So in your humble opinion, what are the best Credit Cards to have as of August, 2021?

[longtimelurker]

---

@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:

Among the no annual fee credit cards, some of the widely available top cards include the following:

*American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card

*American Express Hilton Honors Card

*Bank of America Customized Cash Visa

*Bank of America Travel Rewards Visa

*Barclays Wyndham Earner Visa

*Capital One SavorOne Mastercard

*Capital One VentureOne Mastercard

*Chase Freedom Flex Mastercard

*Chase Freedom Unlimited Visa

*Citi Custom Cash Mastercard

*Citi Rewards+ Mastercard

*Discover Cash It Card

*Elan Financial Services Max Cash Preferred Visa/Mastercard

*PNC Cash Rewards Visa

*U.S. Bank Altitude Go Visa

*U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa

*Wells Fargo Active Cash Visa

Among annual fee cards, I think the American Express Gold Card is a very good card.  The Chase World of Hyatt Visa Visa is a probably the best hotel rewards card available.  The Bank of America Amtrak Guest Rewards World Mastercard is a very strong card if you use Amtrak a lot.

---

The list sort of shows the earlier points raised about the subjective nature:  I certainly wouldn't consider the Hilton or Wyndham cards as a "top card" for myself, simply because I don't use those families of hotels.   And I am sure thr other cards appear great or meh to others!

---

I mentioned the Hilton and Wyndham no annual fee cards because they provide solid value for some types of non-hotel spend, meaning they can be used for some types of regular spend (if you like staying at either or both hotel chain).  As an example, with the Wyndham Rewards Earner Visa, you earn 5 points per dollar spent at gas stations.  I value Wyndham Rewards points at 0.7 cents per point, so gas spending would earn a rewards rate of 3.5%.  Some websites value Wyndham Rewards points at higher values, which would mean gas spending would earn an even higher rewards rate.

---

Right, but the bolded part was my point!

[jmw1]

---

@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:

There's a reason why most credit card and/or travel-focused rewards sites speak highly of the Chase World of Hyatt Visa credit card.

---

I think WoH is ok, but it really doesn't suit my travel patterns anymore especially since the pandemic started. I still travel, but it's the staycation type where there is no Hyatt within an hour's drive. I'd much rather have cash rewards versus travel currency nowadays. 

[AlanGJP]

---

@SoCalGardener wrote:

---

Hmmm... I haven't used my BCP at Walmart, but while it was still BCE I did--and got 3% cash back on groceries; here's one of its entries. Note that I only order online from Walmart Grocery (their prices can't be beat for things like Charmin, Viva, other household stuff!). You can see that's it labelled as a US supermarket. So at the very least, some clarification needs to enter this picture! I know it codes as groceries when ordered online, but I have no idea about in-store purchases.

3% Cash Back

Will appear on your Mar 23 statement as WALMART GROCERY WALMART.COM AR

Merchant Details
WALMART ONLINE GROCERY

U.S. Supermarkets

---

Oh! That's great to hear. DW has a WM card and uses it for rewards, but if I can get us 6% using her Amex BCP, then that's perfect! In-store makes sense that it would code as straight-up WM since you can buy a hammer, hamper, clothes and video games w/out buying groceries in the same location and Amex wouldn't know. So likely they code it as WM instead. I'll try next purchase to verify 100%, but I'm fairly confident that is the case. (We did try last year with my Gold card and it did not code as Grocery, so I'm not 100% BCP wouldn't - but my belief is that they'd follow suit.)

[SoCalGardener]

---

@AlanGJP wrote:

---

@SoCalGardener wrote:

---

Hmmm... I haven't used my BCP at Walmart, but while it was still BCE I did--and got 3% cash back on groceries; here's one of its entries. Note that I only order online from Walmart Grocery (their prices can't be beat for things like Charmin, Viva, other household stuff!). You can see that's it labelled as a US supermarket. So at the very least, some clarification needs to enter this picture! I know it codes as groceries when ordered online, but I have no idea about in-store purchases.

3% Cash Back

Will appear on your Mar 23 statement as WALMART GROCERY WALMART.COM AR

Merchant Details
WALMART ONLINE GROCERY

U.S. Supermarkets

---

Oh! That's great to hear. DW has a WM card and uses it for rewards, but if I can get us 6% using her Amex BCP, then that's perfect! In-store makes sense that it would code as straight-up WM since you can buy a hammer, hamper, clothes and video games w/out buying groceries in the same location and Amex wouldn't know. So likely they code it as WM instead. I'll try next purchase to verify 100%, but I'm fairly confident that is the case. (We did try last year with my Gold card and it did not code as Grocery, so I'm not 100% BCP wouldn't - but my belief is that they'd follow suit.)

---

You know what's funny? When you're grocery shopping online at Walmart, you can also buy all that other stuff! Hammers, clothes, games, TVs, whatever! And Amex still sees it as groceries. I think the key is to do it via the grocery portal on Walmart, not in-store and not via regular walmart.com. At least that's what I do, and you can see the results!

I needed some new panties recently (needed a smaller size! yay!!) and I looked on Walmart one time while grocery shopping; they actually had the Hanes high-cut briefs I like, so I bought some. Still counted as groceries to Amex--they don't look at your actual order, just the total submitted via the grocery division.

[AlanGJP]

---

@SoCalGardener wrote:

---

---

You know what's funny? When you're grocery shopping online at Walmart, you can also buy all that other stuff! Hammers, clothes, games, TVs, whatever! And Amex still sees it as groceries. I think the key is to do it via the grocery portal on Walmart, not in-store and not via regular walmart.com. At least that's what I do, and you can see the results!

That's great! I'll give that a shot on our next order and see how it goes. If I can get regular stuff via the grocery portal and get 6% back, that's wonderful!

[FormerCollegeDJ]

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:

Among the no annual fee credit cards, some of the widely available top cards include the following:

*American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card

*American Express Hilton Honors Card

*Bank of America Customized Cash Visa

*Bank of America Travel Rewards Visa

*Barclays Wyndham Earner Visa

*Capital One SavorOne Mastercard

*Capital One VentureOne Mastercard

*Chase Freedom Flex Mastercard

*Chase Freedom Unlimited Visa

*Citi Custom Cash Mastercard

*Citi Rewards+ Mastercard

*Discover Cash It Card

*Elan Financial Services Max Cash Preferred Visa/Mastercard

*PNC Cash Rewards Visa

*U.S. Bank Altitude Go Visa

*U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa

*Wells Fargo Active Cash Visa

Among annual fee cards, I think the American Express Gold Card is a very good card.  The Chase World of Hyatt Visa Visa is a probably the best hotel rewards card available.  The Bank of America Amtrak Guest Rewards World Mastercard is a very strong card if you use Amtrak a lot.

---

The list sort of shows the earlier points raised about the subjective nature:  I certainly wouldn't consider the Hilton or Wyndham cards as a "top card" for myself, simply because I don't use those families of hotels.   And I am sure thr other cards appear great or meh to others!

---

I mentioned the Hilton and Wyndham no annual fee cards because they provide solid value for some types of non-hotel spend, meaning they can be used for some types of regular spend (if you like staying at either or both hotel chain).  As an example, with the Wyndham Rewards Earner Visa, you earn 5 points per dollar spent at gas stations.  I value Wyndham Rewards points at 0.7 cents per point, so gas spending would earn a rewards rate of 3.5%.  Some websites value Wyndham Rewards points at higher values, which would mean gas spending would earn an even higher rewards rate.

---

Right, but the bolded part was my point!

---

Right - but for people who don't have favorite hotel chain but do want to earn hotel rewards points, some co-branded hotel cards (and rewards programs) are better than others.

[Anonymous]

@AlanGJP  Walmart Neighborhood Markets, Walmart Grocery Pickup, and Walmart Online Grocery all code as Groceries so they earn MR points.

Walmart SuperCenters are not considered grocery stores so they don't earn reward points.

[baronetheanvil]

I am new to the credit card game after years of thinking since I had bad credit years ago (divorce 2005) that I wouldn't be able to get credit. I never checked my credit score because I paid cash/debit card for everything. Got a free offer to check my credit and was surprised that it was above 700. Along with the free scores I was offered a DiscoverIT pre approval. Figured why not. I could use it to rent cars which can be a pain without a credit card. Was surprised to be approved for 12K. Caught the fever and was apprBoved for six cards in five weeks. Smeone here told me to behave))) It made me laught out loud. I use them like debit cards. I'm not going back to the credit h*ll I pulled myself out of.

I find that I use the DiscoverIT and Amex Blue Cash preferred much more than my other cards. The first year doubling of rewards on the IT gives me an effective 10% back on things I actually need. The Paypal virtual key combined with the IT is a thing of beauty. 6% groceries on the BCP  is sweet.

[AlanGJP]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Walmart SuperCenters are not considered grocery stores so they don't earn reward points.

---

Where I am located, the only local Walmart's are Super Centers. So our only option (in order to qualify for 6%) would be online orders.

It's unfortunate because our WM is quite large and generally when we visit, it's purely for grocery shopping. So while 100% of our purchase is groceries, it does not code as such. (This is the point I was trying to raise) I understand why it's the case, it's just unfortunate that it is. We are going to try delivery next time. Thanks

[Anonymous]

@AlanGJP Doesn't your store offer curbside pickup?