Can this cashback card be used with American Express Blue Cash to get the best grocery card?

If I told you that there is a credit card that offers up to 6% cashback in any of the six general expenditure categories, including dining and travel, do you think this is one of the best cashback cards to consider applying for this summer? As a credit card expert who has covered this topic for many years, I will.

Bank of America’s customized cash reward credit cards are the latest addition to the latest reward credit card list, thanks to the new offer. In the first year, new cardholders can earn 6% of their revenue from one of the six available options.

What is capture? Some warnings make this card less profitable than it looks, and this may not be the right card for everyone. This is what you need to know.

Everything you need to know about new quotes

Bank of America custom cash rewards can now earn double cash back in a category of your first year of choice. This means there is a 6% cash back in the preferred category, rather than a 3% cash back in the first $2500 (select the combined purchases of the category every quarter, as well as at grocery stores and wholesale clubs and then earn unlimited 1% after that).

For new cardholders, there is no end date for this offer. You can select one of the following options as your selection category:

• travel
• Have a meal
• pharmacy
• Home Decoration and Furniture
• Gasoline and electric vehicle charging stations
• Online shopping (including wired, internet, phone plans, streaming)

You can switch categories once a month through online or mobile banking. If you don't switch it, the last month's selection will continue. You will also earn 2% returns at grocery stores and wholesale clubs and 1% returns in all other purchases.

The bonus rewards in the selection category have a quarterly spending cap of $2500 and a 2% category, after which you will earn 1% of your income. In addition to raising the first-year cash repayment rate, new cardholders can earn $200 in welcome bonus after spending $1,000 in purchases within the first 90 days after opening their credit card.

This new offer looks really powerful…

To understand why the new custom cash reward offers are so good, you need to understand the landscape of cash folds.

Flat card cards like Wells Fargo Active Cash tend to offer a 2% backup in all purchases. Level reward cards, such as American Express’s Blue Cash Daily Card, usually offer 3-5% backups on several fixed categories, while everything else can offer 1% backups. Spin reward cards (such as Chase Freedom Flex) usually offer a 5% return on one or both spin categories, with a maximum quarterly maximum, changing throughout the year with issuer’s discretion, while everything else returns 1%.

With this new offer, custom cash rewards offer a 6% return in your selected category (plus 2% for grocery and wholesale clubs). What's more, you can choose the 6% category and change it once a month.

This means higher rewards and greater flexibility than most competitors. Quarterly spending caps do limit rewards outside of specific points, but this is relatively common in daily fee-free cash back cards with high category bonuses.

While maximizing the reward requires some careful planning (more on that later), this new offer makes the custom cash reward one of the best cards for anyone with the highest spending category changes throughout the year.

…but there are some warnings.

Be sure to consider these warnings before you snap up this new credit card offer.

Rewards Rewards only come with a spending cap for the first year

The biggest weakness of custom cash rewards is the $2500 quarterly spending cap and the 2% category that limits the rewards for large spending. (To be clear, big spenders can still make the most of the expenses of this card because of their first spending.

The second problem is that after the first year, the reward rate returns to baseline:

• 3% cash back for select category
• 2% in grocery store or wholesale club
• All other types of purchases

While these reward cards are still competitive reward rates, they are not the best for some selection categories.

You have to spend time carefully to maximize rewards

One important thing to note is that the customized cash reward quarterly spending cap is shared in the 3% and 2% categories and is calculated based on the chronological order of transactions, so it is not time to go to reduce your rewards. The 3% selection category reward rate for the first year increased to 6%, with the difference even stark.

For example, suppose you plan to spend $1,000 on groceries per month, and another $1,000 on online shopping (your choice category) at the end of the quarter. If you usually use cards, charge $3,000 for groceries over three months and end up with $1,000 for online shopping, this is what your reward looks like:

By comparison, if you make an online shopping purchase first, you'll get $105 as you'll benefit from the 6% bonus rate for that purchase, and then these grocery purchase quarterly spending quotas. The difference of dozens of dollars is not the end of the world, but with some extra plans you can maximize rewards with custom cash.

Is the first year of double cashback stack with the preferred rewards program?

Bank of America’s preferred rewards program offers up to 75% rewards to qualified customers who maintain a balance in Bank of America or Merrill Lynch investment accounts. According to a representative of Bank of America, the preferred reward bonus will apply to the basic 3% cash deduction rate of the choice category, but the additional 3% than the first-year bonus will not apply.

Therefore, the highest level in the preferred rewards program may receive a total of 8.25% cashback on first-year selection category purchases, but receive a quarterly spending cap: 5.25% from base rewards and an additional 3% from first-year bonuses.

Remember not to overspent in order to get a reward

Several choices of choice categories – such as travel, online shopping, and home renovations and furniture, are available in large quantities. If you've already planned to make these types of purchases (and budget for them), this card is a great option to earn extra cash. But don't let the rewards push you to purchases you wouldn't have or purchases that you wouldn't have otherwise.

While the card does have an introductory APR quote of 0% that can be used for 15 billing cycles of purchases and balance transfers (after APR balances range from 18.24% to 28.24%), it is not a wise idea to bear credit card debt at disposable expenses. A 6% cashback seems like a lot of rewards, but in the balance of the monthly holding balance of the regular APR, the interest you pay is far from enough.

Should you get a custom cash card with new offers?

As a credit card expert, I would not hesitate to recommend this card to readers and my friends whose needs and spending habits are suitable for their profile. You should probably pick up this card if all of the following applies to you:

• You spend a lot of things in one or more selection categories.
• You want a new cashback card and there is no custom cash yet.
• You have a quarterly spend and 2% category in the selection for less than $2,500, or once you reach the cap, you can switch to another card.

That is to say, everyone, including me, is not suitable for everyone. I personally prefer my trusted Chase Sapphire preferred card over cashback rewards, as I value transferable points with higher flexibility than a higher base reward rate. If you are in the same camp, consider a dedicated travel card.

If you don’t spend a lot of money in any choice category, you’d better use another card to reward you with the most. While this card does offer a 2% return at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, Grocery has more reward cards. And if you spend a lot of money and just want to use one card for everything, a 2% unlimited cashback card may be your best choice.