Hacker News Reader

1. Fidelity Visa has international transaction fee. 2. Same for Citi DoubleCache. 3. The rest also have some annoyances (foreign fees, annual fees), so I'd say Apple card is not a bad one for an average CC user who doesn't want to spend too much time optimizing every last penny.

No, the Paypal Mastercard doesn't have foreign transaction fees and earns 2% everywhere with no earning cap. (I just looked up if there is an earning cap)

You have to consider, for Fidelity Visa the foreign transaction fee is 1% and the cashback is 2%. So you can say it has cash back of 1% overseas and 2% domestically; which is a better deal for the vast majority of people than 2% on ApplePay and 1% on non-ApplePay. The only person who comes out ahead with the Apple card is someone whose parents pay all their bills and they spend most of their time on overseas vacations in a country where ApplePay is widely accepted.

But even for that person, PayPal Mastercard is objectively better. USAA Limitless also doesn't charge foreign transaction fees so it is also objectively better. (assuming you already have it - its military only and closed to new signups)

Not only that but the Uber card is pretty much objectively better as well; it earns 2% on ApplePay with no foreign transaction fees or annual fees and earns more than 2% on much more than just Apple (4% at restaurants, 3% on hotels and airfare, 2% on other "online purchases", $50 statement credit on streaming services if you spend more than $5,000/year).

Fidelity also has a sign up bonus sometimes and very frequent targeted spend bonuses (it remains to be seen if Apple can compete in those areas, but they probably will just rely on their branding and loyal fanbase). I've gotten hundreds of dollars in extra cashback from Fidelity's targeted spend bonuses.

There's also no foreign transaction fee on the Bank of America Travel Rewards, though, like I said, it requires a Merrill Lynch account (including Merrill Edge) with $100,000 invested in it to earn the highest rate of 2.625% cash back.

Still no card beats it in Apple spending category, which might be larger than gas /travel or dinning out for many Americans. So it will perfectly work for them. I probably will get it too - buying a new macbook for my daughter, upgrading my spouse's iphone and my apple watch this fall.

> Discover IT Miles earns 3% cash back on everything the first year, churnable (you can get a new one every year), no cap, no annual fee.

I had to look this up - seemed way to good to be true - based on this site [1], it's "Discover: 1.5 Miles per $1 spent on all purchases."

All your other references check out - the Alliant seems very interesting. Fidelity requires a Fidelity bank account - too much effort.

However, I am guessing Apple made a lot of hay with the "no late fees" - and really identified their target market (ie, not necessarily you & me).

[1] https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/compare/?srcCode=GAX5&...

"Discover: 1.5 Miles per $1 spent on all purchases." - Yes, but you missed something, they do a cashback match the first year, making it 3% for the first year.

https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/resources/earn-more-re...

>With Cashback Match, Discover automatically matches all the cash back new cardmembers have earned at the end of their first year on their credit card.1 Discover will apply the match after the first 12 consecutive billing cycles, within the following one or two billing cycles.

At the end of the first year you can apply for a new one and get cashback match again for another year. You can hold two Discover cards at once, so the third year you'd have to close the first card, before applying for a third and at the fourth year close the second, and so-forth (people talk about actually doing this, not worth the hassle for me, and I got the USAA Limitless 2.5% card)

As for a Fidelity account - a Cash Management account has no fees and no minimums and is a useful account to have (offers ATM reimbursements)

I thoroughly believe that late fees and such are taxes on poverty and contribute to inequality, but I feel like without at least a nominal one, people will just pay bills late all the time. I suppose they’ve done research on this but it seems risky.

As someone living in Canada, I see these offers and it sincerely makes me cry. The best no-fee cards here have 0.5% cash back. For anything more than 1%, you need to pay an annual fee of at least $99.

The AMEX SimplyCash card has 1.25% cash back. Still nothing compared to U.S. cards though, and pretty much only usable online

Major hotel chains should take American Express as well.

The 2.5% cash back USAA Limitless card is not available for new applicants, but still works for existing holders. It is excellent. No international transaction fees, good exchange rates, works great with Apple Pay. If it ever becomes available for new applicants again, I recommend applying for it. Where else can you get risk-free instant 2.5% ROI? That's comparable to current rates for 1-year Certificates of Deposit.

Yeah, I snagged it when it was available in my state.

It was labeled as an "online-only pilot" and it was rolled out state-by-state, though I'm not sure all 50 were ever all covered. Then they took away some states and then discontinued it completely. Guess it really was just a pilot program. Was available for maybe around a year?

Best part of the card is that you can redeem any amount of cash (no minimum) and you can redeem it right away, even before the statement closes.

Alliant has a flat 2% no fee card too I think, in addition to the 2.5% one.