Since I wrote How to Earn Thousands with Credit Card Rewards there has been a good amount of change in my credit card strategy.
I thought I’d share those changes with you and hear what you are doing these days with your card strategy.
FYI, Quicken shows that I have redeemed about $830 so far in cash back rewards this year. Not bad, huh?
That said, some of the monies were from charges I made last year, so it’s not a clear year to year revenue picture.
In addition, I have one card (as you’ll see below) that does not give cash back but simply takes the rebate and deducts the amount from your bill, which essentially is cash back.
But I’m getting ahead of myself…
Past Cards
If you recall, here are the cards I used to use:
- Fidelity American Express — Pays 2% cash back on every charge made. This was my most used card and basically guarantees me a minimum return on purchases of 2%.
- Chase Freedom — Pays 5% in rotating categories which change quarterly.
- Chase Ink — Gives us 5% cash back on cable and cell phone charges. Given we spend $300 on these each month, it’s an easy $180 a year.
New Plans
Here are the cards I’m using now (just a few months later) to maximize my cash back:
- Fidelity Visa — Same 2% cash back card as above but now a Visa instead of an American Express. I actually prefer this as Visa is accepted at more places. Plus one of the biggest places I had used the Amex was at Costco, and Costco no longer accepts American Express.
- Chase Freedom — Pays 5% in rotating categories which change quarterly. The big news here is that the Chase Freedom Visa card will offer 5% cash back at Costco through the end of 2016. I spend a TON of money at Costco and am loving the idea of getting 5% back on all of it.
- Chase Ink — Gives us 5% cash back on cable and cell phone charges. Still love using this one.
- Costco Visa — It’s been fairly big news that Costco recently switched from American Express to Visa. I applied for their new card shortly after it came out on June 20 and received it a few days later. It offers 4% cash back on gas, 3% cash back at restaurants and on travel, 2% at Costco, and 1% on all else. I use it for gas, restaurants, and travel (when Chase doesn’t have these at 5%), but will stick with the Chase Freedom card for Costco purchases (at least until January 1). After January 1, I’ll either use this card or the Fidelity card at Costco. As for “all other purchases”, I’ll use the Fidelity Visa.
- Amazon Store Credit Card — This is a 5% cash back card that automatically deducts earnings from the charges made at Amazon. As you know, I shop a lot at Amazon, so this card is saving me a TON.
So, that’s my current list of credit cards. What do you think? What cards are your favorites now?
We were automatically sent the Costco Citi Visa since we already had the Costco Amex, but probably will only use it at restaurants.
The main card we use is the Bank of America Cash Rewards Visa. It’s not a great card on the surface (3% gas, 2% grocery and wholesale clubs, 1% elsewhere), but since we maintain quite a lot in our BofA checking/saving plus Merrill Lynch accounts, we are in their highest tier (Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors), it adds a 75% bonus to our rewards when we redeem them. So in effect our cash back with that card is 5.25%, 3.5% and 1.75% respectively.
I have been pondering a couple of of cards. The Amazon CC since we are Prime members and order quite a bit there already and 5% back from the Lowes CC – no Home Depot in town so Lowes is the only place I shop for my furniture building hobby/side business.
I was at Lowe’s yesterday and saw a poster for their 5% card.
It’s a balance for me — the hassle of having an extra card versus the savings. I’m still deciding what to do.
Yes, earlier this year I consolidated a few savings accounts from former high yield accounts to our main account just to simplify.
But I also just signed up for the Amazon card…. 馃檪
Do you have a Costco executive membership? The 2% back from all Costco purchases made with an executive card stack on top of the cc rewards so it could be either 4% or 7% back depending on if you’re using the Citi or the chase at Costco.
Yep, we do.
I agree, very nice! 馃槈
Thanks for sharing! I am going to look into the Fidelity Visa.
We took advantage of Chase Sapphire last year to cash in $1000+ in travel rewards. We use our American Express Cash card for 6% on groceries and 3% on gas and also use the Amazon card since we shop Amazon for almost everything besides groceries (I don’t like to “shop” any more than I have to).
I’ve been thinking about the Amex card as well. Not sure it’s worth it because:
1. It’s an extra card to manage.
2. We do about half of our food shopping at non-grocery stores (i.e. Costco)
3. At least once a year Chase Freedom has 5% back at grocery stores.
4. Annual fee is fixed and upfront.
That said, 6% is nice and it looks like they have a $150 sign up bonus, so I may get one.
Thanks for the reminder!
ESI, this is a great summary and a good reminder that I need to take a look at our stable of credit cards. We’ve been using the Marriott Visa for years and enjoying the points for vacations, etc…
Recently we signed up for the Chase Saphire and are in the process of accruing 110,000 bonus points with that one.
After that, I’m going to need to sit down and look at what is best moving forward.
One nice thing about credit cards points and cash-back offers is that they are 100% tax free!
Chase Ink only for businesses and not consumers?
Yes, sorry, forgot about that.
I got it when I started my other blog, so it doesn’t have to be a business, but you need some sort of business.
I did not realize there was a 5% cash back Amazon card. I have been using a 3% cash back card (from Chase) for several yeas now. I’ll have to switch.
We use a BOA Visa at Sam’s Club, COSTCO (2% back at the warehouse stores) and for gas (3% cash back).
We have a no-fee AMEX that gives 3% back on groceries.
I have a Discover card that pays 5% back on certain categories each quarter and sometimes has the best rebate when buying on-line.
We also have a Chase Southwest Airlines card, sometimes the points are worth close to $.02 each.
That is more than enough to juggle and I dislike the hassle of adding another card, though if we “swap” it’s not so bad.
I agree. I can only manage so many cards.
We had 10 or so back in the day and it was an administrative nightmare.
Until now, I always tried to keep our cards to 2; 1 debit/ATM bank card and 1 general use credit card. I like keeping things simple. Until now I didn’t know that cards provided 5% back after the introductory hook period. That’s significant. I’m now rethinking my logic to some extent. How many cards do people think are too many cards? If you have 5 cards, that’s too many to carry in my wallet. I already have problems with getting a George Costanza wallet every month or so. Anybody’s thoughts will be greatly welcomed! Thanks in advance.
Of the ones above, I carry the Chase Freedom, Fidelity and Costco cards. They fit into a combo card carrier/money clip.
Amazon doesn’t even issue a card — everything is electronic — and it’s loaded into their site.
My wife pays the cable and phone bills and she keeps the Ink card.
I could/would carry one more if need be, but four is about my limit.
Did not realize that Amazon no longer sends out physical cards. That makes it more attractive as a card to just use online. Especially at Amazon.
Thanks for the insight.
Cool update! We’re down to 3 cards right now, but I’m going to look into that Chase Ink card. We use the Captilone Visa (1.5% cash back on everything) combined with the Discover It (5% rotating) and Chase Freedom Visa (5% rotating and at Costco right now). I try to limit us to really using only 3 cards at a time…any more than that and my husband ignores the cash back incentives when he’s out and about…
Great post. I love seeing what cards and rates other people use.
I’ve spent the last couple years rebuilding my credit, and now that I have 4 cards, I’m thinking of making a change to take advantage of some of these rates.
I need to look into that Amazon 5% card, as my Chase card is also 3%. Same thing with the Fidelity Visa (2%), as I just have a regular AMEX.
I have a hard time paying attention to the rotating cards. Any suggestions for how to keep track?
The only one I have that is rotating is the Chase Freedom card.
You can sign up to get an email from them when it’s time to activate for a new set of categories. Very easy.
I have been pleased with the new Costco Citi. I am racking up the rewards faster than American Excess. ( pun intended)
I like to keep things simple and seeing that right now when we go and see our son to pick up and drop off the hotel rewards cards are nice to rack up points for free nights. It is an adventure.Things come and go and they may drop off when there is no longer a need. Our Bestwestern card will die soon as we no longer use it as the other son has graduated.
Always good to review for maximum savings.
ESI –
The bonus is where it’s at. Check out the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. 100k points = $1k straight cash. Yes, there is an annual fee, but the benefits *hugely* outweigh the costs.
Thanks! I’ll search for that deal! 馃檪
I use Amex Blue Preferred cash back for Grocery, USBank Cash+ with some 5% categories, Citi double cash back everywhere else. In addition I use the Discover and Chase with their rotating cash back categories if useful.
Do your children have their own credit card/s or authorized user on your cards?
They both have debit cards tied to their checking accounts.
My daughter just applied for a credit card and is waiting to see if she gets approved. Her income isn’t that high (she’s still in high school), so she may not get approved.