Author of this page, if you're reading this, thank you for making this a plain text table of data with none of the tracking and marketing cruft that most people would do with this data. I really appreciate the efficiency of this approach and I'm grateful to you for keeping it simple.
If you're into optimizing things like this, I highly recommend the Doctor of Credit blog[1]. Most credit card blogs are basically just ads for credit cards that make their money off affiliate links, but DoC has made an explicit choice not to do that, and generally has good information without the "this is a super lucrative card everyone should apply for" junk that you see everywhere else.
It's a good card, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to everyone. For all but the biggest spenders, the Citi DoubleCash makes more sense because it also gives 2% but with no annual fee. Since you're paying the $89, you'd have to spend over $89,000 annually ($89 / 0.1% difference) to make the 2.1% worth it over the 2%.
* Redemption is extremely limited (only 1cpp for reimbursements for "travel" charges, and minimum 10,000 points ($100) redemption)
* That annual fee quickly eats into effective cash back after the first year. There are 1.5% cashback cards with zero annual fee; for that extra 0.5% to be worth $90 you have to put more than $18k in spend on the card every year.
I got one of these for the sign-up bonus (and I'd recommend doing so!) but I wouldn't hold on to it for a cashback card.
If your spending is high enough: Chase sapphire reserve. Has an effective annual fee of $150 but strong benefits. You can cash out or get a 25% bonus when using it to pay for air travel.
It’s metal which seems nice but really isn’t. You can’t stick it into many machines and eventually it delaminates.
Annual fee is $450 not $150. You forgot to mention the $300 travel credit is only relevant if you spend $300+ on travel each year regardless of whether you have the card.
The reserve has a 50% (not 25%) bonus for anything on their travel portal — air, hotels, or car rentals. (The "preferred" is the Chase card with the 25% redemption bonus on their travel portal.)
I believe the Chase Sapphire Reserve has a 50% redemption bonus on "travel" booked through their portal, and Chase Sapphire Preferred is the one with the 25% bonus.
Personal opinion: Straight cash back cards are not exciting at all. You’re better off watching what you spend than getting excited about getting $20 back for spending every $1000.
Credit cards in the US are exciting right now because of premium rewards, mainly airlines miles, credit card points (Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi TY, Amex Membership Rewards), which could be worth 2-5 cents per point. Unlike cash back cards, these usually come with a fee though many waive it the first year.
I prefer cash back cards because I don't fly enough to care about miles. I also don't really want to think about points that I don't get to spend however I want. But I can imagine if you like the other rewards offered on some cards, you're probably getting more value than with cash back.
For a no AF 2% card the PenFed card not on the list (https://www.penfed.org/credit-cards/power-cash-rewards) looks better than Double Cash as it doesn't have foreign transaction fees. To receive the full 2% cashback a PenFed checking account is required, but there's no annual fee on that account either.
For travel you might want the Pathfinder Rewards card instead. If you're not traveling Citi has the advantage of letting you create virtual account numbers and showing you your FICO score.
This actually isn't very much. I have this card and while it does barely pay for its yearly fee, that's about it. I spend about $300/month on groceries which I think is reasonably in most places except for the most expensive cities. Here's the math:
Now consider the amex interchange rate of 1.95% + $0.10 per retail transaction. Let's say I shop 24 times in a year. ($0.10 * 24) + ($3600 * 0.0195) = $72.6.
The most amex could possibly lose on my card in a year is $73. But only the most disciplined people will use it for groceries and only groceries.
I have an earlier iteration of this with a lower cashback rate and no annual fee. I have to spend over a certain threshold per year to unlock the marketed cashback - it's substantially less below that spend.
One thing that should be made clear is that the cash back is not on groceries, it's on purchases made at grocery stores. Groceries bought at Wal Mart, Costco, Target, etc. don't qualify. Similarly, the percentage cashback for gas doesn't apply to gas stations attached to other stores, e.g. Murphy, Kroger, etc.
I suppose this card could be different, if so it might be worth the annual fee.
[+] [-] floatingatoll|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hyperenergy|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gravity_123|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Meekro|7 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.usaa.com/inet/wc/bank-credit-card-preferred-cash...
[+] [-] 3into10power5|7 years ago|reply
This is way better than reading endless blogspots and searching on google. How much time did you invest into making this?
[+] [-] alexhutcheson|7 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.doctorofcredit.com/
[+] [-] rradu|7 years ago|reply
* 2 points for each $1 spent + 5% bonus on redeeming (effectively 2.1% in cash back)
* 70,000 points ($700) on signup with minimum spend
* $89 annual fee, waived first year
* No foreign transaction fees
https://cards.barclaycardus.com/banking/cards/barclaycard-ar...
[+] [-] rsanek|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] loeg|7 years ago|reply
* Redemption is extremely limited (only 1cpp for reimbursements for "travel" charges, and minimum 10,000 points ($100) redemption)
* That annual fee quickly eats into effective cash back after the first year. There are 1.5% cashback cards with zero annual fee; for that extra 0.5% to be worth $90 you have to put more than $18k in spend on the card every year.
I got one of these for the sign-up bonus (and I'd recommend doing so!) but I wouldn't hold on to it for a cashback card.
[+] [-] markovbot|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bufferoverflow|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LeoPanthera|7 years ago|reply
https://thewirecutter.com/money/credit-cards/
[+] [-] encoderer|7 years ago|reply
It’s metal which seems nice but really isn’t. You can’t stick it into many machines and eventually it delaminates.
[+] [-] mehrdadn|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] loeg|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryan-c|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryan-c|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] randomacct3847|7 years ago|reply
Credit cards in the US are exciting right now because of premium rewards, mainly airlines miles, credit card points (Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi TY, Amex Membership Rewards), which could be worth 2-5 cents per point. Unlike cash back cards, these usually come with a fee though many waive it the first year.
[+] [-] michaelmior|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gst|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mehrdadn|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] chrisseaton|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jniedrauer|7 years ago|reply
$300 * 12 (months) = $3600 (yearly food budget) * 0.06 (rewards) = $216 - $95 (annual fee) = $121 reward dollars annually.
Now consider the amex interchange rate of 1.95% + $0.10 per retail transaction. Let's say I shop 24 times in a year. ($0.10 * 24) + ($3600 * 0.0195) = $72.6.
The most amex could possibly lose on my card in a year is $73. But only the most disciplined people will use it for groceries and only groceries.
[+] [-] saxonww|7 years ago|reply
One thing that should be made clear is that the cash back is not on groceries, it's on purchases made at grocery stores. Groceries bought at Wal Mart, Costco, Target, etc. don't qualify. Similarly, the percentage cashback for gas doesn't apply to gas stations attached to other stores, e.g. Murphy, Kroger, etc.
I suppose this card could be different, if so it might be worth the annual fee.
[+] [-] alexhutcheson|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dnhz|7 years ago|reply