Kiplinger’s Best Credit Cards For The Way You Spend

By Pinyo, on July 8, 2009

Kiplinger recently listed their favorite credit cards, from the lowest interest rate credit card to those that give you various types of rewards toward your mortgage, college savings, investment, and trip.

Photo by Classyshot via Flickr

Here are their top 7 credit cards:

1. Bank of America Upromise World MasterCard – Deposits a 1% rebate in your Upromise account. Earn up to 10% on eligible grocery, drugstore, gas and restaurant spending.
2. Chase BP Visa – Earn a 5% gas rebate, 2% for travel and dining, and 1% on everything else (double rebates for the first 60 days).
3. Farm Bureau Bank Platinum MasterCard – If you qualify, your interest rate can be as low as 5.24% for this no-fee card.
4. Fidelity Retirement Rewards American Express – Fidelity account holders earn a 2% rebate that can be deposited in any Fidelity IRA.
5. Schwab Bank Invest First Visa – Schwab account holders earn a 2% rebate that can be deposited in a Schwab IRA or brokerage account.
6. Simmons First Visa Platinum Travel Rewards – It takes 22,000 points (you earn 1 point per $1 spent) for a ticket anywhere in the 48 contiguous states.
7. Wells Fargo Home Rebate – For every $2,500 you charge, Wells Fargo applies 1% to the principal of your Wells Fargo mortgage.

Chase Made The Best Credit Cards List?

First, I can’t believe Kiplinger would even consider having Chase on their list. Why? Beside my bad experience with them, Chase recently pulled two stunts that are below the belt:

1. Earlier in the year, Chase surprised its cardholders by assessing $10 monthly fee. After numerous complaints, Chase eventually stopped the fee and refunded over 400,000 cardholders.
2. More recently, Chase raised the minimum payment on cardholders with large balances and low interest rates — essentially, a bait and switch move since it was the high credit limits and low interest rates that lured these cardholders to Chase in the first place.

Personally, I would replace the BP Visa with the Discover® Open Road(SM) Card, which also entitles you to 5% cash rebates for gas and auto maintenance. Although the reward is not as nice with Discover, their customer service is much better than Chase — and to me, that’s important too.

Other Than That, These Are Great Cards

Beside Chase BP Visa card, I have to admit this list is pretty good. These cards are certainly better than what I have in my own credit cards list. The only other card that I don’t think is that great is the Wells Fargo Home Rebate. It’s a cool idea, but I am better off going for a simple 1% cashback reward without having to meet the $2,500 requirement.

Read more about

Tell your friends

Share  

Get free updates

    via Twitter
    via Facebook
    via RSS or Email

Pinyo is the brain behind Moolanomy personal finance blog and a few other web sites. If you like this article, please subscribe for free daily email updates.

All posts by Pinyo

No comments yet. Your thoughts are welcome.

Please share your comment:

Comment Rules: Constructive criticism is welcomed. Please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name or URL, as the latter comes off like spam and I'll most likely delete your comment. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! Here's our comment policy and guidelines.