Recommendations for credit card with rewards program?

[LouAvul]

Ours is USAA but it excludes a lot. What do you use?

Thanks.

[mylife]

none of them

[nuconvert]

Good question. And I’d like to know about annual fee also.

[ShadowAce]

Stay away from all credit cards.

[FLT-bird]

I refuse to pay an annual fee. So any card that requires one is out.

I have a discover card that pays 2% cash back.

I have a Wells Fargo Rewards card that pays 1.5% cash back.

I have an American Express card that gives you 3% cash back on groceries so this is the one I use exclusively at grocery stores.

I set all of them to pay off all balances in full every month. 2-3% isn’t a huge amount but its free money. You might as well take it.

[MMaschin]

Check out ThePointsGuy website.

[lewislynn]

I only use the ones that give 5X green stamps.

[rbg81]

My recommendations:

— Citiband Double Cash Back: 2% back on everything, no annual fee
— AMEX Preferred Blue: 6% back on groceries, 3% back on gas, 1% for everything else. Has an annual fee of $95, but still worth it.
— Amazon Visa (for Amazon purchases only)

[rbg81]

Stay away from all credit cards.

---

That is not good advice. You can actually make $$ off credit cards as long as you pay off the balance every month. And NO cash advances.

Also—hard to travel anywhere without a CC.

[Jonty30]

I have two credit cards. One is always paid off every two weeks. It has a limit of $500.

The other credit card has an $800 limit and, if used, I make sure that I pay at least a third off every two weeks to minimize interest.

I don’t really pay attention to points or other benefits. I don’t even have Air Miles.

[MustKnowHistory]

I too like my American Express. Every January I get about $250 in cash back.

There is a stiff fee for merchants using this card, so I try not to use it at smaller locally owned stores. IGA for example may not take it.

[Sacajaweau]

agree

[Tupelo]

“I only use the ones that give 5X green stamps.”

Yup Me too also, only I only use the ones that give Top Value stamps.

[ShadowAce]

Also—hard to travel anywhere without a CC.

That's what debit cards are for.

[rbg81]

Slight correction:

— Citibank Double Cash Back
— AMEX Blue Cash Preferred

[BitWielder1]

Who pays for the cashbacks?
It's either you or your vendors.
Vendors responds with higher prices, so ultimately it's you.

[Sans-Culotte]

I was using my debit card for purchases, but now I use the Wells Fargo Active Cash card. It pays 2% on purchases, and you get a $200 bonus if you spend $1,000 in the first month. I pay it off every month to avoid finance charges.

[erlayman]

United Explorer (Visa). I pay on an ongoing basis and the annual fee is well worth it with enough miles racked up the last 3 years at this point for the rest of my life.

[FreedomPoster]

The cards we use are driven by travel (Delta AMEX) and Costco (Citi). Not sure how they stack up with others, but there are a lot of advantages (airline status) to the miles for us on the AMEX, and Costco/Citi give a fairly decent rebate.

And no, I never carry a balance. And I do try to use cash for a lot of local stuff. It’s annoying and a bit alarming how many small places don’t take cash any more.

[rbg81]

Using debit cards is riskier than using CCs. I know several people who have had their debit cards hijacked and lost $$; it is much harder to get it resolved. Also, it is much easier to dispute a charge with a debit card if you think the merchant has provided an inferior product or service.

I only use my debit card for ATM withdrawls. I feel safer as the CC is not linked to my bank account.