Which card do I use here?
Several issuers exclude gift cards from bonus categories. Tick this and the ranking stops pretending they don't.
Places — how they actually code
A merchant category code is assigned per location, not per brand. The branch with fuel pumps can pay your 5% while the one two miles away pays nothing. Nobody publishes this, so it gets checked one statement at a time.
Add a place
Wallet
Add a card
Set an earn rule
Log a purchase
Caps are spent, not earned. Without logging what you spend, the ranking keeps recommending a 5% card that ran dry three weeks ago.
What your points are worth
What this means
Update a balance
Offers — the actual engine
Category multipliers are the small half of this game. Sign-up bonuses and targeted offers are the large half — a targeted offer paying 13,200 points on a $10 purchase beats a year of careful 5% spending.
Track an offer
The honest ledger
Everyone in this hobby quotes the rack rate — "I flew business worth $8,000". The honest number is what you would actually have paid. For a trip you'd never have taken, that is zero. This ledger refuses to print the fantasy number.
Log a redemption
Be honest here. If you would never have bought this ticket, the answer is 0 — and that is a fine answer. It means you got a lovely trip and no financial return.
Reality check
A bank pays you on the same dollar year after year. A rebate pays once per dollar spent, and the dollar is gone. Points do not compound, cannot be spent on rent, and lose value when a programme devalues.