Updated to 2018!
As I mentioned, I would not recommend taking loans irresponsibly!
Every financial decision should be well thought out, there are also certain key things that you have to know when using a credit card. Here I’ll also lay out a guide on how to go about choosing the best credit cards. Additionally I will give an overview of the very bests on the market.
I’ve always tried to keep in mind that if I am going to spend money, I will spend it wisely, I’d like to offer the same advice to you.
Guide to Choosing Credit Card (if you need to have credit card!) on 2018
Advertisements make credit cards look luxurious and easy to use.
However, many people find it hard to deal with all the terms and conditions that come along with a credit card. There are many different things that require attention when using a credit card like how to redeem your won points or how to use other offered features.
Just like best credit cards have hidden benefits, there are hidden struggles as well. If you want to purchase a credit card, you need to be fully aware of all that comes along.
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Terms and Conditions:
There are term and conditions that are part of every credit card service. Before you sign up, take time to read through all of them and if you find something hard to perceive, it is best to do your research before you sign up rather than finding out later on. Even when you are buying a rewards credit card, there might be some terms which you don’t want to apply for and therefore, doing your homework will help you see through everything in 2018.
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Make the Most of Credit Cards:
Credit card companies offer different features like travel insurance or car rental coverage which can come in handy at any time. When you are buying a credit card company for a specific feature, make sure that it’s better than what you have.
If you have another credit card, compare the two and see which one offer better features. You should always choose the best credit card! Another effective thing is to see if credit card car rental insurance is actually better than the auto insurance that you already own. Use your credit card services every now and then and make the most of them.
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Do your Research:
In 2018, it’s really easy to get information about best credit cards!When you are buying a rewards credit card, it is always best to know what you are really in for.
For example, if you are buying a credit card for its travel rewards then it is best to know how they redeem their points and check out their customer reviews. You don’t want to be tied down to something that you weren’t fully educated about beforehand.
Many companies give travel rewards which are hard to claim during travelling season etc. If you don’t want to be disappointed in the end, make sure that you have learned every aspect of your rewards card and how it works during different times.
Continues below from 4-8
How to find the right credit card for yourself?
Credit card preferences vary from person to person and it is not necessary that if one person finds a credit card effective, the other one would too. People have different psychologies and reasons when it comes to spending credit. However, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has proven to be among the few best credit card services of 2018 that has found it.
Reward Credit Cards for 2018
Rewards credit cards can be really interesting as they will mostly pay back the amount that you spend on some of your common purchases and with rewarded points, you can earn yourself things like travel, gift cards and other physical goods as well. Each credit card service has a different policy and that applies to cash back cards as well and some will let you earn more points through specific categories which can be used back for the same categories later on than others.
You will notice that when combined with reward cards, cash back cards will be twice more rewarding and you can use them as a second credit card in your wallet.
NR1 Best Credit Card for Rewards – Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Review
Card Highlights
- For $4000 worth of purchase in your first three months you have the opportunity to earn up to 50,000 bonus points and when you are redeeming through Chase Ultimate Rewards® it makes up to $625 travel points.
- It was also mentioned by MONEY Magazine as “Best Credit Card” for earning Travel Points.
- For each purchase you make, you will be awarded with one point whereas when you use this card for spending on travelling or dining out; you will be awarded with two points.
- It has an ultra-modern lustrous design as well.
- For three months after activation of your card, when you add an authorized user you will be awarded with 5000 bonus point.
- There will be no fees on any foreign transactions.
- Chip manufactured through latest technology is added which in returns ensures security on a larger scale and also increases your card’s acceptance in card readers without a fail.
Sign in for Chase Sapphire here
#2 Best for Rewards – Chase Freedom® Review
Card Highlights
- When you activate your card, you will earn a bonus of almost $150 for a purchase of $500 during the time span of three months.
- If the total amount of purchase after each quarter of activation sums up to $1500, you will be rewarded with 5% of cash back.
- With each purchase that you make on this card, you will be awarded with 1% cash back without any activation.
- During the first fifteen months of activation with every purchase and balance transfer there will be 0% Into APR. After that APR will be only 14.24-23.24%. Each balance transfer fee after fifteen months will be 5% of the total amount and $5 minimum.
- Every three months, there will be renewed 5% on different places which include restaurants and gas stations as well.
- Once you’ve won a cash back reward, it is yours and there will be no expiration dates.
- It doesn’t charge any annual fee.
Best Credit Cards For Business
Once you have entered your professional life, you need to make sure that you have organized your finances as well. Whether you are a doctor, engineer, lawyer, corporate worker or even self-employed, you might feel the need to separate your business transactions from you private expenses. This will not only help you control your life but also control spending habits as well. There are many different business cards that also come with reward features.
Ink Cash®
Business Credit Card
Card Highlights
- For spending $3000 after the first three months of your activation, you will be awarded with $200 bonus cash back. (Basically 6.6% free money!)
- On your account anniversary years, you will be given 5% of cashback on different office supply stores, internet and even landline.
- You will also get 5% cashback on money you spend in restaurants and gas stations as well.
- For each purchase that you make, you will get 1% cashback.
- For the first 12 months of your activation, there will be 0% introductory APR for every purchase or bank transfer.
- You can get employee cards without having to pay any extra amount as well.
- There is no annual fee you have to pay for the card as well.
The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN
Card Highlights
- During the first three months of activation of Card Membership, if you spend $5,000 you have the chance to win 50,000 Membership Rewards® points.
- You will have five different categories to pick from and you will be awarded with 3x points when you pick one.
- Purchasing from the other four categories will win you 2x points in addition to 1x points when you buy other products.
- To help with business, this card allows you to redeem your points everyday which means you can cover travel expenses and even help employees or clients.
- Not just that, there are special tools to help you organize and track your expenses.
- There is no additional fee for foreign transactions.
- There is 0$ introductory fee during the first year and afterwards it is $175.
- There are terms and limitations that still apply.
Sign up for American Express OPEN
Also, Platinum Card for 2018:
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN
Card Highlights
- There is a welcome offer for all new members through which within the first three months you will win 40,000 Membership Rewards® points when you make a purchase of $5,000.
- With this card designed for people with business needs, you can not only get travel benefits but also get world-class platinum service as well as cover your business expenses.
- Another of their membership rewards awards you with 1 point of each dollar of your purchase that has no limit.
- There is a special Airline Bonus of 30% that comes along with this business card as well which means you can use Membership Rewards for your flight and get 30% back.
- The special Airport Lounge Access Program is a feature that gives you access to up to 700 airport lounges throughout the world and enhances your business experience.
- With this card also comes the most important thing for business and that is internet access. If you use Gogo or Biongo you will be awarded with 10 inflight internet passes per annum which you can use for business anytime as well as Wi-Fi at any of Boingo hotspots unlimited.
- There are however some Applied Terms and Restrictions of this card.
Sign up for American Express Platinum
Best Credit Cards for Students (2018)
Your student life sets the tone for your future life and everything you do, even your budget influence your future. If you want to organize your spending and expenses, a credit card can be really helpful to keep track of yourself.
Not only that, one day when you want to make a big purchase such as a house or a car, you will be asked for a financial history and with a credit card, you can start establishing it. There are a best number of different credit cards specially designed to help students organize their expenses especially by using organization tools through the internet.
Discover it® for Students – Review
Card Highlights
- Discover offers matching feature for new members and matches all the cashback you’ve earned by the end of the year on its own.
- Gas, Amazon, and restaurants play the role of bonus categories and you can earn up to 5% of cashback along with 1% through all purchases out of these categories.
- A special feature of this student credit card earns you 20% of cashback for five years if your total GPA is more than 3.
- There is no annual fee that you have to pay.
- For your first late payment, you will not be charged any fine as well as there will be no APR change as well.
- You will also get 100% US based customer service and FICO® Credit Scores for online queries and statements without paying anything extra.
- A special feature called Freeze It℠ will let you halt any new fund exchange, transfer or payments until you wish to continue.
- As an introductory offer there is 0% APR for the first six months and afterwards APR will be somewhere between 13.24% – 22.24%.
- By clicking on the ‘Apply Now’ option you can get further details on all rewards, cashback Match™ details and the rest of information you need.
Aply Now for best Student Card
Best Credit Cards for Transfers
Credit Cards can make you pay for high interests that can put you in debt which can cause many future inconveniences. In order to get rid of having to pay so much extra credit for using services, you can switch your funds to a new credit card service.
By transferring you money, you can save your amount and take time to pay for any previous loans as well. Best credit cards make a trick to safely do this is to make sure that the credit card services you are switching to will charge 0% APR for at least the first year and/or doesn’t charge any extra amount for transferring money.
Chase Slate® Review
Card Highlights
- MONEY magazine has mentioned Chase Slate® as the “Best Credit Card for Transfer” for three years straight now.
- If you transfer balance within the first 60 days after account activation, you will be charged $0 as an introductory offer.
- For the first fifteen months of your activation, there are $0 APR charges for all bank transfers and purchases as well.
- To keep you updated, there will be a free Monthly FICO® Score and Credit Dashboard.
- There is no fine charged on late payments. Nonetheless, other term and pricing will be applied.
- There is no annual fee.
Discover it® Cashback Match™
Card Highlights
- New membership offers you to double your $200 with Cashback Match™ and match all your cash when the year ends.
- For each $1500 quarter you activate on bonus categories which include Amazon, restaurants and gas stations you can get 5% of cash back whereas you will be given 1% cashback on rest of your purchases from other categories.
- Your rewards do not have an expiry date and you can also redeem your cashback points any time that you want to. That’s the reason why this card is in best credit cards text.
- Customer service is also 100% US based.
- You can also get free statements and online through FICO® Credit Scores.
- There is no annual fee that you have to pay.
- In order to see further information about rates, rewards or other terms, use the Apply Now option.
Credit Cards for Difficult Financial Situations
You might be confused as to how can credit cards solve all your financial issues and if it is really necessary to get one at all?
You can read my article about some advice on what to do if you have run out of sufficient money.
If you are a student who is having a hard time organizing their budget, someone who have just moved to a new country and don’t know how to sort out credit problems, it can be quite difficult. However, you need to start somewhere to make progress and there are many different credit card services which can help you in setting up an account and keep track of your expenses.
Whenever you sign for a new credit card, you are supposed to make a deposit of a certain amount as well as make due payments to avoid any debts too. Gradually, with regular payments you can upgrade to an unsecured credit card as well. There are different credit card services mentioned above for students and following list also includes one unsecured credit card as well which you can consider to apply for.
Credit One Bank® Unsecured Visa® Credit Card
Card Highlights
- It is necessary to keep track of your credit card and expenses therefore this card sends monthly reports to three major credit bureaus along with giving you the option to track your credits online for free.
- You can also check to see if you are pre-qualified for unsecured credit card within a span of sixty seconds.
- Just like other unsecured credit cards this is not a debit or prepaid card therefore you are free of having to load any cash as deposit amount. In order to activate account, you do not have to pay a heavy amount either.
- On categories like gas or groceries, you will be given 1% cashback however other terms are applied.
- Payment dates are also flexible so you can make your payments without drowning in debt of late payments.
Apply Now
First Progress Platinum Elite MasterCard® Secured Credit Card
Card Highlights
- You can use tax refund in order to make deposit for your MasterCard® secured credit card.
- With New Expedited Processing Option you can get your credit card much faster without any delays.
- There are no terms for approval like credit card history or even minimum scores to get started.
- You can use this card for many different categories which includes car rentals and hotels too.
- In order to establish your credit card history there will be a monthly reporting to three of the major bureaus.
- In order to secure your card, you need to make a deposit of $200 to $2000 along with an application. The amount is refundable.
- In order to refund you simply have to pay your entire balance amount.
- You can easily access your account online as well and keep track conveniently 24/7.
What you need to know before getting Best Score Credit Cards
Best score credit cards can be really beneficial or cause you inconvenience based on your knowledge. It is important that you learn all aspects in order to make the most of your best score credit cards and avoid any hassles in the future.
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Think Before Purchasing:
If you are buying something, make sure that you have enough money in your account as well as your payment amount. If you fail to make your credit card payment, you can have unwanted interest amounts to pay later on which can put a hole in your budget. This also means that even if you will spend more money than the rewards you win which kills the purpose of rewards card.
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Use the Auto-Pay feature:
One way to avoid having to pay more money than regular for your payments is to avoid paying late at all. You can do this by using the auto-pay feature which is offered on most cards. This will save you the trouble of having to remember dates for payments and you can simply check off one more date off your list of things to remember.
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Dissolve Interest Rates:
If you follow the above two tips, you can simply ignore interest rates as you will not be obligated to pay them as long as you are following them. All your payments will be paid on due time and your spending amount will also not be more than what you own which leaves no margin for interest rates. In case you are going through the problem of having high balance, you can switch to any of the best balance credit cards mentioned above.
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Annual Fee is NOT equal to Rewards:
Different credit card services have different policies on rewards but with most, you can end up earning more rewards than your annual fee. If you are not comfortable with the idea of paying annual fee for a card, you can count and compare the value. Sometimes, if you are paying $100 for annual fee, you can also make up to $1000 or more which is a profitable exchange. When you get a rewards card, do your math and count how much rewards you can win and if it makes even twice as much as the annual fee, it is a good deal.
Guide to Choosing Credit Card
Look Out for Fraud Purchases
With an increase of use of online market, the hackers have started to make purchases through your account by acquiring your information. Make sure that you keep track of all the purchases you make and as soon as you see a purchase on your account that you haven’t made, report it. If you report your fraud purchase time, there will be zero liability cost. You will also be issued a new card and security PIN in case you have been hacked.
Store Travel Files
If you are someone who needs to travel every now and then, it is important that you keep a separate folder for your trip files for emergency cases. In case of a cancelled hotel reservation or trip, you can use travel insurance which will save all the money from going down the drain. If you have train tickets, reservation mails or any other notifications that you can use to claim insurance, it is essential that you have them with you. All your data will be save this way and in case of emergency cancelled trips, you will be able to make a claim easily.
Keep an Eye on FICO scores
You might not notice but your credit might fluctuate and it is essential to keep an eye on your FICO scores regularly. There are best credit cards services like Discover it® Cashback Match™ card which send you your score report so you can see what’s going on regularly. If your FICO scores keep increasing you are safe however, if you notice that they are falling, it might be time to take some action.
More than One Credit Card:
Many people believe that having more than one or two credit cards can be problematic however, it is merely a myth. In fact, if you use different credit cards, you can get the benefits from all the different services at the same time. Different cards have different travel insurance and auto insurance policies which can be used any time you need them. In addition to that, you can also use reward cards to get the benefits of reward points for different purchases that you make too.
Annual Check-Up:
It is essential to make sure that you are keeping a check on your account. You can get an annual report of your credit card through three different bureaus Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion by using a government-approved website. This is a method to check if there have been any misconceptions in your report. With credit cards come a bit of responsibility and if you follow through these simple tips, you can benefit from all the credit card features.
Secret Benefits of Credit Card
Many credit card services offer benefits that are not advertised and therefore one does not know about them until they are using the service. Credit card companies mention advantages like cashbacks and travel points but you don’t know what else they might be offering that can come in really handy at times too. Following are some of the secret credit card benefits that are offered on different services that you don’t hear about during advertisements
- $0 for Liability:
In case your credit card is stolen, you are made to pay at least $50 as liability amount but there are many credit card services which drop all liability amounts which means you don’t have to pay anything in case your card has been stolen. The only term is that you have to report your stolen card as soon as you can and you will be saved from paying anything as the liability fee.
- Save From Foreign Transaction Fee:
When you make a foreign transaction from your credit card, you might have to pay up to 3% of your purchase which can cost you extra credit. Even some of the best credit card services charge the foreign transaction fee however some credit cards don’t charge anything at all. This feature can help you save the extra amount that you have to spend when making a foreign exchange.
- Complete Auto-Rental Damage Coverage:
If you have a job that requires you to travel a lot, you might have to rent cars regularly which ask for damage coverage. Many credit cards offer a service called Collision Damage Waiver which can be helpful but due to its secondary nature you still have to pay the rest. With a little research, you can find a company which secretly covers the whole auto rental coverage and saving you much more than a regular card might.
- FICO score is Free:
In order to track your FICO score you are supposed to pay some amount but some credit card companies have a hidden benefit of letting you see your score when they send in your bill or statement. This means that there is no extra amount to pay to see FICO score and you can save that money easily.
- Travel Assistance in Emergency Cases:
Credit card companies can really give you more than you signed up for. If you find yourself in an emergency that asks for an urgent travelling, your credit card issuer can help you out. Whatever your emergency is, many credit companies offer the secret benefit of an emergency travel assistance that can come in handy on different occasions.
- Cancelled Travels Reimbursing:
You can face a lot of financial inconvenience in case you have to cancel a trip that has already been paid for. However, you can use a credit card service that is made to save you in situations when you have to cancel your plans due to an emergency. Many credit cards offer the secret benefit of travel insurance that will reimburse the amount you had to pay for your trip automatically once you have talked to the service assistance.
- Warranties Replacement:
When you buy products like a phone, television, laptop etc. it comes with a warranty that might expire after a specific time. There are many credit card services that offer to reimburse your spent money if your warranty has expired. Some companies might also send you a replacement of the product which can help you save money with their hidden benefits.
- Rewind Purchase Price:
If you buy a product but under the span of 60 days, the same product is found to be sold at a lower rate, the difference will be rewarded to you. This is called Citi’s Price Rewind and many companies offer different hidden programs on purchases that you make.
- Survive Roadside Experience:
You truly cannot replace cash with credit cards as they offer services that notes in your hand never will. If you ever find yourself abandoned by car damage on a roadside, simply call the number that is given at the back of your credit card and they will send in help. Roadside assistance given by some credit card companies is quicker and more efficient than your local truck-tow services.
- Cash from Stores:
Discover’s Cash Over program is offering to let you swipe your card and get your money at stores without having to go to an ATM. Now you can go to specific stores and use your Discover card to request for cashback.
Balance Your Credit Card Budget
It is hard enough to balance your budget and with a credit card you might find it even harder to keep track. However, there is nothing to worry about if you are regular with payments in 2018. Moreover, if you pay your dues on time, you can start enjoying the perk s that come along with credit cards as well. If you are having a hard time with keeping your credit card budget balanced, here are some simple tips to help you out:
- Organize Your Bills:
An important step in getting ahead of your budget is to keep track of everything. This means that it is time for you to sit down and sort things out. You can write down the monthly bills or total of how much of you will be spending on different categories. Whip out your financial statements to see how much you spend in an average month and how can you start saving money. This will also help you adjust your budget and give you the space to plan for entertainments by saving money through different categories.
- Credit Card is Cash Bills:
Once you have made your budget, stick to it. Every time you go out make sure that you keep in mind the fact that you cannot spend more than your set amount. Once you start treating your credit card like a limited amount of cash, you can get out of credit card budget problems.
- Use Online Tracking System:
The best way to organize your credit card is to keep tracking your spending history and what you have on your account. You can use your online credit card account to keep check and balance on all the financial moves you make. This will help you sort out your future budget and organize your credit card.
- Pay As-You-Go:
This is a wonderful way to keep you from falling in debt to any interests. Make sure that you are paying your credit card bill regularly and keep track of your spent amount. This will help you both with saving the amount that you pay on interests for late payments as well as keep track of how much credit you have on your account.
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