Been diving into credit card comparisons lately and wanted to share what I'm seeing about the best cash back credit cards from 2017 that honestly still hold up pretty well today.

So here's the thing - when you're looking for the best cash back credit cards, most people don't want complicated reward structures. They want something simple that actually pays them back without all the hassle. That's where cards like the Citi Double Cash really stood out. You get a flat 2 percent back on everything, which sounds simple enough but was honestly pretty competitive at the time.

Then you had the American Express Blue Cash Preferred taking a different approach. Instead of flat rates, it rewarded you for specific spending categories. Six percent back on supermarket purchases (up to $6,000 annually), 3 percent at gas stations and department stores, and 1 percent on everything else. If your spending patterns matched those categories, this was actually the better choice.

What's interesting looking back at the best cash back credit cards 2017 analysis is how much weight experts put on simplicity versus earning potential. Some people genuinely preferred the Citi card's straightforward approach even if they could theoretically earn more with category-based cards. The psychology of actually using the card mattered more than the math on paper.

The evaluation process for picking the best cash back credit cards back then considered several factors - estimated rewards value was weighted heavily at 47 percent, which makes sense since that's what cardholders actually care about. They used a baseline of $1,325 monthly spending to calculate yearly value over three years, factoring in sign-up bonuses and annual fees.

Ease of use came in second at 40 percent weight. This covered things like whether rewards expired, how simple redemption was, if there were earning caps, and minimum redemption thresholds. Because honestly, what good is a high rewards rate if the card issuer makes it impossible to actually claim your cash back?

Features got 10 percent, and APR only 3 percent - which made sense since best cash back credit cards weren't meant to carry balances anyway. The rates on those were notoriously high.

Looking at this from 2026, the core insight still applies - when you're evaluating best cash back credit cards, focus on what matches your actual spending patterns rather than chasing the highest advertised rate. The card you'll actually use consistently beats the card with slightly better rewards that doesn't fit your lifestyle.