How to maximize points (Amazon Card, Amex, BofA)

[Bees18]

So over the last few years we have several rewards cards but to be honest haven't really paid attention to where we spend of tried to maximize cash back and points. 

The cards we have are-

Amex Amazon 5% cash back card 

Blue Cash Preferred (6% groceries and streaming)

Amex Everyday ( still not sure, but something about extra points for 20 swipes) 

BofA cash back card (3% online purchases) 

Capital One Savor (4% eating out) 

Recent add Amex Gold Card (4x groceries, 4x eating out) 

NFCU Rewards card (3x at restaurants ? 3 at groceries 3 for gas?)

Our biggest spend is in-

Amazon (we also get several Amazon grocery deliveries a month)

Groceries in store (regular chains) 

Online Shopping

Uber eats

Bills (don't think a card exist for these)

Paypal

Do we have the best cards for this spend? Then just had a few questions.

1. Does Amazon grocery get coded as a grocery store on the BCP? Or is it just best to use the Amazon cash back card?

2. When you buy gift cards at Amazon, do you still get the 5% back? What about the U er eats card? Could we buy Uber eats gift cards, then get the 5% back and use those for Uber eats spend?

3. For Uber eats, we get a 10$ statement credit for Amex Gold monthly right? As long as its attached to the account or does it have to be used for all meals? I think untill the end of the year there is also a $10 a month for the Savor at Uber eats as well? Do we get both those just by having both cards attached to the account?

4. For the 6% cash back on streaming services with BCP, does that work with Amazon prime video subscriptions (like paramount plus, hbo) and purchases (like when you rent a movie or buy a season of a show?). Do we need to have that card set up as the default card? Currently it's usually the 5% back Amazon card as default.

5. Does the 3% cash back for online on BofA shopping apply to using PayPal at checkout? 

Lastly, we have our Amazon Prime card attached and enrolled in cash back at check out at Amazon. Usually every month after the closing date the previous months points show up. That's the main card we use there and we spend a good amount every month. I checked and it's still enrolled...but no points have shown up in at least two months. Does this glitch sometimes? 

Any other tips for these cards and awards would be appreciated, or anything we are missing as far as rewards goes with these. Thank you! 

[ptatohed]

You asked a lot of questions that I can't completely cover but real quick:

Those are hundreds of dollars in annual fees.  There are no-AF cards that I think (only you'll know for sure) can equal or even better your existing returns.  Ex. look into a 5% no-AF dining card instead of the $95 Savor card (unless you are grandfathered in at no AF?).  Look for a 5% no-AF card for grocery which will likely pencil out over your BCP.  Etc.

Several of those 3 and 4% categories can be brought up to 5% with the right cards.  

And, lastly, do not use your earned amazon points to pay for new purchases.  You're giving up earning 5% on those new purchases, effectively making your amazon card a 4.75% card.  

[coldfusion]

I have a few questions.

How much do you spend per month on utilities - electric bill, water & sewer, natural gas if you use that for any or all of heat/hot water/dryer? 

How much do you spend per month on phone/cell phone/internet service?

What card do you use for unstructured/uncategorized spend i.e PayPal or other spend that does not get you at least 3% on an existing card?

[coldfusion]

Forgot to ask - how to you plan on using your AMEX MR?

[wasCB14]

What's the deal with groceries on a Business Prime account?

Catering business? Feeding employees? Fake business? Accounting and tax mess?

[Bees18]

@wasCB14 

To be more clear, we get most of our food groceries at local health food stores like sprouts, due to being on specialized diets for health reasons (thus another reason for high grocery spend), however, we do still order once a week from Amazon grocery because they deliver cases of water, we get coffee, cups, natural cleaning supplies ect. They have a lot you can get from their besides just food items and it can be order same day most of the time.

[Bees18]

@ptatohed 

Thank you can you elaborate on the last part. The points just show up there so we usually just spend them. What would be the better way to redeem them for that particular card? Not very good at this lol

As far as the fees go, you are right. I wasn't aware of a higher dining card, I think the closet I've found was the Savor One which I think we could downgrade too. Same with groceries, I don't think I've seen a 5% grocery card yet (but haven't looked lately). I know the freedom has spend categories at 5% but I think that was just for a few months a year and we spend a lot on groceries right now. Any ideas? 

[Bees18]

@coldfusion 

I'm not really sure I'd have to sit down and look, but I'd guess a decent amount for both

Right now I haven't been paying attention to what's being used for what, so regular spend has just gone wherever mostly the BofA card and the Navy rewards I think. I'm trying to be better at paying attention so we can actually utilize them correctly and get the most out of it.

[Bees18]

I think so far with the BCP and Everyday it's been statement credits and to cover purchases so far.

the Gold Card is new, so not sure on that yet. I know it's best to use on travel but we don't really travel much ( but probabky could save up to do so in the future) . From what I've heard the lesser options are gift cards and pay at checkout but it only gives you half of what it's worth. 

[coldfusion]

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@Bees18 wrote:

I think so far with the BCP and Everyday it's been statement credits and to cover purchases so far.

the Gold Card is new, so not sure on that yet. I know it's best to use on travel but we don't really travel much ( but probabky could save up to do so in the future) . From what I've heard the lesser options are gift cards and pay at checkout but it only gives you half of what it's worth. 

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You can do gift cards, there are other options like transfers to partners like Delta Airlines but if you used them for example with Amazon they are devalued at 0.7 cents per MR,  unless on Amazon there's an ongoing short term promotion where you can get anywhere from 20-60% off items sold/shipped through Amazon up to some maxinum spend ($100 spend is common) by applying 1 MR against the purchase with the rest of the balance placed on the AMEX card .

I can think of a few cards for you to look into.  All 3 have no annual fee.

Paypal Cashback Mastercard for purchases made in the US.  You can use it to get 3% back for PayPal purchases and 2% back for all unstructured spend i.e. for any purchase that wouldn't get you at least 2% back on at least 1 of your other cards.

USBank Cash+ Visa or an Elan Max Cash (mostly Visa, some are issued as MasterCards) for 5% cashback for up to $2000/quarter spend on 2 different categories, utilities like electric/water/sewer/natural gas count.    Those are fraternal twins and the Elan card is issued as a co-branded card through a number of different financial institutions, both banks and credit unions.  The Elan card always allows for statement credit,  if you want cashback you need to have a deposit account at the co-branded financial institution the card was issued against (but you don't need one to be eligible to apply if it's a bank).  You have to update categories each quarter with the Cash+ even if you don't want to change them, with the Elan card they carry over unless you decide to make a change or they were to decide to drop a specific 5% category.  

Citi Custom Cash to get 5% back on up to $500 spend per month on a single supported category,  groceries is one of the categories with 5% cashback.  The card automatically determines which supported category got the most spend each billing cycle and gives 5% cashback on that particular category.