No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
Penfed 5x points is only good for using it at the pump. Inside purchases don't count.
I have the Sam's Mastercard which I love. You get 5% at the pump and inside conveinance purchases. You also get 3% for dining and travel.
The only bad part for some is you get a check once a year for your cash back. I kind of like it since it does add up.
wrote:
I might get the Penfed, I mean 4.15% isn't that bad, better than the Costco 4% and 3% from Bank of America cash rewards. The 5% makes a big difference from 4.15. We will see.
You have to consider what Costco prices their gas at though. It's usually significantly cheaper than any other gas station. Only relevant if it's convenient for you to go there, of course. If it is though, it's likely the least expensive way for you to purchase gas.
First off, I'd like to say I applied for the NRA card and was denied due to too many inquiries - I had 3 in the last 2 years! 2 of them were from Nusenda (1 for becoming a member, 1 for opening the account), which I called and spoke with Nusenda about because I thought it should have been 1. They agreed and got the second one removed from my credit report. But by this time FNBO said that to approve me for the NRA card they'd have to pull my credit a second time and that they otherwise still "couldn't" (wouldn't) approve me for the NRA card. So I got to thinking about it...
My Nusenda Platinum Cash Rewards card is a rotating category card like the Freedom and It, but it actually keeps the same category schedule every year - so Q1 is the same every year, etc. Gas is a category in Q1 and Q3, and when I looked closely at the points I was getting back on my 5% categories, it's actually giving 6% back, so I guess it's 5% on top of the base 1%. Plus, you don't have to enroll the card for the bonus categories each quarter like the other cards: it's automatic!
I could buy gas gift cards at the end of Q1 and Q3 for the next 3 months, but I'd rather keep my money in a high yield savings account (like with Insight) or my mutual fund than tying it up in gas gift cards...for Q2 and Q4, I'll use the Freedom or It (I actually don't have the It yet, but you know what I mean) if gas is a category with them, or failing that I'll fall back to my Vantage West Connect Rewards card which earns 3% on gas.
So I ran the numbers - I spend about $100 a month on gas. Basically a 5% gas card would be used when I would otherwise use the Vantage West card, so 2 quarters of the year (let's not even consider the Freedom/It possibility at this point, as a worst case scenario). So the difference I'm looking at is 2% of $600, or $12 a year. Not worth it to me - I have 7 other cards to apply for before even considering this lol.