Best credit cards of December 2024

What to know:

• Cash back cards usually earn rewards on everyday purchases like groceries, dining, gas and more.
• You can typically redeem cash back as a statement credit, deposit to your bank account or gift card. Some cash back rewards also let you pool rewards with travel cards from the same issuer.
• Flat-rate cash rewards cards typically offer a maximum of 2 percent back on purchases, while cards with rotating categories or year-round bonus categories can offer anywhere from 2 percent to 6 percent back on certain purchases (sometimes with a few restrictions on how much you can earn).

Who they’re great for:

• Household shoppers — The most popular cash back bonus categories are a good fit if you spend mostly on groceries, gas, dining and other everyday categories.
• Simplicity seekers — If you prefer streamlined redemption and minimal fees, cash back cards are a good option.
• Staycation-ers and infrequent travelers — If you don’t plan to redeem rewards for travel, cash back is likely your best alternative.

Where to look:

• Bankrate’s best cash back cards
• How to choose a cash back credit card
• Bankrate’s best grocery cards hub
• Bankrate’s best restaurant cards hub
• Bankrate’s best gas station cards hub

What to know

• Along with earning valuable travel rewards, these cards also tend to feature benefits that make your journey easier and more affordable. Some of the best perks include airport lounge access, free hotel upgrades, travel protections (like trip cancellation insurance) and credits toward expenses like airfare, hotel stays and expedited security screening services.
• General travel cards earn rewards on airfare, hotels and other expenses, no matter how you fly or where you stay. These cards may also include perks like airport lounge access or credits for expedited security screening services.
• Co-branded cards typically carry high reward rates and elite loyalty status with particular airlines or hotel chains. Airline cards typically provide perks like in-flight purchase discounts, priority boarding and free checked baggage. Similarly, hotel cards may offer free nights, hotel credits and status that gives you perks like room upgrades and flexible check-in.

Who they’re great for:

• Flexibility-focused travelers — If you want to book with the airline or hotel that offers the best deal and care more about earning and redeeming rewards than traveling in style, you’ll likely prefer a general-purpose travel card.
• Road warriors — Road trippers and weekend adventurers could save on accommodations and future trips with travel cards’ lodging, dining, entertainment and rental car rewards.
• Strategic shoppers — Travel cards’ broad category coverage, pairing opportunities and transfer partners will help you squeeze the most mileage from your rewards.
• Loyal jet-setters and hotel guests — An airline or hotel card would be a rewarding pick if you prefer to fly with a specific carrier or stay with a particular hotel chain.
• Travel hackers — A co-branded airline or hotel card may be worthwhile if you don’t mind holding multiple cards to maximize your travel rewards.

Where to look:

• Bankrate’s best travel cards hub
• Bankrate’s best airline cards hub
• Bankrate’s best hotel cards hub
• Fine-tune your rewards strategy with Bankrate’s Travel Toolkit

What to know

• If you only need 12 to 15 months to pay off your balance, a no-annual-fee rewards card with a short intro APR period may be your best choice long term. Otherwise, cards designed specifically for balance transfers or financing new purchases will be a better fit since they tend to offer 0 percent intro APR periods of 18 to 21 months.
• Some balance transfer cards offer a shorter intro APR on purchases than balance transfers, so consider whether any new purchases will make it harder for you to pay off your balance during the intro APR window. In that case, a card with a matching intro APR on both purchases and balance transfers would be a better fit.
• Cards typically charge a 3 percent to 5 percent balance transfer fee. Make sure to check your math beforehand since a card with a lower transfer fee may be more cost-effective than one with a longer intro APR if you have a large balance.

Who they’re great for:

• Debt-settlers — A balance transfer card may give you enough breathing room to finally pay off snowballing debt.
• Balance managers — You can consolidate multiple credit card balances (and sometimes personal loans) onto one zero-interest card if you’re having a hard time keeping up with interest charges across multiple cards.
• Big purchase planners — You can use a card with a strong 0 percent intro APR on purchases to keep interest at bay as you pay off big purchases.

Where to look:

• Bankrate’s best balance transfer cards hub
• Bankrate’s best 0 percent APR cards hub

What to know:

• You’ll want to consider a low-interest credit card that has an ongoing APR below the average interest rate (currently hovering around a high 20 percent) if you may need to carry a balance.
• Credit union cards often offer especially low rates, with low-end APRs sometimes ranging from 8 percent to 14 percent.
• In case you may need extra time to pay off unexpected purchases, an alternate payment plan may save you more money than carrying a balance even with a low-interest card.

Who they’re great for:

• Emergency expense planners — Minimize the impact of interest should you need to carry a balance.
• First-time cardholders — Provides a lower-cost safety net in case you miss a payment while getting the hang of credit cards.

Where to look: 

• Bankrate’s best low-interest cards hub 
• Best credit union cards

What to know:

• With a cash back card for business, you can earn a flat percentage on general purchases or a higher rate on specialty categories such as office supplies. A business travel card that earns miles or points can also help you reduce your costs for airfare, hotel stays and transit.
• Business cards typically carry specialized features, such as higher credit limits than consumer cards, tools to help you manage expenses, free cards for employees and business-related rewards categories, such as shipping, advertising or office supply store purchases

Who they’re great for:

• Small-business owners — On top of business-oriented features not found on personal cards, business cards can also help you handle your small business or startup costs and build your business’ credit score.
• Side hustlers — Even if you have a small online store, dog walking or ridesharing side gig, you can use a business card to earn rewards, access expense management tools and keep your business spending separate from your personal spending.
• Business travelers — Many of the top-tier business cards offer travel perks and rewards, and frequent business travelers can put features like annual travel credits, airline companion passes and lounge access privileges to good use.

Where to look:

• Bankrate’s best business cards hub
• Bankrate’s best American Express business cards
• Bankrate’s best Bank of America business cards
• Bankrate’s best Capital One business cards

What to know:

• You might not need a good or excellent credit score (or even a credit history at all) to qualify for a student card. In fact, some cards for international students don’t even require a Social Security number.
• Some student card perks are especially useful if you’re in college, like statement credits for Amazon Prime Student, streaming services or other common subscriptions.
• Annual fees, foreign transaction fees and penalty APRs are less common among student cards, and some issuers even waive your first late payment fee. These minimal fees can provide some peace of mind for students without the same income or credit experience as a seasoned cardholder.

Who they’re great for:

• Students — Unlike secured cards and other credit-building options for people with limited credit, student credit cards are only available to students. Student cards’ comparatively low rates and fees, $0 deposit requirement, student-oriented perks and rewards make them perhaps the best cards available if you want to build a credit history.

Where to look:

• Bankrate’s best student cards hub

What to know:

• Secured cards are the most accessible — and feature-rich — credit card option if you have no credit history or a “bad” to “fair” credit score (typically a FICO score of 669 or lower, or a VantageScore of 660 or lower).
• In exchange for a refundable security deposit (typically starting at $200), issuers provide you a matching credit limit that allows you to work on building credit. Setting your own credit limit with a large deposit can make it much easier to keep your credit utilization ratio — a key credit scoring factor — in check.
• Non-students may find that secured cards generally offer stronger perks than unsecured credit-building cards. In fact, several issuers provide secured cards with rewards rates identical to their full-fledged counterparts, such as the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Secured Credit Card* or Discover it® Secured Credit Card.

Who they’re great for:

• Credit-builders with bad credit or no credit history — If you have money for a security deposit, a secured card could be the most cost-effective, rewarding and expedient card option to build or repair your credit.
• Cardholders looking to build credit as efficiently as possible — Since most secured cards let you set your own credit limit based on your deposit, you may be able to get a much higher limit than you would with an unsecured card, making it easier to build credit via low credit utilization. 

Where to look:

• Bankrate’s best secured cards hub
• Bankrate’s best cards for no credit history hub
• Bankrate’s best cards for bad credit hub

What to know:

• Unsecured credit cards for bad or fair credit can be handy if you don’t have the flexibility to tie up a large security deposit for several months. However it’s important to carefully read each card’s terms and conditions.
• Unsecured credit-building cards tend to charge much higher rates and fees than secured cards, and some of these unsecured cards’ terms border on being predatory. Decent unsecured cards designed for subprime credit do exist, but a secured card may be a more cost-effective option in the long run for building credit.
• Though unsecured credit-building cards are more accessible than secured cards since they don't require a security deposit, your starting credit limit is likely to be low (typically around $300), which could make it difficult to keep your credit utilization in check (a key credit-building factor).

Who they’re great for:

• Credit-builders avoiding a security deposit — Unsecured cards can be helpful if you’re hesitant to fork up a hefty deposit and you can carefully navigate the risks.
• Credit-builders with fair credit — Since you’ll be seen as a lower risk than someone with bad credit, having fair credit can get you unsecured credit-building cards that are a bit more rewarding than secured alternatives.

Where to look:

• Bankrate’s best unsecured credit-building cards
• Bankrate’s best cards for fair credit hub
• Bankrate’s best cards for bad credit hub

Bankrate’s review scores can also highlight especially great cards. Review scores are calculated on a scale of 1 to 5 and based mainly on a card’s rewards value, perks, introductory offers, APR and other fees. Although several fantastic cards hold a score of 4 and above, scoring a perfect 5/5 is quite an accomplishment. 

Here are the exceptional cards that currently hold a 5/5 Bankrate review score:

5/5 Rewards Cards:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Capital One Venture X
• Capital One Savor

5/5 Credit-building cards:

• Petal® 2 “Cash Back, No Fees” Visa® Credit Card 

5/5 Student cards:

• Discover it® Student Cash Back

5/5 Business cards:

• American Express® Business Gold Card
• Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card

The annual J.D. Power credit card satisfaction study details the major credit card industry trends each year, and the 2024 study added individual card rankings to the survey. For an extra vote of confidence, here are the top three credit cards according to consumers in the 2024 survey’s five categories (scored on a 1,000-point scale):

Rewards cards (Premium)

1. Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite Credit Card* (692)
2. The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (680)
3. Chase Sapphire Reserve (669)

Category Average: 609

Rewards cards (No annual fee)

1. Capital One Savor (679) (See Rates & Fees)
2. Chase Freedom Flex®* (670)
3. Discover it® Student Cash Back (657)

Category Average: 624

Co-branded cards (Airline)

1. Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card* (658)
2. Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card (649)
3. Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card (627)

Category Average:  600

Co-branded cards (No annual fee)

1. Apple Card* (654)
2. Hilton Honors American Express Card (644)
3. Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi (634)

Category Average: 609

Cards with no rewards (No annual fee)

1. Capital One Platinum Credit Card (619) (See Rates & Fees)
2. BankAmericard® credit card* (586)
3. Citi Simplicity® Card* (586)

Category Average: 610

J.D. Power’s annual credit card satisfaction survey is perhaps the definitive gauge of the best credit card issuer. The 2024 survey ranked 16 credit card issuers — major and regional — on a 1,000-point scale based on their customers’ satisfaction with their experience. American Express ranked first with Discover in second place, which is typical of these issuers’ neck-and-neck battle for the top two spots. It’s also worth noting the average score was 610, which means only American Express, Bank of America, Discover Chase Capital One and Citi achieved an above-average customer satisfaction rating.

Here are how the 16 issuers rank based on J.D. Power’s 2024 survey results, as well as how many Bankrate Awards the issuer’s cards have won since 2022 and an estimated point or mile value for their top rewards cards:

It’s also worth noting that the study’s seven midsize issuers — mostly regional banks and credit unions — offer cards that have earned Bankrate Awards or carry rewards that Bankrate includes in its point valuation database. Of these midsize issuers, TD Bank won “Best Bank for Sign-Up Bonuses” and PNC won “Most Trusted Bank” in the 2023 Bankrate Awards for banking. Several of the Navy Federal Credit Union cards are featured in Bankrate’s list of the best credit union cards as well.

The number of credit cards you should have depends on your goals. For example, you’ll probably want to carry multiple cards if you’re looking to maximize rewards on a broader range of expenses or wield perks specific to your favorite stores, airlines or hotels. However, you may want to stick to one card if you prioritize building credit or a streamlined rewards experience.

Having several cards is fine as long as they deliver benefits that you take full advantage of (miles, cash back, perks and so on). Just beware of burdening yourself with annual fees and temporarily bruising your credit score from multiple card applications in a short period. For reference, statistics show that 77 percent of U.S. adults have at least one credit card, with the average American holding three to four credit cards.

No-annual-fee rewards cards typically offer sign-up bonuses worth $200 to $250 after you spend $500 to $1,000 in the first three months. Meanwhile, premium rewards cards generally offer bonuses worth $500 to $800 after you spend $4,000 to $6,000 in your first three or six months. Business cards often offer even more valuable sign-up bonuses with a bigger spending requirement to match.

A credit card application could have a negative (but temporary and relatively small) effect on your credit score. Getting approved for a credit card or other type of credit account requires some scrutiny of your track record as a borrower. The process can involve two types of credit checks:

• A “hard” inquiry is when the lender pulls your credit report to make a decision about whether to lend to you.
• A “soft” inquiry is when the lender checks your credit as part of a preliminary screening. Pre-qualified credit card offers involve soft credit inquiries, so keep an eye out for cards that offer pre-qualification.

A hard inquiry can subtract a few points from your credit score temporarily, while a soft inquiry usually has no effect. You’ll want to limit the number of hard inquiries on your credit report, so be as selective as possible about which credit cards you apply for and try to get preapproved first.

Generally, you must be at least 18 years old to be the primary cardholder of a credit card. However, there are considerably more strict requirements to hold a credit card if you’re below the age of 21. You must be able to prove that you can independently pay your credit card bill or you can elect to have a cosigner, who is financially responsible for your bills if you cannot pay.

There is also the option to become an authorized user on a parent or guardian’s credit card. With this option, you can have access to a credit line before the age of 18, though age restrictions will depend on the issuer.

For cards that put earning rewards front and center, a key criteria for their inclusion in our list of the best credit cards is whether they offer impressive rewards value. This includes a card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories, as well as how closely those categories match the average person’s spending habits. In other words: Does the card earn rewards at a high rate in the most popular spending categories?

We use consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to get a reliable third-party measure of people’s spending habits. The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2023 was $77,280 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

This includes the following spending by category:

• Groceries: $6,000
• Dining out: $3,900
• Entertainment:  $2,500
• Gas: $2,400
• Apparel and services: $2,000

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 26 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases — as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

The better these values, the higher its score will be, making it more worthy of inclusion in our list and increasing its potential ranking, particularly in the Rewards and Cash Back categories.