I cannot help but devote another entry to Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Card. It is not because I will get some financial interest recommending the card (which I will not), but because it is among the easiest thing one can do to get $300 more in the pocket every year. Four months after I got the card, a $126 check is waiting for me in my mailbox today :-)

What makes this card so attractive is that it offers unparalleled 5% cash back on purchases from grocery stores, gas stations and drugstores (and 1% on everything else). As this is almost the only card I use for grocery and gas purchases, for me to get this $126 check, I only charged $2,801 into the card in the last four billing periods, landing a nice 4.5% on a big chunk of my expenses. At the speed of $30 reward per month, I expect I will just reach the $300 annual cap.

Of course, this is to assume you play with your rules instead of Citi's. If you charge all expenses to the card, and carry a big balance, the reward may be dwarfed by the financial charges you are subject to. For me, I don't use this card for non-grocery shopping/gas filling purposes because other cards offer same or better deal, like 1.5% flat cash back from Fidelity Investment Rewards® MasterCard®, which is the other card I frequently use.

Furthermore, as I reported, Citi is wooing customers to its Credit Protector program, a relatively expensive insurance with minimal protection. Again, if you let Citi play by its rules, you may pay more than the interest charges every month, but if you play by your rules (in this case, pay off all balances a couple of days before the statement date), you can get about $100 ahead thanks to Citi's efforts to retain your as a valuable customer in the Credit Protector program.