Are 1.5% flat cash-back cards still worth getting?
Only with a reason — and several of these have one. A plain 1.5% card scores 8.5/10 on our engine, solidly behind the higher-rate flat cards, so the case for each card below rests on something besides the rate: a banking boost, an eligibility niche, or a business seat.
Every card here earns a flat 1.5% with no annual fee and no upkeep, which our engine scores 8.5/10 — good, not great, because the earning pillar knows a higher flat rate exists. On pure math, a stronger flat-rate card beats all of them.
What the math can't see is the attachment each card comes with: one gets materially better with a banking relationship, one sits behind a real credit-union eligibility gate, one is a credit union anyone can join, and two are business cards. Those attachments — not the sticker rate — are the reasons to pick from this page.
Data: MoneyRoom card catalog (pending verification noted) · scores recompute daily · how we score cards
The field
How do they score?
| Card | Score | Annual fee | Effective rate | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards | 8.5 / 10 | None | 1.5% | Run in calculator |
| Cash Rewards Visa Signature | 8.5 / 10 | None | 1.5% | Run in calculator |
| cashRewards | 8.5 / 10 | None | 1.5% | Run in calculator |
| PayPal Cashback Mastercard | 8.5 / 10 | None | 1.5% | Run in calculator |
| Power Cash Rewards | 8.5 / 10 | None | 1.5% | Run in calculator |
| Spark 1.5% Cash Select | 8.5 / 10 | None | 1.5% | Run in calculator |
| Unlimited Cash Rewards | 8.5 / 10 | None | 1.5% | Run in calculator |
Card by card
What actually separates them?
Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards
The business twin: same 1.5% base, same Preferred Rewards mechanism on the business side. If your company banks at BofA, the boosted tier is the whole pitch.
Cash Rewards Visa Signature
A regional-bank staple: 1.5% flat for Regions customers who want cash back landing next to their checking account. Nothing exotic, nothing hidden.
cashRewards
The standard Navy Federal card at 1.5% — membership-gated like its higher-rate sibling, and worth it mainly if you're already inside the credit union and want one app.
PayPal Cashback Mastercard
Requires an active PayPal account, and its headline trick — a higher rate on PayPal checkout — is exactly the kind of conditional rate our score refuses to count. Priced at its unconditional 1.5%, it's mid-pack.
Power Cash Rewards
PenFed's flat-rate entry at 1.5%: credit-union rates and service without a credit-union gate — membership is open to anyone, and PenFed creates it during the application itself, so there's nothing to join first.
Spark 1.5% Cash Select
A no-fee business card that behaves like the consumer flat-raters: 1.5% on everything, no relationship requirements, no annual-fee sibling pressure. The simplest card in Capital One's business lineup.
Unlimited Cash Rewards
The one with a hidden ceiling: 1.5% standalone, but Bank of America's Preferred Rewards boosts it well past the sticker for customers holding enough in deposits or Merrill investments — the score prices the sticker, honestly, because the boost depends on your balance sheet.
The tiebreakers
How should you choose?
Ask one question first: can you get a higher flat rate instead? If yes, do that. If a card here still wins, it's because of the attachment — the banking boost genuinely changes the math for BofA households, the gated credit-union card makes sense if you already qualify, the open one asks nothing of you beyond the application, and the business cards exist because most flat-rate cards won't put a company name on the plastic.
For the business case specifically, the no-fee card here competes directly with the flat-rate business card we scored on its own page — compare before you apply.
Your numbers, not the model
Which one wins on your spending?
The free Annual Fee Calculator loads any of these cards and weighs it against your own usage — no account needed. For flat-rate cards the answer is mostly about your volume, and only you know that number.