Something better than AMEX HH Surpass for grocery spend?
 

I don't do tons of supermarket spend, but with the occasional gift card offer thrown in (usually for gas awards), I probably do $15,000/year. I was putting most of this on my 6x Hilton Surpass card, to have points for the hidden chestnuts in their old award program. But Hilton just went to a revenue program with the points being basically worth half a cent, so now my grocery cashback is only 3% -- and that has to be taken on Hilton retail room rates.

Is there anything materially better?

I've read about the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred, and if it didn't have an annual fee, I'd probably bite. But with the fee and the other limitations, it's a bit of a yawner. Does anyone have a better idea? Is there anyway to earn at least 3% these days at supermarkets without a lot of restrictions or hassles?

Thanks.

Apply for the AMEX Old Blue Cash, I just did it in November so I know it's valid.

After you spend $6,500 in combined purchases every year, you get 5% back on groceries, gas, and drug store purchases, up to $50,000 spend per year.

You'll get 1% on the above categories before the first $6,500 in spend and 0.5% on everything else. After the $6,500 you'll get 5% on the above and 1% on everything else. You can't beat it if your grocery spend is that high.

-$6,500 on 1% categories (like groceries and gas) > $500 on gas, $6000 on groceries = $65.00 cash back.
-Spend on groceries from $6,500 to $15,000 ($8,500) = $255.00. Total cash back 65+255 = $320/year with no annual fee, plus an extra 5% back on whatever you spend on gas.

I agree, mikesyr18, that this strategy can be a good one if you're willing to work on it. I'm just not sure it's worth the considerable effort. There's also the risk -- real in the past, but I'm not sure how real today -- that AMEX will get pissed at you for running up 50K in gift card spending, and thereby jeapardize your other relationships with them.

Any other option that might pay a little less, but also involve less effort and less risk?

This is a hidden annual fee. You are spending $6,500 to earn 0.5% rather than (say) 2% with Citi DoubleCash. That's $97.50 in opportunity cost.

The Blue Cash Everyday earns 3% on groceries up to 6K per year and it is a no fee card.

Once you reach the limit you could switch to the Citi Double Cash which is a basic 2% on everything card-also fee free.

Chase Freedom has grocery earning at 5% (up to 1500 spend) for the next quarter.

My plan is to maximize the Freedom first, then the Amex and the remainder goes on Double Cash.

Exactly the way I see it.

I have the OBC but it is idle just for the occasional AMEX offers which last holiday seasons did provide some nice chestnuts. Else I currently have $16 cash reward balance and have no idea WHEN I would ever make it to $25 at the current rate due to the $6500 threshold... ($1800 spend on 0.005 pay rate) :rolleyes:

The FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa pays 2 pts/$ but the points can be worth up to ~2.1 cents, so it's really like 4% back if you can redeem them well.

Question here is also whether you want straight cashback or points.

If you want points, then I would actually suggest the Amex PRG.

If you want straight cashback, then Citi DoubleCash.

As others have mentioned, there are ways you can switch between cards to maximize the benefits out each one. But the above is if you just want a single card for all the spending to keep it simple.

If AMEX gets pissed, then that's their problem, not yours. I've read before that people spend a ton on gift cards at the grocery store and AMEX doesn't notice, as long as that's not ALL you're buying just stuff at the grocery store with their card and use if also for everyday purchases.

Agreed about the AMEX PRG... If you redeem for travel though, not for cash, which would value the cash on grocery spend at basically $0.01 per dollar spend even with the 2x/dollar. You're better off redeeming those points for Jet Blue purchases or something, which are typically valued around 1.4-1.8 cents per point; thus 2.8%-3.6% back when redeemed that way.

It's almost a given that a card with triple 5% back categories has a "hidden annual fee" even though it's unofficial, or else AMEX would go bankrupt trying to fund the rewards from rewards chasers. $97 is nothing really for a card with that kind of rewards structure.

I think you're misunderstanding what Hilton did.

Hilton got rid of categories, but the points rates are still not based on actual room rates on a particular night. They may be based somewhat on typical room rates, but not the room rates of that night.

I just did a search in Orange County CA for 1 night on 17 Apr. Sort by price and you'll immediately see how untrue your assumption is. For the same 30000 points, you can get either Hampton Inn *& Suites San Bernardino which is $113 cash, or you can get Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa which is $210 cash.

That is certainly not revenue-based redemption.

Now, perhaps it's a devaluation still, and perhaps Hilton points are not as valuable for you as before still, but revenue-based redemption it is not, and thus fixed redemption value it is not.


As to other cards: Chase Freedom will give 5x Ultimate Rewards (5% if you use it as cash back) on groceries Apr/May/Jun this year, but only those three months. So to get the max on groceries, you may need to use one card one quarter and a different card the next quarter.

Interesting, sdsearch. There may still be some unusual values in the Honors program. Given that nobody seems to know of a particularly lucrative alternative card for grocery spend, it might still be better for me -- in my personal circumstances (occasional need for Honors stays) -- to just keep using my Surpass card at the grocery store.

Does such alternative even exist these days?

Looking at the suggestions, it seems if you are in need for coach domestic trips, and work your brain off, you might be able to get outsize value with Flexi Points. Or if you fly JetBlue, then you also have good use of Membership Reward pts earn from PRG which I just got my first anniversary AF bill of $195 and the card will go :p Got it last March from a targeted offer and hardly used it for the grocery spend anyway due to our grocery stores here dont have any of the incentives like your locale does, plus there are better currencies for us than Membership Rewards which I have not touched the balance for 2+ years.

You actually would find some good values for the HH properties in Eastern Europe - I was quite surprised by that find myself.

I've seen JetBlue mentioned here a couple of times, but there are other lucrative transfer partners. Aeroplan is one of them, which gives access to United and quite a few other star alliance partners without surcharges.