Comments on: The Best Cash Back Credit Cards, February 2012

By: Dick Etter

Dick Etter — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:14:40 +0000

Pen Fed is changing the Platinum Cash Rewards card which is why I was on this site.

By: Brajesh

Brajesh — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:02:27 +0000

I have my wife delivery expenses coming up in this month, any idea which card would give maximum cash back on hospital / medicines expenses. I did get my Chase Freedom today, is it advisable to apply another card immediately, or it might hurt my credit real bad. thanks.

By: Nick

Nick — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:33:15 +0000

Which cards would be best “longterm” once the signing bonuses have been used?

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:33:39 +0000

It’s the AMEX with the annual fee, like $95 or $75 or something.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:25:37 +0000

And what would that be?

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:19:42 +0000

My card is the best. 6% groceries, 3% gas & department, 1% everything else.

By: Ceecee

Ceecee — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:55:10 +0000

This is great info. I was switched by Chase to the Freedom card a few months ago. My original card with them always paid 5% back on gas, groceries and drugstores. That was a slammin’ good deal. They cut that back before changing to the Freedom card. It’s not bad, but I sure miss that original deal.

By: Jeff Crews

Jeff Crews — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:49:33 +0000

I just signed up for the $200 cash back Chase Freedom card. I spent $500 on some much needed things (i.e. new tires, car maintenance), and now I can receive my $200 cash back. Not to mention….I am getting 5% cash back on all these purchases.

By: Dave in Aberdeen

Dave in Aberdeen — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:34:59 +0000

PenFed is cutting their cash back for general purchases to .25% as of Feb. 1. Still get 5% at the pump though.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:19:14 +0000

You generally can't find good cash back deals at warehouse stores because the prices are generally lower per unit. The AmEx Costco TruEarnings card could be a good option if you shop at Costco stores, free for Costco members.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:53:06 +0000

Extremely helpful article as I am looking for a new everyday use card. Here is my dilemma: I spend most of my money on groceries, gas and misc shopping items at either Sams Club or Wal-Mart. According to many of the card offers, Sams Club does not qualify as a grocer due to their Merchant Category Code. In fact, my wife’s Sam’s Discover Card only gives her.25 % back on purchases. Any recommendations on the best card if your primary purchases are from these outlets on a routine basis?

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:13 +0000

Yup, I had this card for one year – and just got a mailing from them saying they are cutting their cash-back rate on non-gas purchases from 1% down to 0.25%.

Time to find another card and cancel this one.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:05:26 +0000

Good article, I am looking to switch my everyday use card.

I am currently have Pentagon Federal Credit Union card, and just got a notice yesterday. They are lowering the interests rate (useless for me as I payoff every statement) and LOWERING the 1% rebate to 0.25% starting Feb 2012.

So you might need to drop it from your list.

Jonathan

By: Joshua

Joshua — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:00:53 +0000

Maybe this is new, but you may want to update the Citi Dividend World Mastercard details. You have on there that you get a $100 bonus after $500 in the first three months, well I applied and got approved about a week ago for that card, but with a $200 bonus after $500 in the first three months. Anyways, I’m looking forward to getting that card!

By: David

David — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:37:32 +0000

Another great benefit to this card is they pay you your cash back each month as a credit to your account statement.

By: adriano wallin

adriano wallin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:42:52 +0000

As for the Penfed 5% Gas cash back CC, you must be a member of their union. However, to become a member, all you need to do is make a $15 donation to their organization serving troops and invest $5 into your own share account as the minimum. From their, your entitled to all of the credit union’s benefits including some amazing loan rates. I just got my card 2 weeks ago : )

By: Ming Hsueh

Ming Hsueh — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:17:14 +0000

I can’t find the HSBC card you’re referring to. The only thing HSBC offers is the first 6 months at 2%, afterwards it falls to 1%.

By: jacksono

jacksono — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:46:53 +0000

do you have a link to this offering? I can’t find that particular card paying 2% & no annual. thanks

By: B Young

B Young — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 03:17:03 +0000

good article too by the way

By: B Young

B Young — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 03:14:38 +0000

HSBC has a credit card that pays 2% flat rate, no restrictions or annual fee. I recently set up all my recurring monthly bills to be paid automatically with this card. It makes a lot more sense to earn 2% cash back paying with that than it does paying straight out of my checking account.

By: Ming Hsueh

Ming Hsueh — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:33:05 +0000

A comment about the Chase Freedom Card. (At least for me when I applied) If you have a Checking account with them, they will give you an additional 10% of the 1% for a total of 1.1% back. Plus for each transaction they give you an additional tiny amount back. (like $.01 for each transaction)

I didn’t see the Bank of America card which offers 3% for gas(with a spending cap), 2% for groceries(with a spending cap), and 1% for everything else. If you have a Bank of America checking account they pay an additional 10% of your reward if you deposit the money into your BAC checking account.

By: Ming Hsueh

Ming Hsueh — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:23:08 +0000

Does anyone have the history of the rotating categories of the Citi® Dividend World MasterCard.

I’m interested if the #$&*! categories aren’t in perfect alignment with other cards using the “Category Rotation” methods.

However, if they rotated their 5% and the categories are different, I could easily determine which card to use based on a particular month. (ie. if one card offered 5% in gas Jan- Mar and another offered 5% from Jun-Aug) I’d just switch the card I used to pay for gas based on the one that paid me the most cash back.

By: jacksono

jacksono — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:49:40 +0000

I will cancel my B of A switchover asap now that Schwab/FIA is gone – it looks like CapitalOne’s Cashback MasterCard with 0% annual fee & 50% cash back bonus every year, 1% cash back on purchases, plus earn a one-time $100 bonus will be best for me, doing the math with the amount I put onto a card, will come out to be pretty much equivalent to the 2% cash back I got with Schwab/FIA.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:47:51 +0000

Love the PenFed card so far – we’ve had it for 6 months now. The one thing that wasn’t mentioned in the article (but is important to note) that you don’t have to be a member of any of the organizations or military – they will allow you to join for a $20 donation (which is tax deductible). We use the card for all of our everyday expenses and pay it off each month, so the rewards have FAR outweighed the cost to join.

By: gil

gil — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:01:24 +0000

Yes, there is a $65 fee for the spark card after a year however, and my experience with capital one is that they’ll change the program eventually and somehow make it not as good. This happened to me with the last capital one card I had when they went to their own tiered point system for paying for travel. It is lame.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:17:58 +0000

I have an LLC so this could work, but are there any implications to putting all purchases on a “business” card?

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:36:04 +0000

go with Capital One’s new Spark for small Business, an obvious answer to Schwab’s termination of its 2% cash back card. 2% Cash back across the board. They are obviously going for all the disgruntled former Schwab card holders like me. It worked.

By: MC

MC — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:02:27 +0000

I have this card. It’s issued by Bank of America and they are cutting it down to a 1% cash back on up to $1500.00 per month max. $15.00 cash back maximum…hardly worth it and the interest rate is high so it doesn’t make sense to ever carry a balance.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:45:16 +0000

I’ve listed the Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards, but the Capital One Cash Rewards offers a lower cash back percentage for the benefit of no annual fee. I’ll add a note about the new card.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:30:46 +0000

Gil:
Yes, you do have to open a Fidelity account to take advantage of this offer, but it certainly is not bait and switch. I have used it exclusively to get consistent 2% back every month for the last year. I spend $2500, I get 5000 points which equates to $50 (2% of my purchases) deposited into my Fidelity account. Once it’s in my Fidelity account, I am free to do whatever I want to do with it, spend it, invest it, or save it.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:50:07 +0000

Not at all, Gil. These things can be tricky sometimes, and the CSRs who answer the phone often can’t make it clear for their customers.

By: gil

gil — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:36:59 +0000

Are you calling me stupid? I think you are right! OK, just couldn’t get it to make sense, and when I called them, they didn’t help me make sense of it either. Thanks!

By: Flexo

Flexo — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:53:42 +0000

Let me illustrate:

Spend $10,000, earn 20,000 points (2 points for every dollar). Trade in 20,000 points for $200 cash back (the 1% exchange rate).

Your *result* is 2% cash back. $200 is 2% of $10,000. This is pretty straightforward in terms of points-based cash back programs.

By: gil

gil — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:30:49 +0000

That is not the issue I have problems with. Their deal is that you get 2% in “points” NOT cash. If you want cash, they use an “exchange rate” and you actually get 1%. THAT is the bait and switch. They advertise 2 and you get 1.

I called them to confirm this and that is their deal.

The Schwabb card was king. Hopefully an offer like that will come up again.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:14:17 +0000

I’m always one for pointing out bait and switch tactics when I see them, but with the Fidelity card, it’s fully disclosed you need to open an account to receive the cash back. At the very top of Fidelity’s offer page it says, “Turn 2% of purchases into a deposit in your eligible Fidelity account.” There should be no confusion.

By: gil

gil — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:01:17 +0000

The Fidelity deal is total bait and switch. If you want cash back, you only get 1% and that is after the hassle of setting up accounts with them. This is their fine print:
Customers earn 2 points for each $1 in net retail purchases. Once you reach 5,000 points, they can be redeemed automatically or on demand for cash at a 1% exchange rate into an eligible Fidelity account (i.e. 5,000 points = $50 deposit). The ability to contribute to an IRA or 529 college savings plan account is subject to IRS rules and specific program policies, including those on eligibility and annual and maximum contribution limits. Additional restrictions apply. Full details appear in the Program Guidelines new card customers receive with their card.

By: a

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:32:22 +0000

I use the Chase Freedom and the Discover cards for cash back and as presented above the AXP card has a substantially higher tier to receive any cash. I had accumulated approximately 150,000 with membership rewards paying $40/month over 25 years (1,000) and then found that the conversion rate is so poor that the points are really about 75,000 with a 1/1 conversion instad of the typical 1/2 conversion. So I gave up on point cards or what I call “funny money” because of the huge loss during the conversion/redemption process. The best cash back account that I found is Chase freedom for the following reasons: 1) 1% cash back with no tier; 2) 2% more or a total of 3% on the top 3 or 5 of 15 category purchases (3 of 15 for non checking account customers and 5 of 15 for checking customers) 3) 5% more or a possible total of 8% for quarterly promotions. For the 4th quarter of 2011 the promotions are dining, movie theaters, department stores and charitable contributions totaling $1,500 and a separate $1,500 for Khols. They seem to me to have the best cash back program as they have no tier and the give the maximum or 8% on selected quarterly promotions 1% + 2% + 5% = 8%. The Discover card has a 3,000 tier before earning 1% and charges at Walmart or Sams club do not contribute to the tier and always have a cap of 0.25%. The benefit of this card is at redemption where there is a little price improvement on some gift cards at selected merchants. Their disadvantage compared to Chase is that the maximum ever benefit is 5%. The 5% quarterly benefit is not added to the tier level. Wheras with Chase it is added to a maximum of 8%. The 5% quarterly bonuses are often similar with Chase and Discover and each program requires that the customer sign up for each quarterly benefit. Both Chase and Discover had gas at 5% for the summer months. Also I have found that most of the time the dollar amount eligible for the Chase card is almost always higher than the Discover card for the similar quarterly promotion. This quarter the maximum charges for the Discover quarterly promotion (restaurants, department stores and clothing stores it only up to 300 in charges whereas the Chase card is $,1500 in charges (dining, movie theaters, charitable donations, department stores)

By: William Tedeschi

William Tedeschi — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:00:33 +0000

You omitted the CAPITAL ONE cash rewards card. 1% on all purchases plus at the end of one year you get a 50% bonus. This equals 1 1/2% of all purchases. No annual fee. $100 bonus for opening the account. If you pay off your balance each month, the only card that beats it is the Fidelity card that gives you 2% but requires you to open an brokerage account with them. I opened an account with them for $50 then applied for and got the 2% Fidelity card. Only problem Is that it is an American Express card. Bottom line: I get 2% unless the merchant doesn’t accept American Express, then I get
1 1/2%.

By: Charles

Charles — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 07:52:54 +0000

I just starting using my Fidelity Visa 1.5% cash back card and found two issues:

1. No e-mail balance/bill/activity alerts. Perhaps this would change if I did not get a paper statement.
2. No ability to auto-pay the entire balance in full each month without intervention. You can auto-pay a fixed amount or manually pay the balance at a date in the future. But I am bound to get busy and forget to do this.

Were are my scissors…

By: Petesea

Petesea — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:51:39 +0000

I have a 2% rebate, no annual fee HSBC card that is capped at $400 back per year. Your link does not say anything anything about a cap, but you should double chack on that.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:15:54 +0000

I have been trying to find a replacement card for my Charles Schwab (FIA) card ever since I found out it was being replaced with the pathetic BofA reward program. I saw this offer from Household Bank (HSBC): https://www.householdbank.com/ecare/cards?docId=Cards_Tab_data_cards_hb_sp5_xml&WT.svl=400 and wanted to see what others thought of it as a possible replacement before I took the plunge. It looks promising, but I wanted to see if anyone out there as had any experience with this card.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 03:29:58 +0000

Good point. I’m low income, so that wouldn’t apply to me unless I was spending way more than I could afford. But for many people that may be a point of interest.

By: joe

joe — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 17:07:43 +0000

BOA’s card is not unlimited. see their T&C:

“You will earn total cash rewards of 2% (consisting of 1% bonus cash rewards and 1% base cash rewards) for net purchases at eligible grocery merchants and 3% (consisting of 2% bonus cash rewards and 1% base cash rewards) for net purchases at eligible gas merchants (the “Bonus Categories”), for the first $1,500 of combined net purchases made during each calendar quarter in the Bonus Categories”

By: S

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 13:13:28 +0000

Check out the new B of A cash rewards Visa. Straight 3% on gas 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else. No need to opt and no rotating categories.

By: Cath

Cath — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 13:07:37 +0000

The new Bank of America cash back Visa is pretty good. 3% on gas, 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else. I like that I get more cash back on the categories I spend the most in and I know some cards offer up to 5% but I like the simplicity of not having the categories change or having to opt in every few months.

By: jerm

jerm — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:23:28 +0000

Navy Federal offers a cash rewards VISA card that gives you 1.5% after you make $10k in purchases. It’s 1% before you reach $10k in purchases.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 02:12:01 +0000

The offers we present on Consumerism Commentary aren’t necessarily open to “the public” (that is, they are unadvertised except for on Consumerism Commentary and possibly a small number of other websites). Phone CSRs may not necessarily know about them. The information provided here is current.

By: Love2shBack

Love2shBack — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:57:34 +0000

haa, you are right, the link in this article still says 200, but according to this link it is 100:
https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/chase-freedom.aspx

I did call Chase and they told me its no longer 200, whatever, i hate inconsistencies, i should just go for the capital one.

By: josh

josh — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:12:47 +0000

BP has a good rewards card if you travel a lot and buy BP fuel. Unlimited Rewards. 5% cash back on ALL BP purchases (including snacks, beer, etc.) 2% on dining and travel, 1% on everything else, excluding online purchases. Apply for the card on BP’s website, but it is administered through Chase. I have had this card for just over a year now and have close to $500 cash back. I buy a lot of BP fuel.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:11:38 +0000

The $200 Chase Freedom bonus is definitely still available (September 18, 2011). Just follow the link in this article.