The October 2014 issue of Money Magazine features their annual rankings of the “Best Credit Cards”. Here’s a condensed 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. No annual fee.
Best for Regular Balance Carriers (Low ongoing APR)
- Lake Michigan Credit Union Prime Platinum Visa. 6% to 14% APR on balance transfers, starting at Prime + 3% for those with excellent credit. No balance transfer fee. No annual fee.
Best Flat-Rate Cash Back Rewards (Tie)
- Citi® Double Cash Card. 1% flat back when you swipe, 1% flat when you pay your bill. No limits or tiers. If you redeem rewards via check that is 2% flat cash back, if you redeem via statement credit then it is actually technically 1.99% cash back. Spend $2,000 a month on this Mastercard and get back $480 a year without changing your spending patterns. No annual fee.
- Fidelity American Express. 2% back with no limit or tiers. Rewards must be deposited into a Fidelity account.
Best For Cash Back on Essentials
- American Express Blue Cash Preferred. 6% back on groceries on up to $6,000 in purchases a year. 3% back on gas. $75 annual fee.
Best 5% Cash Back Cards (Tie)
- US Bank Cash Plus. 5% back on two categories from 12 possible choices, on $2,000 in purchases per quarter. No annual fee. Must apply in physical branch, application is not available online.
- Chase Freedom. 5% in categories that rotate quarterly, on up to $1,500 in purchases per quarter. $100 sign-up bonus. No annual fee.
Best For Travel Rewards / Traveling Abroad.
- Barclaycard Arrival Plus(TM) World Elite MasterCard®. Big upfront sign-up bonus, 2% back towards any travel with no limit plus a 10% rebate on redemptions. $0 annual fee first year, then $89.
Best For Miles Hounds / Best Sign-Up Bonus.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred. Big upfront sign-up bonus, 2x points on Dining and Travel, Ultimate Rewards points offer flexible transfers to miles, cash, or travel credit. $0 annual fee first year, then $95.
Best For Hotel Perks.
- American Express Starwood Preferred Guest. Decent sign-up bonus, SPG points offer redemptions towards free hotel nights or miles. $0 annual fee first year, then $65.
Best For Small Business Rewards.
- Chase Ink Cash. Decent sign-up bonus, 5% cash back on up to $25,000 in combined purchases at office supply stores and on cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services. No annual fee.
Best For Small Business Borrowing.
- US Bank Business Edge Platinum. 0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months, 10% to 18% after that. This is the lowest APR among no annual fee small biz cards. No annual fee.
Best First Card For a College Kid
- 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).
Best Card For Online Shopping
- Discover It Card. The ShopDiscover portal offers cash back bonuses of 5% to 20% at select online retailers, which can be redeemed as statement credit. Also has 5% rotating categories. No annual fee.
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You can do better on the card they suggest for carrying a balance. Space Age FCU offers a platinum Visa card at unbeatable rates.
Purchases @ prime rate
Cash @ prime rate
This is not an intro offer. You need excellent credit to qualify.
That’s pretty good for balance carriers, given that the WSJ Prime rate is currently only 3.25%. According to their T&Cs there is also no balance transfer fee mentioned. I wonder how good your credit has to be to qualify for Platinum level over Gold. Is there an easy way to join the credit union? The website is a bit vague on that part.
You can join the Rocky Mountain Road Runners for $10 as a volunteer membership and that will give you access to Space Age FCU. I live in GA so you don’t have to be local. The process is a bit onerous. I believe I had to fill out paperwork and have it notarized. But it was worth it. No annual fee, prime rate on purchases and cash. I paid off my second mortgage with it which was sitting at 6.75%. I just took the card to my mortgage provider and asked them to do a cash advance with the card and deposit it in my account. No fees. Just a balance sitting at the prime rate. I’ve since paid it off but this card saved me lots of money.
You could have saved even more by doing a no fee 0% balance transfer from that card to chase slate.
Finally took the plunge and got approved for the Amex Blue Cash Preferred just last night.
This list seems very sophomoric. There are better cards available, not just these mainstream ones, and this list seems very influenced by the card suppliers themselves.
That’s rather vague… why not provide some actual examples, like Justin Brown did?
JCB Marukai
3% cash back on EVERYTHING!
Yes, a few thousand dollars must be spent, but for any credit card using adult that should not take more than a month or two.
I do not carry balances on credit cards(and I would recommend this for anyone/everyone), so the interest rate/0% interest for X amount of months does not matter to me.
Justin Brown only provided one example, so I will follow suit since that seems to be the bar to meet.
“US Bank Cash Plus … Must apply in physical branch, application is not available online.”
Has this changed? I have this card, and I know I didn’t apply in a physical branch.
I mentioned this Money magazine article, too, on my blog The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide.
I thought that the article evaluated the features of various credit cards, but didn’t consistently rank highly credit cards with low interest rates. For example, would it be good to have a credit card that gave you cash back rewards if you had to pay 12 to 22 percent interest rate for it? Have you every calculated that? If so, I’d like to know more about it.
Cash back rewards cards are rarely any good for carrying a debt balance. They are more geared towards people who don’t carry balances but the issuer instead makes money off the transaction fees. If you carry a balance, I would avoid any rewards card and focus on a low interest card (either with a promo 0% like Slate or low ongoing % like the credit union ones mentioned).
Chase freedom and discover are 2 of my favorites. I like my capital one business credit card for business expenses.