What do expert Black Friday shoppers have that you need? The perfect card. Find out why these are the 4 best credit cards to have for Black Friday 2019.

I love Black Friday.

It’s almost like waiting for Christmas, but instead, you wait for deals. As you get older and you need to buy gifts for your spouse, parents, kids, and friends, finding the best deals possible is critical.

But Black Friday deals will only take you so far.

If you’re not using the right credit card, you could be missing out on a ton of benefits and rewards. That’s why in this article, we’ll share the top credit cards for you to use during Black Friday 2019.

Top Pick for Black Friday 2019: The Platinum Card® from American Express

The Platinum Card® from American Express is an excellent card to use for Black Friday shopping this year. In fact, it’s officially our top pick after unseating it’s cousin from last year’s list, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (which is still a great card).

First, let’s start with some of the benefits of using an American Express card for shopping.

Benefits of Using American Express for Shopping

American Express offers Purchase Protection on its cards, and it’s an excellent feature for those who do a lot of shopping. Directly from American Express:

“When an American Express Card Member charges a covered purchase with their Card account, Purchase Protection can help protect your purchases for up to 120 days* from the date of purchase if it is stolen or accidentally damaged. The coverage is limited up to $1,000 per occurrence, up to $50,000 per Card Member account per calendar year.”

That means if you buy something on Black Friday and it gets accidentally damaged (which happens during the holidays between shipping and dropping things), Amex will have you covered.

American Express also provides an extended warranty on the items you purchase with it. Naturally, this will come in handy for Black Friday, as you’ll be buying things like electronics and other pricey items that tend to need a warranty in place to make you feel most comfortable in buying it.

But why pay extra for an extended warranty when Amex can cover it for you? According to their policies, “When an American Express Card Member charges an eligible product with his or her Card account, Extended Warranty can provide up to two (2) extra years added to the original U.S. manufacturer’s warranty.”

Rewards and Other Perks

Aside from the purchase protection benefits, you’ll get from using American Express, The Platinum Card® from American Express has some of the best rewards and perks we’ve seen.

In fact, I dropped all of my other cards this year to sign up for this card. It’s a premium card (and the annual fee is high), but it’s so worth it. Here are the things we love most:

• Excellent welcome offer. Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you’ve spent $5,000 in the first three months of card ownership. You may even pre-qualify for more points (I got 75,000 when I signed up).
• Earn up to $200 in Uber rides each and every year. This perk is AMAZING. Each month, you’ll get credits deposited into your Uber account when you register this card. I use it for both Uber rides and Uber Eats.
• Unmatched travel rewards. You’ll earn 5x points on flights booked through Amex or directly through the airline, 5x points on hotels booked through Amex and single points per dollar spent on all other transactions. Also provided is up to a $200 airline fee credit, a refund of sorts for the baggage fees you pay annually. Last but not least, you’ll gain access into the Amex Global Lounge collection; allowing you + two guests to relax in style before a flight.
• Instant Gold status with Hilton and Marriott. You have to manually enroll for each, but when you do, you’ll get instant perks through an upgraded status with both hotel chains.
• Car rental program elite status. You can enroll in elite status programs for at least three different car rental services, including Avis Preferred, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status.
• $100 at Saks. Using your Platinum card, you can get up to $100 in statement credits every year for purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue or saks.com. This comes in the form of $50 for the first half of the year (through June) and another $50 through the second half of the year. Excellent perk for Black Friday shoppers.

The Platinum Card® from American Express does come with a hefty $550 annual fee, but if you meet the minimum spend for the bonus points, it’s more than worth it. I don’t advocate for expensive rewards cards often, but this one is hands-down at the top of my list.

See card details/apply or read our full Platinum Card® from American Express review.

Best for Large Purchases That You’ll Pay Off Over Time: BankAmericard® credit card

Sometimes we wait until Black Friday to make that large purchase because of the deep discounts many stores offer. But we don’t always have the cash to pay for it right away, or we don’t ever want to blow our savings right before the holidays.

That’s where the BankAmericard® credit card comes into place. It’s not a sexy, high-rewards card like some of the others we’ve reviewed, but it is hands-down, the best card for making a large purchase on Black Friday.

Why?

Because of the insanely-good introductory offer on both balance transfers and purchases. The BankAmericard® credit card gives you 18 full months of 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers, allowing you to pay off that large purchase throughout a year and a half.

Depending on your level of motivation, you can also lump in credit card balances from past Black Fridays onto the card and pay that off at 0%.

The BankAmericard® credit card has no annual fee, which makes it a lovely long-term card to hold, even if you don’t plan to use it every day after your intro offer. It also has penalty APR if you miss a payment.

One of the other features we loved is the free FICO Score tracking, so you can monitor your credit score progress as you pay down balances.

On the downside, the card doesn’t offer rewards, which is why we would encourage you to use this only for a handful of significant purchases on Black Friday that you’ll work on paying off over time.

See card details/apply or read our full BankAmericard® credit card review.

Best If You Also Plan To Travel For The Holidays: Chase Sapphire Preferred

Next to my personal obsession with The Platinum Card® from American Express, my second favorite overall card (and the best for travel on this list) is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

The rewards off the bat are solid–you’ll earn 2 points per $1 spent on travel and dining and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. When you book travel through Chase’s website, you can get a much higher rate of return (between 25 and 75% points boost).

Here are some of the other things we love about this card:

• Sign up bonus. You’ll get 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months of account opening, which is worth $750 towards travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
• Purchase protection. Like American Express, Chase Sapphire gives you purchase protection for up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account. According to Chase, this benefit can “repair, replace or reimburse you for eligible items in the event of theft or damage when items are purchased with an eligible Chase card or with rewards earned on an eligible Chase card.”
• Extended warranty protection. Chase gives you an extra year of coverage on eligible purchases with a manufacturer’s warranty of three years of less. You just have to ensure the purchase is made (entirely) with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card.
• Primary rental car coverage. Where most cards offer secondary coverage (meaning you have to first go through your car insurer), with this card, you can submit the claim directly and avoid involving your standard car insurer completely.
• Extra travel benefits. The travel benefits with this card are insane. You get up to $10,000 in trip cancellation insurance, up to $500 per ticket in trip delay insurance, up to $3,000 per person in lost luggage reimbursement, and up to a $100 per day coverage (for up to five days) in baggage delay insurance. Oh yeah, there’s also no foreign transaction fees.

See card details/apply or read our full Chase Sapphire Preferred card review.

Also Read: 8 Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards of 2019

Best For Shopping At Department Stores And Using Long-term: Chase Freedom Visa

The Chase Freedom Visa is an excellent all-around credit card to have so you will end up finding yourself using it far beyond just Black Friday. But for Black Friday, it rocks. Chase offers 5% cash back on specific categories at different times of the year. For 2019, it’s offering 5% back from October 1st through December 31st on department stores, and on PayPal and Chase Pay purchases.

“Department stores” includes both in-store and online purchases, too, so you don’t have to go to the mall if you don’t want to. Here’s a list of all the merchants Chase considers to be department stores for the sake of this card:

• Aliexpress
• Beall’s of Florida
• Belk
• Bergdorf Goodman
• Bergners
• Bloomingdales
• Boscov’s Department Store
• Boston Store
• Dillards
• Goody’s
• Gordmans
• JC Penney
• Kohls
• Lord & Taylor
• Macys
• Neiman Marcus
• Nordstrom & Nordstrom Rack
• Peebles Dept Store
• Saks Fifth Ave & Off Fifth
• Sears
• Stage Stores
• Stein Mart
• The Bon Ton
• Von Maur
• Younkers

Outside of the rotating categories, Chase Freedom offers 1% cash back on all purchases and 5% cash back on select purchases each quarter (up to $1,500 spent quarterly) after that.

As a bonus, new cardmembers will earn a $150 cash bonus after spending $500 in purchases during the first three months. Finally, there is no annual fee, and you’ll even get a 0% introductory APR on both purchases and balance transfers for the first 15 months.

See card details/apply or read our full Chase Freedom Visa review.

Also Read: Best Credit Cards for Big Purchases

Bottom Line

Shopping on Black Friday can be pure chaos. But that doesn’t mean you have to go broke or miss out on massive savings.

By using the right credit card, you can get all the things you need for the holidays in a single day, and either not worry about paying it off for a year and a half or get some hefty cash back for your troubles.

Either way, use one of these four cards, and you won’t be disappointed.

Topics: Credit Cards

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via Finance Xpress