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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 Discover it® Cash Back if you’ll activate its 5% categories every quarter and pay your balance in full. Its Cashback Match doubles all the cash back you earn in your first year, and there’s no annual fee. If you’d rather earn one rate with nothing to track, pick a flat 2% card instead.
Get the BJ’s One+® Mastercard® if you already pay for BJ’s Club+, since it pays 5% back on most BJ’s purchases with no annual fee. On the $60 Club membership, upgrade for it once you spend about $250 a month at BJ’s, where earning 5% rather than the BJ’s One’s 3% covers Club+’s extra $60 a year.
Open the American Express Blue Cash Preferred® Card if your household spends more than $3,170 a year at U.S. supermarkets. Past that point, its 6% grocery rate covers the $95 fee and still out-earns the no-fee Blue Cash Everyday’s 3%. Skip it if most of your groceries come from Walmart, Target, or warehouse clubs, where purchases don’t earn the 6%.
Get the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card if groceries, dining, entertainment, and streaming are a big share of your spending. It pays 3% cash back on all four with no cap and charges no annual fee. If your spending is spread across other things, choose a card that pays one flat rate on everything instead.
Open the Commerce Miles® Credit Card if you already bank with Commerce and will deposit your cash back into a Commerce myRewards Savings account, where it earns a 25% bonus. Without that bonus, a national no-fee travel card will usually earn you more than this one.
Happen Bank, the former LendingClub, is a strong pick if you’re paying off credit cards, because it can pay up to 12 creditors for you, sometimes at a lower rate than a cash loan. If someone would apply with you, check your rate jointly too, since two incomes can qualify for a lower rate or bigger loan than one.
Choose a Prosper personal loan when a co-borrower’s credit or income would get you approved or a lower rate, since Prosper takes joint applications. With credit strong enough to qualify alone, compare Prosper’s APR, which includes a fee of up to 9.99%, with the APRs of lenders that charge no fee.
Choose an Upgrade personal loan if your credit is fair and you’re consolidating debt, since Upgrade can pay your creditors directly and discount your rate for it. Budget for its origination fee of up to 9.99%, taken out of the loan up front. With strong credit, compare its annual percentage rate (APR), which includes the fee, with no-fee lenders’ APRs.
Open a Robinhood account if you want a simple app for trading stocks, ETFs, and options without commissions. Add its $50-a-year Gold membership only if the 3.6% it pays on your cash, plus the extra 2% it adds to your IRA match, earns more than the fee.
Get the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card if you travel abroad often and want one no-fee card that pays 1.5% cash back everywhere without a foreign transaction fee. If you rarely leave the U.S., a no-fee card paying a flat 2% will earn you more.
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