We’re ready to make a change. Looking for a good “cash back” card with no annual fee and hopefully a nice introductory bonus.
We have excellent credit and pay in full every month.
Any suggestions?
No fee an issue. Wells Fargo 2% on all with $200 bonus for signing up.
I’d much prefer an airline or hotel card though - with the fee for one year. SW Air - I just signed up for $69, 85k points. They now have $99. $125k. Wish I got that. Each point is about 1.5 cents of worth.
Marriott has 5 free nights. Hyatt 60k point - could be up to 12 nights if you find 5k point Hyatt Places.
I keep for one year and dump except my IHG card which is $49, no foreign exchange fees, and I get a free night each year. So when I go to a concert in Sept, my $250 room is basically $49.
But the Wells Fargo 2% might be worth a look.
Good luck.
Chase sapphire is offering $750 on travel bonus although it does have an annual fee ($95 I think). In June, there was a way to boost that $750 to $900. Maybe there still is.
Costco Visa comes free with the executive membership. Again, not a no fee card because of the membership, but the cashback can be converted into real $$,
not miles or points, and can be directly deposited into a linked bank account if the cashback is over $300.
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@sherpa the best cash back (purchase erasing) cards all come with a fee. I, like you, don’t carry a balance, and pay in full monthly. I hate paying a fee, but the Chase Sapphire for $95 annually, pays for itself. Free TSA pre-check, no foreign transaction fee, and yes, I got a $750 bonus for spending $4k over 3 months, plus a $200 bonus for referral of my D who qualified & got her $750 bonus.
I’m not a fan of the loyalty cards (airline, hotel) because I’m not loyal to any one brand. I pick based on who’s got the best pricing for my dates. I got shafted by Hawaiian Airlines with their come on. I had to fight them to use the “bonus” - never again. Just let me apply my points as I want.
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Fidelity Visa and Wells Fargo Visa both offer a 2% cash reward on all purchases with no annual spending limit. Neither card charges an annual fee.
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That’s what we have now, one account for my wife, one for me, and 2 business accounts. We currently have around a million points banked, which is why it is time to move on.
I’m considering the Wells Fargo and Fidelity cards. Both are 2% cash back, no fee, and are offering $150-200 bonuses after a few thousand in spending.
There are several 2% cashback on everything credit cards. Some are listed in the thread. Citi Double Cash is another. There are also credit cards that have >2% cashback on specific categories (beyond the usual high rewards for travel) and <2% cashback on everything else. For example, Blue Cash Preferred is 6% cashback supermarkets + streaming, 3% on transportation, and 1% on everything else. This type of~2% average cashback is possible without fees because average charge to merchant for using credit card is >2%.
However, the best intro bonus cards tend to have annual fees. If you want “good” cashback and no fee, intro bonus is likely to be in the ~$200 type range. If you are willing to pay fees, far higher intro bonuses are possible. I have a credit card with a $1.650 intro bonus (on non-travel), which more than compensates for the intro fee. It has many other nice benefits that have saved me hundreds this year, but top non-travel cashback is not one of them.
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We just got a BJs Capitol One card. We get a good return on our shopping at BJs…which is fine with us. There have been times when we have paid nothing to shop. Plus we get 10 cents off of their gas prices which are the lowest around anyway. That’s part of the reasons we got it.
Which Chase Sapphire has all these benefits. I have a regular no fee Chase Sapphire. And I do earn points that I just use for paying the bill every so often. But none of the other things you all mentioned.
If you plan to travel internationally make sure there are no foreign transaction fees.
We had a Fidelity card that put rewards into a 529. Probably paid for a year of college.
The X1 card is nice because you can create virtual cards for specific purposes, people or timeframes.
If you travel a lot I’d look at the cards that give you access to airport clubs.
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If you’re an Amazon Prime customer and buy stuff frequently, the Amazon Chase card works great. You accumulate lots of points fairly quickly (3x points for Amazon purchases, 2x for gas, dining out, etc). You can redeem those points for Amazon purchases or simply convert to cash and withdraw.
I only have one CC and it’s this one.
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We’ve always been AMEX only, but added the Amazon Chase card a couple of years ago. It pays for itself easily for us. (DH has this problem…)
I have a visa through Verizon - no fee, and I can apply the cash back points to my cell phone bill. It drops my bill by a good bit every month. You get more points for some things than others (like I think gas purchases are 3x whereas groceries are 1x) but either way, it’s been useful. I have a history of other cards that had some kind of flight rewards or other thing that required effort to redeem them and I just… didn’t do it. This is easy.
The ones I have are the Discover It, Chase Freedom, Fidelity, and Costco. Fidelity gives 2% back on everything if you have an account with them. Discover and Chase I use for their 5% back rotating categories.
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When you had American Express only, did you ever encounter places that took credit cards but not American Express?
I did encounter one recently, but it seems to be uncommon.
Also, are there any places that accept one of Visa or Mastercard, but not both?
I think not taking Amex used to be more common - their fees are or were higher but I think they lowered them and it’s even more commonly accepted now.
Costco takes Visa only - but that’s a rarity. And you can be assured Visa pays them for the privilege - just like all the companies in their coupon book (pay them to be in it and pay for the coupons). Coupon has so many ways to monetize their customer base.
My dad does a few cards and the rotating things.
It’s just too complicated for me and likely ends up in a similar place anyway.
That’s why I do the 2% on all.
For years and years we did have the Fidelity card and it was great - 2% and it went to the 529 and that’s in part how we funded college.
If a new parent is saving for college and doesn’t need the cash back for today’s expenses, it’s a home run!!!
But I switched to Wells Fargo and the $200 bonus - because the kids went to college and I no longer needed to fund a 529.
But for new and young child age parents - the Fidelity thing is really fantastic to quickly and without effort build up that 529.
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If you’re done playing the travel/loyalty points game, but still want to maximize your bonuses, then this is what I recommend:
- 2% card (Wells Fargo, Fidelity, Citi double cash)
- Costco Visa (4% gas, 3% travel & restaurants, 2% Costco, 1% everything else, and no foreign transaction fees, no annual fee if you’re a Costco member)
- Discover (5% rotating categories)
- Chase Freedom (5% rotating categories)
I have an Amex that is one of my oldest credit cards, so I won’t be closing that account. It gets 3% at supermarkets and 2% on online purchases (it used to be 2% at department stores). The one that gets 6% at grocery stores has an annual fee.
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Dont forget the Amazon card with 5% back on all Amazon purchases.
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Depends on how much one uses Amazon 
. Plus, the Discover and the Chase Freedom will usually have Amazon as one of their categories for at least one quarter, and usually not the same quarter, so between those two cards one can usually get 5% off at Amazon for six months out of the year. But if Amazon is a regular part of one’s spending, then yes, it does make a lot of sense to have.
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