I still haven’t found a card out there that matches up with the discontinued Drivers Edge card. I just want a card that gives me 5% cash back on gas, groceries, and drugstores all year round. If anyone locates this type of card, please post it.

I just received notice that this card is being phased out. Apparently, most of the owners of this card weren’t bright enough to realize how good these rewards were, and how to optimize them. I think most people probably never read the pamphlet, and thought the drive rebates could only be used towards the purchase of a vehicle, ignoring the fact that you could use them towards any type of vehicle maintenance. These dumbasses complained to Citi to the point where now Citi is cancelling the Drivers Edge reward program altogether, and converting the card into a 1% back on everything, only usable as Thank You points. This new card sucks.

So for all those people who complained to Citi about their most customer-friendly reward card… you’re the worst.

My debit card is with USAA and it’s no longer in force – I thought it was but when you asked I went back and double checked – so thanks for asking. They now have a points reward system. My debit card with Guaranty Bank has a cash back system that varies by merchant – up to 20% back based on their affiliate relationship with that vendor.

I used to worry about rewards and cash back. I even justified purchases because I was “getting the reward” when I bought the item. Then I sat down and did the math on my 5%-back-on-a-new-car-purchase credit card. To get the $3,000 reward discount on a new car, I had to spend $60,000 with the credit card. Not cool.

I also realized I could save so much more by having a plan for my money before the month begins. By saying no to wants, I put cash in the bank a lot faster than purchases rationalized by a few dollars of cash back each month.

Which financial institution issued this debit card?

And is the 5% still available?

And is it across the board? That is to say you get 5% cash back on every purchase? Even purchases made at Walmart?

Doug

Btw, my debit card gives me 5% cash back when I use it as a credit card. Same reward, no credit card hassle.

@Doug
Thanks for the suggestions. I hadn’t really realized I could get better cash back. It’s worth looking into.

I think you can do better than 1%. Granted I am unaware of any cards being offered which payback 5% on EDP (Every Day Purchases [Gasoline, Groceries and Drugstores]) like they used to, but Associated Bank located in Green Bay, WI is currently offering a card which pay 3% cashback on EDP.

Another card worth a look is the cashback card offered by the Pentagon Federal FCU. It pays 5% on Gasoline, 2% on Groceries and 1% on everything else. One downside is that if your not qualified to join their credit union, you can qualify by joining a military support group and
pay their dues. But you only have to join for one year.
Whether this card make sense for you probably depends on how much money you spend on Gasoline each year.

If you have an account with Fidelity, or the funds to open one, you should check out their credit card which I believe still offers 2%. No need to invest in stocks, etc., just open a Money Market account. Your 2% rewards will be deposited into the account each month and available when you want them.

I guess that is pretty much it. There are a couple of cards (Discover and Chase Freedom come to mind) that offer larger cash back percentages in various categories which change every three months. Too much hassle to suit me.

Anyone else have any suggestions on how Carol can exceed 1% cashback?

Doug

Believe it or not, McDonalds revenues went up some 47% when they started accepting plastic at the counter. It’s because most of us don’t think about what the current balance is on our cards when we make the purchase. We figure we’ll worry about it later, then a few days later we repeat the cycle. When the monthly statement comes in (it doesn’t matter if it’s the credit card or the debit card) we wonder how we managed to spend so much.

I teach my clients to do a spending plan before each month so they know whether they can make the purchase before they are even in the buying situation. It’s a life-changing process for many of them but they always agree it’s well worth it.

I’m confident my credit score is dropping because I don’t have any debt. I’m not worried about my credit score either because I don’t borrow money and will never borrow again.

I don’t agree that I spend more with a credit card. I’m so frugal that I agonize over just about every purchase. Sure, if I didn’t have enough cash on hand, I couldn’t make a purchase with cash. But I don’t think I fall entirely into the category of spending that much more just b/c I’m using my credit card.

And we don’t care about the interest rate on the card. I’m not even sure I know what it is. We never carry a balance. I wish that were more reflected in our credit scores. We’re already over 800 so there’s not much more room to grow, but still – it’d be nice to have a perfect score. (Can you tell I’m somewhat of a perfectionist?)

My wife and I haven’t owned a credit card for years, and we never will again. we pay cash for everything and we save tons of money that way. we never have to worry about our credit limit changing or our interest rates going up because we don’t play their games. It’s really liberating to be in control!

When you sign up for different cards over various times, what do you do with your old cards? Say I have older rewards cards I am not using, because I found a better one. Do I call and cancel them? Does that hurt my credit score? Thanks

Why?

Following my previous post I went browsing. Found this link: http://www.disclosure.hsbccred.....7WA_UNJEI1

Apparently HSBC is offering a Weekend Card which pays 1% on weekdays but 2% on weekends. But if you read the fine print they seem to indicate that the 2% all the time card is still available as of 9/15/2008.

A final comment or two;

With gasoline selling at $4 per gallon, 5% cash back is a reduction in price of $0.20 per gallon.

Assume I charge $1000 per month and receive 3.5% cash back using the two cards I am proposing. That amounts to $35 per month ($420 per year) cash back, not small change!

Doug

Perhaps you are correct, especially given the uncertain financial situation.

The two HSBC 2% cards used to appear and disappear regularly on their websites. But even if not being advertised they seemed to be available if requested.

Personally, I would advise applying for one and then canceling it unless they are not/will not give the 2% cash back option.

I just called the Associated Bank phone number. The automated message clearly states the 5% card is still available.

Doug

ps – any insight on exactly why these cash back cards have a maximum limit? If the Credit Card companies are making money with a $300 limit, wouldn’t they make twice as much money with a $600 limit. The only reason I can see is people overspend the limit and then get no additional benefit.

AssociatedBank pays 5% cash back at Gasoline Stations, Groceries and Drugstores. $300/year limit. Must apply by phone. 1-877-577-9485. (affiliated with Citicard)

Orchard Bank/Household Bank (both associated with HSBC) offer cards with 2% cash back, $400/year limit. May have to speak with a representative to see if they are still available. The 2% seems to apply everywhere, even WalMart.

I probably average 3.5% cash back using these two cards appropriately. Charge almost everything I can. Payoff balance each month.

Most of my interaction with customer service has been regard to payments

They have accepted 1 day late payments with no fees, and when I missed payments later than that, I was able to get them to reverse the charges based on my payment history.
Once, when I was in the hospital, and I didn’t have my card or number with me. I called them up and explained the situation, and helped me make a phone payment with fee. Plus they are the only credit card I have that allows me to pay by phone (on the automated system) with no fee.

Another thing I like is that I can choose the payment due date. Other cards I’ve owned move it around depending on whether or not I paid off the balance, and how many days in the billing cycle.

At one time I was really irritated with the interest rate on the card, so I called them up to complain. I told them that it was higher than all my other cards, and they reduced the interest rate to 10.99. It’s not phenomenally low, but it’s decent. Most of the time I pay if off, but it’s reasonable if I need some flexibility.

I’ve always been nice to the customer service reps and they’ve been nice to me in return.

Now Citibank … that’s another story.

Some time ago I got a Citi rewards card offer in the mail that promised a $100 gift card for my choice of a number of popular retailers. The only conditions were transferring a balance and spending charging at least $100 within the first 3 months. I followed the conditions and kept calling about when the bonus points would be added. They kept telling me it takes a couple of months to show up. They never did. When I escalated it, they told me they knew of no such offer, and I had to produce the original offer (which I had already tossed). They offered some measly compensation, which I refused. I cancelled the card and they lost a good customer.

1) Discover Open Road: 5% cash back on gas and car repairs (on first $100 in purchases a month — this is usually a tank of gas and some months an oil change), 0% APR for the first year. The other rewards are not much to write home about but the 0% has in handy. (I have cash in hand to pay it off when the time comes.) They also will give you a temporary credit card number that’s only good for one purchase, which is a nice security feature when dealing with online merchants you’ve never done business with.

2) Chase Freedom MasterCard: You all know this one. I use it for groceries and a couple of other categories I get 3% on. I was using it for everything, until I got…

3) FNBO Direct Visa: 2% on everything for the first year. I use this one for everything I don’t get 3% on with the Chase card.

4) Chase Buy.com VISA. Basically the same deal as the Amazon card, 3% on purchases from Buy.com and 1% on everything else, with a $30 spiff after your first purchase. Except that Buy.com offers 10% off most of Amazon’s prices on books. And I don’t have to pay sales tax like I do with Amazon (I live near Seattle).

I also just got a WaMu personal business card that is 0% on purchases for the first 18 months. They also give you a free FICO score every month, which is nice (though it’s from your TransUnion report). I have some fairly big technology purchases I will be making soon and not having to pay for them until 2009 will be nice; I will earn north of 7.5% by being able to keep the cash in the bank all that time.

For the first 6500, your redemption rate is 0.5% vs. 1.5%: Basically, you give up $65 in rewards for the Blue Cash card…

Is giving up $65 in rewards worth the 5% cash back on groceries. Well, just compare the 1.5% you would get at Fidelity with the 5% you get with Blue Cash. How much grocery shopping would make up for the $65 loss: Answer: $1800 of groceries. Most people do spend more than $1800 in groceries, which makes the Blue Cash a good deal.

A lot of places don’t accept American Express, so the Fidelity card has a good use as an overall card (once you’ve hit the $6500 limit for Blue Cash).

I am grandfathered in on a 5% cash back on Groceries through a Chase card (no longer offered). That makes the Blue Cash card redundant for me.

And you also forgot to account for gas station and drugstore purchases. These also qualify for the 5% reward.

Don’t get me wrong… Pairing the Blue Cash Card with something like your Fidelity card, or Chase Freedom (3% on you 3 highest spending categories) is a smart strategy. But if you have “typical” spending patterns (and especially if you have a family) it’s hard to beat the Amex Blue Cash.

Cheapster – It doesn’t actually promote eating out. I mean, when deciding between eating at home and going out, it was never that 3% cash back that pushed me over the edge.
It’s just about being realistic on what you spend your money on – and picking the most advantageous creditcard.

Eating out isn’t always evil. My friend is an attorney and works 70+ hours a week. He rarely has time to cook and eats almost all his meals out. But he also makes $175,000+ a year. I guess he could get a job with less hours, and cook himself every meal, but that doesn’t really make sense.

I know that’s the extreme, but the bottom line is everyone likes to spend their money on something, and works hard to be able to afford that “luxury”.

I think that should be removed from the list as it is counter productive in the end.

Interesting no Citi card represented. I guess everybody has learned to dislike Citi as much as I have.