Best Credit Card for Cash Bonuses

[Williamsmith]

I did a quick search and couldn't find what I was looking for but I'm sure this topic has been widely discussed. If someone can post a link to any thread that covers it.....thank you.

I currently have one MasterCard account issued by Citi Banks ATT Universal Card. I have had it for thirty years. It has a "ThankYou" points feature to it but I am not sure this is the most advantageous bonus feature. What do you have in your pocket?

[catherine]

I have an old Continental Presidential Plus card that I'm grandfathered into because once a lose it, it's gone the way of other pre-United perks. I get great travel miles and Elite qualifying miles from it.

Discover used to have the best Cash Back program--does it still?

[kib]

I get 1% back on everything, 2% back on groceries and 3% back on gas with my Bank Of America Visa Rewards. I get 1% back on everything, 2% back on gas and 3% back on groceries with my Consumer's Credit Union Visa. And I get 5% back on Amazon purchases with their store card - ditto Lowes. Chase Freedom is a 'category card', they'll give 1% back on everything and 5% back on certain categories for 3 months and then change it. I think Discover is the same. Once in a while they're worth using but sort of a nuisance for the added reward.

http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-credit-cards/nerdwallets-best-rewards-credit-cards/

This was updated for January and lists the Citibank Double Back card as giving a flat 2% on everything.

[Williamsmith]

Thanks kib!

The Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express is tempting at 6% back on groceries and 3% back on gas and department stores. These account for most of my spending , and after the first $1000 spent you get a credit of $100. It would be a no brainier if".......there wasn't an annual fee of $75.....which I detest. So you have to spend about $1250 on groceries, annually to pay your annual fee. Then anything above and beyond is gravy. And not everybody accepts Amex.

The Citi Double Cash Card you earn 1% upon purchase and 1% upon payoff. All categories of purchases apply. What could be simpler? And this is the Simple Living Forum.net right?

I dont find Discover has any features I like better. Certainly not rotating categories. Don't like the gimmick and Discover has acceptability issues also.

Anybody have a furor opinion?

[frugal-one]

The Citi Double back card has other benefits besides 1 percent when you purchase and another 1 percent when you pay. Such as... if you find the purchased item for less within 60 days of charging Citicard pays you the difference and travel insurance. They also have a service to find lower prices.. haven't used it yet. No annual fee.

[cindycindy]

Barclay's Bank Sallie Mae Card offers 5% back on gas (up to $250/month) and 5% back on groceries (up to $250 month) and 5% back on Amazon purchases (I don't believe there's a limit). For other purchases, it offers 1% cash back. It's a good card for those that don't have huge monthly expenses. The cash back can also be appliesdto outstanding Sallie Mae loans.

[rosarugosa]

Williamsmith: I just signed up for an Amex "Blue Cash Everyday." We'll get a $250. statement credit after we spend $1000 in 3 months. There is no annual fee. It pays 3% for supermarket purchases, 2% at gas stations and "select dept stores" and 1% on all other purchases. Amex has quite an array of different products with varying cash back and annual fee options.

ETA: I had just signed up to get the initial reward, but this card might be a keeper because we spend more money on groceries than anything else, so 3% is really good.

[Williamsmith]

Williamsmith: I just signed up for an Amex "Blue Cash Everyday." We'll get a $250. statement credit after we spend $1000 in 3 months. There is no annual fee. It pays 3% for supermarket purchases, 2% at gas stations and "select dept stores" and 1% on all other purchases. Amex has quite an array of different products with varying cash back and annual fee options.

ETA: I had just signed up to get the initial reward, but this card might be a keeper because we spend more money on groceries than anything else, so 3% is really good.

it says cash back is in the form of reward dollars which are then redeemed. What are reward dollars? Just a term....
Also it says after $6000 in supermarket purchases the 3% drops to 1%. I assume that would apply to some large ticket items that you can purchase in big box stores like WalMart.

[Williamsmith]

I checked out the Sally Mae.....I still lean towards the Citi Double Cash......

[kib]

It appears the good Sallie Mae card was closed to new applications on 9/25/15. The new one is part of Upromise and the rewards are nowhere near as nice. Too bad, that sounded like a great deal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/3mc4vv/whats_going_on_with_the_sallie_mae_mastercard/

[Williamsmith]

It appears the good Sallie Mae card was closed to new applications on 9/25/15. The new one is part of Upromise and the rewards are nowhere near as nice. Too bad, that sounded like a great deal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/3mc4vv/whats_going_on_with_the_sallie_mae_mastercard/

Oh crap.

[kib]

Oh crap. Did you find a link that was still working?

[Williamsmith]

Did you find a link that was still working?

I found a link that said they had terminated its availability.

[rosarugosa]

When I had an Amex card previously, the reward dollars were redeemable in different ways. You could get a statement credit or Amazon credit, but for decreased value than if you redeemed for gift cards. I always went for the gift cards since they had really good choices (for us, YMMV). We have an old house, so Home Depot gift cards are nearly as good as cash in my book. So for example, if you had 5000 reward dollars, this translated to $35.00 Amazon credit or statement credit, but a $50. Home Depot gift card. The offer letter for this card does say $25 in reward dollars is redeemable for a $25 statement credit, so terms here may be a bit different for the better. I just checked and it looks like HD gift cards are still an option. The $6000. per year limit on 3% grocery rewards wouldn't be a problem for us, since that's about what we spend on groceries per year.

[catherine]

This just popped up as an ad on my CNN web page: The Best Cash-Back Credit Cards (http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2014/08/05/best-cash-back-credit-cards-2/?kw=cnnnbp_dsk_4creditcardcashback-p8)

[CathyA]

I have a VISA through the credit Union from the University where I worked about 40 years ago. I got a good car loan from them along the way. I always choose the cash reward that goes back into my savings account there. I've earned a lot of money that way. I really like them and will stay with them. I get 1% in cash for everything I use my VISA for. I might get a better deal with a different company, but I really like this place, and they have been good to me.

[Williamsmith]

Thank you Catherine. The two best options are indeed the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred Card and the Citi a double Cash Card. The major differences are the first respectively dings you $75 annual fee but has higher percentages on specific categories. The citi is a straight 2% across the board with no annual fee. Is it possible AMEX could up the annual fee after two years? Yeah I guess. I like the simplicity of the Citi card. Don't care to think about categories or purchase limits.

[Williamsmith]

I have a VISA through the credit Union from the University where I worked about 40 years ago. I got a good car loan from them along the way. I always choose the cash reward that goes back into my savings account there. I've earned a lot of money that way. I really like them and will stay with them. I get 1% in cash for everything I use my VISA for. I might get a better deal with a different company, but I really like this place, and they have been good to me.

I belong to a state credit union and have financed many autos at generous interest rates. I also recently used their low mortgage loan interest rate quote as a comparison to get my local bank to approve a very low rate for my condo purchase. I just told them I'd finance through the credit union if they wouldn't match.

[rodeosweetheart]

I kind of do what Cathy does, as it is makes life simpler to use the card then pay it off from my checking account each time I use it. But I only get 1%. The Citi card and the Amex blue are tempting, but I know I am better off keeping it simple, financially speaking.

[early morning]

I have a Chase Amazon Visa. 3% on Amazon purchases, 2% on gas (my major expense), drugstores, restaurants, 1% on anything else. Super easy to redeem, a variety of ways - statement credit, they will mail you a check, gift cards, etc. And all the points are always listed on Amazon, but you don't have to use them there. When we had a large balance on our cards, I moved the balance around a lot to take advantage of the zero intro rates, and we paid almost no interest over the three years it took to pay them off. But tracking that and timing the moves was tricky, so now it's much simpler to keep this card, and we haven't carried a balance for about 10 years now.

[Williamsmith]

What I have learned here is not one card fits all circumstances. For instance, my daughter travels for her daily job going from bank to bank auditing. She gets paid 60 cents a mile and uses a Discover card to purchase gas that pays a good percentage cash back. This card is no good to me because I do not travel much and gasoline is a minor part of my budget.

I just checked my Thank You points for the last 12 month period and I earned 1 point for every dollar spent. Which is basically 1% when changed into cash or shopping cards. With the Citi double cash card I would have earned twice that so why wouldn't I change cards.

Now leaving the the other card inactive will negatively affect my credit score, correct?

[rodeosweetheart]

Now leaving the the other card inactive will negatively affect my credit score, correct?

I thought only closing the old card would do that.

[rosarugosa]

Williamsmith: I believe you are definitely better off keeping the card open, even if it is inactive. FICO scores are kind of a "secret sauce" recipe, but I've consistently heard that your credit score is improved by having held accounts for a long time, and also having a good ratio of credit used to credit available. I think my score is so high because I have lots of credit available, but only ever owe the value of the month's gas & groceries not yet billed and paid, so my credit utilization ratio is very favorable. Taking out a new card will ding you slightly (a new account without any payment history) but that shouldn't have a long term impact if all else is good. Closing the old card would probably have a much greater negative impact (decreasing your available amount of credit and also drastically decreasing accounts held for a long time).

[Williamsmith]

Okay thanks rosarugosa

[frugal-one]

What I have learned here is not one card fits all circumstances. For instance, my daughter travels for her daily job going from bank to bank auditing. She gets paid 60 cents a mile and uses a Discover card to purchase gas that pays a good percentage cash back. This card is no good to me because I do not travel much and gasoline is a minor part of my budget.

I just checked my Thank You points for the last 12 month period and I earned 1 point for every dollar spent. Which is basically 1% when changed into cash or shopping cards. With the Citi double cash card I would have earned twice that so why wouldn't I change cards.

Now leaving the the other card inactive will negatively affect my credit score, correct?

I have a few cc that I don't use regularly but always use them one time per year.. usually on my birthday so I don't forget. I just checked out my credit score and it was 815... so I guess that has not dinged it.

[Williamsmith]

The Citi double cash card is in the mail. The process to set up online account was simple. So I guess decision made.

[rosarugosa]

Good for you, Williamsmith. No sense leaving free cash on the table. And credit card rewards aren't taxable either, they are categorized as rebates. :)