MyCardBlog

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest consumer price index, food prices overall rose 5.3% in 2007, while prices for basic staples such as milk, bread and eggs soared by double-digit percentages. And it’s expected that similar increase will continue this year. Yes, we can’t control the prices of the food, but we can earn mximum rewards if we can smartly enough to choose a good credit card. Supermarkets are playing all kinds of tricks to luring you to buy somehting expensive although there are other cheap alternatives. Sometimes you can mistakenly pick up a wrong merchandise which will get more money out of your pocket. However, one thing we won’t do wrong is to put a right grocery rewards card in your wallet. Here are 5 grocery rewards cards worth swiping:

1. Blue Cash from American Express

If you use this card as you primary card, it offers the best grocery rewards around. The bottom line is you have to spend more than $6,500 per year. Once you have spent more than $6,500 on the card, you can earn 5% cash back on “everyday purchases” at gas stations, supermarkets, and drugstores. You can earn 1.5% cash back on everything else. The only drawback of this card is you can only get 1.5% cash back (0.5% on everything else) before you reach that threshold. Another feature is there is no monthly or yearly cap on this card. You can earn as much as you can!

2. Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card

This card offers 5 thankyou points for every $1 spent at grocery stores, gas stations and drug store. Not like Blue Cash from American Express which requires you to spend more than $6,500 to enjoy the 5% cash back, there is no minimum spending requirement to earn 5 thankyou points for every $1 spent. However, you can only get 5 thankyou points offer for 12 months. After that, you can only get 1 thnkyou point for every $1 spent everywhere.

3. Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card

You can get 5% on supermarkets, drugstores and gas station purchases and utilities for 6 months. After that, you can only get 2% cash back. You can also get 1% cash back on everything else. This card is not so good as Citi Diamond Prefferd Rewards Card which offers 5% cash back for 12 months. But, this card has college student version which enable college students to build their credit history and earn cash back rewards.

4. Household/Orchard Bank Platinum Card with 2% Cash Back

This card has been mentioned in my “7 Great Credit Cards You Should Know” post. You earn 2% cash back on everything including grocery! If you can’t get a rewards card which enables you to get more than 2% cash back, you should consider this card. Usually this card is by invitation only. The invitations from Household Bank and Orchard Bank (owned by HSBC) are “real invitations”. Not like CapitalOne Bank, once you receive an invitation from them, you are guaranteed to have their cards. (CapitalOne Bank sends out a lot of invitations to you but you can still get rejected because their pre-approved invitation is a joke!) The only drawback of this card is you can’t expect high credit limit from HSBC. The typical credit limit is around $300~$2000. If you request to increase your credit limit, you can either get rejected or only a small amount ($300) will be granted.

Generally there are 5 types of credit cards in the market. Find the best card for your lifestyle from secured to low-interest to reward to student and to business.

Secured Credit Cards

Best for: Someone with no credit history or have ruined their credit profiles.

Pros: A secured card is report to the three credit bureaus, so using one/two responsibly can be a smart way to establish or repair your credit profile. (Tip: put in large amount of deposit and use as little as 50% of that credit line.)

Cons: The secured part means you put down a deposit, usually between $300 and $2500, with your application. Many secured cards have all kinds of fees (including annual fees). Read the fine print very carefully.

Zero or Low Interest Rate Cards

Best for: Someone is short of cash and planned to pay down credit debit quickly.

Pros: The lower rate can save you a bundle on your current interest costs. Usually you can find the low rates from balance transfer cards. If you are planning to carry balance all the time, you’d better check out some credit unions.

Cons: Introductory balance transfer rate usually lasts for only 6 to 12 months, and then reverts to something higher, typically around 13 percent to 20 percent. Only one mistake will make your rate up to normal immediately. You’d better manage your balance transfer cards wisely.

Rewards Credit Cards

Best for: People who make the majority of their purchases on a credit card and pay off the balance each month.

Pros: These cards usually offer cash back, miles or rewards points toward purchasing select merchandises. Some rewards cards, for example, currently offer as high as 5 percent cash back on select purchases with no annual fee. (Blue Cash from American Express and Citi CashReturns Card)

Cons: As stated in pros, the rewards are always limited toward purchases on certain merchandises. (Tip: use rewards card in a combinational way is the best approach to maximum your rewards.)

College Student Cards

Best for: Obviously, College students.

Pros: These cards are targeted to college students who want to manage their spending responsively. No strict credit rating is required to get approved for college students. You’re not supposed to report annual income. Some cards are even offering great cash back and rewards. (Citi mtvU Card)

Cons: Some credit cards issuers charge higher interest rate for college student cards. (Typically Citi Bank does so.) If you fail to manage your credit cards, you are in a big trouble.

Business Cards

Best for: Small business owners and anyone willing to take advantage of the “hidden report” (AOR planner’s favorite.).

Pros: Small business cards often offer better rewards programs and have higher cash back rates. Some cards may even have no pre-set credit limit. These cards also offer better introductory rates. You can always find great sign-up bonus from business cards. (see this post)

Cons: no. （It’s said that the famous Financial Review from American Express is caused by business cards. If you have a business card for personal use, you are quite likely to get financial review from American Express.

(This post is for those new to credit cards.)

It’s really difficult to start a credit history without credit history. Confused? In other words, you can’t get credit unless you have already had credit. Here are 5 common tips for you to get your first credit card.

1. Get a Secured Credit Card

This type of credit card requires you to make a certain amount of deposit in the credit issuers account. Of course, the credit limit is the amount you put in there. BOA and HSBC is secured credit card friendly banks. The good thing about this approach is the credit issuers are reporting your credit record to the credit bureaus. In this way, you can build your credit history in a short time, let’s say about 6 months. After about 6 months, you can request to upgrade your secured credit card to an unsecured credit card. Or you can try to apply for other credit cards which offer better cash back and rewards programs.

2. Try the Bank or Credit Union Where You Have Your Checking and Saving Account

I believe this is a really good approach to get your first credit card. You have your account in their institutions. Banks will feel “safe” to issue a credit card to you. Talk to a bank representative about opening up your first credit card. Having an existing relationship will improve your chances at getting a credit card application approved. For example, I have a friend who doesn’t have a SSN. She opened a checking account at National City Bank and then she talked to a bank representative about getting a credit card from National City Bank. Technically, if you don’t have a SSN, you can’t get a credit card. However, the bank representative called the credit department and requested to issue a credit card to my friend and it worked! A girl without SSN can get a credit card! Another example is University of Illinois Employees Credit Union issues credit cards to their students even you don’t have a solid credit history. So if you have the chance to get a credit card from your banks or credit unions, do not hesitate to get one.

3. Try a Student Card

College students are favorite for most credit card issuers. Because you’re likely to carry huge credit card balance which means you are very profitable to them. Typically, the credit card issuers will not ask about your annual income. And they know that your parents will pay your credit card bills. If you’re enrolled in college, you have a very good chance of getting approved for a student credit card.

4. Try some Cards Issued by Retailers or Department Stores

These cards generally aren’t a good deal — even with the discounts they offer on initial purchases — because the interest rates are way too high compare to other credit cards. But you can use them as long as you pay your balance full every month. So the high APR doesn’t bother you. After 6 months, you can pull the trigger for another card. Go to Target, BestBuy or other retailers and submit your application in store.

5. Get a Loan

This is the last resource you can approach. For example, you can apply for a small amount personal loan—$500. After paying for a small amount of interest and fees, typically $100, you can have a good loan record in your credit history. Yes, you are paying money to build your credit history in this way. If you fail to get a credit card after trying the above 4 methods, you can try this one.

At last, we should all be aware that “authorized user” approach is of no use today. Your credit card issuers will not report the credit record to the credit bureaus for your authorized users.

From low fees to frequent-flyer miles: 7 credit card will give you something back.

1. Household/Orcahrd Bank Platinum Card with 2% Cash Back

Both cards can give you 2% cash back for everything! Yes, it’s true. They are much better than those cards with only 1% cash back. If you have one of these card, your minimum cash back is 2%. You can selectively use this card and other cash back cards to achieve better cash back rate. Actually, both Household Bank and Orchard Bank are owned and operated by HSBC Bank. HSBC is new in the credit card market. Their targeted consumers are those with low credit scores but have the ability to pay their debits. Previously, this card can is by invitation only. If you receive an mail invitation to apply for this credit card, you are guaranteed to get approved. But you have to make sure that there’s a “2% cash back” in your invitation letter. Recently, Household Bank is promoting the visa version. You are allowed to have one master card and one visa card. Online application site is www.hbaccept.com (for those received the invitations).

2. Blue Cash from American Express

Once you’ve charged $6,500 in a year, you can get 5% back on grocery, drugstore and gas purchases and 1.5% on everything else vs. 1% for the average cash-back card. (Below $6,500 you earn 0.5% to 1%). Blue credits the cash to your account automatically, so you don’t risk leaving rewards on the table. As stated at the very beginning, the power of the Blue Cash Card appears when you spend more than $6,500 in this card in a year. In a word, this is a for those big spenders. Another feature worths mention is this card offers 4.99% APR for balance transfer for life! if you are short of cash, you can borrow money from this card. The 4.99$ APR is much lower than those payday loans.

3. Discover More Card

The most attractive part of this card is it offers 5% cash back on selected categories which are changing every quarter. plus Discover is working to offer better cash back rewards program for its newly launched ShopDiscover Rewards Program. You can also get about 5%~15% for shopping through ShopDiscover. The other feature is the low fee balance transfer offer. Not many issuers still offer 0% interest for 12 months on balance transfers. Discover does. Plus, it caps its balance-transfer fee at $75 vs. $99 or more at other banks. You’d better pay off all your balance before the introductory period expires, but even if you can’t or don’t, the interest rate is not that terrible: It starts at a respectable 10.99%.

4. Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express

This is a great hotel rewards card for those who want to get rewarded for free hotel stays. The minimum points you need to redeem for a free night stay at Starwood Hotels is 2,000 points. The sign-up bonus for this card is 10,000 points. You can redeem for an Amazon.Com gift certificate for only 9,000 starpoints. The gift certificate will be shipped to you via UPS next day air. (super quick!!!) You can also transfer those starpoints to other rewards programs like AAdvantage miles.

5. Citi PremierPass Card-Elite Level

You earn one point for every dollar charged, plus a point for every mile you fly. (Note: miles can not be redeemed as ThankYou points before your spending match the miles.) You can double your points at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations, commuter transportation and parking merchants. Redeem points for plane tickets on any airline; you won’t face blackout dates and restricted seats. If your spending can match your fly miles. You can redeem those fly miles to thankyou points. That’s why this card is best is best to buy flight tickets. The rate starts at 10.24%. Recently this card is offering 20,000 sign-up bonus after 4600 in purchases are made with 3 months of account opening.

Considering the oil prices are still rocketing high, it’s necessary to get a nice gas card to save more on gasoline. (The national gas temperature map can be found here.) A high-rewarding gas card can save you at least average $100 per year on gas purchases for an American Family. Here are some recommendations for your reference. All of them are annual fee-free.

American Express SimplyCash^SM Business Card (★★★★★) You can absolutely get 5% (3% NOW) cash back at all of the gas pumps without any limit. The cash back will be credited to your account every month. You don’t have to wait until you get enough rewards amount like other cards. Plus you can get 5% cash back at office supplies and wireless services. This is a business card. (Want to know how to apply for a business card? Check it out here.) The usage of this card will not report on your personal credit report.

Discover® Open Road^SM Card (★★★★★) You can get 5% cash back at all of the gas stations with your first $100 every month. If you spend $150 every month on gasoline, you can get 5% cash back on the first $100 and 0.5% from the remaining $50. If your monthly gasoline consumption is less than $100, this would be a nice card for you. You can also get 5% cash back for changing engine oils, car washing services and other auto maintenance. That’s why this card is high recommended.

Chase BP Visa® Rewards Card (★★★★☆) You can get 10% cash back for any gasoline purchases made at BP gas stations in the first 2 months. And after that, you can continue to get 5% cash back at any BP gas station. If there are many BP gas stations in your area, this is a nice card for you. Another reason why I recommend this card is you can easily get this card from Chase. The drawback is you can only get 5% cash back at BP gas stations.

TrueEarnings® Business card from Costco and American Express (★★★★☆) You can get 5% for purchases of automobile gas (effective December 01, 2007, any individual Purchase transaction in excess of 75 gallons or equivalent dollar value will not be deemed to be a Purchase of automobile gasoline) at Costco Gasoline and domestic stand-alone gas stations, excluding gas purchased at warehouse clubs other than Costco, superstores or supermarkets. For example, if you fill your tank at Wal-Mart gas stations, you can’t get 5% cash back. But you can get 5% cash back at BP or Shell gas stations. You can get 3% cash back at restaurants and 2% cash back for traveling.

Chase PerfectCard™ MasterCard® (★★★★☆) You can get 6% cash back on gasoline purchases for the first 90 days. After that you can only get 3% cash back.

Of course, there are many other store branded gas cards like CITGO, ExxonMobil and Phillips66 card from many credit card issuers. You can find out more at their websites.

Not all credit card are the same. Many of decent cards come with special cash back and rewards programs that will give you rewards for part of your purchases. However, these cards are designed to give us special rewards in a certain (Obviously, they can’t cover all of them.) A smart way to maximum your rewards is to use your credit cards in a combination way—choose a credit card for a certain category. We can categorize our daily expenditure into 4 categories: Gas and Auto Related, Grocery/Drugstore, Dinning/Entertainment and General Purchases. One credit card in each category is necessary.

1. Gas and Auto Related: Discover Open Road (Student Version is available) : You can get 5% cash back on gas and auto maintenance expenses. You can start to redeem your rewards from $20. The most intriguing part is you can redeem $25 store gift card if you decide not to cash out the $20. If you really need gift cards, the actual rewards is higher than 5%!

American Express SimplyCash Business Card: You can get 5% (3% NOW) cash back at gas stations without any limit. The cash back will be credited into your account automatically every month. Plus you can get 5% cash back on office supplies and wireless services.

BP Visa Rewards Card: You can get 10% cash back at BP pumps in the first 60 days and 5% cash after that. Plus you can get 2% cash back on dinning and travel (4% for the first 60 days). If you use BP a lot, this might be your gas card.

Although there are other credit cards offering about 5% cash back (Chase Perfect Card) on gas for about 12 months, they are not counted in. Because you may want to stick to a credit card to accumulate your rewards as quickly as possible. (see this post)

2. Grocery and Drugstore: Chase Freedom Card: this card will give you 3% cash back in your 3 top spending categories. The 3 categories is chosen automatically from 15 categories.

You can also consider the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card or Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card. They will give you 5% cash back at supermarkets, drugstores ans gas stations for 12 months.

3. Dinning and Entertainment: Citi Professional Card: 3% cash back on purchases made at restaurants, gas stations, certain office supply merchants, and for auto rentals.

Discover More Card: The 5% cash back categories will change quarterly. You have to register every 3 months in order to get the 5% cash back. If you choose gift cards in stead of cash, you actual earning is higher than 5%!

If you are a college student, the Citi mtvU card is highly recommended! (See this post)

4. General Purchases: An American Express card is highly recommended here! The excellent costumer service and additional warranty make the American Express cards top choice for large purchases like laptops. Suggested American Express Cards: Blue from American Express or Blue Cash from American Express, or you can also think of Starwood Preferred Guest Card which is offering 10,000 bonus points now. The Citi CashReturns Card is also a good choice if you prepare your spending carefully. You can get unlimited 5% cash back on everything for the first 90 days. A check will be mailed to you if you accumulate more than $50 on that card.

I think a list of credit cards that are relatively easy to get will be helpful to those who are with limited credit history or about to build their credit history.

Student cards are usually the easiest to get. The credit card issuers will not ask your annual income and they do not care your credit history—because you’re about to build your credit. However, you must have to be a student. The credit card issuers sometimes may require you to prove them that you are a student (You can fax your transcript.). Some brand credit cards/store cards like: Amazon.Com Visa Card, BP Visa Card, Starwood Preferred Guest Card etc are usually easy to get. The reason behind this is those merchants want to promote their brands. Those cards usually give you better rewards. In this way, they expect you can shop with them more. Another way to earn money, right? For other cards, you need to have limited and clear credit history. For example, if you have a credit card for 6 months and use it smartly (balance/limit ratio is less than 48%). You can probably try Chase Freedom Card. Or you can also consider Blue/Blue Cash from American Express. In order to reach more potential card members, credit card issuers will promote one or two credit cards to their consumers and those cards are usually easy to get.

Student Cards:

Citi mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students

Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card for College Students

Discover Student Card

Student Visa Platinum Plus from BOA

Consumer Cards:

Blue Cash from American Express

Blue from American Express

Chase Freedom Credit Card

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card

Rewards American Express Card

Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card

Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card

Citi Platinum Select/AAdvantage World MasterCard

Business Cards:

Citi Business Card with ThankYou Network (As far as I know, this is one of the easiest business card to get. If you got approved recently, please let’s know.)

Blue Cash for Business Credit Card (New)

Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card

Discover Business Card (If you have a business, this is easy to get.)

If you don’t know how to apply for business credit cards, you can search on my blog to find out the answers. Don’t worry, just give it a try!

Recently a lot of readers asked a lot about the best combination of credit cards to maximum the return for daily use. OK, hereby I list some great credit cards:

Gas: Discover Open Road (Student Version is also available), SimplyCash Business Card. Both of them will give you 5% cash back at gas stations. The Open Road can also give you 5% cash back for auto maintenance.

Others you may consider: BP Visa Rewards Card, Citi Driver’s Edge Options Platinum Card.

Travel: Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express. Considering the famous Starwood Preferred Guest Program, this card is truly unbeatable. Starpoints can be easily transferred to other points. It’s also offering 10,000 bonus points after first purchase. Business version is available (why use business card? see this post). Citi PremierPass Card—You can match your fly points as thankyou points if you use it a lot!

Cash Back: Citi CashReturns Card. You can get 5% cashback on everything in first 3 months (Right now, Citi offers only 1% cash back!). What can I say? Someone even tried to apply for second one after 3 months. But he failed. It seems their policy doesn’t allow you to have 2 CashReturns cards. You can save a lot, if you use credit card to pay your tuitions, rents, or other fees. For daily use, it will not give you much cash back. But you can consider Chase Freedom Card which will give you 3% cash back on 3 categories automatically every month. Right now, they are offering $50 bonus. And another good news is Chase is trying to promote Chase Freedom and make it as the best popular credit card in US. It’s easy to get!

Student Card: Citi mtvU Card—You can get 5 thankyou points at restaurants, book and music stores (including Amazon.Com). Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card for College Students—Easiest student card to get? It’s quite possible. NO credit history is OK. Discover Student Card—NO credit history? It’s OK.

Business Card: Citi Business Card with ThankYou Network—10,000 thankyou points! Believe me, it’s the easiest business card to get.

You can also check out the following posts: The 15 Most Rewarding Credit Cards, What’s In The Experts’ Wallet?