Hello everyone! 
I just joined myFICO a few days ago (3/3) and so many of you have been so helpful to me on this epic journey, thank you very much for that! So based on what you see in my siggy and the plan that I'm about to write out for you as well as some requirements for the new card, I want to see if any of you can think of any cards that meet my specific criteria and situation that would be useful to us.
Our Current Plan:
- My wife and I just joined NFCU. Within the next week or so, we're going to deposit $3,010 into our joint savings account and apply for a SSL. Then I'll pay down most of it and set up automatic payments for around $2/month.
- Within the next 1-5 months, I will apply for the Wells Fargo Propel Amex. This will be our main Travel card as well as to be used for our mobile phone bill, dining, gas, and Pandora subscription.
- Within the next 3-5 years, we will apply for a mortgage. I think with the SSL from Step #1, doing the AZEO method, and adding 3-5 years to our AAoA, we should be in good shape for when we apply for the mortgage. In saying all this, we do have this rare opportunity to probably apply for 1 additional credit card, besides the WF Propel Amex, before we start to garden up until we apply for the mortgage.
New Credit Card Requirements:
- We love No AF cards and all of our current cards are No AF. If we did get another card added to our minimalistic list, it would have to be a "forever" card with No AF. We're not into churning & burning and that sort of stuff.
- We don't like rotating categories. We just want to keep it simple. Our Target card gives us 5% off at Target, our Amazon card gives us 5% off at Amazon.com & Whole Foods Market, and so on. Is there another type of Credit Card or Charge Card that would also give us more than 2% Cashback or Rewards (since we already have a PayPal Cashback MC, anything at 2% or lower wouldn't help).
- We don't travel that much (0 - 1/year) so our No AF Wells Fargo Propel Amex card should be all we need for Travel, Dining, and Gas. We also don't use Uber or Lyft (we have 2 paid off cars). And we don't carry balances ever on our accounts (debt free, although I will start doing AZEO) so low interest rate and BT means nothing to us.
So if we did get another credit card or charge card, the main purpose of it would be to save more $ than we already are compared to any of our current cards. If no other card exists, that is a fine answer as well, which just means we achieved our minimalistic goal of having the "best" card in each category for our particular situation. Thank you for any suggestions that you may have!
Between you two, I think you're missing out on the NFCU and PenFed offerings. That's just me though. Some of the card benefits might cross into one another so you'll have to determine which one fits your needs. You'll have to check out their websites and see which card benefits you and your spend.
Example below:
NFCU Platinum if you need APR. As low as 7.49%
NFCU More Rewards. 3X points at supermarkets, 3X points on gas and transit, 3X points at restaurants and 1X points on
PenFed Power Cash Reward for flat 2% cash back
PenFed Platinum 5x POINTS on gas purchases paid at the pump, 3x POINTS at the supermarket, 1x POINTS on all other purchases
@Remedios Thank you for the kind words and for suggesting US Bank Cash+! So I took a look at the card benefits, the fine print, and the cardholder comments from their own website. The 5% is only on the first $2,000 in combined eligible net purchases each quarter on two categories you have to choose. As you mentioned, and in the fine print, it reminds you that you must enroll each quarter otherwise you earn no more than 1%. Then it goes on to say the categories are subject to change quarterly. In one of the cardholder reviews, he stated: "Rewards not honored for all promised categories. I received the Cash+ VISA credit card about six months ago. Initially I used regularly for various transactions. The rewards calculations not clearly understandable so I limited later transactions mostly for selected categories to study how it worked. In the Dec-Jan time frame, I noticed that not all transactions in the selected categories were not honored for rewards and that dented my faith in the rewards promises. Also selecting categories every three months is a great idea but is a pain to manage. I have significantly reduced the use of this card for now."
So, that's a bit scary coming from one of their own cardholders. 
I'm not big on creating work for myself every quarter hoping that my category selections are still there, but if they don't honor the categories that I did select, I'd be a little upset too, lol.
@AllZero Thanks for the link, I'm still going through it, but I did come across some interesting finds. One question on the NFCU card: If I did happen to get a card from them, do you manage it in the same NFCU website that I use to manage my checking, savings, and loan accounts? Or is it a separate website? The one problem is, we do most of our grocery shopping at Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club and I do not think that's included in the supermarkets category for the 3X points.
One interesting card that I found in the link so far was the Marvel Mastercard. 3% cashback on Dining, Entertainment (Movie Theatres, Video Rental and Game Stores, Theatrical and Concert Promoters, Amusement Parks, Digital Entertainment, Games and Software, Music, Books and Newsstands, Toys and Hobby Stores), Online at Marvel.com and Marvel's Official Merchandise Booths. No AF. $25 Statement credit after your first purchase. 10% off at MarvelShop.com + free shipping on certain dates. And from what I was reading, the Entertainment category includes Steam (the online gaming platform where you buy games). Although I rarely use Steam. I do buy movie tickets online every so often though. I have to weigh that against using the virtual credit card number from Apple Card. 3% vs 1% (including added security/reissuing virtual credit card # and ease of checking for fraud).
Another interesting card that I've been thinking about before was the Capital One Walmart Rewards Card that is No AF and 5% back at Walmart.com & Walmart app, Grocery Pickup and Delivery. And 5% back in Walmart stores for the first 12 months. The problem is, I seldom shop at Walmart.com compared to Sam's, BJ's, and Amazon. If this card offered 5% off at Walmart stores forever instead of only in the first 12 months, I think this would be the perfect option for the "last credit card" in my collection.
Still going through that 12-page thread. A lot of interesting opinions, althougn there's fine print on some of those cards people were suggesting. Such as required CU membership with certain accounts needed otherwise an AF is imposed, geo-fence for certain cards, and some cards have nasty minimum redemption amounts that would be tough to meet on a card rarely used. I was looking at the BJ's Wholesale Club card, but the minimum redemption seemed not worth it. Most of my current cards don't have that issue... Apple Card has unlimited daily cash and the PayPal Cashback MC has no minimum redemption. I think I'm too spoiled. 
@Anonymous wrote:@Remedios Thank you for the kind words and for suggesting US Bank Cash+! So I took a look at the card benefits, the fine print, and the cardholder comments from their own website. The 5% is only on the first $2,000 in combined eligible net purchases each quarter on two categories you have to choose. As you mentioned, and in the fine print, it reminds you that you must enroll each quarter otherwise you earn no more than 1%. Then it goes on to say the categories are subject to change quarterly. In one of the cardholder reviews, he stated: "Rewards not honored for all promised categories. I received the Cash+ VISA credit card about six months ago. Initially I used regularly for various transactions. The rewards calculations not clearly understandable so I limited later transactions mostly for selected categories to study how it worked. In the Dec-Jan time frame, I noticed that not all transactions in the selected categories were not honored for rewards and that dented my faith in the rewards promises. Also selecting categories every three months is a great idea but is a pain to manage. I have significantly reduced the use of this card for now."
So, that's a bit scary coming from one of their own cardholders.
Many of us here have at least one Cash+ and that really isn't the standard experience. The trouble with any internet article (including those here and even this one!) is that you don't know the full context. With any card that has a reward category, e.g. supermarket, you will sometimes find that a store that is "obviously" a supermarket for some reason doesn't code as one. And I suspect that that is what was going on there, it wasn't Cash+ ignoring the selection, just that the merchant didn't code as expected (and that is nothing to do with the card)
US Bank sends reminders when it is time to select the categories every quarter, and they recently made it easy to just reselect current (yes, sometimes a category does go away but that is very infrequent). For 5%, I am willing to deal with that!
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:@Remedios Thank you for the kind words and for suggesting US Bank Cash+! So I took a look at the card benefits, the fine print, and the cardholder comments from their own website. The 5% is only on the first $2,000 in combined eligible net purchases each quarter on two categories you have to choose. As you mentioned, and in the fine print, it reminds you that you must enroll each quarter otherwise you earn no more than 1%. Then it goes on to say the categories are subject to change quarterly. In one of the cardholder reviews, he stated: "Rewards not honored for all promised categories. I received the Cash+ VISA credit card about six months ago. Initially I used regularly for various transactions. The rewards calculations not clearly understandable so I limited later transactions mostly for selected categories to study how it worked. In the Dec-Jan time frame, I noticed that not all transactions in the selected categories were not honored for rewards and that dented my faith in the rewards promises. Also selecting categories every three months is a great idea but is a pain to manage. I have significantly reduced the use of this card for now."
So, that's a bit scary coming from one of their own cardholders.
Many of us here have at least one Cash+ and that really isn't the standard experience. The trouble with any internet article (including those here and even this one!) is that you don't know the full context. With any card that has a reward category, e.g. supermarket, you will sometimes find that a store that is "obviously" a supermarket for some reason doesn't code as one. And I suspect that that is what was going on there, it wasn't Cash+ ignoring the selection, just that the merchant didn't code as expected (and that is nothing to do with the card)
US Bank sends reminders when it is time to select the categories every quarter, and they recently made it easy to just reselect current (yes, sometimes a category does go away but that is very infrequent). For 5%, I am willing to deal with that!
Agreed 100%. I have two Cash+ cards and it's one of the few cards that I carry. I initially got them as a set-and-forget card to automate my utilities/phone payments but due to the amount of fast food I consume (I travel over half of the year) it just kind of got stuck with me. I just took a look and my total rewards earned is $1,109.44 for the last 18 months. This is easily one of my best earning cards due to its selective use even though it doesn't get much of my overall spend.
Hi OP,
I agree with the above statements regarding the US Bank Cash+. They don't change categories that much, their most recent major change was moving restaurants out of the 5% category and changing it to Utilities. I use mine for Utilities/Internet. I think the thing that gave you pause was the fact that, whoever made the statements regarding the cateogries not calculating correctly, this was due to the merchant MCC coding, not the card, as mentioned above. US Bank is one of my favorite cards and extremely versatile.
If you are needing something specifically for Discount Stores/Warehouses....depending on your geo-area, both the UMB card and the Huntington Voice cover those at 3% cashback. (Better than 2%)
I'm a 5% cashback chaser, no AF, etc... so you'll see in my sig a few cards that might interest you if that's your goal. If you happen to be in the Vantage West area.....go get that thing right now. The BBVA is also very versatile if you're in their area.
On Deck: Possibly Aven 3% Visa
Thanks @Remedios, @longtimelurker, @dyn085, and @Taurus22 for your advice. Your persistence and love for this card prompted me to take another look at it. What sealed the deal for me was the following category info from their website:
The new 5% category "TV, Internet & Streaming Services" includes Comcast & Pandora. The "Cell Phone Providers" category includes T-Mobile. As icing on the cake, you get a $150 bonus after making $500 in eligible net purchases within the first 90 days of account opening. My T-Mobile bill is $121/month, Xfinity is $120/month, and Pandora is $10/month so it should be really easy to meet the $500 net purchases within the first 90 days. I can even throw in Gas Stations for the 2% for the first 90 days just to make sure I hit that $500 without any problems. That's awesome, thanks!
So I applied for the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card. Out of curiosity, when you applied for this card online, did it tell you right away that you were approved or did it say that they're reviewing your application and you'll receive a decision in the mail in the next 7-10 days?
@longtimelurker I'm glad that you brought up that the review in question may have had issues due to the merchant not coding as expected. I understand that logic, hopefully they understand that Comcast and Xfinity are one and the same. I also like that you said US Bank sends reminders when it's time to select the quarterly categories -- since I'm on the computer anyways doing the budgeting and paying off balances, what's a few seconds setting up some categories every 3 months. It's a shame that they don't just automatically default you the same categories as you've chosen the prior quarter if you forget to update it manually for whatever reason. Maybe that's how they can afford the 5%.
@Taurus22 I'm happy to hear that they don't change categories that much. The only problem with the Utilities category for me is that PPL Electric doesn't accept credit cards. But, since they have categories for my Comcast bill, Cellular bill, and Pandora subscription, it's just as good. What's great about this card if I get it and they don't change categories is that I can set up these automatic payments and never have to put the card in my wallet cept for the first 90 days when I will use it for gas.
@CardNut I agree, the Wells Fargo Propel Amex card is awesome. I will be applying for that too in the near future. I believe that will be the "last" card I ever apply for. As for my wife, I will make her an AU on the WF Propel Amex card and after we apply for the mortgage in 3-5 years from now, I might even sign her up for her own US Bank Cash+ card so we'll have four 5% Categories effectively. Who knows what the future holds.