Smart Cash MasterCard

Card Review

Reviewed 2012-04-16

Launched in June 2010, the Smart Cash card from MBNA quickly became the most popular card on our website, and for good reason. The card comes with a juicy reward of up to 5% cash back on gas and grocery purchases for the first 6 months. After the 6 month offer expires, you will still get up to 2% cash back on gas and groceries and 1% cash back on all other transactions.

To sweeten the deal, the Smart Cash card also comes with a balance transfer offer that rivals many "low rate" cards. You can transfer a balance from another card at 1.99% for 10 months. This can be a great way to help pay down an existing debt earlier and reduce interest payments. Just make sure to pay off any transferred amount within the 10 months, as the go-to interest rate is not considered low.

Many people have emailed us asking if a specific store or gas satiation will qualify for the higher cash back earnings. While most stand-alone grocery stores and gas stations qualify, the only way to be sure is to find out what their MasterCard merchant category code is. The following merchant category codes qualify: 5541, 5542 and 5411. If you're unsure about a specific store or gas station, ask a manager if the merchant category matches one of the above.

We think this is a great everyday credit card, with one of the best cash reward cards available, and no annual fee. The interest rate is competitive with other rewards card, but to maximize your bottom line, we don't recommend carrying monthly balances on rewards cards.