Judging from your replies, just throw in the AmEx BCE and you will be set. Really, you don't even need that until July next year because of Discover Q1 and Q2 categories.
@UncleB wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Cred4All wrote:I'll just throw out another card option to the bucket: Amex Everyday card - 20% more points when making 20 purchases a month and 2x Points on groceries, so that would earn you some rewards without the travel / eating.
But what do you do with the MR points earned?
+1
I would advise someone who doesn't travel to avoid an MR earning card, since the cash-out value is almost always better with a flat 2% cash rewards card.
I keyed in on the fact that the Op mentioned in the original post a 'rewards card' taking into account non-travel or non-dining type of spend so, that was a rewards card better on grocery spend. Now, obviously if the topic is if cashback they're wanting which I did not recall as the primary ask, then that would certainly bring about a different genre of card.
@UncleB wrote:
@Cred4All wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Cred4All wrote:I'll just throw out another card option to the bucket: Amex Everyday card - 20% more points when making 20 purchases a month and 2x Points on groceries, so that would earn you some rewards without the travel / eating.
But what do you do with the MR points earned?
+1
I would advise someone who doesn't travel to avoid an MR earning card, since the cash-out value is almost always better with a flat 2% cash rewards card.
I keyed in on the fact that the Op mentioned in the original post a 'rewards card' taking into account non-travel or non-dining type of spend so, that was a rewards card better on grocery spend. Now, obviously if the topic is if cashback they're wanting which I did not recall as the primary ask, then that would certainly bring about a different genre of card.
For many folks looking for a rewards card the ED would be a contender, but what I was keying in on was that the OP doesn't travel, which is the most common (and usually the best) redemption for MR points.
Even if the OP were to amass a nice bucket of points he would then have to deal with redeeming them. While there is an option for redeeming for statement credits, it's almost always going to be at a lower redemption rate than would have been earned by simply using a cash-rewards card to begin with.
If you consider redeeming MR points for gift cards (which some are fine with) it would still be an extra step to get back to the same value that a cash-back card would offer without jumping through hoops.
As someone who seldom travels I'm somewhat in the same boat... the rewards cards that are popular on here with so many people are (usually) just not a good match for my lifestyle, and that's OK, too.
In total agreement. Hadn't even thought about the redemption aspect of MR points if the Op doesn't have a use for them. The redemption from a cash perspective with MR definitely isn't the ideal outcome for non-travel.
The same combo that I have, Blue cash Preferred (or BC Everyday, if you are not a big grocery shopper) and Citi Double Cash would be a winning combo. Use your Costco card for 4% on gas and 2% in Costco, and Discover quarterly categories when they match your spending.
Good luck !!
Rewards cards are usually best used for travel. If you don't spend on travel, do you want to travel at all? As in, if you were to earn points, would you be interested in using them for travel? If not, cashback is a clear winner. Start with 2% cards as a baseline and see if you can collect no AF cash back cards like the Costco, Uber, or Freedom that offer bonus categories above 2%. There are some on this forum who basically have a card that earns them 5% on basically every category.
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