AMEX Blue Cash Preferred Grocery Cap

[Varsity_Lu]

@MitchDeerfield 

BCP gives me $84 back on my Disney+ ESPN subscription, so the "real" AF for me is only $11. That makes the grocery category effectively 5.8% cash back. And I use BCP for gas at 3% because I hate carrying a ton of cards in my wallet. The simplicity of a single card with multiple bonus categories is well worth it for me.

[Anonymous]

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@MitchDeerfield wrote:

Citi Custom Cash pays 5% cashback on groceries, no AF.

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And I think paypal debit has a grocery choice, 5% back on up to $1000 a month, no fee (and no credit record impact, which can be good or bad!)

[Varsity_Lu]

@Anonymous 

If you can get PayPal to work. I've had serious issues with their debit card not workimg. So frustrated with it I gave up trying.

[Anonymous]

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@Varsity_Lu wrote:

@Anonymous 

If you can get PayPal to work. I've had serious issues with their debit card not workimg. So frustrated with it I gave up trying.

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Interesting.   Works every time for me on gas (except the one 1st of the month where I had forgotten to set the category)

[NoMoreE46]

Regarding the BCP's AF, there is a tactic to avoid it.  This isnt perfect but seems to have worked out for many. 

Upon the AF hitting, downgrade to the no AF BCE.  After a certain amount of time, one may get the Invite to upgrade  to the BCP with the $95 Waived for the 1st year.  This invite sometimes even comes with a spend offer like  $150  back for $1000 in three months.

I personally havent been able to test this tactic but will do so later this year.  If it doesnt go my way, I have got 2 CCC.

Yes, one can  have 2 CCC as noted by @jcar  - the 2nd is obtained by a PC. 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Which-Citi-card-to-PC/m-p/6789984#M1876745

PS, some Neighborhood Walmarts do code as a grocery store.   I get 6% from my BCP at my Neigborhood Wmt.

[Gregory1776]

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@markbeiser wrote:

I exceeded the $6k cap last year, even with using my Discover when grocery was the 5% category, and various enhanced CB grocery offers on some of my other cards.
80-90% of my grocery spend is at a local butcher shop that sells ungraded grass fed/finished beef for cheap, and also pastured eggs and raw milk cheese, so was not hard to max it just shopping for one person.
It would certainly be nice if they raised the cap...

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That's great!! Good on you with the raw milk. That stuff is a super food! I need to find a shop like that, but Raw Milk is Illegal in NJ. 

[Gregory1776]

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@Varsity_Lu wrote:

@Anonymous 

If you can get PayPal to work. I've had serious issues with their debit card not workimg. So frustrated with it I gave up trying.

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I tried "paying with PayPal" at the self checkout, wouldn't work. Get to the check out line and get your total then adding money to it is annoying.

[Gregory1776]

I don't run out and spend heavily in the grocery store on organic and fresh produce. 

[Anonymous]

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@Gregory1776 wrote:

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@Varsity_Lu wrote:

@Anonymous 

If you can get PayPal to work. I've had serious issues with their debit card not workimg. So frustrated with it I gave up trying.

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I tried "paying with PayPal" at the self checkout, wouldn't work. Get to the check out line and get your total then adding money to it is annoying.

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Yes, I agree on that, a "real" autoload feature would be much better. 

For those who don't know, you can set it to autoload from a backup funding source, add $Y if balance is less than $X.   And I first thought that meant, for example, if I had $50 in my balance and wanted to spend $60, it would notice that I didn't have enough and do an autoload.   It doesn't, it just rejects the $60 until you manually add more.

But still worth it for me!

[UncleB]

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@Gregory1776 wrote:

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@Varsity_Lu wrote:

@Anonymous 

If you can get PayPal to work. I've had serious issues with their debit card not workimg. So frustrated with it I gave up trying.

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I tried "paying with PayPal" at the self checkout, wouldn't work. Get to the check out line and get your total then adding money to it is annoying.

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The self-checkouts have confusing options these days.

How I get it to work at Walmart is by using the physical (plastic) Paypal Debit card; it runs just like any other debit card (I don't bother with the Paypal stuff on the self checkout screen).  Most of the time it doesn't ask for the PIN, but occasionally it will.  That is the only weird part for me; I've yet to figure out what makes it ask on some purchases and not others (all are similar dollar amounts) but it's more of a curiosity than inconvenience. 

I agree that it's mildly annoying having to preload the Paypal account, but when shopping I have a rough idea of how much is in my basket and I don't mind if a trivial amount of money is left over (it'll just get used next time).  I usually fund my PP account at home just before leaving for the store, but if something comes up while shopping and I see that I'm going to spend more than expected it's simple enough to add more funds instantly before I get up to the register.

I can see how this isn't for everybody (I'm still eyeing the AAA Visa myself) but for now the PP debit is a very workable 5% solution for me.