Cashback Calculator

Currency

General spending a month

Base cashback, %

Bonus category spending

Bonus cashback, %

Monthly cap

Account fee a month

Result

Net cashback

$1,850.00

Accrued before the cap

$1,850.00

After the cap

$1,850.00

Lost to the cap

$0.00

At the base rate

$600.00

On categories

$1,250.00

Effective rate, %

2.18%

Over a year

$22,200.00

This result is informational only and is not professional advice.

The cap and the fee take more than you expect

Cashback at the base rate and on bonus categories, after the monthly cap and any account fee.

Card advertising quotes the top rate and says nothing about the cap. The cap is what decides real value: at a 3,000 rouble ceiling, a 5 percent rate only works on the first 60,000 of category spending before cashback simply stops accruing.

The second forgotten figure is the account fee. A card charging 300 a month and returning 2,000 beats a free card returning 1,500, but the gap is nothing like the one in the advert.

What this calculator shows

Cashback at the base rate and on bonus categories separately
How much the cap removed and what the fee left behind
The effective rate across all spending and the annual figure

What to keep in mind

The cap is applied to total cashback; some banks cap each category separately, in which case calculate them one by one.
Points-based cashback should be valued at the redemption rate, which is often below face value.

FAQs

Why is the effective rate below the advertised one?

The high rate covers only part of your spending, the rest earns the 1 percent base, and the cap trims the top. Across everything you spend, 1.5 to 2.5 percent is typical.

Is a paid card worth it?

If net cashback exceeds the fee. Work with the net figure — at moderate spending the subscription often swallows most of the benefit.

Cash or points?

Cash, every time. Points usually redeem only with partners, frequently below face value and with an expiry date.

Is it worth holding several cards?

With high spending across varied categories, yes — it sidesteps the caps. The cost is tracking each month's categories and not missing a subscription payment.

Worked example

A card with bonus categories and a cap

Input: 60,000 ₽ general at 1%, 25,000 ₽ in categories at 5%, 3,000 ₽ cap

Output: 1,850 ₽ accrued, cap not reached

Note: Hitting the cap needs about 58,000 a month in bonus categories — at which point the effective rate on that spending falls from 5 percent to 2.5.

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