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I personally always stick with the regular cash back cards, just because cash is universal. I don't have a preferred hotel or airline, so I like having cash that can be used anywhere. I have multiple cash back cards and leverage their bonuses: Chase Freedom and Citi Dividend have the rotating bonuses and they are hardly if ever the same, and then BofA has set bonuses for gas and groceries. If one of my rotating cards has a bonus I use it, otherwise I always use BofA for gas/groceries, and all non-bonused purchases get evenly spread across the cards.
I do favor BofA since I get a 10% bonus to my points each month for redeeming into a BofA checking account, but I still like to stagger balances as much as possible.
My Amex Blue Cash card is on the old rewards program so i get 1.5% on gas grocery and pharmacy and 0.25% on all else, til I hit $6,500 in spending for the calendar year, then I get 5% on gas, grocery, pharmacy, and 1.25% on all else. So i use this primarily, and then i have a few others that pay more for specific scenarios (costco amex gives me 2% on costco, citi card gives me 3% on restaurants/bars, etc.).
i'll apply for a hotel or airline card when i'm about to travel, to get the points dump and cash it in for a discount or free travel.
My Amex Blue Cash card is on the old rewards program so i get 1.5% on gas grocery and pharmacy and 0.25% on all else, til I hit $6,500 in spending for the calendar year, then I get 5% on gas, grocery, pharmacy, and 1.25% on all else.
that sounds basically like reverse of what i get on my blue cash preferred. i get 6% grocery stores, 3% dept stores & gas, 1% all else up until 6,000. then its 1% on everything.
so is the 6,500 spending in any category? then you can get 5% up until an unlimited amount on gas grocery & pharmacy? id have to guess not because that would be abused like crazy.
that sounds basically like reverse of what i get on my blue cash preferred. i get 6% grocery stores, 3% dept stores & gas, 1% all else up until 6,000. then its 1% on everything.
so is the 6,500 spending in any category? then you can get 5% up until an unlimited amount on gas grocery & pharmacy? id have to guess not because that would be abused like crazy.
yes, once my total spending hits $6,500 in a calendar year, I get the 5%/1.25% for the rest of the year. They changed it to what you have a couple of years ago, but let existing cardholders keep the old program. Though, they tried aggressively to get us to 'upgrade' to a version with an annual fee of $79 that at first glance appears to be better, but if you look at what most people spend money on, my card is pretty valuable.
We spend about $400/month on gas, and anywhere from $700-$1,000 on groceries . so i get $50 back per month minimum. i hit the $6500 quickly because i have yankee season tickets that i pay for every january.
yes, once my total spending hits $6,500 in a calendar year, I get the 5%/1.25% for the rest of the year. They changed it to what you have a couple of years ago, but let existing cardholders keep the old program. Though, they tried aggressively to get us to 'upgrade' to a version with an annual fee of $79 that at first glance appears to be better, but if you look at what most people spend money on, my card is pretty valuable.
We spend about $400/month on gas, and anywhere from $700-$1,000 on groceries . so i get $50 back per month minimum. i hit the $6500 quickly because i have yankee season tickets that i pay for every january.
one major issue i see with no cap is that people can manufacture spending to generate tons of cash back. i can buy gift cards for $500 & pay a 5.95 fee (netting 19.05 per gift card of profit). then i can transfer that money over to bluebird and write checks from it. it seems to be getting more and more difficult, but many people can still do this a lot.
one major issue i see with no cap is that people can manufacture spending to generate tons of cash back. i can buy gift cards for $500 & pay a 5.95 fee (netting 19.05 per gift card of profit). then i can transfer that money over to bluebird and write checks from it. it seems to be getting more and more difficult, but many people can still do this a lot.
Not sure how it is handled, but most of my cash back cards specifically say that gift cards don't qualify for cash back.
one major issue i see with no cap is that people can manufacture spending to generate tons of cash back. i can buy gift cards for $500 & pay a 5.95 fee (netting 19.05 per gift card of profit). then i can transfer that money over to bluebird and write checks from it. it seems to be getting more and more difficult, but many people can still do this a lot.
i haven't tested out buying gift cards at a grocery store, but i've thought about it. maybe i'll buy an amazon gift card this week and see what it gets categorized as on my statement. i do think GCs are excluded but i'm not sure.
i haven't tested out buying gift cards at a grocery store, but i've thought about it. maybe i'll buy an amazon gift card this week and see what it gets categorized as on my statement. i do think GCs are excluded but i'm not sure.
i have tried it out successfully. here is the rewards summary from my recent statement. the problem these days is getting them to load the gift cards to bluebird at walmart. some employees refuse. i talked to a couple of managers and they said "if it runs, its ok" and it always has run. but last time i went there the manager said no, so i snuck to a cashier and was able to get them loaded. i did a little googling and some people say there visa vanilla gift cards have stopped working, but im pretty sure thats what i use. i dont know but its annoying loading these things and being hassled about it.
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