Choosing Credit Cards
Which credit card should I get? Does this one have good benefits? Which card has the best reward bonus right now? Will this fee be worth the reward? Does this credit card have an easy redemption process? Help me!?
These are just some of the questions that I routinely get asked regarding credit use and rewards hacking. I truly love helping out, but I figured I could possibly help others even more if I laid out a template on how to pick a credit card for yourself.
Now, I won’t be picking out many specific credit cards in this article. Rather, I designed the below flow chart to help guide you to the type of credit card you want based on your own unique set of circumstances. I.e. Cash Back Cards, No Fee Cards, Hotel Cards, Flexible Points Cards, or Airline Cards etc.
From there, I plan to break down each category of credit cards, discussing the fees, benefits, and bonuses of the top cards in each individual categories. From there I’ll pick my favorites to give some clarity into what I value in credit cards.
Again, with credit cards there is no black and white answer on which credit card is the best, but I figured that with how often I am getting asked about them, some general insight wouldn’t hurt.
New Credit Card Series
On top of this, I plan to lay out a new credit card series on the blog in which I show my current progression of credit card usage and reward bonuses. I’ll explain my own personal why’s for the reason behind why I choose to open a certain card, what I plan to do with the points, and if/when I plan to close the card.
I feel that most people like working examples, my plan might not perfectly fit yours, but if you can see my thought process, it may help you to better shape and direct your own unique plan.
I also feel that mapping out my current credit card usage will:
- Prove that I do in fact practice what I preach. I think some people question my credit card usage, explaining that there is no way I could possible have good credit and that many credit cards.
and
- Help decrease others fears regarding the use of credit cards. They are scary but as mentioned repeatedly, we are all too smart to be scared of them when we think about the potential savings they can offer. They are just a tool, albeit a very sweet tool, that leads to free vacations and cash if we know how to use them.
The first part of the series is already laid out in the My Favorite Starting Credit Card post on the Capital One Venture Card. This is still my favorite card for beginners and the card I too first started out with when I began credit card hacking. So feel free to revisit this card too and learn about it’s amazing benefits.
So Which Credit Card should I pick?
So this in itself is a very loaded question. It depends heavily on your own unique circumstances, goals, and comfort levels.
So instead of answering everyone’s individual questions, I decided to make a flow chart to give you a better idea of which credit card or at least credit card type you should be looking for or even if you should be looking for a credit card at all.
It’s important to remember that credit cards change. Their fee’s can change, their bonuses can change, and their overall value can change. This chart reflects my viewpoints as of writing this today. I plan to periodically adjust this chart as new cards are added or old cards are changed.
Note: This chart will also be for personal credit cards, if this goes over well, I may create a separate flow sheet for business cards.
Flow Chart Summary
Again, this is by no mean a comprehensive list, but I am hoping this gives you at least an idea of what your goals are for pursuing credit card hacking. The main question to ask yourself is why you want to credit card hack?
This will form the basis of what types of cards you want to pursue. There are thousands of cards out their so if you don’t know what you are looking for the search can seem overwhelming and make it difficult to lock in on what the best card for you is.
Hopefully, this chart helped you to narrow down your search to at least the type of card you are looking for and possibly even gave you a specific card to start out with.
Once you have the type of card you want, then you need to determine what bonuses, rewards, or deals best fit into your life goals. This in itself could warrant it’s own flow chart. And again, as mentioned, is something I plan to break down as I discuss each category in the next coming weeks.
How I Use the Chart
To keep it simple, for myself, I try to utilize the best reward bonuses that match my near future travel plans. If I need a place to stay I focus on cards in this category, if I am looking for a certain flight to a specific location, I look there.
As with most of these cards, I don’t plan to keep them open forever, so I chase the large bonuses in the card categories that help me the most with saving money on upcoming potential trips.
For example, I am looking into traveling to Southeast Asia this winter. So I recently opened up an airlines credit card that had a large attainable bonus that had direct flights to Southeast Asia on a regular basis.
I plan to use this card for three months, obtain the bonus, use the bonus to purchase my plane ticket, then cancel the card before I have to pay the fee next year.
From there, I will then pivot to the next card for any future travel plans that I may have. If I don’t have a specific trip, I tend to look into cards with more flexible point systems to make sure my normal spending is always benefiting me somehow.
This allows me to optimize the reward bonuses and take advantage of multiple of these unique credit cards.
Any of the extra benefits each of these individual cards offer is just gravy on top as I usually don’t focus on these aspects of credit cards. Although the free Pre-TSA credit with the Capital One Card was a game changer for me!
Conclusion
Hopefully this helped to answer many of your starting out questions. I realize that as you learn more about credit card hacking your questions will also evolve and become more specific and unique.
So as mentioned, I plan to expand with you and further break down each individual credit card category on top of the discussed credit card series outlining my own credit card use.
Again. I understand that this can be a confusing topic, so if you have any questions, please feel free to comment below or leave my a personal message here
