Best rewards programs for credit card use?

[Uglyowl]

I have already maxed out my $300 for the year with Citibank Dividend card:

Earn cash back on everything–a full 5% cash back on purchases at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations, plus 1% on all other purchases§

I know that Chase has an identical item as well. Any other suggestions?

I do not fly either.

Thanks,

[buffett]

My Discover card (platinum) has no annual fee, gives 1% back, and (as far as I understand the T&C...*please* correct me if I'm wrong here) doesn't have any cap on how much you can get back in one calendar year. (I haven't yet used it to make any purchases, b/c I'm using it as a placeholder for a 0% loan (due in February06, at which time I plan to start using it as my primary card, replacing my $80 annual fee American Airlines Mastercard).)

[Ed Miller]

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I have already maxed out my $300 for the year with Citibank Dividend card:

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I have the same card and problem. I'm thinking I could just get a bunch of similar cards, and when I max out one, just start using the other. Bank of America has something called the Power Rewards card that, if I understand correctly, will give you a $1,000 rebate on your balance (but not direct cash) if you get 50,000 points (one point per dollar spent). Works out to 2% obviously...

Given the rest of their catalog of what you can use your "points" on, the $1k rebate for 50k points seems way out of line, so it's probably either an error on their part, or it's got a catch that I haven't uncovered yet.

Here's a link to what I'm talking about.

[gmandan]

You can probably get another Citi Dividend Platinum card. I have two, one college Visa and one regular MC. The mtvU card is also nice since you get 5 ThankYou Points for each dollar purchase at restaurants, bookstores, etc. They recently lowered their statement credit rewards so it's not exactly 1%/5% anymore, but they're useful to buy gas cash cards and other gift certificates to stores you may already be purchasing at. I actually prefer the gas cash cards since you do get back the value of points in 1%/5% and since gas is a everyday purchase it's not that bad of a reward.

I also recommend picking up a no-annual fee Amex card since you can probably get some great benefits and discounts at certain stores, particularly Ticketmaster since they have special deals every so often. I consider it a sock-drawer card since I use it only for only discounted purchases, but they're also very generous with credit as a prime lender.

Besides those, I might also recommend a Visa Signature card w/ no annual fee, probably the Citi Hilton HHonors (I think this has no annual fee, but I'm not sure) or the MBNA WorldPoints Visa Platinum for their concierge service and Visa Dining service if you're interested in those (a bunch of free perks).

If you happen to not qualify for another Citi Dividend card, you can try applying for the regular Premiere Pass and convert the card to the Dividend MC before activating. The Premiere Pass has really really low underwriting requirements and anyone with decent credit will get multiple instant approvals for multiple cards in one sitting. I recommend that you do all your applications in one day so your credit reports can consolidate those inquiries. Whew, that was quite a mouthful...

[gmandan]

I recommend you guys check out http://www.creditboards.com/forums or http://consumers.creditnet.com

I'd say they're the 2+2 of all things credit.

[Dazarath]

AT&T offers a card called "AT&T Universal Card" or something like that. It's the same as the Citibank ones.

[deathtoau]

There is no cap on how much you can earn, but there are a few conditions on it. First is that the cashback bonus is tiered; the first thousand you charge is .25% cashback, second thousand is .5% cashback, third thousand is .75% cashback. All purchases over 3 thousand is 1% cashback. The total charges are reset every year so you have to start back at .25% cashback and rebuild your tier level. The second thing is that you can only redeem your cashback award in multiples of $20 so if you don't use a lot of credit, it may take a while to see the result of any award.