Best cash back credit cards

trism · January 5, 2023, 12:04pm

Updated for Q1 2023
Two new cards added

Card	Cash back	Categories	Cap	Comments
Amex Blue Cash Preferred	6%	Groceries, Streaming	$6,000/year	Annual fee waived for current year (+$150 upgrade bonus)
Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Visa (3)	5.25%	Online Shopping, Online Shopping, Dining	$2,500/quarter per card	Includes 75% relationship bonus; Categories can be changed once a month (gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings); Three of these in our household; each has a separate cap
Capital One Walmart Mastercard	5%	Walmart.com	Unlimited	Walmart.com purchases (including pickup and delivery)
Chase Amazon Rewards Prime Visa	5%	Amazon.com, Whole Foods	$1,500/quarter	Amex BCP pays 6% on groceries, so this card isn’t useful (to me) for 5% at Whole Foods. Amazon Prime membership required for card eligibility.
Chase Freedom	5%	Grocery stores, Target, fitness/gym memberships Updated categories for Q1	$1,500/quarter	This is the original Freedom card, which is currently closed to new applicants. If you use Ultimate Rewards points optimally (which I do not), 5X URs > 5% cashback, and Q4 categories overlap with other cards. 5% categories change quarterly and are set by the issuer.
Chase Freedom Flex	5%	Grocery stores, Target, fitness/gym memberships Updated categories for Q1	$1,500/quarter	If you use Ultimate Rewards points optimally (which I do not), 5X URs > 5% cashback, and Q4 categories overlap with other cards. 5% categories change quarterly and are set by the issuer.
Citi Custom Cash New		Gas*	$500/billing cycle	* Pays 5% back on the first $500/cycle on the most used category, and 1% on everything else. I’m only putting gas purchases on the card, which covers a niche in our spending. There is no reason to use this card for anything but a single category of purchases that will routinely fall within the monthly cap. 1% back on anything is horrifically bad. Categories: Restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, live entertainment
Discover it	5%	Grocery stores, drug stores and select streaming services Updated categories for Q1	$1,500/quarter	Eligible streaming services defined in note 15 in the mouse print on this page. 5% categories change quarterly and are set by the issuer.
US Bank Cash+	5%	Home Utilities, TV/Internet/Streaming	$2,000/quarter	Some utility bills have a credit card surcharge, but these are easy to outrun by overpaying the balance and carrying a credit on the utility account; Choose two categories per quarter (furniture, electronics, department stores, select clothing stores, select sporting goods stores, home utilities, cell phone providers, gyms, ground transportation, movie theaters, fast food, TV/internet/streaming)
US Bank Altitude Connect New	4%	Travel, gas stations and EV charging stations		Also pays 5% on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked through US Bank’s OTA, which I’ll never use. 2% categories are also offered, but those have no utility to me (given the flat 2.625% structure on the Bank of America Travel Rewards; see below).
Bank of America Travel Rewards	2.625%	All purchases	Unlimited	Includes 75% relationship bonus This cards gets miscellaneous spending that isn’t covered by categories that pay 5% or more. No annual fee.