Best Reward / Cash Back Credit Cards

Re: Slick Deals $125 bonus for opening Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card.

I was approved January 7. Today, 1-25-19, the bonus is in my Paypal account.

There’s a $2500 limit per quarter for the higher rewards, then it drops to 1%.

“Earn 3% and 2% cash back on the first $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club purchases each quarter, then earn 1%.” (BOA)

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Thanks, Argyll. Yeah, that pretty much shoots me in the foot. I might have known it was too good to be true. Foolish of me to think so.

Still some help, of course. But nothing like what I was thinking. :cry:

Hard to know what they were thinking. However, they did put in their terms a reference to balance transfers being limited to the credit limit. I think they had in mind that the 5% back on balance transfers would be limited to your credit limit, but it could be interpreted as that they would not make balance transfers once you had exceeded your credit limit. This suggests they were aware that people might borrow and repay the same amounts repeatedly .

A technical point is whether you earn 5% back on purchases made in January that do not get posted until February. I read the terms as being that I will.

"Total amount of balance transfers during this period cannot exceed your credit limit. Balance transfers are subject to finance charges from the date they are posted to your account. Member is responsible for completing the balance transfer. Balance must remain through first billing cycle. 5% Cash Back reward will be applied by the 5th business day of the following month. All purchases made from November 1, 2018 through January 31, 2019 with the Cash Back card will receive 5% cash back deposited into the primary savings account at the credit union by the 5th business day of the following month.

Purchases made after January 31, 2019 with the Cash Back card will receive 1% cash back deposited into the primary savings account at the credit union by the 5th business day of the following month. This offer is only available for new card applications during the promotional period. After the promotional period, the APR you receive on a Visa Cash Back card will be a variable rate that will be adjusted monthly and will be the sum of an index plus a margin. The Index will be based on the highest Prime Rate as published in the Money Rates section of the Wall Street Journal in effect on the day the introductory rate expires, and subsequently, 10 days prior to the first day of each calendar quarter of each year. The Index plus our Margin equals your Interest rate. Changes in the Index will cause changes in the Interest Rate. Your rate will not be less than 10.9% or greater than 17.9%. All rates accurate as of 11/1/18. The maximum credit card limit per Member is $30,000. The maximum unsecured debt per Member is $30,000. Offer subject to credit approval. Not everyone will qualify. You must be at least 18 years of age. Offer is available for a limited time, may be withdrawn at any time and is subject to change without notice."

A question is what is “online shopping.” I presume it includes Amazon (so that the return rate for those of us with Preferred status that gets us a bonus of .75% as much would earn 5.25%, which exceeds the 5% I get on the Amazon store card, and probably gets me a little better purchase protection). There are some smaller firms I sometimes shop at, whose classification is unknown to me.

If anyone has any experience I would appreciate confirmation as to how Amazon is treated. I am presuming they can separate out online purchases for stores such a Walmart and Target.

We spend a lot on Peapod, (groceries delivered to house, but I presume that is not considered on line shopping.

Incidentally, the $2500 per quarter limitation might be avoided if there are more than one such card in the household (say spouse has one). Alternatively, it might be wise for a spouse to pick a different category for their 5% rewards. If it is desired to qualify the spouse, joint brokerage account values counts towards both owner’s status.

There’s another thread about that here…link

:cry:

Was hoping would be able to report a positive data point this morning. Unable to do so truthfully. Here is data point anyway:

The Freedom CU CC 5% reward gift horse is gone as of today. On 12/1/2018 they paid me my 5% reward for November spending. On 1/1/2019 they paid me my 5% reward for December spending. Today is 2/1/2019 and I had hope of finding, in my Freedom CU savings, the reward for my January spending. No dice. Yes, I’m aware they say five days and all that. But today’s outcome, at least so far, is inconsistent with past outcomes as regards timing of the reward payment.

Obviously I have no clue why things are different this time. I hope this change does not signal more aggressive spending scrutiny by the credit union.

Will be monitoring my Freedom CU account today in hope they still might post my reward as happened in the past.

ETA

Woo Hoo!! :joy::joy:

They just credited my savings with the FULL amount I had hoped to receive, the FULL 5% on everything I “spent”.

Better late than never. Am really happy camper!!

Concern regarding possible clawback? Moi? :grin:

Well, they will need to act fast. I just scheduled an ACH withdrawal at PurePoint, Freedom to PurePoint. That reward I just received will be gone early Monday morning. And of course I’m earning PurePoint interest on the money already.

Can anyone help with this question which is regarding the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards CC?

This is a Visa card and there is no annual fee. Card pays a 1.5% reward across the board. I do not have this card at present, but am considering it, subject to learning:

Can cash advance (CA) limit of this card be adjusted by cardholder, upon request, independently of cardholder’s credit limit?

Asked another way, can CA limit be set to zero, or to a small number, without impacting your credit limit?

ETA

Bit of online research is indicating Capital One will not allow independent adjustment of CA limit. Not good. Quicksilver is a desirable card superficially, but I’m just seeing too many negative comments about Capital One to be comfortable applying for this card. Pity

Is it correct to assume that the goal here is to prevent something being considered a cash advance without your prior knowledge? That may be important to know as part of asking the question since it would seem conceivable that they allow a transaction initially despite the CA limit but then later decide to treat it as a CA. Just trying to think like a bank.

No, CapOne does not allow changing CA limit on any of their cards, and in my experience the automatically assigned CA limit is 30-50% of CL. They’ll also tell you that a transaction won’t process as CA unless you supply the CA PIN, but this is false. ~5 years ago I was charged a CA fee for purchasing Amex GCs (directly online), even though my purchase amount exceeded my CA limit. I believe it went through as a purchase and was re-coded as CA after it posted. IIRC they reversed the fee after I wrote a strongly worded letter (with multiple arguments, one of which was that the transaction should have been declined because it exceeded my CA limit), but I’ve stopped using their cards for such purposes.

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Thanks, scripta. Yeah, as I signalled in my edit, above, there are simply too many unfavorable reactions online to Capital One for me to go forward with their CC products. I already got bit at NFCU. That was enough for me. AA spoils my fun.

I’m currently operating eleven cash back cards, pushin’ 'em hard each month, all without any AA (or BS) whatsoever. I can live without Quicksilver. “Pigs go to slaughter.”

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Sure. Read scripta’s post. It is in the nature of the “purchases” I make that some banks seek to consider them cash advances. Else a card issuer will accept the “purchase” as a purchase but not award me the reward I deserve and have earned (NFCU). I had another card where the card issuer simply declined my “purchases”, a totally fair action on the issuer’s part in my view.

Such stuff as all that is the exception. Most often there is money to be made. But not always. After reading about scripta’s experience, and reading other negative reports elsewhere online, I realize Quicksilver is not a CC I want. There are other fish in the sea.

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%?