Cash back credit cards

[GTFan]

+1.

We use the Chase Freedom + Sapphire Preferred combo. Then redeem for travel (@1.25) instead of cash (@1.00).

Planning on getting Barclay's Arrival Plus World Elite, too, maybe 6 months to 1 year before our next vacation.

If you're willing to play the card bonus game you can essentially travel everywhere for free (ok you do pay for local transportation and food). I haven't paid for a flight/hotel in years, for example.

 

[hnzw_rui]

If you're willing to play the card bonus game you can essentially travel everywhere for free (ok you do pay for local transportation and food). I haven't paid for a flight/hotel in years, for example.

That might work fine if you're already retired and have a flexible schedule. However, I find there tends to be a lot of restrictions when it comes to redeeming some airline/hotel-based rewards programs. That's why I prefer cashback credit cards with option for travel redemption.

 

[karen1972]

I use my AmexBlue, plus I like the extras that Amex provides, such as cheap rental insurance and extra insurance when you are traveling abroad, it gave me peace of mind. They also provide lots of extras here and there like $10 back if you spend $30 on Amazon in the next 30 days.. most of the offers I have been able to take advantage of so rack up many extra.

The other card I use is through my credit union which isn't cash back but reward based and I can still get lots of flights for only 20k points vs many cards moving to 50k miles

 

[kgtest]

+1.

We use the Chase Freedom + Sapphire Preferred combo. Then redeem for travel (@1.25) instead of cash (@1.00).

Planning on getting Barclay's Arrival Plus World Elite, too, maybe 6 months to 1 year before our next vacation.


Likely because of the higher overall credit limit.

DH uses Freedom, and I use Saphire and Barclay. I sure wish daycare accepted Credit Card! I've been able to get the annual fee's waved most times, and sure have received some good travel discounts / free trips with this combo

 

[wolf]

I have 2 cards, Chase Sapphire and Amex Preferred... have been happy with the cash back features of both for the last 2 years.

Are there any other newer, better offers out there that I should investigate?
The Capital One Quicksilver looks like a winner with 1.5% cash back on everything, no limit... anyone using this one?


Thanks in advance...

Just got the capital one quicksilver. 10K card limit. 1.5% seems very
straight forward. $100 reward, if you spend $500 1st 3 months.
Will use this as "base" card.

Use other cards for grocery store and restaurants. (2% and 3% rewards).

 

[mickeyd]

I started using Discover 30+ years ago when they started and it is still my main CC. No CC market-timing for me.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Primary card is still the Amex Cash Preferred. 6% on groceries, 3% on gas and 1% on everything else. If Chase Freedom is running a good "category", I will use it (such as 5% on gas through the end of September).

I just got an offer for a Navy Federal Cash Rewards that will give me $150 if I put $1,500 on it in 3 months time. And a local bank also sent a $250 offer if I do a direct deposit of at least $1,000 for 3 months and use a check card 15 times in the same 3 months. Not very much work at all for $400!

 

[Walt34]

I just got this offer on a Sears M/C card that I already had: 10% back (in a statement credit) up to $100 between now and the end of December. Between groceries, gas, and a few other things we'll probably be able to put $1k a month on the card and get the full $400 benefit. And pay it off in full every month of course - they're gonna hate me for that!

 

[Sunset]

If you're willing to play the card bonus game you can essentially travel everywhere for free (ok you do pay for local transportation and food). I haven't paid for a flight/hotel in years, for example.

We have done that as well, but I dislike flying so much we have slowed down on it.

The trick to getting the free flights (like to HI) is to book it many many months in advance. I never had an issue of not getting one, although sometimes I had to search each night for up to 4 nights (which is what I would do if tickets were expensive in $$$ too).

 

[fritz]

I got both of these 2 cards in the past couple weeks. Ive made purchases on both cards.

CitiBank 2% card...made purchase on 8/28. My online account shows Zero cash back earned. I called and they confirmed I do have cash back and said it would show up on my screen in a few days. It still hasnt.

Capital One 1.5% card...cash back showed up online immediately (incl $100 bonus that I didnt know I was getting)

Both cards show ytd total cash back amount earned on your home page after you sign in, and on monthly statements. Neither show points by individual purchase online or on statements (for reader's clarification). Capital one pays 1 1/2% total for purchases - easy to calculate. Citi pays 1% on purchases, and 1% on payments - not as easy to calculate with the lag of always two statements. Both make it fairly easy to redeem, and promote it to you when you sign in to your account. Neither CC points (cash back, credit, donate, etc) expire. Your Cap 1 QS $100 bonus for +$500.00 purchases within the first 3 mos. may be applied as a credit to future purchases/statement, and not against the current statement. Had both cards now for 5 months, and happy with both. Only had issues with Capital One and they were minor due to their policy changes that hadn't caught up with their customer service people (and unhappy they dropped text alerts).

 

[scrinch]

I know it is legal now for gas stations to charge one price if paying cash and a higher price if paying with a credit card. Is that legal for other retailers now also? With high cc fees, retailers have to charge higher prices, and if cash and cc prices are the same, then the cash buyer is paying a premium.

 

[Gotadimple]

I'm not aware there is a law that controls the distinction a merchant can make when it comes to paying for purchases. Gas or otherwise. I have always been able to negotiate a cash price with a small merchant equal to a 2-3% discount.

You just need to ask. Some may be willing to do the math for you if you write a check or hand them cash rather than use a card. Small merchant means a family owned business, sole proprieter, etc.

Rita

 

[braumeister]

I'm not aware there is a law that controls the distinction a merchant can make when it comes to paying for purchases.

AFAIK, it's not a law, just one of the requirements of the credit card companies. MC and Visa at least. They forbid a merchant from charging cash customers less than those using their cards.

 

[Dave J]

I think the Fed's changed that a few months back in one of the financial industry fix laws they passed. They required cc companys to change.

 

[ivinsfan]

Agree that the 5% is good.... but I hate these quarterly cards with different categories.... you got this Chase and Discover.... and surprisingly they mostly match categories.... this quarter they are different, but some years they match the whole year...


It also drives DW crazy as she is just getting used to a category and then they change... and Discover is only .25% regularly... at least Chase is 1%...

going to stick up for Discover our main card for over 25 years. IMHO they have great customer service. We don't have a huge monthly spend so for us, the bonus quarterly offers are great. I also get a lot of customized cashback offers in my email.Finally, Discover has one of the greatest shopping portals around, with offers all the time/ We were in the market for a new TV and 2-in-1 tablet used the Dell Black Friday offers and logged on thru discover deals..10% cashback bonus for Dell, and 5% on the first 1500 dollars spent online 4th quarter. When the bill came due we had stockpiled enough cashback for both the TV and 2in1 . If you aren't using the shopping portal connected to your main card, you are likely leaving some money on the table.People mention travel savings, we have found Expedia packages to be exceptional for the areas we travel to. Discover has a pretty consistent 10% cashback offer on the travel portion (not including taxes)on Expedia. I think Discover can be an underrated card.

 

[Senator]

AFAIK, it's not a law, just one of the requirements of the credit card companies. MC and Visa at least. They forbid a merchant from charging cash customers less than those using their cards.

I do not think that is true anymore. A lot of companies do it. I think there was some CFPB law that makes it legal.

 

[user5027]

My Citibank Sears MasterCard just sent me an email. Receive 10% back as a statement credit (up to $100 total each month) when you spend $50 or more each month in eligible purchases at grocery stores, drug stores, gas stations and restaurants are made and post to your account by 12/31/2015.

Wait till my wife hears. She loves the restaurant rewards.

 

[valueplayer]

I closed my fidelity Amex because they kept denying my card at places I shopped all the time....it was so annoying. So I switched to citi double cash back about 6 months and have been very happy.

 

[scrinch]

I just did a little googling... In January 2013 a settlement was reached whereby cc companies could no longer prevent merchants from recovering cc surcharges from customers in the US. However there are 10 states that still have laws prohibiting this practice. http://business.time.com/2013/01/25/a-4-surcharge-for-using-a-credit-card-legal-but-not-likely/

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[daylatedollarshort]

going to stick up for Discover our main card for over 25 years. IMHO they have great customer service. We don't have a huge monthly spend so for us, the bonus quarterly offers are great. I also get a lot of customized cashback offers in my email.Finally, Discover has one of the greatest shopping portals around, with offers all the time/ We were in the market for a new TV and 2-in-1 tablet used the Dell Black Friday offers and logged on thru discover deals..10% cashback bonus for Dell, and 5% on the first 1500 dollars spent online 4th quarter. When the bill came due we had stockpiled enough cashback for both the TV and 2in1 . If you aren't using the shopping portal connected to your main card, you are likely leaving some money on the table.People mention travel savings, we have found Expedia packages to be exceptional for the areas we travel to. Discover has a pretty consistent 10% cashback offer on the travel portion (not including taxes)on Expedia. I think Discover can be an underrated card.

I like the Discover portal and also recently started using Giving Assistant. I like Giving Assistant because the cash back money gets sent to a checking account daily, and usually gets credited right after the item purchased is shipped. Plus they have pretty good cashback percentages at most merchants, including Amazon.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I closed my fidelity Amex because they kept denying my card at places I shopped all the time....it was so annoying. So I switched to citi double cash back about 6 months and have been very happy.

They denied our purchase of tires at the Costco we patronize weekly between groceries and gas, because the amount was more than we usually spend. This is true because tires cost more than toilet paper and organic chicken, and we buy chicken and TP more often than we buy tires, but we were surprised we had to call and explain that.

 

[audreyh1]

They denied our purchase of tires at the Costco we patronize weekly between groceries and gas, because the amount was more than we usually spend. This is true because tires cost more than toilet paper and organic chicken, and we buy chicken and TP more often than we buy tires, but we were surprised we had to call and explain that.

That is actually a good thing and to be expected, although many companies call immediately after the purchase to verify no fraud was involved, rather than block outright unless it's a foreign purchase.

It's a minor inconvenience to talk with a credit card company when you make an unusual large purchase - like that time we bought my Dad a plasma screen TV out of state.

 

[CoolChange]

If you have a Sam's Club membership anyway, I think the Sam's Club branded card is a pretty good deal: 5% on gas, 3% on travel (restaurants, hotels, rental cars, air fare, etc.), 1% on almost all else.

You can also get a one time statement credit when you sign up and use the card on the same day; but, I don't remember those details off the top of my head.

This is becoming my go to card since the majority of my spend is lumped into what they consider travel and gas.

 

[Texas Proud]

If you have a Sam's Club membership anyway, I think the Sam's Club branded card is a pretty good deal: 5% on gas, 3% on travel (restaurants, hotels, rental cars, air fare, etc.), 1% on almost all else.

You can also get a one time statement credit when you sign up and use the card on the same day; but, I don't remember those details off the top of my head.

This is becoming my go to card since the majority of my spend is lumped into what they consider travel and gas.

I found out the hard way.... the gas rebate has restrictions.... I cannot use it at the major grocery stores here that have gas stations.... they are excluded... you still get the 1% on the purchase, not the 5....

The other negative is that you have to wait until (IIRC) February for them to send you a 'check' that you can only cash at a Sam's club.... and they said if it is large you should call ahead to let them know you are coming... it is a marketing tool that has you there so you will probably buy stuff... and since you have this check you probably will spend more than normal....

Just sayin....

 

[ivinsfan]

If you have a Sam's Club membership anyway, I think the Sam's Club branded card is a pretty good deal: 5% on gas, 3% on travel (restaurants, hotels, rental cars, air fare, etc.), 1% on almost all else.

You can also get a one time statement credit when you sign up and use the card on the same day; but, I don't remember those details off the top of my head.

This is becoming my go to card since the majority of my spend is lumped into what they consider travel and gas.

I do Sam's Club because we don't have Costo around here, and I wouldn't use a Sam's Club card because I consider Sam's to have the worst customer service around. The minute I can get access to a Costo, Sam's is history to me......if they have the same attitude to their credit card I wouldn't get that one either.