Start Earning Miles With These Excellent Travel Cards From Our Partners

When selecting a credit card, consider these six key factors:

1. Credit Score and History: Your credit score influences approval and card options. Excellent credit opens doors to premium rewards.

2. Welcome Offers: Many cards provide sign-up bonuses; compare these perks, as they can significantly vary.

3. Rewards Type: Choose between points, miles, or cash back based on your spending preferences and redemption goals.

4. Rewards Categories: Opt for flat-rate rewards for simplicity or bonus categories that align with your spending habits.

5. Annual Fees: Evaluate if a card’s benefits justify annual fees; both fee and no-fee cards can be worthwhile.

6. Interest and Fees: Be mindful of interest rates and fees, especially if you plan to carry a balance or seek a low-interest card.

Considering these aspects ensures your chosen card aligns with your financial needs and spending patterns.

Credit card options cater to various financial goals, but the array can be overwhelming. To simplify, we’ve categorized them into five types:

1. Travel Credit Cards:

• Focus on earning points or miles for travel-related rewards.
• Benefits include airport lounge access, travel credits, and elite status with loyalty programs.
• Ideal for those wanting travel rewards and enhanced travel experiences.

Compare travel credit cards.

2. Cash Back Credit Cards:

• Earn cash back instead of points or miles.
• Redeem for statement credits, deposits, checks, or gift cards.
• Suitable for those prioritizing cash back over travel rewards.

3. Balance Transfer Credit Cards:

• Offer a 0% intro APR on balance transfers for a specified period.
• Useful for transferring debt and avoiding interest charges temporarily.

Compare balance transfer credit cards.

4. Credit Cards for Building Credit:

• Designed for individuals with fair, bad, or no credit.
• Includes secured and unsecured options to help build credit history.
• Ideal for those aiming to qualify for better cards in the future.

Compare secured credit cards.

5. Business Credit Cards:

• Geared towards small business owners with business-related benefits.
• Helps separate personal and business expenses for tax purposes.
• Suitable for business owners seeking perks tailored to their needs.

Getting a new credit card might have adverse effects on your credit score through two avenues:

1. Lenders conduct a hard inquiry on your credit reports, leading to a minor decrease in your credit score.
2. The introduction of a new credit card reduces the average age of your credit accounts, potentially impacting your credit score.

While hard inquiries linger on your credit report for two years, their impact on your credit score usually lasts for just one year.

TIP: Not all credit cards require a hard inquiry to open. If you are worried about hurting your credit score, consider a credit card option that does a soft inquiry instead.

Credit card issuers and lenders usually report your monthly credit usage. Therefore, it’s advisable to use your credit card regularly. This practice contributes to building your credit score and ensures the continued activity of your credit account, provided you make full and timely payments.

TIP: If you want to keep your credit utilization low while still using your credit card monthly, use your credit card as the auto-payment for small, monthly purchases like subscriptions.

Closing a credit card can harm your credit standing by decreasing your available credit, thereby elevating your debt-to-income ratio. It is generally recommended to keep accounts open unless there’s a compelling reason to close them. An example might be closing a card that imposes excessive fees.

When choosing a credit card from the options available, it’s crucial to analyze your spending habits beyond just focusing on new cardholder bonuses. This scrutiny can influence whether you opt for an airline or hotel credit card, or perhaps a more versatile travel card allowing point transfers to your preferred hotel chain.

Before settling on your new card, consider the following:

1. Spending Analysis: Determine how much you plan to spend. Ensure that your spending offsets any potential annual fee, especially common in luxury travel cards.

2. Category Alignment: Assess what you spend on the most—whether it’s dining, flights, hotels, or streaming services. Choose a card with bonus categories aligned with your spending habits.

3. Welcome Offer: Check for welcome offers, as travel rewards cards often provide bonuses for meeting initial spending requirements.

4. Credit Score: Confirm your credit score, as travel credit cards typically require at least a good credit score.

5. Travel Perks Utilization: Evaluate how frequently you’ll use travel perks like airport lounge access or statement credits for Global Entry. Determine if these perks align with your travel frequency.

6. Preferred Perks: Identify the travel perks most valuable to you. Consider if you prioritize airline fee credits, no foreign transaction fees, priority boarding, or free checked bags.

7. Rewards Usage: Decide how you plan to use your rewards—exclusively for travel or with an option for cash back. Some cards align better with specific airlines and hotels.

8. Travel Brands Affiliation: Consider if certain cards align well with your preferred airlines and hotels. Check if the credit card rewards portal has blackout dates for point or mile redemption.

9. Additional Card Benefits: Explore non-travel benefits such as introductory 0% APR offers, especially if you have significant upcoming purchases. Note that balance transfer fees may apply. These offers are more common in cash back cards.

By addressing these considerations, you’ll be better equipped to choose a credit card that aligns with your unique preferences and financial needs.

There’s no one-size-fits-all travel credit card since the right choice depends on your individual travel preferences and spending habits. Finding the perfect credit card for you involves considering various factors and aligning them with your specific goals. Keep in mind that terms and offerings vary between cards and issuers.

1. Annual Fee:

• Travel credit cards often come with an annual fee, ranging from a few dollars to several hundred.
• Assess the card’s rewards and benefits to determine if the annual fee provides value, especially if you’re a frequent traveler seeking perks like airport lounge access or elite status.

2. Sign-up Bonus:

• Don’t overlook the value of a robust sign-up or welcome bonus.
• The points or miles earned from these offers can often offset the annual fee for several years, providing immediate value and complementing rewards from everyday spending.

3. Rewards Rate:

• Consider how different cards earn rewards, especially if you have specific spending habits.
• Choose a card with bonus categories aligned with your preferences, such as dining or groceries.
• Alternatively, opt for a card with a straightforward rewards rate on all eligible purchases.

4. Foreign Transaction Fees:

• A true travel credit card typically doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees.
• Ensure the card you choose aligns with this standard to avoid additional costs when making international transactions.

5. International Acceptance:

• Check the global acceptance of the card networks.
• While Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted worldwide, other networks like American Express may have more limited acceptance in certain countries.

6. Perks and Benefits:

• Perks like elite status, airport lounge access, and annual travel credits enhance your travel experiences.
• Assess which perks align with your lifestyle and spending habits, keeping in mind that cards with annual fees generally offer more benefits.

7. Travel Protections:

• Explore the travel insurance and protections offered by the card, including car rental insurance, travel accident insurance, and trip cancellation coverage.
• While you hope not to use them, these benefits can be valuable in applicable situations.

Remember, the best travel card for you is the one that aligns with your unique preferences and enhances your overall travel experience.

As you delve into the intricacies of credit cards, the variety of travel credit cards might seem overwhelming, especially when comparing travel protections, interest rates, and spending categories.

To simplify, we categorize travel credit cards into three main types:

1. Airline Miles Credit Cards:

• Ideal for frequent flyers with a preferred airline.
• Earns miles within a specific frequent flyer program.
• Redeem earned miles for flights with the affiliated airline and potentially partner airlines.
• Additional perks may include free checked baggage, priority boarding, and airport lounge access.

2. Hotel Points Credit Cards:

• Suitable for frequent travelers loyal to a specific hotel chain.
• Earns points within hotel loyalty programs.
• Redeem earned points for hotel stays and other options like experiences, flights, and car rentals.
• Offers extra benefits such as elite status, free night awards, and airport lounge access.

3. Flexible Points Credit Cards:

• Offers flexibility for diverse reward redemption.
• Earns flexible points usable for flights, hotel stays, car rentals, cruises, and more.
• Benefits may include travel credits, elite status with various loyalty programs, and airport lounge access.
• Allows transfers to travel partners, expanding redemption options.

While each category has distinct benefits, it’s crucial to align your choice with your travel preferences and spending habits. Whether you prioritize airline loyalty, hotel stays, or flexibility in reward usage, these categories provide a simplified guide to choosing the right travel credit card for you.

With a travel credit card, you accrue points or miles from your eligible purchases, creating a reserve for covering travel expenses. In essence, a portion of your spending translates into rewards, offering opportunities like complimentary hotel nights or a complimentary flight to your desired destination. Your accumulated points become a versatile currency for enhancing your travel experiences.

Achieving a cost-free flight requires accumulating a sufficient number of points or airline miles, contingent on your chosen airline and travel plan. Credit card issuers typically provide a convenient travel portal where you can utilize your reward points to acquire flights. Certain cards also offer the option to directly transfer points to partner airlines or hotels.

The worth of a point is often contingent on its redemption method. Travel credit card points, for instance, generally hold higher value when utilized for travel compared to their value when redeemed for gift cards or merchandise. As a broad guideline, the approximate value of a point is around 1 cent when redeemed for cash back.

The mileage requirement for a complimentary flight varies based on factors such as your travel route, preferred cabin class, and the airline of choice. For instance, Alaska Airlines may necessitate a minimum of 5,000 miles, while American Airlines might require at least 7,500 miles for a free flight. International journeys could demand several hundred thousand miles, contingent on the destination and travel dates. Check with the airline of your choice to find out its specific mileage requirements, and remember that some travel cards may only be applicable to certain airlines.

Although credit score prerequisites may differ among various card issuers and travel cards, generally, securing approval for a travel rewards credit card typically necessitates a credit score falling within the good to excellent range.

TIP: If your credit falls below the good to excellent range, consider a secured credit card instead to raise your credit score and help your chances of getting approved for a travel rewards card. Compare secured credit card options.