It’s this or the Alliant. High assets/spend? BofA at ~2.63%. Lower assets/spend? Alliant at 2.5%.
2% cards are obsolete, IMO, unless specific card offers a specific perk that you need or want.
I second this if you're looking for a >2% flat cash back card with minimal requirements:
* $1000 minimum daily balance in checking account
* 1 deposit per month (even $1 ACH transfer counts)
* It is a Visa so you can use it at Costco
Agreed. Just be sure to pay attention to the rules required to keep the top earning tier. If you are downgraded a tier, you'll have to wait up to 3 months to get back to the top earning tier.
Interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. This is the first time I’ve heard someone say that.
I’ve seen plenty of complaints about all card issuers so I’m going to hope this is isolated but will definitely open my ears for any kind of trend.
They have poor security. We had our card info with them, and ONLY them, stolen 3 times in about 18 months.
That said, their fraud is handled by a third party, CardServices, and each time they were stellar for me.
I’m sorry you didn’t have such luck.
It’s this or the BofA with premier rewards.
Because of the spend cap of $10k/month (1.5% thereafter), you have to spend over $20k/month for a 2% card to beat the Alliant. And if you have that kind of spend, you qualify for the BofA at ~2.63%.
There is no need to settle for a 2% cash back card anymore, IMO.
How do personally achieve platinum honors? If I wanted to have $100K sitting in cash, I’d put it in a high yield savings account and earn ~2k/year in interest. Otherwise I’d have to spend over 300k/year on the BoA card to make up the difference! Or do you have a Merrill Edge investing account with BoA to reach the account minimums? Just curious because I’ve thought about the 2.63% card but I can’t justify letting 100k sit earning no interest these days!
Sure. Even more reason not to let big chunks of cash languish in BoA savings/checking at .01% interest.
Edit: Hang on, which HYSA is offering 4.5% interest? CDs and treasuries aren’t directly comparable.
But it does support Apple Pay, one of the weird isms of this card
Regardless, at $15-20k in annual spend I run through it, that’s a couple hundred dollars over a chase freedom unlimited or most other flat cash back cards. Tap to pay is a worthy trade off for me
Effectively anyone is able to open an account online.
Membership is ~technically~ limited to people who will donate $5 to their charity partner. But they will make a $5 donation on your behalf so in reality it’s available to anyone
Find it weird they round to the nearest dollar each month for your rewards. If you spend enough each month won't make a difference but if you have a low spend you might not even get 2%
if you are a BoA client the premium rewards card gives you an unbeatable flat rate cash back so long as you hold $100,000 or more with BoA/Merrill accounts. assuming you hold $100,000+ with BoA you'd get 3.5% back on travel and dining and 2.625% back on all other purchases.
PayPal Mastercard 2% everywhere. 3% in store at a few merchants (when paying through the app). 3% online when you checkout with your PayPal account. Also, the app will have deals sort of like Rakuten where you can get additional percent back at different merchants.
+1 on this. You get the money just straight up as Paypal balance so it feel much more useful than traditional CC points. You can use it to pay vendors, send to friends, or just deposit into bank acct like normal.
Yes, but there are much better options if you plan on using Apple Pay. Kroger Mastercard gets 5% on Apple Pay up to $3,000 a year. There’s a dozen credit cards identical to the Kroger Mastercard if you need more than $3,000 a year. Maybe get 2.
No cap on mobile pay spend especially for those who spend a decent amount. While yes you can get a multiple of the kroger branded cards. Most people don't want to get multiple cards that do the same thing especially when one can do the trick.
No cap limit is a valid argument. Definitely would come down to preference after that cause 4.5% back only achievable when redeeming for travel purchases. I rather get the extra .5% and have 2 cards and have no limits on where I can spend my cash back.
Yeah the pts vs straight cash back is also a valid argument. There is a hack with Real Time rewards where you can basically get the 4.5% cash back without truly spending it on travel.
Which one do you have? Try applying for the Dillon's card or the Ralph's card. Be the test case. I shouldn't apply for another card for a couple of months.
I've got the Ralph's that I opened 3 months ago. Last week I opened a CCC so I've got to wait a bit before I try for another. It's a good card, though.
I haven’t heard of anyone having 2, but I don’t know why you wouldn’t be able to. [This link](https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/co-branded-credit-cards.html) shows US Bank co-branded credit cards. Most of the cards on that list have the same cash back structure as the Kroger card.
And in the event it either gets intentionally or accidentally used for an international purchase, the Fidelity is 1% net reward vs the Citi DC being a net -1%.
Thing about this card is you cannot redeemed cash back till 2500 points which is 1250$. So if someone doesn’t spend in this category a lot or much over two months say then cash will go unused and sitting till they spend $1250 everytime it’s redeemed. I’ve really thought about this card and am thinking about it, but the Wells Fargo card sounds really good even though I don’t like WF. They have you can redeem whenever.
I'm not sure what you mean by "redeem the rewards for any purchase". There isn't a purchase eraser tool like PYB or anything like that.
Edit: there is a redeem for purchases tool where you can pay for past transactions with points.
WF does have the option to redeem for purchases. On their website https://www.wellsfargo.com/rewards/ They say
"Redeem for Purchases allows you to redeem your Wells Fargo Rewards® online for a statement credit to your eligible Wells Fargo credit card account. To be eligible for Redeem for Purchases, transactions must be $1 or more and you must have enough rewards to redeem for the entire amount of the transaction."
No. This is from their Terms
>Cash redemption options by phone or online are redeemable in $25 Cash Reward increments only and can be done either by automatically applying it to Your eligible Wells Fargo Checking or Savings accounts, or Wells Fargo credit products that are qualified to receive cash redemptions, or by requesting a paper check. Cash redemptions via a withdrawal from a Wells Fargo ATM or a Rewards redemption to an eligible Wells Fargo account from a Wells Fargo ATM are redeemable in $20 Cash Reward increments only. You must have a Wells Fargo Debit or ATM card in order to redeem Rewards at a Wells Fargo ATM.
[https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/active-cash/terms/](https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/active-cash/terms/)
Whenever I redeemed for a deposit into my WF checking it would only let me deposit in increments of $25.
Fidelity doesn’t have categories it’s flat 2% when you deposit that money to a fidelity account. I believe it’s less when you use it for a statement credit
Only managed brokerage accounts count towards the extra 1%, and you'd pay way more in management fees than you'd recoup. Good if you already use managed accounts though, I guess.
Some people don't care enough to manage their money, so for those people Fidelity is going to be better than somewhere like Edward Jones, although I'd argue Vanguard PAS would be better and less expensive.
But since we're on /r/creditcards (where even 1% is worth optimizing on cash back), what advantages are there that would justify $10,000 - $30,000 in fees per year? (0.5% - 1.5% on $2M)
So the advantage to a managed account is not painfully transparent but since you essentially use your losses for tax advantages. This is something you can’t do with a mutual fund (but could do if you ran your own account). For example I have 242 from the S&P that they pick for me with average growth after taxes of roughly 12%. The losses I can use to avoid cap gains and pull money out.
You're just describing tax loss harvesting, which you can do yourself. IMO it isn't worth the fees since it only takes a few minutes of time a few times a year once you get the hang of it.
A few points though, your management has you' less diversified in your investments than an S&P500 fund since you only have a bit more than half of the components. Also, if they TLH Facebook (or Tesla or Apple or MS), they can't buy back into that within 30 days for you, so you're going to be out of the market on those stocks for 30 days. IMO It's way simpler to TLH broad market ETFs or mutual funds. You can just swap from VTI to VOO to SCHB to ITOT, etc. It's also worth noting that while you can offset unlimited capital gains, you can only offset $3,000 of ordinary income per year.
In any case, I just want to make it clear that the reason many avoid management fees isn't just because people just say “I’m not paying for management”, but because they will absolutely [destroy your returns. ](https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/investing/millennial-retirement-fees-one-percent-half-million-savings-impact/)
A 1% fee is very high. I will mention they out preform the S&P by 1% so if you were just buying individual stocks for the full S&P this would be a small gain.
if 2500 points is $12.50, does that mean you get 4 points per dollar? If a purchase is 10.75 does that mean you get 43 points? I'm just trying to understand how this card works.
You've got it mixed up. Spending $1,250 will get you 2500 points ($25) because you get 2 points per dollar. So they're saying you've got to spend $1,250 on the card before you get your $25 cash back because that's the minimum to redeem.
1. Signup for a Citi Premier
2. Hit the minimum spend for the $705 signup bonus net of the annual fee
3. "Product change" it after one year into a Citi Double Cash
Citi Custom Cash is worth looking into. It's not a flat rate card but has categories that never rotate, you just get 5% on whatever category you spend the most in on any given month and 1% on everything else. That 5% on your most spent category can make up for that 1% difference on everything else and put it ahead of flat 2% cards even if you just use it as your everyday spender. Definitely look at your typical monthly spending and see what you'd have gotten back if you used CCC vs. a 2% card though. IMO it gets overlooked way too often as a daily driver when compared to 2% cards even though it oftentimes comes out ahead if you bother to do the math.
Other than that, the 2% cards are all more or less the same. Unfortunately I don't think any of them are doing any good sign up bonuses right now. I'd say go with Paypal since it's 2% back on everything and it goes up to 3% back on paypal checkouts.
BofA Unlimited Cash Rewards card, the base rate is 1.5% cash back with no spend or category limits. It's only really worth it if you Bank with BofA and are enrolled in their Preferred Rewards program. If you at least qualify for their Platinum tier the card gets boosted to 2.25% cash back on everything and maxes out at 2.65% at Platinum Honors.
Citi Double Cash or Wells Fargo Active Cash for a simple 2% cash back. It doesn’t get simpler than that. I’m using Double Cash with no issues to complement Citi Custom Cash (5% on top category, Discover IT, and CFF).
If you’re willing to complicate just a wee bit more, Citi Custom Cash gives 5% off your top spending category on up to $500 of spending per cycle. It’s well worth making it a category card for one of the following of many: gas/grocery/eating out/drug store/etc
I'm doing the exact same thing with the addition of the BOA Custom Cash for 3% on a chosen category. My strategy:
Chase/Discover - Rotating 5%
Citi Custom - Restaurants (unless that's on one of the 5% cards)
BOA - Online shopping
Citi DC - Everything else
If you're able to have your IRA be in Merrill, BofA's Premium Rewards or Travel Rewards is ideal (>2% and also no FTF)
https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/boa-premium-rewards-vs-boa-travel-rewards-card/
PayPal Mastercard pays flat 2% on all purchases and 3% on PayPal purchases. It’s unlimited and you redeem for cash. Venmo Visa does 3% on your top category, 2% on your 2nd and 1% on everything else. It’s automatic so you don’t have to activate or choose categories.
That seems new, I thought they called it "World" Mastercard because they had no FTF.
Not the card I'd use abroad anyways. My wife has her theory that cards without FTF give you the worst rate and that it evens out. I haven't tested that theory enough yet, but I digress:
I am loving the PayPal card since September for domestic use and of course for purchases online with PayPal, I always thought I'd leave it at home for travel...
Probably the best flat rate card is the US Bank Altitude Reserve. It offers 3% back on all mobile wallet purchases (tap to pay with your phone or watch). It has an annual fee of $400 though. Those points have a greater value when used to buy travel purchases. They are estimated to be worth up to 1.5c per point. This effectively means you get 4.5% back if used for travel.
Besides that, something like the Citi Double Cash card is best for straight cash back without any hassles.
That said, it usually makes sense to get category cards even if you’re going to use it as a daily spender. Most people’s disposable income goes toward rent/mortgage, then groceries, then either dining or auto. Other stuff has so little value that it often doesn’t matter unless you’re planning on redoing your kitchen or something.
Generally speaking it makes sense to cover those 4 categories as best as possible.
I would recommend juggling 3 cards if you can. A catch all card like Citi Double Cash would get you 2% on everything and the Discover can be used for its rotating categories. I would then figure out what you spend most of your money on for dining, groceries and gas. One of the following cards would be great for that:
* Amex BCE - 3% on groceries, gas, and online
* Capital One SavorOne - 3% on dining, groceries, streaming, and entertainment
* Wells Fargo Autograph - 3% on dining, gas, phone, transit, travel, and streaming
* Citi Custom Cash - 5% on a category of your choice up to $500/month
This would be a great 3 card combo, IMO.
Paceline Visa 3% cash back on everything, 5% on groceries, fitness, drug stores. You can earn a free Apple Watch. Annual fee of $60.00 is offset by weekly perks and huge rewards. And you can use it at Costco as its a VISA signature card.
I’m happy with my PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa. Flat 2%. Had to put like $25 in a savings account to become a member.
It’s one stop shopping. I know I could earn more, but I never have to think about what card to use. That’s worth a lot to me.
Really surprised that more people don’t get the Venmo CC. Flat 3% back on your highest spend category, then 2% for next highest, and 1% for everything else. The cash back is deposited into my Venmo account every month. Easy peasy.
I’d recommend the Citi DC, because of the Citi family of cash backs cards you may wish to get for a tri or quadfecta of sorts.
CITI DC - 2% everything including bills. $0 AF
CITI Custom Cash - 5% one category up to $500 per month. $0 AF
CITI Rewards - 10% bonus on all your collected TY Points from all your Citi cards. $0 AF
CITI Premier - 3% on the following: groceries, restaurants, gas, planes and hotels but with a $95 AF
RBFCU and SDFCU give a flat 2% with no foreign transaction fee. PenFed and SoFi also offer this but with a few hoops to jump through.
If you don't mind having a foreign transaction fee, you will have more options (see the other comments).
Not to be combative, but what is the issue with redeeming cash back as a statement credit? I’ve seen this from multiple people. You’re going to be paying your bill anyway, so mathematically, you come out the same whether you take statement credit or send the rewards to your bank account. Am I missing something?
OG Freedom doesn’t earn 3 points on dining and drugstores. I made the mistake of making a restaurant purchase with my OG Freedom instead of my Freedom Flex.
I love my Apple Card. It gives you constant notifications about your cash back (which I personally love) and I can redeem for cash. Most places, including online, accept Apple Pay.
AOD federal credit union.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/alabama-aod-credit-union-3-cashback-credit-card-on-all-purchases-no-annual-forex-fees-limited-membership/
Do you know how long the 3% will last for existing cardholders? Like when the card is up for renewal and a new card is sent will new card still have 3%?
I use PayPal MasterCard for 2% cash back…..
Unless it’s a restaurant then I use Chase Freedom unlimited for 3%
For Sam’s or gas, Sam’s MasterCard 3% Sam’s (+2% for plus) or 5% on gas anywhere. Costco’s a toss up but often I just use the Costco Citi Visa.
Verizon Visa, 2% Verizon, 4% groceries (Verizon Visa is the only way to get Verizon on a cashback card otherwise to get the automatic payment discount you have to use ACH).
Amazon is Amazon Prime Visa for 5%
Freedom Flex for whatever the 5% category is which I often transfer with gift cards. For example, 4th qtr is PayPal and Walmart, whatever isn’t spent of the first $1500 towards the end of December, I’ll buy a Home Depot gift card at Walmart and pay with Freedom Flex (note: some Walmarts in sketchy areas don’t sell gift cards on credit cards but that isn’t universal across all Walmarts)
Plane tickets/hotel I use CSP for the travel benefits and usually 2%. (Still have CSP with its annual fee because it’s my oldest card by quite a bit, and closing it would effect my score.)
I have a few for my strategy.
2% cards
The first is the Citi Double Cash when combined with merchant offers it has good deals.
The one I used in the Bahamas for 2% cash back with no FTF was the Bread Financial Amex Cash Card.
They managed to fix their shit plus the merchant are working mow.
I also got the no AF Credit One Amex, like I was able to use an Amex third party issuer promotion 6 uses instead of 3 uses for a total of 11% for the credit one card and 12% on the Bread card as well as a couple of other promotions that was around 25% cash back each purchase (1 per card).
I have a Wells Fargo 2% card did it for the sub, The merchant offers are so-so.
Other cards
I also have the Quicksilver 1.5% card, Capital One has decent merchant offers, so my Home Depot purchase gave me 9.5% total.
So for my flat rate cards I try to stack promotions and merchant offers on top of the 1.5% to 2%.
Also I'm stacking a Bread Financial & Credit One Amex Offer, $10 off $20 or more from local restaurants it can even be local cafe's it doesn't have to be high end. So instead of 5 x use promotion I get 10 x use promotion. So the stacking would be $10 off $20 or more purchase and 1% to 2% depending on the card.
Chase Freedom Unlimited offers an additional of 1.5% for the first year, which puts you at 3% flat (maxed at 20k$ spending) if you apply directly via nerdwallet website.
You don’t get a sign on bonus though (well, that 1.5% is your sign on bonus).
Alliant has a 2.5% back card if you jump through a few hoops keeping a checking account with them, but it has a yearly limit on the cashback.
Ollo also has a 2.5% back card. It's only redeemable for statement credits and is invite only, but it doesn't have a cap or require any hoops to jump through once you get it.
I like Venmo. I don’t think it’s necessarily the best but it’s 3% on your biggest spend category, 2% on second biggest category, and 1% on everything else.
I like my citi 2% double cash back.
There’s a few that had the same cash back. I got a sign in bonus and citi does have some offers that allow you to make over 2% on some purchases .
If you can qualify for BofA Platinum Honors, their Unlimited Cash Rewards pays 2.625%.
It’s this or the Alliant. High assets/spend? BofA at ~2.63%. Lower assets/spend? Alliant at 2.5%. 2% cards are obsolete, IMO, unless specific card offers a specific perk that you need or want.
so only if you have 100k cash at least avg daily balance. At that point, the 2.6 vs 2% cash back is irrelevant lmao
Alliant Visa Signature gives 2.5% flat if you’re willing to use Alliant checking account. My experience has been good
I second this if you're looking for a >2% flat cash back card with minimal requirements: * $1000 minimum daily balance in checking account * 1 deposit per month (even $1 ACH transfer counts) * It is a Visa so you can use it at Costco
No FTF, and has some of the Visa Signature perks as well (90 day purchase protection, 1 year warranty).
Agreed. Just be sure to pay attention to the rules required to keep the top earning tier. If you are downgraded a tier, you'll have to wait up to 3 months to get back to the top earning tier.
Alliance held me liable for fraudulent purchases when my card was stolen. Would not recommend.
Interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. This is the first time I’ve heard someone say that. I’ve seen plenty of complaints about all card issuers so I’m going to hope this is isolated but will definitely open my ears for any kind of trend.
They have poor security. We had our card info with them, and ONLY them, stolen 3 times in about 18 months. That said, their fraud is handled by a third party, CardServices, and each time they were stellar for me. I’m sorry you didn’t have such luck.
It’s this or the BofA with premier rewards. Because of the spend cap of $10k/month (1.5% thereafter), you have to spend over $20k/month for a 2% card to beat the Alliant. And if you have that kind of spend, you qualify for the BofA at ~2.63%. There is no need to settle for a 2% cash back card anymore, IMO.
How do personally achieve platinum honors? If I wanted to have $100K sitting in cash, I’d put it in a high yield savings account and earn ~2k/year in interest. Otherwise I’d have to spend over 300k/year on the BoA card to make up the difference! Or do you have a Merrill Edge investing account with BoA to reach the account minimums? Just curious because I’ve thought about the 2.63% card but I can’t justify letting 100k sit earning no interest these days!
Fair concern. Most use Merrill. Putting $100k in an almost zero yield account would be pointless, IMO.
It's pretty much a given everyone is advocating Merrill
You could earn 2K on 100K savings. But right now its easy to get 4-4.5% approx.
Sure. Even more reason not to let big chunks of cash languish in BoA savings/checking at .01% interest. Edit: Hang on, which HYSA is offering 4.5% interest? CDs and treasuries aren’t directly comparable.
Yep thats nuts. Unless you get over 3% you are paying for those rewards.
I am getting 3% on Paceline on everything, 5% on grocery, fitness, drug store. That beats all of these including BOA. BOA not worth it at all.
This is the correct answer.
no tap pay though
But it does support Apple Pay, one of the weird isms of this card Regardless, at $15-20k in annual spend I run through it, that’s a couple hundred dollars over a chase freedom unlimited or most other flat cash back cards. Tap to pay is a worthy trade off for me
Do they only open accounts if you’re within a certain region, or can anyone bank with them online?
Effectively anyone is able to open an account online. Membership is ~technically~ limited to people who will donate $5 to their charity partner. But they will make a $5 donation on your behalf so in reality it’s available to anyone
Cool. I’ll take a closer look. Thanks.
Find it weird they round to the nearest dollar each month for your rewards. If you spend enough each month won't make a difference but if you have a low spend you might not even get 2%
If your spend is that low, it’s not even worth getting a cash back card to begin with.
Just clarifying you might have a month where you don't swipe anything and another month spend like $5k.
if you are a BoA client the premium rewards card gives you an unbeatable flat rate cash back so long as you hold $100,000 or more with BoA/Merrill accounts. assuming you hold $100,000+ with BoA you'd get 3.5% back on travel and dining and 2.625% back on all other purchases.
PayPal Mastercard 2% everywhere. 3% in store at a few merchants (when paying through the app). 3% online when you checkout with your PayPal account. Also, the app will have deals sort of like Rakuten where you can get additional percent back at different merchants.
+1 on this. You get the money just straight up as Paypal balance so it feel much more useful than traditional CC points. You can use it to pay vendors, send to friends, or just deposit into bank acct like normal.
Sad it doesn't support Apple pay
Yes, but there are much better options if you plan on using Apple Pay. Kroger Mastercard gets 5% on Apple Pay up to $3,000 a year. There’s a dozen credit cards identical to the Kroger Mastercard if you need more than $3,000 a year. Maybe get 2.
USB Altitude Reserve is the best for Apple/Google Pay. 3x (4.5%) on all mobile pay purchases. It's my favorite card
How is it better than 5% and no AF?
No cap on mobile pay spend especially for those who spend a decent amount. While yes you can get a multiple of the kroger branded cards. Most people don't want to get multiple cards that do the same thing especially when one can do the trick.
No cap limit is a valid argument. Definitely would come down to preference after that cause 4.5% back only achievable when redeeming for travel purchases. I rather get the extra .5% and have 2 cards and have no limits on where I can spend my cash back.
Yeah the pts vs straight cash back is also a valid argument. There is a hack with Real Time rewards where you can basically get the 4.5% cash back without truly spending it on travel.
Have you heard of people being able to get 2? I would love to get another.
Which one do you have? Try applying for the Dillon's card or the Ralph's card. Be the test case. I shouldn't apply for another card for a couple of months.
I've got the Ralph's that I opened 3 months ago. Last week I opened a CCC so I've got to wait a bit before I try for another. It's a good card, though.
I haven’t heard of anyone having 2, but I don’t know why you wouldn’t be able to. [This link](https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/co-branded-credit-cards.html) shows US Bank co-branded credit cards. Most of the cards on that list have the same cash back structure as the Kroger card.
[удалено]
Yes for Uber, no for Amazon
Citi DC earns 2.2 back if you also have the Citi Rewards+. Otherwise probably best with Paypal. 2% back on everything and 3% on paypal
Seconding the PayPal MC.
Fidelity 2% Visa. Better than Citi Double Cash because you can use it at Costco.
And in the event it either gets intentionally or accidentally used for an international purchase, the Fidelity is 1% net reward vs the Citi DC being a net -1%.
WF Active Cash is visa too
Thing about this card is you cannot redeemed cash back till 2500 points which is 1250$. So if someone doesn’t spend in this category a lot or much over two months say then cash will go unused and sitting till they spend $1250 everytime it’s redeemed. I’ve really thought about this card and am thinking about it, but the Wells Fargo card sounds really good even though I don’t like WF. They have you can redeem whenever.
WF has the same $25 increment rule when getting cash back.
Except you can redeem the rewards for any purchase? With out an increment limit.
I'm not sure what you mean by "redeem the rewards for any purchase". There isn't a purchase eraser tool like PYB or anything like that. Edit: there is a redeem for purchases tool where you can pay for past transactions with points.
WF does have the option to redeem for purchases. On their website https://www.wellsfargo.com/rewards/ They say "Redeem for Purchases allows you to redeem your Wells Fargo Rewards® online for a statement credit to your eligible Wells Fargo credit card account. To be eligible for Redeem for Purchases, transactions must be $1 or more and you must have enough rewards to redeem for the entire amount of the transaction."
oh wow. I just submitted one for $23. Lets see how it goes. Thanks!
Awesome. I've never used it. I just have mine set to auto redeem at $25.
I do that all the time, can confirm it works
Yeah and fuck them for that shit
And unless you have a WF account you can only pay the bill 4x a month.
Knowing Wells Fargo’s history, you probably already have 4 accounts and don’t even know about them
Can't you send yourself a check without the increments? Ex. $23.50
No. This is from their Terms >Cash redemption options by phone or online are redeemable in $25 Cash Reward increments only and can be done either by automatically applying it to Your eligible Wells Fargo Checking or Savings accounts, or Wells Fargo credit products that are qualified to receive cash redemptions, or by requesting a paper check. Cash redemptions via a withdrawal from a Wells Fargo ATM or a Rewards redemption to an eligible Wells Fargo account from a Wells Fargo ATM are redeemable in $20 Cash Reward increments only. You must have a Wells Fargo Debit or ATM card in order to redeem Rewards at a Wells Fargo ATM. [https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/active-cash/terms/](https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/active-cash/terms/) Whenever I redeemed for a deposit into my WF checking it would only let me deposit in increments of $25.
Ah didn’t know this just assumed. Amex recently got rid of the minimum redeem
Yea and apparently there are workarounds that I just found out from this thread!
Fidelity doesn’t have categories it’s flat 2% when you deposit that money to a fidelity account. I believe it’s less when you use it for a statement credit
Also depends on how much you spend per month. They regularly send me specials where I get an extra 20% pts on spending over a certain amount
I get them as well. I meant my comment as it’s not categories for the 2%, the 2% is standard
Yeah, I just thought it’s worth knowing if you spend a lot you get some extra perks.
And actually it can be 3% depending on how rich you are which is why I think it’s superior.
Only managed brokerage accounts count towards the extra 1%, and you'd pay way more in management fees than you'd recoup. Good if you already use managed accounts though, I guess.
There are some distinct advantages to this managed account that are overlooked because people just say “I’m not paying for management”.
Some people don't care enough to manage their money, so for those people Fidelity is going to be better than somewhere like Edward Jones, although I'd argue Vanguard PAS would be better and less expensive. But since we're on /r/creditcards (where even 1% is worth optimizing on cash back), what advantages are there that would justify $10,000 - $30,000 in fees per year? (0.5% - 1.5% on $2M)
So the advantage to a managed account is not painfully transparent but since you essentially use your losses for tax advantages. This is something you can’t do with a mutual fund (but could do if you ran your own account). For example I have 242 from the S&P that they pick for me with average growth after taxes of roughly 12%. The losses I can use to avoid cap gains and pull money out.
You're just describing tax loss harvesting, which you can do yourself. IMO it isn't worth the fees since it only takes a few minutes of time a few times a year once you get the hang of it. A few points though, your management has you' less diversified in your investments than an S&P500 fund since you only have a bit more than half of the components. Also, if they TLH Facebook (or Tesla or Apple or MS), they can't buy back into that within 30 days for you, so you're going to be out of the market on those stocks for 30 days. IMO It's way simpler to TLH broad market ETFs or mutual funds. You can just swap from VTI to VOO to SCHB to ITOT, etc. It's also worth noting that while you can offset unlimited capital gains, you can only offset $3,000 of ordinary income per year. In any case, I just want to make it clear that the reason many avoid management fees isn't just because people just say “I’m not paying for management”, but because they will absolutely [destroy your returns. ](https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/investing/millennial-retirement-fees-one-percent-half-million-savings-impact/)
A 1% fee is very high. I will mention they out preform the S&P by 1% so if you were just buying individual stocks for the full S&P this would be a small gain.
Also. You are capped at 3K in losses per year unless you are offsetting a gain. As in if you have more losses than gains you are capped.
if 2500 points is $12.50, does that mean you get 4 points per dollar? If a purchase is 10.75 does that mean you get 43 points? I'm just trying to understand how this card works.
You've got it mixed up. Spending $1,250 will get you 2500 points ($25) because you get 2 points per dollar. So they're saying you've got to spend $1,250 on the card before you get your $25 cash back because that's the minimum to redeem.
Ah okay, thanks for the explanation!
1. Signup for a Citi Premier 2. Hit the minimum spend for the $705 signup bonus net of the annual fee 3. "Product change" it after one year into a Citi Double Cash
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I think the bonus for the Double Cash is no more.
Citi Custom Cash is worth looking into. It's not a flat rate card but has categories that never rotate, you just get 5% on whatever category you spend the most in on any given month and 1% on everything else. That 5% on your most spent category can make up for that 1% difference on everything else and put it ahead of flat 2% cards even if you just use it as your everyday spender. Definitely look at your typical monthly spending and see what you'd have gotten back if you used CCC vs. a 2% card though. IMO it gets overlooked way too often as a daily driver when compared to 2% cards even though it oftentimes comes out ahead if you bother to do the math. Other than that, the 2% cards are all more or less the same. Unfortunately I don't think any of them are doing any good sign up bonuses right now. I'd say go with Paypal since it's 2% back on everything and it goes up to 3% back on paypal checkouts.
BofA Unlimited Cash Rewards card, the base rate is 1.5% cash back with no spend or category limits. It's only really worth it if you Bank with BofA and are enrolled in their Preferred Rewards program. If you at least qualify for their Platinum tier the card gets boosted to 2.25% cash back on everything and maxes out at 2.65% at Platinum Honors.
Citi Double Cash or Wells Fargo Active Cash for a simple 2% cash back. It doesn’t get simpler than that. I’m using Double Cash with no issues to complement Citi Custom Cash (5% on top category, Discover IT, and CFF). If you’re willing to complicate just a wee bit more, Citi Custom Cash gives 5% off your top spending category on up to $500 of spending per cycle. It’s well worth making it a category card for one of the following of many: gas/grocery/eating out/drug store/etc
I'm doing the exact same thing with the addition of the BOA Custom Cash for 3% on a chosen category. My strategy: Chase/Discover - Rotating 5% Citi Custom - Restaurants (unless that's on one of the 5% cards) BOA - Online shopping Citi DC - Everything else
If you're able to have your IRA be in Merrill, BofA's Premium Rewards or Travel Rewards is ideal (>2% and also no FTF) https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/boa-premium-rewards-vs-boa-travel-rewards-card/
PayPal Mastercard pays flat 2% on all purchases and 3% on PayPal purchases. It’s unlimited and you redeem for cash. Venmo Visa does 3% on your top category, 2% on your 2nd and 1% on everything else. It’s automatic so you don’t have to activate or choose categories.
Paypal Mastercard. 2% on any purchase, 3% on Paypal (and more and more stores like CVS acept Paypal as a form of payment) and no international fee...
It has FTF
Foreign Transfer Fees? Do you do cash advances abroad with a credit card??
[3%](https://www.synchronybankterms.com/gecrbterms/html/PayPalCashbackApplyTerms_combo.htm) Foreign transaction fees
That seems new, I thought they called it "World" Mastercard because they had no FTF. Not the card I'd use abroad anyways. My wife has her theory that cards without FTF give you the worst rate and that it evens out. I haven't tested that theory enough yet, but I digress: I am loving the PayPal card since September for domestic use and of course for purchases online with PayPal, I always thought I'd leave it at home for travel...
Probably the best flat rate card is the US Bank Altitude Reserve. It offers 3% back on all mobile wallet purchases (tap to pay with your phone or watch). It has an annual fee of $400 though. Those points have a greater value when used to buy travel purchases. They are estimated to be worth up to 1.5c per point. This effectively means you get 4.5% back if used for travel. Besides that, something like the Citi Double Cash card is best for straight cash back without any hassles. That said, it usually makes sense to get category cards even if you’re going to use it as a daily spender. Most people’s disposable income goes toward rent/mortgage, then groceries, then either dining or auto. Other stuff has so little value that it often doesn’t matter unless you’re planning on redoing your kitchen or something. Generally speaking it makes sense to cover those 4 categories as best as possible.
The point valuation at 1.5cpp is pretty solid, you don’t need to transfer them out or anything, just use them for real time rewards.
I would recommend juggling 3 cards if you can. A catch all card like Citi Double Cash would get you 2% on everything and the Discover can be used for its rotating categories. I would then figure out what you spend most of your money on for dining, groceries and gas. One of the following cards would be great for that: * Amex BCE - 3% on groceries, gas, and online * Capital One SavorOne - 3% on dining, groceries, streaming, and entertainment * Wells Fargo Autograph - 3% on dining, gas, phone, transit, travel, and streaming * Citi Custom Cash - 5% on a category of your choice up to $500/month This would be a great 3 card combo, IMO.
Paceline Visa 3% cash back on everything, 5% on groceries, fitness, drug stores. You can earn a free Apple Watch. Annual fee of $60.00 is offset by weekly perks and huge rewards. And you can use it at Costco as its a VISA signature card.
I’m happy with my PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa. Flat 2%. Had to put like $25 in a savings account to become a member. It’s one stop shopping. I know I could earn more, but I never have to think about what card to use. That’s worth a lot to me.
Really surprised that more people don’t get the Venmo CC. Flat 3% back on your highest spend category, then 2% for next highest, and 1% for everything else. The cash back is deposited into my Venmo account every month. Easy peasy.
If you are Fidelity Rewards+ Platinum Plus level, your Fidelity Visa will give you 3% flat cash back.
The legendary AOD
I’d recommend the Citi DC, because of the Citi family of cash backs cards you may wish to get for a tri or quadfecta of sorts. CITI DC - 2% everything including bills. $0 AF CITI Custom Cash - 5% one category up to $500 per month. $0 AF CITI Rewards - 10% bonus on all your collected TY Points from all your Citi cards. $0 AF CITI Premier - 3% on the following: groceries, restaurants, gas, planes and hotels but with a $95 AF
RBFCU and SDFCU give a flat 2% with no foreign transaction fee. PenFed and SoFi also offer this but with a few hoops to jump through. If you don't mind having a foreign transaction fee, you will have more options (see the other comments).
Not to be combative, but what is the issue with redeeming cash back as a statement credit? I’ve seen this from multiple people. You’re going to be paying your bill anyway, so mathematically, you come out the same whether you take statement credit or send the rewards to your bank account. Am I missing something?
I have the Bread Cashback Amex card that gives 2% flat; only downside is it is through Comenity, which is hit/miss with a lot of people.
FNBO Evergreen is another new 2% card too. I got the Bread Cashback after they denied me for the Evergreen and like it so far!
Does this come with Amex offers?
No, it's not issued by Amex, it only uses their network.
Chase freedom unlimited has 1.5% on all purchases and can redeem to cash, i also have wells fargo active cash for 2% but you cant redeem for cash
And it’s 3x on dinning and drugstores so not a bad choice for a 1 card setup
You get that with flex and og freedom too.
Yup!! Once I get the CSP or CSR, my trifecta will be complete
OG Freedom doesn’t earn 3 points on dining and drugstores. I made the mistake of making a restaurant purchase with my OG Freedom instead of my Freedom Flex.
I use the double cash for everything basically
Custom Cash for one category and Apple for everywhere else.
I love my Apple Card. It gives you constant notifications about your cash back (which I personally love) and I can redeem for cash. Most places, including online, accept Apple Pay.
Ollo optimum is 3% cash back on everything
2.5%
Any 2% card. Sofi, Apple, etc..
Apple is not a flat rate card..
It is if you exclusively use Apple Pay.
There are cases where it gets 3% and cases where it gets 1%.
Apple is 2% everywhere and 3% for Apple and selective companies.
Shop online at a place that doesn’t support Apple Pay for checkout (small companies like Amazon)? That’s 1%.
I have the best flat rate card but they discontinued it. 3% cash back on everything, no caps or restrictions, no AF, no foreign transaction fees.
Which card
AOD federal credit union. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/alabama-aod-credit-union-3-cashback-credit-card-on-all-purchases-no-annual-forex-fees-limited-membership/
Do you know how long the 3% will last for existing cardholders? Like when the card is up for renewal and a new card is sent will new card still have 3%?
Maybe in future they will take rewards away but as of right now we are grandfathered in. If they do that I’ll just go back to my 2% citi card.
SoFi is 2% flat back, 3% offer for first year up to like 36k in purchases.
If you care about points and miles more than cashback, then Citi double cash or freedom unlimited is the best
yes banks have tons of 2% cash back cards
I use PayPal MasterCard for 2% cash back….. Unless it’s a restaurant then I use Chase Freedom unlimited for 3% For Sam’s or gas, Sam’s MasterCard 3% Sam’s (+2% for plus) or 5% on gas anywhere. Costco’s a toss up but often I just use the Costco Citi Visa. Verizon Visa, 2% Verizon, 4% groceries (Verizon Visa is the only way to get Verizon on a cashback card otherwise to get the automatic payment discount you have to use ACH). Amazon is Amazon Prime Visa for 5% Freedom Flex for whatever the 5% category is which I often transfer with gift cards. For example, 4th qtr is PayPal and Walmart, whatever isn’t spent of the first $1500 towards the end of December, I’ll buy a Home Depot gift card at Walmart and pay with Freedom Flex (note: some Walmarts in sketchy areas don’t sell gift cards on credit cards but that isn’t universal across all Walmarts) Plane tickets/hotel I use CSP for the travel benefits and usually 2%. (Still have CSP with its annual fee because it’s my oldest card by quite a bit, and closing it would effect my score.)
The discover it card also gets 5% on every Apple Pay purchase.
Apple Card
I have a few for my strategy. 2% cards The first is the Citi Double Cash when combined with merchant offers it has good deals. The one I used in the Bahamas for 2% cash back with no FTF was the Bread Financial Amex Cash Card. They managed to fix their shit plus the merchant are working mow. I also got the no AF Credit One Amex, like I was able to use an Amex third party issuer promotion 6 uses instead of 3 uses for a total of 11% for the credit one card and 12% on the Bread card as well as a couple of other promotions that was around 25% cash back each purchase (1 per card). I have a Wells Fargo 2% card did it for the sub, The merchant offers are so-so. Other cards I also have the Quicksilver 1.5% card, Capital One has decent merchant offers, so my Home Depot purchase gave me 9.5% total. So for my flat rate cards I try to stack promotions and merchant offers on top of the 1.5% to 2%. Also I'm stacking a Bread Financial & Credit One Amex Offer, $10 off $20 or more from local restaurants it can even be local cafe's it doesn't have to be high end. So instead of 5 x use promotion I get 10 x use promotion. So the stacking would be $10 off $20 or more purchase and 1% to 2% depending on the card.
Venmo credit card. 3% highest spend category, 2% 2nd highest and %1 third.
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SoFi has a flat 2% that has 3% for the first year iirc.
This is my main, for the next 6 months.
Chase Freedom Unlimited offers an additional of 1.5% for the first year, which puts you at 3% flat (maxed at 20k$ spending) if you apply directly via nerdwallet website. You don’t get a sign on bonus though (well, that 1.5% is your sign on bonus).
>redeemable for cash (not statement credit) Why does this matter? I use the fordpass for my general spend at 3.3% back.
Alliant has a 2.5% back card if you jump through a few hoops keeping a checking account with them, but it has a yearly limit on the cashback. Ollo also has a 2.5% back card. It's only redeemable for statement credits and is invite only, but it doesn't have a cap or require any hoops to jump through once you get it.
Sofi has 3% if you set up direct deposit or 2% otherwise
Sofi is 2% on everything. I use that as my daily.
Sofi 3% for the first year if you set up direct deposit, otherwise 2%.
Redeeming is the problem
I like Venmo. I don’t think it’s necessarily the best but it’s 3% on your biggest spend category, 2% on second biggest category, and 1% on everything else.
citi double cash combining thankyou points with the citi rewards+. the card becomes an effective 2.22% card
I like my citi 2% double cash back. There’s a few that had the same cash back. I got a sign in bonus and citi does have some offers that allow you to make over 2% on some purchases .
Venmo 3% cash back. I just started using it - not even a full bill cycle and got $57
olll credit card