<p>Oldest kid wants to get a reward credit card. She feels she is “wasting” her credit card spending dollars using a no reward card.
She has 8 yrs of credit card history with no late payments. She pays off in full each month and has never carried a balance nor does she plan to. Her present card has no annual fee but gives no rewards. She uses her credit card for everything and feels like she should be earning some sort of a reward.
Looking for suggestions? I have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card but I don’t think she spends enough. I was thinking the Chase Freedom or Chase Sapphire. I think both of those don’t have an annual fee. She doesn’t fly enough to go with a single airline branded card.</p>
<p>Amex Blue?</p>
<p>[Quicksilver</a> Cash Back Rewards Credit Card | Capital One](<a href=“http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/quicksilver-cash-rewards/]Quicksilver”>http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/quicksilver-cash-rewards/) ?</p>
<p>I like the Marriott Rewards card–only useful if you stay in hotels a fair amount, though. It has an $85 fee after the first year, but you get at least one free night each year. What I like about it is that purchases contribute towards status as well as points.</p>
<p>I have the 1.5% cashback on everything card that ucb linked to…</p>
<p>Here’s my approach:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Pentagon Federal Credit Union Cash Back card gets 5% back for gasoline. I tie it to an Exxon/Mobil SpeedPass baton which sometimes has promotional discounts and always counts as cash rather than credit. No annual fee as long as you have at least $25 in Money Market account.</p></li>
<li><p>Amex Blue Preferred Cash Card. Costs $75 per year, but gets 6% back on groceries (up to a max reward of $360/year), and 3% back at certain department stores. Other benefits also ($100 reward if you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months, for example). There’s also a version with no annual fee that pays back in a different scheme.</p></li>
<li><p>Capital One Visa for everything else. No annual fee and 1.5% back on just about any purchase. (this is the one linked to by ucbalumnus)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I probably spend way too much, but last year I got back around $2000 net of annual fees.</p>
<p>ETA: Amazon Visa for Amazon purchases. 3% back on Amazon purchases. I do most of my non-grocery shopping on Amazon.</p>
<p>I like my Amex Blue Preferred card, but they have some very peculiar views of what constitutes a grocery store. Sometimes one store in a chain isn’t listed as a grocery store, but another is. (These are grocery stores, not Wal-Mart, Costco, or Target.) I’ve found the same with gas stations.</p>
<p>My D likes her Costco AmEx. She gets 3% on gas, 2% on restaurants and travel and 1% on everything else. I like my Spark CapitolOne Business Card that gives 2% back on everything but has $59 annual fee. I get enough back to more than cover the fee. Fidelity has similar card but no fee, which may be worthwhile–I have no personal experience.</p>
<p>Other criteria that I would suggest be included:
No foreign transaction fees. Essential in my book if a card will be used for international travel.
Visa or MasterCard, not AmEx, unless your D will keep her other card and it is a Visa or MasterCard.</p>
<p>My son is wondering the same thing. He lives in the city and does not have a car. He eats out quite a bit but buys a few groceries. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>
Not a credit card, but if he uses Open Table to make reservations he can get rewards on top of credit card awards.</p>
<p>I like my chase freedom and discover. The rotating categories give me 5% from3 times a year on gas. Usually they have it at different times, (I use both). Another category I like is grocery stores, and them restaurants. We use the points to buy ourselves gift cards whic discover usually has some discount on compared to Chase. If we ever want to travel with points we will get a Sapphire card and can transfer our Freedom points, but for now we cash them in, usually at Christmas. Neither one has a fee. I think Bank of America has a good one for points for gas as well. 5% is a great discount on gas. Discover gave 5% back on online this purchases this October-dec, Awesome!</p>
<p>I second Chase Freedom and Discover. I have a little sticker on the card to remind me of the current categories that have 5%. And I saved a lot with ShopDiscover and Chase online extra cashback on top of the regular cashback. It takes a little work to keep track of the categories and going online through ShopDiscover and Chase but you can save quite a bit 5-15% on top of the 1% or 5% cashback they have and of course no fee.</p>
<p>For example, when I buy contact lens for the family, I always order from Vision Direct. They always have 20% off coupon online, then ShopDiscover adds another 16% (15 +1) cashback. Same thing goes for Apple Store, Hotwire.com, Best Buy, Home Depot, Sears, etc…</p>
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<p>Ha, ha, I wish he planned that well. But, good idea.</p>
<p>I didn’t know that Capital One has the Quicksilver card–will try to change our 1% reward card to this one.</p>
<p>Thanks…</p>