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Rewards, sign-up bonuses, balance transfers, fees, protections, and card reviews. Pick the right card and collect more from it than it costs you.
Get the Chase Freedom Flex® if you’ll activate its 5% categories every quarter, because those categories pay up to $75 a quarter on the first $1,500 you spend in them. Otherwise get the Freedom Unlimited, which pays 1.5% where the Flex pays 1% but charges a 3% foreign transaction fee the Flex doesn’t.
Many credit cards include purchase protection, which typically covers new items against theft and accidental damage for 90 to 120 days after you buy them. When something new breaks or gets stolen, check your card’s guide to benefits before paying to replace it, and file quickly, since claim deadlines are short.
If you earn self-employment income, run your business expenses through a business credit card and keep personal spending off it. The statement becomes a running record of your business costs at tax time, and you earn rewards on spending you’d do anyway. Pay the balance in full each month.
Debit card fraud pulls money straight from your checking account, and your bank can take 10 business days to return it. A fraudulent credit card charge is the issuer’s money while you dispute it, and federal law caps your loss at $50. Pay with a credit card you clear each month, and keep debit for the ATM.
No single cash back card pays the top rate on everything you buy. Pair a category card that pays extra where you spend the most with a no-fee card that pays a flat 2% everywhere, and put every purchase on whichever card pays more. Make sure the category card’s extra rewards exceed any fee.
Price each point at the redemption you’ll actually use before choosing points or cash back. Statement credits and gift cards top out around a penny a point, so two points per dollar pays 2% or less. If you won’t book travel that gets more than a cent per point, choose cash back.
A credit card sign-up bonus puts a large reward on a small amount of spending. A $200 bonus for $500 in purchases pays as much as 2% cash back on $10,000. Apply when expenses you already have coming will meet the spending requirement, and pay the balance in full so interest doesn’t erase the bonus.
Move the bills and purchases you already pay onto a no-annual-fee cash back card, set autopay for the full statement balance, and send the rewards to savings. At 2% back, $2,000 a month of normal spending adds $480 a year. Carry a balance instead, and interest averaging over 20% cancels most or all of it.
To get the full savings from a balance transfer card, clear the balance before the 0% rate ends. Divide what you move, plus the transfer fee, by the promo months and set autopay for that amount. Keep new purchases off the card, never pay late, and don’t let the old card fill back up.
Paying credit card interest never raises your credit score. Scores see the balance on your statement and whether you paid on time, and newer ones count a balance you roll over against you. Use your card, then pay the full statement balance by the due date every month to build credit without paying interest.
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