Hey all,
So much to my chagrin, my two main credit cards have recently eviscerated their rewards programs: I had a PenFed Visa, which yields 5% on gas, (used to) yield 2% on groceries, and 1% on everything else (and some nice other features, since it's a signature card) - they recently switched over to a points based system that won't give cash rewards and has one of those annoyingly opaque compensation structures. For an even longer time I've had a BP Visa, which yields 5% cash on gas, 2% on travel and dining (VERY useful given the amount of travel my wife and I do) and 1% on everything else. Now it's replaced by some nonsense gas rebate system with a MUCH lower rewards rate - the math is a bit complex, but just trust me.
So I'm in the market for a new credit card, and I was wondering what other Americans use. General requirements:
1) I don't like annual fees unless the rewards are REALLY worth it. So maybe the Amex Blue Cash Preferred, but not much else.
2) I find the 'rotating category' cards useless for the most part: by far I charge the most money to groceries, travel/hotels, gas, and restaurants, so nothing else is really worth it, and getting only 1% on my biggest purchases most of the time is not worth it.
3) I strongly prefer cash rewards to gift cards, miles, points, or whatever else. Redemption schemes are annoying and unclear, and cash is fungible.
4) There's no point in me being tied to a specific company (e.g. one airline or whatever), since I'm much more sensitive to price than brand loyalty.
5) Interest rates are irrelevant - I only charge about $30k a year and pay it off in full every month.
6) Nice but not required would be no foreign transaction fees - international travel really bites into rewards when you're paying a 3% fee.
So... suggestions? The best I've seen so far is the Amex Blue Cash Preferred, which has a high enough grocery rebate to make the annual fee palatable (I ran the numbers; I break even each year within a couple months). Only problem is some places don't accept Amex, and it doesn't give a particularly good deal for travel/hotel or restaurants. There's others that theoretically provide 2% cash back on everything else (a Fidelity card and a Sallie Mae Visa), but they have various strings attached I'm not a big fan of.
I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts. I'm particularly interesting anything that can give better than 1% on airfare and hotels, since we must blow $10k or so a year on that (most of it, fortunately, reimbursed from our respective employers). Restaurants and gas are far less important, and Amex looks unbeatable for groceries.