Best credit card with rewards?

FastEddieB

FastEddieB

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Fast Eddie B
Karen and I try to put everything we can on our credit card, but keep a zero balance.

For many years we've been using a Gander Mountain MasterCard that earned points towards purchases at Gander Mountain. We've used the points over the years for hiking boots, sandals, critter cams, our latest GoPro, gifts, even guns and ammo. Over $5,000 worth overall!

But Gander Mountain is either going out of business completely or restructuring things since they were bought by Camping World. We got an email saying the credit card will continue to work, but it failed to mention any rewards.

Can anyone recommend a good credit card with no fee that has decent rewards? We avoid airline travel, so "Sky Miles" won't work.

Thank in advance!
 
FastEddieB said:
Karen and I try to put everything we can on our credit card, but keep a zero balance.

For many years we've been using a Gander Mountain MasterCard that earned points towards purchases at Gander Mountain. We've used the points over the years for hiking boots, sandals, critter cams, our latest GoPro, gifts, even guns and ammo. Over $5,000 worth overall!

But Gander Mountain is either going out of business completely or restructuring things since they were bought by Camping World. We got an email saying the credit card will continue to work, but it failed to mention any rewards.

Can anyone recommend a good credit card with no fee that has decent rewards? We avoid airline travel, so "Sky Miles" won't work.

Thank in advance!
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Are you looking for cash-back rewards specifically or something more tailored around camping/hunting stuff?

I have a Citi Preferred Diamond and a Chase Slate card, no fees on either and they have some pretty decent rewards. Depends on what I'm buying as to which I use. Both are pretty good for balance transfers as well if you are looking to just offload from one to another.
 
Find a 2% cash back without any annual fee.
Hard to beat this % return and flexibility of spending the "reward"

there are several out there, Fidelity, Chase and Citi all have one for example.

You may lose the WOW factor of having a bunch of points to spend on toys, but the bottom line is clear. Additionally, if you consider the 2% gets deposited into your savings account monthly, the true reward return (annually) could be higher if your investment account has a positive return.
 
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I use a citi double cash (2% on everything) and a no fee American Express. I rarely use the AE it is just my back up.
 
Is there a Costco close?

Costco Visa:

4% cash back on gas
3% cash back on restaurant and travel
2% cash back on all other Costco purchases
1% cash back on all other purchases

I augment that with a Amex Delta skymiles
 
FastEddieB said:
Karen and I try to put everything we can on our credit card, but keep a zero balance.

For many years we've been using a Gander Mountain MasterCard that earned points towards purchases at Gander Mountain. We've used the points over the years for hiking boots, sandals, critter cams, our latest GoPro, gifts, even guns and ammo. Over $5,000 worth overall!

But Gander Mountain is either going out of business completely or restructuring things since they were bought by Camping World. We got an email saying the credit card will continue to work, but it failed to mention any rewards.

Can anyone recommend a good credit card with no fee that has decent rewards? We avoid airline travel, so "Sky Miles" won't work.

Thank in advance!
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I believe you're a veteran, so I'd check out the USAA Signature Visa. It pays 1.5 percent back on most purchases and has no annual fee. They don't pay cash back for things like tax payments or insurance premiums. I don't know if you have to have an insurance policy with USAA to qualify.

If I'm wrong and you're not a veteran, CapitalOne's Quicksilver cards also pay 1.5 percent on most purchases and have no annual fee. (They also have a "Quicksilver One" card that pays the 1.5 percent cash back, but which does have an annual fee. I don't know how they decide which one to issue to a particular applicant.)

Discover's rewards are less straightforward. They pay 1 percent cash back on pretty much everything, and higher rewards (usually 5 percent) on purchases in rotating promotion categories. I use it mainly for bigger purchases in those categories that happen to be current promotions.

Rich
 
I use a Marriott Rewards card. We maintain Platinum status, build points toward lifetime status (Gold, nearing lifetime Platinum), and build enough points to pay for a week+ on the beach every year. That works out to right around 2% in value for the vacation time while building the lifetime status, but restricts us to redeeming that value at Marriott properties. I think it is worth the trade. I will probably switch cards in the next couple of years once I hit lifetime Platinum.
 
I would start with either Citi Double Cash or Fidelity Visa (both 2% back on everything and no annual fee) and then add a 2nd or 3rd card with category rebates such as Amex Blue which is 6% on groceries. The Amex Blue does have an annual fee to get to the 6%, so you'll have to do the math on whether you'll get it back on the groceries rebate.
 
Kiddo's Driver said:
I will probably switch cards in the next couple of years once I hit lifetime Platinum.
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I've been lifetime Platinum for a while. I liked that they added SPG so even more brands to choose from. This year I asked for Hilton status match and was given Diamond until March 2018. I probably won't make Platinum Premier with Marriott this year... first time in over a decade.

I don't have hotel or airline (AA) credit cards. Plenty of points just from staying or flying.

For personal expenditures I always use my USAA Platinum Visa (no fee, 1%) and I normally pay in full each month. I should ask if they can switch me to a better cash back rate.
For business I have a Wells Fargo card with 1 point per dollar. Lots of points! They have the option of taking cash but I can usually find something I like but would not pay for. That's my Christmas gift to myself.
 
Go to CreditKarma.com and shop your options. I was able to recently switch to a cash rewards with no annual fee card by seeing what was available there.
 
Merchant point of view? Easy... TANSTAAFL

The credit card issuers are not going to lose profit by paying card holders these rewards. Yes, they hope the cardholder will carry a balance so there will be interest payments. But much of the time, the merchants are the ones who are bearing a good part of the burden of the cost of the credit card rewards. We have seen our merchant fees increase significantly over the years. And as a result, I have had to raise prices to cover this additional (and other) overhead. Someone asked if I offer a cash discount. Not automatically. But if someone demonstrates high interest in a purchase by spreading greenbacks on the counter, then I am definitely more open to negotiation than I was when it was plastic.

@jason is also involved in the credit card processing business and might offer additional insight.

And I found something from 2010 that might interest some.

Many already know my position on Dave Ramsey, consumer debt, proper credit card use, and how it rolls with merchants. So please don't expect to poke much more of an argument from me on the topic. I respect your opinion, so please respect mine.
 
Citi Double Cash Card, which is a MasterCard. 1% back on all purchases, and another 1% when you pay off your balance. Cash back can be direct deposited. I make nearly every purchase on this card, so have what amounts to a perpetual 2% discount. It adds up.

PS - I chose this one because I hate the cards that have revolving cashback categories.
 
With increasing frequency seems like everything we buy comes from Amazon. The Amazon card has been very good in terms giving cash rewards to use on Amazon. Every time I go online to buy something from them it seems like we're always getting $20 or $30 bucks off whatever I'm buying.
 
AggieMike88 said:
<<Grumbles and grinds teeth from a merchant point of view>>
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Do merchants pay a higher merchant fee for credit cards with rewards? (Not trying to start an argument, I've always wondered if different cards had different merchant fees).
 
AggieMike88 said:
The credit card issuers are not going to lose profit by paying card holders these rewards. Yes, they hope the cardholder will carry a balance so there will be interest payments. But much of the time, the merchants are the ones who are bearing a good part of the burden of the cost of the credit card rewards. We have seen our merchant fees increase significantly over the years. And as a result, I have had to raise prices to cover this additional (and other) overhead.
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So, we consumers pay a higher price so we consumers can get cash back. Which means, anyone NOT using a rewards card for purchases is leaving cash on the table.
 
Bill Jennings said:
So, we consumers pay a higher price so we consumers can get cash back. Which means, anyone NOT using a rewards card for purchases is leaving cash on the table.
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Except for those who pay cash. A local flight school gives 10% off for block times purchased with cash or check, but only 7% for cc. Same for gas stations that give discounts for cash.

I figure that reward programs are there to incentivize you to spend money, and that the card issuer makes more off the deal than the card holder, otherwise they wouldn't do it.
 
I've always wondered why more merchants don't offer cash discounts to aver the credit card processing fees. I've seen a few gas stations that do it but nobody else.
 
cowman said:
I've always wondered why more merchants don't offer cash discounts to aver the credit card processing fees. I've seen a few gas stations that do it but nobody else.
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Surcharges are a violation of every merchant services agreement that I've ever signed. They may be a universal violation for all I know, with those who offer them either being ignorant or hoping that they don't get caught.

Cash discounts also can arouse unwanted suspicions. The assumption (at least where I hail from) was always that the merchant wasn't reporting the income from cash purchases. Customers also expected that cash payment would mean no sales taxes would be collected. On major purchases, that could mean big savings.

Gas stations get away with different prices for cash sales because many stations make very little if any money from gasoline sales. The gas pumps are there to generate coffee sales. Coffee is the most profitable product that most gas stations sell. The tendency to use gas as a loss leader is so prevalent that there are laws in place requiring that gas stations mark up the gasoline for retail sale. I think the minimum is $0.06 per gallon over the wholesale price in New York.

There was a time during the depths of the Great Recession when nearly 10 percent of the checks I accepted were bouncing. During that stretch, I gave cash discounts; but it was to prevent the hassle of returned checks, not to avoid the merchant fees on plastic. The fees were (and remain) just a cost of doing business for me that I rarely think about.

What did bother me was when my merchant processor would hold the payments for three to five days to play the float. That was the main reason I switched to PayPal as my plastic processor. I can run a charge through PayPal and withdraw the money from my account in greenbacks literally a minute later. As far as I know, they're the only processor for whom that's true.

Rich
 
FastEddieB said:
Karen and I try to put everything we can on our credit card, but keep a zero balance..................................
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You are deadbeats. LOL. Seriously, thats what zero balancers are known as in the Credit Card industry. For maximum flexiblity using rewards you can't beat just good ol' cash back, on all purchases. I've never seen anything better than 2%. I use different cards for different purposes. One for gas because it has a good reward on gas purchases. My other cards are airline cards. I've put a pencil to it and figure I'm getting about 2.3% return on those. I do fly enough that the points are being used and not just sittin around
 
Some great advice so far!

We use Amazon ALL THE TIME so that's worth considering.

We are Costco members, but only shop there every few weeks. Still, that would be handy.

And PayPal. And...

Let us digest for a while.

As an aside, approval for us is not a gimme. A business failure in S FL and reckless fraud by a partner caused my credit rating to take a hit a while back. Home Depot of all businesses actually pulled our card from them! I think it's been long enough that with zero balances and years of paying in full on time, my score should be nearly fully recovered. We'll see.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Merchant point of view? Easy... TANSTAAFL

The credit card issuers are not going to lose profit by paying card holders these rewards. Yes, they hope the cardholder will carry a balance so there will be interest payments. But much of the time, the merchants are the ones who are bearing a good part of the burden of the cost of the credit card rewards. We have seen our merchant fees increase significantly over the years. And as a result, I have had to raise prices to cover this additional (and other) overhead. Someone asked if I offer a cash discount. Not automatically. But if someone demonstrates high interest in a purchase by spreading greenbacks on the counter, then I am definitely more open to negotiation than I was when it was plastic.

@jason is also involved in the credit card processing business and might offer additional insight.

And I found something from 2010 that might interest some.

Many already know my position on Dave Ramsey, consumer debt, proper credit card use, and how it rolls with merchants. So please don't expect to poke much more of an argument from me on the topic. I respect your opinion, so please respect mine.
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@AggieMike88

I'M in agreement with you. The banks are hoping the consumer will pay up to 25% interest on their purchases while charging a swipe fee and taking a portion of the sale to add to their profits. My last employer refused cards based on that. Several local businesses will take my personal check based on the fact they don't lose profits to the big banks. I hope you have customers who are worthy enough to trust not to screw you over when offering a check. I'd rather see the local company get the money than have it going to Wall St.
 
ColoPilot said:
Do merchants pay a higher merchant fee for credit cards with rewards? (Not trying to start an argument, I've always wondered if different cards had different merchant fees).
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No, Amex is higher, but VISA and MC are the same regardless of the issuer. I understand the merchant side, we do between $150-200K per month in credit/debit card transactions, it's a cost of doing business. Where I buy avgas and Jet-A they have a discount for cash, they bill me and still give me the discount, of course I send them a check the day I get the bill.
 
FastEddieB said:
Some great advice so far!

We use Amazon ALL THE TIME so that's worth considering.

We are Costco members, but only shop there every few weeks. Still, that would be handy.

And PayPal. And...

Let us digest for a while.

As an aside, approval for us is not a gimme. A business failure in S FL and reckless fraud by a partner caused my credit rating to take a hit a while back. Home Depot of all businesses actually pulled our card from them! I think it's been long enough that with zero balances and years of paying in full on time, my score should be nearly fully recovered. We'll see.
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The Amazon Chase card is great... 5% back on all amazon purchases.. it seems about every time I buy something I have $30-$50 credit waiting to use. 3% groceries/gas I think and 1% everywhere else. The APR was very competitive too.. I think 12% or something.
 
We have Citibank Costco Visa and enjoy the befits of it. The rebate is nice, we can go to Costco, buy some stuff and what out with a pocket full of money.
 
annualcreditreport.com is legitimate.
 
FastEddieB said:
Curious...

...would applying for more than one card at the same time set off any alarms?

And are the ads for free credit rating reports legitimate?
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creditkarma.com and creditsesame.com (different agency associations) are both 100% free and great resources. I've been using both for about 5 years now.

You won't set off any alarms, but anything over 2 inquiries within 12 months starts to reduce your overall score.
 
Badger said:
Find a 2% cash back without any annual fee.
Hard to beat this % return and flexibility of spending the "reward"

there are several out there, Fidelity, Chase and Citi all have one for example.

You may lose the WOW factor of having a bunch of points to spend on toys, but the bottom line is clear. Additionally, if you consider the 2% gets deposited into your savings account monthly, the true reward return (annually) could be higher if your investment account has a positive return.
Click to expand...

A note on Citi's cash back cards. There's a button that says "Direct Deposit" on their website for setting that up for reward deposits. It has thrown an error saying "not available at this time" for multiple YEARS. In other words, it's BS.

GeorgeC said:
annualcreditreport.com is legitimate.
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This. The others are making money off of you or trying to sell you stuff. This is the "official" place to go for free ones. The others are also probably selling your contact info judging by some tests with various email accounts that I did.
 
denverpilot said:
A note on Citi's cash back cards. There's a button that says "Direct Deposit" on their website for setting that up for reward deposits. It has thrown an error saying "not available at this time" for multiple YEARS. In other words, it's BS.



This. The others are making money off of you or trying to sell you stuff. This is the "official" place to go for free ones. The others are also probably selling your contact info judging by some tests with various email accounts that I did.
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True, but I'll take a few ads in my face in exchange for weekly vs annual updates. From what I recall, this site only gives you your report not any of your scores
 
Update...

I just did the annualcreditreport thing. Surprised it did not give a credit score without payment. Nothing unusual on the report and only one blemish from that business failure that I can see.

I went ahead and applied for the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa card. They could not give me an immediate approval and said it could take up to 30 days.

Plan on also applying for the Costco card.

Got another email from Gander Mountain verifying that card will remain in place, but again not mentioning any points or rewards. Have to see if Gander Mountain soldiers on after the buyout.
 
Another vote for Credit Karma, which I use to keep tabs on my credit. It now provides a full credit report for free any time you want it, including comments and derogatory remarks. In my experience, the number they provide as their "credit score" is not identical to what's used by, say, a home mortgage lender. (The lender scored me higher than Credit Karma did.) But it's a reasonable metric by which to score.

Still a big proponent of the flat 2% cash back cards, with no revolving categories. For a busy person it's the easiest "set it and forget it" way to go. Spend on anything -> get 2% cash back -> deposit in account.
 
denverpilot said:
A note on Citi's cash back cards. There's a button that says "Direct Deposit" on their website for setting that up for reward deposits. It has thrown an error saying "not available at this time" for multiple YEARS. In other words, it's BS.
Click to expand...

I'd contact them. No issue here depositing into my checking or savings account any time I want. I have the Citi Double Cash.
 
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We use Chase Sapphire reserve for travel and eating out, and Amex blue for wife's diesel and our groceries (whichever amex blue is $75-95/year). The Amex gets 6% on groceries, and Kroger sells Amazon gift cards, so I get 6% on Amazon.

Pay both in full each month via automatic direct debit from checking.

It's free money.

One trip to Hawaii where we booked the flights and lodging for us and the couple we were traveling with, plus the sign on points bonus has like $3k in travel available to us right now, on less than a calendar year.

Plus we booked the rental car through their rewards portal at a significant discount over anywhere else I found. <--- a note on booking the rental car through Chase rewards: the daily rate was within a few bucks of every other travel discount site, the difference was the lack of fluffed up fee's quoted by the rental agencies; everywhere else they were adding $150-200 to the bill. Chase didn't charge them, nor did rental agency in HI, so the savings was $200 or so for 8 days of a car. $14/day "facility convenience fee, charged by airport". Kiss my a... I'm picking up and dropping off once, what the heck convenience is provided the other 7 days by the facility?

From the merchant stand point, my dad has long owned a tiny, one location, retail store. Said credit card company fees are least of his concerns in retail. He gets on his soapbox with the internet being the death of brick and mortar.
 
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