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What Are the Best Cashback Credit Cards in Germany? (2026)

By Jules de Bruin, Market ResearcherUpdated 18 August 2026 | Found helpful by 4 others

The verdict for residents

Get the Amazon Visa at no annual fee. German cashback is small and conditional. The highest everyday rate in this catalogue is 1%, and the loyalty cards pay in points worth 0.33% on the PAYBACK American Express and 0.2% on the PAYBACK Visa.

Which credit card is the best for residents?

Sort by

Sorted by annual fee, not our recommendation. The default view is our ranking, weights published below.

Sorted by effective apr, not our recommendation. The default view is our ranking, weights published below.

Sorted by cost abroad, not our recommendation. The default view is our ranking, weights published below.

#1 by annual feeFree

★ Cashback pick

Amazon Visa

4.0

No annual fee in any year with a foreign-currency fee the issuer does not publish on a resident's everyday and holiday spending

Get the Amazon Visa
Annual feeBest
Free
Effective APR
20.13%
Cost abroad
Above 1%
German IBAN

German IBAN

Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.

Not required
More details
Network

Network

The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.

Visa

Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.

Key information

Annual fee
No annual fee
Eligibility
Settles from any SEPA account
Support
German-only support

Best for cashback maximisers who want the safest yes.

Open BankAmazon Visa · Free · 20.13% APRFree
#3 by effective apr15.87%
#3 by cost abroadAbove 1%

Also great

Targobank Gold-Karte

4.0

EUR 59 a year with a 3.85% foreign-currency fee on a resident's everyday and holiday spending

Get the Targobank card

Cards(2)

  • Targobank Online-Classic-KarteFree

    Free in every year

    Effective APR15.87%
    Cost abroadAbove 1%
    NetworkVisa
    German IBANNot required
    • No annual fee
    • 3.85% on non-euro spending
    Open the Targobank Online-Classic-Karte
  • Our pick here. Targobank Gold-KarteEUR 59.00/yr

    1% cashback on all spending

    Effective APR15.87%
    Cost abroadAbove 1%
    NetworkVisa
    German IBANNot required
    • Annual fee EUR 59
    • 3.85% on non-euro spending
    Open the Targobank Gold-Karte

Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.

Key information

Effective APR
15.87%
More details
Annual fee
EUR 59.00/yr
Cost abroad
Above 1%
German IBAN

German IBAN

Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.

Not required
Network

Network

The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.

Visa

Best for cashback maximisers who need a different issuer.

TargobankTargobank Gold-Karte · EUR 59.00/yr · 15.87% APREUR 59.00/yr
#2 by annual feeFree
#1 by effective aprNone: charge card
#2 by cost abroadAbove 1%

Best value

PAYBACK American Express

4.0

No annual fee in any year with a 2% foreign-currency fee on a resident's everyday and holiday spending

Get the American Express card

Cards(4)

  • American Express Blue CardFree

    Free, and builds an Amex record

    Cost abroadAbove 1%
    NetworkAmerican Express
    German IBANNot required
    • No annual fee
    • 2% on non-euro spending
    Open the American Express Blue Card
  • Our pick here. PAYBACK American ExpressFree

    0.33% in points on all spending

    Cost abroadAbove 1%
    NetworkAmerican Express
    German IBANNot required
    • No annual fee
    • 2% on non-euro spending
    Open the PAYBACK American Express
  • Show 2 more products
    • American Express Business Gold CardEUR 175.00/yr

      50-day payment target

      Cost abroadAbove 1%
      NetworkAmerican Express
      German IBANNot required
      • Free in year one, then EUR 175
      • 2% on non-euro spending
      Open the American Express Business Gold Card
    • American Express Gold CardEUR 240.00/yr

      About EUR 310 in credits

      Cost abroadAbove 1%
      NetworkAmerican Express
      German IBANNot required
      • Annual fee EUR 240
      • 2% on non-euro spending
      Open the American Express Gold Card

Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.

Annual fee Free

Key information

Effective APR
None: charge card
More details
Cost abroad
Above 1%
German IBAN

German IBAN

Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.

Not required
Network

Network

The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.

American Express

Best for cashback maximisers who need a different issuer.

American ExpressPAYBACK American Express · FreeFree
#3 by annual feeEUR 29.00/yr
#2 by effective apr13.15%
#1 by cost abroadNo FX fee

PAYBACK Visa

4.0

EUR 29 a year with 0% on foreign-currency spending on a resident's everyday and holiday spending

Get the PAYBACK Visa
Annual fee
EUR 29.00/yr
Effective APR
13.15%
Cost abroad
No FX fee
German IBAN

German IBAN

Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.

Not required
More details
Network

Network

The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.

Visa

Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.

Key information

Annual fee
Annual fee EUR 29
Abroad
No fee on non-euro spending
Eligibility
Settles from any SEPA account

Best for cashback maximisers who need a different issuer.

BW-Bank for PAYBACKPAYBACK Visa · EUR 29.00/yr · 13.15% APREUR 29.00/yr

Also a strong fit

This ranking differs from the general one. The general page picks Hanseatic Bank GenialCard. The reason is the weighting, not new information: Rewards moves from 20% to 35% and Eligibility moves from 15% to 5%.

Compare two providers

Already down to two? Each comparison declares a winner on every criterion that decides the purchase.

Ranked by: The reward rate the record publishes, then the annual fee as the tie-break. A high rate behind a high fee never outranks a lower free rate here, and a card that publishes no comparable rate ranks last rather than being credited with a guess.

What is ruled out, and why

A blocker is not a drawback. It is something that makes the card unobtainable for this reader, however good its terms are otherwise.

Blocked for this reader

Hanseatic Bank GenialCardPays back only on bookings through the issuer's own travel portal, not on everyday spending
Hanseatic Bank GoldCardPays back only on bookings through the issuer's own travel portal, not on everyday spending
Advanzia Gebührenfrei Mastercard GoldPays no cashback and publishes no reward rate
TF Bank Mastercard GoldPays back only on bookings through the issuer's own travel portal, not on everyday spending

What do you need to get a cashback card?

The same as any German credit card: an Anmeldung, a Steuer-Identifikationsnummer, a SCHUFA decision, and on most of these cards proof of German income as well. Two of them are sold through a retail brand rather than a bank counter, which is why the application runs on amazon.de or payback.de rather than in a branch.

Read what you get back before you read the rate. PAYBACK pays in points worth one cent each, the Amazon Visa pays into your Amazon balance, and only the Targobank card pays a credit on every euro that you can spend anywhere. A percentage that only exists inside one shop is not the same product as a percentage you can bank.

Every card we compared

View all 48 cardsThe full market overview: every card from every issuer with its annual fee, APR and cost abroad, filterable and re-rankable.

How we compared these

Five criteria, weighted for this reader and published above, fixed before the fees were collected. Every fee comes from the issuer's own price list, dated in the catalogue. Of the 48 cards, 5 are obtainable by residents.

Sources: the issuers' own German price lists, accessed 18 August 2026. Some links earn a commission at the same rate for every issuer, so no weighting favours a payer.

Frequently asked questions

Which German credit card pays the most cashback?

On everyday spending, the Targobank Gold-Karte at 1% of every euro, though it charges EUR 59 a year, so the first EUR 5,900 you spend only pays for the card. The Amazon Visa pays 1% at Amazon.de and 0.5% everywhere else with no annual fee, which makes it the better deal for most people unless your card spending is very large.

Which is better, cashback or air miles?

If you fly rarely, cashback: it is spendable, needs no programme and never has to be redeemed against a seat. Miles only win for someone who flies often enough to redeem on flights they would have bought anyway. The travel cards page ranks the miles cards separately.

Do cashback cards charge higher interest?

The rate is set by the card, not by the reward. Among the cards ranked here, published effective rates run from 13.15% to 20.13% a year, and the two American Express cards are charge cards settled in full each month, so they publish no revolving rate at all.

Why do so few German cards pay cashback?

Because most of what German issuers call cashback is a rebate inside their own travel portal, paid on holidays booked through them rather than on the groceries you buy every week. Those cards are ruled out on this page for exactly that reason, and the ruled-out table says which ones they are.

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