Airline cards, these branded cards signal a partnership between a card issuer and some of your favorite travel loyalty programs and today we are going to tackle the principle of these types of cards and if it is in your best interest to apply for one or not. The first thing you need to look at is if you're interested in travel, because if you aren't then obviously you don't even need to look at these options. the second thing you need to look at is if you're loyal enough to a single airline to warrant getting one of these cards, you also have to take in consideration where is it that you want to travel or where is it that you mostly travel to, if you're looking to travel abroad your best bet would be to look at what airline goes to the places that you most want to travel to, if you're looking to travel to Europe then my suggestion would be to pick a card belonging to a airline like Iberia or British Airways, if you're someone that travels a lot domesti...
Credit card tiers: Which cards should you go after
In this day and age there is a huge amount of credit cards on the market, they range from cash back to premium travel cards, hotel cards to airline cards, department store cards, cards for getting your credit back on it's feet and more, there are cards for practically everybody but with that being said, not all cards are created the same and that is why we decided to classify cards in tiers, this helps us get a better understanding of what cards we can start off with or what cards we should go for next, will be classifying them in tiers D, C, B, A and S with D being the lowest and S being the highest tier.
When we talk about D tier cards we're mostly referring to secured cards or student cards, secured cards are cards that mainly exist for people with poor to fair credit that for whatever reason have a damaged credit history or simply don't have any type of credit history to show and won't get easily approved for your run of the mill credit card, most of these cards don't give any type of rewards or cash back and run on a deposit that you have to provide if approved for the card but the good thing about these cards is that most of them give you access to a unsecured credit line after a few months of making on time payments. Now regarding student cards, these are cards that as implied are catered to college students, some of these cards do provide rewards or cash back and some of them even give bonuses if you manage to keep your GPA up to a certain point, if you're just now getting into college, looking at one of these cards is a pretty safe bet to start working on your credit.
Now, what we refer to as C tier cards or starter cards, are your typical credit cards that give cash back on different types of purchases and are mostly used to create the foundation of the credit card set up that you want to run with, these cards don't pay any annual fee and their APR percentage is relatively low compared to other top tier cards. They aren't hard to get your hands on them but if you're going to apply for one I would recommend you have at least a year of history with credit cards on your reports, especially if you plan to go after some of the better starter cards like the Chase freedom cards or American Express everyday cards. It is also recommended that you have a credit score close to 690 or anything above that, there are cases that people with a lower credit score have been approved for these cards but that also depends on the luck of the draw.
Moving on to B tier cards or "keeper cards", these are cards that are essential to our credit card strategies for free nights at hotels or free flights with your favorite airlines, keeper cards are adjusted to what it is that you want to get out of your set up. Some of the best cards in this category include the World of Hyatt card and the United explorer cards by chase, the Delta SkyMiles and Hilton cards by American Express, the Citi AAdvantage card and other cards such as the Marriot or IHG premiere. We recommend that you have good to excellent credit before applying for these cards.
Getting to the A tier cards, we're finally gonna get into the meat and potatoes of travel rewards cards, these are cards that pay a low annual fee compared to the more elite tier of travel cards but also give you rewards on things like travel, dining, entertainment worldwide among other things and the best part is that a lot of them don't charge foreign transaction fees so you don't have to be mindful about using them outside of the US. Some of these cards even come with very convenient travel benefits that make the annual fee worth paying for like trip cancelation insurance, lost baggage insurance, rental car insurance and so on. They also grant access to travel partners which is very helpful if you're looking to transfer rewards points to your loyalty program of choice. Most popular among these are cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Amex Green card. If you are someone who loves to travel and wants to earn points every time you take flight or dine out these are the cards you want to be aiming for if you're just now getting into the card scene.
Finally arriving at the highest tier of cards these S tier cards are catered to the big spenders, the annual fees for these cards are very high but they give extremely high rewards and come with a amazing array of benefits and access to thousands of high end airport lounges, some banks even send gifts to the owners of these exclusive cards. You can't apply for some of these in a conventional way either, you would need to wait for an invitation to be able to even apply for one of these luxurious cards. Most coveted among these exclusives are Amex Platinum, Amex Centurion, Master Card Black Card, JP Morgan Reserve and Chase Sapphire Reserve. We recommend that you only go after these cards if you have a high annual gross income and spend enough to justify the high annual fees.
We hope this article helps you get a better feel for how and when to apply for new cards and gives you a better understanding of how this game works and what strategies you can employ to get the most out of your everyday spending and maximize your return.
In this day and age there is a huge amount of credit cards on the market, they range from cash back to premium travel cards, hotel cards to airline cards, department store cards, cards for getting your credit back on it's feet and more, there are cards for practically everybody but with that being said, not all cards are created the same and that is why we decided to classify cards in tiers, this helps us get a better understanding of what cards we can start off with or what cards we should go for next, will be classifying them in tiers D, C, B, A and S with D being the lowest and S being the highest tier.
When we talk about D tier cards we're mostly referring to secured cards or student cards, secured cards are cards that mainly exist for people with poor to fair credit that for whatever reason have a damaged credit history or simply don't have any type of credit history to show and won't get easily approved for your run of the mill credit card, most of these cards don't give any type of rewards or cash back and run on a deposit that you have to provide if approved for the card but the good thing about these cards is that most of them give you access to a unsecured credit line after a few months of making on time payments. Now regarding student cards, these are cards that as implied are catered to college students, some of these cards do provide rewards or cash back and some of them even give bonuses if you manage to keep your GPA up to a certain point, if you're just now getting into college, looking at one of these cards is a pretty safe bet to start working on your credit.
Now, what we refer to as C tier cards or starter cards, are your typical credit cards that give cash back on different types of purchases and are mostly used to create the foundation of the credit card set up that you want to run with, these cards don't pay any annual fee and their APR percentage is relatively low compared to other top tier cards. They aren't hard to get your hands on them but if you're going to apply for one I would recommend you have at least a year of history with credit cards on your reports, especially if you plan to go after some of the better starter cards like the Chase freedom cards or American Express everyday cards. It is also recommended that you have a credit score close to 690 or anything above that, there are cases that people with a lower credit score have been approved for these cards but that also depends on the luck of the draw.
Moving on to B tier cards or "keeper cards", these are cards that are essential to our credit card strategies for free nights at hotels or free flights with your favorite airlines, keeper cards are adjusted to what it is that you want to get out of your set up. Some of the best cards in this category include the World of Hyatt card and the United explorer cards by chase, the Delta SkyMiles and Hilton cards by American Express, the Citi AAdvantage card and other cards such as the Marriot or IHG premiere. We recommend that you have good to excellent credit before applying for these cards.
Getting to the A tier cards, we're finally gonna get into the meat and potatoes of travel rewards cards, these are cards that pay a low annual fee compared to the more elite tier of travel cards but also give you rewards on things like travel, dining, entertainment worldwide among other things and the best part is that a lot of them don't charge foreign transaction fees so you don't have to be mindful about using them outside of the US. Some of these cards even come with very convenient travel benefits that make the annual fee worth paying for like trip cancelation insurance, lost baggage insurance, rental car insurance and so on. They also grant access to travel partners which is very helpful if you're looking to transfer rewards points to your loyalty program of choice. Most popular among these are cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Amex Green card. If you are someone who loves to travel and wants to earn points every time you take flight or dine out these are the cards you want to be aiming for if you're just now getting into the card scene.
Finally arriving at the highest tier of cards these S tier cards are catered to the big spenders, the annual fees for these cards are very high but they give extremely high rewards and come with a amazing array of benefits and access to thousands of high end airport lounges, some banks even send gifts to the owners of these exclusive cards. You can't apply for some of these in a conventional way either, you would need to wait for an invitation to be able to even apply for one of these luxurious cards. Most coveted among these exclusives are Amex Platinum, Amex Centurion, Master Card Black Card, JP Morgan Reserve and Chase Sapphire Reserve. We recommend that you only go after these cards if you have a high annual gross income and spend enough to justify the high annual fees.
We hope this article helps you get a better feel for how and when to apply for new cards and gives you a better understanding of how this game works and what strategies you can employ to get the most out of your everyday spending and maximize your return.
This is very informative and interesting for me. thank you for such a wonderful post and for sharing. God bless you. we also provide service. No Annual Fee Credit Card High for more info visit our website.
ReplyDeleteYour strategy for introducing such wise thoughts is interesting to me. An unimaginable blog that you have put here offers a new viewpoint about Get out of Credit Card Debt I value you're giving such clear thoughts.
ReplyDelete