With today's big news that the Marvel card is being discontinued, I am in the market for a new dining and entertainment card. In my post over in the Marvel thread, I mentioned that I didn't think that it was the best dining + entertainment product out there, but as I was looking for alternatives today, I may have changed my mind about that. The dining and entertainment coding with the Marvel card was super broad, so there really was something for everyone. Nothing I have looked at today has neatly fit in as a replacement, some for profile-specific reasons, but mostly because there are restrictions on what is coded as dining and entertainment from product to product. Anyway, here's where I am right now in considering options:
What I want:
An effective replacement for the Marvel Mastercard’s 3% cash back on dining and entertainment, specifically on streaming services (i.e. Netflix, Disney+, Pandora, Sirius XM) and dining (including take-out delivery services i.e UberEats and DoorDash). I loved the statement credits; there is something gratifying about seeing a negative balance after paying in full before the statement cuts, but I will take actual redeemable cashback as well.
Options Identified So far
Capital One Savor (or Savor One)
- Pros: 3% cashback on dining, not sure whether delivery service qualifies, but it probably does. Redeemable cash back. I don’t love annual fees, so having a no-fee option with the Savor-One is a consideration.
- Cons: I already have a Quicksilver and Venture-One, neither of which have received CLIs in the last several years. I’m really not into the notion of picking up another card with low growth potential, nor do I want to poke Capital One and potentially trigger a CLD to the Venture-One (been at $10k since it’s been open). Also, I do not think that streaming is coded as entertainment (at least, not as a regular thing, but it may be on as a special offer).
U.S. Bank Cash+
- Pros: 5% cashback on selected categories (long list that incudes streaming), 2% on “everyday” categories (including dining), 1% on everything else.
- Cons: I have no experience with U.S. Bank, so I’d be going into the application process blind. Would need to do research on underwriting and user experience. Also, selecting categories seems like a lot of work (in actuality, it’s probably only a few mouse clicks, but more work than a flat percentage cash back card).
U.S. Bank Altitude Go
- Pros: 4x points on dining, 2x points on streaming services! Getting closer to what I loved about the Marvel card.
- Cons: See above on lack of knowledge on U.S. bank. Also, cashback would be a statement credit redeemable only after a minimum threshold has passed, since cash out only goes to a U.S. bank account, which I don’t have and wouldn’t want to open for this purpose.
PNC Cash Awards
- Pros: Lots of reward categories; 4% on gas, 3% on dining, 2% on groceries, 1% on everything else. I have accounts with PNC and am very happy with them, so redemption would be easy.
- Cons: No entertainment category, so streaming services would be limited to 1%. Better than nothing, but I would love to have 3% or more on both if possible.
Chase Freedom Unlimited
- Pros: 5% cash back on travel, 3% on dining and takeout and eligible delivery services, 3% on drugstores, and 1.5% on everything else.
- Cons: I have the Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer card, which I use for travel purchases, so the Freedom 5% benefit would go unused. Still no streaming or entertainment category, but 1.5% is better than the PNC option. I believe Chase also hard pulls for CLIs, so could also expect limited growth from this card.
Venmo
- Pros: Custom cashback, which is intriguing! 3% cashback on your highest spending category; 2% on the next top spending category, 1% on everything else. Cashback gets applied to your Venmo account. Cashback categories include dining (dine-in, takeout, and delivery) and bills and utilities (streaming goes here!) If I only use it for the same spend that the Marvel card got, i would still be getting decent cashback.
- Cons: It’s another Synchrony product! What if this gets discontinued, too?
All of those will be under consideration, but just based on the very basic look I took at all these options today, Venmo is (weirdly) the leading contender. I’ll be looking through the forums for more info on all the products, but any immediate feedback is welcome.
Are you open to a business card? If so, Amex BBP (extremely easy to qualify for) is effectively 3% on everything if you redeem the Amex points in an intelligent way.
if you're not open to a business card, I would go for the USB Altitude Go. 4% on dining with no annual fee is fantastic, and 2% on streaming is great BUT you also get a statement credit that boosts your effective cash back rate.
@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:I recommend also looking at the "cousin" of the US Bank Cash+, the Elan Financial Services Max Cash Preferred that many regional banks offer. Unlike the US Bank Cash+, to my knowledge the various Max Cash Preferred cards offer a selectable 5% cash back entertainment category. The two cards are generally very similar otherwise.
This is interesting to me I didn't know this, but I doubt the entertainment category on this card covers streaming since it is a separate category on the US Bank Cash+ version.
I think your best bet is the Altitude Go. You more than likely spend more on dining than you do on streaming each month. For that reason a 4% dining/2% streaming is actually better than a 3% dining/3% streaming card.
If you really wanted to optimize streaming category I'd recommend the US Bank Cash+ for streaming and any other category you want to choose (utilities is popular).
Streaming is probably just not that much spend a month to worry too much about having a dedicated card for it and it doesn't even have potential to ever really be that big. For a $50/month streaming bill saving 1% is only $.50/month or $6 a year.
@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:
One other comment - if you did go the Capital One Savor/SavorOne route, you'd need to drop one of your current Capital One cards; the bank credit card issuer only allows a customer to carry a maximum of two of their personal cards at one time.
I think that's only true of their subprime cards.
One other option you could look into is the Bank of America Cash Rewards. It has the ability to choose a 3% category. Two of those are dining and online shopping. If you primarily order food online or through delivery apps such as DoorDash, the online shopping category would cover both dining and streaming.
The only downside to this card is that there is a $2500 quarterly spending cap for the 3% category so if you spend more than that on dining and streaming in a quarter, this might not be the best option.
I'm not sure where you are, but the Synovus Cash Rewards card earns 3% on dining and has a selectable 3% category of your choice up to $3K per quarter. I recently got their travel rewards card, and I really like it.
https://www.bestcards.com/credit-cards/synovus-cash-rewards-visa-credit-card/
@blossom_rebuilding wrote:With today's big news that the Marvel card is being discontinued, I am in the market for a new dining and entertainment card. In my post over in the Marvel thread, I mentioned that I didn't think that it was the best dining + entertainment product out there, but as I was looking for alternatives today, I may have changed my mind about that. The dining and entertainment coding with the Marvel card was super broad, so there really was something for everyone. Nothing I have looked at today has neatly fit in as a replacement, some for profile-specific reasons, but mostly because there are restrictions on what is coded as dining and entertainment from product to product. Anyway, here's where I am right now in considering options:
What I want:
An effective replacement for the Marvel Mastercard’s 3% cash back on dining and entertainment, specifically on streaming services (i.e. Netflix, Disney+, Pandora, Sirius XM) and dining (including take-out delivery services i.e UberEats and DoorDash). I loved the statement credits; there is something gratifying about seeing a negative balance after paying in full before the statement cuts, but I will take actual redeemable cashback as well.
Options Identified So far
Capital One Savor (or Savor One)
- Pros: 3% cashback on dining, not sure whether delivery service qualifies, but it probably does. Redeemable cash back. I don’t love annual fees, so having a no-fee option with the Savor-One is a consideration.
- Cons: I already have a Quicksilver and Venture-One, neither of which have received CLIs in the last several years. I’m really not into the notion of picking up another card with low growth potential, nor do I want to poke Capital One and potentially trigger a CLD to the Venture-One (been at $10k since it’s been open). Also, I do not think that streaming is coded as entertainment (at least, not as a regular thing, but it may be on as a special offer).
U.S. Bank Cash+
- Pros: 5% cashback on selected categories (long list that incudes streaming), 2% on “everyday” categories (including dining), 1% on everything else.
- Cons: I have no experience with U.S. Bank, so I’d be going into the application process blind. Would need to do research on underwriting and user experience. Also, selecting categories seems like a lot of work (in actuality, it’s probably only a few mouse clicks, but more work than a flat percentage cash back card).
U.S. Bank Altitude Go
- Pros: 4x points on dining, 2x points on streaming services! Getting closer to what I loved about the Marvel card.
- Cons: See above on lack of knowledge on U.S. bank. Also, cashback would be a statement credit redeemable only after a minimum threshold has passed, since cash out only goes to a U.S. bank account, which I don’t have and wouldn’t want to open for this purpose.
PNC Cash Awards
- Pros: Lots of reward categories; 4% on gas, 3% on dining, 2% on groceries, 1% on everything else. I have accounts with PNC and am very happy with them, so redemption would be easy.
- Cons: No entertainment category, so streaming services would be limited to 1%. Better than nothing, but I would love to have 3% or more on both if possible.
Chase Freedom Unlimited
- Pros: 5% cash back on travel, 3% on dining and takeout and eligible delivery services, 3% on drugstores, and 1.5% on everything else.
- Cons: I have the Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer card, which I use for travel purchases, so the Freedom 5% benefit would go unused. Still no streaming or entertainment category, but 1.5% is better than the PNC option. I believe Chase also hard pulls for CLIs, so could also expect limited growth from this card.
Venmo
- Pros: Custom cashback, which is intriguing! 3% cashback on your highest spending category; 2% on the next top spending category, 1% on everything else. Cashback gets applied to your Venmo account. Cashback categories include dining (dine-in, takeout, and delivery) and bills and utilities (streaming goes here!) If I only use it for the same spend that the Marvel card got, i would still be getting decent cashback.
- Cons: It’s another Synchrony product! What if this gets discontinued, too?
All of those will be under consideration, but just based on the very basic look I took at all these options today, Venmo is (weirdly) the leading contender. I’ll be looking through the forums for more info on all the products, but any immediate feedback is welcome.
@blossom_rebuilding wrote:With today's big news that the Marvel card is being discontinued, I am in the market for a new dining and entertainment card. In my post over in the Marvel thread, I mentioned that I didn't think that it was the best dining + entertainment product out there, but as I was looking for alternatives today, I may have changed my mind about that. The dining and entertainment coding with the Marvel card was super broad, so there really was something for everyone. Nothing I have looked at today has neatly fit in as a replacement, some for profile-specific reasons, but mostly because there are restrictions on what is coded as dining and entertainment from product to product. Anyway, here's where I am right now in considering options:
What I want:
An effective replacement for the Marvel Mastercard’s 3% cash back on dining and entertainment, specifically on streaming services (i.e. Netflix, Disney+, Pandora, Sirius XM) and dining (including take-out delivery services i.e UberEats and DoorDash). I loved the statement credits; there is something gratifying about seeing a negative balance after paying in full before the statement cuts, but I will take actual redeemable cashback as well.
Options Identified So far
Capital One Savor (or Savor One)
- Pros: 3% cashback on dining, not sure whether delivery service qualifies, but it probably does. Redeemable cash back. I don’t love annual fees, so having a no-fee option with the Savor-One is a consideration.
- Cons: I already have a Quicksilver and Venture-One, neither of which have received CLIs in the last several years. I’m really not into the notion of picking up another card with low growth potential, nor do I want to poke Capital One and potentially trigger a CLD to the Venture-One (been at $10k since it’s been open). Also, I do not think that streaming is coded as entertainment (at least, not as a regular thing, but it may be on as a special offer).
U.S. Bank Cash+
- Pros: 5% cashback on selected categories (long list that incudes streaming), 2% on “everyday” categories (including dining), 1% on everything else.
- Cons: I have no experience with U.S. Bank, so I’d be going into the application process blind. Would need to do research on underwriting and user experience. Also, selecting categories seems like a lot of work (in actuality, it’s probably only a few mouse clicks, but more work than a flat percentage cash back card).
U.S. Bank Altitude Go
- Pros: 4x points on dining, 2x points on streaming services! Getting closer to what I loved about the Marvel card.
- Cons: See above on lack of knowledge on U.S. bank. Also, cashback would be a statement credit redeemable only after a minimum threshold has passed, since cash out only goes to a U.S. bank account, which I don’t have and wouldn’t want to open for this purpose.
PNC Cash Awards
- Pros: Lots of reward categories; 4% on gas, 3% on dining, 2% on groceries, 1% on everything else. I have accounts with PNC and am very happy with them, so redemption would be easy.
- Cons: No entertainment category, so streaming services would be limited to 1%. Better than nothing, but I would love to have 3% or more on both if possible.
Chase Freedom Unlimited
- Pros: 5% cash back on travel, 3% on dining and takeout and eligible delivery services, 3% on drugstores, and 1.5% on everything else.
- Cons: I have the Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer card, which I use for travel purchases, so the Freedom 5% benefit would go unused. Still no streaming or entertainment category, but 1.5% is better than the PNC option. I believe Chase also hard pulls for CLIs, so could also expect limited growth from this card.
Venmo
- Pros: Custom cashback, which is intriguing! 3% cashback on your highest spending category; 2% on the next top spending category, 1% on everything else. Cashback gets applied to your Venmo account. Cashback categories include dining (dine-in, takeout, and delivery) and bills and utilities (streaming goes here!) If I only use it for the same spend that the Marvel card got, i would still be getting decent cashback.
- Cons: It’s another Synchrony product! What if this gets discontinued, too?
All of those will be under consideration, but just based on the very basic look I took at all these options today, Venmo is (weirdly) the leading contender. I’ll be looking through the forums for more info on all the products, but any immediate feedback is welcome.
I was reading through your post and feeling a type of survivors guilt that Capital One thankfully "grandfathered" me when they switched Savor to an AF card with 3% max. I get 4% dining and entertainment with no AF on that Savor and will hang on to it for dear life! I was thinking to reply Venmo Venmo Venmo! And you ended up mentioning it at the end. I got approved yesterday so dont have user experience with them yet. I think thats pretty awesome how they just calculate the spending for you. I plan to put my utility bills on it and see how that goes. I occasionally get a quarter where some of the utilities qualify for 5% on Freedom or Disco It but nothing consistent by any means. And between all the utilities...its a good chunk of change! I earned a nice bit from Freedom this past quarter since they had cable/internet and phone on there. BoA is really good since they will let you change every month. I havent played with it because I leave it set for online shopping card when its not Amazon or Walmart giving 5%. Happy decision making!
