The 9 Best Credit Cards for a "One Card Setup"

There are many credit cards out there on the US market, each offering a variety of bonus categories and many people build this so-called dream wallet of multiple cards to maximize points and cashback across multiple categories, myself included. But it's easy to become obsessed with your multiple card setup or showing off how you get 5% back in all these different categories. Yeah, no one at the party is going to care about that. And what if you don't want the stress of managing multiple cards for every different spending category. So suppose you want a one card setup, one card to rule them all. And that is what this video is about. Credit cards that you can apply for today that give you the most bang for your buck, the highest points bonuses on as much of your spending as possible. This is the best credit card for a one card setup. Hey, credit warriors, welcome to the show. My name is Ben Hedges, aka The Credit Shofu. And on this channel, I cover US credit cards, personal finance and luxury travel. If you like the sound of that, please subscribe. But let's get into it. And this video is brought to you by Silo, the brokerage where you can earn credit card style points on your investments and get your Amex Platinum or Amex Gold card for free. But more on that later. So when picking a one card setup, there are two schools of thought that you can follow. One is to pick a card that earns one rate of cashback or points across all of your spending. Some people pick a two percent cashback card, but there are ways to go slightly higher than that on all of your spending. The other way is to pick a card that earns three to five percent or three X to five X bonus points across as many bonus categories as possible. And you can look at cards that have bonus multipliers on categories that you often spend it. If you do this and cover as many categories as possible, then it doesn't matter so much about just earning one percent or one X on your non-category spent. Common bonus categories that people like to earn high multipliers in would be grocery, gas, dining. Then we have travel and transit. Those two are different. And then also perhaps things like online retail, which is becoming a more and more common category to see. Now, I'm going to focus mainly on cards that offer multiple categories, but let's first just give a few examples of where you can earn a great cashback rate across all your spending non-category cards. Now, we always used to recommend the Alliant Credit Union Visa signature card, which in the past earned two point five percent cashback on everything. But this has now been nerfed down to one point five percent. Then we would also recommend the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards. This is a one point five percent cashback card. But if you combine it with what used to be called the preferred rewards program, you can get a higher in any type of account with Bank of America, including investment accounts. Only problem is Bank of America recently nerfed that program slightly, too. You now need over a million dollars with them to get that seventy five percent bonus on credit card rewards, which brings you up to two point six five percent on all your spending. You now get a 50 percent bonus at the hundred thousand dollar level, which only brings you to one point two five percent on everything. One point two five percent is still better than two percent, but there are ways to do better than that. Let's look at two cards that I consider a pretty good deal. The U.S. Bank Smartly Visa signature card. This is the less good of the two. It's a two percent cashback card. But if you have ten thousand dollars in a U.S. bank checking account, then that rate goes up to two point five percent on ten thousand dollars in spending each billing cycle. You can actually increase it up to four percent cashback with higher amounts of money in your account. But since you have to keep the money in a checking account where it earns basically no interest, it doesn't make sense. Most people maybe will keep ten thousand dollars as accessible cash as an emergency fund and then put the rest of their money into stocks or CDs to earn interest. The rewards that you earn at higher rates don't compete with the appreciation you would get from putting that money in stocks or Bitcoin. But if you just want to have ten thousand dollars in an easily accessible account anyway, then getting two point five percent on everything with this credit card could be the way to go. Let's move on to the one I view as the best non-category cashback card out there right now. The Robin Hood Gold card. This one gives you three percent cashback on everything, which actually is unheard of. The only downside is that this is only for Robin Hood Gold members. And to be a member, it costs, wait for it, five dollars a month or fifty dollars a year if you pay in one go. There's also no minimum balance requirement to maintain membership. And actually, you get a better interest rate on your uninvested cash as well. So with this one, there's really very little downside. I'm going to say this is kind of a unicorn card right now, and it may end up getting nerfed in the future. So if you're interested in this one, get it while you can. All right. I'm going to give you one last card that I believe could be a great one card set up for people who just want one rate across all their spending. And this one is for those who want travel rewards. The Capital One Venture X. So this card earns 2X Capital One Miles on all your spending. Now, the points guy values Capital One Miles at 1.85 cents per mile. So you could say that this is a 3.7 percent return on all your spending. But that value really depends on how good you are at redeeming the miles, it is far from guaranteed. But the reason I recommend this card is because it is two miles per dollar combined with extensive airport lounge access through Priority Pass and Capital One's own lounge network. You also get all the benefits that you would expect from a top tier travel card like global entry, TSA pre-credit, a hotel collection, a top tier car rental status. In this case, it's Hertz President Circle. Now, this card does have a $395 annual fee, but there is a $300 travel credit to offset that. And you also get 10,000 miles given to you each anniversary. Those miles are worth at least $100. So technically Capital One is paying you $5 a year to have this card. So this one I recommend to people who want a one card setup, but also want all the benefits of a top tier travel card. Why aren't cards like the Amex Platinum good for a one card setup? Well, that is because the Amex Platinum only has really just one bonus category, flights and prepaid hotels. Everything else is just one point per dollar. Think of all that everyday spending that you would be missing out on getting a bonus on. At two points per dollar on everything, the Venture X equalizes that, giving you a good average return. All right, let's now move on to cards with strong everyday categories. But first, over the past year, you've probably heard me talking about Silo, the investing platform that enables you to earn points on your stocks. It's like what Bilt has done with earning points on rent, but for investing. Now, we have an exciting update about Silo that I know viewers of this channel in particular will find interesting. Silo is rolling out a new status program that will cover your American Express gold and platinum card fees. If your account with Silo is big enough, you unlock status benefits at $750,000. They'll cover your American Express gold card fee and also your Costco executive membership fee every year. And at $1,000,000, they'll cover the $895 annual fee on your Amex platinum too. They even say that if you are in the Chase or Citi credit card system instead of Amex, you should reach out to them because they may very well pay the annual fee on one of those cards instead. And don't forget, this is in addition to up to 250,000 points on your portfolio balance every year and up to a 250,000 point welcome bonus in the first year. So a total of potentially 500,000 points in your first year. That bonus runs until the end of May. Currently, points are redeemable for cashback at one cent per point, but they do have transfer partners coming this summer. While credit card companies give you points for spending money, Silo has turned this concept on its head and gives you points for saving and investing money. So if you want to get your Amex gold and Amex platinum for free whilst earning points on your portfolio, click the link below or go directly to silomarkets.com to get started by the end of May. First up, I want to talk about the Citi Strata Premier. This card has such a strong set of 3x point earning categories and it hits a lot of the ones that we're looking for. You have restaurants, supermarkets and gas, as well as air travel and hotels all at three points per dollar. That is going to cover a lot of your everyday spending. The only thing that's missing is transit. So things like subways, Ubers and trains. This card has a $95 annual fee, but it also has a $100 per year hotel benefit. Although that is only if you book a stay of $500 or more. So let's not take that one too seriously because I think a lot of people will miss out on that benefit. I think this card is often seriously underlooked though. A card that has so many big spend categories at 3x points per dollar and has no spending cap is great for a one card setup. But what's better than 3x? 4x. The Amex Gold Card. So this is my recommended one card setup for those who spend a lot on supermarkets and dining, since it earns four Amex points per dollar in both. There are spending limits, but they won't really affect most people. It's $25,000 a year on groceries and $50,000 a year on restaurants. Just with these two main categories, you can earn a lot of points. Last year on dining, I spent $7,626 and on grocery, I spent $8,685. I earned 65,244 points. So if you're someone who has a lot of spending in these two categories, at four points per dollar, those points really add up. And then the fact that you just earn one point per dollar on everything else doesn't really matter so much. Actually though, flights booked directly through airlines do also get three points per dollar. And if you're willing to book hotels through Amex Travel, you can actually get five points per dollar. So it does offer a good option if you're willing to book through Amex Travel, even though it isn't as good as the Amex Platinum. That one gets five points per dollar on flights directly booked through airlines. And you're earning Amex points with this, which are some of the most valuable points out there. This is actually my main credit card for everyday spending. The only downside is the fact that it is an Amex, which gives slightly less acceptance, especially when traveling. So it's good for your main day-to-day card, but you may want to have a Visa or MasterCard as a backup for when you're traveling to places that don't accept Amex. The annual fee is $325, but there are a load of credits that if you use them, take that down to below zero. Moving on, I'm going to give you two more Amex cards that really offer strong rewards on everyday categories. The Blue Cash Everyday. This card has three categories that are really useful. It offers 3% cashback on groceries, online retail and gas, with a $6,000 spending limit in each category. So if you max all of them out, that's $540 in cashback per year. Online shopping is also quite a rare category. Now, if you mostly shop online on Amazon, I would say get the Amazon Prime Visa Signature Card, but that doesn't have good multipliers on other categories. And we are looking for a one card setup here. So I would say this is a great card for people who shop online, either at Amazon or at lots of different websites, but also want to use the card for day-to-day spending. The only thing it lacks is dining. Oh, and it has no annual fee. But if you're willing to pay an annual fee, you can increase the rate on some of the bonus categories to 6%, with the Amex Blue Cash Preferred. This card offers 6% on grocery, up to $6,000 in spend per year, then 6% on streaming, 3% on transit and 3% on gas. So you lose the online retail category, but you are getting 6% on grocery. 6% on streaming isn't that amazing, since most people's streaming bill will only be like maximum $100 per month. And then 3% on transit and gas with no limit is pretty good. Good for people who live in cities and use public transit, but then also have a car. But if I had to choose, I think the no annual fee Amex Blue Cash Every Day actually suits me better. However, neither of these cards covered the dining category. So let's now look at one that does. The Wells Fargo Autograph Card. This card offers unlimited three points per dollar on restaurants, travel, gas, transit, streaming and phone plans. That's a pretty broad range of categories. It just lacks grocery. And it seems like a trend, right? You can either have grocery or dining, unless you're willing to pay an annual fee, the ones with grocery and dining all have annual fees like the Amex Gold and the city premiere. But for a lot of people, I think this card could work out really well as a one card setup. And notice that it includes both travel, which tends to be like air tickets and hotels. But it also has transit, which is taxis, Ubers, trains, subways, etc. Many people are big fans of this card. And I would say the reason is the super broad categories. Points can be redeemed for cashback at one cent per point. But Wells Fargo has also now added transfer partners and most of transfer at a one to one ratio, offering lots of opportunity for high value redemptions. All right, one last one. The AAA Daily Advantage Visa Signature Credit Card. This card offers 5% back at grocery stores, 3% back on gas, wholesale, streaming and pharmacy. That is a lot of spending categories hit in one fell swoop. Notice to be absent, though, is dining. Remember, it's hard to get dining and grocery on the same card, especially if there's no annual fee. One thing is, if you read the small print with this card, the maximum cashback that you can earn in all the bonus categories combined, OK, the ones that are higher than 1% is $500 per year, which is a little on the low side. So this card won't be good for high spenders. Like if you spend $1,000 a month on grocery, you're already going to be at $600 in cashback for the year. But your 5% limit actually stops when you hit $500 in reward. That's $10,000 in spending. And then the next $2,000 would be only earning 1%. So you'd end up earning like $520 for the year. That isn't even adding in any other spend like gas or wholesale or the other things that you get 3% on. So I think personally, I would very quickly max this card out. But if you are young and single and you don't have many expenses, it could be good as a one card setup. All right, guys, that is my list. I've purposefully only included cards that earned transferable points or cashback, since I think if you're looking for a one card setup, you can only have one card. You don't really want to restrict yourself to a certain airline or hotel for the rewards. If you're wondering which card I would choose, I absolutely swear by the Amex Gold. Dining and grocery for me are probably my two biggest spend categories. So I can accept one point per dollar on all my other spend. But let me know which one you would choose in the comments section down below. And don't forget, if you want to get your Amex Gold and Platinum for free while also earning points on your portfolio, use my link silomarkets.com slash Ben to get started by the end of May. Please subscribe if you're new. We'll see you next time. Bye bye.