Cash back credit cards are one of the best ways to practice responsible spending, while earning a little extra for your efforts. It wasn’t long ago that the best cash back credit cards were offering rewards as high as 5% for all purchases but unfortunately, those days have come and gone.
Today’s cash back credit cards are all similar in nature, generally offering 1% cash back on all purchases, however if you look hard enough, you’ll find a decent amount of credit cards that have higher cash rebates than just 1%.
I’ve compiled a continuously updated list of the best cash back credit cards you’ll be able to find. All cash back percentages are listed as well as any tiers or restrictions, so there are no surprises if your cash back credit card isn’t earning as much as you first thought.
Editor’s choice
Chase Freedom® Visa – The Chase Freedom® Visa offers a standard 1% cash back on all purchases, as well as the opportunity to earn 5% cash back on select purchases throughout the year, subject to a maximum. Every three months, the categories in which you can earn 5% cash back change, so for example January-March could be gas stations and supermarkets and April-June might be utilities and department stores. In order to qualify for the 5% cash back, you must have an account in good standing and follow the terms and conditions set forth by Chase. Categories will be announced to cardholders before they happen, so make sure to be on the look-out.
The Chase Freedom® Visa also offers up to an additional 20% cash back (meaning up to 21% cash back) on purchases made at select merchants when you shop online through the Chase website. If that wasn’t enough, the Chase Freedom® Visa also offers a 0% intro rate on purchases for six months and balance transfers for 12 months. The card also carries no annual fee making it the easy choice for best cash back credit card.
And now for a limited time, Chase has launched a Chase Freedom® Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back offer.
Blue Cash® from American Express – Of all the cash back cards available, this by far is the one you can take advantage of most but only if you’re a big spender. The Blue Cash® from American Express card offers 1% cash back on everyday purchases (like gas, groceries and drug stores) and 0.5% cash back on everything else. After you have spent a total of $6,500 you move to the higher tier of cash back. This tier offers 5% cash back on everyday purchases and 1.25% cash back on everything else. It’s important to note that this $6,500 mark resets annually, so in order to qualify for 5% cash back, you must spend it every year and after 12 billing cycles, your cash back percentage resets. Blue Cash® from American Express also includes a 0% intro offer on purchases for up to six months and carries no annual fee.
Discover® More® Card – The Discover® More® Card has a tricky cash back rewards program but we’ll do our best to guide you through it. For the first $3,000 in purchases, cardholders will earn 0.25% cash back then 1% on all purchases after that. Just like the Chase Freedom℠ Card, the Discover® More® Card offers 5% cash back on rotating categories throughout the year BUT there is a cap on the amount of money you can earn with 5% cash back and if you’ve reached your limit, you will only receive 1% on all remaining purchases. If you’re account is inactive for 18 months OR you fail to make your minimum payment for two consecutive months, all rewards will be forfeited. Finally, warehouse purchases (like Costco or Sam’s Club) will always earn 0.25% cash back, no matter what spending level you have reached. The Discover® More® Card comes with a 0% intro offer on balance transfers for a full 15 months and on purchases for a full six months and there is no annual fee.
And now for a limited time, the Discover® More® Card has launched a $75 cash back offer.
Pen Fed Visa Platinum Gas / Cash Rewards Card. If this card wasn’t difficult to come by, it would easily be rated #1 on this list. The Pen Fed Visa Platinum Gas / Cash Rewards Card offers 5% cash back on all gasoline purchases, 2% cash back at supermarkets and 1% cash back on everything else. These are straight percentages with no restrictions or requirements of any kind. The card also has a reasonably low interest rate with no annual fee. The catch, is that you have to be a member of the Pen Fed Credit Union. That means you must be a United States Government employee, member of the United States Military and Uniformed Services, employee or volunteer of the American Red Cross, member of the National Military Family Association, or a family member/housemate of a current PenFed member. Like I said, tough to come by.
True Earnings® Card from Costco and American Express. The True Earnings® Card from Costco and American Express has a favorable tier level cash back program set-up. Cardholders can earn 3% cash back on gasoline purchases and restaurants, 2% cash back on travel and 1% cash back on everything else, including warehouse clubs like Costco. Once you’ve spent $3,000 in annual gasoline purchases, your rebate falls back down to 1%. There are no limits to cash back received on Restaurants and Travel so go crazy. In addition, the card comes with an intro rate of 0% on purchases for six months, a $25 statement credit after your first purchase and if you have a Costco membership, the True Earnings® Card from Costco and American Express carries no annual fee.
Capital One® No Hassle Cash℠ Rewards Card. The Capital One® No Hassle Cash℠ Rewards Card is designed for cardholders with excellent credit that spend a fair amount on their card every year. In terms of cash back, the card offers a standard 1% on all purchases for your first $6,000 spent. Once you have reached your $6,000 milestone, the Capital One® No Hassle Cash℠ Rewards Card offers 3% cash back on all gas and grocery purchases. The card also offers a 0% intro rate on purchases until May 2011 and does not have an annual fee. One of the added benefits of Capital One is that they do not charge a foreign transaction fee, so you are free to use your card internationally without additional charges.
Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® MasterCard®. The Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® MasterCard® is a close runner up to the Chase Freedom℠ Visa for best cash back credit card. The card offers something very similar in 1% cash back on all purchases and 5% cash back on rotating categories. No tiers or amounts needed to acquire this additional cash back and the Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® MasterCard® comes with a 0% intro offer on balance transfers for 15 months and carries no annual fee.
Bank of America® Accelerated Cash Rewards™ American Express® Card. In terms of flat cash back rate, you won’t do better than the Bank of America® Accelerated Cash Rewards™ American Express® Card. The card offers a 1.25% cash back rate on all purchases, regardless of category or tier level. In addition to the cash back amount, you can earn a $50 statement credit by spending at least $50 in your first 60 days of owning the card, and another $25 statement credit for registering an account at www.amexnetwork.com/get25. The card currently has no annual fee and a 0% intro period on both purchases and balance transfers for 7 or 10 billing cycles.
IBERIABANK Visa® Gold Card. The IBERIABANK Visa® Gold Card made this list for a couple of reasons. First, the card offers a flat 1% cash back on all purchases. Second, there is no annual fee associated with this card, so it’s an inexpensive option. And the final reason this card squeaked in was because of it’s low interest rate. Customers can garner an interest rate of 9.25%, 12.25% or 15.25%, which is about as good as you can do these days. Consider the IBERIABANK Visa® Gold Card the vanilla of all cash back credit cards, as their isn’t much flash and dash, just a very solid offer.
Fidelity® Investment Rewards® American Express® Card. The Fidelity® Investment Rewards® American Express® Card offers a flat rate of 2% cash back on ALL purchases. This card would easily make the #1 spot on our list, had it not been for the restriction of having to open a SmartCash or Fidelity brokerage account. The card comes with a low 13.9% APR and offers a 0% introductory rate on balance transfers for the first seven billing cycles and carries no annual fee.
Citi CashReturns® Card. The Citi CashReturns® Card offers consumers a 2% cash back rate on all purchases and cash advances for the first six months and 1% cash back after that with no strings attached. There are no restrictions and absolutely no limits to the amount of cash you can earn making this card the most straight forward cash back credit card available. The Citi CashReturns® Card has a 0% APR intro rate on balance transfers for up to 18 months and carries no annual fee.
If you’re holding on to a cash back credit card that you feel deserves to make this list, let us know. We’ll take a look and if it’s worthy, we’ll add it to our best cash back credit cards list.
“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.”
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{ 15 comments }
I just did a review of Fidelity’s Investment Rewards Visa Card
http://investorjunkie.com/fidelity-investment-rewards-visa-card-review
At least for me the 1.5% return up to $15k and 2% after that is perfect for my family. Plus it deposits directly into a Fidelity account.
You missed the Schwab Visa, which has unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases.
I was thinking you were missing the Schwab Visa too … but that card is no longer accepting new applicants.
Program was closed a few months ago. Dang
Yea the Schwab was a good deal for a card. Fidelity has one with 2% but it’s AMEX only.
It’ll probably take some good management skills, but the best rewards would come from:
1. Using the Chase Freedom Visa first, when specific categories are in rotation. Getting 5% on those.
2. If the categories are not active, using Citi Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard. Getting 2% on those.
3. Then falling back on 1% from either card.
Investor junkie missed that Fidelity Rewards also has a card from American Express that pays 2% cash back into your fidelity account on all purchases with no caps or annual fee. I just signed up yesterday in fact!
Visit my blog for mostly non-credit-card related rants, except one about Discover Card in 2008 about their lame process of lowering your credit card rates when you ask.
I recall reading somewhere about that PenFed card that to join, all you need to do is make a one-time payment of $20-30 to some military organization to become a member. Then you can join PenFed and get the card.
You’re absolutely right Dan, it’s about $25 to join the union, and they have some of the best cards out there. We profile them all the time on our blog because they’re one of our favorites
Chase Freedom:
I’ll have to investigate if your description of the Chase online mall is accurate. I’m still on the older 3% on top 5 catagories plan until June 2nd, and at least on the older plan when you shopped online with Chase Rewards Plus it was a straight percentage cash back. So, for example when I bought some sneakers at JCPenny with 4% cash back, I literally received a bonus of 4% on top of the standard 1%. *BUT*, this newer “Ultimate Rewards” program could be different and may be exactly as you described… I’m supposed to receive a welcome package sometime this month, so perhaps I’ll know more then.
Pen Fed Visa Platinum Gas / Cash Rewards Card:
Like Dan said, anyone can join the PenFed credit union by a one-time $20 donation to the National Military Family Association. It’s harder, though, to be approved for the credit card itself because PenFed is a very conservative lender. You might want to search around the ficoforums for advice before trying to obtain the Pen Fed Visa.
I actually got taken by Chase on the Freedom card when they changed the rewards scheme. I’m not at all impressed with the way they handle it now, since the categories are kind of random, they rotate quarterly, and you have to “opt in” to get the 5%. Here’s my rant: link
Plus, realistically speaking since they rotate, you’re really only averaging 1.25% on an annual basis, which is not impressive at all. You’re better off with a straight 2% cashback card like the Fidelity Amex.
Just to clarify, as a representative from Chase pointed out privately, the bonus is an additional (up to) 20% back on the purchase price, not on the points *for* the purchase. In other words, you can earn up to 21% cash back by shopping in the mall… not a bad benefit, indeed, if you prefer shopping with your money rather than tucking away your rewards into a savings account. So as you described, you earned 4% cash back for shopping in addition to the 1% built-in cash back.
?Honestly, i think people have to price around or shop around to get the most cash back bonuses ontop of whatever your card gives you for regular purchases (ie. 1%). Shopping online at the credit cards’ shopping malls: DiscoverCard’s ShopDiscover, Chase’s Ultimate Rewards Mall, AmericanExpress’ BonusPointsMall, Citibank’s ThankYou Network, BankofAmerica or FIA’s AddItUp, Sovereign Bank (Santander) CashRewards, and others can vary with the same retailer or merchant. For one, I saw DiscoverCard give 5% bonus + whatever tier level you are in; Chase gave 3% +1%regular cashback; BankofAmerica gave 3%. Maybe you can enroll your FIA Schwab card with BankofAmerica’s additup, and get the 2% plus the bonus % cashback (not sure if this card and other affiliate/ co-brand cards are applicable; any1 know??) Alternately, you can price around if you are a Frequent Flyer Miles junkie; some airlines gives 10 miles per $ you spend by shopping from the airline’s webmall site, and you’ll get your normal cashback % from your card issuer. Side
The Chase card at 5% looks worth the effort if you have the patience to track what card to use when and where. I have the older Fidelity 529 MasterCard, 2% into the kid’s college account. Amex Open gives 5% on Office supply store and certain hotels. So I use that for those specific purchases.
For those who mentioned the Fidelity card… I will add that to the list. Thanks for the feedback!
?Under a different category – spending money you actually possess instead of credit: PayPal Debit Card offers 1.5% on all purchases made using ‘credit’ as an option (instead of debit).
Understandably this is a different category debit vs credit (existing money vs borrowed). Might be a different feature idea. Local credit unions probably blow this benefit out of the water, but far less flexible in moving money around accounts.
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