It’s not a bad offering. Straight 2% is nothing new and available anywhere but it does have no foreign transaction fee which is relatively uncommon for no-AF cards. Still, no price rewind, extended warranty, limited travel benefits, etc… Not much to get excited about so not worth the hard pull IMO for those with already 2% cashback options.
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Citi killed that
I really enjoy the Citi DC card.
I used to go for travel mileage cards when we frequently flew. Traveling by First Class air was wonderful & we used it for years. Now I love my checks of $500+ every so often, in fact I’m waiting for $564. to arrive any day.
Citi dc card, with no fee & 2% reward is for me. Also raising my credit limit often is also nice.
I’m curious hearing you speak of getting a check. Obviously applying the cashback as statement credit is a bad idea but why not directly ACH to the bank with which you’re paying your Citi DC bill? That’s what we’ve been doing so I was wondering why you’d risk getting a check that would get more slowly to your bank account?
Don’t shoot the messenger. We’ve been speculating for some time about whether the good rewards will stay or disappear. This is just evidence that the time of 2% cash back on everything is not over yet.
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No risk. It’s just a personal thing. I don’t use much cash in my purse now-a-days. So it’s one way of picking up some cash on hand. I know, I can get cash out of the bank easy enough… just me… 
The risk is that your check gets lost/stolen/delayed in the mail. Pretty small risk, sure, but why bother with any when an ACH transfer is fast and free?
You’ve got to go to the bank anyway to cash the check, so you could just use your ATM card or write yourself a check to get the cash.
With remote deposit available at many banks, it’s not as bad a hassle. But lost mail was the risk I had in mind.
Also you may waste a couple of days in getting the money available in your account instead of using ACH. Plus cashing the check requires me to get in the branch. Outside ATM is faster and not an enclosed space (which I try to avoid with COVID-19). Not a big deal, I was just making sure there is a not good reason to use checks vs ACH.
I just meant for pattyb53’s case where she wants some cold hard cash.
Putting in a kind word here for my PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa card. Know what I like about the card?:
It “shows me the money”. I mean, soon as a purchase settles into my account, my 2% reward is issued. Straightaway. Compare:
Citi: 2% but you wait
Keesler: at least 2% but not until your statement closes
PayPal: ditto. The 2% is not awarded instantly
Alliant: 2.5% minus the annual fee, but you wait
B of A: 3% (limited) but, again, not until close of statement
And I have other cards which do not pay quite 2% and which also do not award anything instantly.
I just picked up another $50+ from PenFed and it’ll be quite a while before I have to pay that bill. Instant payment of rewards is a good thing. Wish all the others did business that way!
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I agree. Citi is hoping you use the cashback for statement credit or use them to pay with points on Amazon. Either way, less cashback for them to hand out this way.
May I add to your list:
Fidelity Visa: 2%, points credited on statement close date, optional automatic cash redemption at $50
This card always gets overlooked in discussion of 2% back cards. Doesn’t change your point about instant crediting, obviously.
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I cannot remember now whether it was here on FD or possibly even back on FW. I think it was here quite a long time ago:
But the Fidelity card was discussed and there was something about it . . . having trouble recalling. Was it that you needed to open a Fidelity account?
I always bite on 2% rewards cards, and I have several already that I used to use heavily for my side hustle, and still do today to a much lesser extent. But there was something about the Fidelity card that put me off. It was too long ago and I am too old. No longer am I able to recall the detail.
Yes, the cashback gets deposited in a Fidelity account. And while I havent had any issues myself, it has a reputation of not being all that durable to ongoing high volume.
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Good stuff to know, glitch99. Thank you for updating us.
Personally, I’m standing by my earlier decision: Pass.
I could not pay federal tax with the Fidelity card, for less than 50% of the credit card limit. Don’t know why. I even called the customer service. No problem when I switched to another card.
I have two Fidelity cards sitting in the drawer. I should probably use them once a while to keep them active.
Agreed. I don’t know why, either. Strange.
I made four separate tax payments earlier today with my Alliant Visa Signature card. It was a bunch of money. Had no problems, everything worked first time. Should have until (roughly) 8 September to pay the bill if all goes as planned.
something not talked about too much here. Discover Miles card. Gives you 3% back on everything…But you need to wait the 12 months, then they double the 1.5%. And it really works on everything. I am a MSer for years but approaching 70yo so I have stopped all MS since 3/24 and live in upstate NY. ( I cleared 22k yearly doing this hobby after fees/etc, tax free, but not including time spent in WM at 8AM for MO and Gobank and depositing MO in different banks.) But…hell I just retired from NYPD last year…thank god!!!Still order groceries from Shoprite At Home weekly for family. Worth the 20.00 fee including tip and you get the sale and advertised prices…not like Instacart. Dont go anywhere but we keep busy. Do the Dunkin Donut curbside p/u.and restaurant p/u.and delivery. Wife went to Doc last week. Biggest trip in months. We have the cleanest home in town.!!..Took a big hit since March… jugging 3 AMEX OBC/Chase biz cards with Staples fee free/Discover/ and BOA 3% in Staples on gift cards too.Chase maxes out office supply charges at 25K at 5%. BOA has no limit but 3%. etc. plus other cards.So I came up to 2 months left on Disc 3% card starting in March. 12 months ended on May 31. I was averaging 11k monthly on the card…then a dead stop…NO grocery stores and GCM does not take Discover and at the time Simon was not selling1k cards online. So found out via DOC that Vanilla Gift was and still is selling 500 VGC on the web site with a limit of 12 cards per order and no fees. Just 8.95 shipping no matter how many cards you get. I had a 6k limit on Disc, so I took a gamble and bought 4 then waited for a few weeks for points to post. And they gave the 1.5%! Then went whole hog from home buying about 16k in cards and paying back Disc via my leftover checking acct balances I used for MO deposits. And i got the 3% in June on everything… best card ever for every use. I apply for 2 sons and wife when one card reaches the 12 month limit. But they are stingy with CL. My new Disc Miles from son has a 2k limit. But pay it back and CL gets put back. Plus they only allow 2 cards per customer. I cancelled my 3% card and when I finish with my son’s card will reapply. Its churnable as long as you have only 1 card from them.Travel Credit Card | Discover it Miles Credit Card
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Does anyone have experience with Bank of the West? I got the Cash Back card a few months ago. Credit limit is unusually low, so I have made payments before due dates for more usage. However, it looks like only 25% of the payment is available right away, and the rest 75% is on hold for about 2 weeks.
My local CU just went from 1.5% to 2.5% on their Signature Visa with no AF (Midflorida).
I know it’s not a national card, but be on the lookout for small and medium banks and CU raising some rewards
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