Alternatives to PenFed cards
I use Chase Freedom for gas for 6 months in a year. Discover gas cash back overlaps with Freedom. Discover is not competitive enough compared to Freedom which gives 5% cash back plus 10% yearly bonus plus additional 25% bonus when you transfer to Chase Spphire Preferred which makes it 6.9% overall benefit.
PenFed option was for remaining 6 months for gas and grocery. I did not find monthly cashback useful due to small amounts getting lost in monthly spending and cannot be accumulated to large amount for yearly spending. Hence I switched to Platinum rewards.
Now with point degradation to 4.2%, 2.5% and 0.85% (For $100 gift cards, for $25 cards rate is still lower), I have decided to use optional cards in my wallet.
US bank Flex travel rewards (Black card and not white- which has no annual fee) gives equivalent of 4% on gas or grocery depending on whichever is higher. My plan is to use US bank my card for gas only and my wife's card only for grocery. This will help in getting 4% on each category rather than losing one category to 2%.