Best Visa credit cards for December 2024

Visa Traditional is the base level benefits tier. If your Visa card simply says Visa then you likely have Visa Traditional benefits and are covered for:

• Emergency card replacement
• Emergency cash dispersal
• Lost or stolen card reporting
• Zero-liability protection
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Roadside dispatch

Visa Signature is the mid-level benefit tier. It includes cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and offers fewer benefits than the Visa Infinite tier, but more than the Traditional tier. Visa Signature includes everything covered in Traditional, plus:

• Warranty manager service
• Year-end budget summary
• Travel and emergency assistance services
• Visa concierge services

Visa Infinite cards, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, provide cardholders with the highest level of protections and perks. Visa Infinite covers everything Visa Signature covers, plus:

• Trip cancellation coverage
• Return protection
• Travel emergency and accident coverage
• Lost luggage reimbursement

Plenty of credit card options for business owners are in Visa’s network, many of which charge no annual fee and offer rewards on common business purchases.

The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card is one option that offers a solid welcome bonus and rewards everyday spending.

Frequent travelers can find a Visa card that fits their rewards strategy and offers boosted rates for everyday categories like dining and grocery shopping. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a great choice if you can afford the $95 annual fee or feel confident you’ll offset it with the rewards you’ll earn. But if you want to avoid annual fees, a great alternative is the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card.

Students, people new to credit or anyone building toward a better score are likely to benefit from at least one Visa credit card. A great option is the Petal 2 “Cash Back, No Fees” Visa Credit Card which earns 1 percent back on all purchases but incentivizes on-time payments by offering 1.5 percent back after you make 12 months of on-time payments. This can promote financial responsibility and ease cardholders into positive credit habits that can help establish a better credit score.

You need a credit or debit card to shop online. Since Visa is such a large network, you might already have a Visa card or are considering one. Several Visa cards can help you earn plenty of rewards for online shopping, the most notable of which is the Prime Visa. This card is a must-have for Amazon Prime members, but if you don’t use Amazon, the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card is a great alternative because online shopping is one of its choice categories.

Visa’s network includes several cards for earning rewards on groceries, dining, gas, travel and other everyday spending categories. These categories make up the majority of the average person’s spending each year and high rewards rates in these categories can help you make the most of your Visa credit card.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® card is a great choice if you’re looking for an easy way to earn rewards in multiple everyday categories. Alternatively, if you have a nuanced spending strategy that includes an equal amount of spending in several spending categories, you may be interested in a flat-rate cash back card like the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card.

Since many Visa cardholders are eager to earn rewards, a key criteria for a card’s inclusion in our list is whether it offers 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 2021 was $66,928 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: $5,200
• Dining out: $3,000
• Entertainment: $2,500
• Gas: $2,100
• Apparel and services: $1,700

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 23 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 cards in its primary category.

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

Here’s a deeper look at the factors considered as part of a rewards card’s “Value” rating:

We also rate all cards based on how their ongoing average APR compares to the average APR you’ll find other cards in their primary category. However, the impact of an especially high or low APR on a card’s overall score depends on its primary category.

For rewards-earning cards, this factor has only a minor influence on the card’s score and whether the card is included in our list, since rewards card users generally try to avoid carrying a balance. That said, rewards-earning cards may get a solid boost in score and be more worthy of inclusion in our list if they also offer an intro APR on balance transfers or new purchases, since such offers aren’t always present on these cards.

More important to these cards’ scores and their inclusion in our list is how their annual fees influence their overall value. We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. 

Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value. However, if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score and a spot in our list even if it carries a high annual fee. After all, the highest rewards rates and most valuable perks are often found on cards with annual fees.

Interest rates and intro APR offers play a much larger role in a card’s score and whether it’s included in our list when the card is designed specifically for users looking to save on interest charges, such as dedicated balance transfer or low-interest cards. 

Other fees considered include cash advance and late payment fees, along with penalty APRs.

Along with rewards value and cost, we consider other factors that could give cards great long-term value, like flexible rewards redemption and especially unique and valuable perks.

We rate rewards-earning cards based on the restrictions they impose on earning and redeeming rewards and consider this when deciding on a card’s inclusion in our list. 

These restrictions could include only allowing users to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requiring users to meet a certain earning threshold before they can redeem rewards. We also examine whether points are worth less when you opt for some redemption options over others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also evaluate each card’s perks based on their value, usefulness and uniqueness. Cards that offer top-tier benefits like airport lounge access or travel credits are likely to stand out, but we also aim to highlight cards that offer valuable under-the-radar perks, like cellphone protection or one-off credits for everyday expenses like dining and streaming services.

Visa is a transaction processing network and does not issue credit cards. While some payment networks, like Discover and American Express, offer their own credit cards, Visa works with issuers to offer cards to consumers.

The best Visa credit card for you will depend on your spending habits, which benefits interest you and your credit score. Luckily, there are a wide variety of Visa credit cards and there’s likely a great option for you available from a major credit card issuer.

Apply directly through the issuer of the card you’re interested in. You can do this in-person at some banks, online at the issuer’s website or through tools like Bankrate’s CardMatch™ tool.