This week’s coffee break discussion about the pretty incredible US Bank Smartly Card got me to wondering: What’s the best no annual fee credit card? If you asked that question of ten different points and miles enthusiasts, you’d almost certainly get a range of answers. That is at least in part because of the subjective nature of the question, but thinking about it highlights a few ways of looking at it that I thought made for an interesting opportunity to think about and highlight some of the unsung heroes of our wallets.
Best…for what?
Declaring a “best” credit card is always nearly impossible because it highly depends on your goals. Are you looking for the best card for everyday rewards? The best first year value? The best for travelers? The best for cash back rewards? The best ancillary benefits? There isn’t really a “one size fits all” answer.
In this post, I wanted to highlight some of the best options on the market out of cards with no annual fee.
No annual fee, high first year value
The easiest question to answer is “Which no annual fee card has the best first year value? That question is relatively easy to answer because our Best Offers page is powered by a spreadsheet that calculates first year value based on the value of the welcome bonus (based on our Reasonable Redemption Values in those cases where they award points instead of cash), the opportunity cost of spending on that card versus spending on a good “everywhere else” card, and the value of any concrete perks (we don’t value stuff like Priority Pass visits since they may not be worth anything at all if you have Priority Pass on other cards). In fact, the “Best of the Best” lists at the top of the page are just sorted by the calculations in that spreadsheet — we don’t manually order those.
While we don’t have a page dedicated to the best cards with no annual fee, it was easy enough for me to go into the spreadsheet, filter to cards with no annual fee, and sort the data by the first year value column. I found it interesting that many of the best no-annual-fee cards from a first-year value standpoint were business cards — in fact, the top four slots and the #6 slot were business cards. Since I know that not all readers consider business credit cards, when I made the list below, I included the top 3 business cards by first year value (pushing two two Ink cards together into the #1 slot) and then had to skip a few business cards to be able to include two consumer cards in the Top 5.
Click the card names to go to our dedicated card pages, where you’ll find more information about each card:
Chase Ink Business Unlimited / Chase Ink Business Cash
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We’ve actually seen even better offers this year on both of these cards, but the current offers on these cards are still very strong. That said, keep in mind that the first year value here takes into consideration that Ultimate Rewards points are even more valuable when transferred to partners. However, you won’t be able to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points with these cards alone — you’ll need the Ink Business Preferred or Sapphire Reserve to transfer to partners. And of course, these are business cards.
More:
You must have a business (but you probably do): In order to apply for a business credit card, you must have a business. That said, it's common for people to have businesses without realizing it. If you sell items at a yard sale or on eBay, for example, then you have a business. Similar examples include: consulting, writing (e.g. blog authorship, planning your first novel, etc.), handyman services, owning rental property, renting on airbnb, driving for Uber or Lyft, etc. In any of these cases, your business is considered a Sole Proprietorship unless you form a corporation of some sort.When you apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor, you can use your own name as your business name, use your own address and phone as the business' address and phone, and your social security number as the business' Tax ID / EIN. Alternatively, you can get a proper Tax ID / EIN from the IRS for free, in about a minute, through this website.
Is it OK to use business cards for personal expenses? Anecdotally, almost everyone I know uses business cards for personal expenses. That said, the terms in most business card applications state that you should use the card only for business use. Also, some consumer credit card protections do not apply to business cards. My advice: don't use the card for personal expenses if you're not comfortable doing so.
Capital One Spark Miles Select Business
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This isn’t the Capital One business card I’d want to have long-term since it only earns 1.5 miles per dollar on all purchases, but from a first-year value standpoint, this one is hard to beat because of the fact that it offers a decent welcome bonus, reasonable spending requirement, and no annual fee.
U.S. Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards World Elite™ Visa
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If you value cash more highly than transferable points, you may find the first-year value on this card to be better than the others above given the cash bonus here and the reasonable spending requirements (and slightly longer spending window that that given by most cards). I think this card often gets overlooked. While it isn’t a good card to use for most ongoing purchases at 1% back, earning 3% on dining and gas isn’t bad.
IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card
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I had to skip ahead a couple of slots to get to the no-annual-fee consumer card with the best first-year value. The IHG Traveler Premier card hits the list for its decent welcome offer that only ties up $2,000 in spend. It probably doesn’t make much sense to use the card frequently beyond that $2K in purchases, but keep in mind that just by having the card you’ll get the 4th night free on IHG award stays. If you’ve already collected a nice stash of IHG points — perhaps from stays paid for by your employer — that 4th night free benefit could work out very well.
Hilton Honors American Express Card
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Like the IHG Rewards Traveler card, the Hilton Honors card makes the list in large part due to the low spending requirement as compared to the value of the welcome bonus points. Despite the fact that the IHG offer is technically a bit more valuable based on the higher Reasonable Redemption Value of IHG points, I might actually prefer and recommend the Hilton card over the IHG one for a few reasons. First, the SLH partnership adds some situations where you can get far better than Reasonable Redemption Value out of your Hilton points. Second, there are some reasonable bonus categories on this card. Third, American Express sometimes features good upgrade offers — so if you want a Surpass or Aspire card down the line, you might end up getting a good chance to upgrade to one of those cards. Finally, Amex Offers tend to offer some good opportunities for value.
Best no-annual-fee credit cards for everyday spend
We have a page dedicated to the best rewards for everyday spend. The list on that page is sorted based on the rewards earned on the base earning rate of the credit card and the Reasonable Redemption Value of whichever type of rewards it earns. If you want a fairly objective look at the best cards for everyday spend, that page is it. It’s worth noting though that the list on that page is not limited to cards with no annual fee. Still, many of the best “everywhere else” cards have no annual fee.
I’ll provide a slightly more subjective analysis here of the cards I think are best for everyday spend.
US Bank Smartly Card
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
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FM Mini Review: On its own, an OK cashback card with no annual fee, but becomes much more powerful if you have deposits with US Bank. No Annual Fee Base: 2% Card Info: Visa Signature issued by USB. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Earn better cashback rates when you hold a balnce in an eligible US Bank account: $5,000-$49,999 = 2.5% total cashback; $50,000-$99,999 = 3% bonus cashback; 100,000+ = 4% cashback |
This is the card that inspired the post. The US Bank Smartly Visa card is just a pedestrian 2% card if you have nothing on deposit with US Bank. However, if you have a Smartly Savings account and you can move some cash and/or investments to US Bank, the card quickly becomes a beast.
That’s because it only takes $5,000 in cash or investments with US Bank to turn this card into a 2.5% back everywhere card! That’s a terrific return with a low bar. Keep in mind that you’ll earn a decent interest rate even if that cash is in a Smartly Savings account.
However, if you can move a bit more to US Bank, you can really supercharge the earnings. With $50,000 in cash and/or investments, you’ll earn 3% back. At $100K, the card earns a whopping 4% back on all purchases. That’s unprecedented.
While $100,000 is certainly a lot of money, it may not be such a tall mountain for those with retirement investments. It should be possible to move something like an IRA or taxable brokerage account to US Bank and that should qualify toward the requirements here. Really, if you can meet any of the deposit thresholds, the earnings on this card will outpace most on the market that carry no annual fee.
If you can not or will not meet the deposit requirements though, then this card isn’t the best for everyday spend. And since the card does not include any welcome bonus, there isn’t the same immediate upside that you’d expect from other cards. In fact, that’s why I don’t have the card yet — it’s hard for me to justify applying for a new account without a welcome bonus. I tried my hand at calling to product change my US Bank Altitude Go card to a Smartly card but couldn’t do that. I intend to try with another rep before I give up.
Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card (with Platinum Honors)
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No Annual Fee Earning rate: 1.5% everywhere; Earn up to 2.625% back everywhere with Bank of America Platinum Honors status Base: 2.625% Card Info: Visa Signature issued by BOA. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. |
If you have $100K in cash and investments you would rather put it in Bank of America / Merrill Lynch / Merrill Edge, then the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card is the best bet without an annual fee in terms of a consumer card.
That’s because this card earns a base rate of 1.5% back everywhere, but that becomes 2.625% back everywhere with Bank of America Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors status, which you’ll get with $100K in cash / investments. Keep in mind that you could earn 4% back with US Bank with that much in the bank. Even if you already have Bank of America Platinum Honors status and you think that the Smarty Card won’t last forever at 4%, it’s still worth considering moving your money to US Bank. At a base level, you could be earning about 50% more in rewards — and if you move your money over to US Bank, you may be able to earn a new account bonus from Merrill when you come back after US Bank inevitably nerfs the Smartly card.
American Express Blue Business Plus
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FM Mini Review: 2X rewards for all spend (up to $50K per year) with no annual fee makes this card a winner. Click here for our complete card review No Annual Fee Earning rate: 2X Membership Rewards points on all purchases, up to $50K spend per calendar year (then 1X thereafter). Terms apply. (Rates & Fees) Base: 2X (3.1%) Card Info: Amex Credit Card issued by Amex. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. |
You might have noticed this card listed above the Unlimited Cash Rewards card, and for some folks it should be. The Blue Business Plus card earns 2 American Express Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on eligible purchases for the first $50,000 in purchases per year (then 1x). Since we value Membership Rewards points at 1.55c per point, this card is often thought to offer a return of around 3.1% in expected value. That’s better than the Unlimited Cash Rewards card above and better than the Smartly Card unless you have $100K in the bank with US Bank.
But that return depends on the user redeeming points reasonably. It isn’t easily possible to get 1.55c per point in cash value but rather getting that type of value (or more) becomes possible when you transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners and redeem them strategically.
The good news is that the Blue Business Plus makes it possible to transfer Membership Rewards points to partners. You don’t need to pair it with another card to transfer. But on the other hand, will you earn enough to get outsized value from the points? You certainly may, particularly if you’re pairing this with other Membership Rewards earning cards (which do have an annual fee). And even as a “lone wolf” card, a single traveler could probably get at least a couple and maybe even a few flights per year out of the points depending on the situation.
In my own circumstances, this is a card I have but don’t necessarily use a ton. That’s because I think not of the redemption opportunity so much as the opportunity cost of spend on this card. If I could otherwise earn 2.625% on my Unlimited Cash Rewards card with Bank of America, it’s sort of like buying Amex Membership Rewards points for 1.3125c each in the sense that I’m turning down 1.31 pennies for every Membership Rewards point that I choose to collect. While it’s certainly possible to redeem those Membership Rewards points for much more value, that feels like a high price to pay to get the points. Comparing to the 3% or 4% thresholds on the Smartly card, Membership Rewards points start to feel downright expensive at “only” 2x.
That said, if you highly value Membership Rewards points, this could be a good pick. As an added bonus, you’ll get Amex Offers, which sometimes yield great discounts.
Citi Double Cash
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FM Mini Review: 2X rewards for all spend with no annual fee makes this card a winner. Earn 2X everywhere and redeem for the equivalent of 2% cash back or 2X ThankYou points. Pair with the Premier or Prestige card to make points transferrable to airlines. Click here for our complete card review No Annual Fee Earning rate: 2% cash back everywhere (1% cash back for each purchase + 1% when paying your credit card bill for that purchase). ✦ For a limited time: Earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi TravelSM Portal through 12/31/24. Base: 2X (2.9%) Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: 1X when you make a purchase + 1X when you pay for those purchases ✦ 24 month extended warranty See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
I can’t mention the Blue Business Plus without the Citi Double Cash, although it’s not quite an apples-to-apples comparison. The Double Cash effectively earns 2% cash back. The added value here is that the cash back can be transferred to Citi’s full range of airline and hotel partners if you pair this card with a Citi Strata Premier. In other words, you’re on the hook for an annual fee if you want to transfer to partners.
Best cards for free benefits
U.S. BANK ALTITUDE® CONNECT VISA SIGNATURE® CARD
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20K points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 20K (worth $200 as a deposit into eligible account or towards travel) after $1K spend in 90 daysNo Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 50K after $2K spend in 120 days (Ended 9/9/24) FM Mini Review: This card offers decent returns on gas station and travel spend and it features no foreign transaction fees, but points are now only worth 0.8cpp. However, return on most other spend is relatively weak. Earning rate: 4X travel, gas stations & EV charging (excludes discount stores/supercenters and wholesale clubs) ✦ 2x take out, food delivery (including apps like GrubHub, UberEATS, etc), dining, grocery (including meal kit delivery) and streaming services Base: 1% Travel: 4% Dine: 2% Gas: 4% Grocery: 2% Other: 2% Card Info: Visa issued by USB. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Complimentary Priority Pass Select with 4 free visits ✦ Up to $100 in credits for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry ✦ Complimentary 5 GB / 15-day plans + 20% off on all other GigSky plans (international roaming) |
The US Bank Altitude Connect card comes with a set of ongoing benefits that make it a great card to have and to hold. That’s because it comes with 4 complimentary Priority Pass lounge visits per year (including restaurants!), $100 in reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. It also comes with a complimentary Gigsky 5GB / 15day data plan for travels abroad. Aside from all that, 4% back on travel and gas certainly isn’t bad, though the other bonus categories are less compelling.
Wells Fargo Cards
Rather than try to pick one of the several Wells Fargo cards with no annual fee, I wanted to include Wells Fargo here for its best-in-class cell phone protection. Many (most?) of its no annual fee credit cards come with excellent cell phone protection that carries just a $25 deductible. That can be great for cheap peace of mind, particularly if you have a family plan with several expensive phones and/or family members who are prone to dropping a phone now and then.
Best no-annual-fee cards for category bonuses
We have a complete Best Category Bonuses page that is incredibly useful for scanning through for the best cards for gas, grocery, etc. Here I am going to include a couple of selections that I think are notable for cards with no annual fee, but you should visit our Best Category Bonuses page for the full landscape.
Grocery: Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
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$200 Cash Back ⓘ Friend-Referral One time bonus: $200 after $500 spend in 3 months from account opening. (Rates & Fees)No Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Earning rate: 3% on dining, entertainment, select streaming services, and purchases at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®) ✦ 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases ✦ 5% on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel (terms apply) ✦ 1% everywhere else Base: 1% Dine: 3% Grocery: 3% Other: 3% Card Info: Mastercard issued by CapOne. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: No foreign transaction fees |
The Capital One Savor card offers 3% back on both grocery and dining (as well as entertainment and select streaming services). If paired with a no-annual-fee VentureOne card, you can move rewards to miles and transfer to airline and hotel programs, potentially making the return even more valuable. I’ve been using this card more and more. My Amex Gold card outearns it, but I have questioned whether it’s worth paying the annual fee for a Gold card when I have the Savor.
Gas: US Bank Altitude Connect
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20K points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 20K (worth $200 as a deposit into eligible account or towards travel) after $1K spend in 90 daysNo Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 50K after $2K spend in 120 days (Ended 9/9/24) FM Mini Review: This card offers decent returns on gas station and travel spend and it features no foreign transaction fees, but points are now only worth 0.8cpp. However, return on most other spend is relatively weak. Earning rate: 4X travel, gas stations & EV charging (excludes discount stores/supercenters and wholesale clubs) ✦ 2x take out, food delivery (including apps like GrubHub, UberEATS, etc), dining, grocery (including meal kit delivery) and streaming services Base: 1% Travel: 4% Dine: 2% Gas: 4% Grocery: 2% Other: 2% Card Info: Visa issued by USB. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Complimentary Priority Pass Select with 4 free visits ✦ Up to $100 in credits for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry ✦ Complimentary 5 GB / 15-day plans + 20% off on all other GigSky plans (international roaming) |
At 4% back on gas plus the benefits noted in the previous section, this would probably be the card in my wallet for gas if I was averse to annual fees.
Dining: Bilt Mastercard
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None ⓘ Affiliate There is no official welcome bonus, but this card offers the opportunity to earn 1x points on rent when you make at least 5 transactions per billing cycle. Terms apply.No Annual Fee Note that some people see a targeted offer in the Bilt Rewards app to earn 5x points for the first 5 days after being approved and receiving and activating the card. This is not guaranteed, but rather is targeted. Select 'Click Here to Apply' to learn more about the product features, terms and conditions. FM Mini Review: If you pay rent and haven't been earning rewards, this card is a no-brainer as you can pay your rent and earn rewards with no annual fee. A surprisingly good set of transfer partners makes the rewards for using this for rent worth getting the card for that main purpose alone (as long as you remember to use the card 5 times per month). Earning rate: Must use your card for 5 purchases per month, then: 3x Dining ✦ 3x Lyft ✦ 2x Travel ✦ 1x rent (one payment per month, up to 100,000 points per year) ✦ 1x on other purchases Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Wells. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Transfer points 1 to 1 to airline and hotel programs (including American Airlines, United, Hyatt, Aeroplan, and more) ✦ Redeem points for 1.25 cents each towards travel booked through Bilt's travel portal ✦ Cell phone insurance ✦ Primary rental car insurance ✦ Purchase protection ($10K/item, $50K/year) ✦ Travel insurance ✦ No transaction fee to pay rent and earn rewards |
I debated whether to pick the US Bank Altitude Go for 4% back on dining or the Bilt card for 3x on dining, but I think the Bilt card has enough potential upside to be the better pick here. That’s because Bilt offers a fantastic set of transfer partners, promotions that have included excellent transfer bonuses, and it puts a Wells Fargo card in your pocket for cell phone protection. The main drawback is that you do need to use the card 5 times per billing cycle in order to earn points — so if you don’t dine out 5 times per month, then consider the Altitude Go card instead for dining.
Bottom line
There are many excellent cards on the market that offer excellent returns despite having no annual fee. This post includes some of the best, but it leaves out many that can be a key part of an overall portfolio strategy. For instance, if you’re going to have a Citi Strata Premier (which does have an annual fee), then you should almost certainly pair it with a Custom Cash card (or two or three) and possibly also a Rewards+ card, though those cards aren’t necessarily the best to carry on their own. I’m curious what readers think: what are your favorite no-annual-fee cards and why do you love them?
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This is a good list. I would add the Amazon Prime card with the obvious asterisk that it isn’t exactly no annual fee, although it might as well be for a lot of people.
The spending window of U.S. Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards World Elite™ Visa is 180 days instead of 150 days shown on FM.
I’m trying to encourage my daughter, who is about to graduate from college to get into the game. She told me she wants to travel to the east coast (from the west coast) after college. I suggested the AAdvantage MileUp card as it should get her at least there, but not back. And it has a much lower spend requirement. She would have trouble with the spend requirements of the Ink cards. Would you give this an honorable mention? Or is there a better card? Thanks.
Depends on the airlines that are convenient. Southwest usually has a 50k sub for 1k spend. That’s usually enough for a roundtrip plus leftovers.
Thanks. SW does not have a no annual fee card.
I don’t suppose that a mortgage with US Bank would count toward that $100k needed for the Smartly card?
I might also shout out the Bilt card for travel protections and the portal bonus. Being able to redeem for 1.25cpp as a reasonable floor is a neat trick for a no annual fee card. I absolutely would not use Bilt points that way (they are too hard to earn and too easy to get good value). But the travel protections: primary CDW, trip interruption and delay, no FTF — those are very good for no AF.
Fidelity Visa is also a good 2% card that has a Global Entry Credit, no FTF Secondary CDW, and a full suite of travel protections.
You could also make a good case for the purchase protection benefits just added to the CIti cards (such as the Double Cash). But I like this list.
+1 for primary CDW on Bilt. This was a big draw for me for the card as I don’t have any of the premium cards with primary CDW. Bilt is now my go to rental car credit card.
Great post Nick! My favorite no annual fee cards are the 5% rotating cash back cards: Chase Freedom Flex, Discover It, and US Back Cash+. Most quarters, there is an easy category to max out the rewards.