The October 2013 issue of Money Magazine featured an article “Best Credit Cards” that (unsurprisingly) caught my eye. Here’s a quick list of their top picks for various categories. I’ve written about most of them, and in those cases I’m linking to that post which provides more details. Otherwise, I’m linking directly to the card page and including a few highlights about the card.
Best for Balance Transfers (Low, long introductory APR)
- Chase Slate Card. 0% on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months. No balance transfer fee if you transfer within the first 2 months.
Best for Regular Balance Carriers (Low ongoing APR)
- Lake Michigan Credit Union Prime Platinum Card. 6.25% APR on balance transfers (Prime + 3%) for applicants with 760+ FICO scores.
Best Tiered Rewards Cards (Tie)
- American Express Blue Cash Preferred. 6% back on groceries on up to $6,000 in purchases a year. $75 annual fee. See post for details.
- US Bank Cash Plus. 5% back on two categories from 12 possible choices, on $2,000 in purchases per quarter. Must apply in branch.
Best Flat and Simple Rewards Cards (Tie)
- Fidelity American Express. 2% back with no limit or tiers. Rewards must be deposited into a Fidelity account.
Best Travel Rewards Credit Card
- Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard. Big sign-up bonus, 2% back towards any travel with no limit plus a 10% rebate on redemptions. See post for details.
Best Card for Using Overseas
- Andrews Federal Credit Union GlobeTrek Rewards. Equipped with chip-and-PIN technology that is popular internationally. No foreign transaction fee. No annual fee. Must join credit union first, but can be done for free.
Best Cash Back Rewards Card for Small Business
- Chase Ink Cash. No annual fee. 5% back on office-supply stores, phone service, internet, and cable up to $25,000 a year.
Best Small Business Card for Regular Balance Carriers
- Wells Fargo Business Platinum. Low APR on purchases, from Prime + 5.99% depending on credit evaluation. No annual fee.
Best Secured Card for College Students
- Digital Credit Union Visa Platinum Secured. No annual fee. Reports to credit bureaus. Must be a credit union member to apply (can be done for $10).
Best Unsecured Card for College Students
- Northwest Federal Credit Union FirstCard. No annual fee. Reports to credit bureaus. Must be a credit union member to apply (can be done for $10).
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To me the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is clearly a better travel rewards card than Barclaycard arrival. It’s got 20% off redemption plus 7% annual dividend, plus 3% off travel if you order on their site, plus 2% of restaurants. If you mainly use it for travel, by your calculation method that’s 3.81% cash back compared to 2.2% for Barclaycard.
I got the fidelity Amex 2% but I dont have any fidelity account. Any ideas on how I can get my cash back money?
I have the Priceline.com card from Barclay and wonder why it wasn’t chosen as the “Best Flat and Simple Rewards Cards” –2% on everything without limit. Thanks to Jonathan, I took advantage of many cards listed above.
One credit card question for everyone who got Sapphire more than a year ago — what did you do when you don’t like to pay $95 annual fee? I am thinking about getting the Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard instead, since the way I use reward from Sapphire Preferred is redeem points against travel (mostly airfare, since I got much better deal out of Priceline card X Name your own price.)
Again, many thanks to Jonathan, I feel in credit cards hunting department I do pretty well by looking at this list.
Jim L. – That’s because it is no longer 2% on everything for new subscribers.
Thanks Mike. I will shut up about it 🙂
Any Capital One credit card is good for overseas use too as they also don’t have foreign transaction fees.
I am surprised but very happy to see Lake Michigan Credit Union represented here. You must live or work in West Michigan counties to join (I don’t think there are other requirements…), but they are the best banking institution I’ve ever had. Fifth Third was useless when someone tried to steal money from my checking account (the 5/3 teller cashed checks without any singature on them!). After that, I switched to LMCU. Not only do they have excellent credit cards (low interest, as above, or a nice rewards card), but they have incredible customer service and a checking account that yields 3% interest up to $15,000. I highly recommend LMCU to anyone in West Michigan.
@ john, If you have the Fidelity card you can go to https://sync.americanexpress.com/twitter/Index to get the offers.
My philosophy of credit cards is to ignore the APR but get the best rewards possible. The APR is meanngless if you pay it in full every month. The best rewards for you may depend on your situation. If you travel a lot, 2% back in airmiles might be best. If you travel very little, I suggest cash back, which can be used for anything. For me the worst are those cards that offer merchandise (that I will probably never need or want.)
I forgot to mention in the above, is that the cards should have no annual fees, either.