Compare the Best Cash Back Credit Cards

Cash back credit cards are a fantastic way to get more for your money. Each time you use your credit card on daily purchases, you could be earning as much as 5% back. Here we take a look at four of the best cash back credit cards on the market to see how they compare.

How to Get the Best from Cash Back
Some of the things to look for when considering the best cash back deal for you are:

• What you use your credit card for – go for cards that offer cash back on your regular spends.
• What are the additional bank charges and regular APR?
• Are there limits to the amount of cash back you can claim?
• Is there a minimum amount you have to spend before you can start earning cash back?
• Are there any other perks to the card such as air miles or online banking facilities?

To help choose the best cash back card for you, here’s how four of the leading market brands rate on these points.

The Best of the Best: Four Leading Cash Back Cards
Our top selection for cash back are:

• Capital One No Hassle CashSM Rewards Card
• Blue Cash from American Express
• Discover Motiva Card
• IberiaBank VISA Gold Cash Back Rewards Card

These cards have all been chosen for their popularity and all-round customer value. You will need an excellent credit rating to apply.

Cash Back Comparison
Here’s how they rate. We’ve ranked them in order of best cash back deals for each category:

What You Can Earn Cash Back On

→ Capital One: Offers 2% cash back on all products bought at gas stations and leading grocery stores and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

Blue Cash: gives up to 5% cash back on daily purchases, favourite shops, groceries, gas, selected online shopping, vacations and bill payments. However the cash back reward system is tiered, so you need to spend more to earn more. Spending up to $6,500 on daily purchases will only earn you 1% cash back and 0.5% on non-standard purchases. Above that you move to the best cash back rate of 5% general and 1% non-standard.

IberiaBank: 1% on every purchase made, credited annually.

Discover Motiva: 0.25-1% on everyday purchases (see limits) with an additional 5-20% when you purchase from their online shopping website. In addition, if you make your payments on time for six months in a row they will give you your next month’s interest back as a reward.

APR and Balance Transfers

→ IberiaBank: 5.99-7.99% APR average daily variable depending on your credit rating. 6.99-8.99% variable on balance transfers, 22% default. Six-month 0% introductory rate on balance transfers.

Blue Cash: Ranging between 9.99-14.99% variable depending on your credit rating, calculated monthly. Balance transfers based on your APR. Default between 12.99-31.98%. Introductory 0% APR on spending and balance transfers for the first six months.

Capital One: 14.9% based on daily rate, balance transfers can be made at this rate without further charges. Default APR of 24.9%.

Discover Motiva: 3.99% introductory APR on spending for the first six months then between 10.99-18.99% variable after that, default of 28.99%. Introductory APR applies to balance transfers for the first year.

Additional Fees

→ IberiaBank: Late payment charges range between $15 on balances below $100 and $35 over $1,000. $35 on excess spending. No annual fees.

→ Blue Cash: Late payment fees range from $15 on balances under $100 to $35 over $1,000. Excess spending fee is $35. No annual fees.

Discover Motiva: Late payment $19 below $250, $39 thereafter. $15 on excess spending up to $500, $39 after that. No annual fees.

Capital One: Late payments are between $15 below $100 to $39 above $250. Excess spending fee is $39. No annual fees.

Limits to Cash Back Earning

→ Capital One: No limits and points won’t expire for the duration of the account. You can claim cash back at any time.

IberiaBank: No limits or minimum but credited annually.

Blue Cash: Unlimited cash back earnings but a tiered system means you won’t earn the best cash back rate of 5% until you spend over $6,500 on everyday items. Until then you’re on 1% for general purchases.

Discover Motiva: Unlimited cash back earnings but to earn the 1% best cash back rate you need to spend a minimum of $3,000. Before that threshold you’re only earning 0.25%.

Best Cash Back Perks

→ Blue Cash: 0% introductory offer for the first six months on APR and balance transfers. Also a long list of additional perks including 90 day purchase protection, cash back on selected vacations, online shopping at shopamex.com and selected bill payments.

Discover Motiva: On-time payment bonus of one month’s interest back each time you make six consecutive monthly payments on time. Fraud protection, free phone and online banking and payment system

IberiaBank: $500,000 accident travel insurance

Capital One: $100,000 worldwide accident travel insurance and 24 hour travel and emergency support.

Best Cash Back Pick

All of these cards have advantages and disadvantages so it’s important to read the small print before picking a cash back credit card to suit your needs. In addition, all of these percentages and APR rates change on a regular basis. So you will need to read the latest updates on each card offer. These can be found on our website www.creditcreator.com and also in the “terms and conditions” of the credit card.

What we have presented here is a blueprint of how to compare the best cash back credit card rewards programs and what are the kinds of things to look for.

Our best cash back pick from this comparison is the VISA Gold Cash Back Rewards Card from IberiaBank. It may not offer as many perks and frills as Blue Cash or Motiva, but the APR on spending and balance transfers is by far the lowest and you earn 1% on every purchase you make with no minimum spending threshold or complicated tiered points system.  The down side is that this is credited annually, but for the long-term prudent shopper it offers a straight-forward cash back reward.

As of October 2008, Consumer Reports feels that the following are the best cash back credit cards: Discover More, Chase Freedom Visa and Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards card.