Comment by nfriedly
2 years ago
My credit card is a Fidelity 2% cash back Visa. (I think it was originally American Express, but it's Visa now. Presumably that happened sometime after 2016.) I don't travel much, so getting cash deposited into my brokerage is more useful to me, and with a "2% on everything" card, it's not really worth it to me to carry around other cards for specific categories.
After I bought my current home, I put a bunch of expenses on the card. I didn't realize I had gone over the limit until I got a letter in the mail telling me that they automatically increased the limit. They keep increasing it every year or two, so at this point I could put a mid range car on the card.
All that said, I would prefer if rewards cards in general were banned and everything was just 2% cheaper. The whole concept feels a little dirty to me, like I'm taking a bribe to use a specific form of payment. But, at the same time, it doesn't make sense not to in the current market.
I likewise have this card and it worked for me in a certain point in my life but it depends on what you spend money on. As a family of 4 we spend a lot on groceries and eating out so its good to use a card for those things that gives us 3%. The sort of most obvious one is the amazon visa which you can connect to your amazon account and get the 3% off on everything there automatically.
It's not a life changing amount but it's free money.
Just an unsolicited pointer, but if you're US-based you might consider computing the cost/benefit of an Amex blue cash preferred.
It carries an annual fee of $95, but the 6% back on groceries (on your first $6000/yr) and 3% on gas add up pretty quickly.
> All that said, I would prefer if rewards cards in general were banned and everything was just 2% cheaper.
Would you prefer that reality literally, or just if it was effectively like that? Literally doing that seems way worse than payment methods competing for your business with rewards.
I think either would be an improvement over the current situation. I'd be happy with regulations that put a cap on the fees, similar to what the EU has.
I want payment methods to compete by offering better service for lower fees, not by bribing consumers with rewards (and explicitly charging the businesses higher fees to pay for those bribes).
I've had the Fidelity 2% card for a long time. It's simple, and mostly no-nonsense. It's one of my two "everyday carry" cards, and what I use for everything except Amazon and Whole Foods Market (WFM).
For Amazon and WFM, I use the Amazon (Chase) card. Since WFM has replaced or outlived most of the grocery stores near me, this is my other carry card, and it doubles as a backup card if the Fidelity 2% has a problem.
I almost added a Target 5% store card recently, because being a cheap bastid overrides being a minimalist bastid. But I abandoned the card application form, when something about it seemed a little too invasive. So I'll keep doing the Fidelity 2% card when I shop at Target, and that makes Target prices a little less competitive.
> It's simple, and mostly no-nonsense.
Yeah, that's the other reason I like it: I rarely have to think about it. Both paying off the monthly balance and cashing out the rewards are fully automated.
All I have to remember to do is save a copy of the annual summaries at least once every 3 years, because they don't let you go back farther than that.
I try to keep most of my finances "on rails" like that where bills, savings, etc. just happen automatically.