You all know I applied for and received the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card, a great no-annual-fee card that provides generate 5% cash back on supermarkets, gas station and drugstore purchases plus 1% cash back on any other purchases. Yesterday sees the close of my first billing cycle. According to the statement, I have earned a dividend of $29.02 out of total purchase of $737.79, a net cash back ratio of 3.9%!

The online statement also helped me to understand what are qualified for the 5% cashback and what are not. Apparently, most of the grocery store I shopped, Safeway, Albertson's and Fred Meyer, are correctly categorized as "Grocery Store, Supermarkets." All gas stations I visited, 76, Safeway Gas and Chevron, are also earning me a fat 5% cash back.

I failed to realize perfection because I made several purchaes at Target and Walmart using this card. Both belongs to the "Discount Store" category and are only eligible for the 1% cash back. I hope I will be more mindful about the difference next month and only use the card for 5%-eligible shops. Theoretically, every $100 charged to the card with 1% cashback costs me $0.80 in potential gains because of the annual cashback cap of $300.

Based on my experience, I highly recommend this card to everyone who can qualify for that. This is among one of the most painless way to save in my mind.