One of my great passions outside of personal finance is reward credit cards. I’ve spent way too much researching, comparing, reading reviews and strategizing on how to maximize my rewards. As of the latest count, I have 6 credit cards in my wallet (ok not an actual wallet that I carry around all 6 at the same time with) and I pay several hundred dollars in annual fees for them.

But, I get plenty of rewards and get to take what feels like more than the occasional free trip with them!

I was hanging out with some friends over the weekend and of course credit cards came up and I quickly eyeballed what they were working with when the restaurant bill came. They know I’m pretty into credit cards and asked me, “so what’s the best credit card to use?”

How I view credit cards

Reward credit cards to me serve a purpose – I hold onto them for either the perks or the reward earning potential. They are tools in my tool belt and I use my tools to achieve my goals – and my goals are travel. Your goals might look very different – there are some credit card rewards that are more cash back focused. My father for many years used his credit card rewards to take the family skiing each Christmas (thanks Dad!). So, before you can maximize and pick the ‘best’ credit card, you first need to figure out what you’re after!

A job can take multiple tools

I’ve teetered back and forth over the years on just using one main card and trying to have all my points in one place vs. trying to be more strategic with my cards. As of now I’m in the multiple cards mindset. On an upcoming Europe trip I used: my Amex and Chase cards to move points to Emirates for the flight, I used my Marriott card to book some hotels, and now I’m saving up on my Bank of America card for cash back to use when we’re over there on general spending. I’m not sure I could have done all of that with just one card!

Understand your cards

It’s worth understanding how your cards work and the points they earn. There are lots of nuances to every card and lots of potential perks to remember. In our family we generally use a specific card for each of the following categories: groceries, eating out, gas, car rentals and general spending. We use those specific cards because we earn the highest rate of return with them.

Or, there may be times that we ignore the best rate and instead focus on accumulating specific points. When we had our eye on a really nice hotel, we focused our spending on my Marriott card. Now that most of the trip is booked, we’re focused on our cash back cards instead!

Learn how to set goals

So, to answer the question “which is the best credit card?” you first need to know what you’re after and know how to get there (i.e. know your goal and know how your credit cards work to develop your strategy). This may take some researching on your part – but hey researching and planning a trip is almost as much fun as going on it (or is that just me?). I spent a lot of time reading travel blogs, learning strategies and also checking airline and hotel websites to understand the price (in dollars and points/miles) so that I could start setting my goal and then developing a plan to get there!

My answer to the best credit card as of today happens to be my Bank of America cash back card, but they will likely change in the near future as my goals and strategies to achieve those goals change!