Recently, I’ve been looking at which credit card I want to apply for next. I was thinking about applying for the World of Hyatt Credit Card or the new Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa Card. Since I don’t travel on a weekly basis, hotel status isn’t as important anymore. Even if it was still traveling as much as I used to, I get Bonvoy Gold status just by holding the American Express Platinum card and World of Hyatt status isn’t that valuable to me since I usually stay at Hyatt House, which provides free breakfast.
I thought about getting another airline credit card but I really don’t want to pay another annual fee and I have enough trouble spending the airline mile I currently have (this will get much harder if Qatar airways leaves OneWorld). So I figured, I would go for a cash back card.
The options I looked at included the Citi Double Cash card, Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature card and the Alliant Visa Signature card. The Alliant Visa Signature has a higher cash back rate at 3% for the first year and 2.5% for every year after that. The downside to this card is after year 1, there is a $59 annual fee.
The Citi Double Cash and Fidelity Rewards Visa are on equal footing. They both have a sign up bonus of $100. The main difference is the Double Cash pays 1% when you make a purchase and another 1% after you make payments. This isn’t an issue for me since I don’t carry a balance. Ultimately, why I decided not to apply, is because I’m thinking about applying for the Citi Premier and I don’t want to run afoul of all the Citi application rules.
The Fidelity Rewards Visa earns 2% cash back. As soon as you reach $50 in cash back, it can be transferred to your Fidelity brokerage account. The only downside is you need to have a Fidelity brokerage account.
I decided to apply for the Fidelity card but first I decided to open up a brokerage account. This wasn’t too difficult, since I recently decided to move my HSA account to Fidelity. Opening a brokerage account for me was just a few clicks. When I went to apply for the credit card, all I had to do was to log in using my Fidelity credentials and most of the form was filled out for me. I only had to verify my income and input the account where I wanted my cash back to go. I clicked apply and I was approved within 60 seconds
I haven’t received the card yet but it does appear in your Fidelity account within a day or so of approval. I can setup payment information in advance of receiving the card which is real time saver.
What card are you thinking about applying for next?