topic looking for a 3% cashback card in Credit Cards

looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 09:24:25 GMT

already have discover. thx

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

UpperNwGuy — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 09:45:06 GMT

Alliant credit union has a card that is 3% the first year with the annual fee waived. In the second and subsequent years it drops to 2.5% and has a $59 annual fee.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 09:47:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
already have discover. thx

Other than the JCB Maraukai credit card which is limited to residents of Hawaii, California, Washington and Oregon and has other limitations, there are no straight 3% cashback cards, only ones that have 3% or higher for various categories or bonuses. Just none that have 3% for everything. 2.5% is the highest you'll see for that and that is very limited as well. Only the USAA Limitless card has 2.5% afaik but there might be another one or two.

Forgot about Alliant card but that is, as mentioned, only for a year.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

digitek — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 13:51:48 GMT

Agree with Irish, the ones he mentioned are the only ones permanently above 2% for all categories as far as I know. Actually, there is a BoA card that can get you 2.65% back when used as travel spend if you also park a bunch of money with them, but I don't really know the details.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:09:56 GMT

I believe the JCB Mitsuwa card also is 3% once you spend a relatively high amount per year. There are also some strange conditions regarding how JCB rounds your purchases down to award the points. So achieving exactly 3% is not possible, but with enough spend and careful rounding of balances I suppose someone could get close to 3%. I have considered JCB Mitsuwa as it is offerend in the state I live (which is more states than the other JCB card) but have never pulled the trigger since it seems to complicated to get enough over 2% to be worth it.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:14:07 GMT

As the highest merchant fees on visa/master cards is less than 3 percent I doubt you will find a permament 3 percent card on everything with no annual fee. USAA 2.5 requires a checking account with USAA with direct deposits of a signifcant amount.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

K-in-Boston — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:17:38 GMT

Wish I could get any of the JCB cards! The other downside is of course their small limits for personal lending (further research after we discussed the credit line cap recently shows that corporate cards can go much much higher).

Someone please correct me if I am wrong if the cash back for miles isn't $0.01=1 mile, but at least for the first year, the Discover it Miles card is 1.5% back on all purchases, but Discover will match all cash back for the first 12 statements - effectively 3% back on all purchases.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

happypill — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:31:07 GMT

As mentioned above there is the BofA Travel Rewards that gives 2.625% if you have $100k in savings or brokerage with BofA/Merrill Lynch. Brokerage or a 401k rollover or something is probably the only way that makes sense, since keeping $100k in savings is a waste of money. This is probably the closest you can come to 3% on general spend. The USAA, Alliant and JCB cards others have mentioned come close in their own ways, but don't really measure up to the BofA if you have the relationship.

Here's one that I've never seen mentioned on this board before, a true 3.3% cash back card with no fees - the Security Service FCU Power Business Travel Rewards WMC. The regular Power Travel Rewards card gets mentioned around here from time to time because it gives 3.3% rewards on Travel, & Dining, which is class leading, but the business version of this card gives 3% on everything! Like the regular card it also has no fees, and lots of perks like 120 day price protection (much longer than others), 2 year extended warranty (instead of the must more common 1 yr) and BT rates of 7.9%lower than purchase rates, which can be be as low as 10.74% currently.

There are 3 drawbacks to this card. First, SSFCU is geographically limited. Second, this is a business card so it might not be available to all people. Third, and the reason why I don't have one yet, is that you actually have to apply in person. They were happy to email me an application (no online apps for this), but I need to go in person to apply. Unfortunately, I'm in CA now so I haven't had the chance, but the next time I travel to Denver for work I'm going to try to carve out some time to go apply. BTW, this card has been around for at least a few years without any changes, so I don't expect them to pull back on the rewards. 3% on everything with a 10% bonus at the end of the year. Here's a link:

https://www.ssfcu.org/en-us/business/credit-cards/Pages/travel-rewards.aspx

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:32:02 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Wish I could get any of the JCB cards! The other downside is of course their small limits for personal lending (further research after we discussed the credit line cap recently shows that corporate cards can go much much higher).

Someone please correct me if I am wrong if the cash back for miles isn't $0.01=1 mile, but at least for the first year, the Discover it Miles card is 1.5% back on all purchases, but Discover will match all cash back for the first 12 statements - effectively 3% back on all purchases.

That's right, the IT miles is ~ 3% for the first year (the "~" because it's 1.5% + 1.5% with the second 1.5% coming at the end of the year)

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:36:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I believe the JCB Mitsuwa card also is 3% once you spend a relatively high amount per year. There are also some strange conditions regarding how JCB rounds your purchases down to award the points. So achieving exactly 3% is not possible, but with enough spend and careful rounding of balances I suppose someone could get close to 3%. I have considered JCB Mitsuwa as it is offerend in the state I live (which is more states than the other JCB card) but have never pulled the trigger since it seems to complicated to get enough over 2% to be worth it.

There are complications, but the spend isn't that high.

Earn up to 1% Cash Back Points on first $1,000 spent yearly
Earn up to 2% Cash Back Points on next $2,000 spent yearly
Earn up to 3% Cash Back Points on over $3,000 spent yearly

So $3K per year is all that is needed to start earning 3%. And for any card, if the amounts are low, then the difference between 1, 2 and 3% cards is small in actual amount.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:38:28 GMT

if there ever were a 3% cashback card, you'd have no problem finding it because you'd see a hundred new "Just App'd/Approved for the XXX 3% Card!!" threads

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

K-in-Boston — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:49:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
As the highest merchant fees on visa/master cards is less than 3 percent I doubt you will find a permament 3 percent card on everything with no annual fee.

Just to be clear, there actually are some Visa and MasterCard types that have bulk Interchange rates above 3%, and there are many that can easily exceed that with certain other factors like EIRF and CNP. The majority of credit card transactions are of course significantly lower, so a permanent 3% card across the board is indeed unlikely without some other factor offsetting what the issuing bank receives back - which I believe is the intent of your statement. (My Amex fees all-in are below that threshold, for what it's worth since they're seen as "having much higher fees than any other network.")

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

wasCB14 — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:53:23 GMT

@happypill wrote:
Here's one that I've never seen mentioned on this board before, a true 3.3% cash back card with no fees - the Security Service FCU Power Business Travel Rewards WMC. The regular Power Travel Rewards card gets mentioned around here from time to time because it gives 3.3% rewards on Travel, & Dining, which is class leading, but the business version of this card gives 3% on everything! Like the regular card it also has no fees, and lots of perks like 120 day price protection (much longer than others), 2 year extended warranty (instead of the must more common 1 yr) and BT rates of 7.9%lower than purchase rates, which can be be as low as 10.74% currently.

There are 3 drawbacks to this card. First, SSFCU is geographically limited. Second, this is a business card so it might not be available to all people. Third, and the reason why I don't have one yet, is that you actually have to apply in person. They were happy to email me an application (no online apps for this), but I need to go in person to apply. Unfortunately, I'm in CA now so I haven't had the chance, but the next time I travel to Denver for work I'm going to try to carve out some time to go apply. BTW, this card has been around for at least a few years without any changes, so I don't expect them to pull back on the rewards. 3% on everything with a 10% bonus at the end of the year. Here's a link:

https://www.ssfcu.org/en-us/business/credit-cards/Pages/travel-rewards.aspx

According to: https://www.ssfcu.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/application-disclosures/consumerrewardstc.pdf Dated Oct 2016

"Security Service Power Business Travel Rewards MasterCard® Credit Card will earn THREE points for every $1 spent on Travel, Gasoline, Restaurants, and Warehouse Clubs, with the exception of Costco. All other purchases will receive ONE point for every $1 spent."

According to: https://www.ssfcu.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/business-disclosures/business-travel-rewards-credit-card-terms.pdf Dated June 2017

There is a $39 AF.

Either my links are out of date or the fine print reveals it's just a mediocre card.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 18:16:11 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
@happypill wrote:
Here's one that I've never seen mentioned on this board before, a true 3.3% cash back card with no fees - the Security Service FCU Power Business Travel Rewards WMC. The regular Power Travel Rewards card gets mentioned around here from time to time because it gives 3.3% rewards on Travel, & Dining, which is class leading, but the business version of this card gives 3% on everything! Like the regular card it also has no fees, and lots of perks like 120 day price protection (much longer than others), 2 year extended warranty (instead of the must more common 1 yr) and BT rates of 7.9%lower than purchase rates, which can be be as low as 10.74% currently.

There are 3 drawbacks to this card. First, SSFCU is geographically limited. Second, this is a business card so it might not be available to all people. Third, and the reason why I don't have one yet, is that you actually have to apply in person. They were happy to email me an application (no online apps for this), but I need to go in person to apply. Unfortunately, I'm in CA now so I haven't had the chance, but the next time I travel to Denver for work I'm going to try to carve out some time to go apply. BTW, this card has been around for at least a few years without any changes, so I don't expect them to pull back on the rewards. 3% on everything with a 10% bonus at the end of the year. Here's a link:

https://www.ssfcu.org/en-us/business/credit-cards/Pages/travel-rewards.aspx

According to: https://www.ssfcu.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/application-disclosures/consumerrewardstc.pdf Dated Oct 2016

"Security Service Power Business Travel Rewards MasterCard® Credit Card will earn THREE points for every $1 spent on Travel, Gasoline, Restaurants, and Warehouse Clubs, with the exception of Costco. All other purchases will receive ONE point for every $1 spent."

According to: https://www.ssfcu.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/business-disclosures/business-travel-rewards-credit-card-terms.pdf Dated June 2017

There is a $39 AF.

Either my links are out of date or the fine print reveals it's just a mediocre card.

Site seems to be inconsistent! Look at https://www.ssfcu.org/en-us/business/credit-cards/Pages/default.aspx

which contains 3 business cards. The last two each have:

Earn 3% Cash Back for every $1 spent on gas, travel, and dining (the cashback card) and

Earn 3 rewards points for every $1 spent on gas, travel, & dining (travel)

Each has a Learn More link. The learn more page for the cash back repeats the 3% categories, but the one for the travel card has:

3 Rewards Points for every $1 spent on purchases

So for those interested in applying who want 3% generally, check with the CU very carefully. Note that is is also 3.3 because it has the 10% bonus

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

wasCB14 — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:01:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Site seems to be inconsistent! Look at https://www.ssfcu.org/en-us/business/credit-cards/Pages/default.aspx
which contains 3 business cards. The last two each have:
Earn 3% Cash Back for every $1 spent on gas, travel, and dining (the cashback card) and
Earn 3 rewards points for every $1 spent on gas, travel, & dining (travel)
Each has a Learn More link. The learn more page for the cash back repeats the 3% categories, but the one for the travel card has:
3 Rewards Points for every $1 spent on purchases
So for those interested in applying who want 3% generally, check with the CU very carefully. Note that is is also 3.3 because it has the 10% bonus

I don't think SSFCU offers a "3.3% on everything" card. I think the "3.3% on everything" idea is just the result of sloppy/deceptive advertising and no one on here having previously done any real research into it.

"3 Rewards Points for every $1 spent on purchases" is on the webpage for the "Security Service Power Business Travel Rewards MasterCard".

And, from the first of my two links: "Security Service Power Business Travel Rewards MasterCard® Credit Card will earn THREE points for every $1 spent on Travel, Gasoline, Restaurants, and Warehouse Clubs, with the exception of Costco. All other purchases will receive ONE point for every $1 spent."

So the Oct 2016 fine print says the "3 Rewards Points for every $1 spent on purchases" card really does have category restrictions.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Kforce — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:02:09 GMT

As others have said no single card can get you

a full 3% back, year after year.

That said if you want cash back, (3 to 5) cards used correctly

can easily get many people back more than 3%

You need a good general spend and a couple of rotators or if you

don't like cards with rotating category's, there are fixed 3% in 3- 4 category's and

cards with 4% or 5% in one or two category's.

Picking 3 or 4 cards for your spending habit's might get you more than 3%

For my spend I get 3+% cash back from 4 cards with no AF.

You need to start getting more cards like all good MyFico's

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:26:15 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
As others have said no single card can get you
a full 3% back, year after year.

That's probably true (except for the JCB card which comes very close). But, if you look back, a number of us (and I include myself) were pretty sure that 2% cards weren't sustainable unless they were like the Fidelity Amex, which a) ran on the more fee-rich Amex network, and b) had some kickback from Fidelity.

Now there are a number of 2% cards, and even the USAA 2,5% (which has some conditions I believe).

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Kforce — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:45:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Kforce wrote:
As others have said no single card can get you
a full 3% back, year after year.

That's probably true (except for the JCB card which comes very close). But, if you look back, a number of us (and I include myself) were pretty sure that 2% cards weren't sustainable unless they were like the Fidelity Amex, which a) ran on the more fee-rich Amex network, and b) had some kickback from Fidelity. Now there are a number of 2% cards, and even the USAA 2,5% (which has some conditions I believe).

A few do get close but have conditions that need to be met.

Money in other accounts, or a CU account, or aren't Visa or MC,

or need to be in Military, or Federal Government, etc

From an easy to get point of view, 3-4 regular Visa/Mc's can get 3%

without as many restrictions or hoops to jump through. I haven't

worked the numbers but I think 3 cards might get me a full 3%.

I believe you need a minimum of 3 cards to get max "Fico" benefits anyway.

It just seems like a straight forward approach to the goal of 3% (IMO).

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:53:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I believe the JCB Mitsuwa card also is 3% once you spend a relatively high amount per year. There are also some strange conditions regarding how JCB rounds your purchases down to award the points. So achieving exactly 3% is not possible, but with enough spend and careful rounding of balances I suppose someone could get close to 3%. I have considered JCB Mitsuwa as it is offerend in the state I live (which is more states than the other JCB card) but have never pulled the trigger since it seems to complicated to get enough over 2% to be worth it.
There are complications, but the spend isn't that high.

Earn up to 1% Cash Back Points on first $1,000 spent yearly
Earn up to 2% Cash Back Points on next $2,000 spent yearly
Earn up to 3% Cash Back Points on over $3,000 spent yearly
So $3K per year is all that is needed to start earning 3%. And for any card, if the amounts are low, then the difference between 1, 2 and 3% cards is small in actual amount.

Not trying to start a fight, but the above is not what is on the JCB USA website for the Mitsuwa card. I see this:

Annual Spending Cash Back Points Earned Cash Back Rate

First $2,000 Every $100 = 1 Point, 1% cash back

$2,000 to $5,000 Every $100 = 2 Points, 2% cash back

Over $5,000* Every $100 = 3 Points, 3% cash back

So you have to spend at least $5,000 to start earning 3%. Someone who has the patience to do the arithmetic could comment with how much spend it will take to break even with a flat 2% cash back card with this structure (it must be at least several thousand). Even then you would never truly be getting 3% overall but more like 2.7 or 2.8% before the 3% back maxes out at 50K annual spend as noted in the fine print. In addition, you only get the points per $100. So if you spend $190 after getting $5000 annual spend, you are only earning 3 points. As I stated earlier, I have been intrigued by this card, but it would take a lot of spending and balance precision to even get 2.5% back.

Re: looking for a 3% cashback card

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:56:57 GMT

I'm looking for a 95% cash back card with no minimums and no limits. I already have Blue Cash Preferred.

Thanks!