Best no annual fee travel card?

Anonymous · ‎01-25-2016

I am making a trip to Europe next month, and am looking to acquire a card with no FTF and preferably no annual fee to use for the trip.

Right now I am looking at the Bank of America Travel Rewards, Barclaycard Arrival, and Capital One Quicksilver.

Would like to get some advice on which of these would be best, or maybe even another card that I haven't listed here. Thanks!

Anonymous · ‎01-25-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I am making a trip to Europe next month, and am looking to acquire a card with no FTF and preferably no annual fee to use for the trip.

Right now I am looking at the Bank of America Travel Rewards, Barclaycard Arrival, and Capital One Quicksilver.

Would like to get some advice on which of these would be best, or maybe even another card that I haven't listed here. Thanks!

Try to find out whether a Chip+Sig card will work where you're going, or whether you'd be best off with a "true" Chip+PIN card.

red259 · ‎01-25-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I am making a trip to Europe next month, and am looking to acquire a card with no FTF and preferably no annual fee to use for the trip.

Right now I am looking at the Bank of America Travel Rewards, Barclaycard Arrival, and Capital One Quicksilver.

Would like to get some advice on which of these would be best, or maybe even another card that I haven't listed here. Thanks!

Some travel cards like the CSP will waive the AF in the first year. Then next year if you do not want to keep the card or pay the Af at least then you can downgrade to the no-AF version. Arrival+ would be another good example. After a year I downgraded to the Arrival. You could get Cap 1 ventue card and after a year PC to a QS.

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Anonymous · ‎01-25-2016

+1 on the cap1 Venture. The sign up bonus is great, usually high starting limits and no ftf. It's very easy to convert to a QS once the annual fee rolls around.

degs138 · ‎01-25-2016

I would go for Barclay arrival+, get the spend bonus and see if the AF is worth it after the first year.

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takeshi74 · ‎01-26-2016

"Travel" is a very vague term covering a number of different types of cards. Wanting to travel doesn't necessarily mean that a travel card is a best fit. For any rewards card you have to look at your spend and find what maximizes rewards on your major spend categories. For rewards programs like UR, MR, TY, etc you need to go beyond earn rates and consider the redemption methods you can use with a given program and how that impacts reward value. Such programs also generally require a large amount of spend. Run the numbers to consider what suits you best. If your spend isn't sufficient then a cash back card may be a better fit.

@Anonymous wrote:
I am making a trip to Europe next month, and am looking to acquire a card with no FTF and preferably no annual fee to use for the trip.

You don't have to get a "travel" card for no FTF. Also, don't just consider AF alone. Run the numbers for your spend and consider total/cost benefit. If you don't have the spend to earn sufficient rewards to overcome the AF then a travel card probably isn't the right tool for the job.

However, as I said, "travel" is a vague classification. The Arrival/+ is essentially a restricted cash back card that could work for those with lower spend, for example.