<p>We had the Charles Schwab 2% cash back card for years, and we are happy. Now after they sold it to BOA, the rules have been changing. For ever 3 months, we have to “register” to get those extra bonuses from Freedom, BOA, Costco Amex, Amazon, Discover… the variations are endless.</p>
<p>How do you keep up with all those extra work to get “cash” back from Credit Cards? And how can you remember which to use at the checkout point?</p>
<p>We were SOOOOOO SAD when the Schwab card went to BofA. We cancelled it immediately so can’t tell you how to use whatever it is now.</p>
<p>We went back to USBank/REI visa card. Basic 1% back on everything. They send a check at the end of the year. </p>
<p>And we still use the Costco American Express card, 3% for travel (including gas) 2% restaraunt, but we don’t eat out much, 1% for other. They also send a check at the end of the year.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to help my Mom “register” for her rewards on Discover. What a hassle.</p>
<p>I don’t have a problem keeping up as I am online every other day at all my credit card sites checking the charges. I put post-it notes on my H’s cards to remind him - this month use the Chase Freedom for gas, and Citibank for doctor appts, etc. (But apparently not Citi for prescriptions, I am fighting with them because it is supposed to be 5% on health care) I am a very detail oriented person and can remember easily, he needs reminders.</p>
<p>My problem with the REI Visa is the amount of time to get the cash rewards. Chase lets you take a statement credit with the Freedom card.</p>
<p>Costco AmEx dropped back to 2% for all dining and travel other than gas recently.</p>
<p>I use a card that gives me 1.5% cash back on everything if I deposit the reward into my Fidelity account.</p>
<p>That way I don’t have to remember anything.</p>
<p>mamabear1234: We’ve got Citi too & I didn’t get the 5% for prescriptions I filled either. I was going to call them about it. I’ll argue that one too.</p>
<p>I put a note on the fridge with the various current bonus offers and remind DH when I know he’s going out shopping. I find that Citi is usually good about getting the bonus on the statement (other than prescriptions apparently), but it never fails that I have to call Discover because a purchase covered by the bonus hasn’t gotten the credit. Sometimes the bonus is worth less than the aggravation.</p>
<p>I also can’t keep up with the quarterly bonus percent back deals, or which card gives what on which. I forgot that Discover was giving back 5% on gas this quarter until the other day, so yesterday got some gas on my discover card.</p>
<p>I love my Amex OPEN card , as it has some special rebates for things like Fedex, some hotel chains, airlines etc. Those also changed, but the percent back on regular and the special purchases is automatically applied back to the account. Ohter accounts like Discover or Citicard require you to get up to a minimum cashback ($50) and then request the refund. Citicard requires you to call and get a check issued. Big PITA, IMO. The discovercard though has a new nifty deal with Amazon where you can apply whatever amount you currrently have in cashback $$ towards a purchase on amazon, so it “feels” like you are gettin the item for free. I like that.</p>
<p>I have the REI card. I save up the dividend & use it for big purchases at REI.</p>
<p>One of our cards pays down the principal on our mortgage, in $25 increments, as it is earned.</p>
<p>I checked the bonus balance on my credit cards a few weeks ago, and discovered I had $1,200 in bonus. I cashed them out and put them in my bank account.</p>
<p>Sadly, I’m too busy to spend it on anything fun. I remember when I used to have lots of time to look for things to buy, but no money. Now I have funds to purchase, but no time to shop carefully. (There’s lots that I can blow it on, but I’d rather carefully spend it on something I’d actually use and enjoy a lot.)</p>
<p>My current card just has the money accumulate and they email me once a month with my new bonus amount… complete with a link to click and redeem. it never expires. I cash it out once a year to get spending money for vacation. It’s capital one. I’ve seen other cards that give more cash back then my current card but I don’t want to lose the good service that I’ve received from them.</p>
<p>I use the Fidelity card as well, and my Amex Blue. Fidelity gives me 1.5% back on everything, deposited into my Fidelity account. Amex gives me 1.5% on everything, in points, which I can apply to my credit card balance for travel related charges.</p>
<p>Nothing else to remember. I don’t have time for that nonsense.</p>
<p>5% on a very restricted set of items for a short time plus 2 or 3% on another restricted set of items plus 1% on everything else probably averages out to 1.5% overall, at least for me.</p>
<p>The biggest chunk of my credit card bill is all the other bills that get auto-charged to my credit card, that would probably never be eligible for anything other than the 1% reward.</p>
<p>So even if I could squeeze out another half-percent by using multiple cards and spending the time to figure out what has to get charged to what, I don’t really want the headache.</p>
<p>Last week I got an offer in the mail from Discover. If I call them and OK it, they will automatically set me up for the different promotions each quarter. I may take them up on it if I can find where I put the letter.</p>
<p>happymom, if you read the previous comments about Discover card, I won’t spend a lot of time on Discover. Besides, Discover is not as widely used as Visa or Master. I receive their offer every week and it goes into the recycle bin as soon as it arrives.</p>
<p>I JUST want my Schwab card back.</p>
<p>Artlovers,</p>
<p>I have had many instances where stores/restaurants don’t take AmEx, but they take Discovercard. It is becoming more widely used internationally, and I have had ZERO problems with them in the 15 years I’ve had the card. I would recommend you consider it if you need another card.</p>
<p>We have had Discover since 1986 and use it for everything. I can think of one time a store did not take it and they started taking before we moved away from that town. When I pay the bill online, I just request my rewards at the same time; we usually just take the credit towards our bill. I also check the quarterly offers then.</p>
<p>OOh, I mis-typed-- I’ve had the card for 25 years (since 1987), not 15. They only mild annoyance was when they raised the minimum cashback amount you had to have to credit it back to the account, but its not a big deal. And I LOVE the feature that allows me to set up a temporary internet account # for a purchase, so I reduce the risk of identity/credit card theft (which has happened to me)</p>
<p>my amazon rewards card keeps track of the number of points that can be redeemed through amazon.com or as a check.</p>
<p>I just opened a Discover card and am loving the way the Cash Back is almost instantaneous. I am also using Shop Discover now instead of Ebates for that same reason. Discover also gave me a small ($1.50) bonus for having a low balance.</p>
<p>Costco card is a great one, we had $600 bonus this year, awesome! H. never mentioned any additional paperwork, I did not even realize it was any. We use Discover also. We never ever use cash</p>