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Understanding travel and airline credit cards

Credit cards are boon to the human race. With this card, one can fulfill all their dreams and wishes. People have been using them to pay everything from cars to groceries to gas. Travel credit cards offer an amazing opportunity to earn points and rewards that can be redeemed in exchange for discounted airline fares, hotel stays and cash in the bank account. The competition has the made the issuers tie up with travel brands as partners to entice customers with signup bonuses, loyalty points with special discounts and more. To choose the best cards you need to consider the following:

• Sign up bonuses
  A huge signup bonus after meeting minimum spending limits could jump start your mileage account and might get you a free ticket. It is not recommended to sign-up unless the bonus is attractive. Bonus works in a way that either to make a single large purchase or meet minimum spending to earn the value of the signup bonus. Most travel and airline credit card providers offer one point per dollar spent. However, the good travel and airline credit card providers give extra points when you shop at specific retailers. Some travel and airline credit card providers offer 2x or 3x points as rewards for dining, entertainment or travel.
• Minimum spending
  To get a great bonus, there is a minimum spending limit which has to be adhered to. However, you can achieve this by using normal day to day spending. You can start by using the card for limited and small purchases and then move on to higher spending cards. Do not overspend more than you can repay to grab rewards, as these rewards will disappear in some time, however, your debt won’t.
• Special perks
  All the travel and airline credit card providers have great benefits for their customers. These will give you perks to give elite loyalty status. These include no foreign transaction fees, zero checked baggage charges, boarding on priority, free nights at hotels and more.
• Annual fees
  Nobody likes to pay annual fees on credit cards. However, these cards charge from around $50-$95 per year. These fees might be worth for people who are frequent travelers are they can accumulate rewards. These rewards offered by travel and airline credit card providers can be redeemed on airfares, free hotel stays etc.
• Credit scores
  Travel reward cards are eligible for those who have scored more than 650. If you have less than 650, your request might be declined.

Best travel and airline credit cards
There are many issuers offering the airline and travel credit card. We have listed few companies below:

• Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
  This travel and airline credit card provider offers 25,000 Starpoints after the purchase of around $3,000 in 3 months. In addition, you will be able to earn 2 Starpoints for each dollar of purchases spent at SPG or Marriott Rewards. In addition, there are no foreign transaction fees on International purchases. The company offers no intro APR with a regular APR of 16-74% – 20.74%. The company offers zero annual fees for the first year, however, post that the card charges $95 as an annual fee. The credit score required is above 690.
• Premium Rewards® Credit Card from Bank of America
  The card offers 50,000 bonus points for purchases above $3,000 in the first 90 days of opening. The reward offers are attractive with 2 points with $1 spent on travel and dining purchases along with 1.5 points per $1 spent on all other purchases. If you are Bank of America Preferred Rewards customer, you can earn 25%-75% rewards bonus on each purchase. You require a credit score more than 690.
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® credit card
  The Card offers 50,000 bonus points for spending $4,000 approximately on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. The card was recognized as the Best Travel Credit Card by Money Magazine in 2016-2017. The card offers 2X points on travel and dining at restaurants and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. The company offers no intro APR with a regular APR of 17.24%-24.24%. The annual fee is zero for the first year, however, the postcard is charged around $95. You require a credit score more than 690.
• Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card
  The company offers around $75,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 for the first 3 months from account opening. The company has zero annual fees with around $85 post first year. There is no introductory APR with regular variable APR 17.24%-24.24%. You require a credit score more than 690.

Other credit cards offering the similar offers are:

• Ink Plus® Business Credit Card from Chase
• Citi Prestige/Premier
• Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard

Before choosing any card, it is imperative to know your requirements. It is recommended that credit card repayments are made on time, to avoid late fees and an increase in APR.