Is it just me or is Citi Double cash not that great? Only get $2 if you spend $100??

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
9 Pages later a Chase Freedom or a Discover card only lightly using 2 out of the 4 bonus categories still is way better than the DC.

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Not necessarily. It depends on what you use the card for. i have no use for Amazon and never shop at warehouse clubs, so half of those categories are useless to me. Not spending any money on home improvement, either.

I also already have a 6% grocery category card that trumps the Freedom's percentage. Double Cash is great to pair with the cards that I have a higher percentage of cash back on as well. 

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Right. just depends on your spending level and where you spend.  Obviously for some 2% on everything is better than 5% on some capped fraction and 1% on the rest.  (ignoring here the potential UR value for Freedom)

[Anonymous]

That's why I think the general recommendation around these boards is to have a 5% category card coupled with a 2% card for everything else so that the best of both worlds is achieved and rewards are, generally, maximized.  Again, the difference between 1% and 2% on everything else could be significant or it could be extremely minor depending on how many non-category dollars the card holder pushes through per month, year, etc.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's why I think the general recommendation around these boards is to have a 5% category card coupled with a 2% card for everything else so that the best of both worlds is achieved and rewards are, generally, maximized.  Again, the difference between 1% and 2% on everything else could be significant or it could be extremely minor depending on how many non-category dollars the card holder pushes through per month, year, etc.

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Well, a "general recommendation" seems to be "have as many cards as you can get"!   But I sort of agree, except I would characterize it more as:

1) Get category cards (5%+) that fit your spending pattern and your credit card tolerance.   (So people who want to have only a small number of credit cards might only go for a 5% card that covers something they spend say $3K a year on, others wouldn't find the additional $90 complelling, whereas others might go for a 5% where they spend $100 a year, to "maximize rewards"

2) For cashback, get  a 2% everywhere card so that you always get that much.     For those that value travel awards enough, this isn't needed (e.g. FU gives 1.5UR which many value above 2c, and for some 1MR, TYP or SPG might also be more than 2c)

[JustBPatient]

Entertaining and informative thread.  I will chime in with the opinion that the DC is a good "catch all" for buy categories that aren't available on other cards. Assuming you aren't chasing a spend bonus on a new card, it's a handy card.  Is it life changing? NO but fits the bill!!  If you can use CC's rather than a debit card/cash...why not??

[Wolfeyy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Completely off topic here, but I think people chase the extra half percent cash back on rewards often when they are losing far in excess of that potential reward gain in other aspects of their spending.  The old stepping on a dollar just to pick up a quarter.  I'm talking about things like using coupons, hitting BOGO offers, using coupon codes for online purchases, calling your cell phone or cable company and threatening to jump ship and magically they find you $15-$20/mo in savings off your bill to keep you.  Any of these things among many others can save a consumer more money in a single transaction than another half percent in rewards can save them in a year in some cases.  Just something to take into consideration.

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Yes, yes and YES!  That!

[Anonymous]

It's been said before, but I think it's worth repeating that credit card rewards aren't supposed to be "great," as the topic title says. The rewards are the bank's way of encouraging people to use their cards. And likewise, it's our option then to use them to get the most benefit out of them.

I'm in a fairly similar spending situation to the original poster (don't spend too much, and mostly on general expenses), and I have as many of my recurring bills set to charge to my Quicksilver card as possible. True, the 1.5% cashback isn't much, just like the 2% cashback from the original poster's Double Cash isn't much, but it's something that I wouldn't have otherwise - like a little bonus. Typically, the only credit cards that offer significant rewards also have significant fees attached to them and require a lot of spending. The big ones are also ALL travel cards because travel cards can leverage unused space (unsold airplane seats or hotel rooms, otherwise empty lounges, etc.) to use as bonuses that don't cost the providers too much to provide, since they're around anyway. If you want to make money, you won't do it by using a credit card. But you can get some small bonuses in the form of cash back by using them.

So in answer to the original question, the cash back rate on the DoubleCash card isn't great from an investment perspective, but it is pretty much the best credit card you're going to get for low to moderate general spending without travel.

[Noctilum]

Echoing others, it is a great card to compliment other cards you don't have higher cashback bonuses with.  You may be able to get more value out of other type of rewards cards for travel and such, but I just want straight up cashback, so it's the best on the block for anything my bonus cards don't have.  I am not even sure why Chase released the Freedom Unlimited with 1.5%.  Even with UR bonus it still isn't as much as 2% and then you are restricted to using it on travel for that bonus.

[nachoslibres]

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@Corvidae wrote:

Echoing others, it is a great card to compliment other cards you don't have higher cashback bonuses with.  You may be able to get more value out of other type of rewards cards for travel and such, but I just want straight up cashback, so it's the best on the block for anything my bonus cards don't have.  I am not even sure why Chase released the Freedom Unlimited with 1.5%.  Even with UR bonus it still isn't as much as 2% and then you are restricted to using it on travel for that bonus.

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?  If you use the Chase Freedom Unlimited with the CSP, CSR, or Ink+ you can definitely get more than 2% cash back value our of it.  Even using the most conservative estimate of valuing the UR at 1.5 cents per UR and purchasing travel the the UR portal using the CSR - the 1.5% you earned on the Freedom Unlimited becomes worth 2.25%. Estimating it at a more normal value of 2 centers per UR and you are looking at a 3% return.  The reason for me not to want the Freedom Unlimited is that while it will offer greater return than the DC - that redemption is really limited to travel and doesn't get me much diversity.  I already have a ton of UR points that I will evenutally use - but the DC currently gives me a cash back value monthly that I wouldn't see with the Freedom Unlimited.