Today's the day that the Sallie Mae MasterCard from Barclaycard gets converted into a new card called the Sallie Mae Commence MasterCard. The Commence only offers 2% cash back on grocery store and utility (cable, phone, internet, electric, and gas) purchases. It's no better than a Citi DoubleCash so I'm going to redeem whatever rewards I have left and close it.
Cash Back King
The Sallie Mae MasterCard was a relatively unknown cobranded credit card from Barclaycard and Sallie Mae. It had some of the highest cash back you could find on any credit card:
- 5% cash back on the first $250 you spent per month at gas stations.
- 5% cash back on the first $250 you spent per month at grocery stores. Walmart and Target purchases coded as grocery stores with this card.
- 5% cash back on the first $750 you spent per month at bookstores. Amazon.com purchases coded as a bookstore with this card.
It covered common categories up to a reasonable amount of monthly spending for a single person all at no annual fee. Plus you got 5% cash back at Walmart, Target, and Amazon.com all with the same credit card.
Crazy right? Maybe a little too crazy. So much so that Barclaycard had to nerf it. Here's what credit cards I'll be replacing it with:
Gas Stations
I'll use my Chase AARP Credit Card to get 3% cash back at gas stations. When a rotating category card like my Chase Freedom or Discover it offers 5% cash back at gas stations I'll use one of those instead.
Grocery Stores
I'll use my American Express Blue Cash Everyday to get 3% cash back at grocery stores. When a rotating category card like my Chase Freedom or Discover it offers 5% cash back at grocery stores I'll use one of those instead.
Walmart & Target
The Walmart Credit Card offers 3% cash back on Walmart.com purchases. No 3% for in-store.
There's a Target REDcard which is offered as a debit or credit card. It gives you 5% cash back in-store and online.
I'm not sure if I want to get either of these cards yet.
Amazon.com
If I pick Bookstores as one of my quarterly categories on my U.S. Bank Cash+ then I could get 5% cash back on Amazon.com purchases up to $2000 per quarter since Amazon.com purchases will code as a bookstore.
Chase recently introduced an improved version of their Amazon.com credit card. They now offer the Chase Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature in addition to the Chase Amazon Rewards Visa Signature.
The blue Amazon Rewards Visa Signature offers 3% cash back on Amazon.com purchases while the silver Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature bumps the cash back up to 5% for Amazon Prime members. Before you could only get 5% cash back at Amazon.com with Amazon's store card. But now you can get 5% cash back with a full blown credit card that's usable outside of Amazon.com.
Both cards have no annual fee, though technically an Amazon Prime membership fee is the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature's annual fee. One neat thing about these cards is that they are probably the only no annual fee credit cards that are made of metal instead of plastic. Usually only higher tier travel credit cards come in metal.
I didn't want to be forced to use a category on my U.S. Bank Cash+ every quarter just for Amazon.com so I preemptively signed up for a Chase Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature.
I saw that the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature had a $70 Amazon.com gift card as a sign up bonus over the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature's $50 Amazon.com gift card sign up bonus. I wasn't a Prime member but wanted that extra twenty bucks so I signed up for an Amazon Prime free trial which made me eligible to sign up for the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature.
2 day shipping is the only reason I would want an Amazon Prime membership. I'm going to cancel my Amazon Prime membership before the trial ends because 2 day shipping never seems to get my order to me within 2 days. I confirmed it with the first purchase I made with my new Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature. When my Amazon Prime membership ends my credit card will simply revert from 5% cash back at Amazon.com to 3% cash back which I'm cool with.
R.I.P.
See how many cards I'll need to carry in my wallet just to make up for the Sallie Mae MasterCard? I'll be surprised if we see something like it ever again.
Submitted March 01, 2017 at 11:01AM by frugalfellow http://ift.tt/2lzjT0u
