The Best Rewards Credit Cards for June 2024 (2024)

These days most of us use credit cards to pay for everything from coffee to plane tickets to purchases on Amazon. If you want to stretch your wallet the farthest, you need a credit card that offers solid rewards that match your spending habits.

• Best cash back card
• Best travel card
• Best secured card
• Best business card
• Best student credit card
• Best balance transfer card
• More rewards cards for summer travel
• How we picked

Fortunately there are plenty of choices—from simple cash back cards or more complicated travel cards with plenty of generous credits but also significant fees. And if your main concern is building credit or paying down debt, there are options for you too, among secured and balance-transfer cards.

To help you earn rewards with whatever kind of card you’re interested in, we’ve gathered all Buy Side from WSJ’s picks in various card categories. Read on to see all our top credit card picks.

Best cash back card

Why we picked it: The Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card is a no-annual-fee cash rewards credit card that offers unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. This is the highest cash rewards rate you can get on general spending without restrictions such as a spending cap. You can also earn a $200 cash rewards welcome bonus if you spend at least $500 in your first three months with the Wells Fargo Active Cash.

Are the rewards worth the fees? The Wells Fargo Active Cash charges no annual fee that would eat into your rewards earnings. If you spend $3,000 a month on the card—which is an average spend for a Wall Street Journal subscriber—you’ll earn $920 in cash rewards in the first year, including the $200 cash rewards welcome bonus. In subsequent years, you’ll get $720 in annual cash rewards if you maintain the same spending.

However, if you don’t mind jumping through a few hoops for higher returns, you can find a cash back card that will earn you more. For instance, the Alliant Cashback Visa Signature offers 2.5% back on all of your spending, but there’s a $10,000 monthly spending cap. Plus, you need to be an Alliant member to apply, open a checking account with the credit union, and satisfy some requirements to take advantage of the 2.5% cash back rate.

You might also do better with a different card if you spend heavily in certain categories, such as dining or gas. For example, the Capital One SavorOne offers 3% back at restaurants and grocery stores, excluding superstores such as Target and Walmart, and on entertainment and streaming services.

Best travel card

Why we picked it: The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is an excellent choice if you want to earn travel rewards without dealing with a complicated rewards structure or high annual fees. At $95 a year, the card earns points per dollar on all of your spending, as well as five points per dollar on hotels and rental cars if you book through Capital One.

You can also get a decent sign-up bonus of 75,000 points if you spend $4,000 in your first three months with the card. That’s equivalent to $750 when redeemed for travel.

Additionally, you can take advantage of the card’s travel perks, including airport lounge access, car rental coverage, and a $100 credit toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every four years.

Are the rewards worth the fees?: If you spend $3,000 a month on the Capital One Venture, you’ll earn 147,000 miles in the first year with the card, including the intro bonus. Altogether, that’s worth $1,470 in travel. In the following years, you’ll get 72,000 miles with the same spend, which is worth $720 in travel—and more than enough to offset the card’s $95 annual fee.

But again, if certain categories occupy more space in your budget, you might do better with a travel credit card that earns higher rewards in those categories. For instance, if you spend a lot on food, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card can be a great pick as it earns points per dollar on dining and online groceries, excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs. The card’s annual fee is also $95.

If, on the other hand, luxury travel perks are your priority when picking a travel credit card, look into the Platinum Card from American Express which comes with premium benefits such as multiple insurance protections, airport lounge access, concierge service, advance ticket options, and extended warranty on eligible purchases. You can also get up to $1,500 in annual value from countless statement credit the card offers. That said, the Amex Platinum comes with a much higher annual fee of $695.

Best secured card

Why we picked it: The Discover it® Secured is an excellent tool for building credit, thanks to monthly account reviews that start after seven months with the card, as well as a transparent path to a standard, unsecured credit card. On top of that, you’ll also earn 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter. All other purchases earn 1% back.

Moreover, the Discover it Secured is the only secured credit card to feature an intro bonus offer. Namely, the issuer will match all the cash back you earn in the first year with the card.

Are the rewards worth the fees? When it comes to a secured credit card, building credit rather than earning rewards should be a priority. To add to that, credit limits on this type of card are typically on the lower side, which can make racking up cash back harder.

Still, the Discover it Secured can be very rewarding, especially since there’s no annual fee. For example, if you spend $500 a month outside of bonus categories, you’d earn $60 in cash back a year—or $120 in your first year with the card. If $200 of this monthly budget went to dining out and gas, you’d earn $83 in annual cash back or $166 in the first year.

That said, there are other secured credit cards that can potentially earn you more. If you have fair credit, or a FICO score between 580 and 669, you can consider the Capital One Quicksilver Secured Rewards which earns 1.5% on all purchases.

Or, if you’re ready for a more complicated cash back rewards structure, the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Secured Credit Card may be worth a look. This card offers 3% back in the category of your choice and 2% back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs. The bonus rewards are capped at $2,500 in combined quarterly spending.

Best business card

Why we picked it: The American Express Business Gold Card can provide outstanding value, thanks to its rewards rate of points per dollar spent in whichever two categories where you spend the most.

The eligible categories should be useful to many business owners and include advertising, gas, computer hardware and software, wireless and more. Unlike some cards with bonus categories, where you need to manually select where you will receive rewards, this card determines them automatically based on your spending. The bonus rate is capped at $150,000 in combined annual spending.

The card also offers a generous welcome bonus: You can earn 70,000 points after spending $10,000 in the first three months. That’s $700 in value when redeemed for airfare with Amex. On top of that, you can take advantage of card benefits such as various travel and shopping protections.

Are the rewards worth the fees? The Amex Express Business Gold charges an annual fee of $375 a year. Fortunately, the high bonus rewards rate can make it fairly easy to offset.

Let’s say your business spends $10,000 a month. If you only spent outside of eligible bonus categories, you’d earn 120,000 points a year, which would be worth $1,200 if redeemed for travel. In the first year, your earnings would total 190,000 points, including the 70,000-point bonus, or $1,900 in airfare.

If half of your spending was in the bonus categories, your annual rewards earnings would go up to 300,000 points or 370,000 points with the intro bonus in the first year. That’s worth $3,000 and $3,700 worth of airfare, respectively.

You can also redeem rewards for gift cards or with select online retailers, but your points are likely to lose some value. If you’d rather simply earn cash back, consider a different business credit card such as the Capital One Spark Cash Plus which offers unlimited 2% back on all purchases and a lower annual fee of $150. The Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card is another decent option with a 1.5% cash back rate on everything you buy and no annual fee.

Best student credit card

Why we picked it: The Capital One SavorOne for Students can be a great choice for students since it earns bonus rewards in categories students should have no issues maximizing. The card offers 3% back on dining, entertainment, streaming services, and grocery stores, excluding Walmart and Target. You’ll earn 5% back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. All other purchases earn 1% back.

Further, the card’s sign-up bonus is easy to earn. You can get $50 for spending just $100 in the first three months with the card. On top of that, the Capital One SavorOne for Students will give you access to perks such as travel accident insurance, extended warranty coverage, and concierge service, all of which aren’t common for a student credit card.

Are the rewards worth the fees? Like most student credit cards, the Capital One SavorOne for Students has no annual fees. This means that if you avoid carrying a balance and paying interest, the card can yield significant earnings.

For example, let’s say you spend $1,000 on the card a month. If all of this spending was outside of bonus categories, you’d earn $120 in annual cash back—or $170 in the first year. But if you spent this money on groceries, dining, entertainment, and streaming, you’d earn $360 annually, or $410 back in your first year.

If you’d rather have a student credit card with a simpler rewards system, look into the Capital One Quicksilver Rewards for Students, which offers 1.5% back on all purchases.

Best balance transfer card

Why we picked it: If the reward you are looking for is help getting rid of credit card debt, a balance-transfer card may be for you. Once you pay a 3% fee to move your debt onto the Chase Slate Edge card, you will have 18 months to pay the balance off at 0% interest. While it’s possible to find a card with a lower transfer fee or a longer interest-free promotional period, no other card offers the same combination of highly competitive rates on both. (To qualify, the transfer must be made in the first 60 days. After the 18-month grace period ends, you will pay the regular APR of 20.49% to 29.24%.)

Chase Slate Edge has other perks too. As a cardholder, Chase will automatically consider you for a credit line increase after six months. That could help boost your credit score, by increasing your credit utilization ratio. And, assuming you spend a minimal amount on the card, you may qualify for a percentage-point interest rate deduction.

Are the rewards worth the fees: Chase Slate Edge has no annual fee. But like many balance-transfer cards, it comes with a 3% fee ($5 minimum) on any balances you transfer in the first 60 days.

If your aim was to pay off $5,000 in credit card debt during the introductory interest-free period, you need to pay $286 a month. That said, it’s about $57 less than with a typical balance transfer with a similar balance transfer fee and a more-standard 15-month interest-free offer.

If you don’t mind losing a few months of 0% APR, the Wells Fargo Active Cash may also be a good option. It earns 2% cash rewards on purchases and has an introductory offer of 15 months of no interest on purchases and qualifying balance transfers from account opening, after which the ongoing variable APR of 20.24%, 25.24% or 29.99% kicks in.

More rewards cards for summer travel

If you’re planning a summer vacation, you might benefit from adding an airline or hotel-rewards credit card to your wallet.

In general, hotel or airline rewards cards are less flexible than general rewards cards, as points or miles can only be redeemed with one rewards program. However, earning rates on these cards can be high, and the redemption value can be far higher than the average credit card point.

The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card is one of our top hotel card picks, for instance, and can earn up to 10 points per dollar spent at IHG hotels. You can book a room for as little as 5,000 points a night—though we estimate most locations start closer to 20,000 points—giving you quite a bit of value for your rewards. This strategy can be especially valuable if you already know where you would like to stay or how you’ll be getting there.

How we picked

To pick Buy Side from WSJ’s Best Rewards Credit Cards, reviewed hundreds of credit cards in different categories ranging from cash back to business to travel. In general we looked for cards with generous rewards that were also easy to use, since we assume most readers aren’t credit-card obsessives willing to keep and track a dozen cards.

Exceptions were in the secured and balance transfer categories where we favored cards that offer the clearest path to building credit or getting out of debt.

To find out more about how we choose credit cards—and to meet our panel of experts—you can also check out Buy Side from WSJ’s full best credit cards methodology.

—Additional reporting by Emily Sherman, Aaron Hurd, Beth Pinkser, Ian Salisbury and Geoff Williams.

Got a money question? Let Buy Side find the answer.Email[emailprotected].

Include your full name and location, and we may publish a response.