$ Best Credit Cards

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There are a bunch of sites like NerdWallet that rank cards based on your intended use. Probably best to pick one that benefits your existing spending habits, because if you go down the rabbit hole of perks-maxing, you'll be spending an inordinate amount of time chasing triple point, balance transfer, 90 day whatever promos, and if you aren't autistically disciplined about it, one missed deadline will wipe out all those marginal savings.
 
There is no one shot fit's all with credit cards. As JohnnyG stated, match the card's perks with your own spending habits. Travel a lot? Amex. Shop on Amazon a lot? Get the Amazon Visa card. Just abuse the cashback incentives the best you can. I have a discover, which I'll use when a store/restaurant is nearby matching their 5% cash back. It was also my first card. I use my Amazon Visa for my every day card, which has replaced my debit card, because every non-amazon purchase is 1% cash back. I have tires plus card for car related issues, which has a few months to pay back with 0 interest. As well as Care credit for veterinary stuff, but it can cover personal medical costs too if need be, this one offers 6/12 months to pay back large purchases with no interest.

I Keep a 0 balance at the end of the billing cycle, which I think the banks don't like because they don't make a profit off of me, but fuck em. I've been solicited in the mail for an Amex, and like a million other cards, but don't need them. So once again, like JohnnyG stated (paraphrasing here), if you're gonna play the credit game, you need to be disciplined.
 
for 95% people, a basic 2% back is all you need. For the autistic 5%, analyze your spending and shoot for cards that match. Some cards will offer more than just cashback% and points. Also look at the annual fees if there is one. 250$ cashback a year is wiped out if the card has a 325$ annual fee.
My setup at the moment is the navy fed flagship, prime visa, amex gold, and an amex blue preferred. Can easily rack up 1k+ a year in cashback, offers, and sign up bonuses.
 
I've had better luck playing the signup bonus game than the rewards game. Getting a low single digit % back on every purchase doesn't add up quickly unless you're charging a lot - 2% means something if you're running $50k through your card every year, not much if you're charging $10k. But signup bonuses can be several hundred dollars or more if you can meet the requirements, and don't require paying much attention.

If you don't want to put much effort into it, think about what your biggest category of spending is and find the card that maximizes that. Wells Fargo Autograph has 3% on a lot of my most common categories so it's usually my main card.

Amazon Visa has been great because 5% back on pretty much everything is as good as you're going to find, if you're the type to use Amazon for a lot.

Amex Platinum has been a disappointment for me - I don't have much use for most of the benefits and the lounges have been crowded in my experience. (The free booze is nice, of course, and is probably worth the cost of admission if you travel enough) I hear the extended warranty on purchases is useful but unless you're buying appliances or the like I'm not sure how relevant it is for most people. I will probably let it lapse, I'm not traveling as much as I used to so the fee isn't worth what I get out of it.

I hear Robin Hood has a 3% cashback across the board card if you pay for Gold - I'd jump on that in an instant since the extra % would cover the cost of gold easily, but it sounds like the waitlist is a mile long. I expect the 3% won't last for more than a year or two; cards tend to get worse over time.
 
I was always partial to the BoA Customized Cash Rewards cards. It gives 3% cash back on a category of choice, which I picked as online shopping, and it has a pretty generous definition of online shopping. The big bucks come from if you also park money in BoA accounts, 20k gets you a 25% boost and 50k a 50% boost, making it 4.5% cash back on generic online shopping for example. Otherwise, I have the Amazon Visa Card for the 5% cash back on Amazon, AMEX Plat because I travel enough, and otherwise other cards I only cycle through for the sign up bonuses.
 
I've found the best way to get the most out of my credit cards is to accept offers that have 0% apr introductory rate and sign-up bonuses. Only having to pay the minimum without paying interest lets you put that money in a high-yield savings account that pays YOU interest. I am currently using 2 credit cards, with a total of 19 open accounts (the other accounts are completely paid off and only serve to increase my credit score). One is maxed out, it is still on 0% apr so I'm only paying the minimum and the second one does not offer cash back or a sign up bonus but it does have an 18 month introductory 0% apr, so all my transactions will go through that one until it's maxed out, and which point, I pay off the other one so that all future transactions that go through that one give cash back rewards.

Now because I've maxed one of my credit cards my credit score is not as high as it could be if I just left my revolving balance at 0, but in exchange, I get interest pay outs from my savings.
 
If you're an American, it's going to the be the American Express platinum card if you live an even halfway-high life. Because the perks include a bunch of refunds that more than offset the annual fee, like refunding your Clear membership, Uber credits each month, airline fee refunds, etc. Then you transfer the points to your favourite airline and fly for free. The best way to get is is by actually applying for the green card, then wait for an invitation to a higher rank. Just keep accepting invitations until you hit platinum or black.

If you're not high in life, the American Express cashback card or similar ones that offer cashback with zero fee (Navy Federal offers one, Chase has a popular one, CapitalOne has a popular one) are your best options. Just take cashback and no fee, then move on with your life. There is no need to minmax this. For middle-class people, getting that 1% or 1.5% is enough.

If you are broke or have bad credit, Navy Federal offers a secured card that actually has rewards. It equates to a 0.6% cashback, if I recall correctly. If you can't get invited to Navy Federal, then the Chime is great. No rewards, but it builds your credit. Look out for small companies, as they do abusive things like autopay your bill on the last day due, which causes holidays or banking glitches to stain your credit report and hit you with late fees. They do it intentionally, they're preying on you. To avoid that, use big name companies only.

Bonus tip for residents of NYC or Boston only: The JetBlue card has unusually good perks, worth it imo.
 
The most powerful one (only old animefags will get it)
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There's not necessarily a silver bullet but if you're looking for simple, you couldn't go wrong with a flat 2x points or 2% cash back card. Amex gives business cards out like they're nothing, so you can apply for a business card as a Sole Proprietor and get a Blue Business Cash or Blue Business Plus, which is a flat 2x with no annual fee. I try to just stick with Chase and Amex to keep my points from being spread out all over the place, so having a 2x in one of them works for me here.
 
Citi custom cash is 5% on your top spend category each month up to $500. So if you spend $500 a month on one sort of category that's $25 back reliably every month. 1% on everything else.

PNC cash rewards gets you 4% back on gas and 3% on dining, 2% grocery. $8000 yearly limit for those percentages.

Capital One Savor One is 3% on grocery not including Walmart or Target.

If you use Amazon a lot yeah the Amazon card is good.

Sam's club credit card is 5% on gas I believe everywhere not just at Sam's club and extra back on purchases. Unless they changed the benefits since I was told them it's not a bad card if you go there a lot for the majority of your gas and grocery.

None of these have fees unless you count a Sam's membership or Amazon prime
 
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I was able to get the Instacart card with a 400 dollar store credit welcome bonus and 3months free membership. (Chase mastercard, no annual fee). Not a "spend x and get 400", just a straight-up credit.
Obviously if you can just drive to the store, it's probably an addictive waste of money to have groceries delivered and the entire app is largely built around that. Built to be addictive and encourage impulse spending. But I can't drive and Instacart seriously saves me about 4hrs of bus rides and a lot of money since I can shop from ALDI.

Their membership program is also very worth it if you regularily get deliveries. Basically like Amazon Prime. I have my elderly folks under my "family account" which is useful because I can actually see their cart and manually add stuff, track their deliveries etc. You can still sync up your grocery store loyalty accounts too.

I think it basically breaks even- all the cashback and points cover the cost of delivery and fees. But in my case, the time save is massive. 5% back on my groceries is nothing to sneeze at.

I don't know if they'll ever offer the 400 bonus again, but I wouldn't sign up for anything under 200. When I googled the card just now, the first offer was 50 bonus and I'm positive you can get higher.

I took a break from churning for a while to let my accounts age but I'm back at it. I just got a "250 for spending 500 in 3 months" bonus for getting the Chase Freedom Unlimited. There must be so many retards out there for these sorts of bonuses to be viable.

If you're a zoomer kinda starting out in adult life, first steady real job, going to college, just moved out, etc, I can't recommend getting into this stuff enough. Financial stuff in general, really. In my first serious churning spree I made about 2,500, almost entirely from account opening bonuses. And I was never on anyone else's accounts- I started with a thin credit report. I think squeaking out 500-750$ is very doable even if you don't try that hard, and that sort of money means a lot to most people in this stage of life.

Also a random tip, but I find that the credit card websites generally have pretty powerful analytic tools. At least Chase does. My bank obviously shows me all my transactions and can vaguely categorize them. But the Chase portal can show me averages by month, show me how often I spend at different locations, how much on average I spend at different locations. All displayed a lot easier than my bank does. If you're new to money stuff and have credit cards, you should definitely actually log on to their apps or online portals and look around.
 
If you're at fidelity and have a lot of money in their brokerage accounts you can get a visa rewards card with zero annual fee and depending on how much money you have with them you get 2 to 3% unlimited cash back that will automatically be deposited back into you brokerage account of choice.

Seems much better than plopping down 500 a year for a credit card that gives you marginal perks.

Cash back is always the way to go and getting a card that gives you > 2% and unlimited at that is the best option.

adrians said:
If you're an American, it's going to the be the American Express platinum card if you live an even halfway-high life. Because the perks include a bunch of refunds that more than offset the annual fee, like refunding your Clear membership, Uber credits each month, airline fee refunds, etc. Then you transfer the points to your favourite airline and fly for free. The best way to get is is by actually applying for the green card, then wait for an invitation to a higher rank. Just keep accepting invitations until you hit platinum or black.

If you're not high in life, the American Express cashback card or similar ones that offer cashback with zero fee (Navy Federal offers one, Chase has a popular one, CapitalOne has a popular one) are your best options. Just take cashback and no fee, then move on with your life. There is no need to minmax this. For middle-class people, getting that 1% or 1.5% is enough.

If you are broke or have bad credit, Navy Federal offers a secured card that actually has rewards. It equates to a 0.6% cashback, if I recall correctly. If you can't get invited to Navy Federal, then the Chime is great. No rewards, but it builds your credit. Look out for small companies, as they do abusive things like autopay your bill on the last day due, which causes holidays or banking glitches to stain your credit report and hit you with late fees. They do it intentionally, they're preying on you. To avoid that, use big name companies only.

Bonus tip for residents of NYC or Boston only: The JetBlue card has unusually good perks, worth it imo.
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TwistedFreak said:
Platinum Amex /thread
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Sorry I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. I had one of those and it wasn't worth it The annual fee isnt worth it to me and points I used were mostly on the Amazon checkout plan they had. I don't have any loyalty to any airline since I've found that you end up making better choices on prices using a site like Expedia or Google flights.

I have a chase Amazon Visa card that gives me 6% on Amazon purchases and my Fidelity card for everything else. The 6% cash back on Amazon is worth it. The Amazon visa card is also zero annual fee.
 
東海旅客鉄道株式会社 said:
Sorry I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. I had one of those and it wasn't worth it The annual fee isnt worth it to me and points I used were mostly on the Amazon checkout plan they had. I don't have any loyalty to any airline since I've found that you end up making better choices on prices using a site like Expedia or Google flights.
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If you use the card as intended, it is a great travel card. What you lose on points for purchase, you gain on purchase assurance, travel benefits, etc. You have full access to every single airport lounge, including the centurion lounges which are prime time. If you're not planning to travel for the year though, there isn't much point in having it. Each year, you get 2 insurance claims for a cell phone that you're using to pay your phone bill, up to 800$. If you break phones a lot, this will cover your yearly fee and then some after your first claim.

Many other cards have similar benefits, but the concierge service and travel experience are what set things over the top for me. I didn't even mention the fact that every dollar you have charged on your Amex card doesn't go against your credit score. Obviously this doesn't mean to max out your card like a retard, but you don't have to worry about your credit utilization going up with Amex- and when you have one card, they don't run your credit any more when you're applying for a card. So any card you have your credit pulled for with Amex is a card you're 100% on getting. Some places don't take Amex because of the high percentage they take from sellers, but for customers, it doesn't get much better than Amex

Also, when it comes to utilizing points, I recommend a website like awardtool which will help you find transfer partners for your points that don't show up on the amex website. The least valuable way to use your MS points is by turning them into cash.
 
On the subject of Amex Platinum, I do a mid amount of domestic and international travel and I'm coming up on the end of my first year. I'll be reaching out to their customer service team and letting them know I don't get as much out of the card as I was expecting to and see what happens. If they comp me a year, great. If not, I'll likely walk.

If I sit down and walk through the benefits I can work out a plan for making it pencil, but it's a lot of work for just a little benefit. The closest thing I can think of to push me towards keeping it is all the little perks you get outside of using the card - there's events where Amex holders have their own entrance line, own bars, etc which is great, and those perks feel better than getting a $20 statement credit on AT&T or whatever.
 
Since this got bumped, I'll point out that the Amex Platinum is now $200 more expensive. However, they did add about $700 worth of benefits I find quite easy to use, specifically:

- $400 credit for Resy restaurants, $100 per quarter. I just bought a gift card to a place we go a few times per year - so you don't even need to leave your home to claim the benefit. Whether this is useful is highly dependent on where you are; the state I grew up in seems to have literally one restaurant on Resy's list.
- $300 credit for Lululemon, $75/quarter. I bought a gift card in person. This is mostly to make Christmas gifting free for me. I've heard buying a physical gift card online also triggers the credit, so you could probably find a use for this no matter who or where you are.

I never did the Saks gift card thing; it's a much lower amount ($50 every six months) so I'd have to let them accumulate for over a year to actually be able to afford anything at Saks. But I expect to get good use out of both of those new credits and if you add the Uber credits I'm basically breaking even on the card between those three things. People hoping that the lounges will be less flooded will probably be disappointed since the card is arguably more viable for people even with the increased cost.

At this point my strategy is to milk the easiest credits available from Amex which will cover the cost, but barely actually use it unless I need to meet a spending threshold for a retention bonus.

One thing that's saved me a fair bit of money lately is the ability to add money to Venmo for free with Amex - I don't think this is Platinum specific, but it allows me to save somewhere close to $100/year when making Venmo payments by avoiding the 3% credit card charge.

I tried applying for a Citi card for the SUB recently and got denied pretty hard. Probably because they noticed I'd signed up for a bank account, collected my sign up bonus, then emptied the account. Oh well.
 
I like money transfer cards, I can use them to use credit to invest in stocks at 0% interest. Shame they're not common anymore
 
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