The Discover® More credit card is best known for it’s 5% cash back rebate from Discover’s Get More merchants, making it one of the best cash back credit cards on the market.

In addition to having no annual fee, the Discover More card also allows you to exchange your cash rebates for gift cards worth more than the value of your cash back bonus. You can also earn cash back when you shop online with partner merchants through the Shop Discover website – the amount of savings varies across retailers but can be as high as 20% in some cases.

Cash Back Rates
The 5% cashback bonus for Get More partners covers categories such as travel, home improvement stores, department stores, gas, groceries, and restaurants.  As you can see below, the bonus categories rotate during the year, so the purchases that you earn 5% back on change depending on the season.

There aren’t many cards that pay 5% cashback for anything so the bonus categories are a great feature of the Discover More card.  As we’ll cover again later in the review, these earning categories do require you to opt-in during the period to earn the rewards.

For all other purchases on the More card you earn cash back on a tiered rewards structure. Purchases that are part of your first $1,500 earn .25% and purchases that are part of your second $1,500 earn .50%. After your total annual purchases exceed $3,000, you’ll earn 1% cash back on money you spend outside of the Get More partner stores.

Gift Card Rewards
Discover has teamed up with a list of stores that allow you to trade your cash back rewards for gift cards to those retailers. In many cases the value of the gift certificate you get is higher than the dollar value of your cash rewards.

For example, the Discover rewards program lets you redeem your cash rebates in $20 increments. In some instances you can turn a $20 statement credit into a $30 gift card for home improvement, restaurants, entertainment, or travel.   They call it turning your “Cashback bonus into bigger rewards” and it’s a pretty slick benefit that includes some pretty big retailers:

Of course, if they don’t have gift cards available for places that you visit regularly then this benefit isn’t all that spectacular.  However, they do have over 100 partner stores in their program so if you shop at any of them the gift card redemption option can help you get more out of your rewards.

Balance Transfer Offers
On top of the cash back features, the Discover More card offers some of the best balance transfer rates available. There have been times when it was possible to get 0% balance transfers for an extended period or to get a balance transfer with no fees. A quick review of the chart at the end of the review will tell you all about the current APR and offers on this credit card.

Customizable Cards
Nowadays we’re used to being able to customize products and services to our own individual tastes and Discover is well aware of that.

You can choose from over 150 different card designs when you apply for the Discover More card.

While choosing your design is cool it is the least important feature of the card. I’ve had a slick looking card for years (Blue Cash) and I’ve gotten lots of comments from store clerks and shop owners on it’s uniqueness, but that does nothing for my bottom line. I agree that it’s nice to be able to choose the design, to make it a little more personalized – but hopefully this isn’t your primary decision point when choosing a card.

Discover More Reviews 

It always helps to hear the experiences of other peple who have used a credit card.  That’s why I like a feature on the Discover website where customers can post a review of their card for everyone else to see.

Consumers score their card based on three different criteria: 1) Rewards program 2) Customer service and 3) Online Account Center.  They they can rate each of those criteria from 1-5 stars, then the three scores average out to give the card review an overall score.

To get some good value out of the reviews you’ll have to go through pages of them, most aren’t very extensive and few offer much valuable feedback.  A lot of the comments say something like “great card” or “not my favorite card” but without any detail behind their opinion.

However, if you read through them all you’ll get an idea of the main things people like and don’t like about their Discover card.  I think it’s great that Discover posts these customer reviews on their site; it’s probably kind of scary for them to do because they know they’re going to get negative comments but I think it’s a wonderful way for potential customers to get a feel for the pros and cons of the card.

Discover More Complaints

I spent quite a bit of time going through all the pages of comments, so you don’t have to do the thing, here’s a summary of what I noticed.  The positive comments about the card covered a pretty wide range but the majority of the complaints centered around one topic, the rules on the 5% cashback bonus categories.  

As I mentioned earlier you have to opt-in for the bonus categories every quarter.  There’s also a quarterly cap for the dollar amount of rewards you can earn from the 5% cashback bonus.  What this means is that once you reach the quarterly cap, or if you don’t opt in, then you earn 1% cash back on those purchases instead of 5%.  So most of the critiquies of the card were people asking Discover to increase the caps and not require them to opt-in to the bonus categories.

Interestingly enough, most of the people that left those comments still rated Discover More at least 4 stars, like you see here.  Seems like they do like the cashback rewards they’re getting, they just wish Discover would update the cashback bonus policy so they could earn more. Some of these customers commented that once they hit their bonus cap with Discover they switch over to another cash back card like Chase Freedom.  Their main point was that Discover would get more of their business if they’d raise the bonus cap.

The other complaint that occassionally came up was that Discover isn’t accepted by all merchants. I guess there’s not a whole lot that Discover can do about that. I run into something similar as well with my American Express cards, which is why I also carry a rewards Visa card.

Discover More Rewards & Customer Service

Although the positive comments covered a much wider range of topics, there were still a few that stood out

• Customer Service
• Gift Card Rewards
• Cashback Rewards Partners

Customer Service 

Many people referred to the customer service from Discover as friendly and efficient but there seemed to be something consumers liked even better than just fast and friendly – Discover’s fraud protection. Apparently Discover is very vigilant about suspicious transactions or large purchases and will call you up right away if anything seems out of the ordinary.  I read comments from a lot of people who had Discover catch unauthorized card use for them and squash potential identit theft situations.

Another big compliment Discover recieved was the speed with which they redeem your rewards once you request them.   One commenter had requested his cashback before bed one night and then saw the money deposited when he got home from work the next day.

Gift Card Rewards

As I mentioned earlier the gift cards can be a good deal if you already shop at some of the partner stores.  For example, one person uses their Discover rewards gift cards at Staples and combines it with the cartridge recycling discount to save even more. Another customer that sends flowers out over the holidays uses the FTD gift cards to save on the flowers.  A third lady who buys from CVS regularly takes advantage of the $50 gift card for $45.

Rewards Partners

Since the rewards partners discounts can be pretty high, some of the commmentors said they do a lot of their online shopping through Discover.  One person did point out that sometimes they’re actually able to find a better deal at online rebate sites, so they compare the ShopDiscover prices to other sites online first.

Conclusion
If you can take advantage of the bonus cash back categories, the gift card deals, or the rewards partners the Discover More card is one of the best cash back rewards cards on the market.  If you put a lot of purchases on your card, you might want to keep another cash back card around to take advantage of other offers once you hit the quarterly spending cap.

Another thing to consider, if you’re looking for a cash back card that is also a good balance transfer card then the More card could work for you.  This card is great for people who want flexibility when cashing in their rewards.

Which card you prefer kind of depends on how you view the money you earn with a cash back card.  If your goal is to just reduce your overall expenses a bit with the rebates, then your focus is probably on which card can get you the most money back the fastest.  On the other hand, if you see the rewards as a type of bonus that can get you some good deals on things you might not buy otherwise, then you’re probably more interested in a card that offers options in addition to cash rebates.

The other big question is how much do you generally charge on your card each year.  I’ll explain why these are important things to consider in the following sections.

Cash Back Rewards

Blue Cash® from American Express offers .5% cash back on the first $6,500 spent annually on the card and then increases this rate to 1.25%. Additionally there are some purchases that are eligible for an increased rewards rate of 1% for the first $6,500 spent on the card and 5% after that. If you’re not sure how your spending fits into this structure, American Express has a Blue Cash Calculator on their website where you select what you spend in a year on gas, grocery, drugstore, and all other purchases and they estimate how much cash back you’d earn.

The Discover® More Card gives you .25% cash back on the first $3000 in annual purchases. After that, the card rewards you with 1% cash back on all purchases. Additionally, there are rotating bonus categories on which you can earn 5% cash back. Finally, you can get up to an additional 20% cash back when using this credit card to shop online with select merchants. The Discover® More Card occasionally runs promotional deals. For example, recently it offered a bonus $100 cash back when you spent $500 on purchases in the first month after getting the card.

Annual Spending

Both of these rewards plans take a little bit of assessment to figure out since they aren’t entirely straightforward like some other cards are. Essentially you’ll want to look at whether or not you’re likely to spend $6500 per year or more on the card or if you’re more of a spender in the $3000 annual range.

The Discover More is nice because you can start earning 5% back on certain categories as soon as you start using the card.  You don’t have to wait to cross the spending tier like you do with the Blue Cash card.  However, since there’s a quarterly cap on the amount of bonus rewards you can earn with More card – if you put a lot of purchases on your credit card the Blue Cash could be a better option.  There’s no limit to the amount of cash back you can earn with Blue Cash and if you’re spending a lot annually then you’ll get into the higer earning tiers more quickly.

Spending Categories

Unfortunately, both cards limit your 5% cash back to certain categories of spending.  The upside to the Discover More approach is that you earn those bonus rewards on seasonal purchases, in categories where you might tend to spend more money at a certain time of year.

The downside is that you have to keep track of those categories and enroll in them every quarter to qualify for the bonus cash back.  Compare that to the Blue Cash that pays the 5% on things you buy all year round (gas, supermakets, pharmacies) and doesn’t ever require you to enroll your card – you automatically earn cash back each time you make a purchase.

Redeeming Cash Rebates

It used to be that Discover had the upper hand when it came to redeeming your cash back.  However, with the introduction of Blue Cash Reward Dollars, American Express now makes it possible to cash them in once you’ve accumulated $25 worth.  In the past you were only paid your earnings once a year but the new system AmEx put in place fixed that. 

Discover More does still have an advantage if you want your rewards in cold hard cash.  Once you’ve accumulated $50 Discover will send you the money electronically to your bank account (or if you only have $20 they’ll send a Discover gift card).  Although you can get your money sooner with American Express, it only comes across as a credit to your account, not as cash directly to you.  That’s not a big deal to me because we put most of our expenses on our card and pay it off once a month, so the credit just serves as a savings for us.  However, if you want cash it’s something to think about.

Another difference between the two cards is that Discover will also let you turn in your rewards for gift cards.  I’m not a huge fan of gift cards but Discover’s rewards program lets you buy gift cards at less than face value with your cash back rewards, so you can get anywhere from 2–10% additional savings when you redeem your earnings for gift cards at places you regularly shop.

Interest Rates

The rate and terms you’ll get from the Blue Cash card vary based on your credit history. You’ll need good credit to qualify for the card but excellent credit will get you lower interest rates and sometimes even longer terms on 0% interest intro APR offers.

The Discover More Card also requires that you have good credit and the interest rate you’ll pay on balances does depend on your credit history. However, the More card tends to have a lower APR on purchases and balance transfers than the Blue Cash card.

If you’re looking at a balance transfer you’ll also want to consider the balance transfer fee because the Blue Cash is usually lower by a percentage or two than Discover More. To do an accurate comparison of the rates on the two cards you can scroll down to the side-by-side information chart, which shows up-to-date APR and offers.

Summary

The bonus cash back rewards on the Discover® More Card definitely make it the stronger of the two competitors right now if you don’t spend a lot on your card. The lower APR and the offer of a 0% intro APR for balance transfers also make it an appealing choice if you carry a balance or are planning to transfer a balance.

However, the option to earn a higher cash back rate on purchases after the first $6500 each year make the Blue Cash® from American Express card an appealing option if you put lot on your card. Unlike the More card, the Blue Cash doesn’t have a limit on the amount of cash back you can earn so higher spenders truly benefit more from this card than from Discover More.  

While the biggest difference between the two is probably how rewards are earned, remember there are more things to consider than just the rewards when researching cash back cards.

How Rewards Are Earned

The main difference between the Discover® More Card and the Chase Freedom® Visa is in the way that standard cash back rewards are earned. The Freedom card offers unlimited 1% cash back on all purchases with 5% cash back options on certain spending categories that rotate quarterly – also  an additional 10% back when you shop online with select merchants.

Discover More also offers a 5% cash back deal on rotating categories. However, the card only offers .25% cash back on the first $3000 in purchases each year before increasing to 1% cash back after that. Discover More offers 5% – 20% cash back when shopping online with select merchants.

Neither of these is necessarily a better deal than the other; it just depends on what type of shopper you are. If you prefer straightforward cash back rewards then Chase Freedom will be more appealing but if you do a significant amount of shopping online then you may find that you get more cash back with the Discover More card.

Rotating Spending Categories

One way to determine which of these two cards is the better one for you is to look at where they offer the most cash back – in their rotating spending categories. The 2011 spending categories for each card is as follows:

Chase Freedom

• April – June: Home Improvement, Home Furnishings and Lawn and Garden
• July – September: Gas, Airlines, and Hotels
• October – December: Dining, Department Stores, Movies and Charities

Discover More

• April – June: Home and Fashion
• July – September: Gas, Hotels, Movies and Theme Parks
• October – December: Restaurants and Fashion

As you can see, the cards have some similarities (like offering travel-related bonuses during the busy vacation months of summer) but also have their differences. For example, if you are more likely to spend money on fashion than charity then you would find the Discover More card more appealing.

Redeeming Rewards

Cash Back

Redeeming rewards with both the Freedom and More cards is pretty simple, but don’t forget to do it.  Both Chase and Discover have websites that members log into and request their rewards.  Unlike some rewards cards that automatically credit your card, you have to remember to request these periodically.

If you’re after cash back rewards, Chase does make it a little easier to get your money sooner.  With the Freedom card you can request to be paid your cash back once you’ve accumulated $20 worth. 

Discover More only sends you cash once you’ve hit the $50 mark, although they will send a Discover gift card for $20.  Discover does offer more payment options, they can send the money electronically to your bank account or credit your account. 

Chase is a little more limited, just offering check redemption.  They have a section in their Ultimate Rewards site where you can request a check be mailed out once you have at least $20.

Gift Cards 

Both Chase Freedom and Discover More let you redeem your rewards for gift cards but Discover has the upper hand in terms of the number of places you can get gift cards from and the savings you can get with the cards.  They both label the available merchants as partners but Discover’s options make them seem more like partners.  You can actually buy a gift card worth more than the amount of cash back you have on your More credit card.

For example, we like to eat at Chipotle one of the Discover partner merchants.  If you have $45 of cash back earned on your More card, you can buy a Chipotle gift card worth $50 – a nice boost to your rewards.  In addition to this bonus, Discover also has more merchant partners in most every category than Chase.  In our case, since Chipotle isn’t a partner for the Chase Freedom rewards, we’d have to settle for a restaurant that’s right across the street – Panera.

However, Chase does offer more redemption levels than Discover.  So if we wanted to eat at Panera, we could get a $10 gift card in return for 1,500 points.  You can see in the graphic some example levels, they can differ across merchants.  So you can get a bonus if you wait longer to get the gift card with Discover but Chase allows you to use your points for gift cards sooner.

Other Rewards

Although Discover More really does offer “more” in terms of gift card choices and bonuses, the Chase Freedom card actually gives you access to more rewards.  The points you earn with the Freedom card can be used in the Ultimate Rewards program, which has a lot of options.

Of course if you’re looking for a cash back card, like these two, then you might not care as much about the rewards options other than cash.

Card Payments

Neither one of these cards will let you earn cash back on your purchases if you haven’t paid your credit card bill.  Not only do you not earn rewards for periods when you don’t pay, you also can’t redeem rewards earned in the past when your account is delinquent.

The good thing is that your existing rewards don’t expire with either card so even if it takes a while for you to get back on track the rewards will still be there to claim.  Although the points don’t expire, if you request a redemption check and don’t cash it in time the check can expire.

One thing to consider in terms of payments is that the Freedom card participates in the Chase Blueprint program which can give you a variety of options when it comes to paying down and paying off your card balance. 

Promotional Deals

Both of these credit cards have offered promotional deals for new card members – ranging from a $25 bonus up to a $100 bonus. The criteria usually say that you have to use the card for a certain dollar amount in the first few months to be eligible for the bonus.  For example, they might give you $100 cash back if you spend $500 on purchases in the first month.

APR and Annual Fee

Both cards offer a 0% intro APR for balance transfers and purchases; see the table below for the length of the zero interest offers. Another bonus is that neither card has an annual fee. The balance transfer and cash advance fees tend to be higher on the Discover More card than the Chase Freedom card. However, Discover does occasionally run promotions where there is no balance transfer fee, for example, the Discover More – No Balance Transfer Fee card.

Conclusion

As you can see, these two cards are comparable in some areas to one another. Chase Freedom offers a more straightforward cash back policy and generally has a lower rate on balance transfers and cash advances. However, Discover More may offer more cash back on purchases made online and has better gift card redemption options. Either of these cards would make a solid cash back card for the discerning customer.  Be sure look carefully at their rotating spending categories and redemption options to help you make a final decision. 

The Chase Freedom Visa - $100 Bonus Cash Back is one of the better rewards credit cards available. While most rewards cards offer one or two percent in cash back rewards, the Freedom card offers 5% cash back or 5 points per dollar on gas, home improvement, groceries, airlines, department stores, and other things that make up your seasonal purchases. This is what makes the Chase Freedom card especially good for cardholders: you earn back more on those purchases you make.

5% Cash Back Schedule

The way that this rewards program works is that you receive the 5% cash back rewards in rotating categories that change every three months. Here’s the cash back schedule for the Chase Freedom rewards card for the rest of 2011:

• April – June: Home Improvement, Home Furnishings and Lawn and Garden 
• July – September: Gas, Airlines, and Hotels 
• October – December: Dining, Department Stores, Movies and Charities

One thing to note about this schedule is that Chase Freedom tries to offer you the most cash back on the items that you are especially likely to buy in a particular season. For example, there are travel rewards in the summer when people tend to travel most and shopping rewards as well as charity giving during the winter holidays.

Some people actually use this card in conjunction with other rewards cards, and only put purchases on the Freedom card that are earning the bonus.  Of course, the downside of this approach is that you have to keep track of the categories and juggle mutiple cards. 

This approach can help to maximize the amount you get back but to me it’s more work than it’s worth.  It really depends on how much you spend on your card and how easy it is for you to keep track of the bonus categories.  You also have to keep in mind that if you open too many cards it can negatively impact your credit score.

Chase Cash Back

You will earn 1% cash back rewards on all purchases you make that don’t fall into one of the seasonal categories, which means you get a 1% rebate for each $1 of purchases.

Also, as part of the Ultimate Rewards program, Chase has a trip planner where you can search for flights, hotels, and rental cars. The functionality is okay, they let you filter by price, schedule, city, etc – like most major travel sites. If you book and pay for travel using the site you earn an extra point for every dollar you spend.

You won’t earn cash back for transactions on your card that aren’t purchases. For example if you do a balance transfer or something like a cash advance don’t expect to be earn any rewards since Chase doesn’t credit them on that type of activity.

Bonus Cash Back for Online Shopping

Chase has an online shopping tool that allows you to search for even better cash back deals when making online purchases with select retailers. It is possible to earn up to an additional 10% cash back on the purchases that are made through this online shopping tool.

Cash Back Bonus Offers

Chase Freedom somtimes offers the opportunity to earn an additional cash back when you first start using the card. You just need to spend a certain amount within the first three months of opening the card and then that money is available for you to redeem. For example, for their $100 bonus offer, if you put $500 on the card during the first 3 billing cycles then they put a credit on your card for $100.

Redeeming Cash Back Rewards

It is possible to start redeeming your rewards for cash as soon as you’ve earned the low amount of just $20 (and you can then continue redeeming in $20 increments). However, there are also other ways that you can redeem these rewards:

• Pay yourself back using the cash back that you’ve earned to pay for a recent purchase on the card
• Get gift cards with your cash back rewards
• Redeem for travel rewards with no blackout dates or restrictions
• Exchange the cash for points and redeem the points for merchandise

Flexible Repayment with Chase Blueprint

Chase Freedom is one of the cards that is part of the Chase Blueprint program, a program designed to allow you many different repayment options for your spending. Those repayment options include:

• Full payment each month in specific spending categories that you select so that you never pay interest on items purchased in those categories
• Set a goal date for when you want to pay off a large purchase and split the payments evenly until that date
• Set a monthly amount that you wish to pay on a large purchase until the item is paid off
• Set a target date and create a plan for paying off an entire balance

The Chase Blueprint program is free and is linked to your online Chase account. You can make changes to your payment plan at any time.

Chase Freedom Fees

There is no annual fee for the card and a relatively low APR compared to other cash back cards. Chase Freedom does occasionally offer introductory 0% APR on balance transfers as well as purchases; see the chart below for more details.  

Card Fees and Bonuses

The main purpose of both cards is to earn cash back on your purchases.  Neither the Freedom or the Blue Cash Everyday has an annual fee, which is good since you get to keep more of the cash back that you earn.  There is a Blue Cash Preferred card that charges a fee but in return you earn higher cash back rates at supermarkets and gas.

Both the Blue Cash and Chase Freedom have offered signup bonuses in the past – with the Freedom card historically having higher bonuses.  For example, the Blue cash sometimes offers $25 to new customers, which is paid as a statement credit.  The Freedom card has offered $50 and even $100 as a bonus to new members, their come in the form of rewards points.  You can use the points as part of the Ultimate Rewards program or redeem them for cash.

Most rewards cards won’t pay you the rewards you earn during a period in which you don’t pay your bill.  This is the case with both of these cards, if you’re in default on your payment then you aren’t credited your cash back for any money spent during that billing cycle.

Earning Cash Back

Both the Blue Cash and Chase Freedom can earn you cash back on your purchases but they go about it in diffrent ways. 

Chase Freedom

The Freedom card pays 1% cash back on all purchases, then has certain bonus categories that can earn you an additional 4%.  The categories rotate each quarter, here’s the cash back calendar for this year:

• January – March : grocery stores and drug stores
• April – June : home improvement, home furnishings, lawn and garden
• July – September : gas, airlines, hotels
• October – December : dining, department stores, movies, charities

So the nice thing about the Freedom card is that you can start earning 5% right away if your purchases fall into one of the bonus categories. The categories are typically based around the areas that people tend to spend the most in during those months.

One other thing to note is that the Freedom card does have a cap each quarter on the amount of spending that’s eligible for the 4% bonus.  You may not reach that cap, but if you do then the remainder of purchases go back to earning 1%.

Blue Cash

The Blue Cash also has a form of bonus categories that they call “Everyday Purchases” – grocery stores, department stores, and gas stations.  Unlike the Freedom card, these categories are the same all year round.

You earn 3% back at supermarkets and 2% on gas and in department stores – 1% back on everything else.  If you go with the Blue Cash Preferred, you earn 6% back at supermarkets and 3% on gas and in department stores.

Redeeming Cash Back

As I mentioned earlier, the Chase Freedom card earns you rewards points for your purchases.  You can either use them in the Ultimate Rewards program or you can convert the points to cash.  The conversion rate is 1 point equals $0.01 cash – so 10,000 points could be turned in for a $100 check.

With the Blue Cash card, your cash back is paid in the form of a statement credit.  It used to be that you could only redeem your cash back once a year but American Express has changed the rewards program so you can request the credit anytime you’ve accumulated $25 or more in cash back.

Card Programs

The Freedom card is eligible to participate in a program called Chase Blueprint that’s designed to help you pay off your balances and reduce the amount of interest you pay.  Of course, if you’re paying interest on your charges those will wipeout any cash back you earn so in that case the Freedom card may not be the best for you.  There is a card called Slate from Chase that’s designed to work inside the Blueprint program and focus on paying down your balance.

If you use the Blue Cash card, you’re eligible for the Blue Savings program.  It’s actually available for any of the cards in the “Blue” family, like Amex Blue, Blue Sky, and Blue Sky Preferred card.  The program gives you discounts on hotels, car rental, dining – anywhere from 5–20% off your purchases.

There are a few other perks you get with the Blue Cash, like a free credit score and report from Experian once a year.  They also feature occassional deals – for example they offered free iTunes songs for a while and 35% off of tax software through TurboTax.

Hopefully, this look at the two cards has helped compare the features and give you an idea which might work best for you.

For example, even the best cash back cards won’t earn you enough rewards to make up for interest fees if you carry a credit card balance. In order to select the best cash back rewards credit card, you really need to know yourself as a credit card holder.

Questions to Ask Yourself when Choosing a Cash Back Card

Ask yourself the following question to make it easier to compare different cash back rewards credit cards with an eye towards those that will be best for you.

What do you spend the most money on? The types of things you spend the most money on and where you shop can make a big difference; a lot of cash back cards pay higher rewards at gas stations, drug stores, and supermarkets. For example, the Citi Dividend Platinum Select and Chase Freedom cards both offer 5% interest back on certain rotating spending categories including restaurants, car rentals and hotels.

How much money do you spend on your credit card each month? Each year? Some cash back rewards cards offer bonus points if you spend a certain amount of money each month. Other cash back rewards credit cards offer a higher rate of cash back after you spend a specified amount on the card each year. If you’re a big spender then these cards can benefit you greatly. There is another important factor for big spenders to look at, though, and that’s whether or not there’s a maximum on the amount of cash back that can be earned each year. A big spender won’t benefit optimally from a card that has such limitations.

Will you be making a large purchase on the card right away? In some ways, this relates to the last question. If you are then you may want to get a credit card that offers bonus points for spending a large sum when you first get the card. However, this question is important in another way as well. If you’re going to spend a lot of money when you get the card and won’t be able to pay it off immediately then you should look for a cash back credit card that offers a 0% or low interest promotional APR. An example of a cash back credit card with a 0% intro APR offer is SimplyCash from American Express.

Are you likely to carry a balance on the credit card? If you are then you are going to want to look for a credit card that has a low APR even if the cash back rewards program isn’t as strong as that of another card with a higher APR.

Do you only want cash back or do you wish for other rewards as well? Most people who get a cash back rewards card are primarily interested in actually getting cash back. However, some cash back rewards cards also offer the opportunity to redeem the rewards for merchandise, travel and other rewards. For example, Discover More allows you to redeem cash back for gift cards that sometimes have double the value of the cash amount. If you want flexible redemption options then this would be something to consider.

How do you want to receive your cash back rewards? The wide variety of rewards programs available today allow you to redeem points for cash, get a reward check, redeem gift cards, or even sign up and get paid via direct deposit.

Is there a credit card brand that you prefer? All of the major credit card companies offer at least one cash back credit card so if you have a company that you prefer over the others then it may be worth it to you to check out what they have available. Don’t forget to compare them to other brands to make sure that they do offer the best deal, though.

Do you fall into a specific consumer category? For example, the Discover Student Card is a cash back card designed specifically for college students that have good credit.

Review the benefits and features of the top cash back cards listed below to figure out which cash back rewards card is the best one for you.

College students are notorious for having problems with either no credit or bad credit. However, that’s not the case for all college students. Some students start young with establishing good credit and they should be rewarded for their efforts. That’s what the Discover Student Card is all about – rewarding college students who have established good credit by offering them cash back rewards.

How Cash is Earned: The number one reason that a student would opt to get the Discover Student Card is for the purpose of earning cash back rewards. Here’s how those rewards work:

• 0.25% cash back on all standard purchases up to $3000 annually
• 1% cash back on all standard purchases after the $3000 annual minimum has been met
• 5% cash back on rotating purchase categories including things students spend money on most like gas and groceries
• 5% – 20% cash back when shopping online with select merchants

Many young credit card users make the mistake of getting rewards credit cards that have a lot of limitations. However, the financially savvy student with good credit isn’t likely to make that mistake. The Discover Student Card stands up to the discerning eye of such a smart student by offering rewards that have no expiration date and no limits in the amount that can be earned annually.

Redeeming Rewards: Since the Discover Student Card is a cash back rewards card the best option for redeeming rewards is to get cash either in the form of a statement credit on the account or as a direct deposit into your personal bank account. Cash can be redeemed in increments of $50. If you want to start cashing in on your rewards before you’ve earned $50, you can opt to redeem your rewards for gift cards or merchandise starting at $20. If you happen to be a student with a passion for a specific cause then you can also donate your rewards to charity starting at $20.

Additional Discover® Student Card Benefits: What other perks are available to the student who opts to get this cash back credit card? Believe it or not this card has extensive perks even though it’s designed for students. These perks include car rental insurance, air travel accident insurance and fraud protection.

No Annual Fee: Unlike some other cash back rewards cards with lots of perks, the Discover® Student Card does not have an annual fee.

0% Introductory APR: This cash back student rewards card offers a 0% introductory APR on purchases after the account has been opened.  After the introductory period ends, the ongoing APR is reasonable in the market, with lower rates for the students with the best credit scores. See the chart below for exact APR details.

Conclusion: The Discover Student Card is designed for students that want to be rewarded for their efforts to establish and maintain good credit. The better your credit, the lower your ongoing APR with this card. More importantly, once you have this card you can take advantage of cash back rewards and other perks without paying an annual fee.

The Rebate Plan

The Citi Dividend Platinum Select offers 1% for purchases made on the card. These rewards are called “Dividend Dollars”. Occasionally this card comes with special promotions that allow you to earn double cash back on purchases for the first 6 months, allowing you to kick your use of the card off with a really great start. This is a nice perk of the card’s rewards.

Like the Discover More and Chase Freedom this card also offers 5% back on specific types of purchases during different quarters. The good news is that the rewards categories are usually based around what you’d be spending the most on during that time. 

The bad news is that it’s necessary to enroll in the program every quarty – it doesn’t just change automatically for you. So if you don’t enroll, you’ll only be eligible for the 1% rate. This means that you really have to stay on top of the card to get the best rewards.

Online Shopping

Cardholders of the Citi Dividend Platinum Select are eligible for additional cash back year round by shopping through the card’s online shopping portal called the Citi Bank Shopping Center. This gives you an average of 5% additional cash back at 400 merchants. If you do a lot of shopping online on credit then this card could be a good choice.

Earn Rewards on Various Transactions

Many rewards credit cards do not allow you to earn rewards on balance transfers, cash advances and other various transactions. That is not the case with the Citi Dividend Platinum Select credit card. With this credit card you’ll earn 1% on cash advances as well as your use of convenience checks. You can also earn a small number of Dividend Dollars on balance transfers if they are for amounts of $1500+.

Maximum Rewards

The main drawback of earning rewards on this credit card is that you are capped at a maximum of $300 in rewards annually – payable in $50 increments. If your earnings would exceed $300 annually then this card may not be for you. Alternatively, you might want to use it in conjunction with another rewards credit card to get maximum use out of both cards. You could focus on using this card only for online shopping and the 5% back categories – and use an another card that doesn’t have a limit for other purchases.

APR and Fees

The Citi Dividend Platinum Select has no annual fee, which is very attractive for a rewards card that offers 5% on certain purchases. In addition, the card may offer a 0% APR on balance transfers, so it has the potential to be an effective balance transfer card as well. After the initial period, the APR goes up to a competitive rate. Check the chart below for the length of the 0% balance transfer and current card APR.

Conclusion

The Citi Dividend Platinum Select is as a credit card that is as good as the you wants to make it. If you use this card without ever checking your account, you won’t be getting everything you can from the card. But if you enroll in the quarterly bonus programs and time your purchases so you buy items that receive 5% cash back then you can really make the card work.

If you go further and use the Citi Bank Shopping Center effectively then this card offers higher rewards than many other rewards credit cards on the market. The $300 annual cap on rewards is a deterrent, although this card can be combined with another rewards card if you’re a big spender.  

The SimplyCash may be one of the best business credit cards out there because of the fact that it combines a lot of rewards opportunities with reasonable rates and no annual fee. The card offers the highest cash back percentage on wireless phone services and office supplies, 5% back, and earns you 3% cash back on gas purchases.

Other business credit cards offer a flat 1% cash back on all purchases but the SimplyCash card combines a cash rebate card with a gas rebate card for business owners.  It kind of borrows from the model of the TruEarnings card, where you earn a fixed percent back on all your purchases, in the case of SimplyCash that’s 1%, and are paid a considerably higher rate for things like gas and office products. Having both of these available on one card is what makes it stand out the most for me.

Although there’s no annual limit on the total cash back you can earn with the card you only earn 5% back on the first $12,000 worth of purchases of wireless and office supplies you make in a year.  The same applies for gas purchases, after your first $12K annual gas spending, the remaining sales earn you 1% cash back.

Simply Cash Discounts
In addition to the cash rebates, the SimplyCash® Business Card from American Express OPEN offers discounts at all OPEN Savings merchant partners. This means that not only will you receive cash back on purchases, but you can also save additional money on a variety of office-related products and services.

The OPEN Savings program has a good selection of companies that businesses tend to work with for things like travel, technology, shipping, etc.  Here you can see some examples of the merchants in the program such as HP, Hyatt Hotels, FedEx, AirTran, Hertz, and Symantec.

The Open Savings program is pretty simple, if you use your Simply Cash card at one of the merchants, the discount is automatically applied when you pay.  For example, Symantec makes the popular Norton Anti-virus software, if you buy Norton for your business with your SimplyCash card you get a 10% discount.  You do have to read the terms of each merchant and product to make sure you get the discount.  In the case of Norton, the Symantec products are only eligible for the discount if you buy through their online store.  So be sure you know the terms of the merchant before you buy.

Rewards are Automatic
Another nice thing about this business rewards credit card is that redeeming your rewards requires absolutely zero effort on your part. Each month when you receive your credit card statement you will see that your cash back rewards have been automatically added to that statement. Many business owners have good rewards credit cards but are so busy that they forget to redeem those rewards. That will never be a problem with a card that offers automatic rewards!

Simply Cash APR and Fees
As is the case with many business credit cards, the Simply Cash from American Express card has a relatively low APR with an introductory 0% APR. The card also has a longer-than-average 25-day grace period, as well as no annual fee and no fee for additional cards, all of which enhance the appeal of this card. To get up-to-date information about the APR for this card scroll down to the chart at the bottom of this page.

American Express Benefits
American Express does make a serious effort to make their business credit cards more than just a credit card. Their OPEN network not only has the Savings program I discussed earlier, it also features the OPEN Forum and Connectodex.  These online business communities feature business resources to help fill the gaps in a business owner’s expertise, as well as networking tools for trading advice and collaboration.

The online account management and reporting you get with an American Express card like SimplyCash are pretty flexible when it comes to tracking and reporting on how you’re spending your money.

Conclusion
Of all the benefits of the Simply Cash from American Express, the 5% rebate on office purchases is the greatest selling point. For any business owner who logs a lot of miles in a car or other vehicle for deliveries or other purpose, the cash back on gas expenditures is also highly attractive especially as gas prices continue to climb. All in all, this card has no annual fee, low APR, and high rebates: all things you should look for in a business credit card.

The True Earnings American Express card can be a good credit card if you’re a Costco member.   How much can the True Earnings Costco card save you on every shopping trip? 

Chances are if you’re a Costco shopper then you’re likely a natural born bargain shopper. On top of the bulk discounts you get at Costco, the TrueEarnings card earns you cash back on purchases at the store.  Since the credit card also serves as your Costco membership card you’re sure to have it with you every time to earn rewards.

TrueEarnings Rewards: The best rewards points for this card are for everyday purchases such as gas which nets 3% back on the first $3000 annually and 1% after that. You’ll get 2% back for travel purchases & and restaurants and 1% back for everything else, including shopping trips to Costco.

When you buy gas, you’ll get the full 3% back, which is why it’s one of the best gas credit cards. Unlike other gas rewards cards which require minimum spending levels or seasonal purchases for the highest cash back, the True Earnings card earns you 3% cash back on the very first dollar you spend on gas, regardless of the season.

TrueEarnings Promotions:   Costco has run specials on the card where they gave you cash back simply for opening a card.  The last True Earnings promotion gave you a $25 statement credit with your first purchase.

TrueEarnings Fees: There is no annual fee for the True Earnings card but you do have to be a Costco member to shop there and that requires a membership fee.  The upside is that if you don’t make back the membership fee in savings over the course of a year, Costco will refund your fee.

You can also become an Executive member for a higher fee but then you actually earn an additional 2% cash back on purchases, making it easy to cover the fee with your savings.

The APR: The APR is an important factor if you carry a balance because it could negate whatever bonus you might be earning on purchases. The good news is that the American Express TrueEarnings credit card offers an introductory 0% APR upfront, and then a decent variable APR depending on your credit.

Conclusion: You know you can earn 3% cashback at restaurants but one thing we haven’t mentioned is that True Earnings rewards card can also be used at other stores outside of Costco.  You won’t get the same benefits, you only earn 1% cash back on purchases at stores other than Costco.

The best benefits of the TrueEarnings card are when it’s earning maximum cash back, which is on restaurants and gas. So if you are a Costco member or thinking about becoming one then this card is for you. 

You can see more information about the True Earnings card in the table below, and can open the card with the following link – Open Card