10 no-annual-fee credit cards that earn transferable points
Quick summary
Transferable points are some of the most valuable rewards currencies in the travel world. The best ways to redeem these points is typically to book travel or to transfer them to airline and hotel partners.
While there are many attractive rewards credit cards with annual fees, today we'll focus solely on no-fee credit cards that earn transferable points to help you start accruing travel rewards at minimal cost.
Six personal cards made our list of the best no-fee credit cards that earn transferable points. These cards earn a variety of rewards while providing numerous other benefits for cardholders.
The Amex EveryDay Credit Card from American Express
The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express is designed for everyday expenses.
It earns 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar on the first $6,000 you spend at U.S. supermarkets per calendar year and 1 point per dollar after, as well as on other eligible purchases. You can also earn 2 points per dollar when booking prepaid hotel stays, vacation packages, and cruises through Amex Travel.
To encourage regular use of the card, you'll receive a 20% bonus on the points earned when you use the card for 20 or more transactions in a billing period.
New cardholders can earn a welcome bonus of 10,000 points after making $2,000 in purchases within six months of opening their account. The best way to redeem your Amex points is through transfer partners. The Membership Rewards program's partners include 18 different airlines, such as ANA, JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic. You also have the option to transfer your points to three hotel chains: Hilton, Marriott and Choice Hotels.
And you can take advantage of transfer bonus promotions to get additional miles or points when transferring to eligible partner loyalty programs.
To learn more, read our full review of the Amex EveryDay card.
The information for the Amex EveryDay card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Related: How to redeem American Express Membership Rewards for maximum value
Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card
Capital One made its name offering fixed-value cash-back cards. But now, four cards let you earn transferable miles.
The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees) earns an unlimited 1.25 miles per dollar spent on every purchase that you make with no bonus categories to worry about. Plus, you can earn a bonus of 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $500 within the first three months from account opening. There are no caps to the number of miles you can earn, and the miles never expire as long as your account stays open.
Miles can be used to offset travel purchases or book travel through the Capital One travel portal, or you transfer them to 15-plus hotel and airline loyalty programs, including British Airways, Etihad and Qantas.
To learn more, read our full review of the Capital One VentureOne card.
Related: Tips and tricks to get maximum value from your Capital One miles
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees) card is an impressive option from Capital One with great earning rates. Cardholders earn 5% cash back on hotels and car rentals booked through the Capital One Travel portal, 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, select streaming services, and grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®), and 1% cash back on all other purchases.
New cardholders can earn a $200 cash bonus after spending $500 in the first three months of account opening.
The Savor is valuable when paired with Capital One's Venture cards that earn Capital One miles, such as the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. This can allow you to take advantage of the 'Capital One duo,' which maximizes rewards when earning on cash back and travel credit cards.
To learn more, read our full review of the Capital One Savor.
Chase Freedom cards
Chase has two Freedom cards to choose from — the Chase Freedom Flex® and the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. The Chase Freedom Flex earns 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in select categories each quarter (activation required), 5% cash back on travel booked through Chase Travel℠, 3% on restaurant and drugstore purchases, and 1% on all other purchases.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited earns 5% cash back on travel booked through Chase Travel℠, 3% on restaurant and drugstore purchases, and an unlimited 1.5% cash back on other purchases.
Neither carries an annual fee, and each is a valuable asset when combined with other premium Chase cards (such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card) to form the so-called Chase Trifecta.
The Freedom Flex is currently offering introductory terms where you can earn $200 cash back after you spend $500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. Meanwhile the Freedom Unlimited allows new cardholders to earn $200 cash back after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
If you also carry one of the following other Chase cards: Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points on a 1:1 transfer ratio to 11 airline programs (including Aeroplan, Flying Blue and Singapore Airlines) and three hotel programs (Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott). By doing so, you'll get more value from your points this way than you would from redeeming for cash back or gift cards.
To learn more, read our full reviews of the Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited.
Related: How to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for maximum value
Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card
While the other cards on this list earn flexible points, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card earns hotel points. However, Marriott Bonvoy has one of the best airline transfer programs of any credit card, including the others on this list.
Flexible points programs generally have a handful of partner airlines to choose from. Marriott Bonvoy has 35-plus current transfer partners, and nearly half of them are unique to Marriott, meaning they're not found among the airlines that partner with Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards or Capital One. In most cases, the transfer ratio is 3:1, with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred to select partners.
Currently, the card is offering new applicants to earn 60,000 bonus points plus one free night award (valued at up to 50,000 points) after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Some hotels have resort fees.
The Bonvoy Bold card earns up to 14 points per dollar when staying at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy program (including up to 10 for being a member plus an extra 3 per dollar spent at Marriott Bonvoy properties with the card, and another 1 for the complimentary Silver elite status the card confers). You'll also earn 2 points per dollar at grocery stores, rideshare, select food delivery, select streaming, internet, cable and phone services, and 1 point per dollar on other eligible purchases.
To learn more, read our full review of the Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card.
Related: Here's what you should know before transferring Marriott points to airline miles
Citi Rewards+ Card
The Citi Rewards+® Card is the perfect card for small-dollar purchases. It earns 2 ThankYou Points per dollar spent at gas stations and grocery stores on up to $6,000 per year (and 1 per dollar thereafter) and 1 point per dollar on other purchases.
The points earned are rounded up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase. This means that a $1 purchase will earn 10 points. Best of all, there is no cap on purchases that are rounded up.
You can earn a welcome bonus of 20,000 points when you spend $1,500 in purchases within the first three months of account opening.
If you also have the Citi Prestige® Card (no longer available) or the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (see rates and fees), you can move points from your Citi Rewards+ account to your Prestige or Strata Premier account and transfer them to partners such as Avianca LifeMiles and Etihad Guest. This increases the value of the points you earn with the Citi Rewards+ from 1 cent each to approximately 1.8 cents each.
To learn more, read our full review of the Citi Rewards+ Card.
The information for the Citi Rewards+ and Citi Prestige has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Related: How to redeem Citi ThankYou Points for maximum value
Citi Double Cash Card
With the Citi Double Cash® Card (see rates and fees), cardholders earn 1% cash back when making purchases and another 1% cash back when they pay it off. This is a total of 2% cash back, with no caps on how much you can earn.
You can convert your cash back into ThankYou Points if you have another Citi card that earns transferable points, like the Citi Strata Premier or Citi Prestige, much as you would with the Citi Rewards+.
ThankYou Points can be used to book travel through the Citi travel portal or transferred to 18 airline and hotel partners, like Cathay Pacific, JetBlue, and Singapore Airlines. New applicants can earn $200 in cash back after spending $1,500 on purchases within the first six months of account opening.
To learn more, read our full review of the Citi Double Cash Card.
Related: The ultimate guide to Citi ThankYou Rewards transfer partners
Citi Custom Cash Card
Citi Custom Cash® Card (see rates and fees) cardholders receive 5% cash back on their top eligible spending category (up to $500 each billing cycle) and 1% unlimited cash back on all other purchases. Categories eligible for 5% cash back include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs and live entertainment.
Cashback can be converted into ThankYou Points if you have another Citi card that earns transferable points, like the Citi Strata Premier or Citi Prestige.
The Custom Cash offers new applicants $200 in cash back after spending $1,500 on purchases within the first six months of account opening.
To learn more, read our full review of the Citi Custom Cash Card.
The information for the Citi Custom Cash Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Related: Better together: The ultimate guide to the best credit card pairings
Bilt Mastercard
The Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees) is a popular card that allows cardholders to earn points on their rent without paying the usual transaction fee. You'll earn 1 point per dollar on rent payments, up to 100,000 points each calendar year. In addition, you also earn 2 points per dollar on travel (airline, hotels, cruises, car rentals) and 3 points per dollar on dining.
Cardholders must use the card five times each statement period to earn points on their purchases (see rewards and benefits). Apart from having no annual fee (see rates and fees), the Bilt Mastercard is even more desirable thanks to double points on the first of each month. Therefore cardholders earn 6 points per dollar on dining, 4 points per dollar on travel and 2 points per dollar on all other purchases (except rent, up to 1,000 bonus points).
Along with travel protections and Cellular Telephone Protection, the Bilt Mastercard has some noteworthy transfer partners, including Alaska Airlines, Aeroplan and Flying Blue.
To learn more, read our full review of the Bilt Mastercard.
Related: Earn points on rent, dining and more: Your complete guide to the Bilt Rewards program
Bottom line
You don't have to pay an annual fee to earn transferable points. Whether you're a consumer or small-business owner, multiple credit cards earn rewards and provide valuable benefits without paying a fee. Many travelers pair these no-annual-fee cards with their other cards to maximize their points on everyday purchases and applicable category bonuses.
Related: The best no annual fee credit cards
For rates and fees of the Bilt Mastercard, click here.
For rewards and benefits of the Bilt Mastercard, click here.