Best Credit Cards offers

There are so many great credit card offers out there that sometimes it is hard to figure out which one has the best benefits or would be the best fit for you. Whether you are looking for travel benefits, cash back, or maybe some type of travel protection, we have you covered.

Our Best Credit Card List will give you our favorite offers based on the value of points, fees, and bonuses. They will also be listed based on if you are under 5/24 or over 5/24.

I would recommend taking a quick peek at our 5/24 guidelines if you don’t know what those are or just need a quick refresher.

Most of these credit cards offer some type of benefit to keep the card in your wallet year after year. I’m going to dive into which ones are our favorites and why.

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Lastly, you’ll want to know other banks ‘rules’ you can find on our Basic Breakdown of Bank Rules. Also be sure to join our Basic Travel 101- Points, Miles & More Facebook group for more daily finance and travel tips.

Want to search by category?

If you want to see a list of all of our credit card offers, be sure to head over to our partner page with MileValue. Here you can find your favorite and learn more about applying.

Under 5/24

Our Top Travel Credit Cards

Chase Sapphire Preferred

• $95 annual fee
• 60,000 Ultimate Rewards Offer
• 2x on travel & dining
• 5x on Lyft through March 2022
• 1x everything else

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has arguably one of the best credit cards sign up bonuses out there right now. Coming in at 60,000 Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. This card can net you $750 when booking travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal. Also, until April 30th you are able to cash out your points with the “Chase Pay Yourself Back Promo” at a rate of 1.25%, which would equate to $750 cash back.

Perks:

Along with the very generous welcome offer, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card has many options when it comes to travel benefits. You can read more about these benefits in detail on our comparison of the Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I will give a quick breakdown of my favorite benefits:

• Trip Cancellation Insurance (up to $10,000 per covered trip)
• Baggage Delay Insurance (up to $500 per day for 5 days)
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement (up to $3,000 per person)
• Rental Car Insurance
• Trip Delay insurance (12 hours or more)

Our Favorite Airline Card

Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card

• $149 annual fee
• Earn up to 80,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards Points
• $75 travel credit each year
• 7,500-anniversary points on your cardmember anniversary
• 5x points on Southwest purchases through 3/31/2021

Southwest Rapid Rewards actually offers multiple personal cards. The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority is my favorite because even though it has the highest annual fee on credit cards, you get $75 back on a travel credit each year. This makes the card net annual fee to be $74 which is only $5 more than the Priority card. It also gives you more anniversary points and upgraded boarding 4x per year. You even get 20% back on inflight purchases (such as wifi, food, and alcohol). The Southwest Rapid Rewards Cards are a great way to get the Southwest Companion Pass for buy-one-get-one-free flights!

Our Favorite Cash Back Credit Cards

Chase Freedom Flex

• $0 Annual Fee
• 20,000 Ultimate Rewards Offer
• 3x on dining and drugstore purchases
• 5x up to $1,500 on quarterly categories
• 1x on all else

The Chase Freedom Flex pretty quickly became our top Cash Back Card when it was first launched Mid-September. Not only does it give you a 20,000 welcome offer (convertible to $200 cash back), there is NO annual fee, and it has rotating 5x quarterly category bonuses. The quarterly categories change each quarter and max out at $75 per quarter. In your first year, you can earn $300 on the quarterly categories, plus the $200 welcome offer for an extra $500!

Perks

The Chase Freedom Flex is a MasterCard which provides additional benefits, such as:

• Cell Phone Protection
• Lyft Credits
• Free Shop Runner Membership
• Earn 5x on Boxed purchases

Lastly, you also get a few travel perks with this card, similar to the Chase Sapphire Preferred (above).

• Trip Cancellation Insurance
• Rental Car Insurance
• Trip Delay insurance

Another comparable card to the Chase Freedom Flex is the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. You don’t get the quarterly categories, but it IS unlimited 1.5% cash back on purchases. It also has the $200 welcome offer after spending $500 in the first 3 months.

Favorite Business Cards

Chase Ink Business Cash

• $0 Annual Fee
• 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Offer
• 5x on the first $25,000 combined you spend on office supply stores, internet, cable, and phone services each card anniversary year
• 2x on gas stations and restaurants each anniversary year
• 1x on all else with no limits

Chase Ink Business Cash normally has around a 50,000 Chase points offer. Right now (for an unknown amount of time), they are offering 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points. This equates to $750 cash back. You can also transfer these points to another chase branded card that utilizes the Chase Pay Yourself Back promotion until April 30, 2021, to get 25 or 50% more.

Chase Ink Business Cash also comes with a 0% introductory APR on the first 12 months of purchases.

Chase Ink Business Preferred

• $95 Annual Fee
• 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Offer
• 3x on Travel, Shipping & Technology on the first $150,000
• 1x on all else

Chase Ink Business Preferred Card has one of its highest welcome offers right now out of the Chase Ink cards. You will receive 100,000 Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $15,000 in the first 3 months. This also equates to $1,250 or more if you utilize the Chase Pay Yourself Back promotion where you can get 25% more.

Perks

Similar to the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Chase Business Ink Preferred also comes with some great benefits:

• Trip Delay insurance
• Trip Cancellation Insurance
• Baggage Delay Insurance
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement
• Rental Car Collision Damage Coverage
• Cell Phone Insurance (up to $600 if employees phone is lost or damaged)

Best Hotel Credit Card

World of Hyatt

• $95 annual fee
• Earn 25,000 World of Hyatt points after you spend $3,000 in 3 months, plus earn another 25,000 points after $6,000 total within 6 months of opening the account
• Annual free night (category 1-4)

The World of Hyatt is by far my FAVORITE credit card out there right now. You can read how you can up to 17 free nights for doing simple home improvements with this card as we did. My favorite thing about WOH points is that redemptions start as low as 5,000 points. We have been able to stay all over the US (and even out of the country) at some pretty nice Hyatt properties. There have even been some gray Hyatt properties along our National Park Road trip to Utah. Right now, Hyatt is even offering 25% back on points when you book a points redemption rate. If you need to learn more about earning Hyatt points, you can do so here. You can also learn how to redeem the World Of Hyatt points here. If you fancy a stay at an all-inclusive for a relaxing getaway, be sure to check out the beautiful Miraval properties that are located in Tuscon, Austin, and Berkshires.

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless

• $95 annual fee
• Earn 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points
• Annual free night (up to 35,000 points)
• Automatic Silver Elite Status

Earn 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months. This can give you 3 nights at a 25,000 point per night rate. You also get an annual free night certificate each year for holding onto this card.

If you need some inspiration for where to stay within the Marriott brand, be sure to check out the Top 5 Aspirational Marriott Properties. You can also learn more about Earning Marriott Bonvoy points as well as Redeeming Marriott Bonvoy Points.

Over 5/24

Our Favorite Travel Card Over 5/24

The Platinum Card® from American Express

• $550 annual fee
• Earn 75,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 on your card in the first 6 months
• Earn 10x points on eligible purchases at Gas Stations and US Supermarkets up to $15,000 during your first 6 months of card membership
• Earn 5x MR for flights booked directly with airlines or through the American Express Travel
• Complimentary Global Lounge Collection access at airports

American Express Platinum Card is an amazing card for travel benefits, once you are over 5/24 status. One of the biggest being you have access to airport lounges, such as Centurion. I only recently had the chance to visit JFK as well as Charlotte airport Centurion lounges, and they were pretty incredible. Some other benefits you will get with this card are:

• Uber VIP status with up to $200 in savings on rides or Uber Eats annual
• Complimentary benefits through American Express Travel
• Up to $100 in statement credits annual for purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue on your Platinum Card. (Up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually)
• Terms Apply.

I do want to make a quick note though that American Express often has a “once per lifetime” bonus offer, which means you can literally only get it once in your life. The 75,000 offer is not necessarily the highest bonus we have seen out there, and we have heard of rumors of targeted 100,000-125,000 MR point offers. I have yet to see one but am waiting for the day to apply.

Our Favorite “Everything” card

Capital One Venture Card

• $95 annual fee
• 60,000 Venture Miles after spending $3,000 in 3 months
• Unlimited 2x on all purchases

Capital One Venture Card can be a great bonus with a value of $600 if you max out the 12-month spending. I also only suggest getting this if you are over 5/24. If you are not, I would still focus on Chase cards. Capital One Venture Miles are great because they are super easy to use and redeem as a statement credit for travel on your credit card.

Perks

Some other perks I like are:

• $100 application fee credit for TSA Pre Check or Global Entry
• Miles don’t expire
• No limit to how many you can earn

Our Favorite Cash Back Cards

Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express

• No annual fee
• $200 statement credit after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months of card membership

The Blue Cash Everyday Card is one of my favorite no annual fee cash back cards as you can earn 3% on your first $6,000 of purchases per year at US supermarket. You will also earn 2% at U.S. gas stations and select department stores located in the U.S. You can see the list of department stores available at americanexpress.com/rewards-info. I also want to note that superstores, supermarkets, and warehouse clubs that sell gasoline are not considered gas stations. 

Lastly, you will earn a flat rate of 1% on all other eligible purchases. Terms apply.

Other Perks:

• 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months
• American Express Experiences
• Pay It Plan It

Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

• $0 annual fee waived the first year- $95 after that
• $300 statement credit after spending $3,000 in the first 6 months of card membership

The Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express is a great card for your purchases at grocery stores, streaming services, and transit. Blue Cash Preferred will give you a nice welcome offer of $300, along with another max of $360 for U.S. Supermarket purchases (6% cash back up to $6,000). If you have higher than average grocery store spending, getting an extra $360 back per year is a nice little perk. You can also get cash back for U.S. streaming subscriptions, U.S. gas stations, and on transit that includes taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, busses, and more. 

Cash Back Options:

• 6% cash back at U.S. Supermarkets (up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%)
• 6% Cash Back on select U.S. Streaming Subscriptions
• 3% Cash Back at U.S. Gas Stations and on transit. 
• 1% on all other purchases

Citi® Double Cash Card

• $0 annual fee
• 2% cash on every purchase- 1% when you buy and another 1% when you pay for purchases 
• Great Balance Transfer Offer

The Citi Double Cash Card is a great balance transfer and everyday card. Earning 2% cash back for all purchases- whether it be gas, groceries, or just whatever you need. You will get the first 1% as you purchase, and the other 1% when you pay that balance. 

If you have a large purchase that you might need extra time to pay off, or maybe some debt from a last-minute expense, this could be a great option. Citi Double Cash is a great balance transfer offer. Currently offering 18 months of 0% APR. There will be a balance transfer fee.

New to Travel Hacking? Check out the BASICS Below!

• Download our FREE Ultimate GUIDEBOOK To SUPER CHEAP Travel
• Basic Travel Hacking 101
• Travel Hacking 102
• Credit Scores 101
• Knowing the Rules
• 5/24 Status
• Top Credit Card Offers
• Earning Bonuses
• Expedited Airport Screening
• Cashback Sites