The very best credit card for gasoline purchases: PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards

Gasoline has obviously been very expensive the last several years and who knows when, if ever, the price will fall back to where it was in the good ol’ days. With gas pushing $4 a gallon, it’s not too hard to spend $100 a week if you’ve got two cars and a lot of driving to do. That works out to be $5,000 per year, which is a serious amount of money.

Fortunately, there’s a great way to get some of that money back: The PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards card. It doesn’t get nearly as much press as other cards you hear about, and there are some good reasons. First of all, it’s not offered by one of the big issuers (Chase/Citi/B of A/Barclays/Amex/Capital One/Discover). PenFed is a credit union–Pentagon Federal Credit Union, to be precise–and doesn’t have the same approach to credit card marketing that the big banks do.

Additionally, since as best we can tell PenFed doesn’t engage in the same affiliate marketing that other companies use, there are no bloggers with an incentive to promote the product so you don’t hear about it as much. This blog gains absolutely nothing by writing about the card, we just like writing about good products.

And this is indeed a good product: it provides something of value with no hassle, no catches, and no gimmicks. Here are the details:

• Earn 5% cash back on gas purchases paid at the pump
• Earn 0.25% cash back on all other purchases
• Rewards are unlimited and cash back is automatically credited to your account every month
• No annual fee

And that’s it. You buy gas and you automatically get a statement credit. No annual fee, no weird reward redemption schemes. Obviously you’ll want to use a different card for purchases other than gasoline, but if you’re dropping $5K per year on fuel, this is an easy way to get $250 back.

If you want this card, there is one hoop you’ll need to jump through, and that is joining the PenFed credit union. PenFed focuses on members of the military, so if you’re in the military, or used to be in the military, or in the same family as someone in the military, then you’re good to go.

There are other ways, as well–here’s the eligibility page if you’re curious. If you have no military connections whatsoever, there’s still a way to join, and that is by paying a one-time fee of $20 to join the National Military Family Assoication. Membership in the NMFA makes you eligible for membership in PenFed. Again, the $20 is a one-shot deal–once you’re in at PenFed, you’re in.

And PenFed offers more than just credit cards–they have some good mortgage products too. We’re currently in the midst of a PenFed refi on our first mortgage. PenFed, though it has its flaws, at least is known for playing fair and not trying to gouge, cheat, or rip off its customers, which is more than you can say for other companies. Even if you’re not interested in this particular credit card, you may want to check out their website and see what they have to offer. As a financial consumer, it’s always good to have options.