Who doesn’t love a credit card with no annual fee? When it comes to award travel, you often get more value and better sign up bonuses out of travel reward credit cards that have an annual fee, however, there are some great no-annual-fee credit cards that you may find helpful to keep in your wallet! While these cards on their own do not let you transfer your points to hotels and airline partners, you can pair them with specific low annual fee cards to gain access to these perks which will make your credit card points worth so much more!
Here are some of the best no-annual-fee credit cards that I recommend:
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Elevated offer! Earn $900 cash back when you spend $6,000 in 3 months! This business card is a favorite for many people as it earns an unlimited 1.5x points on every purchase. This card does not count against your Chase 5/24 status.
This card is marketed as a “cash back” credit card but actually earns Chase Ultimate Reward points! $900 = 90,000 points. The points earned from this card become more valuable when you move your points to a transferable Chase credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card and then transfer your points out to airline and hotel partners like Hyatt, Southwest, United and more!
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Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
This business card earns 5% on the first $25,000 at office supply stores, 2% cash back on gas stations and restaurants up to the first $25,000 and 1x on all other spend. This card does not count against your Chase 5/24 status.
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Chase Freedom Unlimited®
This personal card has the same earning potential as the Chase Ink Unlimited business card as it earns an unlimited 1.5% points on every purchase and 3% on dining.
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Chase Freedom Flex®
This personal card receives 3x on dining and 5x points up to $1,500 on rotating categories each quarter. These categories vary from gas, groceries, live entertainment, Payal, Walmart and more.
*These 4 cards are marketed as cash back credit cards but actually earn Chase Ultimate Rewards. For example, a $750 cash back welcome offer actually earns 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards and 1.5 percent cash back on every purchase actually earns 1.5x points on every purchase.
Combining Points with a Transferable Card
While these Chase cards are great no-annual fee options that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards, the true value of these points increase when you combine the points with a transferable card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card and then transfer your points out to airline and hotel partners like Hyatt, Southwest, United and more!
These three cards have annual fees as low as $95 per year and these fees are more than worth it to give you the ability to transfer your points to transfer partners, which often stretches the value of your points a lot further! These cards often have several great perks such as travel credits, trip insurance, no foreign transaction fees and even airport lounge access making the annual fee worth it!
Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card
This card receives 1.25x miles/points on every $1 you spend. I prefer the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or a Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card instead, however, if you are wanting a no annual fee card instead, this is what I would recommend.
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