While promotional deals and higher bonuses in specific spending categories (such as an extra 5 percent on movie - theater admission from April through June) look attractive on paper, the Double Cash card's flat 2
percent rewards rate earns more in the long run for the vast majority of people.
Its flat 1.5
percent rewards rate is lower than the Citi DoubleCash card's 2 percent rate, but Sapphire Reserve cardholders can push their Freedom cash into Ultimate Rewards points to get 50 percent in bonus value when booking travel, effectively turning their cash - back rate into 2.25 percent.
The Golden 1 Credit Union Platinum Rewards card offers an unlimited 3
percent rewards rate on the three heavy - hitting bonus categories: gas, restaurant and grocery store purchases.
While there are many points - based cards that offer a 2
percent rewards rate, a 2 percent cash back card is a rare phenomenon.
As mentioned, the 5
percent rewards rate on gas purchases is an exceptionally large reward, matched by very few other credit cards.
Taking into account the average cardholder's expenditures on dining and travel (around 14 to 30 percent of total spend), the Barclaycard's 2.1
percent rewards rate will likely beat the rewards rate on the Bank of America card for most cardholders outside of Platinum and Platinum honors account holders.
If you or your employees spend a lot of time on the road, that 3
percent rewards rate can add up quickly.
With a mere 1.5
percent rewards rate and no sign - up bonus, the U.S. Bank Cash 365 American Express card doesn't offer much to recommend it over similar rewards cards.
Like the Citi and Fidelity cards, the PenFed Power Cash Rewards card requires card members to cross some hurdles to obtain the full 2
percent rewards rate.
Downsides: As with the Chase Preferred card, the 1
percent rewards rate on general purchases is low.
The regular 1
percent rewards rate is especially low, and cardholders with good credit should be able to find much better options for their general purchases.
For business owners who are averse to the Ink Business Preferred card's annual fee, the Ink Business Cash card offers a great 5
percent rewards rate on common business purchases, including office supplies and internet services, and a generous $ 500 bonus.
The card offers a 2
percent rewards rate on all your spending, including Costco purchases.
Meanwhile, you can find no - annual fee cards that offer the exact same 2
percent rewards rate — no annual commitment required.
The Fidelity Visa Signature, PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa Signature and Capital One Spark Cash for Business cards, for example, all offer a flat 2
percent rewards rate on your purchases.
All purchases earn a 1.5
percent rewards rate.
The Platinum Rewards Visa Signature card offers a 5
percent rewards rate on gas purchases, a 3
percent rewards rate on grocery purchases, plus some pretty decent travel perks for a no - annual - fee card.
Unfortunately, not everything in the store is eligible for the higher 5
percent rewards rate and instead earn the base 1 percent.
With a generous sign - up bonus and a 5 percent bonus every time you redeem your cash back, the Barclaycard CashForward has much to offer on top of its flat 1.5
percent rewards rate.
Upsides: Simplicity, flexible redemption options, an industry - leading sign - up bonus and a high 2 -
percent rewards rate on every purchase.
The United MileagePlus card, in comparison, only offers a 1
percent rewards rate — or 1 mile per dollar spent — on general purchases.
There are many cash back cards on the market that match or exceed the TravelBank's 1.5
percent rewards rate on general purchases.
In the first scenario, our model cardholder earns an average 1.4
percent rewards rate, for a total of 22,896 points per year, by using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card by itself:
The 1.25
percent rewards rate is nothing to write home about, but you also get a 20,000 - mile sign - up bonus after spending $ 1,000 in three months.
If you like to travel and are willing to put in some legwork to find the best redemption values, you can earn even better than a 2
percent rewards rate with these more versatile cards.
Every 2 percent cash back card comes with some stipulations — the Citi Double Cash card, for instance, requires you to pay your bill on time to earn the full 2
percent rewards rate.
The Amazon Prime Visa Signature card has many of the same features as its predecessor — the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature card — and it improves on the regular Amazon Rewards card by offering an unlimited 5
percent rewards rate on Amazon.com purchases.
The card's 3
percent rewards rate on travel purchases is also unusually high for a card with no annual fee.
An unlimited 4
percent rewards rate on restaurant purchases is exceptional — at a value of 1 cent per point, it amounts to the highest amount of cash back on dining purchases for any of the cards we've reviewed, period.
So, if you plan to hold the card for a long period, a card with a 2
percent rewards rate and no sign - up bonus may be the better way to go.
So, if you plan to hold the card for a long period, a card with a 2
percent rewards rate and no sign - up bonus may be the better way to go.
Using the 1
percent reward rate as a guide, look online for the price in dollars to help you figure out if it's a good deal for the points.
Not exact matches
Most
reward - based platforms charge the same success fee (5
percent) on funds raised, although some charge a higher
rate (usually 8 or 9
percent) if you don't reach your goal, so be sure to check the fine print!
The annual percentage
rate on retail cards is over 23
percent on average, compared to 10
percent for the average low
rate card and 15
percent for the average cash - back or
rewards card, according to a CreditCards.com analysis.
The leading
reward - based crowdfunding site, Kickstarter, has a 35.85
percent success
rate as of July 2016, and Indiegogo's is even lower, at 9.8
percent overall and 17.1
percent for fixed funding.
The new pension plan would have progressive contribution
rates between 4
percent and 6
percent with shared risk /
reward for employees and employers to account for market volatility.
A high success
rate (78
percent) was also seen in similar experiments where ravens used a token — a blue plastic bottle cap — to later barter for a food
reward.
Michael Podgursky, professor of economics at the University of Missouri, looked at data from the 1999 — 2000 Schools and Staffing Survey and found that when school administrators were asked whether they used salaries to
reward «excellence,» only 6
percent of traditional public school administrators answered yes, while «the
rates for charter (36
percent) and private schools (22
percent) were much higher.»
Not only should they be allowed to keep their jobs and get a pay raise, but their lawyers are going to show up demanding that their 56
percent performance evaluation
rating should be
rewarded with 56
percent of their performance bonus compensation.
The 2011 - 12 methodology unfairly penalized some teachers and
rewarded others, in my professional opinion, and the
ratings were only assigned to the 15
percent of educators teaching either English Language Arts or mathematics in grades four through eight — scarcely a representative subset of the teachers prepared in any of the dozen programs.
«Credit cards provide a lot of value through initial
rewards bonuses and 0
percent financing deals, but they also offer $ 0 fraud liability guarantees, the lowest possible currency conversion
rates and even car rental insurance coverage,» said Jill Gonzalez, an analyst with CardHub.com, a credit card information site.
However, the risks often outweigh the
rewards as interest
rates can spike up (15
percent — 25
percent on average), which can quickly negate any benefits and place you further in debt.
Conversely, over half of cardholders were able to get a higher credit limit, lower interest
rate or more
rewards this year, compared to 46
percent last year.
Want a Chase credit card that gives you great
rewards and also offers a zero -
percent introductory
rate?
This card might be a good option if you're looking for the best of both worlds — a
rewards credit card that also offers a zero -
percent interest
rate.
Because of this SoFi is able to
reward borrowers with interest
rates starting as low as 2.66
percent.
Though the Navy Federal Credit Union Cash
Rewards card offers a very low APR along with very reasonable
rates and fees, cardholders looking to save money on interest may be better off with a card with a 0 -
percent introductory APR..
With a minimum convenience fee of 2
percent, your
rewards rate on miscellaneous purchases would have to be at least 2
percent, which is rare.
And the AARP card earns
rewards at the generous
rate of 3
percent back on all restaurant and gas station purchases.
For example, if you're interested in getting a new credit card, a 700 credit score could make it easier to qualify for a card with a 0
percent introductory annual percentage
rate or one that offers upper tier
rewards.