A credit card that offers unlimited 2% cash back with no annual fee is a wallet staple. Having a 2% credit card as your default card allow you to ignore any card that earns less and dramatically simplify your wallet.
Here’s our take on the credit cards that earn unlimited 2% cash back with no annual fee.
The best 2% no annual fee credit cards
TD Double Up℠ Credit Card
Unlimited 2% cash back.
What sets it apart: The most robust set of benefits on a 2% cash back card, including cell phone protection, extended warranty, and purchase security.
This card is only available to you if you live in TD Bank’s footprint—mostly states on the East Coast.
Citi Double Cash Card
2% unlimited cash back: 1% when you buy, 1% as you pay. Rewards earned as ThankYou Points.
What sets it apart: Extended warranty benefit and the ability to use points for transfers to airline and hotel partners when paired with a premium ThankYou Points card.
This card is only available to you if you live in TD Bank’s footprint—mostly states on the East Coast.
Other cards worth considering
Our top picks aren’t the only cards worth considering. Here are the other cards that earn uncapped 2% cash back rewards with no annual fees.
| Bread Cashback™ American Express® Credit Card Unlimited 2% cash back, plus access to Amex offers. Annual fee: $0 Review |  |
| Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card Unlimited 2% cash back, with cell phone protection. Annual fee: $0 Review |  |
| U.S. Bank Smartly™ Visa Signature® Card Unlimited 2% cash back, and up to 4% cash back with $100,000+ on deposit. Annual fee: $0 Review |  |
Editor’s pick: Citi Double Cash® Card
In our view, the best 2% cash back card that’s available nationwide is the Citi Double Cash® Card.
Citi recently added extended warranty benefits back to many of its cards, including the Double Cash. In our view, extended warranty is one of the two most important benefits (the second being purchase protection) to have on your “everywhere else” card. Frankly, it is that benefit that brings this card to the top of our list.
Second, you can actually end up with more than 2% cash back with the Citi Double Cash card, if you combine it with another card. When you also hold a Citi Rewards+® Card and combine your ThankYou Rewards accounts, you’ll get a 10% point rebate on up to 100,000 points you redeem during the year. The upshot is that you can effectively earn 2.222% cash back with this card combination.
Honorable mention: TD Double Up℠ Credit Card
If you live within TD Bank’s regional footprint, you have another great option to consider. The TD Double Up℠ Credit Card beats the Citi Double Cash® Card if you’re looking for a card with great benefits.
While the other cards on our list include few, if any, substantive benefits, the Double Up offers cell phone protection, purchase security, extended warranty protection and lost luggage reimbursement. That’s impressive for any card with no annual fee, let alone one with generous cash back rewards everywhere.
But if you’re living in most of the country, you’re out of luck. You might be able to get the Double Up by applying in-branch on a trip to the East Coast, which might be worth it given the strength of the card’s benefits.
If TD Bank were to open up the Double Up card to online applications nationally, the card would shoot up to the top of our list.
Why get a 2% cash back card?
I think that almost everyone should get a 2% cash back card. If you’re a card minimalist, a 2% card ensures that you’re getting decent rewards everywhere. And if you’re a card maximizer, a 2% card can enable you to make more rational decisions about using your cards that will lead to earning greater rewards.
If you want to keep a single card in your wallet, a 2% cash back card (especially the TD Double Up card, if you can get it) is a great option because it gives you a strong baseline of rewards everywhere.
But I also think that having a 2% cash back card enables you to make more rational decisions about using your cards. If you have a 2% cash back card in your wallet, you can think of putting a $100 charge on another card as costing $2.00… because that’s what you’re giving up in terms of rewards if you’re not putting that charge on your 2% card.
As an example, if you’re getting just one airline mile per dollar you spend on an airline credit card, that’s probably a bad tradeoff. But if you value an incremental boost to your airline status, you can evaluate if putting spending on your airline credit card is worth it. Putting an extra $10,000 on the Delta SkyMiles Reserve-level credit card to get 10,000 SkyMiles and 1,000 MQDs has a real cost—$200 in rewards you could have gotten with a 2% card. But if that spending bumps you up to the next level of elite status, and that is worth $200 to you, it’s a good move.
When to use a 2% cash back card
Think of your 2% cash back card as a “default” option for your spending. If you don’t have a reason to use another card, use your 2% cash back card.
When to use another card
The easy answer to this is that you should generally use another card if you can get better than 2% rewards. But there are a few good reasons to use another card and accept less than 2% cash back rewards. Here are some that come to mind:
- Consumer insurance protections. For some purchases, having access to a robust return protection, purchase protection, or extended warranty benefit might be worth
- Travel protections. The various travel insurance protections on premium travel credit cards can pay off big time if you ever need to use them, Personally, I always put my travel on my premium credit cards offering better travel protections.
- Boosts to airline or hotel elite status. If you value airline or hotel elite status, it might be worth it to put some spending on an airline or hotel credit card and earn only 1 point per dollar (or points worth less than 2% cash back) if you value the boost to the next level you’re getting from your card.
- Welcome offers. Finally, if you’re working on earning a welcome bonus on a new card, putting your spending on that new card will generally offer you a much better return than 2%.
Our methodology: How we picked the best 2% cash back credit cards
When we put together our lists of best cards, we follow a simple process. First, we define baseline criteria for cards to be included on our list. In the case of 2% cards, that baseline criteria are:
- 2% cash back everywhere with no earning caps.
- No annual fees.
- No requirement to use Apple Pay or mobile wallet.
When it comes to differentiation and selecting our favorite cards, we consider a number of factors, including the mix of benefits offered on the card, opportunities to get increased value for reward redemptions, how easy it is to redeem rewards, and our experience with the card issuer or card.
