Hello r/CreditCards! I have spent the last few weeks combing through dozens of credit card benefits and sign-up bonuses, comparing each card's utility against one another based on some hypothetical budgets (and my own personal budget) and come up with the following list of 10 credit cards that can be used to maximize your cash back rates, with no annual fees to worry about (and $1200 in SUBs as well!).

Note that in all of the following, no consideration was put towards how difficult it is to be accepted for each of these cards, so adjustments may be necessary based off your personal credit.

For SUBs, each credit card provider has different rules regarding how long between receiving each SUB you are eligible to receive another from that provider. For example, Citi requires 24 months between the last date you opened/closed a Citi card to be eligible for another Citi SUB. Here is a link to a page detailing those rules for many of the major credit providers: Applying for Credit Cards

Without further ado, here is my hypothetical 10-card wallet:

Notes:

[A] The Citi Custom Cash card gives 5% back on your top spend category. The City Double Cash card gives 2% back on all purchases (1% at purchase, 1% when you pay it off). Having the Citi Rewards+ card gives 10% bonus reward points every time you redeem Citi rewards, across all Citi cards. This combination of cards effectively turns the Custom Cash into 5.55% CB on your top spend category (for the purposes of this wallet, it should be Groceries), and turns the Double Cash into 2.2% CB on all purchases.

[B] 5% Cash-back category options must be selected at the beginning of each quarter, prior to adding any charges to the card, to receive the benefit. Otherwise you will receive 1% CB. Category choices are: 'TV, Internet & Streaming Services', Fast Food, Cell phone providers, Department stores, Home utilities, Select clothing stores, Electronics stores, Sporting Goods stores, Movie Theaters, Gyms/Fitness Centers, Furniture Stores, and Ground Transportation.

[C] You must make 5 transactions each month on the Bilt MasterCard to receive the 1x points on rent payments. Points can be redeemed as statement credits, however the redemption value falls below 1% CB when this option is selected. They can also be transferred 1:1 with many major airlines/hotel chains for greater reward redemption, or saved up and used to help pay a down-payment on a house in the future.

*If you take a lot of rental cars, buses, trains, etc. (Other forms of transit beyond ride shares), you are not going to be getting a Cash-back rate for these purchases higher than your 2.2% flat-rate Double Cash card by using this wallet.

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I hope this hypothetical wallet proves useful, or at least fun to look over, for some of you. Thank you for taking the time to read it!