Beginner Series: Part 4
Get Your First Card
It's time to get your first rewards card. At this stage, it is expected that your credit score is above 670, you are prepared to use your credit card for all of your purchases, and you are fiscally responsible and disciplined to pay off your balance each month. With that said, let's discuss what you should consider with your first card.
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Keep it simple
If you plan to be in this game for the long run, it's more than likely that you will obtain multiple cards to maximize your earning potential, diversify your points currencies, and take advantage of additional travel and purchase benefits. But before you get to that point, you have to start with one card. Your best bet is to start with a card that earns transferrable points (AMEX, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Citi), has a modest annual fee ($0-$250), and comes with a strong welcome bonus (50,000+ points​). By sticking to these simple criteria, it narrows your options down to make the decision-making process much simpler. There is a good mix of cards that do fit this criteria, and you really can't go wrong with any of them, but it comes down to preference and lifestyle when deciding which to acquire.
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Consider transfer partners
If you were to map out all of the transfer partners for each of the major points programs, you would see that each program has different transfer partners, and this can influence your decision about your first card. However, several points programs transfer to the same airline partners. For example, each of the five points programs transfer to Emirates, AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue, and Virgin Atlantic. These are some of the most valued transfer partners, so you really can't go wrong.
A notable difference between the points programs is their domestic airline transfer partners. Each points program has at least one domestic airline transfer partner, and this is important because your home airport is likely a hub for one of the five major domestic airlines (United, American, Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest). If this is the case, you may want to consider a card that transfers directly to the airline for which your home airport is a hub because it gives you the most flight options for that airline. For example, I live in NJ and I prefer to fly out of Newark Airport because it's relatively easier to commute there than to LaGuardia or JFK. Given that Newark is a hub for United, I have a Chase Sapphire card, which allows me to transfer to United, which has tons of routes all over the world. As I continue to travel and occasionally pay for airfare without using points, I will accrue United miles in my MileagePlus account. If I find myself in a situation where I'm a few thousand United miles short of a free flight, I can simply "top off" my United miles balance to redeem that free flight thanks to my Chase UR points, which transfer directly to United.
If you're not sure, start with Chase
I value Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points higher than any other credit card currency. Period. If you are a beginner in this game, I highly
recommend a Chase card that will allow you to transfer points to its 11 airline partners and 3 hotel partners. Chase points are typically pegged to be worth at least 1.25 cents per point, but they can be worth as much as 11 cents per point when transferring to travel.
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Why start with Chase?
Chase has very strict rules when it comes to approving applicants. The most important rule to understand is Chase's unofficial "5/24" rule, which prevents applicants from being approved for a new Chase card if they have added 5 or more personal credit cards in the last 24 months. It can be credit cards from ANY issuer, not just Chase. So if you added an AMEX card, two Chase Cards, and two Capital One cards to your personal card portfolio in the last 24 months, then there is an almost-100% chance that you will be denied for a Chase credit card. I say "almost-100%" because I have heard that some folks have been approved in rare cases despite being in "Chase 5/24 jail". It's worth starting this relationship with Chase early so that you can snag the top 1 or 2 Chase cards on your radar so that this becomes a non-issue in the future.
With that said, there are only three cards (2 personal, 1 business) that allow Ultimate Rewards points to be transferred from your card account to travel partners. These cards are:​
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The Chase Sapphire Preferred card
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The Chase Sapphire Reserve card
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The Chase Ink Preferred card
Of these three cards, I would strongly recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred because of its relatively low annual fee of $95, its simple earning structure, its additional purchase and travel protections, and its 25% bonus when redeeming points through the Chase travel portal. What I also love about the Chase UR points ecosystem is that you can earn UR points on other cards and then combine them with any of these three cards so that you can then transfer them out to travel partners.
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One final note on Chase UR and Sapphire Preferred
What I personally value most about Chase UR points is that they transfer directly to the World of Hyatt​​​ loyalty program, which has been widely regarded as one of the most valuable programs, with redemptions starting at 5,000 points at its value brand properties, and redemptions at its most expensive redemptions (Park Hyatt, Andaz) priced around 45,000 points. To put this into context, Marriott
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