Editor's Choice : Best Credit Card Deals for 2009（转载）

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Here are our thoughts and recommendations on the what we think are the best credit cards in various categories. In light of the global credit crisis that we are facing, and the fact that many banks have tightened their lending standards, we will also be recommending cards for those with just average credit in this section as well.


Best For Gas, Travel and Online Shopping
There are quite a few very good cash back credit cards in the market today. Below are two cards that we recommend that allows you to earn more than the standard 1% rebates with most cards.

The problem with most cash rebates given by credit cards is that they are confined to just a few categories like gas, supermarkets or they only pay 1% rebates for everything. Some even put a cap on the amount of cash rebates you can earn in a calendar year. This is where the Discover card blows away most other cards. You can earn 5% rebates on more items than any other card. Here's the run down :

5% rebates on Airlines, Hotels, Car Rentals and Cruises between Jan and Mar5% rebates on Home Improvement Stores, Department Stores and Clothing Stores between April and June5% rebates on Gas Stations, Hotels, Theme Parks, Zoos and Bookstores between July and September5% rebates on Grocery Stores, Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Movie Rentals between October and November5% and 20% rebates (I look at them more like discounts) at over 100 online retailers like GAP.com, OldNavy.com, Dell.com, BestBuy.com!You can also Double the value of rebates that you have earned if you redeem them for select gift cards (over 100 partners). For example, if you have accumulated $40 in rebates, you could get a $80 celebrity cruise, carnival cruise or Universal Orlando Resorts gift card or a $100 Hyatt Hotel and Resorts Gift Card

There are just so many items where you can earn 5% rebates if you use a Discover� More(SM) Card that you should never leave home without it!

The TrueEarnings® Business Card from Costco and American Express is another great card to get. It pays more than the standard 1% on expenses like gasoline purchases ,restaurant and travel. When you sign up for the card, you will be enrolled (or asked to enroll) in a costco membership (which cost $40 a year). The reason why I really like this card is that it is one of the rare cards that pay more rebates on items like travel and restaurants that very few cards do. Furthermore, as part of American Express OPEN, you get get to save on business expenses with OPEN partners. If you do not have a business ID, you'll be treated as a sole proprietor if you enter your Social. By the way, Costco also has a consumer version of their card.

Best Balance Transfer Credit Card
0% APR For Purchases and
Best Credit Card Rate
At present, there are two cards that I will recommend for both 0% balance transfer deals and 0% deals for purchases. They both also have low interest rates if you have good credit.

[tr][/tr]If you looking for a low rate card or a card to transfer a balance, we recommend either the Discover� More(SM) Card. It offers a 0% APR* for both balance transfers and purchases for 6 months. The APR ranges between 11.99%* and 18.99%*. Unlike most other cards, Discover actually gives a 25 day grace period rather than the 20 day grace period that most other cards giveWhile most folks play the balance transfer game and stop using a card when they transfer an existing balance to a new card with another teaser deal, this is one card which you would want to keep using because of its low rate and also because of all the cash rebates you can earn at so many places (see comment above). Discover allows up to about 2 months to do your balance transfer rather than from date of card membership. As a best practice (and to increase your chances of approval, we recommend that you do not do the balance transfer within your application, but instead wait and check what credit limits you have been given.


The Citi� Platinum Select® MasterCard® is another card that offers 0% APR deal for both balance transfers and purchases for up to 6 months. The APR is as low as 11.99% (variable rate). This would be an ideal card if you already have a Discover Card and cannot transfer a balance to the same issuer. If you shop online a lot, this card has a unique feature whereby you are given a separately generated credit card number just for online use. This is another step to preventing fraud online. Once again, as a best practice (and to increase your chances of approval), we suggest that you wait till you get approved of the card (and also know your credit limit) before requesting your balance transfer.

Travel Rewards
The Escape by Discover® Card is really one of the best travel rewards card available today. You can earn Double Miles on everything that you charge to the card. You can book your own travel items (ie find your best deals) without any restrictions like having to stay a Saturday night, booking 21 days in advance, no stopovers etc. You can also earn unlimited miles. The $60 annual fee* is a small price to pay for the convenience and flexibility compared to traditional airline credit cards. For those who do not want to pay the $60 annual fee, Discover also has the Discover Miles Card, which works the same way. It has no annual fee and allows you to earn double miles for the first $3000 in annual travel purchases made on the card.

[tr][/tr]The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card is one of the most popular credit cards among the really frequent fliers and travelers. This is because it has probably the best hotel reward program, and the main attraction is that you can use their points for air miles in a couple of ways. Firstly, you can transfer points you earn to airline partners. Furthermore, you get a 5,000 airmiles bonus if you transfer 20,000 points into miles. Effectively, you only need 20,000 points or miles to get a free domestic flight (since most require 25,000 miles!). Or you could also book your airline tickets through Starwood (the program is called StarFlights). Starflightallows you to use a certain amount of points for tickets up to a certain value and I must say many will find this system attractive as most credit card reward programs have gotten away from this. Many American Express Centurion and Platinum cardholders also carry this card.

For College Students
The Discover Student Credit Card is a really great card for college students. It has so many great features that I'm sure anyone will benefit from it. Below is a summary of what it offers:

5% cash back on Airlines, Hotels, Car Rentals and Cruises between Jan and Mar5% cash back on Home Improvement Stores, Department Stores and Clothing Stores between April and June5% cash back on Gas Stations, Hotels, Theme Parks, Zoos and Bookstores between July and September5% cash back on Grocery Stores, Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Movie Rentals between October and November5% and 20% cash rebates at over 100 online retailers like GAP.com, OldNavy.com, Dell.com, BestBuy.com!You can also Double the value of rebates that you have earned if you redeem them for select gift cards (over 100 partners). For example, if you have accumulated $40 in rebates, you could get a $80 celebrity cruise, carnival cruise or Universal Orlando Resorts gift card or a $100 Hyatt Hotel and Resorts Gift Card

If you are the sort that goes for reward points, then the card to consider is the Citi Forward(SM) Card for College Students. It has a reward program based on Citi's ThankYou Rewards. With this card, you can earn 5 points for every $1 spent on dining, books, movies and music; and 1 point for other purchases. Citi is also offering 6,000 ThankYou� Points after you make $50 in purchases within the first 3 months and 5,000 ThankYou� Points when you sign up for Paperless Statements within 3 months of account opening.

You can also earn 100 ThankYou� Points each billing period when you pay on time and stay under your credit line. That means in a year, you can earn 1,200 extra points.

Update : The Citi ThankYou Redemptions Network reward program now allows you to exchange reward points that be used to reduce your student loans.