Blue cash from American Express is our pick for best cash back credit card.  The reason we use the amex blue cash card for the majority of our purchases is the 5% cash back it offers at gas stations, supermarkets, and drug stores. 

5% Cash Back

While there is an annual spending amount you have to reach on the blue cash card before you’re bumped up to 5% cash rebate; I’ve noticed when reviewing our rewards online that we reach that point sooner each year as the price of food and gas continues to climb. 

Free Credit Report

I recently discovered a new feature of the blue cash card, American Express offers an annual free credit report and credit score to card members.  Once you login to the American Express website you can request your Experian credit report and credit score free of charge once a year.

I think they might offer this benefit to all Am Ex card holders but I didn’t even know it existed until I recently received their “Inside Blue Cash” email newsletter that covers the various features and benefits of the card.

Tracking Cash Back Rewards

Something else I wasn’t aware of was the “Blue Cash Tracker” that you can access once you’re logged into the American Express website.  It’s a pretty useful summary of how much cash back you’ve earned year to date and in past years.  We’ve been paid at least $400 a year in cash back rewards, most years it’s been over $500.

There are some interesting graphs that compare your spending and cash rewards to all other blue cash card holders and there’s a “Blue Cash” calculator that lets you estimate how much cash back you’ll earn based on your gas station, supermarket, and drug store purchases.

While a lot of the major supermarkets and gas station chains accept American Express, not every place does so I carry a backup Chase credit card for those occasions.

Win an American Express Gift Card

The last thing I learned in the blue cash newsletter is that you can win a $50 am ex gift card by sharing an interesting story of something you purchased with your American Express blue cash card.  Here’s how the email described it:

“What’s your favorite watercooler story about the Card? The time you used your cash back on a family beach trip? E-mail us what you love about your Card, and get a $50 American Express® Gift Card if it’s published.”

Maybe I’ll submit my “Why I Love My American Express Blue Card” post I wrote last year, although it’s more practical and not really fun or funny. 

Anyhow, that’s a quick review of some of the benefits and features of the card. The Amex Blue Cash is the best cash back credit card for our spending patterns and it has some pretty useful features to help track rewards and even monitor our credit.

A couple years ago, online savings accounts such as ING Direct became very popular. Their enticing savings rates caused many people to take their short-term savings out of traditional banks and into the internet world of banking. When my wife and I got married, we opened up an ING savings account for our emergency fund and any other short-term savings for large purchases in the future. We still have it, and it’s been a great account for us. Now, banks offering online savings account are trying out the online checking account. ING rolled out their Electric Orange checking account, but it has not received the same attention as its Orange savings account. I’ll break down the advantages and disadvantages of both accounts so you can figure out if either account is right for you.

The ING Orange Savings Account

The ING Orange Savings account would replace the dreadful savings accounts that brick-and-mortar banks offer. I always laugh when I see the 0.2% and 0.5% savings rates at Bank of America and Wachovia.

You won’t get rich from this account. You’ll use it to park cash for short-term savings such as an emergency fund or saving up for a car.


Advantages:

• The interest rate used to be 4.75% a couple years ago, but it’s still 3.00% today. This is infinitely better than the rates that traditional banks offer, unless you’re putting away a million dollars. But, you’d be an idiot to sock away a million bucks in a short-term savings account.
• You can access your money anywhere that you can find an internet connection. Let’s say you’re in France, and you need to make a money transfer, you can do it at an internet cafe.
• The transfer time is two business days. ING is quick to transfer money into your checking account.
• It’s harder to acess your money. This is an advantage and a disadvantage to an online savings account. The advantage is that it will help prevent you from making an impulse buy. If it takes you two days to access your money, it gives you more time to figure out if you should really buy the plasma TV you were looking at the other day.
• No fees and no minimums.
• An automatic savings plan to help you save on a consistent basis.
• It’s FDIC insured up to $100,000.

Disadvantages:

• It takes two days to access the money. This could pose a problem if you keep your emergency fund money in this account, and your breaks down. You won’t have immediate access to the money. The only advantage to the Paypal money market account is that you can get a debit card to access the money. If ING offered a debit card for their Orange Savings account, it’d be the best savings account on the planet!
• You can find a better interest rate.
• Keeping your money in a virtual account scares some people, because identity theft is the fast growing crime in the United States. However, ING has a very sophisticated login process. It takes much more than cracking a user name and a password to hack an ING account.

The Electric Orange Checking Account

It’s still hard for some people to dive into the world of online checking accounts. But, if you’re the ultimate techy and you like paying for everything online, the Electric Orange Checking is the account for you.

I don’t have this account, because of the reasons that I will discuss in the disadvantages section. I can’t speak from personal experience about this account, but a good friend of mine opened the account about six months ago, so I received some good information from him. Here is the table from the website showing the interest rates for the account

• $0 – $49,999: 1.75%
• $49,999 – $99,999: 3.20%
• $100,000 or more: 3.35%

Advantages:

• You earn interest on your money. There are not very many checking accounts that offer a MINIMUM of 1.75% interest.
• No fees associated with the account.
• A debit Master Card that can be used for free at over 32,000 ATMs.
• No overdraft fees. You get a line of credit hooked up to your account, and once your account dips below $0, you’ll pay a variable daily interest rate on the money that you owe. This is a huge advantage, because my wife and i have paid a few overdraft fees simply from bad accounting, rather than the lack of funds.
• Online bill pay. You can send electronic or paper checks to any individual or company.
• It’s FDIC insured up to $100,000.

Disadvantages:

• Depositing money is a pain. If you want to deposit cash into the account, you’ll still need a checking account from a traditional bank. You can set up direct deposit for your paycheck, and send in paper checks to ING, but otherwise, they haven’t figured out the cash thing.
• If you don’t live in a metropolitan area, it could be hard to find an ATM that doesn’t charge you a fee.
• Many young people seldom write paper checks, but it’s convenient when you don’t have cash and you can’t use your debit card. You would have to find an internet connection to send someone a check.

I think ING needs to figure out a way for people to deposit cash or checks into the approved ATMs. If they do this, I will definitely sign up for an account. If I’m going to make the switch, I don’t want to keep my Bank of America checking account. Hopefully, this review helps you make your decision. Money Smart Life is a big proponent of keeping an emergency fund, and the Orange Savings Account is a great option to store the money. The Electric Orange Checking account definitely has its advantages for those that never open up their checkbook and want to make the financial life paperless.

Writer Auditions – Author Erik Folgate – Offer Your Feedback