Here is how I currently spread my spending out over my credit cards. This table changes over time, and often depends on what promotion Discover is currently running. The Citi Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard and the Discover Card are my main day to day cards. The Amazon.com card is almost always used for Amazon purchases, so it’s usually at home near my computer. If you have a better card for certain categories, let me know. Particularly if you have a card that gets 5%+ off of restaurant purchases since the Discover Card promotion is slated to end on 11/30/05.
| Category | % | Card | Card Limit | Expiration |
| Supermarkets Drugstores Gas Stations |
5% | Citi Dividend MC | $300 | |
| Restaurants Movie Theaters Movie Rentals |
5% | Discover Card | $500 | 11/30/05 |
| Amazon.com | 3% | Amazon.com Visa Card | unlimited | |
| Everything Else | 1% | Discover Card | unlimited |
Comments (2)
Hi,
Great post, thanks.
The optimal mix of cards will depend on your personal spending pattern by category (gas, restaurant, etc.)
Unfortunately, the Citi Dividend card is changing from a 5% card to a 2% card in October 2006.
The recent changes to the cash back rewards of the Citi Dividend MasterCard prompted me to do some personal analysis to find the best mix of cash back cards for my spending patterns.
That personal analysis inspired me to build a general-purpose tool to help anyone determine the single best card or mix of N cards that will maximize their cash back rewards. You just plug in how much you spend each month (broken out by categories for best results) and you’re presented with a list of recommended cards sorted from best to worst by your expected annual reward. If having more than one card and using each card to its strengths could yield a greater total reward, then each combination of the Best N cards is presented as well.
You can see the tool at http://www.creditcardtuneup.com/ .
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