Just another musing of mine similar to my "spreading too thin" thread in the past. Most of us have several cards for various categories, be it groceries, gas, dining, whatever. Most also have a generic 1.5% or 2% card for "everything else".
But outside very large spenders, is that "everything else" card really necessary? Yes, it's nice to make sure some transactions are not only earning 1%, but how many transaction is that really? Most cards have redemption thresholds, and some require a lot of spend to meet, so if you are diluting across many specific use cards, how long is it taking to get to even cash out on the "generic" card?
This isn't an argument or knock against anyone but I'm finding that really the 1.5% or 2% cards seem to be best for people who want to just have one card, put all their spend on it, and be done. Otherwise, there's just not a huge gain to be had if you're already using specific cards for gas, groceries, dining, etc which are the basic major spend areas. Of course, monthly bills are a factor, but many of them surcharge for CC use anyway.
Thoughts, anyone? I realize it's similar to "spreading too thin" or "diluting rewards" but I was just thinking about it recently and it seems that having a bunch of category cards AND a general spend card may be redundant for some and mutually exclusive, at least if you want to actually cash out your rewards with any frequency. I come from a perspective of fairly low retail job income and spending, so keep that in mind. Higher spend can obviously justify more.
