How to Choose Your Next Credit Card

Choosing your next credit card can feel overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be. At LazyPoints, we believe in maximizing rewards while keeping things straightforward and manageable. This post outlines our simple, three-step approach to building a smarter wallet over time: one that earns more, costs less, and stays low-effort. Oh and maybe takes you to a bunch of far-flung destinations (or the same one over and over again). Think of it as your lazy guide to picking the right card, at the right time.

What follows is the tl;dr version—we’ll be digging into each step in more detail over the next few weeks, with links added here as we go. So read on, bookmark this post, and sign up for the LazyPoints newsletter (launching soon) to follow along.

Here's the basic idea:

Step 1: Get your core cards

Start with one or two cards that match your everyday spending. These should cover most of your purchases and rack up solid rewards without needing to spend a lot of time thinking about categories or rotating offers. Add a premium travel card if it gets you perks you’ll actually use—like lounge access, elite status, or travel protections. These are your anchors. For this step, we love evergreen options that offer consistent sign-up bonuses so that you can sign up any time without FOMO.

Step 2: Add keeper cards when bonuses peak

Look for “keeper” cards—ones you’d keep long-term thanks to no fee or strong perks that offset the fee. But wait for the right moment. Don’t settle for the standard offer. Instead, jump when there’s a big welcome bonus, ideally near the card’s all-time high. That’s where the LazyPoints newsletter comes in—every week we’ll highlight great cards with elevated offers well above the standard public offer.

Step 3: Hunt bonuses once your wallet is set

With so many great keeper cards out there, you might not even make it to Step 3. But if you do, you can start snagging big bonuses, even if the card isn’t a long term keeper. You can also round out your setup with rotation cards that boost rewards in specific spending areas; these can boost your rewards long-term, even without the big points injection of a huge welcome bonus.

Stay tuned

We’ll dig into each of these steps in more detail over the next few weeks—sharing card picks, bonus alerts, and sign-up strategies. The posts will live here on the blog and be linked in our new weekly newsletter. Be lazy. Let the deals come to you. Sign up here. 

-🦥

Next
Next

Why Alaska Airlines is My #1 Frequent Flyer Program