Fidelity Credit Card for Best All Around Card?

[ruanddu]

Hello, looking at getting the Fidelity 2% back on all purchases credit card for an all around credit card for daily use coupled with a Costco Citi card for gas and restaurants. Does this seem like an overall wise combo?

Do you know if Fidelity requires that a person removes their credit freezes at the 3 bureaus before applying for card? Thank you.

[johnsmithsf]

I am a fan of Fidelity 2% cash back card, but looks like now there is a better card available
You can get a Robinhood Gold Card and Earn 3% cash back on all categories.

[Opinika]

I put everything I can on my Fidelity 2% cash back card. Been using it 3-4 years. Now, includes no foreign transaction fee. Service has been excellent.

Haven't seen a better deal.

[Therapist Investor]

The Fidelity 2% cash back card is a solid choice for all around spending. I also use the Costco Anywhere Visa card by Citi for gas and restaurants. The American Express Blue Cash Preferred card has an annual fee, but also offers 6% cash back on groceries up to a certain limit. The Amazon Prime Visa (5% cash back for Amazon purchases) is also a good choice. This combo has served me well for about 5 years.

There is also a massive thread on credit card rewards strategies that may be of interest to you: viewtopic.php?t=192008&start=6200

[ruanddu]

I am a fan of Fidelity 2% cash back card, but looks like now there is a better card available
You can get a Robinhood Gold Card and Earn 3% cash back on all categories.

Oh thank you! Have you signed up for Robinhood Gold card yet? Anyone else that has tried Robinhood Gold card?

[ruanddu]

I put everything I can on my Fidelity 2% cash back card. Been using it 3-4 years. Now, includes no foreign transaction fee. Service has been excellent.

Haven't seen a better deal.

Thank you!

[Lastrun]

Fidelity is a good 2% base card and obviously good if you are heavy at Fidelity, it also has no foreign transaction fees.

Robinhood is the new kid on the block, but remember it technically has a $50 annual fee, so you need to factor that into spend $50/1%(3%-2%)=$5000

There are other 2% cards out there (without annual fees, hoops or caps):
-Wells Fargo Active Cash
-Pay Pal 2% base and 3% for online purchases through Paypal
-Citi Double Cash
-Sofi

But caution on foreign transaction fees.

There are others and when you add hoops, caps and annual fees.

[Therapist Investor]

Do you know if Fidelity requires that a person removes their credit freezes at the 3 bureaus before applying for card? Thank you.

You will need to remove at least one credit freeze to apply for a credit card. You should call Fidelity (or whoever you apply to) and ask which credit bureau freeze(s) they need you to remove.

[heartwood]

Do you know if Fidelity requires that a person removes their credit freezes at the 3 bureaus before applying for card? Thank you.

You will need to remove at least one credit freeze to apply for a credit card. You should call Fidelity (or whoever you apply to) and ask which credit bureau freeze(s) they need you to remove.

DW applied for a Fido signature visa yesterday. She wants a card solely in her name. We've had a joint account for many years.

If you go to https://digital.fidelity.com/ftgw/digit ... ?mc=CORDE1 it mentions the 3 main credit bureaus. She was advised to thaw the 3 of them when she called.

Easy to thaw, Google Experian freeze, Equifax freeze, and TransUnion freeze. If you already have accounts, it's a few minutes. Then refreeze.

She got it online in a couple of minutes after the thaw. Does not qualify for signon bonus since she already has the joint account.

The card comes in 7 - 10 days, but there's an option to get the number, PIN, exp, and use the card immediately in Google pay or online. Used it this after noon, less than 24 hr from approval.

[AllMostThere]

Great 2% cashback product, provided you have a Fidelity account to deposit proceeds. DW & I both have the card with 2% going back into a Fidelity 529 account for past +20 years. Easy way to get low hanging fruit on purchases you were already planning to make. Goes without saying that it's only a good deal if you payoff the card every month. Never carry a balance and never pay them interest.

[yolointopants]

Hello, looking at getting the Fidelity 2% back on all purchases credit card for an all around credit card for daily use coupled with a Costco Citi card for gas and restaurants. Does this seem like an overall wise combo?

Do you know if Fidelity requires that a person removes their credit freezes at the 3 bureaus before applying for card? Thank you.

Yes, IMO Fidelity card is the best no-brainer card without the category games you get with other cards.

I unfroze all 3 bureaus, but I think they only pulled TransUnion. That was a while ago. I don't know what the max limit is. I got $25k.

[DTalos]

Great 2% cashback product, provided you have a Fidelity account to deposit proceeds. DW & I both have the card with 2% going back into a Fidelity 529 account for past +20 years. Easy way to get low hanging fruit on purchases you were already planning to make. Goes without saying that it's only a good deal if you payoff the card every month. Never carry a balance and never pay them interest.

Which bank services this credit card and what is the quality of their customer service (e.g. in the case of a dispute over a purchase)? Is this credit card a top tier reason to use Fidelity?

[Chuckles960]

Great 2% cashback product, provided you have a Fidelity account to deposit proceeds...

...and if you don't need car rental coverage.

[typical.investor]

Fidelity is a good 2% base card and obviously good if you are heavy at Fidelity, it also has no foreign transaction fees.

Robinhood is the new kid on the block, but remember it technically has a $50 annual fee, so you need to factor that into spend $50/1%(3%-2%)=$5000

There are other 2% cards out there (without annual fees, hoops or caps):
-Wells Fargo Active Cash
-Pay Pal 2% base and 3% for online purchases through Paypal
-Citi Double Cash
-Sofi

But caution on foreign transaction fees.

There are others and when you add hoops, caps and annual fees.

Wells Fargo Active Cash is charging me 3% on foreign transactions so I dislike using that overseas.

[Dottie57]

The fidelity card is my everyday card. Love it

[vshun]

We used Citi Double cash for all around spend for many years, but after moving banking to Fidelity, it was just too easy to use Fidelity card and get automatic Cashback posted every month (With Double cash you need to do it manually which we forget for several months).
Some people on fidelityinvestments subreddit complained on Elan financial services customer service for this card, but I did not have any issues so far (actually had worse experience with Double cash, like going to a different state for vacation, going to supermarket, transaction declined, card cancelled, what the heck)

[backpacker61]

The Fidelity Investment Rewards card is my only credit card. I've had a card with Fidelity since they offered an American Express card instead.

I don't really spend much, travel much, or eat out often, so the simple "2% back on everything" into my FSKAX holding works well for me.

[madbrain]

We have the Fidelity card, actually 2 of them. We never use them. BofA offerings are superior, IMO, if you have $100k in assets there.
Bofa Unlimited Cash rewards (UCR) will give you 2.625% flat, which is better than 2%. No AF.
BofA Customized Cash Rewards (CCR) will give you 3.5% back at Costco, up to $2500/quarter. No AF.
BofA Premium rewards (PR) will give you 3.5% on travel and dining, and 2.625% on everything else. But has $95 AF.

I use mostly the CCR at Costco, and the PR for everything else. That is a 2-card setup.
Rewards auto-redeem into a Bofa checking account or a Merrill CMA (brokerage) in $25 increments.

[safari]

I prefer Wells Fargo Active Cash over Fidelity card for domestic spending. I like the flexibility of being able to redeem the cashback either back to the card or to my checking account. The Fidelity card only offers 2% cashback when the points are redeemed to a Fidelity account. Wells Fargo Active Cash also offers mobile phone insurance if you use it to pay your wireless bill. I had zero issues using my Wells Fargo Active Cash card.

[chance]

Hello, looking at getting the Fidelity 2% back on all purchases credit card for an all around credit card for daily use coupled with a Costco Citi card for gas and restaurants. Does this seem like an overall wise combo?

Do you know if Fidelity requires that a person removes their credit freezes at the 3 bureaus before applying for card? Thank you.

I had exactly this question when I got my Fidelity Rewards card because I have credit freezes at all 3 credit bureaus. I called Fidelity and was basically told they will run credit at one of the bureaus and that it is random and therefore I should unfreeze all 3 to be safe when applying. I did a 24 hour temporary unfreeze and the application went through without any problem. It's a great card, especially considering there is no annual fee.

[JohnSlackIV]

I am a fan of Fidelity 2% cash back card, but looks like now there is a better card available
You can get a Robinhood Gold Card and Earn 3% cash back on all categories.

Oh thank you! Have you signed up for Robinhood Gold card yet? Anyone else that has tried Robinhood Gold card?

Robinhood Gold is waitlisted. And anyone considering it should read this New York Times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/your ... -card.html

Most interesting bits:

Here’s the first thing to know about the new Robinhood credit card that promises 3 percent cash back on all purchases, without limits: Yesterday, when I asked Vlad Tenev, the company’s chief executive, to guarantee that it would stay at that level for 18 months, he would not.

And:

Let’s return to that promise that I failed to extract from Mr. Tenev. In 2014, I put a similar challenge to a Fidelity executive because I was suspicious of its cash-back card that offered a mere 2 percent. He accepted, the rewards remained and the card exists to this day.

But Mr. Tenev wouldn’t make the pledge. “I appreciate the exercise,” he said, adding that it was not his intent to lower the cash-back rate soon. “But I can’t really renege on the terms and conditions.”

I’ve had the Fidelity 2% card for many years. It’s a great card and for many years I charged everything on it except for Amazon and Whole Foods, which go on the Chase Amazon visa.

Even though we have most of our accounts at Fidelity I recently switched all our spending to the Wells Fargo 2% card. There were (only) two reasons I switched:

- The Fidelity card doesn’t work well with YNAB’s automatic transaction importing, and has gotten worse over time to where it’s very cumbersome to use. YNAB is how DW and I do budgeting; this has to work well for us. In contrast YNAB importing from Wells Fargo works very smoothly and uses a more secure OAuth connection.

- Fidelity will send you a notification after any transaction but they will only send text messages. Wells Fargo will send these as push notifications which are encrypted.

In general Fidelity invests very heavily in technology and you can tell because their platform is generally excellent, and it gets better over time. The Fidelity card however is serviced by Elan Financial Services, a separate company, and while it’s fairly well integrated into the main Fidelity app it’s missing some features (transaction push notifications for example).

Bottom line, Fidelity’s card is great, I used it for many years and would still be using it except for a couple niche considerations that you likely don’t care about. If Robinhood Gold proves they can offer 3% back over a long term I’d consider switching from my current 2% card, but they have to prove it first.

[the_wiki]

Nothing wrong with the Fidelity card, but Wells Fargo or Citi will give you $200 to sign up for their 2% cards.

[madbrain]

If Robinhood Gold proves they can offer 3% back over a long term I’d consider switching from my current 2% card, but they have to prove it first.

You can always cancel the Robinhood card if they lower the rewards rate. Many issuers change benefits all the time, often for the worse. Recently, Amex dropped Prioriry Pass on our 2 Hilton cards. That benefit was the only reason we carried the cards, after collecting the 2 sign-up bonuses. We closed both cards and no longer have any Amex. This is just the most recent example off the top of my head. Another is Citi Costco card dropping travel insurance and extended warranty. Citi dropped extended warranty on almost all its cards.
And of course many cards have annual fees, which can go up over time and eat into your rewards depending on your level of spending. For Robinhood, this means they could increase the monthly Gold fee.
Personally, I plan on taking advantage of the Robinhood card as soon as it's available, while it lasts. No reason to wait more than necessary, IMO.

[Locard]

Have been using the Fidelity card for years for just about all spending, to include college tuition for my son and his rental. No games or wondering what category is what. Simple.

[NYCaviator]

I don't have a Fidelity card, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think they are serviced by ELAN. That means you aren't dealing with Fidelity customer service if there is an issue. There seem to be many complaints about ELAN on the internet, but most people rarely have to interact with their card issuer, so I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Have they finally fixed the overly aggressive fraud detection? That would be what worries me. There were posts from a few years ago where people complained that their cards were constantly getting locked if they traveled out of town, especially overseas.

[radiowave]

BoA platinum rewards is our go to card. Do have and use the Fido card. The nice feature with Fidelity is that you can set u a cash management account and pay the card online directly from the treasury money market fund so can keep cash in the mm fund getting about 5% right now. Also use Discover 5% categories and Capital One for foreign travel and also Cap One has a random card number generator one time only that we use for online purchases.

See the Fidelity one stop shopping thread: viewtopic.php?t=266538

[TheGreyingDuke]

I am also an almost exclusive user of the Fidelity card. I also have the Costco (Citi) card which I use at Costco and for travel related items.

The aggressive fraud detection seems to have improved, haven't been bothered by it for the past couple of years. The lack of a foreign transaction fee and reimbursement of ATM charges are other benfits for us.

[heartwood]

I am also an almost exclusive user of the Fidelity card. I also have the Costco (Citi) card which I use at Costco and for travel related items.

The aggressive fraud detection seems to have improved, haven't been bothered by it for the past couple of years. The lack of a foreign transaction fee and reimbursement of ATM charges are other benfits for us.

We've locked our Costco Citi Visa and put it in the drawer. We looked at our spending on gas and travel charged to the card, against having to wait until March of the next year to get the rewards and have gone to the Fido Visa. The extra 1% on travel and 2% on gas over Fido isn't enough for us to wait, and then have to cash the voucher at the warehouse (for our spending level).

It worked well for us for years, until our patterns changed.

Instead we use the Fidelity Visa and get our rewards monthly, without a warehouse trip. Your mileage and patience may vary.

[ruanddu]

You all are awesome! Thank you!

[Tattarrattat]

I don't have a Fidelity card, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think they are serviced by ELAN. That means you aren't dealing with Fidelity customer service if there is an issue. There seem to be many complaints about ELAN on the internet, but most people rarely have to interact with their card issuer, so I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Have they finally fixed the overly aggressive fraud detection? That would be what worries me. There were posts from a few years ago where people complained that their cards were constantly getting locked if they traveled out of town, especially overseas.

We've had a few customer services interactions with Elan, all excellent.

[madbrain]

BoA platinum rewards is our go to card.

There is no card by that name.

The nice feature with Fidelity is that you can set u a cash management account and pay the card online directly from the treasury money market fund so can keep cash in the mm fund getting about 5% right now.

Is there anything stopping you from paying a 3rd party credit card from the Fidelity CMA ? I would expect it to auto-liquidate too, though I have not tried myself.

[NavyIC3]

We use two cards. Fido and Chase Sapphire Reserve. Travel notifications with Fido (Elan website) is a horror. Tried entering destinations and keep getting message to call them. But Fido is a great card.

[zincTwo]

Have they finally fixed the overly aggressive fraud detection? That would be what worries me. There were posts from a few years ago where people complained that their cards were constantly getting locked if they traveled out of town, especially overseas.

I'm unsure if there was ever something to fix. I had two fraud alerts on my card... both were actual fraud. I was grateful for the alerts.
ELAN also has a feature to indicate dates and countries in advance of your traveling internationally, so the alerts can be adjusted. This feature is only for international travel.

[notmyname]

I also use the Fidelity Visa for most purchases. Works great, no issues over several years.

I have a Citi Custom Cash card that I use exclusively for groceries to get 5% cashback on that category. The 5% is limited to the first $500 spending each billing cycle, so maybe not a great deal if you exceed that. I'm always under, so it works well for me.

[radiowave]

BoA platinum rewards is our go to card.

There is no card by that name.

The nice feature with Fidelity is that you can set u a cash management account and pay the card online directly from the treasury money market fund so can keep cash in the mm fund getting about 5% right now.

Is there anything stopping you from paying a 3rd party credit card from the Fidelity CMA ? I would expect it to auto-liquidate too, though I have not tried myself.

Platinum Honors Reward card https://promotions.bankofamerica.com/p ... wards/en

You can pay any credit card that is participating in the Fidelity Bill Pay service https://www.fidelity.com/spend-save/bill-pay/overview . A CMA account is one option to draw funds from or other accounts held at Fidelity.

[sycamore]

BoA platinum rewards is our go to card.

There is no card by that name.

The nice feature with Fidelity is that you can set u a cash management account and pay the card online directly from the treasury money market fund so can keep cash in the mm fund getting about 5% right now.

Is there anything stopping you from paying a 3rd party credit card from the Fidelity CMA ? I would expect it to auto-liquidate too, though I have not tried myself.

Platinum Honors Reward card https://promotions.bankofamerica.com/p ... wards/en

You can pay any credit card that is participating in the Fidelity Bill Pay service https://www.fidelity.com/spend-save/bill-pay/overview . A CMA account is one option to draw funds from or other accounts held at Fidelity.

Maybe madbrain was pointing out the name discrepancy.

The card is called Bank of America Premium Rewards.

The rewards program is called Preferred Rewards and it applies to multiple credit cards.

The program has a "Platinum Honors" tier.

Mind your p's and p's

[AllMostThere]

I am a fan of Fidelity 2% cash back card, but looks like now there is a better card available
You can get a Robinhood Gold Card and Earn 3% cash back on all categories.

Hmm, I just went on the weight list for the RH Gold Card. 3% is very intriguing. The required RH Gold Subscription of $5 month is required, but I feel the added Gold Card Benefits of - 3% CB, No Foreign Transaction Fees, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver and Extended Warranty Protection more than offset this added cost. Will definitely need to make a decision once the invite arrives.....

[Impatience]

I am a fan of Fidelity 2% cash back card, but looks like now there is a better card available
You can get a Robinhood Gold Card and Earn 3% cash back on all categories.

RH has a monthly fee so it’s not really a fair comparison.

Hmm, I just went on the weight list for the RH Gold Card. 3% is very intriguing. The required RH Gold Subscription of $5 month is required, but I feel the added Gold Card Benefits of - 3% CB, No Foreign Transaction Fees, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver and Extended Warranty Protection more than offset this added cost. Will definitely need to make a decision once the invite arrives.....

Many no-fee cards have the features you’ve mentioned (auto waiver, warranty). Fidelity may - I haven’t researched their card in depth as I use neither a fidelity or Robinhood card. The only unique feature of RH is 3% cash back on everything.

If you intend to spend at least $6k per year on the card RH will out earn Fidelity. So not that difficult. I use a 2.5% cash back on everything card with no annual fee so RH isn’t worth it for me.

[gougou]

I have US bank Altitude Reserve for 3x points on anything that can be paid via Apple Pay.

And Alliant credit card for 2.5% on everything else.

[lostcoast2023]

The Fidelity card is where 95% of my spending goes these days. I am sure there are slightly better reward cards available, but for the simplicity, it appears hard to beat.

My main requirements are no annual fees, auto redemption of cash back, and 0% foreign transaction fees.

[madbrain]

Maybe madbrain was pointing out the name discrepancy.

Yes, I was.

[firebirdparts]

I use the Fido card with an additional card which pays 5% on one category. Fido gets used for everything out of category.

[zero_coupon]

Must the Fidelity credit card be issued with the exact form of one's name (e.g. with/without middle initial) as appears on one's Fidelity account? Or is it acceptable to use a variation on the CC application (e.g. add/remove middle initial)? Or is the application auto-filled such that there's no choice?

[Andymoler58]

I’ve had that fidelity card for about 5 years now

It’s fun getting to decide what stock to buy every month with the rewards

I’ve acccumulated 9k so far . I’m trying to reach 100-150k

[JBTX]

We’ve had fidelity card for maybe 20 years now. It is the go to card for anything that doesn’t fall into categories with other cards where we get more. We are using a half dozen or more cards and probably averaging over 5% at the moment, but it does take some modest juggling.

[SimplyCurious]

If you are located on the east coast, TD Bank offers Double Up Visa credit card which gives back 2% on all purchases. It has a foreign transaction fee, which does not matter to me at this point in my life. Deposit of rewards is not automatic, unlike Fidelity's card. TD card service has been fine in my experience.

[cowbman]

We have the Fidelity card, actually 2 of them. We never use them. BofA offerings are superior, IMO, if you have $100k in assets there.
Bofa Unlimited Cash rewards (UCR) will give you 2.625% flat, which is better than 2%. No AF.
BofA Customized Cash Rewards (CCR) will give you 3.5% back at Costco, up to $2500/quarter. No AF.
BofA Premium rewards (PR) will give you 3.5% on travel and dining, and 2.625% on everything else. But has $95 AF.

I use mostly the CCR at Costco, and the PR for everything else. That is a 2-card setup.
Rewards auto-redeem into a Bofa checking account or a Merrill CMA (brokerage) in $25 increments.

--- THIS ----

I had a Fidelity Visa years ago, but I dumped it after moving over to the BoA setup. I still like my 5x cards too and the Citi Sears card. I would argue that the CCR card is the BEST card for Costco, but you should be buying gift cards online with it, so you are receiving up to 5.25% back, and not just 3.5%.

[zero_coupon]

We have the Fidelity card, actually 2 of them. We never use them. BofA offerings are superior, IMO, if you have $100k in assets there.
Bofa Unlimited Cash rewards (UCR) will give you 2.625% flat, which is better than 2%. No AF.
BofA Customized Cash Rewards (CCR) will give you 3.5% back at Costco, up to $2500/quarter. No AF.
BofA Premium rewards (PR) will give you 3.5% on travel and dining, and 2.625% on everything else. But has $95 AF.

I use mostly the CCR at Costco, and the PR for everything else. That is a 2-card setup.
Rewards auto-redeem into a Bofa checking account or a Merrill CMA (brokerage) in $25 increments.

--- THIS ----

I had a Fidelity Visa years ago, but I dumped it after moving over to the BoA setup. I still like my 5x cards too and the Citi Sears card. I would argue that the CCR card is the BEST card for Costco, but you should be buying gift cards online with it, so you are receiving up to 5.25% back, and not just 3.5%. :sharebeer

Someone on Reddit thinks the BoA Preferred Rewards program isn't worth the "costs" of putting up with BoA's shenanigans:

Since I use other cards for travel and dining out, I was getting the 2.625% only on general spending. For me, this comes out to at most $1,000 per month. Compared to cards like the Fidelity Visa or Citi Double Cash that give you 2% on everything with no annual fee, the difference in cash back was max $75 per year or on average $6.25 per month ($12,000 x 0.625%).

The pereon then lists the "costs" associated with the extra $6.25/month benefit:

Complex phone trees, long hold times, subpar customer service.
Time-wasting sales calls.
Stingy rewards program conditions.
Dumb fees.
Dumb limits.
Plaid integration mess.
Incessant advertising.

[Lastrun]

Someone on Reddit thinks the BoA Preferred Rewards program isn't worth the "costs" of putting up with BoA's shenanigans:

Since I use other cards for travel and dining out, I was getting the 2.625% only on general spending. For me, this comes out to at most $1,000 per month. Compared to cards like the Fidelity Visa or Citi Double Cash that give you 2% on everything with no annual fee, the difference in cash back was max $75 per year or on average $6.25 per month ($12,000 x 0.625%).

The pereon then lists the "costs" associated with the extra $6.25/month benefit:

Complex phone trees, long hold times, subpar customer service.
Time-wasting sales calls.
Stingy rewards program conditions.
Dumb fees.
Dumb limits.
Plaid integration mess.
Incessant advertising.

I am at VG, BofA/ME and Fidelity, and I view this Reddit post and list as bunk. BofA has been nothing but good to me, never had a fee I can remember, never had a time-wasting sales call (have been left a VM 2 times in 7 years), had only excellent customer service with no hold times, and never had a limit issue. I have received thousands of dollars of bonuses from them for everything from opening a checking accounts or credit card, to transferring assets, to best in class credit card cash back. The offering has only improved since I have been there-unlimited trades, no more push issue, and better cash options. Is it perfect, no, but the point is, put your emergency fund there, along with ETFs for some of your taxable and be done with it.

I have had some of those things on the list at Vanguard, i.e. peppered with PAS pop ups, emails, etc. That said, Fidelity is a great card for an all around 2%’er, but I would not fear BofA. YMMV.

[TheOscarGuy]

Hello, looking at getting the Fidelity 2% back on all purchases credit card for an all around credit card for daily use coupled with a Costco Citi card for gas and restaurants. Does this seem like an overall wise combo?

Do you know if Fidelity requires that a person removes their credit freezes at the 3 bureaus before applying for card? Thank you.

I had it and closed it. I was mainly not happy with CS when I needed to use them and their UI. This was a few years ago so things may have changed since then. I am a big fan of capital one, even with their annual fees their app and CS has been really good.