Recently, I tried out various credit cards with high point cashback rates, and I truly realized that holding multiple cards and using them accordingly is really important. Even for the same online shopping, the difference between a 0.5% and an 18% cashback rate is huge. Whether you have a card that offers higher cashback at your frequently used stores really makes a difference in the amount of points you accumulate.

For my usage, if you mainly shop on Rakuten Ichiba, the Rakuten Card is unbeatable. It has no annual fee, normally offers 1% cashback, and up to 3-18% cashback within the marketplace. However, for utility bills, the cashback drops to 0.2%, so I use a different card for that. Also, I recently realized that if you often shop at 7-Eleven or Amazon, the JCB Card W is a good choice. It has no annual fee and offers 1% cashback, plus 2% at partner stores.

If you're a PayPay user, you should definitely have the PayPay Card. It offers 1% cashback with no annual fee, and 5% cashback on Yahoo! Shopping. But be aware that recharging PayPay itself isn't eligible for points, so that's something to watch out for. It seems possible to double-dip with au PAY, so there’s room for some clever strategies there.

Instead of choosing a credit card based solely on cashback rates, I think the best approach is to combine multiple cards tailored to the stores you use most often. By skillfully using cards with high cashback rates, the amount of points you earn can vary greatly even for the same purchase. How do you all choose your cards?