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Our “must read” on credit cards: The Pros and Cons of Credit Cards
As we’ve built out the travel section (did you know you can also just type lva.travel ) of Las Vegas Advisor, one of our top priorities has been to keep our eyes open for deals, whether that’s on flights, hotels or any other source with a strong advantage play. This week, we’ve come across a few strong entries in the credit card world. One of these entries includes a credit card $300 bonus!
Credit Card instead of a Debit Card
How do you normally pay for purchases? There are a lot of reasons to use a credit card instead of a debit card:
- Protection against fraudulent charges. If it’s not your charge, you won’t have to pay.
- You have a grace period to pay your bills, with or without interest (We’ll show you how to do it without.).
- They offer great rewards, both for signing up for the card and spending on it. Try finding a debit card that will give you money back.
Some cards have annual fees, so we decided to do a “compare and contrast” between our two options. Which one is better? We’ll leave that up to you, but personally, I solved the problem the easy way: We have both.
Option One: Credit Card $300 Bonus and a Ton of Perks
Our top-of-the-page card option comes with a $95 annual fee (although it’s waived for the first year!), but more than enough perks to make it worth your while.
PROS
- A credit card $300 bonus (cash-bonus) after you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening ($3,000 total, not $3,000 per month).
- Lots of fee waivers. There’s no annual fee the first year, no foreign transaction fees, and you’ll get free Postmates Unlimited [LINK?] through the end of the year. The waiving of the first-year fee makes this a free roll.
- My personal favorite: You get 4% back on every dining and entertainment purchase. Restaurants? Yup. Doesn’t matter if it’s Joel Robuchon or Olive Garden. Same for entertainment. Show tickets? How about concerts? Amusement parks? Movie theaters? Or any of about a thousand other categories. All get you a 4% cash rebate.
CONS
- If you don’t pay your bill at the end of each month, you’ll be paying a whopping 16.74% — 25.74% interest. Remedy: Get the card below if you don’t pay in full every month!
- The $95 annual fee starts the second year. Remedy: If you don’t want to pay the annual fee, just cancel after year one. However, at the 4% rate, it takes a spend of only $2,375 to generate the $95 fee and you’re earning again after that.
- Other than the 4% categories above, and the 2% cashback at grocery stores, you’ll only earn 1% cash back on each purchase, which is mediocre. Remedy: Use alternatives if you have them for hotel and airfare or fuel (see option #2) for travel.
Credit Card $300 Bonus + Perks
Get more information and apply here. (First card on sign-up page.)
Option Two: $150 and an Interest-Free Loan!
Don’t want to pay an annual fee? Check out the second option on this page. The sign-up bonus is smaller at 15,000 points (worth $150 in gift cards or travel), but requires only $1,000 in purchases in the first three months and offers several other benefits.
PROS
- The big one: 0% financing on new purchases for the first 15 months after you get the card. It’s an interest-free loan to make large purchases and pay over time.
- Earn one point per dollar spent and two points per dollar for supermarkets and gas stations (Up to $6,000 per year). Even better: Points are rounded up to the nearest ten (e.g., an $11 purchase will get rounded up to 20 points and even a $1 purchase will get rounded up to 10), so this card is great for small buys.
- You’ll get a 10% rebate on any points you redeem each year for the first 100,000! For example, if you cash out your 15,000 bonus points for $150, they’ll give you 1,500 points back toward your next reward.
CONS
- The sign-up and ongoing purchases bonuses on this card isn’t quite as strong as the one above. Remedy: Remember, the single most powerful feature of this card is the 0% financing and no annual fee. That’s huge saving for big purchases. We view it as a great way to keep more of the money that you already have.
Get more information and apply here. (Second card on sign-up page.)
These deals come and go, so if you see something you like, I’d snag it. But whether you do, or don’t, want to pay an annual fee, either of these cards can make you a little wealthier.
