topic Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex? in Credit Cards

3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 11:12:31 GMT

This is really the only hole in my wallet right now. I could also get a card that covers cable and cell bills (BBVA covers both under utilities and I could switch it to groceries after that).

Amex is not an option, the MoreRewards Amex by NFCU isn’t ideal with the $50 redemption threshold.

BoA, Citi, US Bank, and Chase are all currently no go between 5/24, BK, and previous relationships depending on which one.

I am in Colorado but I burned Bellco so I can’t get their 3% card (I’ll think about paying them off at some point but other than that card, which is admittedly pretty amazing, they’re not that great of a CU) but I’m open to other credit unions that I am eligible for.

I am thinking that my options are going to be pretty slim but maybe there’s a card out there from a credit union or smaller bank that I don’t know about.

I have 5% on Amazon

5% rotating categories (Disco)

3% utilities

2% everything else

I don’t have need of dining, entertainment, gas or travel categories as I’m home bound.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

issac2x — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 11:42:29 GMT

Bank of the West cash back card is available in Colorado OP. I was also going to recommend UMB but with your current TU 702 score it might be a denial with them.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 11:45:51 GMT

@issac2x wrote:
Bank of the West cash back card is available in Colorado OP. I was also going to recommend UMB but with your current TU 702 score it might be a denial with them.

That Bank of the West card looks like what I’m looking for actually and with the high 18.24+ APR, I imagine it’s not that hard to get?

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

issac2x — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 11:56:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
That Bank of the West card looks like what I’m looking for actually and with the high 18.24+ APR, I imagine it’s not that hard to get?

Haven't had any dealings with them personally but a search on myfico shows them to be conservative. I only know about them from my search for dining/grocery cards sorry I can't be of more help.

Edit: Here's a link from a previous post https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Bank-of-the-West-online-improvements/td-p/5026193

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 12:48:53 GMT

@issac2x wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
That Bank of the West card looks like what I’m looking for actually and with the high 18.24+ APR, I imagine it’s not that hard to get?
Haven't had any dealings with them personally but a search on myfico shows them to be conservative. I only know about them from my search for dining/grocery cards sorry I can't be of more help.

Edit: Here's a link from a previous post https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Bank-of-the-West-online-improvements/td-p/5026193

Yikes! Umm... yeah I’ll pass.

I will let my scores age up a bit anyway, this is after gardening until at least July that I’m looking toward the future. I have eliminated both Chase Freedom and US Bank Cash+ as goal cards so I need a new one but the only thing I’m really missing for my spending habits is a high return grocery card. Otherwise I am covered on everything.

I may just add the NFCU Amex to my wallet as my third card with them and be done with my credit seeking until such a time that I’m no longer home bound (if that happens). I just don’t like the $50 redemption threshold because with my grocery spending, that’s one redemption a year.

I guess I could also use Disco 5% quarters to stock up on $1500 worth of $250 Kroger gift cards and use those for groceries for the year but that’s a lot of gift cards to keep track of balances on and if something goes wrong, I’m out whatever balance gets wiped out over the months it will take me to actually use them all.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

UpperNwGuy — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 13:22:10 GMT

I've finally given up hope on 3% grocery cards. Amex is the only nationwide bank that even makes an effort, but they do their clever best to encourage breakage on the Blue Cash cards. NFCU gave me hope when they introduced More Rewards a while back, but it turned out to have an excessively high $50 minimum redemption. I'm not eligible for most of the cards issued by regional banks and regional credit unions in the western part of the country, so I just use my 2% flat-rate card to buy groceries. I'm thinking that groceries must be the least profitable category for credit cards, because banks go out of their way to avoid it. Case in point: when Bank of America revised their Cash Rewards card this month, they let the user choose between six categories for the 3%, but groceries was stuck at 2%.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

kdm31091 — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 13:24:10 GMT

@UpperNwGuy wrote:
I've finally given up hope on 3% grocery cards. Amex is the only nationwide bank that even makes an effort, but they do their clever best to encourage breakage on the Blue Cash cards. NFCU gave me hope when they introduced More Rewards a while back, but it turned out to have an excessively high $50 minimum redemption. I'm not eligible for most of the cards issued by regional banks and regional credit unions in the western part of the country, so I just use my 2% flat-rate card to buy groceries. I'm thinking that groceries must be the least profitable category for credit cards, because banks go out of their way to avoid it. Case in point: when Bank of America revised their Cash Rewards card this month, they let the user choose between six categories for the 3%, but groceries was stuck at 2%.

Well I would think on average, people spend more on groceries than many categories, so it kind of makes sense the rewards out there are relatively limited.

I just use my BOA for the 2%, plus my Preferred Rewards bonus. Right this minute I'm using Discover though since it's 5%. I found the BCE with its breakage encouraging structure to be too annoying, though at least they have eliminated the $25 increment thing.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 13:42:12 GMT

@UpperNwGuy wrote:
I've finally given up hope on 3% grocery cards. Amex is the only nationwide bank that even makes an effort, but they do their clever best to encourage breakage on the Blue Cash cards. NFCU gave me hope when they introduced More Rewards a while back, but it turned out to have an excessively high $50 minimum redemption. I'm not eligible for most of the cards issued by regional banks and regional credit unions in the western part of the country, so I just use my 2% flat-rate card to buy groceries. I'm thinking that groceries must be the least profitable category for credit cards, because banks go out of their way to avoid it. Case in point: when Bank of America revised their Cash Rewards card this month, they let the user choose between six categories for the 3%, but groceries was stuck at 2%.

Yeah I am starting to think maybe it’s not worth getting a card for my grocery spend. If I had a larger expenditure on groceries maybe it would make sense but as it stands right now, groceries don’t cost me that much. I am at about $88 this month and I was actually planning on spending more than usual because of Disco’s 5% category but I just can’t help but be frugal with grocery shopping plus my roommates cook a few nights a week.

Although the MoreRewards card does have Amex offers but those don’t look that good for my spending and lifestyle habits either.

I do agree that groceries seem to be a bit of an outlier even on capped rewards cards. If I had another utilities card that codes both cable and my cell as utilities like BBVA does, I would just switch my 3% to groceries.

Maybe I will get the PayPal debit card, switch BBVA to groceries at 3% and use the debit card to pay the utility bills so I get 3% back that way (linked to my PayPal cashback card as the funding source). The only concern I really have with the PayPal debit is fraud concerns but those are minimized if I just use the trick to pay utility bills and not actually in stores or on other websites.

It would also save me a HP and another new account on my report.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

rbentley — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:35:03 GMT

I would encourage you to take another look at Bank of the West. The thread that was posted above is quite old, almost two years and virtually all of the problems cited in that thread have been fixed. You can easily make a payment through their app through a linked bank account. You can also make a payment from your bank through their bill pay. There is no need to send a paper check. They have paperless statements.

I use this as my weekend card. I use it exclusively for the 3% cash back on gas, groceries and dining. It feels a need for me. I have had absolutely no problems or concerns and would unhesitatingly recommend it.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:41:18 GMT

@rbentley wrote:
I would encourage you to take another look at Bank of the West. The thread that was posted above is quite old, almost two years and virtually all of the problems cited in that thread have been fixed. You can easily make a payment through their app through a linked bank account. You can also make a payment from your bank through their bill pay. There is no need to send a paper check. They have paperless statements.

I use this as my weekend card. I use it exclusively for the 3% cash back on gas, groceries and dining. It feels a need for me. I have had absolutely no problems or concerns and would unhesitatingly recommend it.

I will take a look at it when my scores go up in July. Looking on an old pulls database they seem to pull EX and that’s gone to my lowest score at 662 now. I highly highly doubt I could squeak approval between the low score and 10/24.

Thank you for the info though, it was indeed the payment info that turned me off it completely.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

JaseT — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:41:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

I am in Colorado but I burned Bellco so I can’t get their 3% card (I’ll think about paying them off at some point but other than that card, which is admittedly pretty amazing, they’re not that great of a CU) but I’m open to other credit unions that I am eligible for.

I live in Colorado too! I haven't researched Bellco much but I am intrigued for the 3% on groceries.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:48:31 GMT

@JaseT wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

I am in Colorado but I burned Bellco so I can’t get their 3% card (I’ll think about paying them off at some point but other than that card, which is admittedly pretty amazing, they’re not that great of a CU) but I’m open to other credit unions that I am eligible for.

I live in Colorado too! I haven't researched Bellco much but I am intrigued for the 3% on groceries.

They have the most extensive 3% card I’ve ever seen besides Alliant’s first year card meant for people who spend over $50K with it.

https://www.bellco.org/personal/loans-credit-cards/credit-cards/platinum-rewards.aspx

It’s essentially a 3%/2% card for most purposes because of the insane coverage of categories.

I owe them over $1K though for a checking account that I overdrew to oblivion back in 2012 so I definitely won’t be getting this card and that sucks because the rest of our CUs I am either not eligible for or they use ScoreCard or CURewards which have awful redemption value. The rest of them are low APR but my NFCU Plat at 7.99% beats most of them.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

pinkandgrey — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:49:50 GMT

Hey I didn’t know you were in CO! Bellco is where I have my car loan! Lol As for the grocery card, if Amex is out, I think you were right about just switching your Clearpoints to groceries. I have the BCE and have been mulling upgrading to the BCP. Unlike you, I spend a lot on groceries lol

Good luck!

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

JaseT — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:53:02 GMT

I was just looking at the Bellco site and you're right! Nice broad list of categories! Any idea if they are BK friendly?

3x Points

Grocery Stores/Supermarkets	Whole Foods Market, King Soopers, Target, Walmart
Gas/ Service Stations	Conoco, Shell, Circle K, Corner Store
Automated Fuel Pumps	King Soopers Fuel, 7-Eleven Fuel, Jenny's Market
Sporting Goods Stores	Cabela's, Sports Authority, Bass Pro Shops
Shoe Stores	DSW, Payless, Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, Zappos.com
Sports/Riding Apparel Stores	Dick's Sporting Goods, Eddie Bauer, Lids
Fitness/Member Clubs & Private Golf Courses	24 Hour Fitness, OrangeTheory Fitness, Gold's Gym, CorePower Yoga
Misc. Food/Convenience Stores	Starbuck’s, GNC, Schwan’s Home Delivery
Rec Centers/Ski Lifts/Var.	Arapahoe Basin, Boondocks, JumpStreet
Public Golf Courses	The Links, Deer Creek, Foothills Golf Course
Bicycle Shops/Sales/Service	Performance Bike, Bicycle Village, TriBella
Movie Theatres	AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas, Elvis Cinema
Camper/Trailer Dealers	RV America, Ketelsen Campers, RV World
Tourist Attractions/Museums	Denver Art Museum, History Colorado Center
RV Parks/Campgrounds	Great Sand Dunes, Royal Gorge KOA
Sporting/Recreational Facilities	Colorado Clays, Challenger Sports, Altitude FC
Wholesale Clubs	Costco, Sam’s Club, Shamrock Food Service
Aquariums/Var. Zoo	Denver Aquarium, Butterfly Pavilion
Bowling Alleys	Brunswick Zone, Lucky Strike, Fat Cats

2X Points

Cable / Satellite Services

Hulu, Comcast, Netflix, DIRECTV

Internet Services

XBOX Live, GoDaddy, PayPal, AOL

Phone Services

Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:56:03 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
Hey I didn’t know you were in CO! Bellco is where I have my car loan! Lol As for the grocery card, if Amex is out, I think you were right about just switching your Clearpoints to groceries. I have the BCE and have been mulling upgrading to the BCP. Unlike you, I spend a lot on groceries lol

Good luck!

Yep I’m in Littleton!

I wish I hadn’t burned Bellco but I was fighting for disability at the time which didn’t leave me with much choice.

It costs me $200.70 for Comcast and Xfinity Mobile so it still makes more sense for me to leave the BBVA on utilities unless my grocery spending exceeds my $150 budget I currently live by but I haven’t actually blown that budget once since I instituted it on myself about a year ago so it seems unlikely.

Amex just denied me in December and I know why (because I canceled my BCE the system has me marked as a churner — I got approved for $1K in March and called and canceled it before they even shipped it after Disco gave me an instant $7500 right after) so I am just going to file them in the “probably won’t ever have a card with” book along with BoA and Citi.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:58:59 GMT

@JaseT wrote:
I was just looking at the Bellco site and you're right! Nice broad list of categories! Any idea if they are BK friendly?
3x Points
Grocery Stores/Supermarkets Whole Foods Market, King Soopers, Target, Walmart
Gas/ Service Stations Conoco, Shell, Circle K, Corner Store
Automated Fuel Pumps King Soopers Fuel, 7-Eleven Fuel, Jenny's Market
Sporting Goods Stores Cabela's, Sports Authority, Bass Pro Shops
Shoe Stores DSW, Payless, Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, Zappos.com
Sports/Riding Apparel Stores Dick's Sporting Goods, Eddie Bauer, Lids
Fitness/Member Clubs & Private Golf Courses 24 Hour Fitness, OrangeTheory Fitness, Gold's Gym, CorePower Yoga
Misc. Food/Convenience Stores Starbuck’s, GNC, Schwan’s Home Delivery
Rec Centers/Ski Lifts/Var. Arapahoe Basin, Boondocks, JumpStreet
Public Golf Courses The Links, Deer Creek, Foothills Golf Course
Bicycle Shops/Sales/Service Performance Bike, Bicycle Village, TriBella
Movie Theatres AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas, Elvis Cinema
Camper/Trailer Dealers RV America, Ketelsen Campers, RV World
Tourist Attractions/Museums Denver Art Museum, History Colorado Center
RV Parks/Campgrounds Great Sand Dunes, Royal Gorge KOA
Sporting/Recreational Facilities Colorado Clays, Challenger Sports, Altitude FC
Wholesale Clubs Costco, Sam’s Club, Shamrock Food Service
Aquariums/Var. Zoo Denver Aquarium, Butterfly Pavilion
Bowling Alleys Brunswick Zone, Lucky Strike, Fat Cats
2X Points
Cable / Satellite Services

Hulu, Comcast, Netflix, DIRECTV
Internet Services XBOX Live, GoDaddy, PayPal, AOL
Phone Services Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket

I honestly don’t know if they are BK friendly or not. Most credit unions are not as friendly with high risk as NFCU. SSFCU approved me for the bare minimum ($5K at their max 18% APR) for my Power Cash Back card last year and my BK falls 8/2020 and it’s just a standard 1.5% cash back card. I imagine given the generosity of the rewards, Bellco might lean more conservative.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

JaseT — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:03:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

I honestly don’t know if they are BK friendly or not. Most credit unions are not as friendly with high risk as NFCU. SSFCU approved me for the bare minimum ($5K at their max 18% APR) for my Power Cash Back card last year and my BK falls 8/2020 and it’s just a standard 1.5% cash back card. I imagine given the generosity of the rewards, Bellco might lean more conservative.

You're further into your BK than I am. Mine won't fall off until 2026ish. Yuck. I don't even like typing that! I just may stop in to Bellco and chat with them just for some in-person insight on BK rules. I live over on the western side of the state.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:08:14 GMT

@JaseT wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

I honestly don’t know if they are BK friendly or not. Most credit unions are not as friendly with high risk as NFCU. SSFCU approved me for the bare minimum ($5K at their max 18% APR) for my Power Cash Back card last year and my BK falls 8/2020 and it’s just a standard 1.5% cash back card. I imagine given the generosity of the rewards, Bellco might lean more conservative.
You're further into your BK than I am. Mine won't fall off until 2026ish. Yuck. I don't even like typing that! I just may stop in to Bellco and chat with them just for some in-person insight on BK rules. I live over on the western side of the state.

Your rebuild is going a lot smoother than mine with that 713 lol. Unfortunately I had a repo and student loan lates follow me after BK but my EX and EQ should look just like my TU in July (I got EE from TU to get from 652).

Going into a branch can have much better results than applying online so I would definitely recommend that.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

JaseT — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:15:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Your rebuild is going a lot smoother than mine with that 713 lol. Unfortunately I had a repo and student loan lates follow me after BK but my EX and EQ should look just like my TU in July (I got EE from TU to get from 652).

Going into a branch can have much better results than applying online so I would definitely recommend that.

I think my score is helped by having many closed, positive accounts, including $0 balance cards that I closed out just prior to BK. I wanted them to report as positive instead of IIB. Also, I didn't miss a bunch of payments prior to filing. I had perfect payment record and then had a 30 days late the month prior to filing. I knew the writing was on the wall and I wanted to mitigate the score damage as much as possible. Since the BK, everything has been positive only.

Re: 3+% grocery (or utility - cable + cell) cards besides Amex?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:23:09 GMT

@JaseT wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Your rebuild is going a lot smoother than mine with that 713 lol. Unfortunately I had a repo and student loan lates follow me after BK but my EX and EQ should look just like my TU in July (I got EE from TU to get from 652).

Going into a branch can have much better results than applying online so I would definitely recommend that.
I think my score is helped by having many closed, positive accounts, including $0 balance cards that I closed out just prior to BK. I wanted them to report as positive instead of IIB. Also, I didn't miss a bunch of payments prior to filing. I had perfect payment record and then had a 30 days late the month prior to filing. I knew the writing was on the wall and I wanted to mitigate the score damage as much as possible. Since the BK, everything has been positive only.

Yeah I was in a similar situation but then I wound up having to go on disability and that fight took 3 years. It was inevitable but the only lawsuit that ended up happening since I did my BK was the car I reaffirmed during the BK and as I was and am judgement proof, I just paid it off when I got my back pay.

My credit reports all got wiped clean of any accounts IIB after it was discharged. I lost all credit history except for positive lines that closed before my BK, my student loans, and the reaffirmed car loan. This seriously hurt me since it removed perfect payment history on Best Buy, Kohl’s, and Amazon cards which were all zero but IIB because it was a chapter 7 and they could have greatly helped.