Editor's Choice: Best Cash Back Credit Cards - 2014

Discover is our favorite on the list for many reasons. It is a "rotating category" card because every quarter, you could earn 5% cash back on a few expense categories. It has the best online shopping portal called shopdiscover.com (which has over 200 online merchant partners) where you can earn anywhere between 5% and 20% cash back (much better than Chase Freedom and Citi Dividend). Another reason we love this card is because cardholders can get access to their FICO scores for free and it has no foreign transaction fee.

This card has a tiered formula in which for any spending that is less than $5,000 (on an annual basis), you earn less than 1%. However, once you start spending anywhere between $12,000 and $17,000, you earn anywhere from 1.54% (more than Capital One's cash back card) and 2.04% (more than Barclays Arrival). It is for this reason that we have listed this card on our recommended list for this category. Customer service is another very strong point of this card. Feedback from consumers is very positive.

While rotating category cards seem to be all the fad these days, this card sticks to tradition. 1% is the base rate for all spending. But you can earn 3% cash back at standalone supermarkets (subject to a $6,000 annual spending cap), 2% at standalone supermarket and select department stores. Since most of us will be buying groceries, filling up at the gas pump and doing the occasional shopping, this card will save you quite a bit via the cash back you earn.

The Blue Cash Preferred is simply the annual fee version of the Blue Cash Everyday. For the annual fee that you pay, you will earn higher cash back on their categories. Spending at standalone supermarkets gets you 6% cash back (versus 3% for the Everyday version - still subject to the $6,000 annual spending cap), 3% at standalone gasoline stations and select department stores (versus 2% for the everyday version). For high spenders, this is the card you should look at rather than the Everyday version.

If you are a Costco member, then their affinity card turns out to be one of the best cash back card around. This card is not just for use in Costco. You can earn 3% cash back at standalone gas stations and also at Costco's own gas station (often with lower prices) - this perk is subject to a $4,000 annual spending on gasoline. You also get 2% back on travel and dining expenses. For other regular purchases, you get the standard 1% cash back. As a Costco member, you already get 1% cash back (or 2% if you are an executive member) when you shop at Costco. So having this card will give your Costco savings an additional boost.

You have seen Samuel L Jackson on the TV ads. No rotating categories. No $1,500 spending on rotating categories. Just a simple 1.5% cash back on everything. And this is truly a very simple and yet great card for earning cash back. If you are good at nickel and diming, you could probably get more cash back by combining cards and making sure you choose the right card for the right type of purchases. For if you want to keep things simple, then this is the card to get. And before we forget, there is no foreign transaction fees so this is also a great card if you travel abroad.