A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,613
If you want miles out of an MC/Visa, I like the AA card.
If you want homegrown points, the MBNA Worldpoints Mastercard seems to be the best. I don't know every homegrown points card out there though.
If you want cash rebate, Chase's Perfectcard appears to be the first true no-bullsh*t 1% rebate card. No annual fee as long as you actually use the card and the 1% shows up as a credit the next month. No calling to redeem rebates, no waiting until end-of-year, no thresholds to hit. This looks like the best MC rebate card for the low/mid spender. (Big spenders who want cash back should probably go with Amex's tiered rebate cards.)
It all depends on what you want...
(On the Amtrak card: can you be in that program forever without ever riding a train? I thought I read somewhere that you had to actually take 1 train trip every so often to stay active.)