Credit Cards: Which to get? Whats the best?

[Mentat]

I want to get two credit cards.
1] Cash back on gas (https://www.discovercard.com/c...s68226&aid=&pid=&sid=)
2] Points towards Travel (purchases on local restaurants, groceries, and the like)

1] Gas Card: I found what seems to be the best gas card around. It's the Discover Gas Card. You get 5% cash back on gas purchases up to $1200 worth of total gas purchases annually. (In October they are specifying you can't go over $100 worth of purchasing of gas in a single month. If you do, the cash back drops to 1%)

2] I have not found an outstanding Travel rewards card. I searched a little bit, but not much.

What rewards cards do you guys use? And more importantly, what is the best travel card out there for a person like me. (don't spend TOO much. Don't take business trips)

 

[kranky]

Don't get a card for travel - they are too restrictive. Get a cash back card and you can spend the money on travel any way you like. Look at the Chase Freedom card.

 

[RossMAN]

Remember most frequent flier airline credit cards charge an annual fee.

My current favorites are the Chase Freedom and Amex Blue Cash.

 

[OulOat]

To me, cash back is a lot better than travel points (for the same reason that kranky specified), but if you are hell bent on getting one, get the Starwoods AMEX. 1 point for each dollar spent, and if you convert 10k you can get 12.5k any airline miles. You can also use it to stay in nice Starwood hotels (Four Points, Sheration, Westin, W, etc). This card is better than any airline card and probably better than all other hotel cards.

The best cash back credit card is the Penfed Visa Plat Rewards card. 5% on gas, 1.25% on everything else, credited each month, no limits. Plus, Visas are accepted pretty much everywhere. The only problem is you have to work for or know someone in the military/ pentagon. However, you can get around that by joining a Military support program (I think the one time fee is like $50). Oh yeah, you'll also have to open a checking account and deposit $5 before they will start the credit card process. Just follow the instructions on the page and it's easy.

 

[shortylickens]

For me?
Either a Navy Federal or a USAA.

Both have really low interest rates and they dont skyrocket for no reason.

 

[Corbett]

For 0% balance transfer Discover card is the best. You cant find the deal online, you need to call them and ask for the 0% for the life of the balance and they will give it to you. I just did. You just have to make 2 small purchases a month after 1 year to continue the 0%. Just make sure the purchase is like 10 cents at the gas station or something because your purchases get an interest rate that gets tacked on to the end of your bill to it accumulates until you pay the whole thing off.

 

[daggerr]

The Discover Gas card is not anywhere near the best gas card, especially after the $100 per month restriction. Consider AmEx Blue Cash (up to 5%, tiered), Citi Driver's Edge (6% for first year), BP Rewards Visa (5% at BP), and Chase Freedom (3.75%).

Like others, I would suggest not restricting yourself to travel-rewards cards when cash back cards can be even better. However, having said that, the AmEx Blue Sky card is a pretty good deal. You basically earn 1.33% ($100 per $7500 spent) on all spending. And you can apply your earnings to any airline, any hotel, any vehicle renter, any cruise line, any travel agent, etc.

If all of the possibilities are giving you a headache, you might just want to plug your categorical spending profile into the rewards calculator mentioned in my signature and see which cards will pay you the most.

Note that the calculator converts all reward currencies (points, miles, etc.) into dollars to enable an apples-to-apples comparison. It also does a multi-card analysis to suggest the best 2-card combination, 3-card combination, etc.