Favorite Credit Cards
As hobbyists, naming our favorite credit cards can create conundrums. It’s difficult to name just one, due to the volume, variety, and complexity of available cards. That’s before we even analyze our own personal situations. Eating this elephant becomes a bit easier if we consider a snapshot in time. That’s one too many metaphors for a sentence, but I think you get me. I asked members of the Miles to Memories team for their favorite cards right now and why. Here are their answers and my takes on each. I shoved my current favorite in here, too. We’ll go in random order.
Some of these offers have ended.
DDG – Amex Gold
“I love my Amex Gold, but especially right now with the +4x Membership Rewards referral bonus I’m receiving.”
Card Highlights
- Cardholders earn 60k Membership Rewards points after $4k spend within the first 6 months.
- Earn 4x Membership Rewards points on dining in the US and at US supermarkets (up to $25k annually).
- Earn 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
- $120 Uber Cash annually/$10 monthly.
- $120 Dining Credit annually/$10 monthly: On eligible purchases at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Boxed, and participating Shake Shack locations.
- $250 Annual Fee
My Take: The Amex Gold has delivered for years and continues to do so. When stacked with his referral bonus, DDG is earning 8x on all supermarket and dining spend up to $25k. That’s hard to outdo, maybe only with other recent Amex Platinum offers. Conscientious Uber and dining credit users will largely counterbalance the $250 annual fee.
Shawn – Amex Blue Business Plus
“I enjoy the Blue Business Plus for it’s 2x everywhere earning with no annual fee.”
Card Highlights
- Earn 15k Membership Rewards points after $3k spend within 3 months.
- Earn 2x points on the first $50k spend each calendar year.
- You’ve got the power to use your Card beyond its credit limit* with Expanded Buying Power.
- 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months from the date of account opening.
- No Annual Fee
My Take: I recently closed my Blue Business Plus, primarily due to wanting the Amex credit card slot for another welcome offer. The card in and of itself is outstanding – 2x on all purchases up to $50k annually. Many also like keeping their Membership Rewards account active with this card while avoiding an annual fee.
Benjy – Chase Freedom Flex
“Currently, the usual Freedom 5x familiarity with additional 3x uncapped categories has my attention.”
Card Highlights
- Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
- 5% cash back on up to $1.5k in combined purchases in quarterly bonus categories.
- 3% cash back on drugstore and dining purchases.
- 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers.
- No annual fee
- Learn More
My Take: I’m sticking to my opinion that Chase is boring compared to their competitors. I was nonsensically slow to product change from a regular Freedom, but I’m Flexing routinely these days. Why? I maximize the easy quarterly 5% categories as always, but I’m also spending at scale in the drugstore category. Stacking with the Reserve and its Pay Yourself Back feature, I’m obtaining 7.5% and 4.5% cash back, respectively. No other info necessary.
Ryan S and Mark – Amex Platinum
“I like my Platinum now due to the outstanding perks more than outweighing the annual fee.” – Ryan S
“We’re enjoying the Platinum during the 5x supermarket and dining offer period.” – Mark
Card Highlights
- Earn 100k Membership Rewards points after you spend $6k within the first 6 months.
- Earn 5x points for flights booked directly with airlines or American Express Travel (up to $500k spend per calendar year) and earn 5x points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.
- $200 Hotel Credit: Get $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings with American Express Travel.
- $240 Digital Entertainment Credit Annually/$20 Monthly
- Centurion Lounge Access
- $200 Airline Fee Credit
- $200 Uber Cash Annually
- $695 annual fee
My Take: The Platinum has a litany of benefits (too many to list here), and that speaks to how valuable the card is. I feel the new benefits vastly outweigh the annual fee increase. I still enjoy cashing out at 1.1 cent per point on the Schwab version of the Platinum. It’s the only ultra-premium card I’ll hold onto indefinitely. In fact, we’re keeping my wife’s, too.
Bethany and Ian – Citi Premier
“I’m set with Amex and Chase currencies, so I like earning ThankYou Points with the Premier’s 3x categories currently. I also enjoy the low annual fee.” – Bethany
“I’m going with the Citi Premier due to its solid bonus categories. I have an easy, lazy wallet with this card and the Double Cash.” – Ian
Card Highlights
- Earn 60k bonus points after spending $4k within the first 3 months of account opening.
- 3x earning at grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, and airfare. 1x earning everywhere else.
- Annual $100 hotel savings benefit on a minimum $500 stay booked on thankyou.com.
- $95 annual fee
My Take: The Premier is probably my favorite premium card currently. I use it even more than our multiple Amex Gold cards. The uncapped 3x earning in the excellent spend categories are the best of any single card out there, from my perspective. Plus, Citi has improved its list of eclectic partners – Choice Hotels is my favorite. Plus, cashout at 1 cent per point is a snap.
Joe – Barclays JetBlue Plus
“Right now my favorite card is the JetBlue Plus card because every January I stupidly start spending towards Mosaic status again.”
Card Highlights
- Earn 50k bonus JetBlue points after $1k spend within the first 90 days.
- Cardholders earn 6x on JetBlue purchases and 2x at grocery stores and dining. Earn 1x everywhere else.
- Earn 5k bonus points on card anniversary each year.
- Enjoy Mosaic benefits with $50k spend each calendar year.
- Annual $100 credit on JetBlue Vacations purchases annually.
- 50% savings on in-flight food and beverage purchases.
- $99 annual fee
My Take: Perhaps Joe is beating himself too much about Mosaic status. Those who can reach the $50k spend level and travel on JetBlue can do great things with that status. Earning on this card isn’t out of this world, but 2x at grocery and restaurants can easily help one top of a JetBlue account for an award. Many can justify the $99 annual fee with the 5k bonus points each card anniversary. The only thing keeping me from getting this card is Barclays’ inability to approve me for anything lately.
PDX Deals Guy – Capital One Venture X
“I like my Venture One X for its ongoing benefits, especially the Priority Pass membership (including restaurants) for up to 4 authorized users.”
Card Highlights
- Earn 100k bonus miles when you spend $10k in the first 6 months.
- Receive up to $200 back in statement credits for vacation rentals in the first year.
- Receive up to $300 back annually as statement credits for bookings through Capital One Travel.
- Get 10k bonus miles every year on your card anniversary.
- Earn unlimited 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel, plus unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases.
- Access to Capital One and 1,300+ Priority Pass lounges worldwide.
- Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.
- $395 annual fee
- Learn More
My Take: I first called out PDX for trolling me with his answer, but he genuinely likes his Venture X. I guess some out there love it. The tricky Capital One approval process and their relatively small card lineup have me looking elsewhere. Due to the fairly limited benefits, it seems that Capital One had to incentivize people to pursue this so-called ultra-premium card by offering a relatively low annual fee. Regardless, I’m out.
Favorite Credit Cards – Conclusion
That’s a quite diverse selection of favorite credit cards from the Miles to Memories team. I’m not surprised at all, since we respectfully disagree on plenty of points and travel aspects. Agreeing gets boring very quickly, anyway. Our favorites will inevitably change, perhaps minutes after this article’s published (if not before). But the fact our answers are consistently changing means that the hobby is incentivizing us to think again for one reason or another. I’m all for that! What are your favorite credit cards right now?
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
From your list I have two, Freedom Flex and Blue Business plus. As you say, the Blue + is a great no AF placeholder for my 1.2M MR’s.
However, I personally most prefer UR’s as a currency, so my current favorite cards are my grandfathered Ink+ and Ink Cash. With the regular Staples no load fee deals, (and even better the less than no load fee deals @ OD/Max) These two cards provide me with $75K/year of bandwidth @ 5X UR’s for basically ANYTHING, (no MS* required, just use the cards for any purchase anywhere or bills to be paid via Visa/MC).
Obviously, anyone who doesn’t already have an Ink+ can’t get one, (but anyone can get an Ink Cash with $25K/year “Uncategorized Spend” @ 5X UR via this method of “Category Shifting”.
Clint,
We also love our Ink Cash cards! Thanks for reading.
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