Credit card cash back programs.

[macarose]

Right now I'm pretty much hitting the peak of returns.

Shop Your Way : $100 for spending $1000 a month. Then an extra $100 if you spend $2000 a month: Also an additional 5% off gas, 3% groceries and restaurants. My dealership buys a lot of gas during the month which helps make this a bit more enticing than it would usually be for me.

Alliant Credit Card : 2.5% credit on everything (used strictly for my business which averages about $50k in expenses each year).

Venmo Credit Card : Utility bills are 3% off plus $200 back when I spend $1000.

Citicard Cash Back : 2% for whatever does not fit in these categories. I do pay my monthly health care premiums and bills with this credit card. I would love to find another one that yields more money for that category but have yet to find it.

Costco Credit Card: If I know I'm going to be light on on my gas and family expenses that month, I'll stop at $1000 for the SYW credit card and use this for my gas which gives 4% off on top of Costco's cheap gas prices.

Kroger Credit Card: If my SYW is light on spending for groceries, I'll use this card for our Kroger purchases via Kroger Pay. Gives us 5% off.

Here's the punchline. I never go shopping for fun. If it weren't for my spending I would probably just use the Alliant credit card and that would be it.

 

[JHZR2]

Thanks. I have the costco card amongst others. Ive never heard of shop your way - sounds too good to be true. Whats the deal?

 

[CKN]

I get a sizable rebate from the CostCo card from traveling. But we all know credit cards are Evil............

 

[daves87rs]

Shop your way card ? Sounds like Sears…..

 

[billt460]

I don't know anyone who is wealthy who uses credit in that manner. Paying 100% of the balance off as soon as you get the statement, yes. But in the long run all of these "cash back" offers accomplish nothing but encouraging you to spend more.

Which is precisely what the banks want in the first place. They make their money off of debt. The more you spend, the more they make.

Much like Amazon's shipping...... "Add another $38.00 to your cart, and receive "Free Shipping!" Bezos has to pay for that $300 million dollar yacht somehow. And he's smart enough not to do it with his money.

 

[Escape08]

I've been very happy with Discover. It's the only card I used. Customer support is US based

 

[billt460]

I put all of these "cash back" credit card programs into much the same category as all of this "FICO Score" credit rating nonsense. All of it is great if you love to spend money and stay in debt. Because that's what ALL of it is designed around.

100% of this type of stuff can be encapsulated into the oldest financial saying in the book. "There is no such thing as a, "free lunch"...... EVER.

 

[Slick3914]

I don't know anyone who is wealthy who uses credit in that manner. Paying 100% of the balance off as soon as you get the statement, yes. But in the long run all of these "cash back" offers accomplish nothing but encouraging you to spend more.

Which is precisely what the banks want in the first place. They make their money off of debt. The more you spend, the more they make.

Much like Amazon's shipping...... "Add another $38.00 to your cart, and receive "Free Shipping!" Bezos has to pay for that $300 million dollar yacht somehow. And he's smart enough not to do it with his money.

You’re totally missing the point… you pay ordinary expenses with the card and payoff the balance monthly.

 

[joekingcorvette]

Costco is my go to card and I pay it off every couple days. I get enough back in February to pay for my license plates for all my vehicles. You can get cash at the end of your year and mine is in Feb. I also have a lock with the 4 major credit bureaus and nobody can open a new account. I keep two credit cards and a debit car and that's it. I have Venmo but do not use their card.

 

[Capt W]

You’re totally missing the point… you pay ordinary expenses with the card and payoff the balance monthly.

The point is the majority of people don't have the discipline to do that...and that's what the banks hope for. If you can do it that way, that's great. Most people simply don't.

 

[macarose]

I don't buy 'things'.

I have an auto dealership. I have a home with everyday utility expenses. And I have health insurance which is expensive as hell.

The credit cards end up saving me about $2,500 to $3,000 a year. If I didn't have a business I would have probably stuck with Discover all these years and never looked back.

If you really want to save money, buying with cash in places where credit cards aren't needed is the best recipe. A lot of the clothes and appliances we have came from estate sales where the costs were nickels and dimes on the dollar. Repairs on the property and appliances are also 'cash' happy. Auctions and thrift stores are also pretty good sources for cash deals but, again, you have to be disciplined.

If you need to discipline yourself, using cash for those expenses you can control always makes the biggest difference. There were studies on this way back in the '80s and '90s, but I can't find any of those on today's Google-ish Internet.

 

[alarmguy]

I dont use cash and all my purchases come with a minimum 2% cash back
2% all the time on Citi bank as a failsafe
5% all the time on my wife's Citi card by choosing to use it for one category in which they pay 5% of the highest category that month.

Chase and Discover 5% cash back rotates every 3 months from one category to another, so whatever they do not cover we use my wife's 5% Citi for that catagory

Currently ending this time for the April, May and June quarter I get
5% cash back on all Amazon and Restaurants using my Chase card
5% cash back on all gas stations and home improvement stores using my Discover card
So as an example for this quarter we use my wife's 5% for all groceries
Pretty much everything we buy we get 5% cash back and when we dont, we use as a failsafe good old reliable my Citi card for 2%

Also have an American Express, dont use it as much but its 3% on gas and groceries I think

Oh ... and sometimes I take banks up on special offers to open checking accounts with them. Not often just mentioning because I just did one. Opened an online Wells Fargo Checking account, added my wife's paycheck to get auto-deposited and after 3 months they give you $325 in an additional deposit. Once we get the money we close the account and move on.
IN 2022 we did two of those with different banks for an additional $750.

Wife also just opened a new travel card since we have a rather large international flight coming up. They already gave her over $500 (I dont keep track of what she is doing on this one and loosely follow) and I think maybe another $750 in future airline travel or something like that. This one is an outlier though. Not normal part of our lives. Anyway, all I know is somehow I think she has or is getting close to 1/3 rd of the just over $4000 in airline cost for us in cash back already.

Last time I figured we were about in the same range as @macarose maybe $2000 to $2,500 though this also involved many purchases since we moved to a new home. Not sure as we tend to spend money all the time *LOL* but not as much as others in here. I think we live modestly but look for value in things. More or less, take the money that the corporations are giving away, why let them keep it if they offer it? "take the money and run"

 

[PWMDMD]

My 2% Fidelity VISA and my many personal and business Amex card points all get funneled into funding my backdoor ROTH and half of my wife's backdoor Roth every year.

 

[vwmaniaman]

Use that shop your way card a lot and I thank it for my morning with my Kenmore coffee maker .

 

[99Saturn]

US Bank has a card that allows you to opt in to two categories for 5% a quarter that you can rotate. Utilities are one of those categories - best cash back deal I’ve seen on utilities.

 

[billt460]

Still more "points" and "cash back" B.S.

 

[PWMDMD]

Still more "points" and "cash back" B.S.

Dave is fine for people who have no clue and no self-control. His one-size fits all approach, because he himself has gone bankrupt (twice?) is where he loses me. I also remember that Dave is selling you a product - the no CC do as I say product. I have nearly 30 years of history using a credit card responsibly. Between business and personal my points generate $7-10K per year in points that get deposited into my ROTH IRA and they will literally generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in returns for stuff I would buy anyway over the next 30 years.

 

[billt460]

Shooting the messenger isn't going to help you.

 

[Pablo]

Best general card is Fido visa with exact points $ going to account of your choice

For participating gasoline stations and restaurants and selected travel the Costco card. Need to read their whole list and such

 

[PWMDMD]

Shooting the messenger isn't going to help you.

When you spend $500-$700K per year for business supplies that you need to make money anyway then sure, I'll take the 2% or $12K per year to deposit into a retirement account with QQQ that then earns 20%. That IS a way of building wealth. Between my backdoor Roth and my wife's we have saved about $80K over the last 6 years just using points and that does not include the gains on the investments. If you include market gains 6 years gave us +6-figures in retirement. Dave thinks he's the smartest guy in the room because it's happened to him but really he's a salesman pushing his one size fits all product which will work, for people who need someone to hold their hand, but for others his approach leaves real money on the table.