Just when I thought I had my rewards structure figured out....

[Yankee2]

I thought I was set long term with my credit card setup until yesterday...... My current setup is,

Discover- 5% rotating categories

BOA cash rewards- 3% home improvement

Chase Flex- 5% rotating and 5% groceries until 9/26

Capital One Savor- grandfathered 4% dining/entertainment (no AF)

AMEX BCP- 6% groceries and streaming services

Citi DC- 2% everything

I visited my credit union yesterday and found they have a rewards checking account if tied to thier rewards credit card in that you will get 2% interest on up to $20,000 in your checking account if you swipe a minimum of 15 times per month for a minimum total of $150. 

I can put the $20,000 in for the max, which brings a total "cash back" of $33 a month.

The credit card is 3x gas, 2x groceries, 1x everything else.

So I'm going to have a COVID Saturday night going thru my Quicken program month by month to see if this pays..... Unless someone can show me something that I'm missing. I will not invest this money (for those who would recommend that I can get a better return for the $20k elsewhere) since one thing that has taught me since COVID...... make sure to have a well funded emergency fund.... 

[longtimelurker]

Some reward checking institutions look for "real usage", others don't.   If your CU is in the second category, you don't have to change your credit card usage as you can basically make a series of transactions for the sake of meeting the requirement, all from home.

The $150 a month is more annoying (mine pays 3.3% with 15 transactions but no minimum)  Basically I do 5 a day for the first 3 days but it can be spread out if needed.   I use three things:

Serve/Bluebird:  you can load this with a debit card up to a lowish amount per month (maybe $200) which is fine for this purpose.  Once loaded, you can use the balance to pay bills, including credit card bills, so this is really no cost, as you wouldn't be getting credit card rewards on paying those bills anyway.

Cash App (Square): load to your cash app debit card, and either use if there is a good offer or cash out, for no cost.

Last Amazon reloads.  These are a minimum of 50c, and if you link correctly, you get 2% extra each reload.   This IS a slight loss if you have a higher paying card for Amazon, but the difference on $2.50 a month is 7.5c so well worth it.

Now if your CU does care, then yes, crunch the numbers.

[AndySoCal]

I have seen similiar rewards checking accounts but I cannot meet the number of debit card usage requirements.

If anyone is interested in seeing if there is a credit union in your area that has a similiar type of account click on the link below

https://www.depositaccounts.com/checking/reward-checking-accounts.html 

You will need to change the search criteria to your area.