topic Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards in Credit Cards

Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:59:09 GMT

So, decided to go on a credit card app spree and product change spree.

1. For rotating categories, Discover (quarter restaraunts) 5%

2. For normal restaraunt/food purchases Uber Card, 4%

3. For Movie Theaters and home utilities US Bank Cash Rewards 5%

4. All Travel Purchases Chase Sapphire Reserve 3% UR * 1.5 (woulld it be better to use this for restaraunts also?)

5. For chase rotating categories, Chase Freedom 5% UR * 1.5

6. For Amazon and Whole Foods Purchases, Chase Amazon 5%

7. Groceries Amex Blue Cash Everyday 3%

8. Everything Else, Chase Freedom Unlimited 1.5% UR * 1.5

9. Any huge Purchase that need to finance until better loan, Garden Savings FDU Visa, 8% APR no balance transfer/cash advance fee

Sitting Idle: Capital one old venture one Visa Signature, Costco Visa, Amex Everyday card (will use if any offer or membership rewards points are needed), Kohls and Macys card, Amazon Store Card (when I need to 0% finance something from amzn)

I am a big spender. What do you think? Overkill? Is there anything I can consolidate? Would you close Cap 1 or Costco card? How do you fit this many cards in a wallet (most places still no accept nfc/phone payments). Pain in the butt to manage so many bills (smaller costs such Groceries/theater autopay).

Share your setup!

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

kdm31091 — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 13:40:29 GMT

Your strategy looks good to me, but IMO be careful not to over optimize. Do you need a dedicated card for expenses such as movies that may not be a huge portion of your budget? It can lead to diluted rewards and as you note, lots of bills to pay; the gains may not be worth it. So in my opinion yes this lineup could be overkill and you may take awhile to reach redemption thresholds for the programs that have them when you are using so many different cards.

If you do want to optimize every penny it looks like you've got it pretty much down.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 13:52:03 GMT

Yeah, I got US Bank card when I thought I wouldn't be able to get Chase Freedom card due to 5/24 (turns out I was approved), so now I have both. Maybe will remove Uber card from rotation(and just have it pay cell bill for protection) and stick with CSR, as technically it would be 4.5 cents per the dollar. Have to check minimum redemption values on each.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:47:41 GMT

As far as carrying, you can obviously leave some cards out if you know what you are doing that day (e.g. do you need the movie card today? Are you going to WholeFoods or a different grocery store). Also, the difference between putting non-WholeFoods groceries on a BCE vs CFU is pretty small, a max of $45 a year (assuming you reach $6000 apart from any 5% on Freedom etc)

Plus, get a modern Samsung phone! Samsung pay works nearly everywhere.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:55:02 GMT

Eh, more of a Pixel guy, have had Samsung phones in the past. Always fun watching the cashier look at me and figure out what I am trying to do with my phone next to the credit card terminal with the swipe machine . Also, only if in US they brought credit card terminals to the table, would be so much better!

I go to whole foods as there is one walking distance, but for most of groceries go to larger chains as whole foods costs are still higher (despit 5% discount, although maybe amazon is changing the game). Probably do not need the amex blue cash.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 15:00:31 GMT

This is close to my ideal lineup. Glad someone else made this post to discuss exactly these cards. I have a couple thoughts:

1) I'd echo above sentiment regaurding the US bank card (which, obviously, you already have)

2) The chase and discover rotating cards as basically identical, so you only need 1 unless you can find a difference that affects you (the CF if you're converting with the CSR)

3) The citi double cash at 2% beats the CFU at 1.5% (unless you're converting with the CSR)

4) If you don't travel much (I don't) Uber is a better travel card at 3% than CSR at 4.5% less the AF. It just comes down to a breakeven calculation using expected spend & expected benefits (the calculation can actually get tricky if you're converting points from CF and CFU)

5) PNC has a 3% gas card, which could be worth it depending on how much you drive (It's not worth it to me)

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Kforce — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 15:11:56 GMT

I have the "keep it simple" plan. (See Sig)

FNBO Cashback and Bank of the West in wallet

Others sock drawer except for specialized category.

Get about 3% from all my CC spend with this set.

Would need your full set to get 4% cashback.

For me the number of cards, splitting rewards, etc is not worth 1%.

Everyone has a different opinion at what number of cards make sense.

If you chase every dollar there is always another card to get you 3$'s more.

Happy with my set and no plans to add any more. Might drop one of them.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Eagered2succeed — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 15:08:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
As far as carrying, you can obviously leave some cards out if you know what you are doing that day (e.g. do you need the movie card today? Are you going to WholeFoods or a different grocery store). Also, the difference between putting non-WholeFoods groceries on a BCE vs CFU is pretty small, a max of $45 a year (assuming you reach $6000 apart from any 5% on Freedom etc)

Plus, get a modern Samsung phone! Samsung pay works nearly everywhere.

+1 on the Samsung pay. I love the look on the employees face after they tell me I can't pay with my phone or watch. It has saved me plenty of times seeing that I don't like carrying a wallet everywhere.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 15:11:17 GMT

@Eagered2succeed wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
As far as carrying, you can obviously leave some cards out if you know what you are doing that day (e.g. do you need the movie card today? Are you going to WholeFoods or a different grocery store). Also, the difference between putting non-WholeFoods groceries on a BCE vs CFU is pretty small, a max of $45 a year (assuming you reach $6000 apart from any 5% on Freedom etc)

Plus, get a modern Samsung phone! Samsung pay works nearly everywhere.
+1 on the Samsung pay. I love the look on the employees face after they tell me I can't pay with my phone or watch. It has saved me plenty of times seeing that I don't like carrying a wallet everywhere.

I always got the impression they thought I was 'hacking them'. Last year I was at a vending machine with credit card swiper (no nfc) and I was playing with phone for a good 5 minutes(left wallet at home), the amount of people that looked over and gave me weird looks was classic.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

MakingProgress — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 15:12:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Also, only if in US they brought credit card terminals to the table, would be so much better!

When we were recently in Canada I liked that they brought the terminal to the table. Chili's has a kiosk to play games, and pay your bill at the table here in the US. I hope more resturants follow suit.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:08:24 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
I have the "keep it simple" plan. (See Sig)
FNBO Cashback and Bank of the West in wallet
Others sock drawer except for specialized category.
Get about 3% from all my CC spend with this set.
Would need your full set to get 4% cashback.
For me the number of cards, splitting rewards, etc is not worth 1%.
Everyone has a different opinion at what number of cards make sense.
If you chase every dollar there is always another card to get you 3$'s more.
Happy with my set and no plans to add any more. Might even cut one more.

I notice you have the US Bank rewards card. How is it, I see lots of complaints about customer service and categories not matching up with purchases. All ready had a bad application expierience, they sent me a letter to call them back asap as they need some information from me, calling them waiting on hold 20 minutes just to be hung up on when they were checking the application. Called again 10 minutes later (20 minute hold again) and they said they are not sure why letter went out everything was good :/

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Kforce — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:38:48 GMT

US-Bank is slow and old fashioned in many ways. Have not had any issues which required contact with customer service. Got a small SL for my credit profile, and Cl increases are small and about a year apart. It is not known as a high CL card. Most people only use it for the 2 categories at 5%, so no real need for a high CL. I use it for "Utils & Gym" and have had no issues with category codes. I get good rewards for the spend with this card and like that I can change categories if my spend changes. * Note *: It reports to the credit bureaus what balance is on the card at the end of every month not your statement balance. It gives good cashback but will not be a card in your top 10 high credit limits.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

galahad15 — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 19:04:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So, decided to go on a credit card app spree and product change spree.
1. For rotating categories, Discover (quarter restaraunts) 5%
2. For normal restaraunt/food purchases Uber Card, 4%
3. For Movie Theaters and home utilities US Bank Cash Rewards 5%
4. All Travel Purchases Chase Sapphire Reserve 3% UR * 1.5 (woulld it be better to use this for restaraunts also?)
5. For chase rotating categories, Chase Freedom 5% UR * 1.5
6. For Amazon and Whole Foods Purchases, Chase Amazon 5%
7. Groceries Amex Blue Cash Everyday 3%
8. Everything Else, Chase Freedom Unlimited 1.5% UR * 1.5
9. Any huge Purchase that need to finance until better loan, Garden Savings FDU Visa, 8% APR no balance transfer/cash advance fee

Sitting Idle: Capital one old venture one Visa Signature, Costco Visa, Amex Everyday card (will use if any offer or membership rewards points are needed), Kohls and Macys card, Amazon Store Card (when I need to 0% finance something from amzn)
I am a big spender. What do you think? Overkill? Is there anything I can consolidate? Would you close Cap 1 or Costco card? How do you fit this many cards in a wallet (most places still no accept nfc/phone payments). Pain in the butt to manage so many bills (smaller costs such Groceries/theater autopay).

Share your setup!

For me, my current rewards cards setup is as follows:

(1) US Bank Cash+ (x2): 5% for cellphones, home utilities, ground transportation, fast food (note: Denny's and Boston Market both code at 5% for fast food, which I like); 2% on restaurants and grocery stores

(2) FNBO Travelite Amex: 3% on travel, 1.5% on everything else

(3) Wells Fargo Propel: 3% on travel, restaurants, gas stations

(4) BoA Cash Rewards: 3% for gas stations and 2% for groceries

(5) 2% cashback cards for all purchases: Citi DC, FNBO BucksBack VS, Cap1 NHM, Blispay

(6) BoA BBR (x2)

(7) Cards for other / misc purchases & rewards, also have great or outstanding go-to APRs, in mho: BEFCU VISA, PACU MC, FNBO Amex (non-Travelite version)

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 19:06:48 GMT

@galahad15 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
So, decided to go on a credit card app spree and product change spree.
1. For rotating categories, Discover (quarter restaraunts) 5%
2. For normal restaraunt/food purchases Uber Card, 4%
3. For Movie Theaters and home utilities US Bank Cash Rewards 5%
4. All Travel Purchases Chase Sapphire Reserve 3% UR * 1.5 (woulld it be better to use this for restaraunts also?)
5. For chase rotating categories, Chase Freedom 5% UR * 1.5
6. For Amazon and Whole Foods Purchases, Chase Amazon 5%
7. Groceries Amex Blue Cash Everyday 3%
8. Everything Else, Chase Freedom Unlimited 1.5% UR * 1.5
9. Any huge Purchase that need to finance until better loan, Garden Savings FDU Visa, 8% APR no balance transfer/cash advance fee

Sitting Idle: Capital one old venture one Visa Signature, Costco Visa, Amex Everyday card (will use if any offer or membership rewards points are needed), Kohls and Macys card, Amazon Store Card (when I need to 0% finance something from amzn)
I am a big spender. What do you think? Overkill? Is there anything I can consolidate? Would you close Cap 1 or Costco card? How do you fit this many cards in a wallet (most places still no accept nfc/phone payments). Pain in the butt to manage so many bills (smaller costs such Groceries/theater autopay).

Share your setup!

For me, my current rewards cards setup is as follows:

(1) US Bank Cash+ (x2): 5% for cellphones, home utilities, ground transportation, fast food (note: Denny's and Boston Market both code at 5% for fast food, which I like); 2% on restaurants and grocery stores
(2) FNBO Travelite Amex: 3% on travel, 1.5% on everything else
(3) Wells Fargo Propel: 3% on travel, restaurants, gas stations
(4) BoA Cash Rewards: 3% for gas stations and 2% for groceries
(5) 2% cashback cards for all purchases: Citi DC, FNBO BucksBack VS, Cap1 NHM, Blispay
(6) BoA BBR (x2)
(7) Cards for other / misc purchases & rewards, also have great or outstanding go-to APRs, in mho: BEFCU VISA, PACU MC, FNBO Amex (non-Travelite version)

Sounds good! What is the need for the Travelite Amex, havn't see this before. You get everything from either Propel card or the 2% cashback cards.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

wasCB14 — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 19:12:45 GMT

Excluding rotating category cards or other promos...

BBP for first $50k, CFU after that for off-category.

CSR for travel and dining.

CFU for Costco food and boring stuff.

Costco Visa if I'm buying electronics there or something I can price rewind.

DC for other warranty/price rewind purchases.

Schwab Platinum for warranty-less purchase protection.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

galahad15 — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 19:31:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@galahad15
Sounds good! What is the need for the Travelite Amex, havn't see this before. You get everything from either Propel card or the 2% cashback cards.

Many thanks for the kind words! To answer your question about the FNBO Travelite Amex, FNBO was previously letting anyone app a few years ago for it as a time-limited offering, but since that time-limited offer is no longer available, IIRC, it is currently being offered by postal mail-invite only. I had apped for it at the time when it was still available to app for without the postal mailer, but since the Propel card had only just recently come out, until the availability of the Propel card, the Travelite was the only card that I could find that would give 3% cashback on travel, without an AF.

ETA: another benefit of the Travelite is that, as an FNBO card, you can call FNBO up every 4 months and ask for a SP CLI.

ETA: the FNBO Travelite also offers an annual $100 airline travel incidentals credit with no AF, plus $100 credits applicable towards TSA-Pre and/or Global Entry

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

digitek — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 20:03:05 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
I have the "keep it simple" plan. (See Sig)
FNBO Cashback and Bank of the West in wallet
Others sock drawer except for specialized category.
Get about 3% from all my CC spend with this set.
Would need your full set to get 4% cashback.
For me the number of cards, splitting rewards, etc is not worth 1%.
Everyone has a different opinion at what number of cards make sense.
If you chase every dollar there is always another card to get you 3$'s more.
Happy with my set and no plans to add any more. Might drop one of them.

I like this way of looking at it. I'm part of the crowd that went for a cashback lineup, they are in my sig, pretty similar. I guess USAA Limitless would be top-tier with only one card giving you straight 2.5% cashback, and as you try to raise that total cashback you have to keep adding cards and that in the end dilutes them all. There is a balance that is different for everyone. I can't really add more, if anything I'll slowly close some out as time goes on, but it's hard to leave money on the table after you've already got the card especially since they all 'cost' hard pulls and lowered AAoA.

I think 3% with only 5 cards is pretty good. I'm probably in between 3-4% total somewhere.

Re: Best Card lineup for most cash back/rewards

Kforce — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 22:12:47 GMT

@digitek wrote:
I like this way of looking at it. I'm part of the crowd that went for a cashback lineup, they are in my sig, pretty similar. I guess USAA Limitless would be top-tier with only one card giving you straight 2.5% cashback, and as you try to raise that total cashback you have to keep adding cards and that in the end dilutes them all. There is a balance that is different for everyone. I can't really add more, if anything I'll slowly close some out as time goes on, but it's hard to leave money on the table after you've already got the card especially since they all 'cost' hard pulls and lowered AAoA.

I think 3% with only 5 cards is pretty good. I'm probably in between 3-4% total somewhere.

You have a very nice set of cashback cards !!

With your card lineup I believe I could hit 4%.

If I had your set of ten I probably would not bother to trim it down.

But I don't plan to get five more for the small increase.