Credit Card Recs for young professionals?
I'm finishing undergrad next year and am about to be on my own in the real world. Does anyone have any good credit card recommendations for a young professional in the banking industry?
I’d recommend chase sapphire reserve.
If you travel - and with the way these cards annual fees are going, be realistic on your spending habits - sapphire reserve or AMEX platinum are still the front runners. Chase has far better reward redemptions IMO - AMEX is simply for high spenders, with lots of fringe benefits and perks including status at hotels, their lounges, etc.
Otherwise - the AMEX gold is pretty nice and there's a ton of 2% flat cash back cards that, honestly, are probably the simplest at this point.
As a side note - one thing to consider is that all the airlines are shifting their points/status to a 'spend + fly' system. Effectively they want to shift your spend onto their cards or their co-branded cards. If you have allegiance or care, I'd consider one of those as well.
AMEX actually has more transfer partners than Chase, so I'd disagree that Chase has better redemption options. The major transfer partners are nearly identical and all have 1:1 transfer ratios. The travel portals don't matter since that's not where you get the best redemption value.
AMEX Gold is a great well rounded travel card. low annual fee of $250 with $120 annual dining credits (so net annual fee of $130). 4X on dining/restaurants & 3X on travel. Chase Reserve doesn't make sense for a lot of people unless you're traveling at least once a month (and also offers no significant rewards for groceries).
i have the card rn - i think we get $120 annually for Uber Eats AND $120 annually for Grubhub, effectively paying that annual fee
That's not 100% true. Amex themselves would never call their Gold offering a good "travel card". Their travel card is clearly the Platinum and Gold is for dining and more everyday stuff.
I'm convinced that Amex product designers, without question, are the best in the business. They make cards (and corresponding fees) that fit a particular lifestyle. It's almost like a quiet test - if you think the Platinum fee is high, that's OK, its just not your lifestyle, it's not for you. But if you think it's reasonable then that's the card for you. Same goes for all the other fee levels. I happily pay the Platinum fee - for me, it's a bargain - but that's my life and how I use cards, other people are different. That's not a humble brag BTW, I've looked at the Centurion fees and that card is not for me, I don't fit that lifestyle and that's OK - I'm not the target market.
Gold is great if you do a lot of dining out and the gas & grocery rewards are great too. But the travel benefits are not great (terrible, honestly) - you don't even get lounge access! And really, what good is a fee card if you still have to sit out in front of gate B6 with "the unwashed masses"? :)
the only reason why I'd call the Gold card a travel card is because rewards can be redeemed with transfer partners for amazing value (especially when transfer bonuses are offered). even with no lounge access, that makes it a great travel card. groceries/dining/travel adds up very quickly when you get a 3-4x multiplier. if you know what you're doing, you can typically get 3-7x the value with AMEX rewards compared to a straight cashback card. most people don't know what they're doing/how to redeem efficiently. Platinum is also a great travel card but fails on groceries/dining/gas multipliers, so that's why it doesn't make sense for many.
FWIW - I have the platinum currently for two reasons: 1) opened for 150K sign up bonus and 2) I travel at least 1-2 times per month for work. that sign up bonus alone gets me a first class seat on Emirates (136K points), which goes for $20K one way. if I did not travel for work, I'd immediately downgrade to Gold (current offer of 90K). the Gold can still do a lot for you via transfer partners even if you don't fly often.
Gold was the first 'big-boy' card I got... think I was fresh out of undergrad as well and so happy that I qualified for it... LOL. Switched over to Chase shortly after, first to CSP, and then realized I wasn't getting any bang for my buck, so CSR. Once I switched to my current group, I went back to Amex w/ the Plat and have been with it ever since. Even so, for a young fresh-outta-undergrad-professional, I think that Amex Gold is about the best bang for your buck that you can get when it comes to the 'general' terms of what 22-24 y/o's are spending. Agree w/ your sentiment mostly, save the 'travel' part.
I'm going to give you different take here because I think it's important. For a young person starting out in their career, the best credit card is the one you can afford to pay off on time.
So many young people get in trouble with credit cards to the point where (1) they are paying ridiculous interest and/or (2) they ruin their credit report and/or (3) they chase down a lifestyle obsession that the credit card (negatively) enables. Please don't fall into that trap.
I'll stop short of being like that dummy Dave Ramsey and saying that credit cards are evil - they have their uses. Just be careful with them and don't do something because "it's going to get me a lot of points . . .". Just get yourself a reasonable limit and something that can make buying plane tickets to see your family easier. No more than that.
Personally, I didn't have any credit cards until I was well into my 30s and I still absolutely hate (hate!!!) paying interest. I pay off my card just about every month and I only have one, an Amex Platinum because it fits my lifestyle.
I would’ve thought this was a no-brainer for ppl in finance. I think this discussion is just about the best perks - paying off monthly is the same for every card, just don’t overspend.
You'd be surprised:
Dave Ramsey is not for people who can control their finances, he's for the ones who have no impulse control and need drastic measures like no access to credit at all
In that sense he's pretty good
OK, point taken, that's reasonable. +SB
But the trick is how do you know you can control your finances? Even if you do make a healthy income, lifestyle creep is a real thing. It's just one of those things that you never know how you will react until you have that brand new access to $10k (or whatever) sitting in your pocket. I hate to sound dramatic about that, but hey, even doctors and lawyers file for bankruptcy and Amex is usually at the top of the creditor list, right?
To add to this, treat your credit card like a debit card. It’s best to pretend your credit limit is the same as your checking account.
If you have this mindset, credit cards are an amazing way to earn free money (thousands of dollars a year if you play the intro offers correctly)
100% agree. Just set up auto pay to have it pay off your full balance every month. Not spending with a credit card can actually be a waste cause of the opportunity cost to gain points but do not over spend! If you have to spend 10k on basic expenses you might as well get 20-30k points.
General rule of thumb is to avoid financing anything that depreciates in value. Only exception is probably a car as most people don’t have 30-70k in cash in a bank account but never buy a new car (lease or buy used depending on your situation and the deals on offer)
Premium credit cards aren't really worth it these days IMO unless you value luxury redemptions or perks. Whenever I try to book coach flights domestically, I get slightly more than 1 cent per point on many airlines, which is pretty much the same as cash back, except it's less liquid since it's tied to an airline and their award availability. Further, even for premium bookings, I've found it really difficult to get award availability for the days you want, which has made the whole process really frustrating for me. For example, one of the sweet spots in AMEX's program is transferring to ANA air for business class seats to Asia, but I've never had any luck with it for the days I want. If you REALLY want to fiddle with it by changing the redemption to not be your home airport, taking a "positioning" flight out there so you can redeem it, etc., then you can still score some good value, but for me personally it's more trouble than it's worth.
My strategy at this point is primarily cash back and investing that money back into markets whenever I can. The BofA premium rewards card gives you a minimum of 2.62% back on everything as well as a little less than 4% for travel/dining if you have at least $100K in assets with them. It has a $95 fee, but it's super easy to spend that $100 incidental credit via baggage fees, southwest early bird, premium economy upgrades, etc. For me at least, it essentially amounts to me getting paid to use the card, which is pretty nice, especially since I'm earning a good amount of $ in rewards on top of that.
The only rewards program that I rate otherwise so far is Hyatt. They have excellent sweet spots for nice hotel redemptions, so I have the Chase Sapphire Preferred just for that since Hyatt is a partner with them. All the other hotel programs, like Marriott, Hilton, IHG, etc. aren't nearly as good. Only problem is Hyatt's footprint relative to those, but it's still not terrible, especially within the US.
I'm sure some travel consultants can chime in and tell me I'm crazy, but so far, I don't find it that useful to be loyal to most airlines/hotels. If you really want to travel with convenience/luxury, I'd just opt for whatever airline has the cheapest biz class ticket since you get all the perks like lounge access, priority checking/boarding, etc. anyway.
On the whole, I agree with your take. ANA can be a pain in the butt, but when you do land a flight, it's like finding a golden nugget. I'm going overseas in a few months and am getting United Polaris Business, roundtrip, for only 110k points. United wanted 450k (or something stupid like that) for the same ticket! I've heard ANA flight availability has been severely impacted by Covid and should be improving soon.
Also agree on Hyatt. Marriott and Hilton are completely useless. Hilton wants 80k points for a hotel thats like $80/night - GTFO! Hyatt is the only hotel chain out there with a reasonable redemption program that you can actually use. And personally, I like the top end of the Hyatt line more than the Hilton line (Hyatt has some great resorts).
I would also chime in and say that I am not a fan of travel cards/annual fee cards unless you are a consultant and travel a ton for work. If you do the math, points are oftentimes worse than the straight cashback and can be difficult to find the right deal to spend them on.
I vouch for straight cashback cards. I would open several (as you are able) and request credit limit increases every 3 months, so that your total credit limit increases and your utilization decreases (the more of your credit that you use, it hurts your credit score).
My favorite cards:
Again - travel cards may be right for you, but I personally prefer zero fee, straight cash back cards. I’m sure you’ll get plenty of travel card recs from other users on here.
Ehh it’s foolish not to take advantage of intro offers. I had over a couple hundred thousand in points saved up (spent half on an amazing vacation with my gf) and will cancel the cards before the next cycle; switching to new credit cards for into offers.
To meet the intro offer reqs, pay rent with the card. Usually a 3% fee by the landlord to do so but easy math using the chase sapphire preferred 100,000 offer I got last year: ($1,250 in intro minus $95 fee minus $180 rent fee = $975 in free money). Should also not 1.25 redemption is the bare minimum. I could’ve transferred to other airlines/hotels for 2x redemption but booked the trip quickly.
Lastly, please don’t be that guy who doesn’t understand personal finances saying stupid shit like “it will ruin your credit score cycling through credit cards”. That statement is wrong on many levels, which I won’t go into unless someone asks (I used to be in commercial banking which heavily underwrote guarantors so we actually scrolled past the first page of the credit report unlike most banks haha).
Sorry, one last comment, I agree that some travel cards are not worth it (past the intro offer year) so people will need to be cognizant of canceling cards before they renew. Chase Sapphire Preferred is one card which arguably isn’t great after you get your intro offer. The Amex Gold on the other hand is amazing (4x dining, 4x groceries plus $200 in dining perks).
First CC I recommend you get a good, no fee card with your checking bank. Get in the habit of checking daily. Chase Freedom Unlimited is good. I recommend getting something without fees.
I would recommend the Amazon Prime Visa Signature card (operated by Chase). You get 5% back on Amazon (and Whole Foods) purchases - you need to have an active Prime membership (which costs around 90 bucks for me) but i have already gotten more than $100 dollars cash back YTD.
It's kind of a cheat code because you can get basically everything from Amazon and there are also times I have gotten 5% on travel.
You also get 2% at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores, as well as 1% on everything else.
Yeah I have this card too - I like it.
I think there's a better cheat code. Realize that Amazon offers the Chase card but then they also offer their own store card (via Synchrony). The store card gets the same 5% benefits but you can also get zero-interest financing on purchases as low as $250. It is ridiculous that they let you go 6 months on that and I think above $500 is one year. So when I need to make a bigger purchase, I just use that and pay it off over a few months and pay no interest. I don't think you can get the same from the Chase card.
I have that one too but I am personally not a fan of splitting payments (even if it is at 0% financing) but haven't used it at all. I like paying down my cards as soon as possible - don't even wait until the statement - and I would much rather get the cash back than delay payment. Also, if I need to split a payment for a purchase over 6 months than it essentially means I can't afford it.
Another thing that I really dislike about the synchrony card is that it can't be used anywhere else (unlike other cards - like the Visa Signature) and the physical card is very flimsy lol (very minor but still).
Everyone is offering differing opinions but here’s a quick and easy run down:
Chase and Amex are the two obvious candidates. There’s two options for each. Amex has the gold and the platinum while chase has the preferred and reserve.
What you need to pay attention to is the sign on bonuses. Amex only allows 1 sign on bonus per card per lifetime. Because of this, only open an Amex card when the bonus is high (100,000 gold and 150,000 plat).
Chase allows a sign on bonus every 2 years. Still, you should only open the card when the bonuses are high (100,000 preferred 125,000-150,000 reserve).
Because of the 2 year rule for chase, it would be smart to start with the preferred or reserve first and then keep switching between the preferred and reserve every two years.
Picking between the gold and plat Amex cards is up to you though. Be honest with yourself on spending habits and lifestyle. If you enjoy getting to airports a little bit early and enjoying the lounge, go platinum (the lounges for Sapphire Reserve are worthless and not in the same realm as the Amex lounges). If you don’t care about the lounge, go gold. And of course, if you want to flex, you would go platinum (no one cares btw, lots of friends who definitely shouldn’t be spending $700 on a credit card fee have it).
I’ll toss this out there as well: if you find yourself interested in how to maximize cc points, take a look at The Points Guy. There’s many different credit cards out there by different companies that offer great intro offers. Capital One being one of them.
Everyone should be on top of credit card sign-up bonuses etc. to maximize traveling for free. There is nothing like a good Europe trip with a free flight or cashing in points during wedding season.
I recommend doing a sign-up for a cheap Airline card and hotel cards (~$95 annual fee) you'll get a sign-on bonus and some basic status. You can recycle into the higher-end version of these cards after 4 years I believe and recoup another sign-on bonus.
Chase Saphire is probably the best overall card, but Amex platinum is strong as well. It's worth doing these cards for even 1 year and then canceling if needed. Some of the sign-up bonus values can be in the $1,500-$2,000 range. That's after-tax too very worthwhile imo. I think points are also nice because it forces you to travel for the most part.
Bofa cash reward - 3% cash back, no fees
Bofa travel - 2% cash back, no fees, can pay in any currency around the world without fees.
Am I missing something by not using Chase and Amex? I don't care about airport lounges (I arrive on time and board or watch something on laptop in case of delay) and hotels (I use airbnbs and local hotels for personal travel).
Is that Bofa cash card limited in some way, like maybe 3% only for the first year? I didn't think there was anyone out there doing 3% across the board, all the time (not just promo period). You sure about this???
its called just Cash Rewards. 3% is permanent but not across the board - you choose a category of expense on which you'll get 3%, 2%, and 1% cash back. I set 3% to online purchases cause that's what I usually do, 2% on groceries, 1% on something else.
If you are a reasonable spender on "lifestyle" things like travel, dining, drinks, etc. then you pick between Citi Venture X, AMEX Platinum, or Chase CSR.
If you travel more than you spend on lifestyle (consultants, sales folks that travel a bit, international travelers, etc.) you pick your favorite airline and hotel chain and get their co-branded cards (E.g., Chase has United, Marriott, Hyatt, Southwest, etc. and AMEX has Delta, Hilton, etc.) because spending on those and earning recurring yearly status will be the best bang you get for your money.
Depending on your personal finances / spending behavior you can also get a low or no-fee "lifestyle" or "cash-back" card like Freedom, AMEX Gold, Amazon (no brainer if you spend more than ~$2k / year on Amazon), etc. to optimize for spending on groceries / gas / commute / transit.
You should 1000000% split up your spend and optimize for rewards. Unless you're an insane baller and REALLY want the highest status on travel co-brand cards or just can't bother not putting all your spend on your Platinum / Black or CSR cards you should be "gaming" the system to optimize points.
When you redeem points, NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER redeem for travel on AMEX MR or Chase UR. ALWAYS transfer to partnered airline / hotels and redeem that way.
Citi doesn't have a "Venture X" card. I think that is someone else.
Capital one*
Good on you though, you must be fun at parties.
I agree with this on flights but not for hotels. Hotel point redemptions are not great anymore. Hotels that used to be 60k points per night are now 100k points per night on Hilton or Marriott. I recommend mostly using your points for flights and transferring to the airline to book
Amex fine hotels and resorts or amex hotel collection is extremely valuable. A lot of mid tier hotels fall into the amex hotel collection and you get back $100 per stay in room charges plus an upgrade and late check out. I have status with IHG, marriot, hilton, but find it is usually more valuable to book directly on the amex portal
I should've been clearer. Two ways you can engage with Hotels. Co-brand card itself which would allow you to earn status and perks like late check out, free nights, etc. Oftentimes these cards have acquisition offers that translate into multiple free nights which I think is worthwhile.
Re: transferring points I agree nobody should fully book a hotel reservation on points. Unlike airlines, which oftentimes can be worthwhile, the best use case for hotel points transfer is for topping up (e.g., you've earned 50k with your card from point 1 above but you need 65k for a stay, top up the 15k). The data actually suggests that's the behavior most "gamers" exhibit.
I like this chart a lot and while I think the value / point can fluctuate a bit person to person and how they redeem, this is directionally spot on. https://thepointsguy.com/guide/monthly-valuations/
You should also keep in mind sometimes the lower point value programs allow you to earn at a more accelerated rate. It's not just a rate exercise but also one of volume. E.g., AMEX membership rewards points are, on average, worth less than Chase UR, however AMEX's card products typically also have higher earn rates for points so it comes closer to balancing out.
I really like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the AMEX Platinum together for the 5x travel and 3x dining, both of which had crazy good intro offers.
Best thing I did was get the Amex Platinum with their Resy offer where you get 10x on restaurants for the first 6 months which has bought me a few plane tickets already. Platinum perks are good for travelers, although the price is pretty hefty if you don’t use the rewards often.
Chase Freedom is a great intro card if you don’t want to pay an annual fee as well.
I only have two cards. My main card is the AmEx Delta Skymiles Platinum card - lounge access (for a fee), and shit loads of miles back on all sorts of purchases like hotels, grocery store, restaurants, flights, etc. Also MQD waiver which helps you earn Delta status. If you want free lounge access you can upgrade to the Reserve card, but weirdly enough you don't earn as many points per dollar on that card. I book all my business travel on this card and earn Delta status and rack up mad points - so many that I haven't paid for a personal flight in 7 years. Also get upgraded to business fairly often because I have Delta status. If you live near a Delta hub...definitely consider this card.
The other card I have is the Fidelity Visa cash back card - only use it for places that don't take AmEx like the mechanic and local taco shops. 2% cash back on everything which is deposited in a Fidelity account at the end of the statement cycle.
Did you get the new Boeing 747 card? It looks so sick
I wish man because I totally agree. That is the reserve card...I considered upgrading but the card isn't as generous with the points as the Platinum. Supposedly it's made of some of the aluminum of an actual retired 747
I'm a first year analyst and I just have the amex gold. Will continue to use that until I start traveling more frequently, then will add the amex platinum. I think having 3+ credit cards right out of college is a bit too complicated.
Also if you want to qualify for the gold next year, I'd recommend building your credit throughout this year. Maybe get a beginner credit card like the Discover IT secured card and making very small purchases on it each month until you graduate. I almost didn't qualify for my gold at first because my credit score hadn't been built up enough
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