Best cash back credit cards.


 
Kevin L (NKY) said:
I have a couple cards but use Discover alot and love it for traveling. You can inform them ahead of your trip and set up spending limits so they watch for your cars being stolen. Very handy as my wife travels to S Korea every few years.
Cash back is good and security even better.
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Just about any card will allow you to do that I have a Costco, Amex and Amazon Chase card with the apps on my phone. They are all setup to notify me by text anytime I use those cards you can tailor them anyway you want if you don't want to be bothered being notified for small amounts like under $20 dollars or whatever. I started doing this after the last time my wife got hacked awhile back so I can see every charge right away.

As for the discussion that they are not providing anything for free maybe not as the merchants are building those fees into their prices no doubt. But thats actually hurting people who pay cash since they are not getting any cash back on anything, last time I checked if I shop at Kroger they don't give me a discount if I pay cash nor except for some gas stations and its been said already its still way cheaper for me to gas up at Costco using my card than the discount offered by gas stations for paying cash.

I carry very little cash use my cards for everything I can but I carry no balances so its free money to me on what they give you back.
 
Brian B Atlanta said:
Just about any card will allow you to do that I have a Costco, Amex and Amazon Chase card with the apps on my phone. They are all setup to notify me by text anytime I use those cards you can tailor them anyway you want if you don't want to be bothered being notified for small amounts like under $20 dollars or whatever. I started doing this after the last time my wife got hacked awhile back so I can see every charge right away.

As for the discussion that they are not providing anything for free maybe not as the merchants are building those fees into their prices no doubt. But thats actually hurting people who pay cash since they are not getting any cash back on anything, last time I checked if I shop at Kroger they don't give me a discount if I pay cash nor except for some gas stations and its been said already its still way cheaper for me to gas up at Costco using my card than the discount offered by gas stations for paying cash.

I carry very little cash use my cards for everything I can but I carry no balances so its free money to me on what they give you back.
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True now but 20 plus years ago they were limited to just a few. And you are correct about not getting notification on 20.00. I have treid to use other cards while in Korea, and had trouble Discover well liked . But things may have changed as we last travel over in 2018 .
And the whole world has changed since then. Also for me Costco is not thar great it is over 20 miles away and very crowded, and the saving on small buys is not that great for us. With high prices and lack of storage the big box stores do nothing for me except let me get excersie.
 
It's incredible to me that not one mention has been made in this entire thread about comparing the interest rates charged by the various credit cards. Can you add that bit of info when comparing cash back rewards? I mean, wouldn't it be a hoot if the companies that offer the most cash back also charge the highest interest rates?

In the days before the cash back perks, that's how credit cards were compared. The best cards had the lowest rates. I guess nobody cares about that any more.
 
And I consider the cash back to be a marketing ploy. Look, if I loan you the money to buy something that costs $10k, and give you $2k back in cash rewards, the smart money would use that $2k to pay down the card so the vig wouldn't be so bad...but...what happens is, hey, it's "found" money to you, and you leverage that to buy a car or a boat or pay for a vacation and end up borrowing another $5k from me to pay for it. Pure genius, if you ask me.
 
Ed P said:
It's incredible to me that not one mention has been made in this entire thread about comparing the interest rates charged by the various credit cards. Can you add that bit of info when comparing cash back rewards? I mean, wouldn't it be a hoot if the companies that offer the most cash back also charge the highest interest rates?

In the days before the cash back perks, that's how credit cards were compared. The best cards had the lowest rates. I guess nobody cares about that any more.
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Here's mine:

Points.png

CC Info.png

Keep an eye on that Variable Rate if you have an outstanding balance. It's likely to be going up soon.
 
Ed, I don't carry a balance on any credit card, and pay zero interest. The interest they charge to those that carry a balance means nothing to me. If I can't pay the balance each month, I don't buy it.

We use the Costco Citi card and have an Executive Membership. It MORE than pays for itself every year. Like WAY more.
 
Ed P said:
In the days before the cash back perks, that's how credit cards were compared. The best cards had the lowest rates. I guess nobody cares about that any more.
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Well can only speak for myself could care less who has the lowest interest rate because I don't incur credit card debt, don't buy stuff if I can't afford to clear my balance at the end of the monthly billing cycle. Credit card companies love people who have a balance after the billing cycle they hate people like me who in 40 years or more have never paid them a dime of interest.
 
Ed P said:
It's incredible to me that not one mention has been made in this entire thread about comparing the interest rates charged by the various credit cards. Can you add that bit of info when comparing cash back rewards? I mean, wouldn't it be a hoot if the companies that offer the most cash back also charge the highest interest rates?

In the days before the cash back perks, that's how credit cards were compared. The best cards had the lowest rates. I guess nobody cares about that any more.
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I am not really worried about interest when I was younger I paid interest on a credit card balance then I changed my way of thinking , I just used the card to purchase without using cash. Then pay off each month in 35 years or so I may have paid about 100 in interest. Cash back is used more.
 
Ed P said:
It's incredible to me that not one mention has been made in this entire thread about comparing the interest rates charged by the various credit cards. Can you add that bit of info when comparing cash back rewards? I mean, wouldn't it be a hoot if the companies that offer the most cash back also charge the highest interest rates?

In the days before the cash back perks, that's how credit cards were compared. The best cards had the lowest rates. I guess nobody cares about that any more.
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cash back cards are targeted to very credit worthy people and the interest rates on CB cards is very high. the credit card industry markets lower rate cards to people that carry balances. different products for different types of people.
 
Brian B Atlanta said:
Credit card companies love people who have a balance after the billing cycle they hate people like me who in 40 years or more have never paid them a dime of interest.
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They do not hate you. The CC companies still charge a processing fee that is 1.5-2% for the larger vendors and probably a little more for small shops. But, the real income is the interest charges.
 
Just looking for the APR number, whether you pay it or not, but nobody knows what that is, I guess.

I'm the same, never paid any attention because I don't pay interest either, but I just looked at my latest statement and the current rate is 14.24%. I have zero debt and own my own home, so I would think I qualify for a better rate...or is it just the opposite?
 
Ed P said:
And I consider the cash back to be a marketing ploy. Look, if I loan you the money to buy something that costs $10k, and give you $2k back in cash rewards, the smart money would use that $2k to pay down the card so the vig wouldn't be so bad...but...what happens is, hey, it's "found" money to you, and you leverage that to buy a car or a boat or pay for a vacation and end up borrowing another $5k from me to pay for it. Pure genius, if you ask me.
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Would never pay interest on a credit card .
 
Ed P said:
Just looking for the APR number, whether you pay it or not, but nobody knows what that is, I guess.

I'm the same, never paid any attention because I don't pay interest either, but I just looked at my latest statement and the current rate is 14.24%. I have zero debt and own my own home, so I would think I qualify for a better rate...or is it just the opposite?
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i think my costco one is 16.49% on purchases. idk as i never keep a balance tho.
 
Ed its pretty complicated as Brett was referring to high rates on certain cash back cards different product kind of. Its hard to have it both ways if you have a good cash back card with good useful rewards I would put the Amazon card in that category providing you shop frequently at Amazon which I do its hard to expect a low interest rate along with those rewards.

The only card I pay a fee on is my American Express Gold Delta Card which is $95 a year I think. However I live in Atlanta so I pretty much fly Delta and nobody else, what that card gets me is pretty good cash back on restaurants which is kind of their thing especially and last year they were offering $10 a month eating at local restaurants think you had to charge a certain dollar amount but it was not a big number so I got at least $120 off my restaurant tabs not sure it ran the whole year forget so maybe it was less. But when I fly Delta and use that card I get priority boarding for myself and anyone flying with me providing I buy the tickets, I also get one bag checked for free and again that applies to anyone flying with me so I get my money's worth. Others may not but I have gotten many a free ticket over the years yup I get it nothing is free I spent the money to earn those points.
 
JSaus said:
They do not hate you. The CC companies still charge a processing fee that is 1.5-2% for the larger vendors and probably a little more for small shops. But, the real income is the interest charges.
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Well they may not hate us, but they certainly referred to us as FREELOADERS. In the 80s and 90s that was what the banks called people who pay off the balance every month, thereby paying no interest (on a no annual fee card). :)
I imagine they have a more colorful name now for those of us who pay no interest AND happily take their rewards points. LOL

But I’m not shedding any tears for them – as you noted, they make plenty on our purchases with the merchant discount fees.
And the interest on the accountholders that do carry a balance is outrageous, so those poor pitiful credit card issuers won’t be going hungry.
 
Ed P said:
And I consider the cash back to be a marketing ploy. Look, if I loan you the money to buy something that costs $10k, and give you $2k back in cash rewards, the smart money would use that $2k to pay down the card so the vig wouldn't be so bad...but...what happens is, hey, it's "found" money to you, and you leverage that to buy a car or a boat or pay for a vacation and end up borrowing another $5k from me to pay for it. Pure genius, if you ask me.
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Of course it's a marketing ploy - they are not charities. And some people will likely burned.

But let's be frank, the person in your scenario who reacts in that manner is probably not the best money manager anyway, so... 🤷‍♀️
We can't make other people do what we think is best - everyone gets to make their own mistakes.
 
I have seen cards coming in the mail with APR of 21 to 24% interest.
I have never been one of the web sites for CCs like Nerd Wallet. I guessyou could narrow down the field fast if they have good info.
 
Appreciate all the info.

I have never checked an interest rate as it is irrelevant to me. I would NEVER pay interest on a credit card. If I don’t have the money I simply don’t buy it.
The point of my post is to discuss ways some of you manage your credit cards, I spend a **** ton of money every month, life and kids just aren’t cheap. I try to get as much value from that money as I can, one way is to use certain cards in certain places. Joan got me all paranoid about posting which cards, but I have several.
To me. what’s the point of excellent credit unless you make smart moves with it.

I have realized from these posts I’m not missing much and am comfortable with my cards.
 
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