Best Cash Back Credit Cards

With a cash back credit card, every purchase you make will earn you some money back, and the more you spend, the more money you can get.
There's a variety of cash back credit cards with slightly different benefits. Some cash back credit cards offer a fixed-rate percentage back on every purchase the cardholder makes. Other cards give bonus cash back in some specific categories (such as gas, restaurants or groceries). Also, other cards offer 5% cash back in rotating categories that change every quarter.

Here we've listed and evaluated some top-rated cash back credit cards to help you pick the right one according to your consuming habit.

Table of Contents

No.1 Citi® Double Cash Card

citi-double-cash-card
4.8
on Capital One's secure website
Card Details
Purchases Intro APR N/A
Balance TRansfers Intro APR 0% for 18 months*
Regular APR 14.49% - 24.49%* (Variable)
Annual Fee $0*
Credit Needed Good, Excellent
Benifits
  • No annual fee
  • Free FICO score
  • High rewards rate
  • Balance transfers
  • Simple rewards
Pros

As one of the highest cash back rates available, Citi Double Cash Card enables people to earn 1% cash back making purchases and an additional 1% paying them off. Users can redeem cash back as a gift card, a check or a statement credit by mail.

Cons

What may disappoint users will be the 3% foreign transaction fee compared to most cards without such cost, which makes it a bad choice for spending abroad. Besides, other cards have higher cash back proportions in some particular categories.

Summary

On the whole, the Citi Double Cash Card will be one of the best rewards cards which have a simple cash back earning process. People will get 1% cash back on each dollar they spend and another 1% paying off.

More about the card
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No.2 Chase Freedom Unlimited℠

chase-freedom-unlimited
4.7
on Capital One's secure website
Card Details
Purchases Intro APR 0% for 15 months
Balance TRansfers Intro APR 0% for 15 months
Regular APR 15.74% - 24.49% Variable
Annual Fee $0
Credit Needed Good, Excellent
Benifits
  • 1.5% cash back on every purchase
  • Bonus cash back for the first 3 month
  • No annual fee
  • Long 0% intro APR
Pros

With Chase Freedom UnlimitedSM, users can earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase they make. You can also earn an additional $150 bonus cash back as long as you make $500 or more purchases in the first 3 months. There’s a 0% intro APR for 15 months on both purchases and balance transfers and it charges no annual fee. Besides, the card has long-term value because if you pair the card with either the Chase Sapphire Reserve℠ or the Chase Sapphire Preferred® card, then your points can be combined, which will significantly increase their value. The points you combined can be redeemed for cash back, airline miles or other things, and the 1.5% cash back rate can get increased.

Cons

The card charges 5% balance transfer fee ($5 minimum) and a 3% foreign transaction fee, which will cost cardholders much money in interest. Chase Freedom Unlimited card also has no bonus categories.

Summary

Chase Freedom Unlimited℠ card is suitable for people who use it mainly for making purchases instead of doing balance transfers.

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No.3 Discover it® Cashback Match™

discover-it-cashback-match
4.6
on Capital One's secure website
Card Details
Purchases Intro APR 0% for 14 months
Balance TRansfers Intro APR 0% for 14 months
Regular APR 11.74% - 23.74% Variable
Annual Fee $0
Credit Needed Good, Excellent
Benifits
  • No annual fee
  • Free FICO score
  • Cash back bonus
  • Rotating bonus categories
  • New cardmember bonus
Pros

With broad rewards bonus categories, Discover it Cashback Match rewards credit card enables to get 5% bonus on online retailer, restaurants, gas stations and more others. Meanwhile, the bonus changes each quarter. This credit card gives people access to the Discover Deals online bonus mall, which makes people enjoy 5%-20% cash back on purchases at popular online stores in the condition of signing up the credit card. Furthermore, this card with no foreign transaction fee offers people a distinctive sign-up bonus, that is, the one dollar-for-dollar match all the cash back you’ve got at the end of your first year automatically.

Cons

Cardholders need to remember that what kind of spending will maximize the reward bonus each quarter. Aside from that, you won’t get the 5% cash back if you forget to opt into the bonus categories.

Summary

Discover credit card helps you save a lot to buy things from popular retailers at the Discover Deals online mall with the high cash back rates. You will be the last winner with multiple bonuses of Discover credit card including the 0 annual fee, rotating 5% bonus categories, a new cardmember bonus, and a solid intro APR.

More about the card
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No.4 Barclaycard CashForward™ World Mastercard®

barclaycard-cashforward-world-mastercard
4.7
on Capital One's secure website
Card Details
Purchases Intro APR 0% for 15 months
Balance TRansfers Intro APR 0% for 15 months (on balance transfers made within 45 days of account opening)
Regular APR 15.74%, 20.74% or 25.74% Variable
Annual Fee $0
Credit Needed Excellent
Benifits
  • 1.5% cash back on every purchase
  • Bonus cash back for the first 3 month
  • Cash rewards redemption bonus
  • No annual fee
  • Long 0% intro APR
Pros

For every purchase you make, you can get 1.5% cash back. You can also receive a $200 bonus as long as you make $1,000 or more purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. The cash rewards can be redeemed for a deposit, gift cards or other things. Every time you redeem a reward, the card will offer you a 5% cash rewards redemption bonus to use at your next redemption. Also, there's a 0% introductory APR for the first 15 months on purchases and 0% introductory APR for the first 15 months balance transfers made within the first 45 days. There is no annual fee, and the rewards will not expire as long as you don't close your account. As a Mastercard credit card, it gives you more widespread merchant acceptance of it than other cards from American Express or Discover.

Cons

It charges 3% of each balance transfer ($5 minimum) and 3% foreign transaction fee.

Summary

The Barclaycard CashForward is easy to use because its rewards structure is much easier than the rotating categories structure of other cards. It's a good card for purchase and balance transfer made for the first several days.

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No.5 Chase Freedom®

chase-freedom
4.5
on Capital One's secure website
Card Details
Purchases Intro APR 0% for 15 months
Balance TRansfers Intro APR 0% for 15 months
Regular APR 15.74% - 24.49% Variable
Annual Fee $0
Credit Needed Good, Excellent
Benifits
  • No annual fee
  • Cash sign-up bonus
  • Cash back bonus
  • Rotating bonus categories
Pros

With Chase Freedom rewards credit card, people can get 5% cash back on rotating bonus categories, like restaurants, gas, wholesale clubs, groceries and 1% on other purchases. Besides, you will earn a cash sign-up bonus of which people get a $150 bonus after they spend $500 on purchases in the first three months the moment the account is opened.

Cons

It requires cardholders of Chase Freedom to opt into the bonus category each quarter to get the perks for the entire quarter. You cannot get the 5% cash back if you forget to do in that way. Meanwhile, you might earn more rewards with another card if you don’t spend much to maximize the bonus categories.

Summary

Rated as one of the best rewards credit cards, the Chase Freedom is available to people without an annual fee or the complicated redemption program. The cardholder will easily earn substantial cash back if they spend on the items in the 5% bonus categories as most people do.

More about the card
Full Card review

No.6 Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card

capital-one-quicksilver-cash-rewards-credit-card
4.7
on Capital One's secure website
Card Details
Purchases Intro APR 0% intro on purchases for 9 months
Balance TRansfers Intro APR 0% intro on balance transfers for 9 months
Regular APR 13.99% - 23.99% (Variable)
Annual Fee $0
Credit Needed Good, Excellent
Benifits
  • 1.5% cash back on every purchase
  • On-time payment bonus
  • Simple earning &redemption
Pros

You can earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on literally every purchase you make every day, and there’s no limit on how much rewards you can earn. Capital One may bump your credit limit up as long as you make your first five monthly payments on time. It provides fraud coverage if your card is lost or stolen. You can get 50% back on your monthly Spotify Premium subscription as a statement credit now through April 2018.

Cons

It charges $39 as the annual fee, and its ongoing APR is considerably high. There's no 0% introductory APR period.

Summary

The card is easy to use because of the simple earning and redemption way. But it's not a good choice for those who cannot pay the full money back every month.

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No.7 Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

blue-cash-preferred-card-from-american-express
4.8
on Capital One's secure website
Card Details
Purchases Intro APR 0% on Purchases for 12 months
Balance TRansfers Intro APR 0% on Balance Transfers for 12 months
Regular APR 13.99%-24.99% Variable
Annual Fee $95
Credit Needed Good, Excellent
Benifits
  • Cash sign-up bonus
  • Everyday rewards
  • Simple redemption
Pros

Rated as one of the highest rewards rates cards at US supermarkets, Blue Cash Preferred Card returns cardholders 6% cash on up to $6,000 of expenses per year. It offers an unlimited 1% back on all other purchases. Besides, cardholders can use the 6% cash back not only on groceries but also at the supermarket or restaurants.

Cons

The disadvantage of the Blue Cash Preferred Card is that it has a high annual fee, which makes the cash back got from the expenditure limitation offset with the annual fee. Besides, this card may be limited to use in some places. And people who like go abroad had better not choose this card due to its foreign transaction fee.

Summary

The Blue Cash Preferred Card will be a good choice if you’d like to spend money on gas stations, department stores, and supermarkets. However, the similar Blue Cash Everyday Card will be a better choice compared with the Blue Cash Preferred Card if you spend less than $3175 per year at the supermarket. It has no annual fee though its rewards rates are low.

More about the card
Full Card review