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Credit Card Shopping / Penfed Platinum Card :(

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JDubbya
Member

Credit Card Shopping / Penfed Platinum Card :(

Hey Folks, I am shopping for a new credit card. Currently I have an AMEX Blue, Fidelity Retirement Rewards, and Penfed Platinum Visa Rewards. While I love Penfed's card and it's my main card, I think the rewards are lacking. I spend $6K on average and I get $3 dollars in platinum rewards,  and 18 bucks in Gas rewards. That's a total of $21. The gas reward is great, but all my other purchases.... 6K = 3 bucks in rewards. That's very disappointing.  I am looking at the Citi Double Cash Card. Basically I would use this card for all my purchases except gas. Anyone have any thoughts on the  or can recommend a card that has a simple rewards model for my average spending (groceries/ Amazon). Also it would be great to have a statement that has a good breakdown of the cash back earned on purchases, both current and cumulative. My credit score at the moment is 794 based on Score Watch.

 

Thanks

 

 


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Current Scores: +700 across the board
Goal Score:     +800 across the board


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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit Card Shopping / Penfed Platinum Card :(

If you're looking for a grocery/amazon card, I'd say Barclay's Sallie Mae. 5% on grocery and gas up to $250 a month each and 5% on bookstores (includes Amazon most of the time) up to $750. All depends on how much you spend monthly. Citi's Double Cash card sounds like a good general spend 2% back card.

 

Something doesn't seem right though...only $3 on 6k? Thats ridiculous.

Message 2 of 6
JDubbya
Member

Re: Credit Card Shopping / Penfed Platinum Card :(

Thanks, I agree something doesn't sound right. I am going back through my old statements to see if I can tell where something may have went wrong in the calculations. I looked at 1 statement and i spent about 1.5K got 11 dollars in cash back! I will be giving them a call tomorrow morning.


Starting Score: +600 across the board
Current Scores: +700 across the board
Goal Score:     +800 across the board


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 3 of 6
longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: Credit Card Shopping / Penfed Platinum Card :(


@JDubbya wrote:

Thanks, I agree something doesn't sound right. I am going back through my old statements to see if I can tell where something may have went wrong in the calculations. I looked at 1 statement and i spent about 1.5K got 11 dollars in cash back! I will be giving them a call tomorrow morning.


Are you talking about the Platinum Rewards (which I think was upgraded for all to Visa Sig)?  This has a 1-3-5% point structure (3 on groceries, 5 on gas) so you should be getting at least 1%, which is 6000 points on $6k spend.   If it is the cash rewards, there was a time that that earned 0.25% on all non-gas purchases, but now it is 0%.  So yes, something is wrong!

Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit Card Shopping / Penfed Platinum Card :(

If you are looking for pure cashback cards and not miles (note: Miles with some cash back is likely optimal), then the following might make sense:

 

1. Citi DoubleCash (or Arrival Plus): For non-category bonus spending. The DoubleCash is effectively 2%, the arrival plus is effectively 2.2% but can only be used to offset travel expenses. If you have travel expenses, the Arrival Plus might be better. Plus the Arrival Plus has a sign up bonus worth 40k points. 

2. Sallie Mae World Mastercard: 5% up to first 250 for groceries, 5% for first 250 for gas, 5% for first750 for bookstores. A lot of Amazon purchases code as Bookstore. 

3. Discover IT / Chase Freedom: Category 5% spending cards. Categories change. Stores, gas, restaurants, Amazon, etc all fall within categories at times. 

4. US Bank Cash+: 5% for 2 categories of your choice. Currently includes restaurants, but I hear a nerf is incoming.

5. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% groceries up to 6k. 3% gas. Worth it if high grocery spend. Other free Sallie Mae card is better since Amex has a AF. Non-preferred version not worth it given Sallie Mae card, but it has no AF so might be useful if your grocery spend exceeds 250 a month by a little. 

 

 

Not including other 5% gas only cards since you have PenFed. I am sure I missed some. I only use some of the above cards because I follow a points/miles strategy. But for purely cash back, the above is probably a good set of cards. I am sure I missed some, but others can feel free to chime in. 

Message 5 of 6
JDubbya
Member

Re: Credit Card Shopping / Penfed Platinum Card :(

The card I have says Cash Rewards at the top and Visa Platinum at the bottom. Also I see looks like back in May of this year my Gas Rebate went from 5% to 3%. I probably recieved some change notifications, but that was a difficult time for me as I had to have a life saving surgery and was out for 3 months, and am just getting back to life. I'm glad I caught this cause I am a set it and forget it guy. 

 

Thanks for the card recommendations too. I'll sift through them and see what fits me best.  


Starting Score: +600 across the board
Current Scores: +700 across the board
Goal Score:     +800 across the board


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
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