Best Credit Cards For 2011

Here are a list of the best credit card on 2011 by ASKMRCREDITCARD

Best Cash Back Credit Cards

In our opinion, the Blue Cash Everyday(SM) from American Express is the cash back credit card to get (I personally have this card). You earn 3% at supermarkets, 2% at gas station and department stores for the whole year round and you can earn unlimited rebates. With gas and food prices rising, this card will help you get some cash back from these purchases.

The Chase Freedom® Visa - $200 Bonus Cash Back is another card that I have and recommend. In fact, I have this card and I use it (in addition to my Blue Cash) for items that pay me 5% rebates (they change quarterly) that are not present with the Blue Cash. I also save money by using their shopping portal where they have lots of merchant partners. Right now, new cardholders can get $200 in cash back bonus when they spend $1,500 within six months.

Best For 0% Balance Transfer, Cash Back and Online Shopping

The Discover® More Card is a great card for those who love to shop online and are very diligent about using their card. Right now, new cardholders can get a 0% Intro APR on balance transfers for 18 months. Our staff writer Jacqui Steward has this card (in addition to the Chase Freedom). They are what we call a rotating category cash back credit card, which means that every quarter, there are items which can earn you 5% rebates. They have an online shopping portal called shopdiscover.com where you can earn 5% to 20% from shopping with their merchant partners. You can also Double the value of rebates that you have earned if you redeem them for select gift cards (over 100 partners). For example, if you have accumulated $40 in rebates, you could get a $80 celebrity cruise, carnival cruise or Universal Orlando Resorts gift card or a $100 Hyatt Hotel and Resorts Gift Card

Best Card For Balance Transfer, 0% APR and Low Rates
At present, there are a couple of cards that I will recommend for both 0% balance transfer deals and 0% deals for purchases. They both also have low interest rates if you have good credit.

The Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® is another card that offers 0% Intro APR deal on balance transfers for 21 months and and 0% Intro APR* on purchases for 21 months. The APR is between 11.99% to 20.99% (variable rate). This would be an ideal card if you already have a Discover Card and cannot transfer a balance to the same issuer.

No Annual Fee Rewards Credit Card (including for Travel)
No annual fee travel rewards credit card are best suited for folks who want to earn reward points for airline travel but whose average ticket costs $300 or less. Most airlines now require 35,000 points for a standard domestic ticket (yes those 25,000 miles seats are still around but extremely hard to get and only in off-peak seasons). Hence, if this describes you, getting a no annual fee card where you can use your rewards to book any ticket you want is a much better proposition. Below are two cards we recommend.

The Blue Sky from American Express is a great reward credit card with no annual fee. The points you earn (one point for every dollar you spend) can be redeemed for any travel expenses, hence freeing you from the confines of strict credit card programs and letting you find the best deal for yourself. 7000 points gets you $100 in statement credits for travel which is of more value than other reward programs. With no annual fee and great American Express benefits, this card should be a consideration for those looking for travel rewards.

The Chase Sapphire(SM) Card is Chase's new reward credit card and I must say that their reward program has improved a lot. What I like about this card is that you can use your points for travel in a variety of ways. Firstly, you can use their online travel booking site to book your travels. You can earn double points (so you get the benefits of most airline cards without having to pay an annual fee). You can book your travel with any agent, online or offline and use your points to pay in your next statement. You can also transfer points into gift cards of United Airlines and Continental Airlines. This is quite important because you can only transfer them at a two for one ratio with the Starwood program. Membership Rewards does not have partnership with United at all.

Best Frequent Flier Credit Cards

The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card is one of the most popular credit cards among the really frequent fliers and travelers. This is because it has probably the best hotel reward program, and the main attraction is that you can use their points for air miles in a couple of ways. Firstly, you can transfer points you earn to airline partners. Furthermore, you get a 5,000 airmiles bonus if you transfer 20,000 points into miles. Effectively, you only need 20,000 points or miles to get a free domestic flight (since most require 25,000 miles!). Or you could also book your airline tickets through Starwood (the program is called StarFlights). Starflight allows you to use a certain amount of points for tickets up to a certain value and I must say many will find this system attractive as most credit card reward programs have gotten away from this. Many American Express Centurion and Platinum cardholders also carry this card.

Best Cards For Ongoing Bonus Points

The Gold Card from American Express OPEN(SM) is another great travel rewards charge card with a great ongoing bonus. If you spend $50,000 on the card annually, you get 25,000 bonus points. Furthermore, they are now offering a whopping 50,000 bonus points for new cardholders if you spend $10,000 during the first 4 months.

The card will appeal to the business owner who travels a lot as he or she can make use of points for airline flights or transfer them to frequent flier points.

Note - You do not need to have a business to apply for this card as you can also apply as a sole proprietor.

For College Students

The Discover® Student Card is a really great card for college students. It has so many great features that I'm sure anyone will benefit from it. Below is a summary of what it offers:

5% cash back on Airlines, Hotels, Car Rentals and Cruises between Jan and Mar
5% cash back on Home Improvement Stores, Department Stores and Clothing Stores between April and June
5% cash back on Gas Stations, Hotels, Theme Parks, Zoos and Bookstores between July and September
5% cash back on Grocery Stores, Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Movie Rentals between October and November
5% and 20% cash rebates at over 100 online retailers like GAP.com, OldNavy.com, Dell.com, BestBuy.com!
You can also Double the value of rebates that you have earned if you redeem them for select gift cards (over 100 partners). For example, if you have accumulated $40 in rebates, you could get a $80 celebrity cruise, carnival cruise or Universal Orlando Resorts gift card or a $100 Hyatt Hotel and Resorts Gift Card

The Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Card for College Students is another great cash back credit card. Like the Discover Student Card, you could earn 5% cash rebates on quarterly rotating categories. They also have a online shopping portal called Citi Bonus Cash Center where you could earn extra rebates when you shop with their 400 plus merchant partners.

Best No Annual Fee Rewards Business Card And 0% Intro APR

The Chase Ink(SM) Classic is arguably the best no annual fee rewards business credit card in the market today. The Ultimate Rewards program is really good and you also earn double points when you book airfares with them. Right now, you can get a 0% Intro APR for both purchases and balance transfer for 6 months and you also get 15,000 bonus points after your first purchase and another 10,000 if you spend $5,000 within 3 months of card membership. If you are looking for a no annual fee rewards card or a balance transfer business card, this would be the card we recommend.

Best All Round Cash Back Business Credit Cards

The SimplyCash® Business Card From American Express OPEN is arguably the top cash back credit card for business owners. You can earn 5% on your wireless bills and office supplies and 3% on gasoline. As this card is part of Amex OPEN, you can also get discounts from OPEN merchant partners like Marriott, Hyatt, Fedex etc. The way it works is that when you use this card at say the Marriott Hotel, the 5% discount will come out of the following statement where you will see a credit (5%) applied to your statement. There is no annual fee and you can earn unlimited rebates. If most of your suppliers and vendors accept Amex, this would be a card we'd highly recommend.

Cash Back and 0% Intro APR Balance Transfer

The Ink Cash(SM) Business would make a great compliment to the Amex SimplyCash and I would consider this card a close second to Amex. Right now, new cardholders can get $150 bonus cash back after your first purchase. After spending $5,000 within six months, you get another $100 in cash rebates. You can earn 5% reabtes on the first $25,000 spent annually on office supplies, cable services, and telecom services and 2% cash back on the first $15,000 spent annually on gas and dining. You can earn unlimited rebates. Aside from that, this card has a portal called Chase Rewards Plus where you can earn up to 10% rebates. There is no annual fee for this card (for both owner and employees).

Best Travel Rewards Business Credit Cards

For business owners who are frequent travelers on several airlines, the best card to get is the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card from American Express OPEN. The reason (as most frequent travelers know) is that they have the best frequent guest program. There are two features that really make the Starwood program stand out. Firstly, you can transfer points into air miles. Furthermore, you can use Starpoints to book flights directly with Starwood through their StarFlight program. The Starflightprogram allows you to use a fixed number of points for a ticket price within a certain range. This feature is no longer offered with any other credit card reward programs. Even if you do not stay at Starwood Hotels, it is worth getting this card for the airline tickets you can get. The annual fee is also so low compared to more expensive dedicated airline cards.

The Ink(SM) Bold with Ultimate Rewards is Chase direct challenge to American Express Business Charge Card. This one comes with an annual fee of $95 (first year waived). But the unique proposition is that with the Ultimate Rewards Program, you can transfer points directly into miles for Continental, British Airways, Marriott, Hyatt, Priority Club and Amtrak. Aside from that, you can book your travel with any agent if you wish and just use points to redeem them, or simple use their travel booking site. This flexibility and ability to transfer points to their airline partners make this a great card for those who will benefit from it.

The The Gold Card from American Express OPEN is a great card (I used to have it before I upgraded to Platinum). This card will appeal to business owners who travels and wants to earn reward points to use back for their business. 

Low Interest Credit Card

The Chase Freedom® Visa - $50 Bonus Cash Back is one of the most popular cash back credit cards today. It also has a low interest rate between(9.99% to 22.99% - variable). You also get a 0% Intro APR* on balance transfer for 12 months. As a cash back card, you can earn 5% on various rotating categories of expenses, earn extra rebates from their shopping portal and get double points when you book any travel with their online travel site. I personally have this card and highly recommend it.

The Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® allows you to get one of the lowest rates around if your credit is good enough. The APR is between 11.99% to 20.99% (variable rate). Furthermore, you get 0% Intro APR* deal on balance transfers for 21 months and 0% Intro APR* on purchases for 21 months. If you shop online a lot, this card has a unique feature whereby you are given a separately generated credit card number just for online use. This is another step to preventing fraud online.

The Discover® More Card is a great cash back credit card that gives cardholders a rate between 11.99% and 20.99% (variable)*. Furthermore, you also get a 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers* for 15 months. The things I really like about this card is that while you want only use a balance transfer card simply for a balance transfer, with this card, you would actually want to keep it because you can earn lots of cash rebates with this card. Read our full review of the Discover More Card.

The Miles by Discover® Card has an APR* of 10.99% to 16.99%(variable rate)*. This is a great travel credit card where you can use points for any travel related expense with any travel agent.

The Slate(SM) from Chase Card has a low rate and comes with a 0% introductory APR* offer for up to 15 months for balance transfers and purchases. You can get a rate between 11.99% to 21.99% (variable rate*). This is a unique card because Chase allows to choose which items you "technically" want to pay in full each month even though you may still carry a balance. The items that you have chosen to "pay in full" will not incur finance charges even if you are still carrying a balance (unlike all other cards). Hence, as you work your way towards paying down your credit card balance, you will incur less finance charges than other typical cards.

The Discover® Motiva Card also has low interest rate between 11.99% and 20.99% (variable)*. The key feature of this card (which no other card has) is that if you pay your bills fully for 6 billing cycle, you get a pay on time bonus that is equal to a months' interest. While we always advocate paying in full, this is a great card for carry a balance. It also comes with a 3.99% introductory APR* for balance transfers for 15 months*. The one advantage Discover has over most other low rate cards is that they give you a 25 days of grace period versus 20 days for most other cards, including the ones we highlight below. Discover also gives you a separate credit card number to shop online for extra security.

The Citi® Dividend World® MasterCard® is one of the best cash back credit cards in the market today and it has a low interest rate that ranges from12.99% to 20.99% (variable). New cardholders also get a 0% Intro APR* on balance transfers for 15 months. Aside from being able to earn rebates on all your purchases, you can earn 5% rebates on quarterly rotating spending categories as well as from their online shopping portal.

 Best 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card For Excellent Credit 

The Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® is THE card to consider if you are looking for 0% balance transfer deal. They are offering 0% Intro APR* on balance transfers for 21 months and 0% Intro APR* on purchases for 21 months. If you shop online a lot, this card has a unique feature whereby you are given a separately generated credit card number just for online use. This is another step to preventing fraud online.

The Discover® More Card offers 0% Intro* APR* for 18 months on Balance Transfers* and purchases*. The things I really like about this card is that while you want only use a balance transfer card simply for a balance transfer, with this card, you would actually want to keep it because you can earn lots of cash rebates with this card.

The Slate(SM) from Chase is another great card to transfer a balance to. New cardholders get a 0% Intro APR* on balance transfer and purchases for up to 15 months. Chase also has a feature called BluePrint which specifies which category of items you have to pay in full (even though you carry a balance) so you will not be charged interest on that category.

The Citi® Dividend World® MasterCard® offers a 0% Intro APR* on balance transfer for 15 months. In addition to that, this is one of the best cash back credit cards in the market today as it offers cardholders the ability to earn extra rebates on quarterly rotating categories and from their online shopping portal.

The Discover® Open Road(SM) Card offers a 0% Intro* APR* for balance transfer and purchases for 12 months. Aside from having the features of the regular Discover Card, you can also earn 2% rebates on gasoline with this card.

List of the Best Visa Credit Cards

MasterCard and Visa are used for 80% of credit card transactions. Even die hard American Express fans carry one in their wallets just in case Amex is not accepted. Below are our thoughts on the best MasterCard available in the market today.

The Chase Sapphire(SM) in my opinion is one of the best travel rewards credit card in the market today. There are a few great features of this card. Firstly, you can earn double points on airline tickets purchased with their travel portal. You can also exchange your points for gift certificates on United, Continental, Southwest and British Airways. Or you could use any travel agent you want (online or offline) and use your points to get a statement credit. With no annual fee and a generous sign up bonus, this card is a no brainer for those looking for a good credit card reward program.

The Slate(SM) from Chase is a pretty unique card from Chase that allows you to designate part of your payment towards paying in full a particular category of expenses. As a result, that category does not incur any finance charge even though you may carry a balance. It also comes with a low APR and a 0% Introductory APR* on balance transfers for up to 15 months.

The Citi Forward® Card is targeted at young adults who use their card frequently for restaurants dining and entertainment. You can earn 5 points for every dollar you spend at these 2 categories. The reward program is based on Citi's ThankYou Reward Program. This card also comes with a 0% Intro APR if you qualify* for up to 12 months on balance transfer.

The Orchard Bank Credit Card is probably the best card to get if your credit is not so great or even if you have just recovered from BK. They offered both secured and unsecured cards and you will be approved for one of them based on your credit. They have both a Visa and MasterCard version. 

List of the Best MasterCard Credit Cards

The Citi® Platinum Select® Card is Citi's basic MasterCard. It offers a low rate and a 0% Intro APR* on balance transfers for 21 months and 0% Intro APR* on purchases for 21 months. It also has a unique program called Extra Cash where you can earn 10 points for every dollar you spend on the card and get rewards like gift cards, international airline ticket bookings and a guaranteed lowest hotel fares.

The Orchard Bank Classic MasterCards is probably the best card to get if your credit is not so great or even if you have just recovered from BK. They offered both secured and unsecured cards and you will be approved for one of them based on your credit. This is the card we recommend to those with bad credit. 

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