Template:Best Cash Back Credit Cards

  Credit Card Reference

If you want to keep things simple, a good cash-back card can be a compelling alternative to cards that earn Ultimate or Membership Reward points. You can avoid the complexities of trying to book frequent flyer tickets, or the need to build up large numbers of points to make redemptions.

Everyone can get a card that earns at least 2% back on all their purchases, without needing to pay an annual fee. And, depending on your circumstances, you could get a card that earns as much as 3% cash back.

Jump to

• The best cash-back card
• Other no-annual-fee options
• The Discover It Miles card
• The Amex business card combination
• Managing foreign transaction fees
• Less desirable options

The credit cards with the highest cash-back rates

None of the cards with the highest cash-back rates offer “price protection” (which reimburses the difference, if you find a cheaper price, in the first few months after making a purchase) or “return protection” (which refunds your purchase, if a store won’t accept a return). If you feel that these benefits are valuable, you’ll want to stick with another card (like the Chase Freedom Unlimited or Citi Double Cash cards), or use one of these other cards for specific purchases. when you feel you are more likely to take advantage of these benefits. Automatic Protection for the Things You Buy with Your Credit Card.

Altitude Reserve Guide	The US Bank Altitude Reserve earns 4.5% back, but only on some of your purchases. The Altitude Reserve earns 3x points on all purchases made with a mobile wallet, such as Apple Pay. Each point is worth 1.5 cents, for a cash-back rate of 4.5%. An increasing number of physical and online businesses will accept Mobile Wallet purchases, and if you have one of a number of Samsung devices, you can use your Wallet with any credit card terminal that accepts a card swipe. For purchases you make elsewhere, you’ll need to settle for just 1.5%, or use another card. The other issue with this card is that it has a $400 annual fee. However, it comes with a $325 credit that is automatically applied to any travel purchase, making the effective cost $75 per year. Plus you get 12 Gogo inflight Wi-Fi passes, 4 free airport lounge visits, and a variety of other benefits. If you expect you can use your mobile wallet for at least $5,000 worth of non-bonus-category purchases each year, this card can be a great option.
Amtrak Credit Card Guide	If you frequently travel on Amtrak, you will get the most value with one of their credit cards. The base reward rate is only 1 point per dollar, but you can redeem these points for 2.9 cents each, on Amtrak travel. For maximize the rewards from these cards, you need to spend enough at Amtrak, to be able to redeem all your points. For example, if you spend $10,000 per year, you’ll need to spend at least $290 per year on Amtrak tickets, to use up all the points you’ll earn. The card comes with price protection, but not return protection. Along with the no-annual-fee version, there is a $79 per year version that is usaully the better option. It comes with some extra benefits, and a 2x reward rate on any travel purchase.
BOA Travel Rewards Guide	If you have more than $100,000 in retirement and investment accounts, that you don’t mind transferring to Merrill Lynch, you can earn 2.625% with the BankAmericard Travel Rewards or Premium Awards credit card.  Your relationship with Bank of America /Merrill Lynch gives you a bonus on the normal 1.5% cash-back you would earn from these cards. With the bonus, the reward rate maxes out at 2.625% for people who have $100,000 in combined assets.  With $50-100,000 in assets, the bonused rate is 2.25%.  Plus, there is no annual or foreign transaction fees. There is also a premium version of this card, with a $95 annual fee, a $100 credit that can be used for incidental purchases with airlines, and bonus rewards on travel and dining purchases. If you have assets at another broker, you can usually transfer them to a Merrill Edge account, and manage them there (at little or no additional costs), to qualify for the higher reward rate.
USAA Limitless Cashback Card Guide	If you are a USAA member, and live in Lousiana, you may be able get 2.5% with the USAA Limitless Cashback Rewards card. To join USAA, you or a family member need to be active or retired military. To get the card, you need to live in one of the supported states. Doctor of Credit has recently posted that the supported states have been reduced to just Louisiana. We'll see what happens next. To get the 2.5% reward rate, you need to direct deposit at least $1,000 per month into a USAA checking account. No annual or foreign transaction fees.
Alliant Cashback Card Guide	The Alliant Cashback Visa provides the highest cash-back rate, which is available to anyone, and without any additional hassles. It earns 3% back the first year, and 2.5% back thereafter, with no foreign transaction fees. You don’t have to be a eligible for the USAA, have over $100,000 in assets at Merrill Lynch, travel frequently on Amtrak, make sure you spend exactly $25,000 on the card, or limit yourself to mobile wallet purchases—everyone can get this rate (as long as they are approved for the card). If you don’t work for a business that is already associated with the Alliant Credit Union, you can join by making a $10 donation to Foster Care to Success. $59 annual fee. Template:Best Cash Back Credit Cards/List Other no-annual-fee options If you don’t spend enough money each year to justify a credit card that has an annual fee; and you don’t have enough with Bank of America to qualify for their higher bonuses, and don’t frequently travel on Amtrak, your best option is a no-annual-fee card that offers a 2% cash-back rate. State Department CashBack+ Webpage The State Department Premium CashBack+ card is our favorite no-annual-fee cashback card that works for everyone. You'll get 2% cashback, without foreign transaction or annual fees. Plus, you'll get a $200 signup bonus ($3,000 initial spend) and free cell phone insurance. The two drawbacks are that it doesn't come with price or return protection and it requires you to jump through some hoops (described here) to get the card. PayPal Cashback Card Guide The PayPal Cashback card is our other recommendation. You'll get the same 2% cashback and lack of fees. You don't get the signup bonus or cell phone insurance, but you do get price and return protection. You can use your cash-back for PayPal purchases, or transfer it out to your bank account. Citi Double Cash Guide The Citi Double Cash card has slightly better purchase protection benefits, but charges a 3% foreign transaction fee. You earn 1% when you make your purchase, and an additional 1% when you pay off your bill (which you should be doing every month). Citibank will add two years to the length of any warranty, while the PayPal card will double your warranty for up to one additional year. While both cards will provide a rebate, if the item you bought is available elsewhere at a lower price (within the first two or three months), Citibank has a semi-automatic "Price Rewind" program, that helps you uncover and redeem your refunds. If you don't expect to need to use the card very much for overseas purchases, the Double Cash card can be the better option. Fidelity Rewards Credit Card Webbpage The other broadly available option is the Fidelity Card. It has a lower foreign transaction fee than the DoubleCash card, but doesn't include the slightly better purchase protections of the Citibank card. As a result, you are probably better off going with the PayPal card to avoid a foreign transaction fee, or with the Double Cash Card for its better purchase protections. Getting started with the Discover It Miles card The Discover It Miles card earns 3% cash-back during the initial year. The regular rewards rate from the Discover It Miles card is 1.5%, which isn’t as good as the other options listed above. However, you’ll earn double points for the first year you have the card. Discover it Miles Card Guide Most people are going to be better off postponing this opportunity, until they are no longer focusing their spending on meeting the initial spending requirements of new cards. Then, at the end of the initial year, you’ll want to switch over to the Pay Pal card, or one of the cards above. Discover cards aren’t accepted everywhere, so you’ll need to use another card, such as a travel rewards credit card, at some merchants. Discover cards also don't offer any purchase protections, even extended warranty coverage. It is possible to string together multiple years of 3% rewards. The simplest approach is to cancel the card after the first year, and then re-apply a few months later. If you share finances with someone, you can alternate getting the card, and remove any gaps where you'd be earning a lower reward rate. The Amex business card combination The Amex Business Card combo can provide the highest cash-like rate of any card. If you operate any type of small business, you can sign up for small business credit cards, and have access to the most powerful cash-back combination available. Business credit cards are available to even the smallest businesses—you don’t have to be incorporated, it doesn't have to be your full-time job, and you don’t even have to have made (much) money yet. To get approved for Amex business cards, you'll need a minimum of $1,000 in annual business revenue, but many people believe that this is a projection of your future year's revenue, rather than a summary of your previous year's revenue. Unlock Extra Reward Points with Business Credit Cards. The Amex Blue for Business Plus card earns 2x Membership Rewards for each dollar you spend. Normally, you can only get 1 cent per point, when you purchase travel through Amex—making this card work like a 2% cash-back card (if you don't want to mess with frequent flyer tickets). Blue Business Plus Guide If you have the Business Platinum card, you can get 1.54 cents per point on certain airfare purchases. You'll get a 35% refund on points used to purchase tickets with your “favorite” airline, or business and first-class tickets on any airline. In effect, you get 1.54 cents per point on these purchases, without having to hassle with frequent flyer tickets. Amex Platinum Card Guide By using the cards together, you can get 3.08 cents per dollar spent, without having to worry about finding award space.  And you can still try to get additional value, by using these points for frequent flyer tickets, instead. For this to work, you need to purchase enough airfare each year, on a single selected airline, or on premium-cabin tickets, to be able to use up all your points. And unlike the Chase Freedom Unlimited, PayPal and Citi Double Cash cards, the Blue Business Plus card doesn’t come with purchase price protection or return protection. The Blue Business Plus card doesn’t have an annual fee, but the Business Platinum cards fee is $595. The Platinum card comes with a $200 credit that you can use to pay for incidental charges (like food and drink) on a single airline of your choice, and a $200 credit at Dell, which can help offset some of that annual fee. Just keep in mind that you'll need to choose a preferred airline that you frequently fly, not one on which it is easiest to use the credit. The Business Platinum card does come with a number of other valuable benefits, such as the best airport lounge access of any card, and automatic Hilton Gold status (which is good enough for free breakfast). However, you can usually obtain these benefits, at no additional expense, by gradually signing up for multiple versions of the Amex Platinum card, in order to collect their lucrative signup bonuses. You will also need to avoid using the Blue Business card when you are travelling overseas, as it has a 2.7% foreign transaction fee. Managing foreign transaction fees One downside of a few of these cards, is that they charge a fee when you use them overseas. For example, the Citi Double Cash card has a 3% fee. You can avoid paying this fee, by getting one of several alternative cash-back cards. But they each have restrictions, worse purchase protections, and/or annual fees. Does it make sense to pay an annual fee, so that you don’t have to pay foreign transaction fees?  It all depends on how much you expect to spend overseas, and what your other options are. We recommend that most people also start out with a premium travel-oriented card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, or Altitude Reserve card. These cards provide access to airport lounges, as well as great bonus rewards rates on travel and restaurant purchases. If you get one of these cards, it will be the card that you should use to pay for airfare, hotels, and (usually) restaurants. These cards don’t have foreign transaction fees. When you are travelling, most of the money you spend will be in these bonus categories, will be placed on these cards, and won’t incur any extra fees. Which Premium Reward Card is Right for You? There are a few options for handling any overseas charges that don’t fit into these categories. Usually, your best option is to continue to use your “travel” card, avoid any foreign transaction fees, and settle for just 1 point per mile. You’ll be missing out on somewhat less than .5% in rewards for those purchases. However, if you expect to spend a lot of money overseas on non-travel related expenses—perhaps buying clothes, art, and gifts, or spending money on lift tickets or other activities—you'll want to get a card that earns at least 2 cents per dollar on any purchase, and doesn’t have any foreign transaction fees. Less desirable options We thought it would be worthwhile to include some comments about some other cash-back or cash-back-like cards that you may read about (or see commercials for). In most cases, these are just (up to) 2% cash-back cards that have annual fees. For example, the Arrival Plus card earns 2% cash back, not 2x airline miles that you can sometimes get outsized value from. While it doesn't have foreign transactions fees, it does have a $89 annual fee (after the first year). You are better off with a no-annual-fee 2% card like the Pay Pal Cash Back card, or with the 2.5% cash back rate from the Alliant card. Credit Cards 101 Get a Great General Purpose Reward Card and Use It for All of Your Spending Advanced Options for Everyday Spending Template:Best Cash Back Credit Cards/Page