Retiring soon? Then it might also be time to retire your current credit card. Here’s our list of the 7 best credit cards for retirees.

Finding and using the right credit card makes it easy to get rewarded for your purchases. And it’ll give you the spending power you need to save some serious cash.

But as you age and your needs change, it’s crucial that you reconsider your credit card. In this article, I’ll review some of the best credit cards for retirees. Make sure that if you’re retired, you consider one of these so you can enjoy the benefits they have to offer.

Credit Card	Best For
Blue Cash Preferred from American Express	Grocery Shoppers
Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card	Travelers
Chase Freedom Visa	General Cash Back
HSBC Gold Mastercard® Credit Card	Transferring Your Debt
Costco Anywhere Visa Card	If You Drive a Lot
Netspend Visa Prepaid Card	If You Prefer a Prepaid Card
Credit One Bank Unsecured Platinum Visa	If Your Credit is Bad

1. Best Card for Grocery Shoppers: Blue Cash Preferred from American Express

Everyone has to buy groceries. So if you want rewards for making purchases you make anyway, the Blue Cash Preferred card is one of the best.

You can earn a lot of cash back each time you head to the grocery store. So it’s an excellent card for those who love to eat in and do a lot of cooking themselves, too.

I’ve used other cards that promised high cash back at the store, but they didn’t deliver. Often, it was due to things like rotating categories or low caps on rewards.

Well, this one does deliver. When you use the Blue Cash Preferred card at a grocery store, you’ll get 6% cash back, up to a total of $6,000 each year. This is an incredible value.

It also offers 3% back at select department stores and gas stations. Additionally, you get 1% cash back on your other purchases.

When you get your cash back, you’ll receive it in the form of reward dollars. These can then be redeemed as a credit on your statement.

I’ve found this to be a great way to reduce the amount you have to pay when paying your bill in full each month. Also, you don’t need to complete any particular process to get set up with getting your cash back – it’s automatic.

Also, there’s a great signup bonus. Currently, you can get $200 back after you spend $1,000 in the first three months of having your card. One thing to consider with this card is the $95 annual fee, as you want to make sure you’ll earn more back than you pay in fees.

2. Best Card for Travelers: Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card

One thing I love about this card is the earnings rate. You’ll get 2X unlimited miles on all your purchases. This includes all purchases, not ones that only fall in specific bonus categories.

This means you can earn plenty of miles without having to worry about when you need to use your card. While you may not maximize your miles, you’ll limit your time and frustration.

The Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card helps you cut down on how much you spend on travel. This allows you to instead focus on seeing the world. While there is an annual fee of $95, if you use your card on a regular basis you’ll be able to offset that fee by earning miles. The fee is waived for the first year, too, which is nice.

Because you can use miles to book travel through the Capital One travel portal, there’s a lot of flexibility, too. You often won’t have to worry about seating, airline, or hotel restrictions, for instance.

You can transfer your Capital One miles to airline partners, too, which gives you a nice boost if you use a specific airline. In addition, you’ll earn 10 miles per dollar on thousands of places to stay when you pay for a hotel using Hotels.com, through January 2020.

This is great for retirees wanting to travel on their own time without issues. And you can also redeem the miles you’ve earned for travel statement credits if you want.

The Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card has no foreign transaction fees. This can save you a lot of money when you’re in another country and need to pay for something. You’ll also receive up to $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre-check when you use your Venture card.

Finally, the card comes with an excellent signup bonus. You’ll get 50,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days. This is equivalent to $500 in travel statement credits.

3. Best Card for General Cash Back: Chase Freedom Visa

The Chase Freedom Visa is for retirees who want to maximize their cash back, and are willing to be strategic. If you keep track of the categories offering rewards, you can earn plenty of cash back.There isn’t an annual fee, but you need to be aware of what categories will get you the highest rewards each quarter. You have to enroll to earn the higher amount of 5% back (up to $1,500) per quarter. Otherwise, you’ll receive 1% back, which is still better than nothing, I guess.

The current signup bonus gives you $150 back if you spend $500 or more in the first three months of having the card. For a card with no annual fee and substantial cash back rewards, this is a great bonus.

I love that there are a few ways to redeem the money you earn, too. This means that you won’t have to worry about how to get your rewards. You can either:

• Deposit the cash into your bank account
• Use it as a statement credit, or
• Transfer them as points to your eligible Chase card

4. Best Card if You Want to Transfer Your Debt: HSBC Gold Mastercard® Credit Card

If you’ve entered retirement with some debt, it’s smart to consider a balance transfer. This will help you knock out the debt as fast as possible. The HSBC Gold Mastercard is, hands down, the best option if you have a decent amount of debt you want to transfer.

This card offers a surprising 0% APR on all balance transfers for as long as 18 months. That gives you plenty of time to pay off your debt without high-interest rates.

Most credit cards only offer a low APR intro period of 12 months. So it’s easy to see how this card differs from others that are available.

Besides offering one of the best balance transfer deals we’ve seen in a while, this card doesn’t have an annual fee. Also, the HSBC Gold Mastercard offers its users $0 liability for unauthorized purchases. This way you won’t ever have to worry about a lost or stolen credit card.

Finally, you’ll never pay foreign transaction fees. This makes it a viable option for traveling, too.

5. Best Card if You Drive a Lot: Costco Anywhere Visa Card

If you’re a Costco member and are on the road a lot, you need to consider the Costco Anywhere Visa Card. This credit card actually rewards you for spending money on gas.

With no annual fee as long as you keep up your paid Costco membership, you’ll enjoy many ways to earn cash back. You’ll also be able to use your card in other countries without paying a foreign transaction fee.

This card offers 4% cash back on your eligible gas purchases for the first $7,000 that you spend each year. Beyond that, you’ll get 1% back on additional gas purchases.

Outside of the significant cash back on gas, you’ll get:

• 3% cash back on eligible travel purchases and restaurants
• 2% cash back on purchases from Costco.com and Costco stores, and
• 1% back on all other purchases

The variable APR is in line with other cards, too. While this isn’t a terrible thing, you’ll want to make sure you pay your card off in full when you can.

6. Best Card if You Want a Prepaid Card Instead: Netspend Visa Prepaid Card

There’s no reason you can’t have a great prepaid card as a retiree and enjoy many of the same benefits of a credit card. The Netspend Visa Prepaid Card is one of the best prepaid cards for retirees. Especially if you want the most versatile prepaid card on the market.

I love that you have many options for loading funds, and the card offers high withdrawal limits. This way, you can get the cash you need without a problem.

But, there are high fees with this card. This is something you need to be aware of so that you don’t waste a lot of money on fees.

There isn’t a credit check to sign up for this card, which is helpful for those with less-than-stellar credit. And because you can enjoy cash back on purchases, it is an excellent option for a lot of retirees.

It’s easy to add money to your card by bank transfer, direct deposit, MoneyPak, and even through Western Union. Additionally, there are more than 100,000 reload centers located across the country.

Make sure if you opt for the Netspend Visa Prepaid Card you choose the best plan for you. Currently, there are three different plans to choose from, each with three levels. Go here to view their current pricing matrix.

The nice thing about this card is that you can make adjustments to your plan at any time. Do this through the Netspend website if you find that a different plan will give you better options.

7. Best Card if Your Credit is Still Bad: Credit One Bank Unsecured Platinum Visa

If you’ve entered retirement with bad credit, don’t worry. You can still get a secured credit card. And the Credit One Bank Unsecured Platinum Visa is one of our favorites.

Many cards penalize you for having poor credit, but this one doesn’t. You’ll get a free copy of your credit score each month, and the annual fee will range depending on your credit score.

The credit limit that you can get with this card ranges up to $1,500, which is a fast and easy way to improve your credit. There is no sign-up bonus, and you do have to pay more than usual for cash advances. But being able to use a credit card to improve and build your credit makes this an excellent option for a lot of retirees.

Finally, you can earn points with this secured card. You’ll get 1% cash back, and the rewards will post to your account automatically.

Bottom Line

As you can see, there are a lot of great credit cards for retirees to choose from. And deciding what is most important to you will help you make the right choice for your needs.

These seven cards offer a wide variety of different features and benefits to their users. But please let us know if you think we missed a card in the comments below!

Topics: Credit Cards

The post 7 Best Credit Cards for Seniors and Retirees appeared first on The Dough Roller.

via Finance Xpress