Advertiser Disclosure
The credit card, banking, and other financial offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us – for example, when you click a link, are approved for a product, or open an account. This compensation may influence how and where offers appear on the site, including the order in which they appear on category pages. It does not influence our evaluations, ratings, or opinions, which are ours alone. We do not include every bank, credit card company, or offer available in the marketplace.
A clear verdict on each bank, card, app, and service, with the costs, the catches, and who it fits. Know whether to sign up before you do.
Get the Choice Privileges® Mastercard® if you stay at Choice hotels such as Comfort Inn on road trips and want hotel points without an annual fee. It earns 5 points per dollar on stays you book with Choice and 3 on gas and groceries, and it makes you a Gold member automatically.
Get the Best Western Rewards® Premium Visa Signature® Card if you’ll stay at a Best Western at least one night a year. Its anniversary free night covers a standard room at any Best Western-branded hotel in the U.S., Canada, or the Caribbean, so spending it on a night priced above the $89 fee pays for the card.
Get the IHG One Rewards Credit Card if you stay at IHG hotels a few nights a year and want points and Silver Elite status without an annual fee. Once you’d use a free night each year on a room that costs more than $150, the $150 IHG Premier card pays you more.
Get the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card if you stay at Wyndham hotels a few nights a year. With no annual fee, it gives you Gold status, which otherwise takes five nights a year, and cuts the points a free night costs by 10%. If you’d use a free night every year, compare the $95 Earner Plus.
Get the no-fee Apple Card if you pay with Apple Pay for most purchases. Apple Pay purchases earn 2% back as Daily Cash, or 3% at Apple, Uber, and other select merchants. The titanium card and the card number in Wallet earn 1% outside Apple, so use a card that pays 2% on everything where Apple Pay isn’t accepted.
Get the Instacart Mastercard® if your household orders groceries through Instacart every week. It pays 5% back on your first $6,000 of qualifying Instacart orders a year, worth up to $300, with no annual fee. If you buy groceries in the store, skip it, since it pays only 1% there.
Get the U.S. Bank Altitude® Go Visa Signature® Card if you eat out or order takeout often and want a card with no annual fee. It pays 4 points per dollar on your first $2,000 of dining each quarter. Use a different card abroad, since this one adds a 3% fee to foreign transactions.
Get the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi if you’re a Costco member who buys a lot of gas. It pays 5% on Costco gas and 4% at other eligible stations, on up to $7,000 a year. Skip it if you want your rewards monthly, since they come once a year, redeemable only at Costco.
If you bank with TD and spend on travel and dining, open the TD First Class℠ Visa Signature® Credit Card for 3 miles per dollar and no annual fee the first year. Before the $89 fee starts, compare no-fee national cards that earn the same rate, and keep it only if you want a TD rewards card for trips abroad.
Get the Citi Double Cash® Card if you pay your bill in full each month and want 2% back on every purchase, with no annual fee and no categories to track. Use another card abroad, where it adds a 3% fee to each purchase, or when you need 0% interest on new purchases.
End of content
End of content
