card that pays 2% back, and no fee.

i have that card and it is fine, especially if you like to use paypal for buying online. You can choose the Paypal Mastercard 2% cashback on everything or Paypal Credit which is no interest for 6 months on purchases >$99. The downside to me is you have to request the cashback and the very confusing web interface via Synchrony.

 

[Dtail]

BOA has a cash rewards CC with no fee and a 1.5% payback.
If one 100k with ML, then there are quarterly category rewards at 5.25% capped at 2,500 spending per quarter. Additionally 3.5% on groceries within that 2,500 cap.

 

[googily]

Citi Double Cash gives 1% when you purchase and 1% when you pay the bill.

 

[MichaelB]

you do need a Fidelity acct to deposit into to get 2%; else 1%.

Good point, thanks. I have a Fido account and didn’t stop to think about that. I do like that Fido just deposits the 2% cash into my investment account monthly.

 

[Sunset]

BOA has a cash rewards CC with no fee and a 1.5% payback.
If one 100k with ML, then there are quarterly category rewards at 5.25% capped at 2,500 spending per quarter. Additionally 3.5% on groceries within that 2,500 cap.

+1
And you get to specify the category rewards at 5.25%.

So I have mine set at online shopping all the time, as that one works best for me.

 

[kimcdougc]

I have the fido card and make around $1200 per year just for using it. I do pay my credit card in full every month.

 

[SecondCor521]

Capital One Quicksilver MC has no annual fee and 1.5% cash back. The cash back is no hassle - it's on everything, all the time, no limits, no rotating categories, etc. You can get it credited to your statement, or deposited into your checking, or a few other options. I have mine set up to auto-pay to my credit card whenever it builds up to $25.

Yes, there are other options that pay out at a higher rate, but it seems most of them (except Citi Double Cash) come with hoops to jump through. For me, whose eligible annual credit card spending is maybe only $25K, it's not worth the hassle. If I were spending $80K-$100K, I'd probably focus on it more.

 

[pb4uski]

Citi Double Cash gives 1% when you purchase and 1% when you pay the bill.

+1 and since we have it on autopay and never carry a balance, to me it is just 2% cash back on everything... no categories or anything like that... simple.

And my Citi card gets me into the Citi pavilion at the PGA's Farmers Insurance Open and Honda Classic.

 

[Gotadimple]

Chase Freedom Unlimited has no fee, offers 1.5% cash back with no maximum limit. No quarterly categories, but some special one-off (i.e., Dash Delivery free for 3 months, 50% off delivery charges for a year - if you use this service).

 

[tulak]

Fidelity is a no brainer if you have an account with them. 2%, no hassles. This is my go to card.

You can find a lot of 1.5% cards too if you look around. My kids have one from a local credit union (BECU). Seems to work fine. OP is from Seattle, so maybe that's another good option?

 

[euro]

Fidelity is a no brainer if you have an account with them. 2%, no hassles. This is my go to card.

You can find a lot of 1.5% cards too if you look around. My kids have one from a local credit union (BECU). Seems to work fine. OP is from Seattle, so maybe that's another good option?

I agree - I have had that Fido card for decades now and it remains my main card. I do have an Amazon Prime Visa card for 5% on all Amazon purchases (significant portion of my buying activities), plus I use Discover during "5% quarters" that suit my usage patterns such as "groceries" or "payPal" quarters.

 

[gerntz]

AmexBlue Preferred is 6% on supermarkets (not just groceries) to $6K/yr but $95 fee. So first $1600 at grocery chains coveries the fee. Works out to 4.4% on $6K groceries. Also 3% on gas not affliated with grocrey stores, & 6% on streaming services. Of course this leaves out Costco & Sam's.

 

[ocean view]

Citi Double Cash gives 1% when you purchase and 1% when you pay the bill.

As an aside, my nit with this card is that if you take your rebate as a statement credit, then the 1% when you pay is calculated on the statement balance (assume you pay off monthly) less the rebate credit that you applied. The effect is a slight decrement to the rebate.

So if you charge $100, you earn $1 rebate up front. You request a statement credit of $1 and pay $99 to settle the account. You’ll earn an additional $0.99 rebate on the payment, not $1, as assumed.

I know this is small change but it bugs me because 1-I’m saving them money in administrative costs by taking the rebate as a credit rather than asking for a check to be issued, 2-this seems dishonest to me. It shouldn’t matter where the funds come from to settle my account. As long as $100 are credited against my account, I should be entitled to the rebate on those charges. And 3-over time this adds up to a not-insignificant benefit to the bank (several dollars a year x millions of customers). It reminds me of the rounding-up scheme in the movie Office Space.

Edit to add: perhaps this should be added to the “frugal things you do that others roll their eyes over” thread.

 

[Dtail]

As an aside, my nit with this card is that if you take your rebate as a statement credit, then the 1% when you pay is calculated on the statement balance (assume you pay off monthly) less the rebate credit that you applied. The effect is a slight decrement to the rebate.

So if you charge $100, you earn $1 rebate up front. You request a statement credit of $1 and pay $99 to settle the account. You’ll earn an additional $0.99 rebate on the payment, not $1, as assumed.

I know this is small change but it bugs me because 1-I’m saving them money in administrative costs by taking the rebate as a credit rather than asking for a check to be issued, 2-this seems dishonest to me. It shouldn’t matter where the funds come from to settle my account. As long as $100 are credited against my account, I should be entitled to the rebate on those charges. And 3-over time this adds up to a not-insignificant benefit to the bank (several dollars a year x millions of customers). It reminds me of the rounding-up scheme in the movie Office Space.

Edit to add: perhaps this should be added to the “frugal things you do that others roll their eyes over” thread.

Agree conceptually.
This is one minor reason why I transfer my reward points on my BOA Travel CC to another BOA CC (instead of statement credit) where I can get the straight up cash reward.

 

[googily]

As an aside, my nit with this card is that if you take your rebate as a statement credit, then the 1% when you pay is calculated on the statement balance (assume you pay off monthly) less the rebate credit that you applied. The effect is a slight decrement to the rebate.

So if you charge $100, you earn $1 rebate up front. You request a statement credit of $1 and pay $99 to settle the account. You’ll earn an additional $0.99 rebate on the payment, not $1, as assumed.

I know this is small change but it bugs me because 1-I’m saving them money in administrative costs by taking the rebate as a credit rather than asking for a check to be issued, 2-this seems dishonest to me. It shouldn’t matter where the funds come from to settle my account. As long as $100 are credited against my account, I should be entitled to the rebate on those charges. And 3-over time this adds up to a not-insignificant benefit to the bank (several dollars a year x millions of customers). It reminds me of the rounding-up scheme in the movie Office Space.

Edit to add: perhaps this should be added to the “frugal things you do that others roll their eyes over” thread.

This is not something that would bother me, but I did switch away from Citi cards last year when they slashed the travel protections of the Citi Premier. I went with Chase Sapphire Reserve, and then the Freedom Unlimited, which is 1.5% back on everything. But if you transfer the points to your Reserve points bucket, they are an extra half point when redeemed for travel.

And then travel ground to a halt. [emoji16]

I think the Unlimited just upped the cash back for drugstores and maybe dining? I've completely lost track.

 

[jazz4cash]

I really like cards that offer a long float period in addition to easy cashback. Fidelity and Amazon (Chase) offer ~27 days compared to others with only 14 days. That gives me more time to move funds if my autopay account balance is low.

 

[pb4uski]

As an aside, my nit with this card...

Edit to add: perhaps this should be added to the “frugal things you do that others roll their eyes over” thread.

Absolutely.

 

[CDRE]

The Discover card has 2% cash back on all purchases, no annual fee, and it runs periodic 5% cash back on select categories. Plus, you can select the color/theme of the card.


Edit: Incorrect. It is 1% tiered. See correction at post #25.

 

[steelyman]

The Discover card has 2% cash back on all purchases, no annual fee, and it runs periodic 5% cash back on select categories. Plus, you can select the color/theme of the card.

My Discover pays 1% on all purchases (and the 5% quarterly rotation). I’ve had it since first offered, sometime in the ‘80s. At some point it changed to “DiscoverIT” but still seems the basic plain vanilla card.

 

[Katsmeow]

AmexBlue Preferred is 6% on supermarkets (not just groceries) to $6K/yr but $95 fee. So first $1600 at grocery chains coveries the fee. Works out to 4.4% on $6K groceries. Also 3% on gas not affliated with grocrey stores, & 6% on streaming services. Of course this leaves out Costco & Sam's.

This is my main card. Yes, it has a fee. But, the supermarket part more than pays the fee and is higher than other options. Also is good for gas and for streaming services.

I can't use Amex everywhere so I have a couple of other options. First, I use the Chase Prime Visa card for Amazon. It gives 2% at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores and 1% on everything else. So basically if a place doesn't take Amex then this is a good card to use.

My Apple Mastercard gives 3% for Apple purchases. I use this to pay for my iPhone (I have the Apple upgrade plan so pay monthly for my phone over 24 months -- this reduces that by 3%). It also gives you 2% for Apple Pay purchases and 1% for everything else.

The Fidelity card that gives a straight 2% for everything though might make a better alternative for places that right now I don't get more than 1%. I have a Fidelity account so I would get the 2%.

 

[CDRE]

My Discover pays 1% on all purchases (and the 5% quarterly rotation). I’ve had it since first offered, sometime in the ‘80s. At some point it changed to “DiscoverIT” but still seems the basic plain vanilla card.

You made me look. Thanks! I don't get 2% but I must have at one point because that was stuck in my head. Here are the Discover details for the regular cash back:
All Other Purchases

You will earn .25% Cashback Bonus on your first $3,000 in annual purchases and on all purchases made at warehouse clubs, wholesale distributors, discount stores and their affiliates (including grocery stores). Earn 1% on purchases over $3,000. At the end of each billing period, we calculate your Cashback Bonus by multiplying purchases other than Program Purchases by the following:
When you have spent the amounts listed below in total annual purchases:You earn Cashback Bonus at the listed tier level:$3,000.01+ (unlimited)
$0-$3,0001.00% (.01)
0.25% (.0025) All purchases made at warehouse clubs, wholesale distributors, discount stores and their affiliates (including grocery stores). 0.25% (.0025)We determine your tier level based on your total annual purchases, which is the total amount of purchases made during your Anniversary Year. The calculation to determine your tier level begins again at $0 on the first day of each Anniversary Year.
Your "Anniversary Year" consists of 12 consecutive billing periods beginning with the month in which your Card was issued to you (your "Anniversary Month"). It resets on the day after the last day of the billing period ending during your Anniversary Month. Your Anniversary Month can be found on your monthly statement.