@Amiblue wrote:Hey Everyone! Hope the new year is going fabulously well for each of you so far.
What is the go to card for grocery rewards now? Last year I managed to max the AMEX 6% out by June 2...... yeah, great stuff..... So I need something with these high prices I can bounce over to for the rest of the yeat that isn't a random rotating catagory. Ideas?
For groceries, That Amex 6% with $6k cap and $95 af you have isn't that far off from my Amex creditone x5 5% $5k cap with same $95 af. Not everyone likes creditone, but mine is a daily driver on groceries and gas.
I alternate with citi custom cash 5%, but that's Capped at $500 per month max, no af.
The AAA Daily Advantage Visa Signature Credit Card is a solid grocery option.
There are much better options than getting to bed with the devil(CreditOne).
If you really want to stick with BCP you can get the Morgan Stanley version too!
@Drifter73 wrote:
@Amiblue wrote:Hey Everyone! Hope the new year is going fabulously well for each of you so far.
What is the go to card for grocery rewards now? Last year I managed to max the AMEX 6% out by June 2...... yeah, great stuff..... So I need something with these high prices I can bounce over to for the rest of the yeat that isn't a random rotating catagory. Ideas?
For groceries, That Amex 6% with $6k cap and $95 af you have isn't that far off from my Amex creditone x5 5% $5k cap with same $95 af. Not everyone likes creditone, but mine is a daily driver on groceries and gas.
I alternate with citi custom cash 5%, but that's Capped at $500 per month max, no af.
Not factoring in other card benefits, if one maxed out these two cards in groceries:
Amex BCP: 4.4% CB after AF
CredOne X5: 3.1% CB after AF
For me, I'd prefer to have a no AF 5% card(s).
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@ptatohed wrote:For me, I'd prefer to have a no AF 5% card(s).
Same! My AAA card is 5% on groceries all year long. Oh sure, there's an annual cap, but I can offset that with my Langley and Nusenda, and Discover rotating grocery categories. I can see how rotating categories are a pain to deal with, but I've got the time and I don't mind playing the game.
@CreditCobra wrote:
@ptatohed wrote:For me, I'd prefer to have a no AF 5% card(s).
Same! My AAA card is 5% on groceries all year long. Oh sure, there's an annual cap, but I can offset that with my Langley and Nusenda, and Discover rotating grocery categories. I can see how rotating categories are a pain to deal with, but I've got the time and I don't mind playing the game.
I knew I liked you CC!!
@Amibluewrote:Hey Everyone! Hope the new year is going fabulously well for each of you so far.
What is the go to card for grocery rewards now? Last year I managed to max the AMEX 6% out by June 2...... yeah, great stuff..... So I need something with these high prices I can bounce over to for the rest of the yeat that isn't a random rotating catagory. Ideas?
Welcome to My FICO forums, @Amiblue, or at least out of the shadows. (I noted you joined in May.)
There are some good suggestions above. Keep in mind that, as @ptatohed pointed out, the grocery-only earning rate of the BCP isn't really a full 6% after accounting for the weight of the AF. On spending the full $6K (not a penny less or more) and after the $95 AF, the effective return is 4.41%. (6000 x .06 = 360 - 95 = 265 / 6000 = 0.044166 ...) If you're benefiting from streaming service rewards at 6%, you'll probably end up with a grand total of between 4.5 to 5%. So that's really your benchmark.
If (and only if) you are able to FULLY use the $6K on both cards, the second BCP/Morgan Stanley might be an easy option if you like BCP. But if you don't use all the $6K on both cards, it will skew your rewards downward. (The trick on the BCP is if you spend LESS than $6K, your rewards don't offset the $95 AF as well, so rewards drop. And if you spend MORE than $6K, your rewards drop from the 1% base rate over $6K.)
If you're full Team Cash Back, the AAA Daily Advantage card is probably a little better choice. Remember, though, that the 5%+3% categories (grocery + gas + warehouse) are capped at $500 annually. That means that if you use the card ONLY for groceries, you could spend $10K before exhausting that 5% cap. Subtract out any gas or warehouse purchases. But the 3% gas is the same as earned on your BCP with no caps, so I would use BCP for gas exclusively.
Another excellent choice that would give you the FULL 5% (instead of 4.41%) would be the CITI Custom Cash. The catch is it's limited to $500 spending on your highest spend category monthly, including grocery. So if grocery spend exceeds $500 monthly, I would consider splitting the way you charge. That gives you up to $6K spending annually at 5%.
Depending on the consumer, I still think that the AMEX Gold is potentially the MOST lucrative grocery and/or restaurant card, but it's not for cash-back purists. Gold earns 4x MRs per dollar spent at restaurants (uncapped) and grocery (capped at a large $25K annually.) The AF is $250 but there are credits available monthly including on GrubHub and UBER/UBER Eats which can lower the effective AF to $10. MRs are only worth about 6/10 cpp for Ca$h ... but if you're able/willing to use them for travel they can be worth between 1 to 2 cpp. That means you could be earning 4% to 8% value (in travel) on all grocery/dining spend. I had GOLD for awhile and decided the credits weren't working for me, but I still believe it's a great card for the right person.
I put my grocery and warehouse spend on my Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards. The base grocery/warehouse rate is 2%, but with assets I have with Merrill Lynch, I can qualify for Platinum Honors in their Preferred Rewards program. Among other things, that gives me a 75% bonus on card rewards, so 0.02 x 1.75 = 0.035 or 3.5% cash back. And the cap is $10K, not $6K. For me, that's good enough as my grocery bill is not that high since DW and I are empty-nesters and we eat out frequently anyway for dinner. Plus, I travel weekly. The Platinum Honors tier requires $100K in assets, but there are also multipliers for Platinum ($50K+) and Gold ($20K+) at 50% and 25%. For example on CCR for grocery, that equates to 0.02 x 1.50 = 0.03 or 3%; or 0.02 x 1.25 = 0.025 or 2.5%.) With CCR, I also earn 3.5% cash back at Costco, which is an outstanding return, especially since it increases to 5.5% when accounting for my 2% Executive membership bonus. 
There are several great flat 3% grocery cards - no spending caps - that might be worthy of consideration also. One example is the Navy FCU MORE Rewards AMEX which earn 3% on grocery, restaurant, gas, and transit - all with no spending caps whatsoever. Another card is the UMB Simply Rewards. UMB is a geo-fenced regional bank, but if you qualify that card earns 3% on grocery, gas, restaurants, fast food, and discount stores with no spending caps and no AF. The nice thing about the 3% cards is they give you an above-average return (more than your baseline 2% card) while not giving you the restrictive hoops to jump through such as annual or monthly spending caps or annual fees to complicate your rewards calculation. So there is no need to pause and think about whether you're close-to or above your spending cap every time you go to the store.
@ptatohed wrote:
@Drifter73 wrote:
@Amiblue wrote:Hey Everyone! Hope the new year is going fabulously well for each of you so far.
What is the go to card for grocery rewards now? Last year I managed to max the AMEX 6% out by June 2...... yeah, great stuff..... So I need something with these high prices I can bounce over to for the rest of the yeat that isn't a random rotating catagory. Ideas?
For groceries, That Amex 6% with $6k cap and $95 af you have isn't that far off from my Amex creditone x5 5% $5k cap with same $95 af. Not everyone likes creditone, but mine is a daily driver on groceries and gas.
I alternate with citi custom cash 5%, but that's Capped at $500 per month max, no af.
Not factoring in other card benefits, if one maxed out these two cards in groceries:
Amex BCP: 4.4% CB after AF
CredOne X5: 3.1% CB after AF
For me, I'd prefer to have a no AF 5% card(s).
Agreed.. I like that you have x2 citi custom cash cards at 5% with no af in your sig. I just have 1, but in 6 months I may pc my citi diamond preferred to a second custom cash to leverage another 5% no af groceries ($500 per mo cap x 12mo = $6k per year spend x2 cc = $1k per mo and $12k per year spend for groceries). 😀
The Golden 1 CU Member CR+ Visa Sig card is also 3% uncapped on grocery (+ 4% gas capped at $5k annual spend, 3% uncapped dining).
Open to anyone in CA.
https://www.golden1.com/credit-cards-loans/credit-cards