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The Wyndham Rewards card from Bank of America is no longer being offered on Bank of America’s website. This is unfortunate because it was one of few cards offering a 2% base rewards rate.
The card issuer has slimmed its card portfolio down from 145 cards to less than 40 over the past year, dropping many alumni cards, charity cards, and travel cards along the way.
American Express updated every card offer in some way over the past quarter. Generally speaking, minimum APR’s were increased and balance transfer promotions were reduced in reaction to credit card legislation which makes it more difficult for credit card companies to raise APR’s on customers and charge late fees.
Chase has updated APRs on 2 cards and is no longer offering the Amazon cards
There are a lot of great credit cards out there that do not pay websites referral fees. The following cards nominated by our staff, to our knowledge, are unknown in the world of credit card aggregation websites:
Beware of balance transfer fees! Almost every credit card with a low introductory APR on balance transfers charges 3-4% in fees upfront.
So if we filter for no fee on balance transfers + low introductory APR on them, what do we get?
9 cards, 6 of which are from American Express. In order of best intro promotion:
Everyone’s best choice is different, and we encourage you to do the math on your own.
If your credit is good but not excellent, the easiest card to get approved for in the group is probably the American Express Clear, which has a respectable 1% rewards rate.
If your credit is excellent, the 3 below are great deals for you.
If you plan to simply transfer your balance onto the card and move on when the promotional period is up, the Pulaski Bank Visa is the only card we know of with 0% intro APR and 0% balance transfer fee.
We wouldn’t recommend prioritizing a rewards card over a low APR card if you plan on carrying a balance. But if you intend to pay it down – try out our calculator for American Express Costco TrueEarnings, with 3% back on gas & restaurants and 2% on travel for a good general purpose card. Ranking even higher, if you stay at Hilton hotels, the Hilton HHonors Surpasshas an unparalleled 6x points multiplier on gas, groceries, drug stores, and cable/wireless/internet bills and a huge 40,000 point bonus for signing up. On top of that, the base rate is 1.25 points per dollar spent, jumping to 1.5 points after $40,000.
Our Nerd Factory diligently tracks changes to credit card offers. Come back for updates!
Here are some recent updates we’ve made regarding changes in Credit Card Offers:
(NerdWallet) - American Express has some of the best rewards programs out there, as you can see from their high rankings using our nerdy credit card finder tool.
To demonstrate why, let’s analyze 2 transactions at Joe’s Coffee Shop, one using your American Express card, and one using your MasterCard/Visa from one of the big issuers (Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Capital One, Wachovia).
Not only does American Express charge a higher transaction fee, they also keep the entire fee instead of splitting it 3 ways.
The virtuous cycle goes like this – (i) American Express has the most prestigious cardholders so they can charge merchants more, (ii) American Express charges merchants more so they can offer better rewards, (iii) American Express offers better rewards so they can attract premier cardholders. At NerdWallet, we believe this is precisely why Warren Buffet owns 12% of the company. And this is also why when you pick up an American Express card, you get to enjoy extra rewards at the expense of Joe’s Coffees everywhere.
The following no fee American Express card rank well in our objective credit card finder, based on our calculation of annualized rewards and promotions minus annualized fees:
Smart spending, and best of luck
