Card Comparison: Low/No Fee 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards - August 2008
With dark cloud of credit crisis still over America, good balance transfer credit card offers are harder and harder to find. While you might receive offers of 0% APR for 12 month and no transaction fee in 2007, now the offers don’t give you both at the same time. You either have 0% APR and pay 3% transaction fee, or have high APR and pay 0% transaction fee. It doesn’t mean there is no deal at this tough credit environment, here we listed out credit cards with introductory balance transfer offers ranked by attractiveness.
Note: this list might change because card companies update their terms and conditions frequently, I will publish updated list in the future.
| Card Name | APR | Transaction Fee | |
 |
The Discover® Open RoadSM Card for Students |
0% for 12 mths, require Excellent Credit | 3% balance transfer fee with a minimum $10 and maximum $75 |
 |
Discover® More Card |
0% for 12 mths, requires Excellent Credit | 3% balance transfer fee with a minimum $10 and maximum $75 |
 |
Miles by Discover® Card |
0% for 6 mths, requires Excellent Credit | 3% balance transfer fee with a minimum $10 and maximum $75 |
 |
Blue from American Express® |
0% for up to 15 mths, requires Excellent Credit | 3% with a $99 cap |
 |
Chase Platinum Visa® |
0% for 12 mths, requires Good Credit | 3% with a $99 cap |
 |
HSBC Platinum MasterCard® with Cash Back Rewards |
0% for 12 mths, requires Good Credit | 3% balance transfer fee with a minimum $15, no upper cap |
 |
Capital One® Platinum Prestige |
7.9%, requires Excellent Credit | None |
 |
Bank of America Platinum Plus® Visa® Card |
0% for 12 mths, requires Good Credit | 3% transaction fee, no less than $10, no cap |
Card Comparison: Discover Reward Credit Cards
In the previous post, I listed a couple of gas rewards credit cards and ranked them based on rewards generosity. At top of that list, you find Discover Open Road Credit Card. In fact, Discover offers two types of Open Road credit cards: one for consumer, the other for students. This article will dive deeper into the details of what these cards offer to customers by some Q and A.
There is a rumor that Discover Student Cards all offer 5% gas reward, unfortunately, it’s wrong, only Discover Student Open Road card does that. There is another rumor that only Discover Open Road for Student card offers 5% gas reward, fortunately, this is wrong again, since both Discover Open Road cards offer 5% gas reward. There is even better news, just as its name implies, Open Road card series not only reward 5% for gas purchases, but also reward the same percentage for auto repairs. This is extremely useful since many people didn’t notice, but it’s true that auto repair accounts the highest among their annual expense categories, usually gas ranks the second. Therefore Discover Open Road series card do offer great benefit for average consumers.
Here is a more detailed comparison of various Discover rewards credit cards including both Open Road cards:
| Card Name | Rewards | Rates |
|
|
The Discover® Open RoadSM Card for Students |
5% cash back on gas and auto services ($100 gas spending limit per month), requires Good Credit | Regular: 14.99%, Intro Purch: 0% for 6 mths, Intro BT: None |
 |
Discover Open Road Card for Consumers |
5% cash back on gas and auto services ($100 gas spending limit per month), requires Excellent Credit | Regular: 10.99% - 18.99%, Intro Purch: 0% for 6 mths, Intro BT: 0% for 12 mths |
 |
Discover® Student Card |
5% Cashback Bonus on category purchases, requires Good Credit |
Regular: 14.99%, Intro Purch: 0% for 6 mths, Intro BT: None |
Card Comparison: Gas Rewards Credit Cards - July 2008
Crude oil price dramatically dropped on July 15th, national average gasoline price dropped favorably below $4. Don’t forget the reason for this drop is the perception of sharply decreased demand from developed world, especially US, for gasoline, which means as price goes down, the demand could go up easily, and hence this drop will not last long.
So what are news with gas credit cards? American Express dropped their cash rewards rate for SimplyCash card from 5% to 3%, and therefore the card slipped down from our top pick; as a result, our top two cards are: Discover Open Road for Student Card and TrueEarnings Business Card from American Express, both rewards 5% cash back for gas purchases, there are some limitations to these two cards: Discover has $100 monthly gas purchase limit, so you can’t spend more than $5 on gas rewards per month (Some people might ask what’s the difference between Discover Student Card and Discover Open Road card, this topic will be discussed in future posts.); TrueEarnings card is a business card, but you can apply even if you do not own a business, since you can apply as a “Sole Proprietorship”, what’s more, to apply for the card, you need to have Costco membership. For Costco members, American Express card is a good choice, since it doesn’t have gas purchase limits similar to Discover card does.
In the next tier of 3% cash rewards cards, Chase Freedom stands out with no annual fee, 15 categories of spending that are qualified for 3% rewards including gas purchase.
For Consumers…
| Card Name | Reward on each $1 spent on gas | Regular APR | |
 |
Chase FreedomSM Credit Card |
3% cash back | 14.99% |
 |
TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express |
3% cash back (requires Costco membership) | 15.99% |
 |
Capital One® No Hassle MilesSM Rewards For Travel & Gas |
3 miles | 13.99% |
 |
Capital One® No Hassle PointsSM Rewards |
5 points ($29 annual fee) | 16.99% |
 |
The Chase® PerfectCardTM (Gas Rebate Credit Card) |
3% cash back (6% for first 90 days) | 10.99% |
 |
BP Visa® Rewards Card |
5% cash back on BP purchases (10% for the first 60 days) | 11.99% |
 |
Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® MasterCard |
2% cash back (5% for first 6 months) | 10.99% |
 |
Capital One® No Hassle PointsSM Rewards |
2 points | 16.90% |
 |
Citi® Diamond Preferred® Rewards Card |
1 point (5 points for first 12 months) | 10.49% |
 |
Citi® Professional(SM) Card with ThankYou(SM) Network |
3 ThankYou Points | 10.99% |
|
Discover® Open Road Card |
5% cash back ($100 gas spending limit per month) | 10.99% |
For Students…
| Card Name | Reward on each $1 spent on gas | Regular APR | |
|
The Discover® Open RoadSM Card for Students |
5% cash back ($100 gas spending limit per month) | 16.99% |
 |
Citi® Driver’s Edge® Card for College Students |
3% cash back | 14.99% |
|
Discover® Student Card |
5% cash back | 16.99% |
For Businesses…
| Card Name | Reward on each $1 spent on gas | Regular APR | |
 |
TrueEarnings® Business Card from Costco and American Express |
5% cash back (requires Costco membership) | 15.99% |
 |
Chase Business Rebate Visa® Card |
3% cash back | 10.99% |
 |
American Express SimplyCash® Business Credit Card |
3% cash back | 5.25% |
 |
Discover® Business Card |
2% cash back | 13.99% |
 |
Discover® Business Miles Card |
2 miles | 13.99% |
Card Comparison: Sign Up Bonus Rewards Credit Cards - June 2008
Many credit cards offer sign-up bonus to customers, many of them are rewards credit cards, which means sign-up bonus offer rewards in addition to regular rewards program. As an additional benefit, sign-up bonus rewards credit cards are on top of your list when you are on card hunting trip. Sign up bonuses can be in the form of a check in the mail, a credit to your account, or points for a rewards program.
- Sign up bonuses are promotional offers from credit cards for new cardholders
- Receive cash back for making your first purchase with a new credit card offering a cash sign up bonus
- Receive rewards points for signing on to a new credit card account for cards with rewards program sign up bonuses
- For airline rewards program cards, you could even receive a free companion airline ticket as a sign up bonus!
For Consumers…
| Card Name (Credit Requirement) | Sign-Up Bonus | Requirements | |
 |
Gold Delta SkyMiles Card |
15,000 miles | After 1st purchase |
|
Citi® ProfessionalSM Card with Thank YouSM Network |
$100 gift card | After 1st purchase |
 |
AMEX Starwood Preferred Guest (Good Credit) |
10,000 Star Points | After 1st purchase |
 |
Hilton HHonors® Platinum Card (Excellent Credit) |
10,000 Hilton Points | 10.99% |
 |
AMEX Preferred Rewards Gold |
$100 gift card | After 1st purchase |
|
Chase Freedom Card |
$50 | After 1st purchase |
 |
One from American Express |
$50 | After 1st purchase |
 |
AMEX Preferred Rewards Green |
$50 gift card | After 1st purchase |
 |
Citi PremierPass |
10,000 Points | Spend $300 in 3 mths |
 |
Citi PremierPass Elite |
20,000 Points | Spend $600 in 3 mths |
 |
Citi Platinum AAdvantage (Excellent Credit) |
25,000 AA Miles | Spend $750 in 4 mths |
 |
Citi Gold AAdvantage |
15,000 AA Miles | Spend $750 in 4 mths |
For Businesses…
| Card Name (Credit Requirement) | Sign-Up Bonus | Requirements | |
 |
Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Card |
15,000 Miles | After 1st purchase |
 |
AMEX Starwood Preferred Guest Business (Good Credit) |
10,000 Star Points | After 1st purchase |
 |
Platinum Business FreedomPass from AMEX |
$50 | After 1st purchase |
 |
CitiBusiness w/ ThankYou Network |
$100 gift card | Spend $250 |
College Fund Rewards Credit Card
Among the credit cards with rewards, there is one credit card that is tied to 529 plan. For families with children, this card appear to be no-brainer deal. Use this card instead of cash to pay all your purchases, the rewards will drop into your 529 college savings account.
The Citi Upromise Card offers a 1-percent rebate on general purchases, with an annual rebate cap of $300. When used at certain retail locations, however, the rebate is boosted to 2 percent (Exxon or Mobil stations) or 10 percent (grocery and drug stores) with no annual caps. The card can be linked to any of the 529 plans managed by Upromise Investments Inc. (New York’s college savings program being the largest).