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 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.

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!

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.

If you looking for a low rate card or a card to transfer a balance, we recommend either the Discover® More(SM) Card. It is one of the very rare cards today that offers a 0% Intro APR for FULL 6 months on Purchases, and FULL 12 months on Balance Transfers*. This is in contrast with other cards that offer only "up to 12 months" and give themselves a little wriggle room. 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).

Chase has recently revamped their credit card line up and the Slate^SM from Chase has a relatively low interest rate and offers 0% introductory APR* for up to 12 months for both purchases and balance transfers. This card is ideal for folks who carry a balance but are looking to gradually pay it down. They have this BluePrint program where you can choose to pay off certain expenses in full (like gasoline and groceries for example). These items then will not incur finance charges even though you carry a balance. They also have tools to help you plan and pay off your credit card debt.

The Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® is another card that offers 0% APR deal for both balance transfers and purchases for up to 15 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
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 miles of United Airlines and Continental Airlines at a one for one ratio. 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 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.

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.

For International Business Class Travelers

For those who travel international on business class, the Platinum Card® from American Express is probably the card to get. The reason is because they have an international airline partner program where you can get a free business class companion ticket when you buy one with your card. You can check their international airline partners here. This is an extremely valuable perk for those who will use it.

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!

If you are the sort that goes for reward points, then the card to consider is the Citi Forward® 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 3,500 ThankYou� Points after you make $250 in purchases within the first 3 months and 2,500 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.