Cashback cards - what's left for me?

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GaryA505
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Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by GaryA505 »

I've gotten the following cashback cards and am wondering what's left.

BofA Cash Rewards
US Bank
Chase Freedom
Capital One Savor

I bank at BofA so I kept the BofA card (I actually have 2 BofA cash rewards cards) but close the others after I earn the cashback reward.

Are there any other good ones I could get? I'm usually looking for the low-hanging fruit ($150 cashback for charging $500 in 90 days).
Get most of it right and don't make any big mistakes. All else being equal, simpler is better. Simple is as simple does.
Rwsawbones
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by Rwsawbones »

Fidelity has a card that gives back 2% of all purchases deposited into your money market account which has a current interest rate about 2%. If you do not have a Fidelity money market account you can open one with a nominal deposit
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GaryA505
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by GaryA505 »

Actually I should have been more specific. I'm looking for cards with an introductory bonus, like the $200 from BofA and the $150 from US Bank.

For regular cashback I use BofA but I might consider the Fidelity card too.
Get most of it right and don't make any big mistakes. All else being equal, simpler is better. Simple is as simple does.
kaneohe
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by kaneohe »

The Fidelity card did have a bonus of $100 or $150 earlier this yr. You'll need to call and find out current bonus and spending requirements.
WF Cash Wise $200 for 1K spending in 3 mos https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/visa-wise/
cowbman
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by cowbman »

State Department Federal Credit Union has a 2% card with a sign up bonus. If you have status with Bank of America, I'd look into the Premium Rewards
Traveler
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by Traveler »

Rwsawbones wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 11:37 am Fidelity has a card that gives back 2% of all purchases deposited into your money market account which has a current interest rate about 2%. If you do not have a Fidelity money market account you can open one with a nominal deposit
I've looked into this with Fidelity but it seems that the money market accounts all have an expense ratio associated with them. I assume I'd have to deduct that from the ~2% interest rate to get the true return. Is this correct or is there an account I am not seeing that pays 2% with no ER?
kaneohe
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by kaneohe »

Traveler wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 1:06 pm
Rwsawbones wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 11:37 am Fidelity has a card that gives back 2% of all purchases deposited into your money market account which has a current interest rate about 2%. If you do not have a Fidelity money market account you can open one with a nominal deposit
I've looked into this with Fidelity but it seems that the money market accounts all have an expense ratio associated with them. I assume I'd have to deduct that from the ~2% interest rate to get the true return. Is this correct or is there an account I am not seeing that pays 2% with no ER?
Rates are typically quoted net of expenses. This is true even for mutual fund returns which have ER of > 1%.
aerosurfer
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by aerosurfer »

Have you checked out the Barclays Uber Visa?

$150 bonus

4% dining
3% travel
2% online purchases
1% everything else

$50 subscription credit towards online media when you spend over 5k per year, no international fees
MotoTrojan
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by MotoTrojan »

If you truly only want cash back (never travel) there are still a lot more:

Chase Sapphire Preferred gives $500 cash ($625 if used for travel)
Wells Fargo Propel $300 cash ($450 travel)
Chase Disney is $200 for $500 spend I believe
Discover It has 5% on rotating categories but doubles to 10% for first year
Wells Cashwise (can only do 1 Wells bonus per 16 months)
Amex BlueCash (they have others)
mpsz
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by mpsz »

This site tracks the latest offers... it's sort of the HQ for this hobby: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-cur ... n-bonuses/
If you're willing to spend $3,000 in 3 months, it opens up a lot more options.
GaryA505 wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 11:30 am I bank at BofA so I kept the BofA card (I actually have 2 BofA cash rewards cards) but close the others after I earn the cashback reward.
Stop doing that... it's damaging to others who partake in this hobby. We've already seen some issuers react negatively to this, like AmEx, who will claw back bonuses if you close your account in the first year.

If there's no annual fee... leave the card open for at least a year.
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GaryA505
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by GaryA505 »

mpsz wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 1:36 pm This site tracks the latest offers... it's sort of the HQ for this hobby: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-cur ... n-bonuses/
If you're willing to spend $3,000 in 3 months, it opens up a lot more options.
GaryA505 wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 11:30 am I bank at BofA so I kept the BofA card (I actually have 2 BofA cash rewards cards) but close the others after I earn the cashback reward.
Stop doing that... it's damaging to others who partake in this hobby. We've already seen some issuers react negatively to this, like AmEx, who will claw back bonuses if you close your account in the first year.

If there's no annual fee... leave the card open for at least a year.
Naw, I figure they're fishing for new customers and they'll get some with this sort of give-away. It's just a marketing cost.

You could also argue that people who never pay a credit card interest charge, annual fee, or late fee are freeloaders who cost other credit card users money.
Get most of it right and don't make any big mistakes. All else being equal, simpler is better. Simple is as simple does.
deanmoriarty
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by deanmoriarty »

Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get:

- 5.25% on dining/bars
- 5.25% on gas
- 5.25% on travel expenses
- 5.25% on online purchases
- 3.5% on groceries (including Costco)
- 2.625% on everything else

I really couldn't be happier from BOA, since the beginning of the year I already got ~$1000 in cash back thanks to all that 5%, and I don't have to worry about churning cards anymore.
cacophony
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by cacophony »

deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get:

- 5.25% on dining/bars
- 5.25% on gas
- 5.25% on travel expenses
- 5.25% on online purchases
- 3.5% on groceries (including Costco)
- 2.625% on everything else

I really couldn't be happier from BOA, since the beginning of the year I already got ~$1000 in cash back thanks to all that 5%, and I don't have to worry about churning cards anymore.
Don't those rates also require a BOA checking account and maintaining least $100k of investments at BoA/Merrill?
deanmoriarty
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by deanmoriarty »

cacophony wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:04 pm
deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get:

- 5.25% on dining/bars
- 5.25% on gas
- 5.25% on travel expenses
- 5.25% on online purchases
- 3.5% on groceries (including Costco)
- 2.625% on everything else

I really couldn't be happier from BOA, since the beginning of the year I already got ~$1000 in cash back thanks to all that 5%, and I don't have to worry about churning cards anymore.
Don't those rates also require a BOA checking account and maintaining least $100k of investments at BoA/Merrill?
Yes, the OP stated they bank at BOA, so the checking account shouldn't be an issue, and I took the liberty to assume that they have or would easily have access to the Merrill account and the ability to put 100k in it, since Vanguard ETFs are offered at $0 trading costs. For most bogleheads banking at BOA, that should be a reasonable assumption (in my case, I keep ~100k of VTI on my Merrill Edge and the rest at Vanguard). I've been doing that for so many years that I basically took it for granted :D
Last edited by deanmoriarty on Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
cacophony
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by cacophony »

deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:08 pm
cacophony wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:04 pm
deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get:

- 5.25% on dining/bars
- 5.25% on gas
- 5.25% on travel expenses
- 5.25% on online purchases
- 3.5% on groceries (including Costco)
- 2.625% on everything else

I really couldn't be happier from BOA, since the beginning of the year I already got ~$1000 in cash back thanks to all that 5%, and I don't have to worry about churning cards anymore.
Don't those rates also require a BOA checking account and maintaining least $100k of investments at BoA/Merrill?
Yes, the OP stated they bank at BOA, so the checking account shouldn't be an issue, and I took the liberty to assume that they have or would easily have access to the Merrill account and the ability to put 100k in it, since Vanguard ETFs are offered at $0 trading costs. For most bogleheads banking at BOA, that should be a reasonable assumption (in my case, I keep ~100k of VTI on my Merrill Edge and the rest at Vanguard).
I didn't mean to sound like I was questioning your excellent advice. I was mainly asking for myself to get confirmation of what I found after a bit of research.
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by whodidntante »

deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get:

- 5.25% on dining/bars
- 5.25% on gas
- 5.25% on travel expenses
- 5.25% on online purchases
- 3.5% on groceries (including Costco)
- 2.625% on everything else

I really couldn't be happier from BOA, since the beginning of the year I already got ~$1000 in cash back thanks to all that 5%, and I don't have to worry about churning cards anymore.
If you're not going to chase bonuses and just want straight up cash rebates for spending, BoA has the best system around. I am a happy customer.
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by deanmoriarty »

cacophony wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:13 pm I didn't mean to sound like I was questioning your excellent advice. I was mainly asking for myself to get confirmation of what I found after a bit of research.
Totally fair. I've been doing that for so many years that I basically took it for granted :D (BOA customer for 10 years and was an early adopter of their initial Merrill Edge free trade offering 6+ years ago). I can't recommend it enough, it made churning definitely less worth it in my opinion.
cacophony
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by cacophony »

deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get...
Anything special you have to do to get 5 instances of the same card? I didn't even know this was possible...
Can they all be requested at the same time? Thanks!
deanmoriarty
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by deanmoriarty »

cacophony wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:25 pm
deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get...
Anything special you have to do to get 5 instances of the same card? I didn't even know this was possible...
Can they all be requested at the same time? Thanks!
A couple of things:

- I have been a BOA customer for 10 years so I naturally accumulated many (averaging one every year or two) and they automatically always convert to their latest offering, so I'm not too familiar with how easy it would be to get all of them at once.
- You don't have to get 5 instances of the same card, basically all the non-fee ones listed under https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-ca ... dit-cards/ have the exact same terms and rewards. For example, I have the BOA Cash Rewards, the WWF one and the US Pride one. They all get the same 5.25% reward system.
cacophony
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by cacophony »

deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:34 pm A couple of things:

- I have been a BOA customer for 10 years so I naturally accumulated many (averaging one every year or two) and they automatically always convert to their latest offering, so I'm not too familiar with how easy it would be to get all of them at once.
- You don't have to get 5 instances of the same card, basically all the non-fee ones listed under https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-ca ... dit-cards/ have the exact same terms and rewards. For example, I have the BOA Cash Rewards, the WWF one and the US Pride one. They all get the same 5.25% reward system.
Good to know, thank you for the info :thumbsup
JackoC
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by JackoC »

deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get:

- 5.25% on dining/bars
- 5.25% on gas
- 5.25% on travel expenses
- 5.25% on online purchases
- 3.5% on groceries (including Costco)
- 2.625% on everything else

I really couldn't be happier from BOA, since the beginning of the year I already got ~$1000 in cash back thanks to all that 5%, and I don't have to worry about churning cards anymore.
What are the five cards? I guess the 2.625% everything else is a Premium Rewards Visa at Platinum ($100k assets at BOA/Merrill) level 75% bonus. And a Cash Rewards Card pays 5.25% (3 plus 75% bonus) on one spending category of your choice up to $2,500 per quarter spending. For the rest, do they let you just have multiple Cash Rewards Cards under same name, or is it other different kinds of cards?

I'm just starting with BOA/Merrill: so far one CR Visa, one PR Visa, shifted enough assets to Merrill to ramp up to Platinum ($100k daily avg past 3 months) quickly, got significant bonus from Merrill to do that, plus $500 bonus to open the PR card. I believe there's also a limit to how fast you can apply for different cards with them.

As was mentioned, seems to me for ongoing simple cash rewards BOA is best (even without your turbocharged version). If you're going to navigate the complexity of maximizing the value of 'points' on other card which don't have a fixed $ value but depend what airline tickets, hotel stay etc you trade them for, that *could* be better. But again it's complicated and sometimes seems like people quote the value of some upgrade using points as $X, but if you ask then if they would have been willing to pay $X in cash for that upgrade they say 'of course not'...which means it's not really worth $X. But when it comes to *sign up bonuses* on cards which you're not really going to use or shut down once an annual fee kicks in, that's a different game. Pretty much by definition no one provider is best for that, because you want to reap sign up bonuses from a bunch of them.
deanmoriarty
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by deanmoriarty »

JackoC wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:43 pm
What are the five cards? I guess the 2.625% everything else is a Premium Rewards Visa at Platinum ($100k assets at BOA/Merrill) level 75% bonus. And a Cash Rewards Card pays 5.25% (3 plus 75% bonus) on one spending category of your choice up to $2,500 per quarter spending. For the rest, do they let you just have multiple Cash Rewards Cards under same name, or is it other different kinds of cards?
The ones giving 5.25% are all variations of the non-fee Cash Rewards Cards (WWF, US price, ...).
The one giving 2.625% is the non-fee BOA Travel Rewards, which also has no foreign transaction fees and use it when abroad on top of the "everything else" expenses (the cashback is technically only a credit against travel expenses, but for my spending pattern that's effectively the same since I always have some travel expenses waiting to be credited, and overall I don't use that card nearly as much as the ones giving 5%).
JackoC
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by JackoC »

deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:46 pm
JackoC wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:43 pm
What are the five cards? I guess the 2.625% everything else is a Premium Rewards Visa at Platinum ($100k assets at BOA/Merrill) level 75% bonus. And a Cash Rewards Card pays 5.25% (3 plus 75% bonus) on one spending category of your choice up to $2,500 per quarter spending. For the rest, do they let you just have multiple Cash Rewards Cards under same name, or is it other different kinds of cards?
The ones giving 5.25% are all variations of the non-fee Cash Rewards Cards (WWF, US price, ...).
The one giving 2.625% is the non-fee BOA Travel Rewards, which also has no foreign transaction fees and use it when abroad on top of the "everything else" expenses (the cashback is technically only a credit against travel expenses, but for my spending pattern that's effectively the same since I always have some travel expenses waiting to be credited).
Thanks and sorry to belabor the point, but can you specify the four Cash Rewards variations?
deanmoriarty
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by deanmoriarty »

JackoC wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 5:06 pm
deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:46 pm
JackoC wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:43 pm
What are the five cards? I guess the 2.625% everything else is a Premium Rewards Visa at Platinum ($100k assets at BOA/Merrill) level 75% bonus. And a Cash Rewards Card pays 5.25% (3 plus 75% bonus) on one spending category of your choice up to $2,500 per quarter spending. For the rest, do they let you just have multiple Cash Rewards Cards under same name, or is it other different kinds of cards?
The ones giving 5.25% are all variations of the non-fee Cash Rewards Cards (WWF, US price, ...).
The one giving 2.625% is the non-fee BOA Travel Rewards, which also has no foreign transaction fees and use it when abroad on top of the "everything else" expenses (the cashback is technically only a credit against travel expenses, but for my spending pattern that's effectively the same since I always have some travel expenses waiting to be credited).
Thanks and sorry to belabor the point, but can you specify the four Cash Rewards variations?
Cash Rewards 1, Cash Rewards 2 (I believe this was another kind of card that was discontinued and automatically converted to a Cash Rewards by BOA a few years ago), World Wildlife Fund, U.S. Pride.
Topic Author
GaryA505
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by GaryA505 »

I might give the Wells Fargo Cash Wise VISA card a go. You get $200 if you do $1000 on the card in 3 months.
Get most of it right and don't make any big mistakes. All else being equal, simpler is better. Simple is as simple does.
Pu239
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by Pu239 »

deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get:

- 5.25% on dining/bars
- 5.25% on gas
- 5.25% on travel expenses
- 5.25% on online purchases
- 3.5% on groceries (including Costco)
- 2.625% on everything else

I really couldn't be happier from BOA, since the beginning of the year I already got ~$1000 in cash back thanks to all that 5%, and I don't have to worry about churning cards anymore.
This is an approach I hadn't considered. I don't dine out much and use little gas in a year, however, the online purchases and travel expenses categories have potential. Do you know if travel includes AirBNB/VRBO? Does BoA provide guidance on what constitutes online purchases (in-store vs. online Costco, for example)? Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Between the idea And the reality...Between the motion And the act...Falls the Shadow - T. S. Eliot
Topic Author
GaryA505
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by GaryA505 »

Just to clarify, do you need to have $100K at BofA to get the 5.25%?
Get most of it right and don't make any big mistakes. All else being equal, simpler is better. Simple is as simple does.
Pu239
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by Pu239 »

GaryA505 wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 11:17 pm Just to clarify, do you need to have $100K at BofA to get the 5.25%?
Yes, or Merrill Edge.
Between the idea And the reality...Between the motion And the act...Falls the Shadow - T. S. Eliot
JackoC
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by JackoC »

Pu239 wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 11:00 pm
deanmoriarty wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm Why not getting multiple BOA cards? Especially after they revamped the rewards system earlier this year, I have been quite happy, I have a total of 5 non-fee BOA cards and I get:

- 5.25% on dining/bars
- 5.25% on gas
- 5.25% on travel expenses
- 5.25% on online purchases
- 3.5% on groceries (including Costco)
- 2.625% on everything else

I really couldn't be happier from BOA, since the beginning of the year I already got ~$1000 in cash back thanks to all that 5%, and I don't have to worry about churning cards anymore.
This is an approach I hadn't considered. I don't dine out much and use little gas in a year, however, the online purchases and travel expenses categories have potential. Do you know if travel includes AirBNB/VRBO? Does BoA provide guidance on what constitutes online purchases (in-store vs. online Costco, for example)? Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
This Flyertalk forum thread discussed some specific billing codes BOA counts as 'online', which according to the thread includes code 5300 transaction flag 'Y', online purchases at warehouse stores. Further summarizing it says in general merchandise purchase will count, so will travel purchased online (even though 'travel' is a separate bonus category you can choose), services purchased online generally not (health insurance, taxes etc), the gift card gambit (maxing out a category limit in a time period with online gift card from a qualifying merchant) maybe not either.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit- ... tions.html

But I think generally in the 'category' rewards game you have to accept some trial and error, charging stuff then seeing how it gets counted. It's at least easy to see on the view of your account online on BOA how much cashback each purchase is earning.

I also thank deanmoriarity for the explanations. Like I said I just got into BOA/Merrill $100k balance rewards, the idea of having several Cash Rewards cards hadn't occurred to me. Based on deanm's posts I already got one more, a Cash Rewards Mastercard to go with the existing Cash Rewards Visa and Premium Rewards Visa (3.5% travel/dining, 2.625% everything else no limit), also got a small ($200) sign up bonus on the MC. That should be enough for now since we still have Amex BlueCash 5% supermarket/gas/drugstore. But you have to put $6.5k on that one at a lower reward rate at beginning of each billing year to get to 5%, overall rate has come out around ~2.5% for us historically. So we'll retire it at the end of this billing year and maybe get another BOA Cash Rewards card then. Also if it wasn't specially mentioned, there's a $2.5k per quarter spend limit on each BOA Cash Rewards card on the sum of the 5.25% selected bonus category and the permanent 3.5% back at warehouse stores/grocery category, rewards drop to 1.75% on either after that (all assuming 75% bonus, ie. $100k+ assets at BOA/Merrill). Depending on your spending levels per category that can have further implications on how many cards and what to do with each one.

Also I work on a 'soft' constraint that if day to day CC use gets too complicated my wife pushes back on it.
criticalmass
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Re: Cashback cards - what's left for me?

Post by criticalmass »

Traveler wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 1:06 pm
Rwsawbones wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 11:37 am Fidelity has a card that gives back 2% of all purchases deposited into your money market account which has a current interest rate about 2%. If you do not have a Fidelity money market account you can open one with a nominal deposit
I've looked into this with Fidelity but it seems that the money market accounts all have an expense ratio associated with them. I assume I'd have to deduct that from the ~2% interest rate to get the true return. Is this correct or is there an account I am not seeing that pays 2% with no ER?
This doesn't make sense, the published money market interest rate or yield is net after expenses. Expenses are quite low anyway. It's a money market so you can withdraw whenever you want. If you want to use someone else's credit card that pays more than 2% cash back, use that. I like my USAA card that pays 2.5% cashback and if they still offered it, I would suggest that for USAA members. The BoA cards that pay up to 5.625% for customers with high balances are good too.
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