Best Cashback Cards of 2022 - The Readers Respond
Welcome to Saving Money with Andrew!
SMwA readers had some great responses to Best Credit Cards of 2022. Here are three great tips for more experienced credit card users:
Jordan pointed out that Chase Freedom offers 5% cashback (on up to $1,500 in combined purchases) on two categories per quarter.
The categories are sometimes narrow (WalMart), but sometimes broad (grocery stores). If you very carefully track your spending, only use the card for spending in those categories, and max out the categories every three months you could earn up to an extra $45 in rewards each quarter.[1]
For me this is too much work, and I’d have trouble getting close to the maximum spend in certain periods. But if you can spend the time, it’s another way to earn more rewards.
New account bonuses are another source of rewards
Notably, there are several welcome offers floating around right now (not linking to affiliate sites) that offer anywhere from $200-1000 worth of rewards for signing up for a new card and meeting a spending threshold.
Be mindful of annual fees and eligibility, as certain issuers limit how many times you can earn a new account bonus. And if the card earns you less than a 2% effective rewards rate (after you’ve earned the welcome bonus), you should probably close it afterwards.
A long time ago, I took advantage of these offers, but stopped doing so because the work of tracking the different cards became too time consuming (opening so many accounts also affected my credit score).
Finally, don’t forget retention offers
If you have any cards you are considering canceling, follow the tips in this post to try to cancel. See if the issuer offers you anything—you might be very pleasantly surprised! It is very common to receive offers to waive a year’s worth of annual fee, or for additional bonuses worth $100 or more.
In 2019, I received $700 worth of incentives (a waived annual fee and a spending-based incentive) for keeping an Amex card that I had decided to cancel. The best way to see what offers are currently available can generally be found by simply searching for “[card name] retention offers” on Google.
And don’t forget the most important tip of all. Never carry a balance (if you can), and use AutoPay to make sure you don’t forget to pay your bill.
Finally, a note on the tragic events in Ukraine. There is very little any of us can do to help, but please consider supporting the efforts of relief organizations. And if you haven’t, please join Amazon Smile so that a deserving charity of your choice can receive 0.5% of all your Amazon purchases at no cost to you.
And now…Andrew’s pick(s) of the week:
These Nerds Saw Ukraine Invasion Start On Google Maps Before Putin Said a Word
And this clip of 8-year old Hadiya Hashmi with the Pakistani band Soch is incredible (hat tip to Ted Gioia).
I hope this has been helpful. If you liked it, please share it on social media! Also, please send me your feedback, requests, and success stories.
[1] 5% versus the 2% you’d earn with Citi Double Cash.