What is the Chase 5/24 rule?

Chase will deny you for most of their cards if you've opened 5 or more credit cards (from any bank) in the past 24 months. This makes Chase cards the most time-sensitive. Apply for Chase cards first before opening cards from other banks.

Will applying for a credit card hurt my credit score?

Yes, but minimally and temporarily. A new card application causes a hard inquiry that drops your score by about 5 points for a few months. Your score will recover, and typically improve, once you have the new account and keep the balance at zero.

What credit card should I get first?

If you're building credit from scratch, start with a secured card or a student card. If you have good credit (700+), the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best first travel card: strong sign-up bonus, flexible points, and it doesn't have the complexity of premium cards.

How do I maximize credit card rewards without paying interest?

Set up autopay for the full statement balance every month, not the minimum payment. If you carry a balance, the interest immediately wipes out any rewards you earn. Treat your credit card exactly like a debit card: only spend money you already have.

How to Win the Credit Card Game

Which card you should get depends on where you’re starting. This guide goes in order: build credit, then earn cash back, then move up to travel points. Find your stage in the table and skip ahead.

Which setup fits you?

Question	Start with	Why
You have little or no credit historyBuild credit	Discover it® Secured	No credit score needed and no annual fee. On-time payments build the history you need for a better card.
You want simple rewards and no feeCash back	Citi Double Cash®	2% back on everything with no categories to track. Keep it forever.
You want free flights and hotel staysTravel points	Chase Sapphire Preferred®	$95 a year for points that transfer to Hyatt, United, and a dozen other partners.
You pay rent or a mortgageBilt	Bilt card	Points on housing with no transaction fee. Start with the no-fee tier.
You travel often and use loungesPremium	Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum	Both cost $795 or more. The credits cover it only if you'd spend that money anyway.

Build your credit

The best cards need a good credit score. If you’re starting from zero, the goal for the first year is simple: a card that’s easy to get, a small bill on autopay, and a clean payment history.

Discover it® Secured

Discover · $0 annual fee

Deposit: $49, $99, or $200 depending on your credit. It sets your limit, and you get it back when you upgrade.
Earning: 5% in rotating quarterly categories (up to the quarterly cap, once activated), 1% on everything else
Best for: Starting from no credit history, or rebuilding

Discover matches all the cash back you earn in your first year
No credit score required to apply
A path to an unsecured card once you have a record of on-time payments

Review Discover it Secured →

When you move up to a regular card, keep this account open. It costs nothing, and its age keeps helping your score.

The first six months

Apply for the card and fund the deposit.
Put one small recurring bill on it, like Netflix or Spotify.
Set up autopay for the full statement balance.
Leave it alone for six months. On-time payments do the rest.

Earn cash back

If you’d rather not track points or pay an annual fee, a flat-rate cash back card is all you need. One card, one rate, nothing to manage.

Citi Double Cash®

Citi · $0 annual fee

Earning: 2% on everything: 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay it off
Best for: One no-fee card for all your spending

No categories to activate and no cap on what you earn
No annual fee, so you can keep it open forever

Review Citi Double Cash →

If you bank with Bank of America

Keep $100,000 or more at Bank of America or Merrill and their loyalty program, now called BofA Rewards, adds a bonus to everything their cards earn. It got worse on May 27, 2026: the 75% bonus that used to start at $100,000 now takes $1 million. Between $100,000 and $1 million you get 50%.

If you’re already a Platinum Honors member, nothing changes yet. Existing members keep the 75% bonus until three months after their first account anniversary after November 2026, which for most people means sometime in 2027. Don’t move money around over a change that hasn’t reached you.

Bank of America® Premium Rewards®

Bank of America · $95 annual fee

Earning: 2x on travel and dining, 1.5x on everything else, before the BofA Rewards bonus
With the bonus: 2.25% on everything at 50%, or 2.62% at 75%. Dining and travel reach 3% and 3.5%.
Best for: You already keep $100,000 or more at BofA or Merrill

Up to $100 a year in airline incidental credits (seat upgrades, bag fees, lounge passes)
Up to $100 every four years for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
No foreign transaction fees

Review Premium Rewards →

A caveat on those credits: a credit for something you wouldn’t buy anyway is a coupon, not a discount. The airline credit only helps if you fly.

Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards

Bank of America · $0 annual fee

Earning: 3% in a category you choose (online shopping is the easy one), 2% at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, 1% on the rest
Cap: The 3% and 2% rates cover the first $2,500 a quarter, combined
Best for: A second card for online shopping, alongside Premium Rewards

You can change the 3% category once a month
The BofA Rewards bonus applies here too

Review Customized Cash Rewards →

Travel points

Transferable points are how people fly business class on points. Chase points move to partners like Hyatt and United, where they’re usually worth more than they would be as cash back. The standard setup is two cards: one that unlocks transfers, one that earns on everything else.

Chase Sapphire Preferred®
The anchor. $95 a year, 3x on dining, and it's what lets you transfer points to airline and hotel partners.
Review Sapphire Preferred →
Chase Freedom Unlimited®
No annual fee and at least 1.5x on every purchase. Its points pool with your Sapphire points.
Review Freedom Unlimited →

Why two cards, and the Hyatt catch

The Freedom Unlimited earns more than the Preferred on everyday purchases, but on its own it can’t transfer points. Combine the two accounts and everything you earn on the Freedom becomes transferable.

Hyatt is usually the best place to send Chase points, often 2 cents or more each on good redemptions. The catch: as of 2026 the Preferred transfers to Hyatt at 4:3, so 100,000 points become 75,000 Hyatt points. The Reserve is the only Sapphire card that still transfers 1:1.

Apply for Chase cards first. Chase usually declines you if you’ve opened five or more cards from any bank in the past 24 months. The Chase 5/24 guide explains how to order your applications, and the card packs guide covers the other banks’ versions of this setup.

Bilt, if you pay rent or a mortgage

Housing is the biggest bill most people never earn anything on. Bilt is one of the few cards that lets you pay rent or a mortgage with no transaction fee, and its points transfer 1:1 to partners like Hyatt and United. There are three tiers: Blue ($0), Obsidian ($95), and Palladium ($495).

I carry this

Bilt Palladium Card

Cardless · $495 annual fee

Welcome offer: 50,000 points, Gold status, and $300 Bilt Cash after $4,000 in purchases in 90 days (rent and mortgage excluded)
Earning: 2x on everyday purchases, plus points on rent or a mortgage with no fee
Best for: High housing costs and enough other spending to justify the fee

$400 a year in Bilt Travel hotel credits ($200 twice a year) and $200 of Bilt Cash, becoming $600 of Bilt Cash in 2027
The no-fee Blue tier earns on housing too, if $495 is more than you want to pay

Read the Bilt guide →

Premium cards

Premium cards are about lounges, travel credits, and airline perks, and they cost $795 to $895 a year. They’re worth it only if the credits replace money you’d spend anyway. I carry two, and I’ve covered them in their own guides:

Amex Platinum vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: Delta, rideshare and delivery, which lounge is at your airport, and transfer partners.
The best travel cards: six cards side by side, including the Amex Gold and Delta Platinum.
Credit card packs: how the Chase, Amex, Capital One, Citi, and Bilt cards fit together, and who each set is for.

Cards I’ve dropped

Cards get worse, and your habits change. Here’s what I closed or downgraded, and why.

Question	Why I had it	Why I let it go
American Express® GoldClosed	4x on dining and groceries.	Using the monthly credits to cover the fee turned into a chore. I'd rather have cards that pay off without upkeep.
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature®Closed, replaced by BofA Premium Rewards	The yearly companion certificate and Alaska miles.	I stopped flying Alaska enough to use the certificate.
US Bank Altitude® ReserveDowngraded to the no-fee Altitude Connect	4.5% back on Apple Pay and other mobile wallet purchases.	US Bank dropped the mobile wallet bonus in late 2025. Downgrading kept the account's age.

The cards I reach for

This isn’t everything in my wallet. It’s which card I use for what.

Question	Card	Why
Everyday spending	BofA Premium Rewards	3.5% back on dining and travel and 2.62% on everything else with my BofA Rewards bonus, as cash.
Rent or mortgage	Bilt Palladium	Points on my mortgage with no fee, plus its yearly credits. I'm still deciding whether the $495 fee clears for me at renewal. If it doesn't, a lower Bilt tier does the same thing for less.

Behind those sit two travel cards. I’ve had the Chase Sapphire Reserve for years and come out ahead on it every year, mostly from the $300 travel credit and 1:1 Hyatt transfers. I added the Amex Platinum because I fly Delta, use CLEAR, and use enough of its other credits to cover the fee. Both earn their keep in my everyday life, just not as my default card. The full comparison is here.

Two rules

Never pay interest. Set up autopay for the full statement balance, not the minimum. At typical card APRs above 20%, interest costs far more than any card earns back.
Plan the order. Most banks limit how many cards you can open. Chase is the strictest, so apply for Chase cards first.

Where to start

If you already have good credit and aren’t sure, get the Chase Sapphire Preferred®. At $95 it’s still the most flexible first travel card. The one catch is Hyatt transfers at 4:3. If Hyatt is where you want your points, look at the Reserve. Add cards later once you know how you redeem.

Review Chase Sapphire Preferred →

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Top Pick for Beginners

Chase Sapphire Preferred®

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Table of Contents

How to Win the Credit Card Game

Key Takeaways

Which setup fits you?