Top Five Favorite Credit Cards for Non-Travel?

[jnw]

I've been thinking about it and came up with these.  Three of which I have now and two more I need to acquire.

The three I have:
1) Citi Custom Cash.  For 5% cash back, year round at grocery stores.  Sign up perks: $200 cash back and 15 months 0% APR on purchases.  (I've let the balance reach about 80% of the credit limit because I am instead putting the cash in the federal money market -- I'll withdraw the principle from Vanguard brokerage settlement account (VFMXX), a couple weeks before the 15 month promotion ends and pay it off in full.)

2) Discover It Cashback. For 5% cash back in rotating categories -- with some gift card hacking options to basically get you 5% cash back year round at Walmart, Sam's Club & Sam's Club Gas.  Also good for Paypal purchases one quarter out of the year -- which includes purchasing Walmart/Sams/Amazon gift cards. Also this card has nice sign up perks: has 15 months of 0% APR on purchases, double cash back the first year (so 10% cash back on rotating categories) as well as $100 each for referring friends. (Recently got this card and will do the same thing I have done with the Citi Custom Cash card above, pay off the balance in full in 15 months, putting all the cash into federal money market instead.)

3) Chase Amazon Prime. For 3-5% cash back from Amazon, depending on whether or not I currently have active Prime Membership that month (often free) or for a week (for $1.99).

The two I think I want:

4) USBank Cash+. For 5% cash back on Home Utilities -- name another card that does this?  Sign up perk:  0% APR on purchases for 15 months.  (Again federal money market thingy.)  (I was just turned onto this card today by another forum member. I didn't know about it!)

5) Wells Fargo Active Cash. For 2% cash back on all, includes $200 sign up bonus.  I think I am preferring this card because the Citi Double Cash and Fidelity cards don't offer the $200 sign up bonus.  But I might go with the Fidelity 2% cashback card instead because I don't yet have an Elan card; Elan cards a good for selling tradelines -- I haven't yet sold any tradelines.  The 2% cash back card would be used for anything the other 4 cards above couldn't get 5% cash back on.


So the above cards pretty much will get me 5% cash back year round on the following:
1) Aldi -- and occasionally: Sprouts, Trader Joe's & Whole Foods Market
2) My local discount grocer, where I buy meats in bulk since they are 30-50% cheaper than Aldi/Walmart/Sams
3) Walmart
4) Sam's Club
5) Auto Fuel from Sam's Club
6) Amazon
6) Home Utilities
And 1/4 of the year 5% cash back from Paypal, which can be used to purchase Sams, Walmart & Amazon gift cards.
Can also buy Walmart/Sams/Amazon gift cards at discounted prices on sites such as raise.com and get the credit card bonuses as well.  I can also purchase cards like Lowe's gift card from Amazon or via Paypal etc.. so I can get 5% cash back on those as well when needed.

I guess BILT is a decent card for 1% cashback on rent but I don't pay rent, just a mortgage payment -- yeah the thought of using Sam's Club / Walmart gift card at Walmart to get money order to pay local mortgage lender has crossed my mind lol.

My ultimate goal is to find the ultimate combination of cards  that will give me 5% cash back on everything!  It's not possible, but that's what I strive for :)
 
What are your favorite cards if you, like me, rarely travel?  It could be perhaps more than five cards :) I need more ideas :)   Please feel free to suggest any improvements or additions to my setup :)

[JupiterGreen]

I recently realized my CCs were not really working for me and made some changes (still have more to make) so I don't have favorites, but I have 2 new ones that I can update about in a month.

I didn't know about Citi Custom Cash. I still have the Citi 2% cash back and I'm getting fed up with them trying to make me use points. They recently changed their website so that the rewards read as points instead of dollars and when I make purchases they ask if I want to use the dang points. A minor annoyance, but I'm planning on cancelling the card and replacing it. I have two new cards going right now so will have to wait to enroll in a 3rd (I want to get all my sign on bonuses). I recently signed up for capital one Savor One ($200 bonus and 3% groceries), and the Wells Fargo 2% on all purchases card, that also has a $200 sign up bonus. 

So I'm guessing Aldi is coded as groceries on your CC? I was hoping that is how it would code on our Capital One Savor card. Thank you for the Citi Custom Cash card info, that looks like a good one for us. Hopefully, it will still be around in a couple of months. 

[FLBiker]

I'm not an expert on cash-back cards, but in general my approach with CC's is all about sign-up bonuses (rather than on-going rewards).  And a lot of the "travel" cards give points (like Ultimate Rewards, Venture Rewards, etc.) that can also be redeemed just for cash.  Thus, a good sign-up bonus in some sort of flexible point could certain equate to more than 5% cash back.  That said, some of them do exchange at a higher rate when used to pay off travel expenses.  Still, it might be worth checking some of them out.

[jnw]

I recently realized my CCs were not really working for me and made some changes (still have more to make) so I don't have favorites, but I have 2 new ones that I can update about in a month.

I didn't know about Citi Custom Cash. I still have the Citi 2% cash back and I'm getting fed up with them trying to make me use points. They recently changed their website so that the rewards read as points instead of dollars and when I make purchases they ask if I want to use the dang points. A minor annoyance, but I'm planning on cancelling the card and replacing it. I have two new cards going right now so will have to wait to enroll in a 3rd (I want to get all my sign on bonuses). I recently signed up for capital one Savor One ($200 bonus and 3% groceries), and the Wells Fargo 2% on all purchases card, that also has a $200 sign up bonus. 

So I'm guessing Aldi is coded as groceries on your CC? I was hoping that is how it would code on our Capital One Savor card. Thank you for the Citi Custom Cash card info, that looks like a good one for us. Hopefully, it will still be around in a couple of months.

Maybe you can make a call to Citi and they will change over your current Citi card to Citi Custom Cash?  I don't know how long you had the original Citi card but if a while, you might not want to lose the credit age?   I have two cards I never use but keep them since they are ten years old:  paypal mastercard and my credit union visa.  I just keep them because it helps improve my average credit age portion of the score.    But maybe you might want to keep the 2% cashback citi card as well and apply for the Citi Custom cash?   2% cashback card is good to have for anything that the 5% cashback cards don't cover.   Maybe you can get call Citi and have them get rid of the annoying question to spend points on purchases?  I've never seen that.

Aldi always codes as grocery on the Citi Custom Cash, Walmart never does even if I go to Neighborhood Walmart which just sells groceries.  My local discount grocer where I get 30-50% discounts on meats also always codes as grocery.

[jnw]

I'm not an expert on cash-back cards, but in general my approach with CC's is all about sign-up bonuses (rather than on-going rewards).  And a lot of the "travel" cards give points (like Ultimate Rewards, Venture Rewards, etc.) that can also be redeemed just for cash.  Thus, a good sign-up bonus in some sort of flexible point could certain equate to more than 5% cash back.  That said, some of them do exchange at a higher rate when used to pay off travel expenses.  Still, it might be worth checking some of them out.

Yeah I am for example getting the Barclays Aadvantage card. 50k miles sign up bonus with a single purchase and first year of annual fee waived.   I can downgrade the card before the year ends to avoid the $99 ongoing annual fee.  I'll still sign up for any card which has juicy sign up bonuses and meet those requirements first before using any other credit cards. But for when I am not churning a card requirement, I'll have all these other cashback cards to get me 5% back on a lot of things.

The Barclays card is nice for selling tradelines if I ever decide to do that later on.

[Catbert]

Regarding Citi Custom Cash.  The 5% is limited to $500 a month.  In addition to grocery stores you can get 5% on home improvement stores, gyms, restaurants, gas stations, some travel, drug stores and a couple more I'm not remembering.  The "catch" if that's what you want to call it is the 5% is for whatever category you spent the most on in any given billing cycle but only up to $500.

My plan for it is to use it once a year to pay for my  yearly Y membership.  Then grocery or home improvement for the other cycles.

[AnotherEngineer]

More power to you with optimizing cash back cards. I churn credit cards and cash out bonuses at $0.01/point either by check or statement credit. The effort of always having the "new" card is only marginally more than having my wife and I remember how to optimize rotating bonuses. The math is simple:

$12,000/year on a cash back card * an optimized 5% back = $600/year
$12,000/year to reach minimum spends of $3,000 on 4 cards = (50,000 points bonus + 3,000 earned at 1 point/$) * $0.01/point * 4 cards/year =  $2,120/year (17.6% cash back)

Many cards give you better points earned (but a few thousand is nothing compared to the bonus) or better redemptions (airline miles, gift card discounts, etc). The ways to earn points/cash back does not enter into my selection process.

[kenner]

I generally do a combination of both churning and percent-back optimization, but my churning is almost all for travel (and almost all targeted around large expenses that come up once or twice a year) so ignoring them for this conversation.  The most useful non-travel cards for me have been:

• Amex Blue Cash--$95 fee, 6% grocery, 3% gas...this is kind of a special case since the grocery portion generally gets maxed out with purchases for a local outreach group I work with so it more than pays for itself; if it was just my groceries/gas I'd have to check the math on usefulness
• Citi Cash--$0 fee, 5% on a chosen category, use depends on what I'm buying in a given month but hardware stores come up a few times a year
• USBank Cash+--$0 fee, 5% on select categories per quarter.  I default to utilities, but there are other options
• Discover--$0 fee, 5% on quarterly categories, use depends on category
• Affinity FCU Cash Rewards--$0 fee, 5% on quarterly categories+Amazon (or it was...they've been moving towards increased spending/increased percent back offers that aren't much use to me, and given that their autopay is garbage it may get dropped soon)
• NBT Everyday rewards--$0 fee, 4% dining
• Fidelity Rewards--$0 fee, 2% everything, my generic 'other' card

It looks more complicated than it is...I generally keep the Fidelity and a backup card in my wallet and the others stay in the box unless I'm going out for something specific.

[zolotiyeruki]

Our "main" cc is the Citi Double Cash (2% back on everything).  Yes, it's annoying when it asks you at the point of sale if you want to use points (seriously, and take a 20% hit?), but stoicism FTW.

We recently signed up for the Capital One Walmart card (5% cash back online INCLUDING GROCERY PICKUP!, 2% in store).

I'm thinking about signing us up for the Amazon CC as well (5% back on Amazon purchases).

We also have a normal Chase Freedom (1% back, 5% on rotating categories) card, but we seldom use it except when the very limited categories happen to line up with our spending.

[JupiterGreen]

I recently realized my CCs were not really working for me and made some changes (still have more to make) so I don't have favorites, but I have 2 new ones that I can update about in a month.

I didn't know about Citi Custom Cash. I still have the Citi 2% cash back and I'm getting fed up with them trying to make me use points. They recently changed their website so that the rewards read as points instead of dollars and when I make purchases they ask if I want to use the dang points. A minor annoyance, but I'm planning on cancelling the card and replacing it. I have two new cards going right now so will have to wait to enroll in a 3rd (I want to get all my sign on bonuses). I recently signed up for capital one Savor One ($200 bonus and 3% groceries), and the Wells Fargo 2% on all purchases card, that also has a $200 sign up bonus. 

So I'm guessing Aldi is coded as groceries on your CC? I was hoping that is how it would code on our Capital One Savor card. Thank you for the Citi Custom Cash card info, that looks like a good one for us. Hopefully, it will still be around in a couple of months.

Maybe you can make a call to Citi and they will change over your current Citi card to Citi Custom Cash?  I don't know how long you had the original Citi card but if a while, you might not want to lose the credit age?   I have two cards I never use but keep them since they are ten years old:  paypal mastercard and my credit union visa.  I just keep them because it helps improve my average credit age portion of the score.    But maybe you might want to keep the 2% cashback citi card as well and apply for the Citi Custom cash?   2% cashback card is good to have for anything that the 5% cashback cards don't cover.   Maybe you can get call Citi and have them get rid of the annoying question to spend points on purchases?  I've never seen that.

Aldi always codes as grocery on the Citi Custom Cash, Walmart never does even if I go to Neighborhood Walmart which just sells groceries.  My local discount grocer where I get 30-50% discounts on meats also always codes as grocery.

Thanks for this info. The reason why I didn't just call Citi is because I'm looking to benefit from the sign up bonuses, thought I'd do a bit of churning and I'm not sure if they'd give me the bonus if I made the switch that way. I didn't realize the age of the card was relevant. I have a Capital One card that I've had for like 20 years and was thinking about closing it, but it sounds like I shouldn't do that. Do you have more details about old cards, like how many one should keep open? Last time I checked my credit was 830. Do you know if churning will hurt my score?

Thank you @Catbert for the 5% explanation. I've already opened 2 new ones for the bonus so I may wait on that one.

@kenner do you know if there is an (exclusively) CC churning thread here? I couldn't find one when I did a search (I know about the bank acct one).

[jnw]

Impressive score!  The churning might drop it a little here and there but it recovers.  I'd personally keep all the old cards open.. especially if you might want to sell tradelines later (although that's not fore everyone).

Have you signed up for creditkarma.com?   You can get free TransUnion and Equifax credit reports any day of the week, as much as you want.  You can click in the "Credit Age" area of screen and it will show you the age of all your currently opened cards / installment loans.  It averages the ages of them all so you can see what your new average credit age would be in a spreadsheet by adding new cards.

[Telecaster]

Thanks for this info. The reason why I didn't just call Citi is because I'm looking to benefit from the sign up bonuses, thought I'd do a bit of churning and I'm not sure if they'd give me the bonus if I made the switch that way. I didn't realize the age of the card was relevant. I have a Capital One card that I've had for like 20 years and was thinking about closing it, but it sounds like I shouldn't do that. Do you have more details about old cards, like how many one should keep open? Last time I checked my credit was 830. Do you know if churning will hurt my score?

Thank you @Catbert for the 5% explanation. I've already opened 2 new ones for the bonus so I may wait on that one.

@kenner do you know if there is an (exclusively) CC churning thread here? I couldn't find one when I did a search (I know about the bank acct one).

Capital One has a free credit report called Credit Wise that includes a credit simulator that let's you estimate the effect  of doing things like canceling your oldest card, increasing your credit limit etc. will have on your credit score. 

I just checked and cancelling my oldest credit card has literally zero effect on my credit score, at least according to them (my credit score is similar to yours).    I'm not a big churner, but opening and closing cards has had very little effect on my credit score.   A couple points either way.

[Catbert]

Churning done "right" shouldn't hurt your credit scores.  I started churning in 2015 and have since gotten 22 credit cards.  The credit score provided by Citi before I started churning (not FICO and based on a 900 point scale) is actually up from 846 to 862.  Earlier this year a real FICO provided by BofA/Transunion was a perfect 850.  A fluke but certainly proof that gentle churning only helps your score.

Even if your score went down a bit because you're more aggressive, it wouldn't make any real difference.  Once you get to high 700s you're an excellent credit risk.

[jnw]

Churning done "right" shouldn't hurt your credit scores.  I started churning in 2015 and have since gotten 22 credit cards.  The credit score provided by Citi before I started churning (not FICO and based on a 900 point scale) is actually up from 846 to 862.  Earlier this year a real FICO provided by BofA/Transunion was a perfect 850.  A fluke but certainly proof that gentle churning only helps your score.

Even if your score went down a bit because you're more aggressive, it wouldn't make any real difference.  Once you get to high 700s you're an excellent credit risk.

Just curious, for that perfect 850 FISCO score, do you have any installment loans or is it all revolving credit?  I heard they allow 55 points (10% of score) to be allocated for "credit mix".   Which is a mixture of installment loans and revolving credit.  Just wondering if one can have 850 score without any installment loans.

[HeadedWest2029]

I have exactly 5 non-travel credit cards...so here are my top 5 ;)

1) Amex Blue Cash Preferred for 6% groceries, 3% standalone gas station, and 3% transit (taxis, rideshare, parking, trains, buses)
2) Discover for rotating 5% categories
3) Chase Freedom for rotating 5% categories
4) Chase Amazon Rewards for 5% on Amazon purchases (I'm a prime member)
5) Chase Freedom Unlimited for 3% at restaurants and drugstores

I'm kind of lazy with credit cards.  I avoid the annual membership fee (besides Amex Blue Cash preferred, which I max out the groceries limit).  I also froze our credit at all the bureaus so I don't really do any sign-up / new card bonuses like I use to.  We just put a screenshot of the rotating categories as the background on our phones each quarter.

[Catbert]

Churning done "right" shouldn't hurt your credit scores.  I started churning in 2015 and have since gotten 22 credit cards.  The credit score provided by Citi before I started churning (not FICO and based on a 900 point scale) is actually up from 846 to 862.  Earlier this year a real FICO provided by BofA/Transunion was a perfect 850.  A fluke but certainly proof that gentle churning only helps your score.

Even if your score went down a bit because you're more aggressive, it wouldn't make any real difference.  Once you get to high 700s you're an excellent credit risk.

Just curious, for that perfect 850 FISCO score, do you have any installment loans or is it all revolving credit?  I heard they allow 55 points (10% of score) to be allocated for "credit mix".   Which is a mixture of installment loans and revolving credit.  Just wondering if one can have 850 score without any installment loans.

I do have two mortgages on rental property.  No car or student loans.  The 850 is a bit of luck.  FICO from other sources is lower (830s or 840s).

[AnotherEngineer]

Churning done "right" shouldn't hurt your credit scores.  I started churning in 2015 and have since gotten 22 credit cards.  The credit score provided by Citi before I started churning (not FICO and based on a 900 point scale) is actually up from 846 to 862.  Earlier this year a real FICO provided by BofA/Transunion was a perfect 850.  A fluke but certainly proof that gentle churning only helps your score.

Even if your score went down a bit because you're more aggressive, it wouldn't make any real difference.  Once you get to high 700s you're an excellent credit risk.

Indeed. I didn't break 800 until I started churning as I didn't have "enough" credit accounts and my 1 card meant my utilization often topped 10%. Also a reminder for any who may need it: a high credit score is an indicator of but not a requirement of being good with money. You have to play their game a bit, intentionally or otherwise. It can be useful though and a low score will cost you.

[JupiterGreen]

Impressive score!  The churning might drop it a little here and there but it recovers.  I'd personally keep all the old cards open.. especially if you might want to sell tradelines later (although that's not fore everyone).

Have you signed up for creditkarma.com?   You can get free TransUnion and Equifax credit reports any day of the week, as much as you want.  You can click in the "Credit Age" area of screen and it will show you the age of all your currently opened cards / installment loans.  It averages the ages of them all so you can see what your new average credit age would be in a spreadsheet by adding new cards.

Thanks. I'm so impressed how much people are making with tradelines, but a literal nightmare for me would be people coming around my home looking for payments from the people who bought the tradelines. I've read about this happening on the tradelines thread. I also don't feel great about skirting the rules. IDK, I might be a little too risk averse. But thanks for all the info/ideas.

@Catbert when you say churning done right, what do you mean? Keeping the cards open for a certain amount of time or something else?

@Telecaster I do have a Capital One card, so I will look for that tool. Thanks for the tip!

[Catbert]

Jupiter - To me churing done right means not being the guy who gets 6 credit cards in 2 months with mediocre signing bonuses and then can't figure out why "everyone" is now rejecting his applications.  Key to "doing it right" involves education, recordkeeping and planning.

Before someone starts they should get educated about a the core rules:  Chase' s 5/24; Amex's one and done; Chase and Citi's 24/48 month limits on families of cards; and why not to cancel cards before one year, etc.  Both thepointsguy.com and doctorofcredit have a lot of information.  Just remember ThePointsGuy is no longer just a guy but part of a large company which makes its money on you getting credit cards through their links.  Doctor of Credit does not use affiliate links for credit cards and maintains an honest list of the best currently available credit card offers.   Both have good Beginner's Guides.  flyertalk.com/forums also has a lot of good information although they can be very mean if you're asking what is perceived as a dumb question.

You need to track what cards you've gotten and when.  I use a notebook (others use a spreadsheet) to track the exact name of the card, bonus requirements, date applied/approved/activated/spend met/bonus received.  If I cancel or product change I record that date also.  Credit card issuers can change requirements whenever they want.  In 2015 there was no 5/24 at Chase and no 24/48 month limits on card families.  If you haven't track info along the way you won't  be able to deal with whatever new requirements they impose.

You also need to plan.  What do you want to do with credit card rewards?  International travel?  US travel? Which airlines and hotels fit your plans?  What points can be transferred where? Or do you want cash back?  What kind of synergy can you develop with cards (e.g. Chase Trifecta).  Then how much churning do you want to do?  Maybe you will decide to get the right (for you) 5 Chase cards and then move on to other issuers since you'll never be below 5/24 again.  Or maybe 2-3 cards a year fits your budget and you can just always stay around 4 or 5/24.  Or in two player mode player 1 player stays at 4 or 5/24 and player 2 concentrates on other issuers and is way over 5/24 so no Chase cards.  In my case DH and I both stay around 5/24 so as a couple we get around 5 new cards a year.  That works for us.

[jnw]

What happens if you cancel a card before one year?  I did that once I think.  Now I am picking cards I really like and plan to keep open forever.  After I get all those cards I'll start churning others I don't plan to keep.. I guess I'll make sure not to close before 12 months.

[Catbert]

What happens if you cancel a card before one year?  I did that once I think.  Now I am picking cards I really like and plan to keep open forever.  After I get all those cards I'll start churning others I don't plan to keep.. I guess I'll make sure not to close before 12 months.

Amex will claw back the bonus points and may reconsider giving you future bonuses if you cancel before12 months..  Other issuers may not be that punitive (yet) however why be so obvious that you're just in it for the bonus.  You have 30 days after annual fee posts to cancel and fee will be refunded. Also you might get some sweet offer during that year e.g., $5 off $10 restaurant purchase or 5x points on xxx purchased this quarter.

[JupiterGreen]

Jupiter - To me churing done right means not being the guy who gets 6 credit cards in 2 months with mediocre signing bonuses and then can't figure out why "everyone" is now rejecting his applications.  Key to "doing it right" involves education, recordkeeping and planning.

Before someone starts they should get educated about a the core rules:  Chase' s 5/24; Amex's one and done; Chase and Citi's 24/48 month limits on families of cards; and why not to cancel cards before one year, etc.  Both thepointsguy.com and doctorofcredit have a lot of information.  Just remember ThePointsGuy is no longer just a guy but part of a large company which makes its money on you getting credit cards through their links.  Doctor of Credit does not use affiliate links for credit cards and maintains an honest list of the best currently available credit card offers.   Both have good Beginner's Guides.  flyertalk.com/forums also has a lot of good information although they can be very mean if you're asking what is perceived as a dumb question.

You need to track what cards you've gotten and when.  I use a notebook (others use a spreadsheet) to track the exact name of the card, bonus requirements, date applied/approved/activated/spend met/bonus received.  If I cancel or product change I record that date also.  Credit card issuers can change requirements whenever they want.  In 2015 there was no 5/24 at Chase and no 24/48 month limits on card families.  If you haven't track info along the way you won't  be able to deal with whatever new requirements they impose.

You also need to plan.  What do you want to do with credit card rewards?  International travel?  US travel? Which airlines and hotels fit your plans?  What points can be transferred where? Or do you want cash back?  What kind of synergy can you develop with cards (e.g. Chase Trifecta).  Then how much churning do you want to do?  Maybe you will decide to get the right (for you) 5 Chase cards and then move on to other issuers since you'll never be below 5/24 again.  Or maybe 2-3 cards a year fits your budget and you can just always stay around 4 or 5/24.  Or in two player mode player 1 player stays at 4 or 5/24 and player 2 concentrates on other issuers and is way over 5/24 so no Chase cards.  In my case DH and I both stay around 5/24 so as a couple we get around 5 new cards a year.  That works for us.

Thank you for all of this. I don't understand everything you wrote (5/24? 5 cards open for 24 months?) but I'll check out those sites you recommended and hopefully I will become more conversant.

[curious_george]

1) Citi double cash
2) Citi custom cash
3) Amazon Prime CC
4) Sams club CC
5) Amex blue cash preferred

[Telecaster]

Thank you for all of this. I don't understand everything you wrote (5/24? 5 cards open for 24 months?) but I'll check out those sites you recommended and hopefully I will become more conversant.

Chase denies cards (in most cases) to people who have opened five cards from any bank (note: opened not necessarily currently open) in the past 24 months.  This is important because Chase points are highly valued because of the flexibility of the points.

@Catbert 's advice was spot on:  Form a plan first, then open the cards in an order that makes sense to execute the plan. 

[Catbert]

I know this seems like I'm a shill for DoctorofCredit, but they really don't pay me. :-) Here's a couple of recent examples of credit card reviews:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citi-premier-75000-points-signup-bonus/

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-ihg-rewards-premier-card-175000-points-signup-bonus/

Edited to add:  Always read the comments on his posts since they can educational also.

[GilesMM]

Thanks for this thread.  I have been using the Chase Explorer for United points but I reckon I have enough for now.  I like to alternate years between earning points and spending them. Some cash back would be nice.


The Wells Fargo Active Cash card seems best for us. I applied twice last week and was turned down both times.  Tried again this week, with a fictitious job title and a more outrageous income estimate and it worked.  Yay!

[jnw]

The Wells Fargo Active Cash card seems best for us. I applied twice last week and was turned down both times.  Tried again this week, with a fictitious job title and a more outrageous income estimate and it worked.  Yay!

Lol glad ya got it :)

[Car Jack]

A really good, mostly unknown one is the Citi Sears card.  It's always 2% back basically in thank you points but they run promos that I think people don't even understand because they're multiples of thank you points sometimes and statement credits other times but are often 10% back.  Sometimes Restaurants, gas, grocery, sometimes other stuff. 

[curious_george]

Thanks for this thread.  I have been using the Chase Explorer for United points but I reckon I have enough for now.  I like to alternate years between earning points and spending them. Some cash back would be nice.


The Wells Fargo Active Cash card seems best for us. I applied twice last week and was turned down both times.  Tried again this week, with a fictitious job title and a more outrageous income estimate and it worked.  Yay!

lol - congrats!

I always wonder how they can even verify your income, or what the repurcussions are if you...stretch the truth some.

What are they going to do to verify the income?

Call your employer? Call the IRS? Stalk you on the MMM forums?

[jnw]

Thanks for this thread.  I have been using the Chase Explorer for United points but I reckon I have enough for now.  I like to alternate years between earning points and spending them. Some cash back would be nice.


The Wells Fargo Active Cash card seems best for us. I applied twice last week and was turned down both times.  Tried again this week, with a fictitious job title and a more outrageous income estimate and it worked.  Yay!

lol - congrats!

I always wonder how they can even verify your income, or what the repurcussions are if you...stretch the truth some.

What are they going to do to verify the income?

Call your employer? Call the IRS? Stalk you on the MMM forums?

Many application forms just ask for total income they don't distinguish between gross and net income.  It's unfair to those on social security like myself. My income isn't taxable.  My mortgage lender allowed me to multiply my ssdi income by 1.25 to get an "effective" gross income.   I wish the credit apps did the same.  Would it be dishonest simply to multiply my ssdi income by 1.25 and put that figure in there?   Seems fair.

[jnw]

A really good, mostly unknown one is the Citi Sears card.  It's always 2% back basically in thank you points but they run promos that I think people don't even understand because they're multiples of thank you points sometimes and statement credits other times but are often 10% back.  Sometimes Restaurants, gas, grocery, sometimes other stuff.

Wow you are right, this sounds like an amazing card; I think I want it!  Here is a guy reviewing the card:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCSgdflJPzI

"Citi Sears Shop Your Way Mastercard".

[billygoatjohnson]

Thanks for the recommend to cash+. You can do 2 categories at 5%. Like utilities and cell. Then another at 3%, like gas. Then everything else is 1%.

[billygoatjohnson]

I'm not an expert on cash-back cards, but in general my approach with CC's is all about sign-up bonuses (rather than on-going rewards).  And a lot of the "travel" cards give points (like Ultimate Rewards, Venture Rewards, etc.) that can also be redeemed just for cash.  Thus, a good sign-up bonus in some sort of flexible point could certain equate to more than 5% cash back.  That said, some of them do exchange at a higher rate when used to pay off travel expenses.  Still, it might be worth checking some of them out.

Usually, but the us bank cash+ does $200 bonus, two 5%, 1 3%, rest is 1%. plus no fees

[jnw]

Thanks for the recommend to cash+. You can do 2 categories at 5%. Like utilities and cell. Then another at 3%, like gas. Then everything else is 1%.

Yeah I didn't mention that it can do two categories I guess because the 2nd category I'd use is cell phone but my cell phone bill is only $12 per month (tello.com) :)

[billygoatjohnson]

Thanks for the recommend to cash+. You can do 2 categories at 5%. Like utilities and cell. Then another at 3%, like gas. Then everything else is 1%.

Yeah I didn't mention that it can do two categories I guess because the 2nd category I'd use is cell phone but my cell phone bill is only $12 per month (tello.com) :)

Well sure if you only need a gig or two.

[jnw]

Thanks for the recommend to cash+. You can do 2 categories at 5%. Like utilities and cell. Then another at 3%, like gas. Then everything else is 1%.

Yeah I didn't mention that it can do two categories I guess because the 2nd category I'd use is cell phone but my cell phone bill is only $12 per month (tello.com) :)

Well sure if you only need a gig or two.

I use it on wifi at home and I never watch videos on the phone out and about.  Yeah I have  1G and it works for me easily.