The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: lakemom on January 22, 2015, 12:23:25 PM
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Dh has decided he wants to get a cash back card and put as much of our spending on it as possible (looking like around 4.5k per month if I can put all the utilities on it as well as monthly spending) just to earn a bit of gravy money. So in doing some research and side by side comparison I 'think' I have it narrowed down to the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Card. Do any of you have experience with them? Anything I should be aware of watching for? Any other cards you think might be better. He's not interested in travel points (at least at this time) just cash.
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Signup bonuses used for travel are far more lucrative.
But it does take some effort. And it sounds like your husband doesn't want to have to deal with that. If you're dealing with strictly cash back, then the Capital One Quicksilver is a good one. It's the best one if you guys have a significant amount of foreign transactions.
Otherwise, the Fidelity Amex or Citi Double Cash (it's a MasterCard) both give 2% cash back. You do have a $25(?) minimum redemption for cash back, but it is mathematically the best.
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I have a Citi Double Cash, Quicksilver Cash, and Discover card. I've had the Discovercard the longest and while you do have to contend with the rotating categories, if you pay attention it's 5% cashback (up to the limit), which is a lot comparatively.
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Thanks for the OP.
I've actually been contemplating the Fidelity AMEX 2% card, simply because the money goes toward investing versus consumption.
https://www.fidelity.com/cash-management/american-express-cards
Nerd Wallet appears to have a pretty comprehensive rundown of these cards.
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Oh yea that's right. I forgot about rotating category cards. Good catch SmallCheese. I even have the Chase Freedom and forgot to mention it haha.
Discover, Chase Freedom, and Citi Dividend have rotating categories. I believe all cards cap the categories at $1500 of spend earning the 5% per quarter (and 1% thereafter).
There's also the Sallie Mae Mastercard, which gives 5% on the first $250/$250/$750 in gas/groceries/bookstores (where Amazon counts as a bookstore) per month. It's a staple in my wallet.
I've actually been contemplating the Fidelity AMEX 2% card, simply because the money goes toward investing versus consumption.
The fungibility of money means that the fact that Fidelity deposits your cash back into an investment account is irrelevant.
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I know you specifically said NOT travel rewards cards, but if you do any travelling at all, the BarclayCard Arrival Plus card gives you "miles" (aka points) that you use to reimburse yourself for travel costs. You book the travel you want (airfare, hotels, train tickets, I've even had museum entrance fees show up as 'travel' and therefore reimbursable expenses), and then you pay yourself with your points for those travel items within 120 days (so you can wait the maximum amount of time before paying yourself with your points). You get double points on everything, so if you spend $1,000, you get 2,000 points, plus the bonus points you get if you meet the signup requirements (and you get 10% of your points back when you do this, which basically makes it impossible to get to 0):
http://www.barclaycardarrival.com/arrival-plus/?campaignId=2043&cellNumber=9&referrerid=BCSBA1014HPG
If you do absolutely no traveling, it would be a bad deal, but if you even buy a couple plane tickets a year, I'm guessing it would basically pay for them and therefore, be a better deal than a cash rewards card.
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I like the simplicity of the Fidelity Amex (2% cash back on everything, no annual fee, automatic redemption at $50). I also have a CapitalOne Visa (1.25% cash back, no annual fee) that I use in places that do not accept Amex and for foreign transactions (CapitalOne has no currency exchange fees). I have no patience for tracking and chasing rotating categories and I don't travel enough to chase travel rewards.
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I use and like Quicksilver for it's no BS platform. Citi Double sounds intriguing, but knowing Citi, my guess is they will pare back the 2% at some point ....?
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Amex Blue Cash Preferred
6% on groceries, 3% on gas & department stores, 1% on everything else.
$75 annual fee
Amex Blue Cash Everyday
3% on groceries, 2% on gas & department stores, 1% on everything else
No annual fee
$50 sign up bonus + Free amazon prime for a year
Can't beat the Amex Blue Cash Preferred for cash back on groceries. I use this card for groceries & gas, and a travel rewards card for everything else.
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Amex Blue Cash Preferred
6% on groceries, 3% on gas & department stores, 1% on everything else.
$75 annual fee
Amex Blue Cash Everyday
3% on groceries, 2% on gas & department stores, 1% on everything else
No annual fee
$50 sign up bonus + Free amazon prime for a year
Can't beat the Amex Blue Cash Preferred for cash back on groceries. I use this card for groceries & gas, and a travel rewards card for everything else.
This looks good, I hadn't looked at Amex because he says he wants Visa/MC because its accepted everywhere and the Amex isn't. He does travel out of the country regularly so Visa is probably better. Is this "unlimited" or is there a cap monthly or quarterly. This would be easier if he wasn't out of town with limited free time to do the research himself.
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Amex Blue Cash Preferred
6% on groceries, 3% on gas & department stores, 1% on everything else.
$75 annual fee
Amex Blue Cash Everyday
3% on groceries, 2% on gas & department stores, 1% on everything else
No annual fee
$50 sign up bonus + Free amazon prime for a year
Can't beat the Amex Blue Cash Preferred for cash back on groceries. I use this card for groceries & gas, and a travel rewards card for everything else.
This looks good, I hadn't looked at Amex because he says he wants Visa/MC because its accepted everywhere and the Amex isn't. He does travel out of the country regularly so Visa is probably better. Is this "unlimited" or is there a cap monthly or quarterly. This would be easier if he wasn't out of town with limited free time to do the research himself.
I believe the 6% rewards on groceries cap at a certain amount. After that, you get 1% on everything.
I haven't had a problem with Amex not being accepted at any grocery store or gas station. But for frequent international travel, it's probably not the best idea.
That's why I use a Visa travel rewards card for everything but groceries & gas. :)
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In addition to the American Express Blue Cash Preferred (not sure what limit it has on groceries actually, if any?), which I use for groceries...
Sallie Mae (Mastercard via Barclaycard): 5% on groceries, gas and bookstores (including Amazon) -- this has $250 limits on groceries, $250 gas so I only use it for gas/Amazon
Chase Ink (business Visa): 5% on utilities, internet, cell phone (and office supplies)
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Amex Blue Cash Preferred
6% on groceries, 3% on gas & department stores, 1% on everything else.
$75 annual fee
Amex Blue Cash Everyday
3% on groceries, 2% on gas & department stores, 1% on everything else
No annual fee
$50 sign up bonus + Free amazon prime for a year
Can't beat the Amex Blue Cash Preferred for cash back on groceries. I use this card for groceries & gas, and a travel rewards card for everything else.
This looks good, I hadn't looked at Amex because he says he wants Visa/MC because its accepted everywhere and the Amex isn't. He does travel out of the country regularly so Visa is probably better. Is this "unlimited" or is there a cap monthly or quarterly. This would be easier if he wasn't out of town with limited free time to do the research himself.
I believe the 6% rewards on groceries cap at a certain amount. After that, you get 1% on everything.
I haven't had a problem with Amex not being accepted at any grocery store or gas station. But for frequent international travel, it's probably not the best idea.
That's why I use a Visa travel rewards card for everything but groceries & gas. :)
The grocery limit is $6000/year, after that you just get 1%.
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If you don't want to have to think about it the Citi Double Cash @ 2% is the way to go. Otherwise you can certainly play with the 5% cash back categories offered quarterly by Discover and Chase Freedom. One idea is to buy Visa Debit cards at groceries (the 5% category this quarter) - pay $5.95 vigorish on a $500 card - get $25 cash back. Then use the Visa Debit card for regular spending. Also, my experience with Discover has been that if I don't use it for a while they make me an offer (usually $50 or $75 if I spend $1,000 in three months) which is worth taking.
CapitalOne at 1.5% isn't worth considering for the simple reason that Citi Double Cash @ 2% trumps it. The beauty of an AMEX card is you can participate in Small Business Saturday and basically get paid just for using your card (this year it was $10x3 per card). If you play your cards right (bad pun) you can make some easy money without working it too hard.
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CapitalOne at 1.5% isn't worth considering for the simple reason that Citi Double Cash @ 2% trumps it.
It is if you have a considerable amount of foreign transactions, because the Capital One has no foreign transaction fee while the Citi Double Cash and the Fidelity Amex do.
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Thanks for all the feedback so far. He comes home tomorrow so we will evaluate them again together. He did say that after thinking about it for a bit he would be willing to go with amex if it looks like the best of the choices. I just want easy without having to keep track of how much/where we've spent on which card(s) and what we need to do "this month" to maximize the free money. If life loosens up over the next year then maybe I'll find more time to babysit credit cards but right now easy wins.
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We have a Fidelity Visa (5,000 points is a $75 deposit in an IRA) and Discover (5,000 points is $50 on Amazon).
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I have the Fidelity AMEX and love it because it's one more easy automatic savings thing for me to do. However, if you are looking for actual cash back, you should know that you only get 2% cash back if you redeem your rewards for Fidelity investment products. If you are looking to start investing with Fidelity, Fidelity has a lot of no-fee, low cost index fund ETFs like Vanguard: https://www.fidelity.com/etfs/ishares
On very rare occasions (i.e. once every one or two months) I will come across a small business that does not accept AMEX. For these moments, I keep a backup VISA, but carrying a small amount of cash would work just as well.