Best Reward / Cash Back Credit Cards

They’re just fine for regular spending. I think QuickSilver is the best no-AF card for foreign travel (no AF, no FX, 1.5% CB). Cap1 also has a few cards with pretty good signup bonuses if you don’t mind the triple inquiry.

I concede that is entirely possible. I know VERY little about regular spending . . . . have scant experience.

When you eventually run out of new cards to apply for and 1.5% back would still make you money, it makes sense to apply for Capital One Quicksilver and just test the waters for a month or two. But I would put it at the bottom of my list for sure.

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I received the Amex Everyday Blue Cash card about a month ago, hit the $1K spend today and the $150 credit shows in my account.

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Well, looks like I might miss out the 3 month promotion window for WF Propel card since the medical procedure keep delaying. Now I’m looking for a replacement sign up bonus card. Got an offer for 100k point for a Merritt Bonvoy card today, any feedback on it? It’s $95 annual fee though. What else should I consider?

They’ve been doing a 100k sign up bonus off and on for years, but each point today is worth a LOT less than it was in the past. Back when I traveled a bunch 3+ years ago, I looked into that card and it was barely a good deal then. I can’t imagine its a good deal now.

This question is really hard to answer unless you let us know which cards and signup bonuses you aren’t eligible for.

slickdeals still offers a $125 bonus for getting the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card.

$150 statement credit with $1,000 spending within the first 3 months.

0% APR on purchases for 15 months.

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How might I take advantage of this? What can I buy that is easily convertible to cash for the same as purchase price so I can carry the balance for 15 months at 0%?

The card pays 3% cash back at grocery stores. You can put your grocery bills on the card.

Well, I think I qualify for most card however I don’t want the hassle of applying for a business card.

The timing is still iffy so I’m looking at Discover IT which supposedly double all earning for the first year. May not be the best sign up bonus but that give me a lot of time. it also make a good everyday card to compliant my Freedom card for the 5 % category.

I’m about 8 months into my first year of the Discover miles card.

The good:
Their customer service is as good as Amex was 5 or 6 years ago - All U.S. based and all that I’ve dealt with seemed to be native English speakers.
There haven’t been any screw-ups with points.

The bad:
The card is not as widely accepted as Visa, MC, or Amex. Even when websites display the Discover logo, they may not accept the card (just found this out last night).
Other than doubling the 1.5% reward for the first year, there are practically no benefits (price protection, rental car ins, etc.)

If there is no fee for the card, I will keep it and use it when convenient. However, it will not get the usage that it’s getting for the first year.

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That’s very true…within the past year, Discover removed all the benefits, like extended warranty, purchase protection, etc…from their cards…

Agreed about the benefits going away. The Discover Miles card gets $30 of onboard wifi each year, but that benefit ends March 31. The Miles card then becomes a keeper only to maintain average age of accounts. And oh yearh, they are replaced all cards now with ones that have really pretty pictures on them.

That said, the effective 3% first year worked extremely well for me without a hitch. And Player Two is wrapping up her first year of 3% soon and we paid a lot of taxes and such with hers. The points are there and we will be glad to see the money.

If anyone intends to get a Discover card, please message me for a referral link. You’ll get $50 extra, as will I.

I’ve had a Discover card since they were the only ones to give cash back. Now, most everyone else beats them in everyday cash back percentage. I use it mainly for the 5% quarterly rewards, along with the Freedom card. Usually, they don’t overlap rewards. This quarter the Discover 5% is for groceries. Next quarter is 5% off gas.

Edit: I took out the bit about ShopDiscover, as that was cancelled as of October 2018. My bad.

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The Navy Federal Signature Visa offer is back - $500 cash after a $4000 spend in 90 days. The same deal last fall worked fine for me. Membership eligibility is pretty wide open as long as you can document in some plausible manner that someone in your extended family was in the military (e.g. your deceased grandfather was in the Army in WWII).

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Citi closed my Dividend card which I have had since 1999 for inactivity and they want to do a hard pull on Equifax to reopen. Is that worth it? Have 3 or 4 other cards with Citi, also have other cards that go back to the late 90s / early 00s, and plenty of credit on 15-20 cards total.

Sounds like you’ve done the right analysis. If closing the card won’t significantly impact your average age of accounts or total credit capacity, I’d close it rather than taking a hard hit. Better to get a new card that will give a bonus and features you will actually use.

For many, though, a card that has a life of 20 years might be doing wonders for your AAoA and should be kept active with tiny purchases twice a year. For example, if all your other cards were less than five years, then yes, keep it.

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I got a Cap 1 card, it’s the grandfathered GM card that still gets me 5%, up to $500/year. It wasn’t Cap 1 to begin with but then got absorbed into Cap 1.

Posting a kind word here for Bank of America’s “1-2-3” card . . . at least that is what we called it a few years back. Today they call it the Bank of America Cash Rewards World Mastercard.

Anyway, their new “choose your 3% category” feature just put fifty extra bucks into my pocket and I am appreciative of their largesse. Thank you B of A. :grin:

The 3% deal, as Argyll kindly reminded me up thread, is limited to the first $2500 of spending per quarter. I use this card solely for my little side hustle, so I blew easily through that limit in a single month. Still, I never anticipated the card would net me over a 1% reward, so it is found money (the extra 2% on $2500 is how I ended up with fifty bucks more than usual).

I guess over a year’s time the added quarterly reward will put an extra $200 in my pocket. Not bad. Not bad at all.

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We’re in a similar situation (minus the elusive side hustle of course). My wife had a BoA card for years that was sockdrawered when we got married and she became part of my credit card point team. They product changed it at some point to the Cash Rewards card. This is the first time a card of ours has ever come OUT of the sock drawer because a rewards category or percentage improved.

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