What Are the Best Credit Cards of 2019?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the best credit card right now for frequent travelers collecting rewards and points due to its amazing ability to yield up to a 2.5% rewards rate on travel purchases. The card actually awards 2 points on travel and dining, which we estimate to be worth $0.01 each. Users get a 25% bonus when they redeem their points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, meaning the card has a 2.5% rewards rate.

The Best Rewards Program

Because this card is a member of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, the points you earn offer unparalleled convenience since they can be transferred to hotel and airline loyalty programs on a 1:1 basis. Some of those programs include major brands like British Airways, Marriott Rewards, and World of Hyatt. This flexibility makes Chase Ultimate Rewards the best credit card points program on the market.

Excellent Travel Benefits

The card has many features that make it the ultimate card for travelers. For instance, your points are worth 25% more when you redeem them for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. This essentially means you'll always get a minimum rewards rate of 1.25% as long as you're redeeming your points for travel through the program. You'll also earn 2 points per dollar on dining and travel and won't have to pay any foreign transaction fees.

The Discover it® Cash Back has one of the best cash back rates available. For no annual fee, you'll get 5% back on categories that rotate every quarter. This is considerably better than the typical 1.5% to 2% cash back offered on most other cards. Plus, Discover will match all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year.

5% on Rotating Categories

To get the most value out of the Discover it® Cash Back, you’ll have to keep track of the rotating categories and activate your card each quarter. Categories typically include popular shopping destinations like gas stations and grocery stores, so most consumers won't have a hard time benefiting from this card.

Cash Back Limit

The 5% cash back rate is limited to the first $1,500 in purchases in each category. After you hit that cap, all purchases earn a 1% cashback rate. However, if you max out the $1,500 each quarter and then switch to a card that earns more than 1%, you'll still earn $300 in cash back annually.

The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® Credit Card offers competitive rewards when you use it for purchases, but its the card's highly valuable travel savings makes it the best co-branded airline card. For every year that you have the card you'll be awarded a Companion Fare certificate. Let's say you booked a $461 trip from Miami to Seattle, you'd only have to pay $99 (plus taxes and fees) for the ability to bring an extra passenger along.

Worth the Annual Fee

Similar to other airline cards the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® Credit Card comes with an annual fee in the amount of $75. However, the card makes it extremely easy to make back that annual fee when you take advantage of its many benefits. For instance, overpackers can save $25 every time they fly since the card allows you to check a bag for free. Use this feature just three times and you're breaking even.

Varied Travel Options

The miles you earn with the card can be used to fly with Alaska Airlines, or with one of its partners which include Korean Air, Aer Lingus, Japan Airlines and Emirates. When compared to what other airline cards offer, this is quite a diverse set of airline partners.

The Chase Slate® is the best resource for someone who has credit card debt and needs interest payment relief. That's because you'll get a longer than average intro period to save hundreds, if not thousands, on interest expense. Even among most balance transfer cards, 15 months of no interest is quite long.

Great for Transfers

While most balance-transfer credit cards charge a 3% to 5% fee for each transfer, the Chase Slate® gives you some breathing room with no balance-transfer fees if you move the debt during the first 60 days your account is open. Keep in mind that balance transfer cards offer very little value beyond their 0% intro APR period. In other words, most don't offer rewards and have very few worthwhile perks and benefits.

We’ve picked the Discover it® Student Cash Back as the best credit card option for students for its above-average rewards—even when we compare it to ordinary non-student credit cards. The Discover it® Student Cash Back offers 5% cash back on different categories throughout the year, up to a quarterly maximum.

Double Up in Year One

Another reason this is our top student pick is the promo offer to double rewards rates, which is the most lucrative bonus available on a student credit card. New cardmembers will have their total cash back rewards doubled at the end of their first year, which means you'll earn an effective rewards rate anywhere from 2% to 10% for that first year. That represents one of the highest rewards rate available across all cards.

The Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business offers the best mix of high rewards and versatility among the business credit cards we surveyed. That's because the card offers a high cash back 2% rate on every single purchase. Most other business cards target high rewards rates in specific types of expense, such as travel or office supplies. But most small business owners face expenditures that don't always fit a particular mold.

Alternative Option

Keep in mind that the card has a $95 annual fee, which is waived for the first year. Therefore, this card is only worth applying for if your business spends more than $19,000 per year. If you spend any less than that, you should consider opting for the Capital One® Spark® Cash Select for Business. The Capital One® Spark® Cash Select for Business offers a lower, but still decent cash back rate of 1.5%. More importantly for companies with low expenses, the card doesn't charge an annual fee.

The Discover it® Secured offers the highest rewards among secured credit cards, making it the best choice for people with poor credit (FICO below 600). Cardholders can receive 2% cash back on up to $1,000 of dining or gas expenses each quarter. That's an extremely lucrative offer when you consider that most secured credit cards usually don't offer rewards.

Solid Rewards and No Annual Fee

As with all secured credit cards, the Discover it® Secured requires a security deposit of at least $200, which is well within the normal range of $200 to $500. The Discover it® Secured also earns our recommendation because it's one of the few credit cards for bad credit to have no annual fee. It's common for cards in this category to charge $25 or more per year on top of the security deposit.

The Capital One® QuicksilverOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card is one of the few great cards for people with credit scores in the 620 to 670 range. We rank it well because it offers a decent 1.5% cash back on all purchases, when most competitors typically provide meager cash back rates and charge extremely high fees.

Biggest Downside is the Annual Fee

Don't confuse this card with the significantly better Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card. The two have similar names, but the Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card is only available to those with excellent credit. If your credit score improves with the Capital One® QuicksilverOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card, we suggest you upgrade your card to take advantage of the lower interest rates, sizable cash back bonus and no annual fee.