Editor's Choice : Best Credit Card Deals for 2010

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 Cash Back Credit Cards
There are quite a few very good cash back credit cards in the market today. Below are three cards that we recommend that allows you to earn more than the standard 1% rebates with most cards.

Discover® More® Card - $50 Cashback Bonus®

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 Mar

5% rebates on Home Improvement Stores, Department Stores and Clothing Stores between April and June

5% rebates on Gas Stations, Hotels, Theme Parks, Zoos and Bookstores between July and September

5% rebates on Grocery Stores, Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Movie Rentals between October and November

5% 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® Card - $50 Cashback Bonus® that you should never leave home without it! Furthermore, you can get a $50 cash back bonus if you spend $599 within the first 3 months. That equals 8.35% cash back as a bonus!

Blue Cash® from American Express

The Blue Cash(R) from American Express is one of the best cash back credit card you could find. I have had this card and have always earned over 2% in cash rebates every year just from using the card, especially at gas stations, supermarkets and drugstores. (see formula in the screen shot below). The great thing about this card is that you can earn unlimited rebates and for me, it saves me money at places that I have to go like the gas stations, supermarkets and drugstores.

The Ink Cash(SM) Business Card is perhaps the best cash back credit card today. It pays 3% rebates on gasoline, home improvement, dining and office supplies purchases. This is one of the rare cards today that has no spending tier requirements or any earning limits. But aside from that, it has a reasonably low interest rate as well. New cardholders get a 0% Intro APR* on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months. Note - you do not need a business to apply for this card. Use use your SSN and you will be treated as a "sole proprietor".

The Chase Freedom(SM) Visa is another one of the better cash back credit cards today. In fact, I have this card and I use it (in addition to my Blue Cash) for items that pay me 5% rebates (they change quarterly) that are not present with the Blue Cash. I also save money by using their shopping portal where they have lots of merchant partners. You also get a 0% Intro APR on balance transfer for 12 months.

Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® MasterCard®

The Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Card is another very good cash back credit card. Like the Discover and Chase Freedom, you can earn 5% rebates on rotating categories and also extra rebates from their online shopping portal Citi Bonus Cash Center. Aside from that, they offer new cardholders a very generous 0% Intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months.

0% APR Credit Cards
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.

Aside from being one of the best cash back credit cards, the Discover® More Card offers a 0% Intro APR* on balance transfers for a FULL 15 months. Unlike most other cards, Discover actually gives a 25 day grace period rather than the 20 day grace period that most other cards give. While 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).

Citi® Platinum Select® Card

The Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® is another card that offers 0% Intro APR deal on balance transfers for 18 months and and 0% Intro APR* on purchases for 12 months. The APR is between 11.99% to 19.99% (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.

No Annual Fee Rewards Credit Card (including for Travel)
Chase Sapphire Card

The Chase Sapphire^SM Card is Chase's new reward credit card and I must say that their reward program has improved a lot. What I like about this card is that you can use your points for travel in a variety of ways. Firstly, you can use their online travel booking site to book your travels. You can earn double points (so you get the benefits of most airline cards without having to pay an annual fee). You can book your travel with any agent, online or offline and use your points to pay in your next statement. You can also transfer points into gift cards of United Airlines and Continental Airlines. This is quite important because you can only transfer them at a two for one ratio with the Starwood program. Membership Rewards does not have partnership with United at all.

The Citi® Diamond Preferred® Rewards Card is another great rewards card with no annual fee. For travel, you can redeem points by booking through their online travel site (which is actually powered by Expedia). Because it is powered by Expedia, you are likely to get great deals and you also do not have to deal with the hassles of blackout dates and other restrictions common in frequent flier miles. Their reward program (ThankYou Rewards) is also pretty good.

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.

Best Frequent Flier Credit Cards

Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express

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). Starflight allows 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.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

The Chase Sapphire(SM) Preferred Card is an upgrade from the regular Chase Sapphire(SM) Card. It comes with an $85 annual fee. But for that, you can book your travel with any agent and use points to redeem. Furthermore, if you book your airline tickets with Chase Travel site, you can earn double miles on airline ticket bookings. Most importantly, you can transfer points into miles (one for one) for United, SouthWest, Continental and British Airways frequent flier miles. Note that United Mileage Plus points can only be transferred from this card and not from other Amex or Starwood cards.

For College Students

The Discover® Student 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 Mar

5% cash back on Home Improvement Stores, Department Stores and Clothing Stores between April and June

5% cash back on Gas Stations, Hotels, Theme Parks, Zoos and Bookstores between July and September

5% cash back on Grocery Stores, Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Movie Rentals between October and November

5% and 20% cash rebates at over 100 online retailers like GAP.com, OldNavy.com, Dell.com, BestBuy.com!

The Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Card for College Students is another great cash back credit card. Like the Discover Student Card, you could earn 5% cash rebates on quarterly rotating categories. They also have a online shopping portal called Citi Bonus Cash Center where you could earn extra rebates when you shop with their 400 plus merchant partners.