topic Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023? in Credit Cards

What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

galahad15 — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 17:51:55 GMT

Just curious if anyone would like to please share what are their highest-earning cashback cards in their lineup so far, currently in 2023?

To briefly start off, for me in my individual case:

(1) AAA Daily Advantage VS: 5% cashback on groceries and 3% cashback on pharmacies, also some other 3% categories, capped at up to $500 annually.

(2) Redstone FCU VS: 5% cashback on gas and restaurants purchases, also various 3% categories, capped at up to $7,000 annually.

(3) Chase Amazon VS: 5% uncapped cashback on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases.

(4) U.S. Bank Cash #1: 5% cashback on utilities and cable TV, capped at up to $2,000 per quarter.

(5) U.S. Bank Cash #2: 5% cashback on phone and fast food, capped at up to $2,000 per quarter.

(6) Citi Custom Cash Rewards WEMC: 5% on various categories (I personally use for gas category), capped at up to $25 max redeemable rewards spend a month. (ETA: also 5.5% cashback when paired with my Citi Rewards+ WEMC.)

(7) PenFed Pathfinder VS: uncapped 4x rewards points/dollar on travel purchases.

(8) BoA Customized Cash Rewards WMC #1: 3.3% cashback on online shopping, capped at up to $2,500 per quarter.

(9) AOD FCU VS: 3% uncapped cashback on all purchases.

(10) PPMC: 3% uncapped cashback on all PayPal purchases.

(11) WF Propel: 3% uncapped cashback on various set categories, including travel, etc.

(12) BoA Customized Cash Rewards WMC #2: 3% cashback on online shopping, capped at up to $2,500 per quarter.

ETA: adds/edits

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

wasCB14 — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 07:54:13 GMT

My BofA CCRs are Visas, so I get 3.5% at Costco with them and 5.25% with online shopping. Having a second one is nice with the $2500 quarterly 3.5%/5.25% combined cap.

BofA Premium Rewards gives 2.625%.

Mostly I earn MRs which these days for me are sort of "Delta Cash Back" with Business Platinum's 35% of points back. So BBP gives a little over 3% (tax payments, mostly), Gold gives a little over 6% in its 4x categories, etc (4/(1-.35)). Obviously this isn't true cash back, but it is a fixed redemption value for something I'd be spending money on, anyway. So it's close enough to "travel cash back" for me.

Costco Visa gives 4% on gas.

My two Chase Freedoms have gotten virtually no spend in the last 24 months.

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Drifter73 — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 14:04:28 GMT

My highest cashback card is the odd ball not many mention.

MyWalgreens = 10%cb on Walgreens brands and 5%cb on name brands.

It's my go-to home health and hygiene card. It also doubles as my medicine cabinet and first-aid restock card with that 10%cb.

Unlimited cb, no caps.

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

SpaceCityCCuser — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 06:24:55 GMT

I'm mainly set up for a cash back family guy. I have recently added travel points to my setup. I will just focus on the cash back part. The rest of the setup is in my signature.

(1) Cap1 Walmart MC (5% rewards on online Walmart, includes curbside pickup) 40% of grocery spend

(2) Target MC (5% discount on instore and online Target) 10-15% of grocery spend

(3) Amazon Prime Visa Sig (5% rewards on Amazon) 5% grocery and a lot of random spend

(4) Chase FF (5% on rotating quarterly categories and SUB 5% gas)all gas on this card and on useful categories...this card will get grocery, amazon, etc spend before other cards with the same bonus category....I am able to use points at Hyatt and get 2-5cpp easily (Sapphire Card needed)

(5) Discover IT Cash Back (5% on rotating quarterly categories, on 1st year bonus match so 10% currently) using the max at the moment without issue

(6) SavorOne & VentureOne Combo (3% in Dining, Grocery (my walk in grocery card if other qtr cat cards are maxed/not grocery), StreamService, Entertainment) I move the cash back from the SavorOne to the VentureOne and use with travel partners 2-4cpp in my use cases...was able to use these points and combine with chase points to AirCanada in one use case

(7) Non-category spend goes to Apple if apple pay is available, if not it goes to Freedom Unlimited/QuickSilver...I am working to get that QS CL up it has turned into a hobby

(bonus) New card BCE will use on gas (3%...CFF SUB for 5% almost over) after cat cards are maxed/not gas and pay disney bundle with this card as well (was already paying for this)

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

mgood — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 16:31:53 GMT

I have a handfull of cards that get in the neighborhood of 5% back.

Discover it Cash Back 5% on rotating categories (capped at $1500 spend per quarter), CASH any way I want it. Can get a little more value with their gift card redemtions, but I can take a statement credit or have the money deposited in my checking account.

Citi Custom Cash 5% on one category of my choice (capped at $500 spend per month) I take as statement credits but I think I did once have the reward deposited to my account. Can be used as Thank You points, which some people are really into and say you get more value that way, but I have not explored.

Wells Fargo Autograph and Capital One SavorOne both get 3% back in multiple useful categories. There's a lot of overlap betwen the two, but they each cover things the other doesn't.

PenFed Power Cash Rewards and FNBO Evergreen each give me 2% back on everything that I don't get better rewards on from some other card.

EDIT: I re-wrote this because I was including gift cards and travel points, not just cash back in my original reply.

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

JNA1 — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 16:38:32 GMT

Synovus Travel Rewards - 6.25% Travel

AMEX BCP - 6% groceries & streaming

Disco (2X) 5% groceries & drug stores

Chase Freedom Flex - 5% groceries, Target, Gyms

Elan MCP #1 - 5% home utilities & department stores

Elan MCP #2 - 5% cell phone & Internet

Elan MCP #3 - 5% fast food & entertainment

Affinity - 5% Amazon

Lowes Advantage - 5% Lowes

Citi Custom Cash #1 - 5% Dining

Citi Custom Cash #2 - 5% Gas & 5% PayPal (until 3/31 - targeted offer)

Synovus Travel Rewards - 3.75% Maintenance (automotive and service)

AOD - 3% Walmart and uncategorized spend

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Kforce — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 17:39:22 GMT

USAlliant, 6% - Grocery

AOD , 3% - General Spend

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 18:39:47 GMT

Custom Cash-5%-gas

It/Freedom Flex-5%-groceries

Savor-4%- dining, streaming

Power Cash-2%-everything else

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Anonymalous — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 19:18:01 GMT

I only have 5 cards, so mine's fairly simple:

Citi Custom Cash: 5% groceries (may switch later)
Elan Max Cash Preferred: 5% utilities, internet
NFCU More Rewards: 3% gas, dining, and any leftover groceries
FNBO Evergreen: 2% everything else

I still use my last card (a Quicksilver) despite the anemic 1.5% CB, primarily because I like the protection of the virtual cards when I'm making online purchases. Plus, I found it very worthwhile to check the Capital One offers over the holiday season, because the cashback often beat my other cards -- 3% back at Walmart, up to 7% back with some other specific retailers, and there was even a 90% back offer (NordVPN).

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Rockysocks — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 19:23:22 GMT

-US Bank Cash+: 5% on water bill/ electric bill/ home internet

-Citi Custom Cash: 5% on restaurants, fastfood, etc.

-GM Rewards: 4% on everything. Managed to bump my 2022 4% on gas to roughly 10.6% because I got my bonus $100 from them at $1,500 annual gas spend.

Aaaand that covers everything lol. I get 3% back with WF Autograph for my phone bill, but I'm primarily just using them for cell phone coverage. Great post!

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 21:36:53 GMT

@Anonymalous wrote:
I only have 5 cards, so mine's fairly simple:
Citi Custom Cash: 5% groceries (may switch later)
Elan Max Cash Preferred: 5% utilities, internet
NFCU More Rewards: 3% gas, dining, and any leftover groceries
FNBO Evergreen: 2% everything else
I still use my last card (a Quicksilver) despite the anemic 1.5% CB, primarily because I like the protection of the virtual cards when I'm making online purchases. Plus, I found it very worthwhile to check the Capital One offers over the holiday season, because the cashback often beat my other cards -- 3% back at Walmart, up to 7% back with some other specific retailers, and there was even a 90% back offer (NordVPN).

@Anonymalous I have 5 cards too, I love the simplicity of 5 cards.

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 23:27:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymalous I have 5 cards too, I love the simplicity of 5 cards.

And the great mass of people who don't frequent credit card forums would be saying "Five credit cards! Five!!!! Why do you need so many? How do you manage them all? etc etc"

TL/DR: simplicity is in the eye of the beholder

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Hansolojr — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 00:01:30 GMT

Like that Redstone in the siggy

Top three spend catorgories this year have been groceries, dining, and utilities.

Groc filled by CFF/Disc/Nusenda/BCP. Light bulb finally went off for me as I started buying gas gift cards at the grocery store to avoid the 3-5% credit card surcharge most stations levy now.

Dining on Citi Custom.

Utilities on USB Cash+.

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 00:11:46 GMT

Initial sign-up bonus then several 5% and 3% for everything else catch all. Also alot of $ can be had with a 0% BT cash for X months and have free money work for you as well(thinking outside the box here)

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Anonymalous — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 01:42:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymalous I have 5 cards too, I love the simplicity of 5 cards.
And the great mass of people who don't frequent credit card forums would be saying "Five credit cards! Five!!!! Why do you need so many? How do you manage them all? etc etc"

TL/DR: simplicity is in the eye of the beholder

Absolutely. I suspect most people don't use more than 1 credit card on a regular basis. If they have any more, they're likely to be store cards.

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Aim_High — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 19:42:33 GMT

@CreditCuriosity wrote:
Initial sign-up bonus then several 5% and 3% for everything else catch all. Also alot of $ can be had with a 0% BT cash for X months and have free money work for you as well(thinking outside the box here)

I agree with @CreditCuriosity that SUBs and other offers can totally tilt the table when used appropriately without having to micro-manage a bunch of cards with rotating categories, spending caps, or MCC codes as some limitations.

I'm currently in-between earning 15-17.5% on everything I buy with a couple of lucrative SUB offerings, although they are not based purely on cash value. I completed an 80K SUB on my Citi AAdvantage Executive card for $5,500 spend, which in rough calculations and even after subtracting the first year AF netted me a 17.5% return. My next planned card is a Chase INK Unlimited that has a $900 SUB for $6K spend and no AF, equaling a 15% return. Those are just two examples.

I won't rehash the details here, @galahad15, but you and I plus a couple of others in this thread (@Kforce & @Anonymalous) discussed the Pareto Principle and the Law of Diminishing Returns recently in >this thread link< and >this thread link. My philosophy on optimizing rewards is most of the benefit can be achieved with the first few cards, so if someone focuses on their top few spending categories, they will reap the majority of cash back benefits. The rest is just gravy so unless the rewards are more for the game of it, the time cost-hassle factor of managing and juggling cards must be subtracted from the rewards "value." I would encourage anyone reading this thread to get the best baseline, uncapped and uncategorized card they can find. Then supplement that with a small handful of the best-earning cards in highest budget spend categories and call it a day. I imagine the additional savings on other categories after the first three to five will be marginal in scale. Calculating the "incremental value" between the baseline card and the higher earning card multiplied by the actual spend will tell the story and help make an informed decision.

For someone who wants the return of 5% or higher on average without having to manage a bunch of cards, they can probably achieve that easily with a hybrid-approach where they have five or six well-earning, carefully selected cards supplemented by one big annual SUB for an extra boost, or one new card with 0% APR on purchases where the funds to pay it off can accrue interest with rates over 4% on some online savings accounts.

Anyway, back to your topic. In keeping with the above and the spirit of the thread, I like to have layers of high-earning uncapped and uncategorized cards. I have the AOD FCU Visa Signature (3%); the Bank of America Premium Rewards with Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors (2.625%); and the PenFed Power Cash Rewards (2%). I also have the Chase Freedom Unlimited that earns up to 3% in travel if the cash is transferred to partners via my Chase Sapphire Reserve or 2.25% if I redeem in-portal for Chase travel. Finally, my Apple card earns 3% at selected merchants like Walgreens, Panera, Exxon, Apple etc and 2% anywhere Apple Pay is accepted. I use them all somewhat and don't worry too much about receiving 2% or 2.25% or 2.625% versus the full 3% on some purchases. I like having the baseline "backup" cards and keeping them all fresh and active for when I may need them down the road. It's all good.

For special spending categories, dining is a big category for me and I earn up to 6% on Chase Sapphire Reserve if URs are transferred to partners, 4.5% uncapped for in-portal redemption, or 3% for cash. In some quarters, my Discover card earns 5% on dining as well, in cash. Gas is a big category for me, and I have the Citi Costco Visa that earns 4% (up to $7K annually) supplemented by the 5% on Discover about once a year. I've considered switching gas spend to my BofA Customized Cash Rewards (5.25% in selected category with Platinum Honors) since the online shopping category it's in now isn't major spend for me. I've also considered adding a second CCR for 5.25% in multiple categories. My BofA CCR doubles as my grocery card where I earn 3.5% at grocery and warehouse stores with a $2500 quarterly cap combined. You may say, well that 3.5% is subpar! The Citi Custom Cash earns 5%. Not so fast; it depends on spend. The 3.5% has a higher cap of $2500, so the quarterly yield on it can go up to $87.50. The $1500 quarterly cap on CCC will only net $75.00. I've got an outstanding yield of up to 10% on my Chase INK Cash for cable-internet and cellphone if the 5% in cash is transferred to partners at up to 2 cpp through my CSR. That also applies to Office Supply stores if I choose to use it there and the combined cap on all the 5% categories is a high $25K. My Chase Freedom Unlimited also earns 3% cash back in drug stores, but when transferred to partners can be worth up to 6% in travel. The other consistent area where I have higher monthly spend is home utilities and I've considered adding the Elan MCP for that. However, I question whether I want the extra card to manage for the difference in 3% and 5%.

So, in terms of general 'rewards earning' cards and discounts, I have:

Lowe's - 13% minimum uncapped (10% military discount + AOD FCU 3%)
Cable TV - Internet - up to 10% (URs)
Cell Phone - up to 10% (URs)
Office Supplies - up to 10% (URs)
Travel - up to 6% uncapped (URs)
Dining - up to 6% uncapped (URs)
Drugstores - up to 6% uncapped (URs)
Online Shopping 5.25% - selected monthly category - *included in $10K grocery cap
Gas - 4% up to $7K annually
Groceries and Costco - 3.5% up to $10K annually
Everything Else - 3%

And that can be achieved with just (6) cards, only (5) in wallet:

Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Freedom Unlimited
BofA Customized Cash Rewards
Citi Costco Visa
AOD FCU Visa Signature
Chase INK Cash - operating from the sock drawer
*If I add the Discover card, it would be a 7th card but would tilt the earnings upward in some categories.
*If I did switch the BofA CCR to gas spend, I'd be down to just (4) cards in wallet for the majority of rewards benefit.

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

galahad15 — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 04:34:15 GMT

Thanks for sharing @Aim_High, that is definitely a very impressive lineup you've got there!

I guess the main reason I don't include the SUB factor into my own card lineup is only because meeting the SUB thresholds can be pretty tough with my average levels of spend. For example, $1,000 target spend for a SUB is usually not too hard for me to arrange, $3,000 SUB target spend is considerably more challenging but I have been able to -- just barely -- meet it before, but anything north of say $3,000 SUB target spend is not something I can most likely realistically meet. (For the spend thresholds here, I am assuming that the time to meet the SUB targets is within 3 months?)

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

Aim_High — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 04:52:10 GMT

@galahad15 wrote:
Thanks for sharing @Aim_High, that is definitely a very impressive lineup you've got there!

I guess the main reason I don't include the SUB factor into my own card lineup is only because meeting the SUB thresholds can be pretty tough with my average levels of spend. For example, $1,000 target spend for a SUB is usually not too hard for me to arrange, $3,000 SUB target spend is considerably more challenging but I have been able to -- just barely -- meet it before, but anything north of say $3,000 SUB target spend is not something I can most likely realistically meet. (For the spend thresholds here, I am assuming that the time to meet the SUB targets is within 3 months?)

Yes, that's correct @galahad15. Most of these are three month spend which I realize can be tricky for many of us. My monthly credit card spend can be widely variable and there are times I've been concerned about making a SUB spend. Sometimes I've prepaid utilities or car insurance a few months, for example, to meet requirements in plenty of time. But the high SUBs aren't for everyone. On a lower budget and in the grand scheme of things, a lower-spend SUB that nets $200 to $500 cash value can be enough to make up a good portion of rewards value just like higher SUBs can work well for a larger budget. It's all relative.

Glad to give my perspective! It's amazing to see all the card offerings that earn 3% or greater these days! Very different times from one or two decades ago. When I got out of college and got my first cards (most college students couldn't get cards back then due to insufficient credit history or income), there were *NO* cash back cards at all yet! 😯. Discover Card didn't start that until 1986! And then it wasn't even a true and full 1% yet!

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

redpat — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 11:31:16 GMT

I'm very fortunate that I have business spend which results in free, free and free anything I want to do with them awards. It may not be cashback per se but vacations are free and meals for a period of time when CSR was 1.5x on dinning.

My personal cards have been really thinned down because of the above. My personal best cashback card is Delta Reserve w/o any spend, it saves me no less than $700 ($1,250 ticket avg.) annually because of the companion voucher.

Re: What are your highest-earning cashback cards in your lineup so far, in 2023?

BronzeTrader — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 13:55:42 GMT

There are many good cards to use:

Store 5% cards: Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target and many more:

Rotation category cards: Chase FF, Citi Custom, Discover, Citi Dividend Cash and more

Fix category cards: BofA Customized and the old 3-2-1 cards. BofA Business (new and old). All up to 3%. That is 5.25% for up to $2,500 each quarter. US Bank Cash+ card. All Elan Max Cash.

All those 4x & 3x cards: Chase CSP & CSR, Chase Ink Cash, AmEx Gold & Biz Gold, Citi Premier, WF Propel, US Bank Altitute Reserve

Then you have those cashback cards with tight yearly cap. And other CB cards from smaller issuers.

The last, not the least is the WF BILT card. It is a not a high CB card. But it can offer very high reward if you know how to use it.

I do not include new card bonus into the equation. It has nothing to do with how we earn rewards. Sure I'll need to use my 1% card if I need to hit the $500 bonus spend. Right now I sit on the AmEx Platinum retention offer. I can put any spends on the card just to get the bonus. There is alway the next day and next spend.