by Daniel | Last Updated January 28th, 2021
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Have you ever wondered what the best credit cards under $100 available today are and how they can actually benefit you just from using them?
Well, today I am going to review some of the best credit cards under $100 on offer at the moment and go over some of the benefits they have.
1. Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Initial Offer: 60,000 points
Annual fee: $95
Ok, so the first credit card on this list is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card which has an annual fee of $95.
This makes it a great card for anyone who is new to credit cards and is looking to take advantage of some of the benefits the card has to offer.
The first thing to take note Is that you can earn up to 60,000 points if you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months of opening the account.
That means that you can get $750 dollars worth of travel with these points if you redeem them through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
But it is possible to earn up to $1200 in travel credits if you transfer the points to some of Chase’s hotel and airline partners.
Just be aware that not all partners will give you such generous points transfers, so be prepared to do a bit of homework if you do decide to use this method.
In terms of benefits, here are a few things that you will receive:
Firstly you will receive Primary Rental Car Insurance which is a great way to save money when hiring a car.
Basically, if you use your card to purchase a rental car you can get up to 31 consecutive days of coverage which will cover physical damage or theft of the rental vehicle.
The next useful perk with this card is a complimentary DoorDash membership which is usually $9.99 per month, and this gives you free delivery on orders over $12.
Not a bad perk if you do happen to order a lot of food in or are spending a lot of time at home.
Another useful bonus is Purchase Protection,
Basically, when you use the Sapphire Preferred Card to buy eligible purchases you will get up to $500 per claim and up to $50,000 per account in protection coverage.
You will also get an additional year of coverage on eligible products that have a warranty of fewer than 3 years with Chases “Extended Warranty Protection”
In terms of earning points when using the card you can expect to earn 5x points for the rest of this year (2021) for any payments made using Lyft.
Then 2x points on dining and travel, this includes most restaurants and services like Doordash or Seamless and for travel things such as airlines, trains, buses, limos, hotels, and even car rentals.
Then anything else will earn 1 point per dollar spent.
Also when you do have some points you want to use to travel with you can transfer them over to a variety of different airlines or hotels for a 1 to 1 value. Some of the frequent flyer programs include – JetBlue Trueblue, United Mileage Plus, and British Airways Executive Club just to name a few.
And hotel travel partners include – Marriot Bonvoy, World of Hyatt, and IHG Rewards Club.
If you like to work out and stay fit you will also get $60 back on an eligible Peloton Digital or All Access Membership until the end of 2021.
The cost for the digital membership is currently $12.99 per month and the All Access Membership is $39 per month.
This will give you access to a large range of fitness classes that are on their workout library including – Yoga, running, strength training, cardio, and more, and best of all these cases can be accessed from your cell phone, tablet, or TV.
Another great benefit is that there are no foreign transaction fees, so you can use your card pretty much anywhere in the world and not worry about getting charged a ridiculous fee just for using the card.
This could save you quite a bit of money, spending $2500 overseas would cost approximately $75 in foreign transaction fees.
Finally, with this card, you will be well covered when you are traveling.
First of all, any pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels that are canceled or cut short by sickness or severe weather you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip.
If your baggage is delayed for more than 6 hours by the passenger carrier you can receive up to $100 per day for up to 5 days for purchases such as toiletries and clothing.
2. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Initial Offer: 60,000 Miles
Annual fee: $95
Similar to the Chase Saphire Preferred Card, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card also has an annual fee of $95.
And the sign-up bonus available at the moment is 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on the card within the first 3 months.
And these points are worth approximately $840.
Also as long as you keep the account open the points will never expire.
Now one of the best things about this card is that you will earn unlimited 2x points for every dollar you spend on the card, no matter what it is.
This makes it really easy to accumulate points without having to really think too much about where to use that card which can sometimes be the case with other cards.
Then if you use the card to book hotels or rental cars through ‘Capital One Travel’ you will earn 5x points per dollar spent.
Once you have accrued a ton of points you can use them in many different ways.
Firstly you can use them to shop on Amazon to purchase a large variety of different products on their site.
Or you can use points to pay off your statement credit if need be.
And like most cards you can use the points toward flights, car rentals, and hotels, and with some companies like JetBlue where you can transfer 1,000 miles for 750 TrueBlue Points or Wyndham Rewards (Which is a Hotel loyalty program with over 30,000 hotels around the world) where you can transfer 1,000 miles for 750 Wyndham reward points.
Some of the benefits that come with the card include:
No foreign transaction fees so you can use the card outside the United States and not get charged any fees.
Another benefit is that you receive up to $100 in credit to use on either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.
So this is really helpful if you happen to travel a fair amount as it can really save you a lot of time, but if you don’t travel a lot it is actually possible to gift this credit to a friend or family member.
Similar to the Chase Saphire Preferred card you can also receive Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver( if you rent an eligible car) and this covers damage due to collision or theft.
So you can forgo the collision insurance offered by the rental agency and save some money.
One last thing that the card offers that is reassuring is $0 fraud liability.
This means that if you lose your card or it happens to be stolen you will not be accountable for any unauthorized charges that are made to your card
3. Citi Premier Card
Initial Offer: 60,000 points
Annual fee: $95
Next up is the Citi Premier Card which also has an annual fee of $95.
As with the first two credit cards, I reviewed this card also offers 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months of owning the card which is worth up to $600 if you redeem the points for specific gifts cards through the website Thankyou.com.
When using the card to earn points you can expect to earn 3 points per dollar on hotels, air travel, gas stations, supermarkets, and restaurants also there are no caps or limits on earning points.
Everything else will earn 1 point per dollar.
A new benefit they have now added is a $100 annual hotel saving when you book a hotel stay of $500 or more through the website Thankyou.com.
Also, there are no foreign transaction fees with this card so you can use the card anywhere in the world and not worry about extra fees.
One really useful perk of the card is the Extended Warranty Protection that gives you an extra 24 months (or 2 years) of coverage with a maximum cost of $10,000 per item.
So even if you buy a product that happens to have just a short-term warranty of say just 3 months, you will receive an extra 24 months of coverage.
Just note that it is not valid for products that don’t come with a manufacturer’s warranty, or items such as, cars, boats, used or pre-owned items, or properties.
Finally, this card has no foreign transaction fees which means you can take it with you overseas and use it as much as you want without worrying about being charged a fee each time you use it.
4. Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express
Initial Offer: $300 Credit
Annual fee: $95
Coming in 4th on this list is the Blue Cash Preferred Card from Amex.
Similar to all of the other cards on this list it has an annual fee of $95.
With this card, once you have spent $3,000 in the first 6 months of owning it you will receive $300 back in the form of a statement credit.
What makes this card different from the others is that you can earn cash back just for using the card.
For instance, you will receive 6% cashback on money spent at most US supermarkets up to a total of $6,000 per calendar year.
You will also receive 6% cashback on certain US streaming subscriptions.
From here on the earning are a little lower but not limited, you get 3% cashback on transport such as taxis, parking, busses, and trains.
You also get 3% cashback from US service stations.
Everything else receives 1% cashback.
Another great benefit of the card is the “Return Protection”
Basically, Amex may refund up to $300 per item up to a maximum of $1,000 per calendar year assuming the seller of the item won’t take the item back. The offer from Amex is valid for up to 90 days after purchasing the product.
This card also offers Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance at certain locations for specific cars which means you can decline the collision damage waiver that is offered by the rental agency and save some money.
And as with the Capital One Venture Rewards card, you are also covered by Fraud Protection which means that if you lose your card or it is stolen you will not be responsible for any fraudulent charges that are made to your card.
This is the only card on this list that actually has a foreign transaction fee if the card is used overseas.
With a fee of 2.7%, it is not really recommended to use if you spend a lot of time traveling overseas as it will add up just by using the card, also most of the benefits that are tied into the card are only available on purchases within the United States.