This article is backed by both experience and real-life learning. A lot of us in the United States, while starting our Credit Card journey come across this dilemma to choose between Credit Cards offering Cashback or Points. I was in the same boat, I started with a Bank of America Travel Rewards Card (Points), and the second one was an Amex Blue Cash Card (Cashback). 4 years later, I realized how these two differ and how cards offering points are way more valuable than cashback in most of the cases. Yes, in most cases. What you are spending very much drives which card to use.

For everyone’s reference, I have 9 Cards (in sequence of how I got them):-

1. Bank of America Travel Rewards
2. American Express Blue Cash (Referral Link)
3. Chase Sapphire Preferred (Referral Link)
4. Apple by Goldman Sachs
5. Chase Amazon Prime (Referral Link)
6. Bilt – Wells Fargo (Referral Link)
7. American Express Platinum (Referral Link)
8. Chase World Of Hyatt
9. American Express Hilton Honors (Referral Link)

As you can see it is a big mix of cashback and reward points cards, this is all based on real-life experiences.

I think I will begin with why/when getting a cashback card makes sense.

American Express Blue Cash (Cashback) card is the first Cash Back card that I got, and I use it to make big online purchases only if no other card works. Amex Blue Cash gives me 3% up to $6000 on online purchases anywhere so if I have to buy something from a website (other than Amazon) I use this card.

The next Cashback card is Apple by Goldman Sachs, which offers me 3% cash back on purchases made at the Apple store. Apple is usually a big basket purchase and having an Apple card helps you get those big purchases in installments without any additional fees. If I am not buying on installment I prefer using an Amazon card to buy Apple gift cards and then use them to buy Apple products.

Last but not least, the Amazon Prime Rewards Card which offers 5% (6% in some cases) on purchases made on Amazon and Fresh, is by far my most used cashback card since Amazon has become my go-to shopping place.

Now moving to key players in my wallet, Point-based credit cards.

My first go-to is Chase Sapphire Preferred, a $95 card that brings me access to Chase’s ultimate reward portal. I get $50 in hotel credits every year, 5X on Chase travel purchases, 3X on dining purchases, 2X on all other travel purchases, and 1X on everything else (More Details). It is very easy to get a value of more than the annual fees for this card.

The next Point-based card in my wallet is Bilt by Wells Fargo. This $0 card is the only card in the market that gives me reward points for the rent I pay every month. I pay $4052 rent(not for me, but for a friend living in NY) every month and I like that a big spend like this every month is also getting me reward points. This card also gives me 3X on dining purchases, 2X on travel purchases, and 1X on everything else (including rent). Bilt rent day benefit doubles all points(except rent) for purchases made on the 1st of every month.

The last… American Express Platinum, is a whopping $695 card that looks like an unnecessary expense. But when you start digging into the benefits it offers, you can take more than $1500 every year. This is my card for traveling self and helps me use a lot of benefits for traveling purposes. Along with 5X points on flights booked on the Amex platform and Airline website directly and 5X on all bookings made on the Amex Portal following credits are also available; $200 Hotel Credit, $240 Entertainment Credit, $200 Uber Credit, Free $155 Walmart Plus Membership (Monthly Subscription), $200 Airline Fee Credit, $100 Saks Credit – Split Half Yearly, $189 Clear Credit, $100 Fee Credit for Global Entry TSA Precheck, Global Lounge Access (Centurion and Priority Pass), Marriot and Hilton Gold Status and a lot more. Amex is also the only provider that is directly integrated with Venmo and you can easily use your credit to pay for big purchases/transfers and consolidate your payments or give your money more time in high-growth accounts.

I use all these cards in a planned way to maximize my points and benefits. It takes a little more effort but the value you get out of this is immense. Except for the fact that most of these points can be converted back to statement credits at any point in time if you use the points, transfer them to the travel partners, and make bookings through them, you can use very less points to make high-value bookings.

Why do I vote for points credit cards?

Just for reference, a $350 Hyatt can be booked for 8000 points ($80 value in cash) if you transfer points to a Hyatt account and make a booking. Or an economy roundtrip from New York USA to Barcelone Spain for around 40000 points ($400 in value). There are so many partners that you can make use of when traveling that these points become an endless opportunity. There are a lot of other benefits that one can use, including travel insurance and protections that are offered in case of calamity. You can go to the product website to get more information on all the products.

If you find the article informative, please share it. As a support, you can use my referral links to apply for the products if you end up choosing one.

You can reach out to me if you have any confusion regarding any of these cards or if you want to evaluate credit card options.

Make your spending work for you!!!