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This is a follow-up post of my previous “5 Grocery Rewards Cards That Can Save Money for You“. I personally like and use my Chase Freedom Card, as most of you know. (My Favorite Rewards Cards) I have already cahed $50 check from Chase Freedom Card in about 4 moths. I have looked at a lot of rewards cards in an effort to find one that gives my more cash rewards. As I only spend about $800 per month, the only one that best fits my spending profile is the Chase Freedom Card. Considering there is another great rewards card (Blue Cash from American Express) as I mentioned in my previous post, I simply did a math and made a comprison between Chase Freedom Card and Blue Cash from American Express. I hope this post will be of some help to you. Here is what I did:

Rewards Programs of These Two Cards:

Chase Freedom Card offers “dynamic rewards” program. You can get 3% cash back on 3 most spending categories from 15 preset rewards categories. These include grocery stores, drug stores, gas stations, TV/Cable service providers and so on. You can earn 1% cash back on everything else. Although there is no overall maximum on the amount you can earn , there is a maximum of $600 per month which can earn 3% cash back. Another feature of this card is once you accumulate $200 in your account, you can get $250! Yes, Chase will throw in another $50 bonus which makes the rewards up to 3.75% and 1.25% respectively.

Blue Cash from American Express offers a tiered rebate level, based on your total spending in a year. For the first $6,500 you charged on this card, you can only get 1.0% cash back on “everyday purchase” including grocery stores, drug stores and gas stations and 0.5% on everything else. Once you have spent more than $6,500 for the year, you can get 5% cash back on purchases at grocery stores, drug stores and gas stations and 1.5% on everything else. Obviously, this card is for the big spenders.

Assumptions about Your Spendings:

In order to make a simple comparison between these two cards, I have to make a few assumptions about your monthly spendings.

1. Charges are spread out consistently over the year. (This is an importatn factor when we talk about Blue Cash from American Express. The sooner you can get the $6,500 threshold, the more you can earn you cash back.)
2. You charge all your spendings on a single card. Yes, my suggested spending method is somewhat “combinationly”. But in this case, you charge all of the expenditure in a single card. For Chase Freedom Card, I assume that Gas, Grocery and Drug will be your 3 essential categories.

Results:

• For a total spending level of $1,000 per month, of which $500 is grocery, gas, and drug, the Chase Freedom Card will earn $240+$50=$290, while the Blue Cash from American Express will earn you $227.5. The winner is Chase Freedom!
• For a total spending level of $2,000 per month, of which $800 is grocery, gas and frug, the Chase Freedom card will earn $384+$50=$434, while the Blue Cash from American Express will earn you $653.75! The winner is Blue Cash for sure!

Through a simple comparison, you can see that for a relatively low level of spending, the Chase Freedom Card is a better choice for you. But if you charge a huge amout on a same card monthly, the Blue Cash Card is the best choice for you.

However, there’re more on this topic.

1. If you spend less than $1,000 per month, like me, I suggest you use Chase Freedom Card for 3 specific categories and get a Household/Orchard Bank Card with 2% cash back. In this way, your minimum rewards is 2%.
2. If you spend more than $1,000 per month, you can use Blue Cash Card for “everyday purchases” and use Chase Freedom Card to pay Cable/TV/Internet services and Wireless bills. In this combinationally spending method, you can really maximum you rewards.

In a word, Chase Freedom and Blue Cash from American Express are both very great rewards cards. You should find out which one best fit your spending profile.