Best credit card to get?

Hey folks.

I do a lot of travelling for work. Naturally, they cover my expenses, but I rack up anything from $50 to $1000 a trip in additional expenses that I tend to just put on the check card and wait to be reimbursed.

The last time I cover my own rental car (accounting screwup? Here? Certainly not!) they hit me for an extra $200 deposit because it was a check card and not a regular credit card.

So, now I’m looking for a credit card for work purposes.

I don’t want an annual fee, and I have no intention of ever carrying a balance.

What would you say is the best credit card to get for the sake of cash back/rewards/bribes/etc?

I figure I may as well get something out of the situation, even if it’s on $50 a year or something.

-Joe

It’s administered by Juniper Bank and gives a 7% discount on Sinclair gas and a 2% discount on all other purchases. This drops to 5% and 1% after the first 2 billing cycles. They also offer a 25-day grace period, electronic billing and payment, e-mail notification of billing, and customized alerts to warn of possible misuse.

I set my alerts at fairly low dollar-per-day and transaction-per-day threshholds and deliberately exceeded both to test them and they worked wonderfully.

Citibank administers programs for Shell and ConocoPhillips with similar features.
There are more Sinclairs in my area than Shells and a lot of the Sinclairs are former
Phillips66s or I’d have one or both of those others as well.

You have to decide what rewards are most desireable to you. My card puts 1% into a college fund for my niece. My sister has a card that gives 1% to her favorite charity. Most of the people I know who fly a lot go for the air miles, frequently using them to upgrade to first class on their business trips.

This site has very down-to-earth advice and good information and comparisons.

I wouldn’t get a Capital One card after reading this thread.

Quite a few places don’t take American Express.

I second laina_f.

Do NOT, repeat, do NOT get a Capital One credit card.

If (like me) you put thousands a month on a card, but pay it off each month to zero, the interest rate is probably not that big an big issue. A card with the maximum benefits or discounts might be best. I have an Amazon.com card with an 8.9% fixed rate that gives me 1% back on all purchases in the form of Amazon.com cash coupons. It’s good for approx 25 to 50 bucks month. I get countless offers at zero to 3 % for up a year, but the lack of substantial balance (at this point) makes them sort of useless.

I keep a running balance rally of all my open credit (and other stats) on my available cards. It’s creeped up to over $ 200,000 in the last few years. I killed off several nice cards totaling 40K in open credit 2 months ago simply because they were redundant or because I only got them for a front end discount (ie 10% off is you apply for out store card today). I’d kill more of them, but I’m a little paranoid about losing my “just in case” options. It’s kind of amusing and interesting how far over some credit cards will bend to keep you as a customer (assuming decent credit) when you tell them you’re cancelling their card well… “just cause”.

I just got a Citi Bank Rewards card. It give me 5% cash back for all Grocery Store, Gas Station, and Drug Store purchaces and 1% on everything else. There is a cap of $300 per year, but since my wife was also offered the card (seperately from me) we’re going to see how fast it accumulates and if need to, get one in her name too.

Of course it’s no fee and we pay it off each month so we pay no interest. In fact, we now deliberatly charge Everything possible to this card. All utilities, cable, phone, cell, etc. get charged to it. We only write two checks a month, one for rent and one to Citibank.

If you do a lot of traveling for work, I assume you stay at hotels a lot. If you haven’t joined the hotels’ frequent traveller programs, I’d advise signing up immediately no matter what credit card you sign up for. You will quickly earn enough points for free stays, which you can use for personal travel. For instance, for every dollar spent at a Hilton hotel, I earn 15 points as a HiltonHHonors member. (Free rooms start at 15,000 points, though they are realistically around 35,000 for a decent hotel.) These programs are all free.

Then I’d figure out what hotel chain I stayed at most frequently and sign up for that hotels’ companion visa card (e.g. HiltonH Honors, Marriott or Starwood visas). In addition to the points earned as described above, you’ll also earn points for every dollar you put on that visa, plus double and triple points if you are staying at the sponsor’s property.

Most offer free upgrade to a “silver” membership just for signing up for the program/credit card. The perqs that go along with this vary by company. Marriott gives complimentary upgrades (e.g. from city view to ocean view). All credit cards are free the first year, but I believe Marriott charges $35 after the first year. Read the info in the disclosure box.

Good luck!

One additional comment: There are a lot of hotels under the “Hilton,” “Starwood,” and “Marriott” umbrellas. For instance, Hampton Inns and Embassy Suites hotels are Hilton hotels, Westins and Sheratos are Starwood properties, and Renaissance and Doubletree are Marriott hotels. All qualify for the programs mentioned above.

My father has a Southwest card. There is a small yearly fee (~40 buck) but he racks up more free tickets than he can use some years. I plan on getting one after I’ve had my crappy student visa through my bank for a year, in hopes they’ll like me more then and give me a good credit limit. Oh, we both pay our bills off right away, so I know nothing about interest rates or the like on my fahter’s card. Mine’s 13 %, but like I said, I never use it.

I don’t think this is really what you’re looking for, but I thought I’d throw it out there. If you’re politically concious (and liberal/progressive), you might want to look into the products and services available through Working for Change, such as their credit card or long distance. Certainly not the best rates, but the support for progressive causes may be enough for some people to mitigate the downside…

I’ve got the HiltonHHonors AMEX card and a Holiday Inn Priority Club VISA. No fee for either one. In my experience, Hilton requires more points to get a free night, but the AMEX card gives double points for gas and groceries.

Holiday Inn runs promotions fairly regularly that will give you bonus points or free nights after a certain number of stays. When I’m staying more than one night, sometimes I’ll book just one night initially, then re-book the same room the next day. That way, I get credit for 2 separate stays. Some Holiday Inns will give Priority Club members a couple of free drink coupons–always nice after a long day on the road.

One interesting thing I discovered is that Hilton and Holiday Inns in Austrailia require fewer points for a free night than they do in the USA. For example, I got 2 nights at the Hilton on the Park in Melbourne for 30,000 points. A single night at a comparable Hilton in a major US city would easily be that much or more.

Look out for late payment charges. If they’re high, one late payment could cost you more than you save! It’s easy to mess up accidentally, I did recently and it cost me.

This is what I was going to recommend. 5% adds up surprisingly quickly (or, more likely, we spend too much on food and gas…) It’s nice having a credit card that pays you $300/year to use it.

I’m a travelling consultant and I use an AMEX Rewards. I’m pumping about $3k-$4k a month thru my card. Since I get re-imbursed I don’t really worry about carrying a balance/late fees. They do charge an annual fee but my company picks that up. It’s mostly travel related charges so I don’t have to worry about a merchant not taking it. I do use it for personal use also, whenever I can, just to rack up the points. Using it in a grocery store or many other retail establishments gets you double points. Their program let’s you use the points for “stuff” (they have a catalog) or you can buy airline miles on your chosen airline. Right now I saving up for one of them flat TVs.

I understand AMEX has similar cards linked to specific airlines for miles.

That said, I’m looking at some “cash back” cards. If I can convince myself that it would be a better deal in the long run. I don’t want limits or convoluted rules, y’know.