Relating to bank card choices, we’re residing in an incredible age. Choice has by no means been higher, with aggressive choices throughout a variety of value factors and reward sorts. Selecting the best bank card to your particular way of life and journey objectives could make an enormous distinction in what number of rewards you earn and the way rapidly you earn them. With so many robust contenders on the market, it may be powerful to slim down the checklist to search out your greatest match.
To get you began, I’ve rounded up 4 of my high picks. Any of those playing cards can be an amazing addition to your pockets; they’ve all cemented a spot in mine.
Methodology
Selecting the perfect bank card is not a precise science. So many components go into it (your spending habits, most popular rewards and journey objectives, to call a number of) that it is not possible to level to a common “greatest card.” As an alternative, I’ve chosen a handful with broad attraction because of their incomes charges, advantages, welcome bonuses and past.
As TPG’s director of factors, miles and bank card content material, I constantly monitor the cardboard panorama. That is additionally a vital a part of my private factors and miles technique, which helped me compile this checklist based mostly on my firsthand expertise with these playing cards.
These are the workhorses in my pockets and the merchandise which have helped me amass the factors to fly enterprise class to Tahiti, keep in an overwater bungalow within the Maldives and take numerous different journeys each close to and much. If used to their full potential, I am assured they’re going to do the identical for you.
The perfect bank cards of September 2025
*TPG founder Brian Kelly is a Bilt adviser and investor.
| Card | Greatest for | Welcome provide | Incomes charges | Annual payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilt Mastercard | General | N/A. |
You will need to use the cardboard 5 instances every assertion interval to earn factors on hire and qualifying internet purchases. |
$0 (see charges and costs) |
| Chase Sapphire Most popular Card | Newcomers | Earn 75,000 bonus factors after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. |
|
$95 |
| The Platinum Card from American Specific | Luxurious perks | Discover out your provide and see if you’re eligible for as excessive as 175,000 Membership Rewards factors after spending $8,000 on purchases throughout the first six months of card membership. Welcome provides fluctuate, and also you is probably not eligible for a suggestion. |
|
$695 (see charges and costs) |
| Hilton Honors American Specific Aspire Card | Resort rewards | Earn 150,000 factors after spending $6,000 on eligible purchases throughout the first six months of card membership. |
|
$550 (see charges and costs) |
Greatest general bank card: Bilt Mastercard
If there’s one card I refuse to half with, it is the Bilt Mastercard. Whereas it is best recognized for its capability to earn factors on hire (a function I completely love as a renter), I might argue it is a worthwhile pickup for anybody because of its robust incomes charges and unbeatable checklist of switch companions. It does not include a welcome provide, but it surely additionally lacks an annual payment, so any method you slice it, you may come out forward by including this card to your pockets.
Why we like it
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Firsthand expertise
After initially reserving the Bilt card for my hire funds, I moved a lot of my different spending over as soon as I spotted how worthwhile Bilt Rewards Factors will be. I’ve transferred them to top-tier airline and lodge companions like Alaska Airways Atmos Rewards, United MileagePlus and World of Hyatt, and leveraged Bilt’s frequent and profitable switch bonuses, which have reached as excessive as 100%. One other plus: Bilt factors seem in your account as quickly as you make a cost. This distinctive function helped me snag restricted award house on a cross-country flight final summer season earlier than it disappeared.
For extra, take a look at our overview of the Bilt Mastercard.
Apply right here: Bilt Mastercard
Greatest bank card for rookies: Chase Sapphire Most popular
In case you’re searching for your first bank card or nonetheless getting acquainted with journey rewards, the Chase Sapphire Most popular is a wonderful place to begin. It is an amazing go-to for incomes bonus factors in standard spending classes, and contemplating its comparatively low annual payment, it packs some critically worthwhile perks. By nabbing the cardboard’s present welcome provide, you may be nicely in your strategy to your first redemption with an amazing base to begin rising your stability of Final Rewards factors, a extremely worthwhile and transferable reward foreign money.
Why we like it
Firsthand expertise
My private favourite perk on the Chase Sapphire Most popular is the three factors per greenback it earns on on-line groceries (excluding Walmart, Goal and wholesale golf equipment). I am an enormous advocate for on-line grocery procuring, and placing that weekly expense on my Sapphire Most popular helps me accrue factors rapidly. One in every of my favourite methods to make use of them is to switch them to World of Hyatt. Whether or not I am reserving a no-frills Hyatt Place to cheaply journey to a live performance or a high-end worldwide Park Hyatt or Andaz because the centerpiece of a giant journey, I’ve discovered tons of worth in utilizing my factors this manner. I’ve additionally made nice use of the first rental automobile protection when renting automobiles in Eire, Scotland and the Azores.
For extra, take a look at our overview of the Chase Sapphire Most popular.
Apply right here: Chase Sapphire Most popular
Greatest card for luxurious perks: The Platinum Card from American Specific
For a premium card expertise, it is arduous to high the Amex Platinum. It comes loaded with advantages and assertion credit so as to add a contact of luxurious to your journey expertise, together with Gold standing with each Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy (Enrollment is required), airline payment credit, and plentiful lounge entry. However the Amex Platinum additionally comes with loads of perks you should use even once you’re not touring; suppose assertion credit for transit expenses, procuring and leisure, plus procuring advantages and protections.
Why we like it
- World Lounge Assortment entry for eligible cardmembers, together with Centurion Lounges and Delta Sky Golf equipment when flying on an eligible Delta flight**
- Assertion credit, together with as much as $200 airline payment assertion credit score and up-to-$240 digital leisure assertion credit score (enrollment required for each assertion credit talked about)
- Wholesome incomes fee of 5 factors per greenback spent on flights bought immediately with an airline†
**When touring on same-day Delta flights; eligible Amex Platinum cardmembers will obtain 10 visits per eligible Amex Platinum card per yr to the Delta Sky Membership or to Seize and Go when touring on a same-day Delta-operated flight.
†Additionally, you will earn 5 factors per greenback on airfare bought via American Specific Journey®. There’s a $500,000 cap on these purchases per calendar yr; you’ll earn 1 level per greenback thereafter.
Firsthand expertise
The Amex Platinum’s excessive incomes fee on airfare bought immediately with an airline initially drew me to the cardboard seven years in the past, but it surely’s the lounge entry and assertion credit which have stored me paying this card’s $695 annual payment yr after yr.
Since I typically fly itineraries with connections, I admire accessing Centurion Lounges on my layovers, even after I’m solely popping in for a couple of minutes to seize some meals or change in a clear toilet after a red-eye. And with all of the assertion credit that include this card, I’ve discovered it simple to offset the annual payment, despite the fact that it is on the upper facet. I significantly love the airline payment credit score, which I take advantage of for checked baggage charges on Alaska Airways, and the digital leisure credit score, which covers my subscription to New York Occasions Cooking.
For extra, take a look at our overview of the Amex Platinum Card.
Apply right here: Amex Platinum
Greatest bank card for lodge rewards: Hilton Honors American Specific Aspire Card
I hate to play favorites, however I’ll anyway: The Hilton Honors Aspire is my favourite card of all time. I’ve had it because it launched, and I nonetheless cannot recover from the truth that it comes with top-tier elite standing, large resort assertion credit and, better of all, an annual free night time certificates that can be utilized at virtually any Hilton property worldwide. If tropical holidays are your factor, this card can prevent 1000’s of {dollars} every year.
Why we like it
- Computerized Hilton Honors Diamond elite standing
- A free night time certificates in your cardmember anniversary every year
- As much as $400 in Hilton resort assertion credit every calendar yr (disbursed as as much as $200 biannually)
Firsthand expertise
The Aspire turned my preferrred trip companion in 2018, after I realized simply what number of of its perks I might maximize on a visit to the Maldives. Since then, I’ve used the annual free night time certificates to remain at among the world’s high luxurious seaside properties, together with the Conrad Bora Bora Nui, the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal and Maui’s Grand Wailea.
The perfect half? The resort credit offset lots of my on-property bills, permitting me to primarily flip any resort into an all-inclusive for a few days. Subsequent up for me: a free keep at Portugal’s Conrad Algarve, booked with a free night time certificates and factors earned utilizing the cardboard.
For extra, take a look at our overview of the Hilton Aspire Card.
Apply right here: Hilton Honors American Specific Aspire Card
For charges and costs of the Amex Platinum, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Hilton Aspire Card, click on right here.
See Bilt Mastercard charges and costs click on right here.
See Bilt Mastercard rewards and advantages right here.
