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When it comes to earning rewards from a credit card, you have plenty of options. Many bank rewards points can be redeemed for gift cards, merchandise or travel reservations while many others offer cards with travel rewards from airline and hotel partners. Still, many rewards credit card users prefer a cash-back option.
It may seem easy to choose the best cash-back card; just look for the card offering the highest rate of return for your spending. But in the highly competitive credit card industry, some card issuers offer high return rates within certain merchant categories in addition to a cash-back rate for all purchases. So the trick is to pick a credit card offering the best combination of returns for bonus categories and general spending.
Adding to the confusion is some cards will place limits on the amount of rewards you can earn in bonus categories. Meanwhile, many credit card users will overestimate the amount of money they spend in featured categories. For example, you may consider gasoline a major expense. But with gas prices as low as they’re been in over a decade, in addition to increased fuel efficiency, more drivers are spending less than $1,000 annually on gas. For some, a credit card offering 3% cash back on gasoline will only realize $30 a year in rewards. This makes it important for applicants to consider their actual spending on bonus categories when choosing a cash-back card.
Beyond the cash-back rewards, there are several other important aspects to cards such as these. For example, some of these cards offer generous welcome offers that can dramatically increase your cash back earned during your first year as a cardmember. In addition, some of these cards feature 0% APR introductory financing on new purchases, balance transfers or both. It’s also important to consider other cardholder benefits as well as fees such as annual fees and foreign transaction fees.
And, of course, a cash rewards credit card isn’t for everyone. Though there are increasingly more options for those with fair or bad credit, the best rewards credit cards are only available to those with good or excellent credit. You can check two of your credit scores for free on Credit.com to see where you stand.
After ranking a number of cash-back credit cards on a variety of these factors, here are the three credit cards that topped our list of the best cash-back credit cards in America.
Card Details +
Why It Won: Strong rates of return and a generous welcome offer.
Other Features: New applicants receive a $150 welcome offer after spending $500 on new purchases within three months of opening an account. Make your first purchase and add an authorized user within the first three months, and you get another $25 bonus. Cardholders receive 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent each quarter at merchants in featured categories in addition to 1% cash back on all other purchases. This card also offers new applicants of interest free-financing on both new purchases and balance transfers, with a 3% balance transfer fee. After the intro period, the card has a APR. (You can read a full review of the Chase Freedom card here.)
Why It Won: This card offers unlimited cash back on every day purchases, and there are no categories to keep track of.
Other Features: New applicants receive $150 cash back after spending $500 on purchases within three months of the account opening. This card 1.5% cash back on all purchases every day. The card has a special intro offer APR of 0% for 15 months on purchases, then APR.
At publishing time, the Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card, Chase Freedom and Citi Double Cash cards are offered through Credit.com product pages, and Credit.com is compensated if our users apply and ultimately sign up for this card. However, this relationship does not result in any preferential editorial treatment.
Note: It’s important to remember that interest rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products frequently change. As a result, rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products cited in these articles may have changed since the date of publication. Please be sure to verify current rates, fees and terms with credit card issuers, banks or other financial institutions directly.
This article was last updated on September 25th, 2018
