Best Credit Cards for 2012

The New Year has brought with it some extremely rewarding credit card offers. Whether you are looking for cash back rewards, 0% APR balance transfer offers, a credit card for your small business, or points redeemable for travel or shopping, there is a credit card offer to meet your needs.

Listed below are the Best Credit Cards for 2012 as selected by the editors of Credit Card Offers IQ.

Best Cash Back Cards

The [showoff template=text_link offer=ncs22125665] is one of our favorite cash back offers because get $200 cash back when you spend $500 within the first 3 months. You also get 5% cash back for every dollar you spend in rotating categories and 1% cash back on all your other purchases. The rate you receive will be between [showoff template=cc_reg_apr offer=ncs22125665], based on your creditworthiness.

See our Chase Freedom® Visa – $200 Bonus Cash Back review for more card details.

With the Blue Cash Everyday(SM) from American Express there are no spending limits, no rotating categories and you don’t need to enroll to earn. The rewards program is as follows: 3% cash back per dollar spent at supermarkets, 2% cash back per dollar spent at department stores and gas stations, and 1% cash back on all other purchases. The card offers an introductory rate of 0% for 12 on purchases and a regular APR between 17.24-22.24% (Variable)*, based on your creditworthiness.

See our Blue Cash Everyday(SM) from American Express review for more card details.

The Discover® More® Card is a rewards card that offers cash back on all your purchases. You can earn up to 5% cash back in rotating categories and 1% Cashback bonus on all other purchases. The card offers an introductory rate of 0% for 15 months on purchases*. After the introductory rate, the APR you receive is 10.99-20.99% (Variable)*, based on your creditworthiness. Best of all this card has no annual fee!

See our full review of the Discover® More® Card for more details.


Best Balance Transfer Cards

The Slate® from Chase one of two cards currently offering No Balance Transfer Fee. This is a limited time offer and you are required to make your balance transfer within the first 30 days to avoid the fee. The card offers 0% for up to 12 months on balance transfers. After the introductory rate, the APR you receive is 11.99-21.99% (Variable)*, based on your creditworthiness.

For more details, see our Slate® from Chase review.

The Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® is a great choice for a balance transfer card because it offers 0% for a full 21 months. This is one of the longest offers available. What makes this card even better is that it also gives 0% on purchases for 21 months. After the introductory period, regular APR is between 11.99-21.99% (Variable)*, based on your creditworthiness.

For more details, check out our Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® review.

Capital One® Platinum Prestige Credit Card

The best feature of the Capital One® Platinum Prestige Credit Card is the 0% introductory rate on both purchases and balance transfers until Until 09/2013 on purchases*. If you plan on carrying balance or want to transfer balances from other cards with high interest rates this is a solid card. After the 0% introductory period, the APR for both purchases and balance transfers is a low go-to APR of 10.90-18.90% (Variable)*.

See our Capital One® Platinum Prestige Credit Card review for more details.


Best Travel Cards


The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Plus Card makes our list as one of the best cards for 2012 because of the great bonus offer it gives to new cardmembers. To start, you will earn a free flight after your first purchase. With this card you earn double points for your Southwest Airline purchase and you will receive bonus points on your anniversary. This card is offering a limited time balance transfer option with allows you to earn 1 point per every $1 you transfer to the card.

For more details, check out our Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Plus Card review.

The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express is arguably one the best travel rewards card available. The best perk about this card is that your rewards can be cashed in for a variety of travel rewards, including a network of hotels as well as airlines. for most of your purchases you will earn 2 points for every dollar you spend, but you can earn up to 7 Starpoints per dollar.

For more details, check out our Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express review.

The Capital One® VentureSM Rewards Credit Card is ideal for those individuals with excellent credit looking for a travel rewards credit card. This card offers one of the best rewards programs available allowing cardholders to earn 2 miles per dollar on every purchase. As a bonus you get 10,000 bonus miles after $1,000 is spent during the first 3 months. There is no limit on the miles you can earn and they will never expire. Even with the great rewards program, this card has no annual fee for the first year and a regular APR of 13.90-20.90% (Variable)*, making it a great choice for a travel rewards card.

For more details, check out our Capital One® VentureSM Rewards Credit Card review.

About Michal

Michal is a personal finance blogger who writes for several top personal finance blogs, such as Dough Roller and Go Banking Rates. She enjoys writing about money management, getting out of debt and planning for retirement. Her practical approach encourages folks to get serious about their relationship with their money.

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