Best Credit Cards Of 2018: Expert Reviews
You can also transfer your points to hotel loyalty programs including World of Hyatt, IHG Rewards Club, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards. By providing these options, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card gives cardholders even more rewards value. Out of the dozens of rewards cards we examined, reward flexibility was a rare element.
For example, the Barclays Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard®—another top-tier rewards card—is only worthwhile if you exchange miles for a travel statement credit. When selecting the best rewards credit card, we prioritized how many points you can earn with a card coupled with how easy it is to turn those points into meaningful savings and experiences. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is outstanding on both counts.
With that said, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is primarily useful for individuals who spend heavily on dining out and travel. If most of your budget consists of other types of purchases, like gas or groceries, we recommend checking out other rewards cards. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card awards 2 points per dollar spent on dining out and travel and 1 point on all other purchases.
95 annual fee (waived the first year). Drawback: From a purely rewards-earning perspective, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card isn't the top travel rewards card anymore. That honor goes to its brother, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. This card comes with the same flexible Ultimate Rewards program—but with supercharged rewards. 300 annual travel credit.
450 annual fee, which keeps it from the top of our list. 450 is a huge investment, especially since it's not waived the first year. 300 travel credit, we recommend you get that card. However, if you want to play it safe, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is still a fantastic option. Rewards: Earn 2 points per dollar spent on dining out and travel and 1 point per dollar spent everywhere else. That's up to a 2.5% rewards rate.
4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Points can be transferred directly to 13 hotel and airline loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Review. Consider this card if you're looking to save money at a wide array of merchants. Few cards out there can provide cardmembers with as much cash-back earnings as the Discover it® - Cashback Match™. If you're less interested in travel and you're entirely focused on getting cash back in your pocket, then this is the way to go.
The Discover it® - Cashback Match™ is one of the few rotating-category cash back cards. 1,500 in purchases each quarter. That's one of the highest cash-back rates around. The only catch is that your spending has to be compatible with the types of merchants that fall into these 5% bonus categories.
Below is the 2018 bonus calendar for the Discover it® - Cashback Match™. If it lines up with the types of places you tend to shop at, we highly recommend this option. If the Discover it® - Cashback Match™ was just a rotating-category cash back card, it wouldn't be so high up on our list. But this card also has a bonus that supercharges your savings during the first cardmember year. Discover will double all the cash-back rewards you've earned at the end of your first year. Drawback: Discover isn't as widely accepted in stores as Visa or Mastercard.
Therefore, you may run into cases where you can't use your Discover it® - Cashback Match™. Always carry a Visa or Mastercard as a backup just in case. This is especially true if you travel abroad. While Discover has some strategic partnerships that allow you to use their cards in some countries on other networks, some blind spots still exist. For example, people will have difficulty using Discover credit cards in Mexico and Italy.
