This Hot New Card Earns Up to 6% Back at Walmart

It's filling a much-needed role in our rewards maximization strategies.

Whether you have one rewards card or 10, the goal is the same: to earn as many rewards on your purchases as you can. To that end, the key to maximizing your rewards is to seek out the very best rates on the purchases you make the most.

For some purchases, that's easy. You can find cards with bonus rewards on travel, dining, even streaming services. But outside of those popular categories, finding the right card can be trickier -- especially when it comes to some of the retailers we all shop at every day.

Want bonus rewards at Walmart or Amazon? What about a card that will reward that holiday shopping spree at the mall? Often, earning rewards on these kinds of purchases mean signing up for a store credit card. And while some store cards are worth it, many more are…not.

Behold, the one card to rule them all: the U.S. Bank Shopper Cash Rewards™ Card. Yes, the folks that brought you the U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card, one of the best cash back cards for maximizing rewards, has done it again.

Earn up 6% back at major retailers

The new U.S. Bank Shopper Cash Rewards™ Card is a unique card that offers up to 6% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases at two major retailers every quarter.

Which retailers? That's the kicker; you get to choose where you earn bonus rewards from a list that includes a ton of big names:

• Ace Hardware®
• Apple®
• Amazon.com™
• Anthropologie™
• Bed, Bath, & Beyond®
• Best Buy®
• Chewy.com®
• Crate & Barrel™
• Disney®
• Home Depot®
• Ikea®
• Kohl's®
• Lowe's®
• Lululemon™
• Macy's™
• Menards®
• Nordstrom™
• Pottery Barn®
• QVC®
• Restoration Hardware™
• Target®
• Walmart®
• Wayfair.com
• Williams Sonoma®

Now, that's a big list, but a few of these names stand out more than others. For instance, Walmart is included on the list. And yes, that's Walmart, not just Walmart.com. In comparison, the Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard® earns only 2% back at Walmart stores and 5% back online.

The Walmart addition is especially interesting given how many folks do their grocery shopping at Walmart. Traditional grocery rewards credit cards typically don't count Walmart stores as grocery stores, so you don't earn the bonus rewards. Now, this card can fill that gap in your rewards -- and rate comparable to even the best grocery rewards cards.

But Walmart isn't the only name worth noting. Target, Amazon, and Best Buy are all on this list, too. All three retailers offer high rewards (or, in Target's case, discount) rates -- but they still pale in comparison to the U.S. Bank Shopper Cash Rewards™ Card (at least until you hit the $1,500 quarterly cap).

Oh, and to top it all off, you can choose new retailers every quarter -- or keep the ones you already have. This makes it easy to adapt your bonus categories to your spending habits. So you could choose Walmart for back-to-school shopping, then switch to Apple or Macy's when it's time for holiday shopping.

Up to 3% back in an everyday category

Selecting your retailers isn't the only choice you'll need to make each quarter. You also get to choose a 3% back category from a list of everyday options:

• Gas and EV charging stations
• Wholesale clubs
• Bills and home utilities

Your 3% back is capped with its own $1,500 purchase limit per quarter. As with your 6% categories, you can choose a new one each quarter, or re-select the one you chose previously.

Once you hit your spending caps, you'll earn 1.5% back on eligible purchases. This is also pretty remarkable when you consider that most cards with such high bonus categories earn just 1% back on non-category purchases.

$95 annual fee waived the first year

All right, so you can't expect a card this good to be entirely without flaws, can you? And you'd be right. Starting the second year, cardholders will need to pay a $95 annual card fee. That said, this still gives you a year with no annual fee to see how much you can earn.

Beyond that, you'll need to figure out if the card really is worth that annual fee. For those who can max out the 6% categories every quarter, you're looking at $360 a year in cash back. Max out the 3% category, and you'll earn even more. But if you find yourself falling short, it may be better to stick with no annual fee cards, even if they earn less.