The very most that a card gives back is 5% but this is usually very limited.
In most cases you will max out at 3-4% back unless you get very detailed with your setup.
Other posters have already provided some great examples.
That said, getting new SUBs every so often gives much more back than holding onto a single card. One of the best would be a Chase Ink of your choosing if you are eligible for a business account.
I got this one specifically for that. Looked into redstone financial but didn't want to apply via credit union. Bilt. Use for rent. 3x food ain't bad. Chase saphire ain't bad either. I need to downgrade next annual fee and get a new saphire in a yr from reward date
Edit. Chase saphire 4 yrs from reward date
Yeah, it’s really not that great, but hey it’s better than nothing? It’s enough to make me use CSP for dining over other 3x dining cards (CFU, SavorOne)
Chase CSP is 3x dining and has Southwest as a transfer partner. $95 AF
Amex Gold is 4x Dining. Doesn't have Southwest but has a bunch of other transfer partners. ($250 AF - $240 credits = $10 effective AF)
Bilt Mastercard is 3x Dining. Doesn't have Southwest but has a bunch of other transfer partners. Has a network of restaurants where you can earn up to 13x instead of 3x. $0 AF
They’d really do well if they got the Gold and were able to refer someone in the next month. They’d get that promo for an extra 10x points for 6 months (up to $25k in spend) essentially netting the 14x points. I got that promo but have nowhere near $2,200 a month at restaurants (I wish I did)
>Bilt Mastercard is 3x Dining.
Not to mention, 6x on dining on the first of the month, which I'm guessing OP is probably dining out on in most months considering their spend.
I second US Bank altitude go as a $0 annual fee and FTF plus unlimited 4% back at restaurants.
The CSP can certainly make sense for you since they transfer to Southwest. Southwest has a relatively fixed value of 1.4 cpp and the CSP earns 3.1 after the anniversary bonus effectively making the card 4.34% cash before taking into account the annual fee. After the annual fee it’s about the same as the go.
Savor works but is strictly worse than the go as you are paying a fee for the 4%. Savor One has no annual fee but in this case it’s actually worse since you would be spending enough on dining to offset the fee.
IMO altitude go is the one I would get.
For purely dining, Altitude Go is a very solid choice over Savor. If they spend a lot on entertainment and/or streaming, then Savor could be worth considering.
SavorOne has no annual fee, the Savor card is $95 / yr.
The Savor gets 4% instead of 3% though and with OP’s spend of $2200 / month over 1.5 years it would get a little more cash back
Also, while the Savor sub isn't a great deal for most, it's $300 vs $200. $9500/yr on dining/entertainment/streaming is the break even point for Savor vs SavorOne once you're past the sub.
If you are spending $2200 a month, the Savor would be be better after the $9500 in the year (breakeven point) on the 4x dining. If you just don't want an annual fees, SavorOne is the choice. However this does not help you with Southwest. You would need to pair it with any of the Venture cards to use it for travel. Those have varying annual fees depending on the card and what benefits you need/want.
If it's going to be a temperory thing, you can get a chase freedom flex. For this quarter, they have 5%+3%+1% = 9% on dining. Plus there's no AF.
Edit: It's actually 7%.
Ah my bad. I recently ate at a hotel and they gave me 9%. I checked again and they've given me the cashback for the travel category, and not dining.
But still, 7% is pretty good.
Its normally 3x points. In elevated quarter it's usually 7x. Later you can get a CSP and easily hit the SUB then transfer to southwest. Or you could just get the CSP only and get 3x. If you can look past southwest there are many 3x+ dining cards.
I'd say get the freedom flex anyway. In the next 1.5 years, you'll have 2 quarters where you'll get to milk the 7% cashback (on upto $1500 then 1% on the rest, which will bring your net returns to about 5% on a $2200 dining), and in other quarters a 3% cashback. Also, if you go in-branch to apply for FF, you might get the extra 5% cashback on groceries for a year. (I know you didn't mention groceries in your post, but it never hurts to get an extra offer if you intend to go with this card anyway)
You can also get the CSP card with 70,000 points (\~$700 cashback or $875 if you spend it on travel) as a signup bonus, which more than covers your $95 AF. Gives you a flat 3% on dining with a 1.25x multiplier if you spend those points towards travel. Note that this signup bonus is only available as in-branch offer. If you signup online, you get 60,000 points as a signup bonus.
If you're feeling a bit fancy, You can get both the CSP and Freedom Flex. Milk the 7% quarters when they're available, and for the rest of the quarters you can dine on either CSP of FF. Then, you can transfer all those high 7% points from FF to your CSP card, and further get a 1.25x multiplier by spending it on travel. Also, you get 20,000 points as a signup bonus on FF, which is worth $200 cashback or $250 towards travel if you route it through CSP. It's a really good combination if you intend to spend on dining and travel.
I recently got Chase Freedom Unlimited specifically for 3% dining
BOA also has a card that you can choose 3% dining as a category. I stick to no AF cards and with big banks so those are my picks. Others have provided good examples as well
Besides for all the great ideas here, if you already have an Amex card check if you can refer someone for the bonus 10x they are currently offering. Basically refer someone to any Amex card and the card you generate the referral from will earn a bonus 10x on dining for 3 months. Not a long-term plan but a great short term one.
I personally don't recommend the altitude go, I wouldn't recommend a card with no transfer partner option. CSP/CSR for southwest transfer partner and portal bonus options, or Amex gold for international travel would be my pick. If you have the money to pay the annual fees upfront, your redemptions will outweigh that AF if you're willing to do a little research. I would even go for the C1 savor if you plan to get a venture card in the future.
I use the chase trifecta with sapphire reserve. If you use your points in the travel portal they are worth 1.5x. SW is also a travel partner so you can transfer your points to RR points.
US Bank Altitude Go has unlimited 4% on dining. If you get Citi Custom Cash, you'll also get 5% back for the first $500/month. Both have no AF, and USBAG has no FTFs.
Chase freedom flex has 3% normally and the current quarterly bonus is 5% which stacks but I believe only to 7% someone will probably correct me if that's not correct.
Just one thing to note: if you are spending this money at the same restaurant every month, make sure it codes correctly. Many restaurants, for whatever reason, don't code as restaurants. Also, if you're paying for a banquet or conference in a restaurant, then that may be billed differently.
I'm not sure about the math, but maybe the Amex platinum's via resy with 10x dining for 6 months
I think I'd probably do Amex green first...hit the SUB...then get the Amex Gold....hit the SUB, and then probably churn different cards every 3 months to continue to get SUBs and in between SUBs id use the Amex gold
The capital one Savor will be your best option. Unlimited 4% cash back on dining/entertainment. Also, 3% back on groceries and 10%back on uber eats. hands down the best card for dining in my opinion with a ton of perks. I spend over 20k a year on dining/entertainment. You also get 8% back on captain one entertainment which is pretty dope. They have mlb, March madness, PGA and other sports events at face value on their portal
Capital One Savor card (4% back unlimited), Mastercard, NO FTF.
AmEx Platinum or AmEx Gold with Resy sign up bonuses (15x points for Plat, 4x + 20% back up to $250 for Gold.)
Do you mind churning business cards? The Chase Ink Business Cash gives you 2% back on dining + a $750 SUB when you spend $6k. Your velocity is just about perfect to open a new one every 3 months (max velocity recommended for churning these), so you should be able to capture $3480 back every year (($750 + $6000* 2%)*4 cards/year).
For a no so-complex multicard strategy:
- Get Three Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards (one vanilla, two co-branded such as Susan G Komen and AMSA)
- Get Platinum Honors status by holding 100k of assets in merryl lynch
- Set your 5.25% in all three for restaurants, you will have this cashback rate with a limit of 2.5k spend per calendar quarter
- Rotate the cards every month, the 2.5k limit reset every quarter
It should be annoying to set up initially but it is easy to maintain
If you can game Rent Day bonuses (first of the month), BILT is 6x dining on Rent Day using their Mastercard. For example, if you purchase a gift card at the actual restaurant on Rent Day, you'll get the 6x bonus.
Outside of Rent Day, its 3x dining.
And in about 20 US cities, you get points at select restaurants regardless of what card you use to pay.
BILT points are about 1 to 1 when transferred to travel partners and 1.25 when used on their travel portal.
I think it depends on what else you might use the card for.
You could go for altitude go for 4% cashback. This is cash back, but there’s no reason why you can’t just use this to pay for your southwest flights. This also has a $200 sub I believe.
You could go for the chase freedom flex. It’s 7% this quarter and then 3% regularly. That 7% is only for $1500, but hey, that’s sweet and then it’s 3%. No af. You also get a $200 sub and 0% apr for over a year. That means you could pay the minimum and then put that $2200 in a HYSA or money market fund at fidelity and rack up some dividends too until the end of the period. You could either cash out the Chase points one day or open a sapphire preferred one day. I just think the CFF is compelling enough right now to go for that before picking up the sapphire preferred.
Bilt could also be a good option if you pay rent. You get 1x on rent and 3x for dining and 6x on dining on rent day. You can also get 2x on rent day for anything. Could be a good card to have not just for dining, but other things as well. No annual fee, but no sub. But you can transfer the points to many airlines or Hyatt (without an annual fee, that’s compelling).
A lot have said it already but definitely get the Amex Gold, but use the resy offer. They are giving 15x on dining for 6 months for 100,000 SUB. That's 33,000 a month for $2,200 spend + the SUB, If my math is mathing you would end up with 198,000 points in 6 months time.
Many times, a new card will flag or cancel your account if you spend that kind of money on it right away. Seen it mentioned several times on this forum.
Okay, if you are spending at that rate it can’t be meals at the local fast food joint unless you are picking up the tab for the beer league so it must be fine dining I know that cap one has a fine dining and I think chase might also have something
Chase Freedom flex will give you 8% on restaurants this quarter! It earns 3% off the bat and it earns 5% for the quarterly category, so the points stack
[As announced by Chase,](https://media.chase.com/news/chase-freedom-2024-q2-categories) restaurants are 7x for freedom and freedom flex this quarter (1x base + 2x dining + 4x quarterly restaurant promo)
The very most that a card gives back is 5% but this is usually very limited. In most cases you will max out at 3-4% back unless you get very detailed with your setup. Other posters have already provided some great examples. That said, getting new SUBs every so often gives much more back than holding onto a single card. One of the best would be a Chase Ink of your choosing if you are eligible for a business account.
Us bank altitude go 4% on dining no annual fee ,no foreign transaction fee
I got this one specifically for that. Looked into redstone financial but didn't want to apply via credit union. Bilt. Use for rent. 3x food ain't bad. Chase saphire ain't bad either. I need to downgrade next annual fee and get a new saphire in a yr from reward date Edit. Chase saphire 4 yrs from reward date
Four years (48 months) from reward date
Wrong mate, you have to wait 48 months from reward earning date for either Sapphire card.
Yeah I type too fast ill edit
No worries, just wanted to let you know so you don’t apply too early and miss out on a new sub.
This. Citi custom cash has limit of $500 per month at 5% for dining. Great for most people but not optimal for some.
I've been told you can get up to 3 of them by doing product changes.
US Bank Altitude Reserve gets you 4.5% back if you use tal to pay. There is an effective $75 annual fee tho.
sapphire preferred gets 3x (really 3.1x) on dining and has southwest as a transfer partner
Unless OP books and pays for it via the sapphire portal, then it's 5X points.
Wait why really 3.1x?
You get a 10% bonus at the end of each year
Why is it not (3 \* 1.1)x?
It’s not 10% on the points, it’s 10% on the base
Wow, that's a lot worse of a perk than I'd assumed
Yeah, it’s really not that great, but hey it’s better than nothing? It’s enough to make me use CSP for dining over other 3x dining cards (CFU, SavorOne)
Explain the point thing
How each point add how to spend them
Ah I see. Thanks
Chase CSP is 3x dining and has Southwest as a transfer partner. $95 AF Amex Gold is 4x Dining. Doesn't have Southwest but has a bunch of other transfer partners. ($250 AF - $240 credits = $10 effective AF) Bilt Mastercard is 3x Dining. Doesn't have Southwest but has a bunch of other transfer partners. Has a network of restaurants where you can earn up to 13x instead of 3x. $0 AF
They’d really do well if they got the Gold and were able to refer someone in the next month. They’d get that promo for an extra 10x points for 6 months (up to $25k in spend) essentially netting the 14x points. I got that promo but have nowhere near $2,200 a month at restaurants (I wish I did)
>Bilt Mastercard is 3x Dining. Not to mention, 6x on dining on the first of the month, which I'm guessing OP is probably dining out on in most months considering their spend.
Curious; why does spending a lot on dining mean someone is dining on the 1st?
It doesn't, just figured there was a higher likelihood since they are eating out with more frequency (I would assume).
I second US Bank altitude go as a $0 annual fee and FTF plus unlimited 4% back at restaurants. The CSP can certainly make sense for you since they transfer to Southwest. Southwest has a relatively fixed value of 1.4 cpp and the CSP earns 3.1 after the anniversary bonus effectively making the card 4.34% cash before taking into account the annual fee. After the annual fee it’s about the same as the go. Savor works but is strictly worse than the go as you are paying a fee for the 4%. Savor One has no annual fee but in this case it’s actually worse since you would be spending enough on dining to offset the fee. IMO altitude go is the one I would get.
For purely dining, Altitude Go is a very solid choice over Savor. If they spend a lot on entertainment and/or streaming, then Savor could be worth considering.
Altitude Go or if you will use the credits, Amex Gold Or since you will exceed $9500 a year, Savor
Capital One Savor is 3x on dining and has no annual fee. If you can use the Uber and dining credit naturally, I would go with the Amex Gold.
SavorOne has no annual fee, the Savor card is $95 / yr. The Savor gets 4% instead of 3% though and with OP’s spend of $2200 / month over 1.5 years it would get a little more cash back
Thanks for the correction. You are right.
Its recommended that if you spend $9500 in those categories to get the savor
Either way, I wouldn’t recommend the Savor unless OP is already in C1’s eco. Definitely the USB Go
Also, while the Savor sub isn't a great deal for most, it's $300 vs $200. $9500/yr on dining/entertainment/streaming is the break even point for Savor vs SavorOne once you're past the sub.
Only exception is those grandfathered in with $0 annual fee. Not relevant for OP though.
With $2200 a month in spend, the Uber and GrubHub credits are inconsequential
If you are spending $2200 a month, the Savor would be be better after the $9500 in the year (breakeven point) on the 4x dining. If you just don't want an annual fees, SavorOne is the choice. However this does not help you with Southwest. You would need to pair it with any of the Venture cards to use it for travel. Those have varying annual fees depending on the card and what benefits you need/want.
If it's going to be a temperory thing, you can get a chase freedom flex. For this quarter, they have 5%+3%+1% = 9% on dining. Plus there's no AF. Edit: It's actually 7%.
It’s actually 4%+2%+1=7% on Dining
Can confirm it is 7x [as per Chase](https://media.chase.com/news/chase-freedom-2024-q2-categories)
Ah my bad. I recently ate at a hotel and they gave me 9%. I checked again and they've given me the cashback for the travel category, and not dining. But still, 7% is pretty good.
It’ll be for about a year and a half
Its normally 3x points. In elevated quarter it's usually 7x. Later you can get a CSP and easily hit the SUB then transfer to southwest. Or you could just get the CSP only and get 3x. If you can look past southwest there are many 3x+ dining cards.
I'd say get the freedom flex anyway. In the next 1.5 years, you'll have 2 quarters where you'll get to milk the 7% cashback (on upto $1500 then 1% on the rest, which will bring your net returns to about 5% on a $2200 dining), and in other quarters a 3% cashback. Also, if you go in-branch to apply for FF, you might get the extra 5% cashback on groceries for a year. (I know you didn't mention groceries in your post, but it never hurts to get an extra offer if you intend to go with this card anyway) You can also get the CSP card with 70,000 points (\~$700 cashback or $875 if you spend it on travel) as a signup bonus, which more than covers your $95 AF. Gives you a flat 3% on dining with a 1.25x multiplier if you spend those points towards travel. Note that this signup bonus is only available as in-branch offer. If you signup online, you get 60,000 points as a signup bonus. If you're feeling a bit fancy, You can get both the CSP and Freedom Flex. Milk the 7% quarters when they're available, and for the rest of the quarters you can dine on either CSP of FF. Then, you can transfer all those high 7% points from FF to your CSP card, and further get a 1.25x multiplier by spending it on travel. Also, you get 20,000 points as a signup bonus on FF, which is worth $200 cashback or $250 towards travel if you route it through CSP. It's a really good combination if you intend to spend on dining and travel.
So that's $40k. That's a much different story.
The post was edited to include that info.
I recently got Chase Freedom Unlimited specifically for 3% dining BOA also has a card that you can choose 3% dining as a category. I stick to no AF cards and with big banks so those are my picks. Others have provided good examples as well
These are the 2 cards I use as well. Just wanted to add that BofA has a cap of $2500 per quarter
Oh wow I did not know there was a cap on it, good to know for future reference. I don’t spend nearly enough to ever reach that cap haha
If you have Amex gold refer someone and stack the current 10x dining referral promo with the 4x
Amex Gold
Besides for all the great ideas here, if you already have an Amex card check if you can refer someone for the bonus 10x they are currently offering. Basically refer someone to any Amex card and the card you generate the referral from will earn a bonus 10x on dining for 3 months. Not a long-term plan but a great short term one.
I personally don't recommend the altitude go, I wouldn't recommend a card with no transfer partner option. CSP/CSR for southwest transfer partner and portal bonus options, or Amex gold for international travel would be my pick. If you have the money to pay the annual fees upfront, your redemptions will outweigh that AF if you're willing to do a little research. I would even go for the C1 savor if you plan to get a venture card in the future.
I use the chase trifecta with sapphire reserve. If you use your points in the travel portal they are worth 1.5x. SW is also a travel partner so you can transfer your points to RR points.
US Bank Altitude Go has unlimited 4% on dining. If you get Citi Custom Cash, you'll also get 5% back for the first $500/month. Both have no AF, and USBAG has no FTFs.
Chase freedom flex has 3% normally and the current quarterly bonus is 5% which stacks but I believe only to 7% someone will probably correct me if that's not correct.
Just one thing to note: if you are spending this money at the same restaurant every month, make sure it codes correctly. Many restaurants, for whatever reason, don't code as restaurants. Also, if you're paying for a banquet or conference in a restaurant, then that may be billed differently.
I'm not sure about the math, but maybe the Amex platinum's via resy with 10x dining for 6 months I think I'd probably do Amex green first...hit the SUB...then get the Amex Gold....hit the SUB, and then probably churn different cards every 3 months to continue to get SUBs and in between SUBs id use the Amex gold
I second the altitude go
Chase freedom flex is giving out 5% until June when the quarterly reward switches
Only for the first $1500 of spending
Bilt, especially if a large amount is on the first.
Amex Gold or Business Gold... 4x MR points for restaurants.
Amex gold
Chase Freedom Flex is currently getting 7x on dining this quarter
Altitude go (4%) or freedom flex (3x points). Freedoms need a paid sapphire or ink to transfer points to Southwest.
Chase Freedom Flex is 7x on dining until the end of June!
Chase freedom flex getting me 7% right now.
The capital one Savor will be your best option. Unlimited 4% cash back on dining/entertainment. Also, 3% back on groceries and 10%back on uber eats. hands down the best card for dining in my opinion with a ton of perks. I spend over 20k a year on dining/entertainment. You also get 8% back on captain one entertainment which is pretty dope. They have mlb, March madness, PGA and other sports events at face value on their portal
Capital One Savor card (4% back unlimited), Mastercard, NO FTF. AmEx Platinum or AmEx Gold with Resy sign up bonuses (15x points for Plat, 4x + 20% back up to $250 for Gold.)
$2200/month? Forget rewards points. Get a card with a good SUB and when you hit the required spend, get another.
Amex Gold 4x dining. But this quarter Chase Freedom Flex with they quarterly bonus 7% as mentioned above. BILT 6x on the first day of each month
Can I get one of each
Amex gold is currently having 90k mr plus 20% cash back on dining $50 max with referral
Do you mind churning business cards? The Chase Ink Business Cash gives you 2% back on dining + a $750 SUB when you spend $6k. Your velocity is just about perfect to open a new one every 3 months (max velocity recommended for churning these), so you should be able to capture $3480 back every year (($750 + $6000* 2%)*4 cards/year).
Go back in time and get the citi prestige
if you can book your reservations through sapphire dining, then csr, for 10x back.
Amex Gold has 4X points for dining out, 4X points for groceries but a $250 AF
For a no so-complex multicard strategy: - Get Three Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards (one vanilla, two co-branded such as Susan G Komen and AMSA) - Get Platinum Honors status by holding 100k of assets in merryl lynch - Set your 5.25% in all three for restaurants, you will have this cashback rate with a limit of 2.5k spend per calendar quarter - Rotate the cards every month, the 2.5k limit reset every quarter It should be annoying to set up initially but it is easy to maintain
crying at OP asking for one card primarily for a good southwest points option and your immediate recs are 1. open 3 cash back cards 2. have $100k 😭
and calling it “not so complex” please😭😭😭😭😭
If you can game Rent Day bonuses (first of the month), BILT is 6x dining on Rent Day using their Mastercard. For example, if you purchase a gift card at the actual restaurant on Rent Day, you'll get the 6x bonus. Outside of Rent Day, its 3x dining. And in about 20 US cities, you get points at select restaurants regardless of what card you use to pay. BILT points are about 1 to 1 when transferred to travel partners and 1.25 when used on their travel portal.
I think it depends on what else you might use the card for. You could go for altitude go for 4% cashback. This is cash back, but there’s no reason why you can’t just use this to pay for your southwest flights. This also has a $200 sub I believe. You could go for the chase freedom flex. It’s 7% this quarter and then 3% regularly. That 7% is only for $1500, but hey, that’s sweet and then it’s 3%. No af. You also get a $200 sub and 0% apr for over a year. That means you could pay the minimum and then put that $2200 in a HYSA or money market fund at fidelity and rack up some dividends too until the end of the period. You could either cash out the Chase points one day or open a sapphire preferred one day. I just think the CFF is compelling enough right now to go for that before picking up the sapphire preferred. Bilt could also be a good option if you pay rent. You get 1x on rent and 3x for dining and 6x on dining on rent day. You can also get 2x on rent day for anything. Could be a good card to have not just for dining, but other things as well. No annual fee, but no sub. But you can transfer the points to many airlines or Hyatt (without an annual fee, that’s compelling).
A lot have said it already but definitely get the Amex Gold, but use the resy offer. They are giving 15x on dining for 6 months for 100,000 SUB. That's 33,000 a month for $2,200 spend + the SUB, If my math is mathing you would end up with 198,000 points in 6 months time.
Many times, a new card will flag or cancel your account if you spend that kind of money on it right away. Seen it mentioned several times on this forum.
Okay, if you are spending at that rate it can’t be meals at the local fast food joint unless you are picking up the tab for the beer league so it must be fine dining I know that cap one has a fine dining and I think chase might also have something
Chase Freedom flex will give you 8% on restaurants this quarter! It earns 3% off the bat and it earns 5% for the quarterly category, so the points stack
[As announced by Chase,](https://media.chase.com/news/chase-freedom-2024-q2-categories) restaurants are 7x for freedom and freedom flex this quarter (1x base + 2x dining + 4x quarterly restaurant promo)