Best Rewards cards?

[Anonymous]

Most issuers don't allow product changes to be made between regular cards and co-branded cards though, do they? 

[kilroy8]

We need to know your spend to answer this in the best way. What do you spend on various things per month? The best rewards come from your normal daily spend. Give us ballpark numbers on:

Groceries

Gas

Restaurants

Travel

Other

Where you spend is important, too. If you get most groceries/gas from Wholesale Clubs or WalMart, rewards are more limited.

[Anonymous]

Best rewards? Have to be more specific. 

For me, it's hotel cards. Might not be for you. 
Some people like cash back. I like hotel points and companion pass.  Occasional cash back but I don't spend much to begin with. 

[UpperNwGuy]

A number of cards give 3%, 4%, and even 5% rewards for category spending, but most of our spending does not fall into any of these rewards categories, so we need to have a card that rewards our non-category spending.  For me, that would be the PenFed Power Cash Rewards card because it gives me 2% back on everything.  2% on everything cards are also issued by Citi, PayPal, BlisPay, Fidelity, Alliant, and a few other lenders.  In my opinion, these are the best rewards cards because they provide a 2% foundation that you can build on as you add category cards.

[vwgrrc]

I'm wondering why the Discover Miles didn't get mention much here. It's a 3% on everything card for the 1st year and you can churn it year after year... This is my second year holding it and i charge everything through it. I mean EVERYTHING including my rents when I was in my apartment and now my mortgage payments and car loans. The 3% simply surpased any credit card transaction fees!

Not sure why people still talking about 2% these days, or am I missing something?

[SBR249]

If you are talking about getting the card, canceling after a year, and then getting it again the next year, repeat annually then that's probably a lot more than what many people are willing to do for many reasons:

1. People may not be willing to take an HP every year for that extra 1%. Some people already have a lot of HP or will be looking to get a mortgage or car loan soon. Also, since an HP stays on your CR for 2 years, that's 2 HPs you accumulate for every one that falls off assuming you do this every year and at some point you may need to take a breather. 

2. Some people aren't comfortable gaming the system like that. If you are, more power to you. But I personally wouldn't want that kind of attention from Discover, especially since they've been very good to me. 

3. Some people may not like having a bunch of recently opened/closed accounts on their CR, especially if they have a thin file. Their AAoA may not be able to absorb that. Some people may be aiming for Chase cards and would like to stay under 5/24. 

4. Some people may not have enough non-category spending to justify doing this kind of churning every year for an extra 1%. For me, I have 4% for restaurants from Uber, 5% for Amazon from Chase, 3% from Amex for groceries, 4.2% from PenFed for gas, 3% from Citi Costco/Uber for travel, and rotating 5% from Discover IT. That leaves not a lot of other spending for this strategy. 

Finally, I also get 3% on most purchases through the Paypal business debit/CB MC combo so I personally don't need it even for non-category spending. 

[wasCB14]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

A number of cards give 3%, 4%, and even 5% rewards for category spending, but most of our spending does not fall into any of these rewards categories, so we need to have a card that rewards our non-category spending.  For me, that would be the PenFed Power Cash Rewards card because it gives me 2% back on everything.  2% on everything cards are also issued by Citi, PayPal, BlisPay, Fidelity, Alliant, and a few other lenders.  In my opinion, these are the best rewards cards because they provide a 2% foundation that you can build on as you add category cards.

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Any thoughts about boosting that foundation (at least, for domestic purchases) with a CFU?

[UpperNwGuy]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

A number of cards give 3%, 4%, and even 5% rewards for category spending, but most of our spending does not fall into any of these rewards categories, so we need to have a card that rewards our non-category spending.  For me, that would be the PenFed Power Cash Rewards card because it gives me 2% back on everything.  2% on everything cards are also issued by Citi, PayPal, BlisPay, Fidelity, Alliant, and a few other lenders.  In my opinion, these are the best rewards cards because they provide a 2% foundation that you can build on as you add category cards.

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Any thoughts about boosting that foundation (at least, for domestic purchases) with a CFU?

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That was my original plan, but I changed my plan when Chase did their survey about eliminating the ability to move CFU UR points to the CSR.  The CFU would have added 0.25% to the 2% I get with the PenFed Power Cash, and it would have to be redeemed for travel.

[wasCB14]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

A number of cards give 3%, 4%, and even 5% rewards for category spending, but most of our spending does not fall into any of these rewards categories, so we need to have a card that rewards our non-category spending.  For me, that would be the PenFed Power Cash Rewards card because it gives me 2% back on everything.  2% on everything cards are also issued by Citi, PayPal, BlisPay, Fidelity, Alliant, and a few other lenders.  In my opinion, these are the best rewards cards because they provide a 2% foundation that you can build on as you add category cards.

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Any thoughts about boosting that foundation (at least, for domestic purchases) with a CFU?

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That was my original plan, but I changed my plan when Chase did their survey about eliminating the ability to move CFU UR points to the CSR.  The CFU would have added 0.25% to the 2% I get with the PenFed Power Cash, and it would have to be redeemed for travel.

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That's certainly a valid concern. I got my CFU as a CSP downgrade, so it wasn't a new account for me.