Credit Cards I Use as a 20-Something

I am so thrilled to share my first blog post talking about money! Having grown up poor, I have somewhat of an unhealthy relationship with money. What has helped me in recent years is talking about money with friends and my sisters, and I have been wanting to bring those conversations onto the blog for quite some time.

In today’s post, I am talking about the credit cards I use. I actually did not have my first credit card until after college, and I only got it because my older sister Jiyoung literally dragged me to the bank to open one. In my defense, I had applied for a different credit card during college and was rejected. I felt very bad (almost ashamed?) of my poor credit history, or lack thereof. Since opening my first credit card at 23, I have gotten a few more to be strategic.

All of the credit cards I use have no annual fee and have different perks or ways to earn rewards. There are so many credit cards out there, and some of them will be more suitable for you based on your spending habits and/or preferences than the ones I mention in this blog post. If you want to do more research, I have found NerdWallet to be a helpful resource. I hope this post helps you if you feel overwhelmed with all the options.

Bank of America Cash Rewards

This was the very first credit card I opened the summer after college. Opening the card was an easy process for me personally since I had been banking with Bank of America since high school. For this card, you can choose your 3% cash back category (I have selected online shopping). To be honest, I do not find Bank of America to be very user friendly so I mostly have kept this for my credit history and use it for Hulu subscription.

Citi Double Cash

For Citi Double Cash, you get 1% cash back when you make a purchase and another 1% cash back when you pay off your credit card. The 2% cash back on EVERYTHING is appealed to me, and I have been putting everything on this card except for when there is a higher cash back percentage from another card. I also use this card for monthly of my recurring payments.

Chase Freedom

Chase Freedom is the second credit card I ever opened (and the one I was rejected for in college actually). It has a 5% rotating category for each quarter that you have to activate at the beginning of the quarter. I like that once you activate the bonus category once every three months (you get an email reminder too!), there is nothing else to think about. This specific card is being phased out so you can’t apply for it anymore but the next card I mention is even a better choice actually.

Chase Freedom Flex

Chase Freedom Flex is essentially a combination of Chase Freedom (5% rotating category; being phased out) and Chase Freedom Unlimited (3% back on dining among other perks). I have been wanting to open a credit card that rewarded dining out (because my hobby is eating out). I was debating between Chase Freedom Flex and Capital One SavorOne credit card which also offers 3% back on dining but I ultimately decided on Chase Freedom Flex since I already had a Chase card and have found it easy to use.

If you spend a ton of money eating out, there are credit cards that offer 4% cash back (such as Capital One Savor) so those might be a good choice for you. Most of them do have an annual fee so I recommend doing the math to see if you’ll be spending enough money on the cash back category to more than break even on those cards.

Those are all the credit cards I use! What credit card do you recommend?