In the November issue of Kiplinger’s magazine, they had a section where they wrote their thoughts on what they thought were good credit cards. I list them down here, but I have some critiques about them and the fact that the recommendation appear to broad based without going into details and caveats.

Cash Rebate Card – For the Cash Rebate Card category, they chose the Blue Cash from American Express as their choice. They correctly mentioned that you earned 1% rebates on gasoline, supermarket and drugstores until you reached $6,500 in annual spending and that once you exceed this threshold, you earn 5% rebates. I personally carry the blue cash and it is a card I highly recommend. However, what they fail to realize is that because of the tier structure, it may not be the best card for you. For those who spend less, the Chase Freedom Card will probably be a better alternative. It pays 3% rebates on gas, groceries and drugstores, but has no tiers. Best way to find out which card is right for you is to use our Cash Back Credit Card Calculator.

Airline-Miles Card – For this category, Kiplinger close the Citi Premierpass Card Elite Version. While this is a very good card, I think there are just too many types of travel reward cards to simply pick one. What they failed to mention is that this card will only suit those who travel a lot because you can earn points from the dollars you spend and also from the miles you fly. For those of us who are not really frequent flyers, then this card may not be suitable. Plus, Citi’s ThankYou Network airline reward system could get complicated as they have “fixed options” and “flexible options” for redeeming points for airline tickets. Check out our review of Citi’s Rewards for more details.

Low Rate Card – Kiplinger’s recommended the Simmons First National Bank Platinum Card which comes with a 7.25% APR (low indeed). I agree with their recommendation. Aside from having a low rate, they also give cardholders a 25 days of grace period (longer than the standard 20 day given by most other cards). What this card lacks though is a 0% APR Deal.

Travel Card – For this category, the Capital One Platinum Plus Mastercard was chosen as all Capital One cards do not charge any foreign transaction fee. I agree with their choice on this one.

Gasoline Card – The BP Rewards Visa was chosen because they pay 5% rebates on BP purchases and aso 2% on travel and dining expenses. I also recommend the BP credit card and agree with their choice. However, not everyone uses BP gas stations. What if you don’t. Well, my choice would be the American Express Simply Cash Card. It is a business credit card that pays 5% rebates on gasoline and certain types of business expenses. (Note : you do not need to have a business to get a business credit card as you will be treated as a sole propriertor).

Parting Notes : While I agree with most of their choices, I feel not everyone would find the recommended cards to be the best for them. I hope I have added some value by highlighting where one might find slightly better cards. For a list of cards that we recommend, please check out our best credit cards

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at 18:55 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.