Credit Cards & Sliders 101

With all kinds of different options out there when it comes to credit cards, choosing what is important to you can be difficult. That’s why we built the creditcardGenius slider system – so finding the right credit card for you is painless and fun.

Let’s take a quick run through popular credit card features and the choices available to you through our sliders, so you can better decide what type of credit card is right for you.

Cash vs Travel+

Credit cards have all kinds of rewards but can be boiled down into three main categories:

• cash back – completely flexible cash back, use it for anything
• flexible rewards – flexible multi-use points that can be used for a variety of things
• travel and store rewards – less flexible airline miles or store-specific rewards, often the most valuable

Therefore the first creditcardGenius slider – the rewards slider – has three options:

• Cash – slide all the way to the left
• Flexible – keep the slider in the middle
• Travel+ – slide all the way to the right

What are ‘Cash Back’ Credit Cards?

Cash back rewards are best when you want simplicity in your rewards. They have a set earning rate so you’ll know what you’ll be earning on all of your spend. Your return on spending is basically calculated for you. A 2% cash back card gives you a 2% return on spending. Simple.

The catch? Even for higher-end cards, cash back cards have lower annual earn rates than their travel card equivalents. Far fewer cash back cards come with sign up bonuses, and those that do are typically worth far less.

Cards with cash back rewards will show up under the ‘Cash’, ‘Flexible’ and ‘Travel+’ slider positions because cash is the most flexible and can be used for anything, including travel. They don’t tend to rank as highly though because their return on spending and extra perks are typically lower than rewards cards.

Here’s a table of pros and cons of cash back cards:

What are ‘Flexible Rewards’ Credit Cards?

Many travel and rewards cards can redeem your points not only in multiple ways, but also without a lot of restrictions, blackout dates, limited availability, or hoops to jump through. We call this a flex rewards card.

Cards with flexible rewards, will show up in both the ‘Travel+’ and the middle flex categories. And depending on the card can show up the cash back category as well.

These cards will have the same pros and cons as the travel cards, but come with the added flexibility in how you can redeem your rewards.

Having said that, there is usually a varying return in your overall rewards. Take the . You can use your points in many ways:

• Get a statement credit for any purchase you make to the card ‒ basically cash but on of the lowest rewards value.
• Get a statement credits for any travel purchase made at amextravel.com & Expedia.com ‒ slightly higher reward value.
• Book flights through American Express Travel ‒ much higher reward value.
• Convert points to a selection of 18 different airlines and redeem them for high value flights – typically the highest reward value but limited availability, blackout dates, and other hoops to jump through.

Our basic table of pros and cons of flex cards:

Travel+ Rewards

Rewards cards are broken down into two categories:

• Travel – those that earn rewards towards travel purchases, and
• Store rewards – those that earn rewards to be used at specific stores and retailers.

Cards that have low-flexibility travel or store rewards will usually only show up under the ‘Travel+’ slider position. However, if you can also redeem your miles for real cash or flexible rewards in some way (typically at a much lower value), then they will also show up under other slider positions.

These two categories will be discussed separately.

What are ‘Travel Rewards’ Credit Cards?

Travel cards as a group generally tend to offer the highest overall rewards. But these cards can come at a downside of only being able to redeem your rewards on travel purchases. Sometimes other reward choices are available but they typically have a much lower end value. Depending on how often you travel, you may have to wait a while to redeem your rewards.

Travel cards tend to have the best insurance packages as well ‒ and have the highest annual fees for credit cards to account for the extra perks you get to enjoy. If you have a card that is specific to one company, you sometimes also get specific perks when travelling with that company.

Take the for instance. This card gives you some great Hyatt specific perks:

• Free night award at a category 1-4 Hyatt hotel on your card anniversary every year,
• An additional free night when you spend $15,000 per year, and
• Automatic discoverist status.

Then there’s sign up bonuses ‒ these tend to be more valuable with travel rewards cards.

That same Hyatt card has welcome bonuses worth up to 60,000 points. Depending on what your able to get for value from your points, this alone could be worth a $1,000 or more. In comparison, the best cash back cards have bonuses that top out around $200.

Here’s a table of the pros and cons of travel cards:

Another pro for travel is the fun factor. Planning and dreaming what to do – and where to go – with your points...is lots of fun.

What are ‘Store Rewards’ Credit Cards?

If there is particular store or retailer you shop at frequently, it may be worth looking into whether they have a branded credit card.

While retail cards will have an average to below average return rate on spend, the earn rate tends to go up when you use it at the retailer it’s designed for.

Take the . It has some average earn rates on every day spending:

• 2% in Amazon dollars on restaurants, gas and drugstore, and
• 1% on everything else.

While these are some average earn rates, use this card at amazon.com and get some supercharged rewards:

• 3% at amazon.com, and
• 5% at amazon.com if you have a prime membership.

A 5% return is hard to beat on any card, and you won't be able to come close to this when shopping at amazon.com with any other cash back card.

Another benefit is that sometimes cardholders will be given special discounts, offers, or increased rewards several times throughout the year. These offers are typically above and beyond what the everyday shopper will get, even during a big sale.

They can also have some decent sign up bonuses. The Amazon Rewards Visa Signature will give you a $50 credit at amazon.com when your card application is approved.

These card also typically come with no fee, but generally lack any kind of insurance package.

Our basic table of pros and cons of retail cards:

Low Fees vs Insurance

Depending on what you want in a card, there may be an annual fee associated with it. Credit cards come with annual fee to compensate card issuers for the higher rewards and access to helpful money saving perks – and one of those main perks is insurance.

So, deciding which is more important – no annual fee or comprehensive insurance coverage – is what our second slider is all about.

Low Fee Credit Cards

Our low fee slider heavily prioritizes cards with lower annual fees, but you still might see the odd card with an annual fee show up near the top. That happens when a card is so good that its reasonable annual fee is well worth it for all the extra rewards and benefits you would be getting.

What Are ‘No Fee’ Credit Cards?

Quite simply these are credit cards that have absolutely no annual fee, which at first glance seems very attractive.

To justify paying an annual fee, you would need to be spending around $1,500 per month to offset the annual fees from the extra rewards value you get from spending on the card.

The one big exception to that is that some cards come with specific perks, companion flights or free checked bags for example, that might be highly valuable to you even if you spend less. If you’re interested in perks, make sure you select ‘Perks’ on the 3rd slider.

An annual fee card will generally also have better sign up bonuses (especially the travel cards as you know).

One way to possibly get the best of both worlds (no fee with high return on spending), is to consider retail or store cards.