I really like this card for beginners because it’s very easy to understand. It’s also a great everyday use card if you are not working on a sign up bonus and there’s no bonus category for what you’re purchasing. It’s also a free card so there’s no annual fee at any time. The sign up bonus is also pretty low but there is usually some type of extra spending bonus. The promotions vary.
Regardless of what promotions exist, you’ll earn 3x at restaurants and pharmacies. This is where you need to really learn to optimize your spending. First, if this is the only points credit card you have, you should never use anything else at a restaurant. If you have apps for places like McDonalds, Dunkin, Starbux, etc you should immediately update your apps to change your credit card so that you use this one. Same goes for your pharmacy. I keep a credit card on file with my pharmacy so if you do too, be sure to update it so that you get 3x on all of your prescriptions.
Gift cards
Pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS sell gift cards to many stores such as Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy and others. They may also have gift cards for other companies such Southwest Airlines, Delta, Amazon, etc. This is a great way to turn a 1.5x purchase into a 3x purchase. I suggest you check out your local pharmacies to see what gift cards they have. I take a picture instead of trying to memorize them all. Then, when I need to make a purchase at a store, I first check those pictures to see if my local pharmacies carry those gift cards. If so, I’ll go buy what I need.
I do not suggest you buy gift card if you think you might buy something at one of these places at some point. You should buy them when you are 100% sure since a lot of people lose gift cards or don’t spend the full amount. If your purchase is going to be $115, buy a $100 gift card. Also note that if you return the item, they may just refund the gift card. Thus, you may have to hold on to the gift card or they will give you store credit. If you think you might return the item, I don’t suggest you use a gift card unless you absolutely know that you’ll buy something from that store in the future. The only exception here is Amazon. You can load those gift cards into your account right away (and you should). A lot of people buy stuff from Amazon all the time and being able to earn 3x on all of your purchases is great. Since there’s a lot of spur of the moment purchases made on Amazon, there’s nothing wrong with keeping your account funded with gift cards.
Conclusion
This is a very simple card to understand and use. When you open the card, you should sign up for a Chase account online to manage this card and others that you’ll be getting. From there, you can view Chase offers (which we’ll discuss later), pay your bill, view your statements and confirm that your cash back rate is being calculated properly. You’ll also see all of your points. Problem is, you can’t do too much with them yet. With just this card, you get 1 cent per point. We’ll do better than that though once we pair this with a Sapphire.
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