If you’re not into the rotating bonus categories, and/or take a more casual approach to earning rebates with your credit cards, you might be interested in credit cards with bonus year-round earnings potential.
So I’ve decided to single out three credit cards that come with 2% cash/points back on all spending all year long.
Consider this the easy way to earn more, though you’ll probably be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t take advantage of the credit cards that offer 5% back or more.
Fidelity Amex
First up is the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express card, which offers two points for every dollar spent.
You don’t have to worry about knowing which category is offering the bonus cash back each quarter, you just swipe and earn double points on everything.
For every $2,500 you spend with the card, you can automatically deposit $50 into a linked Fidelity account, or you can redeem points for cash, gift cards, and so on.
There’s a Visa version of this card too, but it only earns 1.5 points for each dollar spent on the first $15,000 in purchases annually, then the two points per dollar kicks in. So go with the Amex version, obviously…
Tip: There’s no annual fee on either version!
Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard
Sure, it’s a mouthful, but it also comes with 2X points all on purchase throughout the year.
What makes the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard even sweeter is the fact that you can get 40,000 bonus points if you meet the sign-up bonus of $3,000 in spending during the first 90 days.
Additionally, you can get 10% of your miles back when you redeem them for travel. For the record, ridesharing services like Uber are considered travel, so can you get 2.2 miles per dollar spent.
The caveat here is that if you don’t redeem your miles for travel, the redemption value drops to just 1 mile per dollar spent.
Tip: There is an annual fee of $89, but it’s waived for the first year!
Capital One Spark for Business
If you happen to be a business owner, there’s also a 2% cash back credit card in the Capital One Spark for Business.
It offers 2% cash back all year long with no limit to how much you can earn. The only downside is that there’s a $59 annual fee, which is waived the first year.
However, to make up for that, Capital One offers some mega sign-up bonuses, including a recent $1,000 bonus for spending $10k.
That’s pretty hard to beat, especially with the 2% cash back on top of it.
PayPal Cashback MasterCard
Then there’s PayPal, traditionally a debit card company, which recently launched the PayPal Cashback MasterCard.
It too comes with 2% cash back on all purchases, every day. There’s also no minimum cash back to redeem so you won’t leave anything on the table.
And with no annual fee, it’s one of the better 2% cash back credit cards currently available.
Capital One Venture Rewards Card
Another travel-related credit card that offers 2X miles on ALL purchases 365 days a year is the Capital One Venture Rewards Card.
Like the Barclaycard Arrival, it also comes with 40k bonus points if you spend $3,000 in the first three months.
There also no foreign transaction fees, similar to the Barclaycard. The downside is that the miles don’t go any further when used for travel. Just 2X.
But you can also redeem them for cash back or gift cards, though you only get 1% back when using those redemption methods. However, that opening bonus is pretty hard to resist if you like to travel.
Tip: It has a $59 annual fee, though it too is waived for the first year!
Discover it Chrome (New)
Here’s a little bonus card. The new “Discover it Chrome” card recently came out. It comes with 2% cash back on gas and restaurant purchases year-round.
Sure, it’s limited to just those two categories, but for some individuals those items account for most of their spending each month.
The caveat is that the 2% cash back is only good for the first $1,000 in combined spending each quarter. So there are limits.
But there’s no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and you earn 1% cash back on all other purchases with no limit.
For the record, the Chase Ink cards also offer 2% cash back categories that are good 365 days a year, though some of them carry an annual fee.
And if you own a business, the Amex SimplyCash business credit card offers 3% cash back all year in one category of your choice.
All in all, your best bet for a 2% cash/point back credit card is the Fidelity Amex. There aren’t any annual fees to worry about and you get the great customer service associated with American Express. And you get 2% back in the way of cash, not travel credits.
The only downside is that Amex isn’t accepted everywhere and the card has a 1% foreign transaction fee, something to watch out for when traveling abroad.
Bonus: Citi just launched a new 2% cash back credit card called Double Cash, which as the name implies, gives you 2% cash back. The catch is that you get 1% for the purchase itself and the other 1% only after you pay it off.
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