Best Credit Cards for Beginners

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of the most popular travel rewards credit card on the market. Offering an excellent return on travel and dining purchases, the card packs a ton of value that easily offsets its $95 annual fee. Cardholders can redeem points at 1.25 cents each for travel booked through Chase or transfer points to one of Chase’s 13 valuable airline and hotel partners.

The Citi Premier Card is one of the best starter travel rewards cards due to its gracious amount of bonus spend categories. You’ll not only earn triple points on air travel and hotel, but also on restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations — offering plenty of opportunities to earn on your everyday purchases. Best of all, your points are flexible and can transfer to a variety of frequent flyer programs in every airline alliance. Finally, enjoy an annual $100 hotel savings benefit through Citi on single-stay bookings of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees).

With a great earning rate, solid sign-up bonus and perks like a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit, the Capital One Venture is a formidable mid-tier travel card. Now that Capital One has added airline transfer partners, this card is even more compelling for anyone looking to earn bonus rewards on every single purchase.

If you like cash back and spend a lot on groceries at U.S. supermarkets, you can’t get much better than the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. This card offers 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%).

The Capital One SavorOne is a great cash back credit card for beginners looking for a solid rewards structure and no annual fee. Dining, entertainment and groceries are high-value bonus categories, and it’s rare for a card to hit all three.

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards takes the guesswork out of earning cash-back rewards by offering an unlimited 1.5% earning rate on all purchases. We love that there’s no minimum redemption amount when it comes to redeeming your rewards, meaning that you can apply your earnings immediately to your statement credit and lower your charges.

The Blue Cash Everyday card is a good option for people who want a simple cash-back structure with no annual fee. You’ll earn bonus cash-back on popular bonus categories, including U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations.

The Citi Custom Cash is the most flexible cash-back card on the market, allowing you to earn 5% back on your top eligible spend category on up to $500 spent each billing cycle.

If you’re looking to dip your toes into the world of travel rewards, the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card is a great way to get started. With no annual fee and a simple 1.25x miles on all your purchases, you won’t have to keep up with multiple bonus categories — just earn rewards on everything you purchase! Coupled with the 20,000-mile sign-up bonus, you can use your rewards to book travel, transfer to Capital One’s loyalty partners and more.