Best Credit Card Cash Back Bonuses?

[jnw]

I sign up for a lot of credit cards for sign up bonuses, but end up retaining some for their *huge* cash back bonuses.  I was wondering if others here could share their very best cards for specific cash back bonuses?  The following is a list of my current cards which I use for different purposes to gain the most cash back.  Just looking for some ideas to get more back. I suppose I should be getting the Fidelity credit card for the 2% on all other purchase?

Is there a decent card I can use to get 3% or more back on groceries at Neighborhood Walmart? I am currently using my Chase Freedom Unlimited / Sallie Mae cards for the 1.5% back at Walmart. (I have bought groceries from Neighborhood Walmart with the Citi Custom Cash but they only give me 1% back despite it being specifically a grocery store -- I should be getting 5% cash back on those purchases.)

What's the best card to use for cash back at Sam's Club? The 2% Fidelity card?  How about for the big Walmart department stores?

Amazon.com :  Chase Amazon Prime -- 5% cash back
Groceries (Aldi, Sprouts, etc.): Citi Custom Cash -- 5% cash back; not including Neighborhood Walmart.
Auto Fuel:  Bank of America Custom Cash Awards -- 3% cash back
Drugs: Chase Freedom Unlimited -- 3% cash back
Dining: Chase Freedom Unlimited -- 3% cash back
Travel (Hotels, Rentals, etc.): Chase Freedom Unlimited -- 5% cash back
Best Buy: Best Buy Visa -- (5%) cash back
All other: Chase Freedom Unlimited or Sallie Mae -- 1.5% cash back; I guess I should consider Fidelity (2%) for this?

[Catbert]

In addition to Fidelity,  Citi has Double Cash card.  No fee, no signing bonus but 1% when you buy and 1% when you make payments.

[secondcor521]

You might like to peruse https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-credit-card-for-grocery-store-purchases/

Personally I don't spend all that much, so I just do the Fidelity Visa 2% cash back on everything and put my rebates into my Fidelity HSA.  With the tax benefits - I can Roth convert $1 for free for every dollar that goes into my HSA - I consider it a 2.66% cash back on everything.

You might also take a look at the US Bank Altitude Connect and US Bank Altitude Go cards, which offer 4% on some of the categories you listed.  One of them comes with a $95 annual fee, waived the first year.  Also, the cash back is only in $25 chunks, which is one of the reasons I prefer my Fidelity card.

If you shop at Target a lot there is a store-affiliated card - Red Card, I think - which is 5% off Target.

[HalfDollar]

Walmart's credit card and Sam's Club mastercard if you're ok with dealing with Synchrony.

Elan Max Cash Preferred for 5% in two categories.

[jnw]

Walmart's credit card and Sam's Club mastercard if you're ok with dealing with Synchrony.

Elan Max Cash Preferred for 5% in two categories.

Thanks for sharing these. I don't know much about Synchrony.  Why do some people have issues with them?

[dragonwalker]

For dining out I use my Capital One Savor Card, 4% cash back as a credit, it does it automatically as well. At the time I got it I think it had a small $100 sign up bonus.

I also use the Citi Custom Cash cards for groceries but the 5% rewards level is capped at $500 in purchases, over that and it's 1% which works for me since my grocery budget monthly is less than that. One other technique I tie into this is I buy Arco gas cards from the supermarket so I can tie in my gas effectively at 5% cash back as well. Arco prices are usually cheapest near me in combination with using my gas buddy app. Similar prices to Costco but I choose not to be a Costco member.

[solon]

Business idea: Someone needs to build an app that lets the user input all his credit cards, and the app tells him which cards are best in which categories right now, given that some cards have caps on cash back, revolving categories, etc.

[missundecided]

Business idea: Someone needs to build an app that lets the user input all his credit cards, and the app tells him which cards are best in which categories right now, given that some cards have caps on cash back, revolving categories, etc.

This already exists. I think it's called CardPointers.

[HalfDollar]

Walmart's credit card and Sam's Club mastercard if you're ok with dealing with Synchrony.

Elan Max Cash Preferred for 5% in two categories.

Thanks for sharing these. I don't know much about Synchrony.  Why do some people have issues with them?

You're welcome. Sorry, I don't know too specifically off-hand, but they cater more to the people with just OK credit, so they definitely charge more in interest and fees. (I'd guess that some of the complaints are overblown, but that a quick search would tell you a lot.)

[Rusted Rose]

Looks like you're doing well with what you have, but you may be out of luck re: anything Walmart unless their own card offers more or you use one of the 2% on everything cards like Fidelity, since Walmart and Target are often specifically excluded from rewards schemes (as you note re: Citi Custom Cash, which I also use for 5% on groceries).

Of course, for Target, their own card gives 5% so that's what I use.

I had been using my CapOne Savor (3% on groceries) before I got the Citi, and it still offers $200 bonus for $500 spend in 3 months by referral if that's useful. I still use it for dining (3%), except right now Discover is 5% on dining this quarter.

You may have the 5% offer to activate for gas on the Chase Freedom, though.

OMG, it is so nuts to keep up with all these things, LOL. I maintain a note on my phone to remind me of which card to use for what when. Ohhhh boy.

[Dancin'Dog]

A question for those of you using so many credit cards.  How do you keep up with the payment schedules?

[sonofsven]

A question for those of you using so many credit cards.  How do you keep up with the payment schedules?

I generally use one card at a time as I'm chasing SUB's not spending categories. Different cards require different strategies: most of the SUB cards I've been getting lately are 0% interest for (x) months so paying off the balance in it's entirety isn't necessary, I just set up auto payment of a set amount and then "clean up" the balance due as needed. I also make payments as soon as possible after the monthly statement posts.
Each time I get a new card I add it to my main checking account's bill pay and also add it to my Amazon account as the default payment option.
You just need to be minimally organized, the more you do the easier it gets. I've made a few mistakes but nothing major.

[Rusted Rose]

A question for those of you using so many credit cards.  How do you keep up with the payment schedules?

Yes, it's one of those things where once you build a habit, it's pretty easy.

What I've done for years is keep "events" on my calendar (I use Notion for this), and they're set up so the date is always marked on the "card" thingy so I don't have to think much about it -- once I set up my payment, I just change the date where it's pinned to the next month accordingly. Rinse, repeat.

Others set up auto pay, but I like to keep it hands-on.

Many cards let you pick your own due date these days, so you could batch those, or set them to easier dates to remember like the 10th, 20th, 30th, whatever.

[Catbert]

A question for those of you using so many credit cards.  How do you keep up with the payment schedules?

Yes, it's one of those things where once you build a habit, it's pretty easy.

What I've done for years is keep "events" on my calendar (I use Notion for this), and they're set up so the date is always marked on the "card" thingy so I don't have to think much about it -- once I set up my payment, I just change the date where it's pinned to the next month accordingly. Rinse, repeat.

Others set up auto pay, but I like to keep it hands-on.

Many cards let you pick your own due date these days, so you could batch those, or set them to easier dates to remember like the 10th, 20th, 30th, whatever.

I've moved all cc due dates to around the 25th of the month which means statements come out by the first week of the month.  I also have minimum payment set up to auto pay in case I miss something. 

[secondcor521]

A question for those of you using so many credit cards.  How do you keep up with the payment schedules?

Yes, it's one of those things where once you build a habit, it's pretty easy.

What I've done for years is keep "events" on my calendar (I use Notion for this), and they're set up so the date is always marked on the "card" thingy so I don't have to think much about it -- once I set up my payment, I just change the date where it's pinned to the next month accordingly. Rinse, repeat.

Others set up auto pay, but I like to keep it hands-on.

Many cards let you pick your own due date these days, so you could batch those, or set them to easier dates to remember like the 10th, 20th, 30th, whatever.

I've moved all cc due dates to around the 25th of the month which means statements come out by the first week of the month.  I also have minimum payment set up to auto pay in case I miss something.

I generally set up all of mine to be autopaid from my main checking account for the statement balance on the statement due date.  I then have bill pay reminders in Quicken as well to reflect those autopays - Quicken has a nice feature where you can link the payment reminder to the current balance on the account.  Quicken also has a very nice cash flow forecast screen so I can see all of the upcoming bills (both CC's and other bills, like utilities), the amount due, whether they are paid or not, etc.  As they arrive on that screen, I just double check the amount to make sure it's correct, then enter it into my main checking account ledger - it's a couple of mouse clicks to convert the bill pay reminder into a transaction.

After setting each CC up this way, it's really only a matter of making sure there is enough cash in my checking account to pay my bills, which is something I do out of habit by checking every few days or so.

I have 21 active CCs at the moment, and managing them this way is pretty easy.

[economista]

A question for those of you using so many credit cards.  How do you keep up with the payment schedules?

I totally ignore the payment schedules and have no idea when the "due dates" are. I get paid every 2 weeks and on payday I just go through and pay off all of the credit cards. So, each card generally gets paid off twice per month (if it has a balance each time) and I don't ever have to worry about missing a due date.

[BikeFanatic]

american express everyday cash card offer 6% back on groceries- annual fee of 95$ is waived the first year. If you spend 3k in frst 3 months you also get a $300 statement credit. I just did that and got back $345- total on about 3200 spend.
Also Discover had a double cash card, I do like the discover categories, this quarter you get 5% back on restaurants and paypal, las quarter it was 5% on gas.

[sonofsven]

There's a month long deal on the Amazon prime Visa, $200 gift card upon approval. This is the card that gives 5% cash back @ Amz (6% during July '22).
Instant approval for me, made $200 in less than a minute as $200 was added to my Amz gift card balance.

[bacchi]

There's a month long deal on the Amazon prime Visa, $200 gift card upon approval. This is the card that gives 5% cash back @ Amz (6% during July '22).
Instant approval for me, made $200 in less than a minute as $200 was added to my Amz gift card balance.

Very tempting. I hate Amazon but I do occasionally use it.

---
Like economista, I also ignore the payment schedules and pay the current balance every 2 weeks.

[kpd905]

I totally ignore the payment schedules and have no idea when the "due dates" are. I get paid every 2 weeks and on payday I just go through and pay off all of the credit cards. So, each card generally gets paid off twice per month (if it has a balance each time) and I don't ever have to worry about missing a due date.

What about just setting up auto-pay to really never have to worry about missing a due date?

[economista]

I totally ignore the payment schedules and have no idea when the "due dates" are. I get paid every 2 weeks and on payday I just go through and pay off all of the credit cards. So, each card generally gets paid off twice per month (if it has a balance each time) and I don't ever have to worry about missing a due date.

What about just setting up auto-pay to really never have to worry about missing a due date?

 I like having control over how much I pay. I always pay it all off, but I would hate to have a really high balance one month and not realize how much is being paid via auto pay. I also don’t keep very much of a buffer in my checking account, so I need to know if I need to move money from savings to checking in order to pay the balance off. For example, last month I had AC installed and trees trimmed at my house. I had enough cash to cover it in my home maintenance sinking fund, but that sits in Ally not in my checking account. Neither company charged a fee for using a card, so I paid via credit card to get the points then paid them off at my next paycheck. I had to move money over first though. If I had it on auto pay I would still need to track when those dates were and how high the balance on the card was compared to the checking balance. It’s much less work to just manually pay them every 2 weeks.

[sonofsven]

I logged in to Amz to buy a gallon of Dr Bronners with my free Bezos bucks and there was a link for an Amex business prime card, also with an immediate $200 cash back (no spend needed).
Instant approval, another easy $200.

[charis]

I totally ignore the payment schedules and have no idea when the "due dates" are. I get paid every 2 weeks and on payday I just go through and pay off all of the credit cards. So, each card generally gets paid off twice per month (if it has a balance each time) and I don't ever have to worry about missing a due date.

What about just setting up auto-pay to really never have to worry about missing a due date?

 I like having control over how much I pay. I always pay it all off, but I would hate to have a really high balance one month and not realize how much is being paid via auto pay. I also don’t keep very much of a buffer in my checking account, so I need to know if I need to move money from savings to checking in order to pay the balance off. For example, last month I had AC installed and trees trimmed at my house. I had enough cash to cover it in my home maintenance sinking fund, but that sits in Ally not in my checking account. Neither company charged a fee for using a card, so I paid via credit card to get the points then paid them off at my next paycheck. I had to move money over first though. If I had it on auto pay I would still need to track when those dates were and how high the balance on the card was compared to the checking balance. It’s much less work to just manually pay them every 2 weeks.

Same. We put everything on credit cards and keep things very tight, paycheck-wise. I'm guilty of making weekly payments and I look at mint daily. It's definitely overkill but auto pay is inconvenient at this level of tracking/maintenance.

[yachi]

american express everyday cash card offer 6% back on groceries- annual fee of 95$ is waived the first year. If you spend 3k in frst 3 months you also get a $300 statement credit. I just did that and got back $345- total on about 3200 spend.
Also Discover had a double cash card, I do like the discover categories, this quarter you get 5% back on restaurants and paypal, las quarter it was 5% on gas.

I just switched to this one from their free 3% cash back on groceries card.  It's not as valuable if you do all your grocery shopping at a target or walmart because the purchases count as uncharecterized, but we do most of our grocery shopping at a dedicated grocery store so 6% all the way until we meet the maximum (about 3/4 through the year).  If you find yourself maxing out the 6% rewards 1/2 through the year instead, you can always sign up your spouse for another card.