Best credit card for rewards?

[Venusaur]

I was looking through the latest Consumer Reports, and it seems the American Express Blue Cash card is the best. You get 5% cash back on grocery store, drugstore, & gas station purchases, and 1.5% cash back on everything else. Plus there's no annual fee. Is there a better one out there?

[tsa]

Wow that one sounds great.

[RossMAN]

BetterCreditCard.com

[dtdoda]

You have to spend $6500 before you get get bumped up to this rebate levels.

 

They're lower (1% and .5%) for the first $6500 spent.

 

You also do not get a check. You get a rebate against your bill at the yearly anniversary date.

 

Still a great deal if you charge everything and the no limit is great.

[Venusaur]

Thanks. I didn't realize that about the $6500. At first I thought it meant if you spent less than $6500 during the year you get the lower reward, and higher than that gets you the higher reward, but we'd probably charge $6500 to the card in like 2 months LOL, so that's still decent. I was reading the application page and there's another great thing about this card:

 

"If your Card or the Additional Card is lost or stolen, only that Card needs to be replaced because each Card has its own number."

 

My sister loses her card all the time.

[threelittlecupcakes]

Check this blog out http://www.mymoneyblog.com/my-favorite-rewards-credit-cards

[sas377]

I love my AmEx!!! I get something like 3x the amount of reward for the same number of points as my Visa. I charge everything and pay in full at the end of the month.

[kranky]

For heavy spenders, the AmEx Blue Cash is probably the best choice. For moderate spenders, the Pentagon Federal Credit Union Platinum Cash Rewards Visa is worth looking at. 5% cashback on gas, 2% on groceries, 1.5% on everything else, no limit. Rebate is applied to your statement monthly.

[emschmitz]

I love my Discover Card. They offer monthly deals that you need to sign up for online (extremely easy) where you can earn 5% cash back on whatever they may be running for that month, or quarter (dept. stores, home improvement, gas, restaurants, etc.). You get 1% cash back on everything else, once you charge $3,000 (it's something like

.25% for first $1,000.00, .50% - $2,000 - .75% - $3,000). The thing I like the most about it is you can accumulate your rewards and use it anyway you want. You can have it credited to your account, sent in check form, etc. They also have a bunch of partnered online stores that if you go through the Discover Card website you get a percentage of cash back (more than the normal rewards) and you also get more money on gift cards for less ($25 gift card for $20, $50 gift card for $45). I believe they are offering a deal right now that once you reach a certain amount you either get $50 or $75 in rewards. The only thing about the rewards is you can only use them in $20 increments.

[dtdoda]

I used the Discover to take advantage of the 5% quarterly (not monthly) bonus rebates. They drastically limit what you can get on those. For example, the 5% rebate is on gas in July-Sept. They limit that to the first $200 spent. $10 total.

 

This quarter is home stores/hardware store and the limit is $400 which is a little better.

 

I turn the rebates into Lobster Grams for Christmas gifts.

Edited June 6, 2008 by dtdoda

[emschmitz]

It is $400 for gas as well. I make on an average of $40 cash back rewards a month. You need to be careful with the Amex Cards because they are not excepted everywhere.

[dtdoda]

You're right. It's $400 for the next quarter, 3 months. That's less than a month of gas for me and then it's back to the 1%. We average close about $80/month in rewards on the AMEX.

 

The % with Discover is terrible by itself (other than the bonus deals) but the ability to double the rebate through their partners is a real deal.

 

There are places that do not take AMEX. There are lots of places that do not take Discover as well.

 

That's why we have the CITIcard Mastercard.