Best cash back cards to compliment what I have

[Crowhelm]

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@IgnatiusReilly wrote:

I am the same way with cards.... I have 6.  What do you use for groceries?  I have the AmEx BCP and between groceries and gas, I net about $500 a year after the annual fee.  And if you are looking at util, they are generous with the CL.  Started at $15k and am now at $25k.  Don't want to risk the hassle of a FR so I am not asking for more.  

Hope this helps.

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Well, Amex, CapOne are victims of my dark years so I don't want to waste an inquiry on them if they still hold a grudge. Plus I hate that annual fee. 

[JNA1]

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@Crowhelm wrote:

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:

You have alot of options especially if you consider a card with rotating categories. Many of these offer quarters with home improvement at 5% . Discover, Langley are two that often has a cat for that.  If you dont have a Disco double cash back first year is really awesome especially if you spend alot.

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Yeah, Discover keeps offering me their cashback. Just sounds like a hassle with the categories and such. Is it at least unlimited or is there a cap as well. The first-year cash-back match sounds tempting but only if I want to use the card a lot (meaning it is the best choice). I usually run 5k a month through our card, sometimes more depending on what we are working on, 

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The categories selection is no big deal. It's just something you have to select once every 3 months, and they even send you an email to remind you if you're getting close. You can select the category for the next quarter like 2 months ahead of time. Seriously, don't let that scare you.  

The It card is effectively a flat unlimited  2% on everything and a 10% up to $1500 per quarter on the rotating categories for the first year. For July - Sept the categories are Restaurants and PayPal and Oct - Dec is Amazon.com, Target.com, and Walmart.com, which is great for holiday shopping. 

It's good card long term, but it's a great card for the first year. 

[JNA1]

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@Crowhelm wrote:

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@IgnatiusReilly wrote:

I am the same way with cards.... I have 6.  What do you use for groceries?  I have the AmEx BCP and between groceries and gas, I net about $500 a year after the annual fee.  And if you are looking at util, they are generous with the CL.  Started at $15k and am now at $25k.  Don't want to risk the hassle of a FR so I am not asking for more.  

Hope this helps.

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Well, Amex, CapOne are victims of my dark years so I don't want to waste an inquiry on them if they still hold a grudge. Plus I hate that annual fee. 

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AMEX is forgiving in time, but frankly Cap 1 doesn't have a great card for straight cashback, but they will give you those awesome $100 CLIs! 😂😂

The AMEX BCP is a great grocery and streaming card, if your spend warrants it, even with the AF. We spend A LOT on groceries with my ever growing army of youngun's, so we use it for basically 9 months out of the year and use Discover 5% groceries for the other 3. 
They have some nice 10% cash back offers at times at stores and restaurants that we frequent, so we get a lot of value from the card in spite of the AF. The $300 sign up bonus is nice also. 

[Crowhelm]

How much time? Amex discretion was about 18 years ago, so maybe enough time? Was a business attempt that failed miserable. 

[JNA1]

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@Crowhelm wrote:

How much time? Amex discretion was about 18 years ago, so maybe enough time? Was a business attempt that failed miserable. 

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I would think you'd be good if get prequals from them. I'm not 100% sure about that, but there's a lot of people who know for sure. 

You may have to go the Optima card route if you left owing them a lot of money, but they definitely have ways back in. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.doctorofcredit.com/american-express-optima-card-second-chance-card/...

Have you ever tried their prequalification tool on their card site? 
https://card.americanexpress.com/m/pre-qualified-offers/?utm_mcid=3568634&utm_source=google&utm_medi...

You can check with no hard pull. I would  start a thread here asking about past issues before applying if I were you, even if pre-approved. 

[Crowhelm]

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Yeah, no pre-qualify, lol.  Yeah, I don't need people that hold grudges. There is a reason I went through a BK, so deal with it. Guess they don't believe that people can change. I can see no go after maybe 2 or 3 years but 18 years-plus, ridiculous. 

[Anonymous]

I'd get a card with at least 2% back on all spending, and then I'd focus on cards that have 5% categories that you can control, like the Citi custom cash or us bank cash+ (us bank has a subsidiary, Elan Financial, that runs credit cards for tons of smaller banks and credit unions. They have a similar product called max cash).

For a 5-card wallet that doesn't include the synchrony Lowe's card, I'd go with:

1) low apr CU card that helps with short term stuff like bad cash flow months.

2) 2% or more card like doublecash.

3) 5% on home improvement with quarterly ceiling (US Bank Cash+)

4) 5% on home improvement with monthly ceiling (Citi Custom Cash)

5) 3% on home improvement with quarterly ceiling (BoA Custom Cash)

That would get you elevated cashback on your first $5k or so each quarter, and then 2% from there.

Edit: I forgot about the Amazon card. I'd hang onto that.

[Crowhelm]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'd get a card with at least 2% back on all spending, and then I'd focus on cards that have 5% categories that you can control, like the Citi custom cash or us bank cash+ (us bank has a subsidiary, Elan Financial, that runs credit cards for tons of smaller banks and credit unions. They have a similar product called max cash).

For a 5-card wallet that doesn't include the synchrony Lowe's card, I'd go with:

1) low apr CU card that helps with short term stuff like bad cash flow months.

2) 2% or more card like doublecash.

3) 5% on home improvement with quarterly ceiling (US Bank Cash+)

4) 5% on home improvement with monthly ceiling (Citi Custom Cash)

5) 3% on home improvement with quarterly ceiling (BoA Custom Cash)

That would get you elevated cashback on your first $5k or so each quarter, and then 2% from there.

Edit: I forgot about the Amazon card. I'd hang onto that.

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I was considering BoA and Citi already. But the Citi only does $500 per month which is pretty low, but I guess combined with others it makes more sense. I see you have the Discover one as well. You would not recommend that one?

[FormerCollegeDJ]

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@Crowhelm wrote:

So, I am not into having 20 or more cards. Too much work to keep track of in my humble opinion. But I do dig the cashback cards. So my BECU card is giving me a steady 1.5%,  and my new Amazon Prime Rewards Visa, 5% with Amazon and 2%  for gas/ dining. drugstores. Is there a good card for Home improvement store purchases, like higher than 2%? If not I guess I will get the CIti Double Cash for that and I am all set. 

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@Crowhelm - I realize various other posters have given you recommendations, including some good ones, but I'm going to throw my two cents in and provide some different suggestions.

*For flat rate cash rewards: if you can't get or don't want to try to get the AOD card, consider the new Wells Fargo Active Cash Visa, which will be formally released on July 1st.  It provides a flat 2% cash back on all purchases, better than your BECU card.  Relative to the Citi Custom Cash Mastercard, if you would spend over $2000/month on that card the Active Cash comes out ahead; it also comes out ahead of the Custom Cash with spending under $2000/month if you don't have a large (>25%) spend category every month.  You can get a $200 sign up bonus (SUB) with $1000 spend over 3 months with the WF Active Cash.  The biggest negatives with the card are 1) you can only get cash back in $25 increments and 2) its 3% foreign transaction fee (FTF, something the Custom Cash also has).

*An alternative flat rate cash rewards card: if the Wells Fargo Active Cash redemption policies are unappealing, I'd give the Chase Freedom Unlimited a look.  Like your current BECU card, it provides 1.5% cash back on most purchases, but it also provides 3% cash back on dining and drug stores.  The CFU has a $200 SUB on $500 spend over 3 months and no minimum redemption for direct deposit cash back.  It does have a 3% FTF.

My recommendation would be to get BOTH the Citi Custom Cash and either the Wells Fargo Active Cash or the Chase Freedom Unlimited.  In that scenario, you'd use the Custom Cash on home improvement purchases and Active Cash on all other non-Amazon purchases or the CFU on all other non-Amazon or non-gas station purchases.  The Amazon Prime Rewards card would only be used for Amazon purchases (or in the case of the Citi Custom Cash/Chase Freedom Unlimited duo, Amazon and gas station purchases).

[Anonymous]

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@Crowhelm wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'd get a card with at least 2% back on all spending, and then I'd focus on cards that have 5% categories that you can control, like the Citi custom cash or us bank cash+ (us bank has a subsidiary, Elan Financial, that runs credit cards for tons of smaller banks and credit unions. They have a similar product called max cash).

For a 5-card wallet that doesn't include the synchrony Lowe's card, I'd go with:

1) low apr CU card that helps with short term stuff like bad cash flow months.

2) 2% or more card like doublecash.

3) 5% on home improvement with quarterly ceiling (US Bank Cash+)

4) 5% on home improvement with monthly ceiling (Citi Custom Cash)

5) 3% on home improvement with quarterly ceiling (BoA Custom Cash)

That would get you elevated cashback on your first $5k or so each quarter, and then 2% from there.

Edit: I forgot about the Amazon card. I'd hang onto that.

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I was considering BoA and Citi already. But the Citi only does $500 per month which is pretty low, but I guess combined with others it makes more sense. I see you have the Discover one as well. You would not recommend that one?

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For me, the Citi Custom card would be in the mix, but I wouldn't start with it. Before applying for that one, I'd look into the Cash+ (or the Elan equivalent). The only thing I don't like about Discover is not controlling the 5% categories.

But now that you mention it...if your business spending is high enough that you think you'll blow past all these limits, I might look to see if Discover does that cashback match for the first year on the "Miles" version of their card. The name is misleading - there are no complicated rules for redeeming points. It's a simple 1.5% cashback card. Anyway -- the caps on rewards from the Citi, US Bank, and BoA cards means that they're all geared toward homeowners making modest purchases. If you're thinking in terms of $6k spending per month (instead of per year), then uncapped cards start getting interesting. If the Disc Miles card matches first year rewards, you'd get 3% on everything (for the first year). Then you're down to 1.5%, which does nothing for you, but you could call them and convert it to the rotating 5% version of the card.