Card #1 : Fidelity American Express
This one currently has a promotion for a $75 sign up bonus*. The card rebates 2% of ALL purchases into a linked Fidelity account. We could use this to replace our primary spending card and raise our rewards on most purchases from 1% to 2%. I figure that would net us a good $450 a year on last years spending rate.
Estimate rewards : $450/yr
Card #3 : Sallie Mae Mastercard
5% cash back on the first $250 you spend per month on eligible gas and grocery purchases each and the first $750 you spend per month on eligible book purchases.
We easily spend $250 on groceries / gas a month so that 5% rate would net us $90 a year.
Also from what I've heard the $750 on book purchases actually counts Amazon.com as a bookstore and we shop there quite a bit. Last year I count a whopping $7400 in purchases on Amazon. This 5% above the 2% could give us another $225 a year in rewards.
[edit : I forgot to mention the Sallie Mae card currently has a $25 cash back bonus for the first time you use your account. $25 isn't much of a promo deal but its still free money. ]
Estimate rewards: $315 /yr
Card #3 : US Bank Cash+ Signature card
This one has different categories you can pick to get 2% and 5% rates.
Earn 5% cash back on your first $2,000 in net purchases each quarter on the combined two categories you choose.
You can see the categories here Potential options for the 5% categories for us would be : cell phone bill, restaurants & charities. However we don't spend a ton in those categories. You can also get a $25 Cash+ Bonus when you redeem $100 or more in a single redemption once a year.
Estimated rewards : $135/yr
* I got that link from MyMoneyBlog and its likely a commission link for MMB. Just FYI, you might be helping MMB earn a few bucks if you sign up via that link.
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