Best Credit Cards

According to Dave Ramsay, consumers spend WAY more when paying with a credit card, rendering the "rewards" very over priced! Beware of ANY credit card.

I had a Capital One card several years ago and they had terrible customer service I remember, at the same time a friend had a problem with getting double charged on every single purchase with them and it was a hassle to fix, though with EVERY single transaction being double charged, you would think it would be obvious to them that there was a mistake. He discovered the mistake when the card maxed out way too early! So that was a long time ago, but made me not a fan of them. I really like the Chase and Citi cards reward systems, though I don't use them for travel. I get cash back with the Chase deal and gift cards with the citibank. Both used to be 5% back for gas/groceries/pharmacy, but now it's 3% back at most I think since the economy got worse, in that time frame. I know they run promotions periodically, so just look for what their deals are at the time. Capital One and Discover seem to tend to advertise their rewards more, but Citicards and Chase seem to have better reward deals. When we signed up for those too we were getting that 5% back, plus we got a $50 or $100 bonus at the beginning when we started using the card, so it was really nice. They do have limits to how much reward you can receive in a year, so that's why we use both. The gift card selection is real good, I know there are travel options, but I don't know how good they are since we don't really use them. We usually get gift cards to Sears or Olive Garden or Chili's/On the Border, that type of thing. Walmart is on there now, Target used to be.

I understand, I hate when some of these people do not read the question. Credit cards are not bad when you pay them off every month.........its when you spend way too much and can't afford what you buy..........We are debt free also and pay off our cards monthly.if we buy something we do the no interest for 18moths and we make payemtns so we dont get slammed with interest.....common sense.........anyhow, I dont know about the capitol one card but you are repsonsible so I say go for it so you get your travel points!

it's ok but you really have to spend a lot to get just one ticket. the best i have is the reg. american express and discover. you get a check back at the end of the year to use however you want. if you buy on line and go to their websites.. you get money back. i find you get a lot from them... and they have no fee. good luck. i have on other card , it;s a visa for holiday inn.. i get hotel points.. for free nights.. it's good.

They just talked about this on good morning america last week..thursday or friday. their financial advisor mellody hobson gave a pretty good list. you should look at the gma website for more info.

Hi E., My husband and I both have Capital One cards. We don't use them very often because we have lower rates on our Bank of America Amex. However, we have always kept them open, just in case. For some reason my husbands card gets charged a yearly fee, but mine does not. I have tried using our points, but I guess because we don't use the cards often enough, we haven't been able to get anything worth while. You may want to look into what Bank of America is offering, when all the other companies increased their fees and APR, BOA stayed the same. Best of Luck to you. There must be a lot of Dave Ramsey recruiters on this site, I had never even heard of him before until I started reading posts on her.

I personally would stay away from Capital One (far away). Their customer service stinks and they have been known never to give a courtesy removal of a one time 30 day late (a minor belimish that can be costly) on anyone's credit report (regardless if the person has been a customer of theirs for 15 years).

I would suggest you go to www.bankrate.com and take a look at what cards they suggest. Keep in mind, not all credit card companies are listed there so I'm guessing those that are somehow, some why have paid a fee to have their name listed.

I personally use credit cards that give cash back (RBS, Chase and Discover are the three I personally use - but there are lots more out there).

If at all possible, never close out a credit card you have, especially long standing ones. Never use more than 25% of your credit limit and rotate your cards to be sure you use them at least 1 time every 6 months. If not, most credit card companies will cancel your card due to no activity.

Oh, and why not call the cards you have now and just ask them if your existing card can be transferred over to a perks card (most credit card companies have perks, it's just a matter of asking if your account can be be transferred over).

Last tip would be if at all possible, try to pay your credit cards in full each and every month.

Sorry for being long winded, but this is my cup of tea :) I’ve been in the field for 12 years and deal with most lending institutions and know personally Capital One is not worth it.

~C.

P.S. I just read the other responses and I have not listened to Dave Ramsey, but I can say don't be afraid of using credit cards, but it's extremely important to have enough control to only use what you you can afford to pay off in full. The longevity is part of the puzzle to a good credit score. Don't listen to the so called experts who say if you don't use them, shred them. If you don't use them they will be closed by the credit grantor.

I know it sounds so enticing, but I listen to Dave Ramsey also, and I just don't think it's a good idea to look to credit cards for travel rewards. I've had credit cards for a long time and I always paid them off right away. I used them for cashback rewards. After getting married, there are now balances on those cards. We had a fixed rate because we are good and consistent payers. However, once the economy started its downturn, they no longer honored our fixed rate and made us go to a variable rate. Now our variable rate has increased twice and we have been unable to negotiate a lower rate with them. All the other offers from other companies are about the same. We have lots of reward points, but what can we get? Maybe a $25 gift card. We are charged more than that per month in interest! So I say, "big whoop!" to their rewards. To me, it's not worth it.

Dave Ramsey has often said that if you play around snakes, eventually you're gonna git bit. Well, we've been bit enough and I for one am tired of being bit!

I completely understand wanting to defray travel costs, but I would look to other avenues for discounts or to saving over time for trips. I'm sure the Internet would have some ideas as to how to accomplish this.

Best of luck to you!
K.

Update: I am just reading through some things as I'm not on this site often. I apologize that my answer was upsetting. I didn't mean to cause any problems and would certainly never want to be the person who caused someone to leave this great site. I just wanted to share where we have been. So, I will try to stay directly within the realm of the question from here on. Again, I apologize.

The only advice I can offer is to check into the exact rewards you would receive and ask a customer rep about the use of those rewards during the holiday's...second hand experience has lead me to believe that "air-travel rewards" are limited and can be used only on specific flights and that a lot of the times there are a very limited number of seats available during the holidays (so you and hubby may not sit together or even be on the same flight) Good luck!

No credit card is itself bad or evil. It is the consumer that either chooses to use credit card wisely or...not. In fact, without credit card history, you won't be as eligible for the best terms on major credit (i.e. mortgage or home equity). Lenders will see you do not have credit card history and wonder, "Can they not handle the responsibility of a credit line?"

So, if you plan to use it strictly to gain reward points then you must pay it down each and every month. Once you slide one month you are more likely to let it slide again. I agree with a previous poster, if you let the balances accumulate even one month, the amount of reward points you have gained cost you more than they are worth. Credit card companies are not stupid or benevolent. They are in business to make money and so you can bet they make waaay more money on you than they lose by giving away points.

By all means, have a credit card to create a strong credit profile...But set up an Emergency Reserve Savings account at your bank to create a travel fund.

There is NO best credit card. We also follow Dave Ramsey and have no credit cards. Although our Chase debit cards have airline miles.

we have citibank (thankyou rewards is the name of their reward points) and love it- they are connected to expedia. We have booked trips, hotels, and flights on expedia and paid with the credit card and gotten double the points! We earn more than 1pt. per dollar on just about every purchase (gas, grocery are always at least 5 points per dollar or more and they have a lot of promotions for extra points like home improvement etc.) we have never used ours to redeem for travel (but i know you can) in 3 years we traded in our points for a new stove,dyson vacuum and computer (and we are not crazy spenders!) the points rack up really fast with citibank!

We use a Capital One card and have had no issues. We charge everything and pay it off every month. We have used our points to get cashback and have had no problems with redeeming our rewards. We used to use Discover, but Capital One has more options- travel points, cashback, merchanise, etc...
Sorry about all the unwanted advice- I can't stand that either :)

I haven't looked into myself yet, but a friend of mine said she does a lot of her shopping online by going through american airlines and building up miles that way, and she can use any credit or debit card she wants. She said if you go through the airline website you can do your shopping and collect miles. She buys all her clothes, diapers and other baby items online. She said she accumulated 100,000 miles last year alone. I don't know how much she spent, but that is equal to two first class tickets to Europe free.

We use the Capital One No Hassle Rewards card and although I'm pretty sure they do charge an annual fee, I have not had any issues being reimburded for travel. They helped me figure out how to combine my travel expenses to get the most out of my points. I was even able to submit the travel insurance. It seemed very flexible to me and since I pay my credit card balance every month and do not pay any interest, it is a beneficial points program for me.