How to maximize cash back with your credit card
Editor's Note
A free flight is rewarding, but so is knocking $100 off your credit card bill. Cash back is less flashy, but far more straightforward: you can use it wherever your budget needs it most. The question is whether your purchases earn a forgettable 1% back or enough to make a noticeable dent in your next statement.
By matching cards to your spending and layering in welcome offers, bonus categories and card-linked deals, you can earn more cash back on purchases you were already planning to make.
Understand your spending habits
Knowing how you spend your money is an important step before applying for a new cash-back credit card. Do you spend heavily on specific types of purchases, such as dining and travel? Or does your spending shift from month to month?
This is also a great time to consider what you want from your rewards credit card and how you would maximize cash-back rewards.
To understand your spending habits, take some time to review charges on any existing credit cards. Issuers like Chase assign categories to card charges, making it easy to identify what types of transactions dominate your budget.
Whether you're spending on ride-hailing services or on groceries, mapping out your spending habits will help you pick the best card.
Earn more where you spend the most
Once you've identified how you spend, you can select a cash-back credit card that complements your typical spending habits. No single cash-back card will earn the highest rate on every purchase, but knowing this can help you compare options that coincide with your particular needs.
For those who enjoy cooking at home, a bonus-earning rate on groceries might be the best way to maximize cash-back rewards. The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is an excellent choice as it offers 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 per year; 1% cash back thereafter), all for a low $95 annual fee once the $0 introductory annual fee for the first year is up (see rates and fees).
Additionally, Blue Cash Preferred cardmembers also earn 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming services and 3% cash back on transit and at U.S. gas stations. Members receive cash back in the form of Reward Dollars that they can redeem as a statement credit and at Amazon.com checkout.
If your spending habits change from month to month, consider the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card. Cardholders earn 6% back in the category of your choice for the first year (3% thereafter) and 2% back on grocery stores and wholesale clubs for the first $2,500 of combined bonus category and grocery spending per quarter; after hitting that threshold, you'll earn 1% back on these purchases.
You can change your preferred choice category once per month for extra earning flexibility.
Related: Cash back vs. travel rewards: How to choose a credit card
Compare welcome offers
A welcome offer can deliver a substantial chunk of cash back soon after you open a card. Before applying for any card, compare current offers and make sure the spending requirement fits the purchases you already plan to make.
The following cash-back credit cards are currently offering solid welcome bonus offers:
- Chase Freedom Flex® (see rates and fees): Earn $250 cash back after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
- Citi Double Cash® Card (see rates and fees): Earn $200 cash back after spending $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening.
- Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card: Earn a $200 cash bonus after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
Related: The best cash-back credit cards
Activate rotating bonus categories
Customers with flexible spending habits may also want to look into cards with rotating rewards categories. These cards feature a new group of eligible merchants or spending categories each quarter. One quarter might include gas stations and electric vehicle charging, while another could feature restaurants.
The Chase Freedom Flex has no annual fee and earns a strong 5% cash back on purchases in activated bonus categories each quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases, then 1% after that. Similarly, the Discover it® Cash Back card earns 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases each quarter in rotating bonus categories (activation required), and 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Both Chase's rotating bonus categories and Discover's quarterly bonus categories change throughout the year, with past lineups featuring popular merchants and spending categories such as Amazon, Target, grocery stores, drugstores and more.
Carry 2 cash-back credit cards
Pairing a bonus-category card with a flat-rate cash-back credit card allows you to maximize your earnings where it matters most and still earn strongly on spending that falls outside of its categories.
Use a card that earns 2% cash back whenever your bonus-category card would earn less, like the Citi Double Cash. It offers 2% cash back on all purchases — 1% cash back when you make a purchase and 1% cash back as you pay for your purchases.
Use issuers' shopping portals and card-linked offers
Many issuers offer shopping portals and card-linked deals that can stack with a card's standard rewards.
Chase Freedom Unlimited® (see rates and fees) and Freedom Flex cardholders, for example, can access Chase's shopping portal, earning additional cash back on their purchases on top of standard rewards.
The stores on Chase's shopping portal vary and occasionally change, so it's worth checking which shop is offering a bonus and maximizing cash-back rewards.
Additionally, credit cards may provide targeted merchant offers. American Express, Chase, Capital One and Citi all have offers that can be activated via an issuer's mobile app or website to earn even more rewards. Generally, these offers have a limited redemption window, varying cash-back percentages and limits on how much cash back you can earn from each offer.
Bottom line
Cash back excels in its simplicity, and these strategies should provide big wins without any mental gymnastics.
Just don't skip the math entirely. Interest charges can erase months of cash back surprisingly fast, so the top strategy remains the most basic: pay your balance in full to ensure your earnings are truly a bonus.
Related: Are cash-back cards worth it?
For rates and fees of the Amex Blue Cash Preferred, click here.