I used my 1.5% Cap1 QuicksilverOne then Quicksilver for years when I was rebuilding. Then I moved onto 2% Citi Doublecash. When Alliant released their 2.5% I jumped on that for a year then product changed it to 2% before the annual fee hit. UsAlliance released a 3% card and that became my daily driver for a year. Now 3% AOD is my daily for now.
Discover for 5% catagories, Cap1 Savor 4% for restaurants, Amex BCE 3% for groceries.
Sounds fun doesn't it. 
@coldfusion wrote:
@JNA1 wrote:
@summerterrace wrote:Our biggest spend is:
Groceries and catch all categories
Groceries around $800-$900 a month (we buy all household stuff at a supermarket)
Catchall like insurance, cleaning, pet expenses, subscriptions, cell phone, streaming, etc $1500-$2000 a month
I don't see it mentioned above, but the PayPal MasterCard is another good choice. It was our catch all card until we got the 3% AOD card.
Alliant Credit Union also has a flat no AF 2% card and a flat 2.5% card with a $99 AF. Depending on how much you will spend in a year, the Alliant 2.5% is a good card. I'm a member of Alliant FCU and they send me prequalification offers often, but the AOD card has basically replaced all my 1.5% - 2% cards.
After the stunt they just pulled and then rescinded with the 33% devaluation of points I myself wouldn't recommend an Alliant card right now.
I just found your thread on this. I missed it when it happened - but that sucks. It's good that they took it back to 1:1, but I agree it sucks that they'd do that. I looked back in my email, because I remember getting a preapproved offer around that time from them, and I got an offer between when they nerfed the 1:1 ratio and before they reinstated it. It makes me wonder did they snag some people that didn't know the difference during that time?? I like Alliant and have the biggest portion of my cash savings there because of the higher % savings account, but that is definitely disappointing.
I've never had one their cards, but this gives me caution if I ever decided to.
@Wrigley2172 wrote:Bit of an aside to throw in another option but also ask a question of those better with numbers than i:
My Baxter CU cash rewards card gives 1.5% back awarded quarterly but the transactions ALSO count towards the requirements for the 2% APY I earn with my checking account there. With the amount i have in the account, i earn ~7/8 dollars each month. Am i ok in also factoring this money into "rewards" earned with my card and if so what would the "true" cash back % be for the card?
Whether it's "okay" would just be a matter of whether you want to look at it that way or not, so, really, it's completely up to you. The important thing is that you have an accurate picture of your financial life. Like, if I were comparing using this card vs. another flat rate card and I never used the debit card for this account, then I would include the 2% interest on the checking balance since I wouldn't get it without the card, and in that situation I would want to be comparing total money gain vs. total money gain. But if I needed to keep interest and cashback rewards separate in my budget for some reason, then I wouldn't include the checking interest in the rewards for that purpose. To figure the cashback w/ the checking interest included I would just divide the monthly interest earned on your checking balance by the spend on the card for the month, and then add that to 0.015. Presumably that sum rewards rate would fluctuate from month to month, but you could average over a 3, 6, etc, mo period to get an idea of what it's doing for you and how it would compare to switching to e.g. a flat 2% card. (And you could also run the math on using the BCU card for your first 15 charges/mo and a 2% card on everthing after and see how much of a gain that is over just the BCU card.)
