Ric Romero, a consumer specialist and reporter for ABC7 Eyewitness News, recently published an interesting article about credit cards and spending style. The idea is to pick a credit card that best suits your spending habits. Ric’s story broke spending style into three categories: (1) frequently flyers, (2) Shoppers, and (3) those that carry balances from month to month. following that approach, here are some of the top card offers to consider for each spending style.
Travel Hound
Ric’s recommendations:
Citi Forward: The Citi Forward is one of our favorites. You can earn up to 8,500 bonus points, plus points each month for purchases. Citi has also implemented a unique approach to interest rates. Use the card responsibly, and Citi will lower your interest rate.
Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa: You can earn up to 25,000 bonus miles after qualifying transactions. Of course, if you don’t fly Alaska Airlines frequently, you won’t benefit from many of the card’s features.
Some more suggestions:
American Express Starwood Preferred Card: This is our top rated travel card. Not only can you earn up to 25,000 bonus Starpoints, but these points can be used for travel on just about any airline as well as free stays at Starwood hotels.
Discover Miles: The Discover Miles card offers up to 12,000 bonus miles plus triple miles for on up to $3,000 in travel and restaurant purchases each year. There is no annual fee and the miles never expire.
Shopaholic
Ric’s recommendations:
Bank of America Cash Rewards Visa: An excellent cash back choice, the BofA Cash Rewards Visa pays up to 3% cash back on purchases and gives you a 25% bonus on cash redemption of $300 or more.
Chase Freedom(SM): Earn up to 3% cashback on select categories of purchases that rotate throughout the year, plus 1% on all other purchases. The Chase Freedom(SM) card also comes with 0% APR introductory offers on both purchases and balance transfers.
Some more suggestions:
Discover More: This is the card I use almost everyday. With up to 5% cash back, 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers, and a first-class website, the Discover More card is hard to beat.
American Express Blue Cash: Blue Cash is one of the best cash back cards available, particularly if you are a big spender. It is a tiered card with top cash back payouts kicking in after $6,500 is put on the card each year.
Those with Balances
Ric’s Recommendations:
U.S. Bank Visa Platinum: The U.S. Bank Visa Platinum offers 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months with a 3% balance transfer fee.
Wells Fargo Secured Visa: This one is an odd choice to include with other balance transfer cards. It’s a secured visa, meaning you have to deposit funds equal to your credit limit. If you are looking for a 0% APR card, this is not the right choice.
Some more suggestions:
Citi Platinum Select: With 0% APR for 18 months on both balance transfers and purchases, this is one of our top picks for low interest cards.
Slate(SM) from Chase: With terms similar to the Citi Platinum, Chase Slate offers 0% intro on purchases and balance transfers for up to 12 months.
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