What's in My Pocket? (Q2 2024)

If you are curious about what credit cards I am using, I plan to share that information on a quarterly basis. I find that this is an effective way to show how I'm building my credit card portfolio and also gives some ideas on cards to consider if you find my choices interesting! I will continue to update my portfolio as I make upgrades. The goal is to get the highest reward possible for every category. As always, using the referral links provided below is much appreciated but also feel free to hit up a friend or family member too to share the love.

5% Rewards

Restaurants

• Citi Custom Cash Card ($0 annual fee) - 5% reward points up to $500 on the top spend category. I strictly use this for restaurants to make sure it's guaranteed to be the top spend each billing cycle. While this card does work for majority food delivery apps, the card's fine print does say that food delivery apps do not count. I use a different card that explicitly cover delivery apps for this case.
• Chase Freedom Flex Card (Q2 2024 category, Activation Required) ($0 annual fee) - Earn 5% cash back in quarterly bonus categories (see category calendar here). This quarter's categories include Restaurants so I plan to use this card when I hit my 5% cash back limit on the Citi Custom Cash Card.

Utilities & Internet

• US Bank Cash Plus Card (Activation Required) ($0 annual fee) - 5% cash back on up to two select categories and 2% cash back on up to 1 select category (see all categories here). I use this card to get 5% cash back on Home Utilities (e.g. water, waste, electricity) and TV, Internet, and Streaming Services (e.g. Netflix, Spotify, fiber internet). I do want to call out that this card requires you to manually choose the categories each quarter (they don't let you save your preferences) so that can be a hassle. To me, 5% is worth the hassle, so I just set a text reminder to remind me to enable it each quarter.

Shopping at Amazon.com

• Prime Visa ($0 annual fee) - 5% cash back on Amazon.com purchases (see other rewards here). I order a lot of things on Amazon.com so it made a lot of sense to get this card. I put it into set it and forget it mode on my account and the good thing is my wife can use it as well since she's in my family group.

Gas

• Discover it Card (Q2 2024 Category, Activation Required) ($0 annual fee) - 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in different category purchases each quarter (see category calendar here). This quarter's bonus is for Gas Stations & Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, Home Improvement Stores, and Public Transit so I plan to use this for gas and will try to fit some of the other categories if possible.

4% Rewards

Restaurants, Takeout, and Delivery

• American Express Business Gold Card ($375 annual fee) - 4x membership reward points on top 2 eligible categories. I plan to use this card strictly for only two eligible categories: restaurants, takeout and delivery and gas to guarantee they are my top spend categories. This card is set as my default for food delivery apps, and I'll have it in my wallet to use if I hit the 5% spend limits on both the Citi Custom Cash Card and Chase Freedom Flex Card.

Gas

• American Express Business Gold Card ($375 annual fee) - 4x membership reward points on top 2 eligible categories. I plan to use this card strictly for only two eligible categories: restaurants, takeout and delivery and gas to guarantee they are my top spend categories. Since Discover it Card is better for gas right now, I will be using this card only if I somehow spend more than $1,500 on gas in a quarter (not likely) so this card might not get much usage this quarter.

3% Rewards

Online Shopping

• PayPal Cashback Mastercard ($0 annual fee) - 2% cash back on all categories and 3% cash back on all categories if used with PayPal Checkout. This is my bread and butter card for online shopping since most shops use PayPal checkout. It's a plus that cash back is given right away too which you can transfer to your bank account (no need to wait for end of billing cycle).
• American Express Blue Cash Everyday ($0 annual fee) - 3% cash back on U.S. Online Retail purchases (see other rewards here). I plan to use this if PayPal checkout is not available and I'm doing online shopping. The reason why I don't default to this is because sometimes I don't shop at U.S. Retail stores so it saves some mental energy (noticing PayPal checkout is easier than noticing a store isn't from the US).

Groceries

• American Express Blue Cash Everyday ($0 annual fee) - 3% cash back on groceries at U.S. Supermarkets (see other rewards here). This is my default grocery card unless the store does not accept Amex (e.g. some Asian grocery stores don't in my area) or if it's Whole Foods (then I would use the 5% cash back benefit from my Prime Visa).

2% Rewards

General Purpose & Other Categories

• PayPal Cashback Mastercard ($0 annual fee) - 2% cash back on all categories and 3% cash back on all categories if used with PayPal Checkout. This is my go-to backup card for any purchase that comes up where I don't really have a good card for. The biggest benefit is that I can get the cash back immediately.

Strategy Notes & Upcoming Plans

• I just got the American Express Business Gold Card for paying taxes and I am close to hitting the spend requirement for 130,000 membership reward points. I'll continue to use this card for food delivery to hit that milestone. Unlock other cards I have used strictly for sign-up bonuses, I plan to keep this one for a general dining card to improve my rewards on dining to minimum 4% rewards (previously 3% minimum if I spend over $500 on the Citi Custom Cash Card)).
• I recently got the Citi Diamond Preferred Card for their 0% APR for 21 months benefit. The plan here is to transfer some taxes I paid with my  PayPal Cashback Mastercard for 3% cash back to the card and let it sit there for 21 months. The balance transfer fee is 3%. After 21 months or if I want to pay it off early, I plan to product change this card to a second Citi Custom Cash Card to cover other categories at 5% (e.g. Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs and Live Entertainment).