As I noted in my annual budget review, we had 2017 income of $3,980 from cash back credit cards.
This puts us at $17,525 earned since 2006 (including 2016’s amount).
It’s not going to change the world financially, but it’s money we earn for doing nothing differently (we’d still spend on the same purchases), so why not?
Today I’ll detail how we were able to get to this amount as well as our plans for 2018.
The Cards I Use
Just so we’re on the same page, here are the cards I used in 2017 and their key cash back rewards:
- Fidelity Visa — 2% cash back on all purchases
- Chase Ink Business Preferred — 3 points per $1 on travel, shipping, internet, cable, phone services, and advertising purchases on social media and search engine optimization (points can be converted to cash)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred — 2 points per $1 on travel and dining (points can be converted to cash)
- Costco Visa — 4% cash back on gas, 3% cash back on restaurant and travel, 2% back from Costco and Costco.com
- Amazon Store Credit Card — 5% cash back on Amazon purchases
- Chase Ink — 5% cash back on cable and cell phone charges
- Chase Freedom — 5% cash back on rotating quarterly categories
I have had all the cards except #2 and #3 for some time. The two Chase cards near the top were added as part of my travel hacking experiment last summer.
2017 Rewards
Here’s what each card earned in 2017:
- Fidelity Visa — $1,697.28
- Chase Ink Business Preferred — $873.93
- Chase Sapphire Preferred — $550.80
- Costco Visa — $430.65
- Amazon Store Credit Card — $154.29
- Chase Ink — $142.79
- Chase Freedom — $130.40
That’s a total of $3,980.14!
Not bad, huh?
How We Got There
By now you’re probably thinking, “Wow, they must have had a ton of charges in 2017!”
Yes, that’s true.
But it’s also true that our minimum cash back was 2% and in many cases we earned significantly more.
In addition, we had two large bonuses that helped out quite a bit.
Here’s how each card was able to earn what it did:
- Fidelity Visa — This is our go-to card for “all other” spending — any purchases that do not get higher rewards with another card. The biggest “earner” with this card was my daughter’s college tuition. They allow you to pay by credit card with no added fees, so why not get 2% cash back while I’m at it?
- Chase Ink Business Preferred — I got this card strictly for travel hacking and earned a big bonus with it. The annual fee was $95.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred — Same as above, but the $95 fee was waived for the first year.
- Costco Visa — Unless the Chase Freedom card has a better deal, was use this card for gas, travel, and eating out. It’s a great option for all these categories and helped us earn a good amount on all the travel we did last year.
- Amazon Store Credit Card — I buy a LOT from Amazon, especially now that my daughter is in college — I can order something and have it shipped to her for free. Easy-peasy.
- Chase Ink — This card is basically used to pay Verizon and Comcast. I got a new iPhone this year and while I bought it at Costco ($250 cash back card) I was able to pay it off through Verizon (getting 5% cash back). Same for our kids’ phones (they reimbursed us, so it was even a better deal for us.) 😉
- Chase Freedom — We use it now and then, especially when groceries have 5% cash back. But it is limited to $75 a quarter and is difficult for my wife to remember to use, so increasingly we don’t use it often.
2018 Plans
As for now, I’ll be sticking with the line up above for 2018.
A couple possible changes:
- I’ll probably cancel the Chase Ink Business Preferred and Chase Sapphire Preferred cards before they come up for renewal. They were handy when we went to Grand Cayman since they both have no foreign transaction fees. But other than that, why do I need either of them?
- I have considered adding an American Airlines card since I fly them so often (they are cheaper than Southwest in almost all cases flying out of Denver). The card gives one free bag checked (which I wouldn’t use much as I’m all about carrying on), but it does give priority boarding which helps me get my bags on. The only problem: my credit files are locked up tighter than a drum since the Equifax mess. I don’t want to mess with freezing and unfreezing credit.
Those are my results and plans. Now’s your turn: how much did you earn in credit card rewards in 2017 and what do you have planned for 2018?
Do you have partnership links to these cards? I never heard of Costco Visa. 3% on restaurants sounds absolutely handy!
Here you go:
https://www.costco.com/credit-card.html
I’m a big fan of cash back cards.
The options are more limited in the UK, but there are a couple of good ones out there.
Combining them with voucher codes and cash back portals is an easy way to effectively get a discounted price on just about everything we purchase.
Nice card stack! We have similar cards (Preferred, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Costco, Amazon Chase, and IHG). The rewards certainly are a nice perk 🙂 Have a great weekend!
That $1600 at a 2% reward made my eyes bug out before you explained it. I said “did he buy a Tesla with that?”
That’s really great that they let you put tuition on a credit card! My biggest expense is my mortgage and I’ve been trying to come up with a way to charge it but it’s simply not allowed. It would pad my rewards points a ton.
One card to consider is American Express Blue Cash. Has an annual fee, but you get 6% for groceries upto 6000 dollars. We spend about that much per year on groceries and makes it worth even after subtracting the $85 annual fee.
I’ve had it before (before there was an annual fee — a long time ago) and it’s a good card. But we’re actually trying to lower the number of cards we carry for simplicity’s sake. Since it’s only really good for one category, we pass on it.
I need to look into some of these. The only one I have of consequence is my USAA AmEx card that gives me 3% on groceries, 2% on gas, and 1% on everything else.
That fidelity card looks particularly good to me. Will have to look into that one.
Thanks for the info!
We used to be passive about credit card points. We would just use our pnc points card and get back about $600 per year. We recently opened two Chase sapphire preferred cards. With just the points from those two cards we are flying to Dublin, Ireland from Philadelphia for $300 in out of pocket costs. Next year we would like to be able to cover our flights and hotel. It is worth the effort for an almost free vacation every year.
This is great! We’re taking our first steps into the world of credit card rewards and need to learn the ropes. Thanks for sharing!
I love the rewards. We use Chase Freedom and Saphire. I also use Earny that gives me checks in the mail for Price Protection. Works great between Amazon and Chase.
We hit 5k in 2017. This is about our average, mostly done via churning cards for bonuses as our expenditures are way lower then that.
I only made about $1700 – less than half of what you made – last year in credit card rewards across four different cards. I think that included two sign-up bonuses. I don’t intend to get any new cards this year, so I’ll probably make a little less this year. Although I did recently get a $100 referral bonus, which was nice.
I don’t want to be devil’s advocate here but this kind of reminds me of the travel rewards post. I would like to hear from deca millionaire’s on how they got there because I honestly don’t think they would be sharing stories on how they worked the credit card system. I understand free money is free money but not all money is “good” money. Credit card companies are terrible to be general. They take advantage of young families who are ignorant of the consequences of debt. That is why my family does not own a credit card. I would love to hear from some small business old school millionaires if you know of any. Guys or gals who believe in giving first and doing business with small, local companies rather than being constantly worries about their own personal bottom line. Love this blog but sometimes it’s a little too normal American for me(:
My personal opinion is you have to many cards. Not sure what the credit line is on any of these or your annual spend amounts, but I would think you could reduce the actual number of cards and get even better benefits with premium cards. The Chase Sapphire Reserve although it has a $450 fee, if you travel often, may be better for you as they reimburse you for, TSA precheck fee, $300 for any fees related to travel (could be meals, baggage cost, hotel) 3 points per dollar on travel and dining and entry into airport lounges. I get more value from a few cards that meet my spending habits and the ones above may be aligned to your spending habits which is the key. Good topic to discuss!!!
Suggestion: The bottom 3 cards in your lineup totaled about $450 of rewards.
Shift that spending to your 2% card and, while you won’t hit $450, you’ll probably get pretty close. Let’s be pessimistic and assume it’s $300. That’s 3 fewer cards to think about and 3 fewer bills to pay every month. In my opinion, for an affluent family, that’s a bargain.
Other than the freedom card, the other two require zero effort:
The Amazon card is hooked to my account at Amazon — I don’t even have a physical card. And it gives me 5% back for no hassle at all.
We don’t carry around the Ink card as we only use it on cable and phone (5% back again) and then only twice a month.
I’m a big fan of credit card rewards as well but I have two questions here:
* What was your total effective cash-back rate? i.e. $3,980.14 in rewards on how much spending?
* What is the impact on someone’s credit rating of having many credit cards which turn-over fairly frequently?
I didn’t calculate the first, but I’m guessing it would be high (10% or so?) because of the bonuses. Without the bonuses higher than 2% obviously and maybe as high as 3% but probably not likely.
Supposedly opening a ton of cards has little if any impact on credit rating and if it does it’s 10-15 points for only a bit of time. At least that’s what the travel hackers say.
Having many credit cards increases your credit rating in the long run because it decreases your overall “credit utilization”, which is an important aspect of your credit rating/score.
We used Bank of America’s Cash Rewards card that returns anywhere from 1-3% on purchases. We normally put everything we can on this card, and at the end of the year we redeem the cash rewards and use that money for our X-mas shopping/dinner! This past year it was about $500 that we were able to use for X-mas presents.
Nice that the college does not charge the fee. Both college my son’s went to charges a 3% fee for a CC.
I have set up automatic payments for most of my bills to the rewards CC which makes for a nice rebate.
I insist on keeping life simple and use a credit card for this purpose.
Two for me are United Chase Visa because they fly where I need to go. I easily take 4 trips a year with upgrades. It is $95/year.
Costco Chase Visa is the second one. We live a mile from Costco, and my husband shops there regularly for a few staples and gets gas. We get about $700 a year back.
Basically I just use the credit cards companies money for free, get some back and never feel bad about it at all. Pay in full each month and other than the annual fee, they pay me! Some day they will cut the likes of us off!
Love this blog, and keep learning more and more.
Thanks.
My wallet is similar to yours. A combo of travel and cash back cards are in my wallet. Unfortunately, now, my spending is so low that it’s hard to generate minimum spends with churning and getting big point bonuses.
Someone suggested buying gift cards for future purchases but, again, there’s not much to purchase with my limited daily expenses. It’s a good problem to have at this point while I accumulate and save. And buying cards for points sounds like too much work and a bit of a gamble. Who says everyone stays in business?
My USAA Unlimited Rewards Visa gives me back 5% on gas and Amex Blue Cash gives 6% on groceries. My Amazon Visa gives back 5% on Amazon purchases. These are my versatile purchasing cards. Sapphire Reserve and IHG for travel and points when I can.
I have many of the same cards to maximize cash and miles rebates. I get several thousand $ per year in cash, and I also have a Platinum Delta Skymiles card ($195 fee), but can get free baggage, TSA pre-check, annual free companion ticket, and able to run up extra air miles (80000+) and get 20000 MQM’s which puts me in Platinum Skymiles status (many first class upgrades (including international), free Economy Comfort seats, etc.)
Also – Costco now gas 0% foreign transaction fees, and booking travel thru Costco provides 5% rebate and, can get HHonor points for Hilton system reservations (I just spent 20 days in Honolulu earlier this year at the Embassy Suites – Waikiki).
Almost all of my spending is on credit, except birthday gifts, and real estate taxes (because of extra fees). And the payment are made automatically from my checking account and paid in full. So easy. I have many cards (10+) and my recent FICO score is 839. I have several cards with high credit ($45k) so that I can charge high cost travel (example-a recent $29k cruise for a surprise anniversary trip schedules in July).
Hey ESI
Been following you for years and have the same cards.
My wife also couldn’t remember which card to use when the quarterly bonuses change. For the last several years, I make a little card that goes in each of our wallets with the carda to use for different purchases. She consults that first now all the time.
We have been playing with travel cards now too for the last six months and we will use that card until we hit the minimum and then put that card away.
I also use the Fidelity Rewards card. Last year I got $1200 for our Roth IRA. It is about the only card that I use. I do want to do some travel hacking with some of the other ones. Keep up the great work.
You might want to give the Alaska Airlines credit card a look ESI. They have a pretty good set of signup bonuses — 30k miles, annual free ‘companion fare’, free checked bags, etc.
That’s like a free flight to Hawaii for yourself and one other… all for spending $1000 on the card.
We recently used it to cut the cost of our Japan trip.
Hi ESI Money. Great line up of cards. It’s kind of inspiring me to develop a post on what I use and why I use them.
Why carry the Chase Sapphire Preferred card when you get a better return on the Costco card for travel and restaurants and you already have the Chase Ink Business Preferred (which allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to hotel/airline partners)?
Also, you should consider using your Chase Ink card to get 5% off Visa gift cards at Office supply stores like Staples and Office Depot. Once a month or so they will have $20 rebates for purchases of this card.
I was a Fidelity Visa cardholder for many years (well, I still am, but it’s in a drawer). I switched to Alliant’s 2.5% (3% first year) Visa and never looked back. No foreign transaction fees either.
I guess the only way this would not be a no-brainer over Fidelity is if you do not use the card enough to justify the $59 annual fee (waived first year) versus $0 for Fidelity.