Comments on: Best Cash Back Credit Cards

By: lark

lark — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:45:49 +0000

I redeemed $200 plus the $50 bonus in both early September and late November. My options haven’t changed. I think the Chase Freedom card is generally the best cash back card out there.

By: aua868s

aua868s — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:06:18 +0000

Point well noted…thanks Liberty.

By: aua868s

aua868s — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:04:54 +0000

Now with zero commission on Schwab ETFs, it would be worthwhile to consider putting the cash back on their ETFs…

By: Liberty

Liberty — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:02:25 +0000

For my use I have two cards: Schwab and PenFed.

PenFed is my gas and airline card and other promotions. Schwab is for everything else.

Both cards have a “no games” policy for crediting the cash back – monthly.

By: zapeta

zapeta — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:48:22 +0000

I checked all the links I had to information about the card and they all appear to be dead. Sorry!

By: aua868s

aua868s — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:26:42 +0000

after some research…my vote to the schwab’s card.

By: Credit Card Chaser

Credit Card Chaser — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:48:02 +0000

My personal favorite is the American Express Costco TrueEarnings card because I get a minimum of 1% cash back and up to 3% cash back in certain categories (that don’t rotate).

By: Erin

Erin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:42:47 +0000

I had the same issue too! I would like to sign up for one but can’t find the site for the cc.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:49:48 +0000

I tried to find the Schwab card online today to apply and couldn’t locate it. Does anyone know if this card is still available and if so, where I could apply for one. If it’s still out there, I would really appreciate a link. Thanks guys

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:25:23 +0000

I have been using reward/cash back credit cards for years. I liked Citi’s Thank You points until the last couple of years when it came down to less than 1% back. I’ve gotten a Schwab card for the 2% back and I couldn’t be happier. I still have Discover and capitalize on their 5% categories, but that is about all I use it for.
Susan

By: Abe

Abe — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:58:23 +0000

Chase Freedom has been cutting it’s fairly good program (3% cash back from top 3 categories –> 3% on 3 set categories; no more $250 when you reach in rewards $200).

The most detailed discussion of this change I’ve seen is at Slickdeals.net:
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1352959

Many people use an American Express (AmEx) or Discovery card for some categories (i.e., using the Costco Small Business card for 5% back on gas, etc) and used the Freedom card for any other categories to get 3% back as much as possible.

Assuming you use AmEx/Discover where you can and pay the full balance each month here is a list of some alternative Visa or MasterCard replacements for the Chase Freedom:

(1) Citi Forward [citiforward.com] Visa
5 “points” back for books, restaurants, 1 point on everything else. 6000 bonus points after $50 spent

(2) Schwab Visa – 2% back if you have a brokerage account with them.

(3) Penfed rewards card [penfed.org] – 5% on gas “at the pump”, 2% on supermarket purchases, and 1.25% on everything else. (+ fee/donation to sign up for an applicable organization)

I haven’t received a cancellation letter of the Freedom benefits, but when / if I do, I will be deciding between the above cards – the gas benefit of the PenFed card is huge, but it’s the same as the Costco Small Business card (5%). The Citi cards points are worth about $.00625 / point (as opposed to a cash reward card at $.01 / dollar spent). The Schwab card is easy (2% for everything) but it requires some significant action to get the cash out of their account and into your own checking account.

As others have mentioned, the Chase Freedom card 3% on the top 3 categories is not as much of a benefit as I anticipated, but it is more the 2% overall as the Schwab card would be given the $50 bonus when saving up to the $200 in rewards.

No easy answers unless you don’t have a Costco Small Business card (any one can get one – just include your business as your name). If you don’t have the costco card, the PenFed card seems like the best option – check it out!

By: Julio

Julio — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:01:42 +0000

I just got an advertisement from Chase touting their new Ultimate Rewards Cash Back program. They sent me an entire magazine full of benefits, ok maybe not a magazine, but it’s the most advertising I’ve seen for a Cash Back Card yet. And after it’s all said and done, it’s a mere 1% across the board. I think they eliminated the 3% rotating categories, unless somehow I missed it amongst all the hype on how you could redeem the cash you wont be earning.

I’m not dusting that card off and putting it back in my wallet any time soon.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:17:47 +0000

Just got more bad news today. My Discover Open Road Card is going from 5% to 2% cash back effective Jan 1, 2010. It’s nice of Discover to give me more than a one month notice, but the card is still dead to me. On the bright side, it looks like I am back to a single card to rule them all again (Schwab 2%).

This is not a good time for rewards credit cards…

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:31:19 +0000

Lets be clear about one thing. The Citi Forward is NOT 5% cash back. It is 5 Thank You Points for every dollar spent at,,, let’s say restaurants for the sake of simplicity. In the Thank You system to get $50 cash back you must redeem 8,000 points and that means one point is worth .00625 cents. If you spend $100 at a restaurant, you get 500 Thank You points which equals $3.125 or 3.125% NOT 5%. You did call them cash back points so you’re not wrong, it’s just a little misleading a skill which bankers and credit card companies excel. And 3.125% beats the 3% that AMEX gives us so this is a great card to use when the restaurant says they don’t accept AMEX!!!

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:43:46 +0000

Ok, I also received the notification from Chase Freedom that their policy on the $250 for $200 will be changing October 30th 2009. My initial thought was “that sucks”, because I have used it to generate some nice cash back. But… my looking for an alternative now to the Chase Freedom card (because it will be virtually worthless in a month)revealed some interesting findings. I ran some comparison numbers from what I was getting from Chase Freedom card compared to what a standard no frills 2% would look like.

First, my family filters everthing (that won’t tack on fees to charge)through our Chase Freedom card(s). And I don’t have two cards to take advantage of the 3% for more than the $600 limit. We pay the balance off every month, so interest rates could be 100% as far as I’m concerned. This is what you could expect for cash back from the Chase Freedom card prior to their reduction of Cash back benefits…

purchases rewards %return %return adj.
($250 for $200)

$2942 $41.69 .0141
$2369 $35.67 .0150
$2301 $35.03 .0152
$2082 $33.06 .0158
$5245 $64.76 .0123
$1981 $31.46 .0159
$3506 $47.31 .0135
$4538 $54.61 .0120
$2160 $31.99 .0148 (best)
$1509 $27.27 .0180 .0226
$5782 $58.33 .0101 .0126
$1669 $28.83 .0173 (worst)
$5464 $66.95 .0123
$4913 $61.17 .0125
$3075 $43.00 .0140
$2720 $39.24 .0144

$52256 $700.37 .0134 .0163 ($850)

$850 is better than paying with check or cash, and if you could limit your credit card purchases to $1500/month you could make .0226% return… I wish. When one gets into the $5000′s your return is barely 1%. Those same purchases using a straight 2% cash reward card like Schwab Visa would render these returns…

$52256 $1045.12 (cash back)

So thank you, Chase Freedom, for changing your rewards benefits… had you not, I would still be under the impression that I was doing a good job taking advantage of the rewards of using a credit card. Now I know there are significantly better options.

Thanks also to the others here, for sharing their thoughts on different cards, which have be very helpful.