Best 2%+ Cash Back Credit Cards Comparison
| Card Name | Ongoing Rewards | Annual Fee | Min. Credit Requirement |
| Wells Fargo Active Cash | 2% cash rewards | $0 | Good credit |
| TD Double Up Credit Card | 2% cash back | $0 | Excellent credit |
| Citi Double Cash Card | 2% cash back | $0 | Fair credit |
| Synchrony Premier | 2% cash back | $0 | Excellent credit |
| Capital One Spark 2% Cash Plus* | 2 - 5% cash back | $150 | Excellent credit |
At the end of the day, Wells Fargo Active Cash is the best 2%cash back credit card because it offers an unlimited 2% cash rewards rate on purchases. Most 2 percent cash back credit cards put a cap on the amount you can earn with a 2%+ rate. Other credit cards only give that rate on certain categories of purchases.
Below, you can find more tips for making the most of 2% cash back credit cards.
Tips for Getting the Best 2% Cash Back Credit Card
Check your credit score. Two percent cash back credit cards may be available to people of all credit levels, but seeing exactly what your score is can help you focus on the offers you’re most likely to get approved for. You can check your latest credit score for free right here on WalletHub.
Consider what you’ll use the card for. If you plan to use one card for everything, getting 2% cash back on all types of purchases is a smart move. On the other hand, if you plan to use other cards for certain types of transactions, a rewards limit on your 2% card might not be as big of a deal, or you might want to find an even higher rate for the types of purchases you plan to make most often.
Estimate how much you’ll save. Crunch the numbers to see how much your standard spending habits will earn with each card you’re considering, and then subtract any membership fees you’re likely to be charged. This will help you compare cards with and without fees on equal footing and make it easy to pinpoint the right card for your lifestyle.
See AlsoBest Cash-Back Cards Of May 2024Don’t forget about initial bonuses. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in ongoing rewards rates that you forget about initial bonuses, but that’s a mistake considering how much money is available. The best 2% cash back credit cards offer $100-$200+ for meeting an initial spending requirement, and the best bonuses overall can save you even more.
Make a plan to avoid interest. If you need time to pay off big purchases or a balance transfer, some 2% cash back credit cards offer low introductory APR promotions. Without a low intro rate in place, you’ll want to pay your card’s full statement balance by the due date every month to avoid expensive interest charges. Credit card interest rates are a lot higher than 2%, after all.
Methodology for Picking the Best 2% Cash Back Credit Cards
To identify the best 2% cash back credit cards, WalletHub’s editors compare 1,500+ credit card offers on a regular basis. After narrowing down the field to the cards offering at least 2% cash back on some or all purchases, we compare those offers based on their initial bonuses, ongoing rewards, annual fees, approval requirements and other WalletHub Rating components. Final selections are made based on two-year cost.
How Two-Year Cost Is Calculated
Two-year cost is used to approximate the monetary value of cards for better comparison and is calculated by combining annual and monthly membership fees over two years, adding any one-time fees or other fees (like balance transfer fees), adding any interest costs, and subtracting rewards. Negative amounts indicate savings. When fees or other terms are presented as a range, we use the midpoint for scoring purposes.
Rewards bonuses and credits have been taken into account for two-year cost calculations. However, bonuses applicable to only a very small portion of cardholders are not considered. For example, credits and bonuses awarded for spending or redeeming rewards through a company portal with non-co-branded cards have not been taken into account. Similarly, bonuses and credits related to spending with specific merchants using a non-co-branded card have not been taken into account (for example, if Card A offers credits with DoorDash, this feature would not be factored into calculations because it is hard to assess how many cardholders would use the benefit or exactly how much value they'd get from it).
Cardholder Spending Profiles
Given that different users have different goals and are likely to use their credit cards differently, we identified spending profiles that are representative of different users’ financial priorities and behaviors. For each cardholder type, we have assumed a specific amount of monthly spending by purchase type (e.g., groceries, gas, etc.), as well as an average balance, balance transfer amount, amount spent on large purchases and average monthly payment. Spending assumptions are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for consumers and PEX data for businesses.
