For the last 2 years AMEX has offered the Cash Magnet with 5% on every purchase for 6 months up to $10K spend. DW got this card last Feb and we maxed out the $10K spend in a little over 5 months. We just diverted all uncategorized spend through it and moved around a little spend that I normally run through 3% cards. I left utilities running through my BBVA card (3%), still utilized the 5% categories through my Disco card, and still used my 6% BCP for groceries. During that nearly 6 month period, we earned a little over $220 on the BBVA card for utilities, around $180 on the BCP, $110 on the Disco, and the $500 on the Cash Magnet. We basically SD'd all of the other cards during that time. We averaged 4.5% CB all purchases during that period, and with our yearly spend being $40 - $45K that would be around $2K CB without SUBs. It's not crazy money by any stretch, but the effort is definitely worth the yield for me.
My goal for 2021 is to get a coupla three more 5% cards to try to capture as much yearly spend as we can.
A 4% card could replace 99% of the cards out there. Most of us wouldn't care if the APR was huge as we do not pay interest.
I miss Salliemae and Blispay as those were amazing groundbreaking cards way ahead of the time.
But I have thought many times I could replace all my cards with a straight 3% card but I am worried they will not last like everyone else.
For now, I have a death grip on my AOD and UsAlliance 3% cards.
@Anonymous wrote:Isn't the general concensus that AOD isn't going to last though? I don't doubt that there may be a 4% card that comes about one day, but I think we all know that the chances of it surviving are extremely small.
It reminds me of when Blispay came out. Right out of the gate even during it's flavor of the month phase everyone was pointing to the fact that the structure of the card likely wasn't sustainable. Sure enough it was gone rather quickly.
IDK if it is the general consensus that it won't last, but everybody knows that it isn't guaranteed. There could also be an AF added at some point. The 2.5% Alliant Sig VISA used to have a $59 AF, but they bumped it to $99. The good thing about a CU is that they don't have quite the pressure to make as much profit (in terms of percentage) as big banks with shareholders do. They do have to be profitable with it though, and I think that the cardholder's useage will dictate that. I think the fact that they don't charge any additional interest for CA's may help this card survive. A cash advance @ 7.99% is better than a lot of personal loans and is actually the same APR as the NFCU 5.99% Platinum card since NFCU charges a 2% fee for a CA. They've built in a lot ways to entice people to carry a balance on this card, unlike most high % rewards cards. Time will tell if it works. If you make a purchase with this card, and factor in the 3% cash back and 7.99% APR combined, it would be most people's lowest APR card if you needed a little time to pay something off.
If any FI can make a 3% card work, I'd think it would have to be a CU.