Choosing a Credit Card: Step 1—Core Cards

TL;DR: Start your travel hacking journey with one or two cards that match your spending, offer the perks you’ll actually use, and—ideally—come with a solid welcome bonus you don’t have to chase 

This is the first part of our three-part series on maximizing your travels with minimal effort. The first step is to get a few “core” cards–ones with manageable annual fees, whose bonuses match your spending, that give you the essential credit card benefits that you need, and which you can pick up without losing out on an elevated sign-up bonus. 

What makes a great core card?

The perfect core card is one that you can get any day, and will work for you every day. 

Annual fee. I prefer cards with no net fee; that is, either the card doesn’t charge an annual fee, or the fee is offset by statement credits and other benefits that put enough money back in your pocket that it doesn’t “cost” anything, on net, to hold it. This makes it easier to establish the card as a long-term “keeper” and one of the anchors in your wallet year after year.

Earning. You’ll usually only need one or two cards to cover your main spending categories and boost your rewards beyond the 1-point-per-dollar baseline of most credit cards. After that, trying to squeeze out an extra point or two on, say, gas or streaming isn’t worth much. You’ll get far more value from a well-timed sign-up bonus than from optimizing the last 10% of your monthly spending.

Benefits. What perks and protections are important to you? Is airport lounge access essential? Do you need benefits with a frequently-traveled airline? Do you want extended warranty and purchase protections on major purchases? You want your first couple cards to have you covered with all your travel essentials. You may also get more value from certain card perks than from waiting for the perfect bonus. For example, if you’re taking a big family ski trip using Delta points, the savings from getting free checked bags and a 15% discount on the redemption could far outweigh getting a suboptimal bonus offer on a Delta co-branded Amex card.

Bonus. Finally, certain cards are perfect as core cards because their welcome bonuses are the same year-round, or close to it. That way you can just dive in and get set up with the cards that you need without FOMO–they’re not likely to offer an extra 20k points the week after you sign up. 

Our favorite cards to start with

The best core card for you will depend on your spending, earning, and redeeming habits, as well as your annual fee tolerance and how much effort you’re willing to devote to squeezing enough benefits out of the card to justify those annual fees, if any. Here’s some of our favorites.

The Capital One Venture X

This may be the simplest way to get into points, with only one credit to keep track of, benefits (lounge access, a $300 Capital One Travel Credit, and 10,000 points on renewal) that can easily justify the $395 annual fee, and simple earning—2x on everyday purchases—and redemptions. It also usually offers a 75k-point bonus (though there was a recent exception).

The Bilt Palladium

The Palladium is more complicated than the Venture X, but potentially more rewarding, with a base of 2x points on everyday purchases, but with the potential to earn more than 3x depending on how you set it up. If we had to live with only a single credit card, we’d choose this one.

The Atmos Summit

If you have a regular travel companion, the Atmos Summit could be a powerful primary card thanks to its annual global companion award discount, high earning rate, valuable points, and fast-track to elite status with benefits on Alaska and American Airlines.

The Bilt Obsidian or Blue

If you prefer to avoid the fees of a premium card, we like the lower-tier Bilt cards thanks to their valuable points and strong benefits for their price tier.

Other solid options

Among our other favorites:

Amex Gold: It’s power earning for those who spend a lot on food. The standard offer is usually 60k points, and elevated offers are rare. You can often earn 90-100k via a referral from a friend; if you keep checking, you probably won’t have to wait too long to find that kind of offer.

Citi Strata Premier: With 3x points on dining, gas, flights, and direct flight bookings, it’s a flexible earner, and could be a good fit if you can use the $100 credit toward a $500+ hotel booking via Citi each year. 75k-point welcome offers comes around fairly regularly.  

Chase Sapphire Preferred: This is the blogosphere’s favorite credit card. I disagree, but with a manageable annual fee ($95 with a $50 hotel credit), strong protections, and bonus points on dining, travel, and certain online grocery and streaming services, it can be a solid option. I think the Bilt Obsidian is a stronger option in the long term, but the Sapphire Preferred can you get started with a big stash of points from a welcome offer.

Hotel cards: Having a hotel card can mean big savings and perks when staying with a particular brand. If you’re a loyalist, it can make sense to target them early. Airline cards work similarly. 

Spending bonuses: If you are a big spender and want to focus on a single card, some offer additional perks once you reach a certain threshold–either directly or indirectly. For example, the Chase Sapphire Reserve will give you Southwest Airlines A-List status and a $500 credit once you spend $75,000 on the card in a given year, while the Atmos Summit earns points toward elite status on each dollar of spending and offers a valuable companion award certificate after spending $60,000 in a given year. 

A few core cards leave other doors open

The rules for credit card applications and bonuses are complicated and are getting moreso all the time—5/24, pop-up jail, 1-per-lifetime, 8/65… the list goes on. But adding one or two great cards won’t block you from most major offers.

Lazy take

Get one or two cards that you can keep for a long time–manageable fees, strong earning, and travel and purchase benefits you need (or want!), and a welcome bonus that is evergreen or at peak. This is a great base to start from. With just the Bilt and Venture X, you could have lounge access, premium protections, and a healthy amount of points for travel each year–all for free on net. 

Those points might not be enough to take you as far as you want to go each year. That’s where step 2 comes in. In our next installment, we’ll talk about solid cards that can help you fund a whole trip, and stay useful for you long after.