Best miles credit cards

EDITORS CHOICE 2008 Best Credit Card Pairs
While any one of our EDITORS CHOICE picks is a good choice, often a pair of reward or miles credit cards will help you maximize benefits, or give you flexibility if you are in one of the rare places that doesn't accept American Express.




No annual fee cash back
American Express Blue Cash + Chase Freedom Visa

  Apply here for the American Express Blue Cash card

Apply here for the Chase Freedom Visa card
($50 cash back with your first Chase Freedom Visa purchase)

The American Express BlueCash credit card offers you 5% cash back on 'everyday' gas/grocery/drug purchases and 1.5% on all other purchases after $6500 in purchases each year, well above the typical 1% you see with many cash back / rewards cards. For your first $6500 in purchases each year, you get 1% cash back on 'everyday' purchases and 0.5% back on all other purchases.

The Chase Freedom Visa offers 3% cash back or 3 points per dollar spent in your top 3 'everyday' categories each month, including gas stations, fast food, movie theaters, drugstores, departent stores, grocery stores, pet stores, cable/satellite bills, beauty salons/spas, gyms, commuting, utilities, and dry cleaning among others. You earn 1% cash back or one point per dollar spent for your remaining purchases.

To maximize your cash back we recommend using the Chase Freedom Visafor purchases in those special categories, while using the American Express Blue Cash card for your other purchases or at the few places that don't accept American Express cards.





No annual fee travel rewards
American Express BlueSky + Chase Freedom Visa

  Apply here for the American Express Blue Sky card

Apply here for the Chase Freedom Visa card
($50 cash back with your first Chase Freedom Visa purchase)


The American Express BlueSky card earns you one point per dollar you spend on the card. You can redeem your points in 7500 point increments, and each 7500 points is worth $100 off travel purchases with any airline or any hotel, car rental agency, or cruise line. That works out to about a 1.3% return with every dollar you spend. You simply purchase the trip through your favorite travel provider and tell American Express you'd like to apply your points, and you will see a statement credit.

The Chase Freedom Visa offers 3% cash back or 3 points per dollar spent in your top 3 'everyday' categories each month, including gas stations, fast food, movie theaters, drugstores, departent stores, grocery stores, pet stores, cable/satellite bills, beauty salons/spas, gyms, commuting, utilities, and dry cleaning among others. You earn 1% cash back or 1 point per dollar spent for your remaining purchases.

We recommend using the Chase Freedom Visa for purchases in those special categories, while using the American Express Blue Sky card for your other purchases to get the better 1.3% return versus the 1% of the Chase Freedom for purchses outside the special categories and places that don't accept American Express cards.




Maximum Flexibility
Starwood Preferred Guest American Express + CitiŽ PremierPass(SM) Card - Elite Level MasterCard

   Apply here for the Starwood American Express

Apply here for the CitiŽ PremierPass(SM) Card - Elite Level MasterCard

(10,000 point first purchsae bonus with the Starwood American Express, 20,000 point bonus with the CitiŽ PremierPass(SM) Card - Elite Level when you make $600 in purchases within your first 3 months)

The Starwood Preferred Guest card lets you earn points for no blackout hotel awards at Shearton, W, Le Meridien, Four Points, and St. Regis hotels. We generally recommend using points for hotel rewards as they tend to require fewer points to redeem and have a value often as high as airline tickets. However, if you want ot use air awards, this card lets you transfer your points to over 30 airline miles programs, usually at a 1:1 or better ratio with a special 5,000 mile bonus for each 20,000 you transfer. This is great if you want to upgrade paid airline tickets, or have existing miles to top off.

(Learn more about the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card ), our EDITORS CHOICE pick for best overall reward credit card.

The CitiŽ PremierPass(SM) Card - Elite Level is a good companion -- with the Starwood card for hotels, airline upgrades, and free flights on your home airline, and the Citi card for free flights elsewhere. You earn Citi points for every mile you fly on tickets purchased with the card in addition to one point per dollar spent, supercharging your point earning power when you fly. The catch is you have to spend an equal number of dollars in order to use the flight points you earn, but you are effectively earning double points for your purchases.

For example, if you pay $350 to buy a plane ticket from New York to Los Angeles, you will get 350 purchase points and 5,000 points for the miles flown from Citi. In order to use those 5,000 points from the flight, you need to match them with $5,000 in spending on the card, which will also earn you 5,000 points. So, you get over 10,000 points for $5,000 in spending. These points can be used for any airline, anytime flight awards.

(Learn more about the CitiŽ PremierPass(SM) Card - Elite Level ), our EDITORS CHOICE pick for best any airline/anytime premium card.

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