Citi/Costco Credit Card

Is the cash back feature (3%) higher than any other card you've seen? I've seen the Citi "Cash Back Twice" card with "1% on purchases and 1% as you pay for those purchases in full or over time". I have an Amex card with identical terms plus 14 months APR for purchases at 0% interest. Just wondering whether being tied to Costco is really worth it to save an extra 1% and not being able to use that card anywhere else to get the same incentive. That begs the question of whether some folks really do use Costco almost exclusively for their purchases and gas. I'm guessing that most folks' shopping behavior is pretty fragmented across a range of stores. Costco's model is really suited toward families, not single people like me, who don't need "all that stuff" in big bulk (I love the store for those bulk items once or twice a year though).

I just reviewed my new card but I use my citi Mastercrd to accumulate miles. The good news is it does not have an annual fee. What credit card do you use to reduce or eliminate the 3% Foreign Transaction Fees? I was using my Delta card but stopped due to a high annual fee.

Many on this post recommend using a credit union.

CapitalOne Mastercard does not have any foreign transaction fee. Our version of the card earns 1 1/4% cash per transaction, and I can take this as a statement credit whenever I want. There are other flavors of their card available.This also means that paying by credit card is cheaper than paying by cash since there is no interbank mark-up as there is on our ATM withdrawals.

FWIW, I don't believe the Costco card is tied to Costco, and it can be used anywhere. It's just that the cashback can only be collected on your Costco account, and only once per year.I have not checked Costco as there is none near me, but at Sam's the gas price is running around 5% less then elsewhere.

FWIW, I don't believe the Costco card is tied to Costco, and it can be used anywhere. It's just that the cashback can only be collected on your Costco account

That's exactly what I meant...the 3% is only related to Costco purchases, but what about the other vendors? I'd rather have a broader card that gives cash back anywhere.

Re: other post: No foreign transaction fee cards are a dime a dozen (see www.bankrate.com). It's practically impossible to find a card that has everything (else that would be the holy grail and no one would choose anything else), it's always a trade-off.

USAA Federal Savings Bank has a variety of credit cards with no annual fee, and no foreign transaction fee. You do not have to be a USAA member (or in the military) to use them.

We also have a free checking account through USAA that we use with a debit card, as our travel account. We've never paid an ATM fee, and only 1% foreign transaction fee (currency conversion).

The 3% cash back regarding travel purchases includes airlines, hotels and restaurants of virtually all stripes, internationally as well, I am told. The cash back is actually an annual credit at Costco and issued each February. Further, there is a 3% foreign transaction fee, so net zero on eligible travel purchases outside the USA apart from the delay in gaining the credit. For me, the cash back for say airline tickets purchased from home is worth more than the miles gained by using an airline credit card. Each mile is worth maybe upwards of 2¢ for most award tickets and on some airlines these are difficult to gain. Oh, it's a pin and signature card.

The contactless payment symbol is on the back of the card. Might it be useful when paying for minor parking fees despite the 3% foreign transaction fee?

Most parking facilities operate via offline PIN, I think, via the chip in a slot. The contactless doesn't really help.

For what it's worth, I've been unable to get my Citi Costco card's contactless feature to work properly. I keep getting an error message on the terminal. The terminal can tell that it's a contactless card but it never gets valid communication with the card (the message says to use the chip slot).