Best credit cards for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping

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Black Friday and Cyber Monday are almost here. Do you know the best credit cards to feverishly swipe as you lumber from store to store?

Whether you intend to brave the crowds or browse online, you need to sit down and deduce the best credit card for your spending. You can earn big time rewards by using specific cards at certain types of stores. Plus, now is the perfect time of the year to meet minimum spending requirements and earn tons of miles and points. We’ve got the rundown on the best credit cards for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If they’re not in your wallet, there’s still time to apply to earn lots of miles and points for holiday shopping (and throughout the year), because many of their bonus categories are handy for a variety of spending.

Best credit cards for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019

• Discover it® Cash Back: Best credit card for Amazon purchases
• Chase Freedom®: Best credit card for department stores
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Best credit card for booking Black Friday and Cyber Monday travel deals
• Ink Business Cash Credit Card: Best credit card for office supply stores
• The Business Platinum® Card from American Express: Best credit card for price protection

Dramatically important note: The best card to use for any purchase is the card with which you’re currently meeting the minimum spending to earn a welcome bonus. If you’re not doing that, check out these cards to reward you for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping.

Discover it® Cash Back

Best credit card for Amazon purchases

Current bonus

The card doesn’t come with a cash bonus. It instead has a unique feature when you first open it: Discover will match all the cash back you’ve earned by the end of your first 12 billing cycles. That means if you’ve earned $200 in cash back in your first 12 months of owning the card, Discover will cut you a check for another $200.

Insider tips

While Discover doesn’t offer a welcome bonus on the card, if a friend refers you to the Discover it Cash Back, you’ll receive a $50 statement credit after making a purchase within three months of opening your card. This only works if you’re not a current Discover cardmember.

benefits and perks

The big benefit of this card is that you’ll earn 5% cash back in rotating categories (on up to $1,500 in purchases) each quarter. This holiday season you’ll receive bonus cash for purchases on Amazon, Walmart.com, and at Target. If you manage to spend the full $1,500, you’ll receive $75 cash back.

This is also one of the few cards with no annual fee that’s got no foreign transaction fees, so it’s great if you’re swiping overseas.

Annual fee

$0.

Why it’s worth it

The Discover it Cash Back, in my opinion, the best card for Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending this year. Between Amazon and Walmart.com, you can buy nearly anything while receiving 5% back (on up to $1,500 in purchases). And because Discover will match the cashback you earn during your first calendar year, new cardmembers will effectively earn 10% cashback for their holiday shopping.

Total value

Depends on how much you use the card. If you max out your 5% cash back bonus categories each quarter, you’ll receive $300 in cash back each year. And if it’s your first cardmember year, Discover will match it, meaning you’ll receive a total of $600.

Chase Freedom®

 Best credit card for department stores

Current bonus

The Chase Freedom comes with a $150 bonus (15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.

Insider tips

The Chase Freedom is an excellent card to pair with annual-fee Chase cards like the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, or Chase Sapphire Reserve. When you move points from the Freedom to one of these cards, you’ll have the ability to transfer points to airline and hotel partners, or book paid travel at an improved rate through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

benefits and perks

Similar to the Discover it Cash Back, the Chase Freedom offers 5% cash back in rotating categories (on up to $1,500 in purchases) each quarter. You can read our Chase Freedom review for a more in-depth look at this card’s details.

Annual fee

$0.

Why it’s worth it

The Chase Freedom rotating bonus categories through December 31, 2019, are department stores and purchases made through PayPal or Chase Pay. If you intend to participate in the Black Friday maelstrom, earning bonus cash back at department stores will likely come in very handy.

Plus, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are by far the most popular points currency to earn among our readers. You can read our full Chase Ultimate Rewards Review for more details on how to get tons of free travel from them.

Total value

If you spend the full $1,500 in these categories each quarter, you’ll earn $75 cash back (7,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards points). This isn’t difficult to achieve, because the categories are usually extremely common. And if you earn the $150 intro bonus, this no annual fee card will net you $450 the first year.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Best credit card for booking Black Friday and Cyber Monday travel deals

Current bonus

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card currently comes with 100,000 bonus miles when you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening, or still earn 50,000 miles if you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.

Insider tips

With most miles and points credit cards, there is a process to receiving rewards towards travel. You must first earn a bonus by meeting minimum spending requirements, and then wait until your points are deposited into your account before you can use them. This is not the case with the Capital One Venture.

See, even if you’ve just signed-up for the card, you can use the welcome bonus. As long as you complete the card’s spending requirement within 90 days, you’ll be able to use the $500 sign-up bonus to go back and erase the cost of your airfare. Just make sure you apply in time to receive the card before you buy your travel.

benefits and perks

Most folks redeem their miles through the Capital One “Purchase Eraser” for 1 cent each. But Capital One also has 10+ transfer partners, including Air Canada, Singapore Airlines and Etihad, giving you the option to potentially squeeze more value from your miles.

This card also reimburses you for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck (via a statement credit of up to $100). You can read our Capital One Venture review for a more comprehensive look at its benefits.

Annual fee

$95.

Why it’s worth it

Many online travel agencies, airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies have excellent Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. If you’re a deal chaser like me, this is the perfect time of year to open the Capital One Venture. You can use the card to book discounted airfare and hotels, and the money you spend will go toward meeting the card’s minimum spending requirement. Then after you complete the spending later, you can go back and erase $500 of your already discounted travel!

Total value

This card earns a flat 2 miles per dollar on every purchase. After you meet the minimum spending requirement, you’ll have 56,000 miles, worth $560 for travel.

Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card

Best credit card for office supply stores

Current bonus

The Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card is offering $500 cash back (50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first three months of opening your account. That’s practically unheard of for a no annual fee card.

Insider tips

Similar to the Chase Freedom, you can pair this card with the Ink Business Preferred, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve. When you move points from the Ink Business Cash to one of these cards, you can transfer points to airline and hotel partners, or book paid travel at an improved rate through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

benefits and perks

This card earns 5% cash back (5 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar) on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on phone, internet, and cable TV services each account anniversary year. That’s another huge benefit for a no annual fee credit card.

You’ll also receive plenty of other benefits, like primary rental car insurance when renting for business purposes. That’ll save you from needing to purchase the rental car agency’s in-house insurance for $10+ per day. Read our Ink Business Cash review for more details of the card’s perks.

Why it’s worth it

Electronics are a huge purchase during the holidays. This card has the best return for spending at office supply stores, which sell all kinds of giftable electronics, from laptops to headphones to wireless speakers to gaming equipment.

Total value

The value of this card is astronomical if you spend often at office supply stores. But assuming you open the card and make $3,000 in purchases at office supply stores this Black Friday or Cyber Monday, you’d rake in $650:

• $150 from receiving 5% back at office supply stores
• $500 for meeting minimum spending requirements

That’s equivalent to a 21% rebate for your Black Friday shopping.

The Business Platinum® Card from American Express

Best credit card for price protection

Current bonus

With The Business Platinum® Card from American Express, you’ll receive up to 100,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after meeting tiered spending requirements (ends December 4, 2019):

• 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $10,000
• 50,000 points after spending an additional $15,000 on qualifying purchases within the first three months

If you’re familiar with the best ways to use Amex points, you know that’s more than enough for a round-trip flight to just about anywhere; Hawaii, Europe, South America, the Middle East. After you meet minimum spending requirements, you could even fly round-trip a lie-flat business class seat to Europe.

Insider tips

Amex cards have a special superpower — access to special discounts through Amex Offers. These are targeted deals that give you statement credits or bonus points for making purchases at certain merchants. Just add the deal to your card via your online account, and use your card at the participating store. Your rebate will usually appear within a few weeks.

Benefits and perks

This card comes with a mind-staggering number benefits, including:

• Up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year for airline incidentals with your selected airline (luggage fees, in-flight food and drink, etc.)
• Up to $200 annual Dell statement credit ($100 from January to June, $100 from July to December)
• Ability to book hotel stays through Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
• Elite car rental status with Avis, Executive status with National Car Rental and Gold Plus Rewards with Hertz
• Statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
• Terms and limitations apply

The card also has the most comprehensive airport lounge access of any card on the market. If you hate sitting in noisy terminals while you wait for your plane, this card can get you a peaceful atmosphere with free food and alcohol (oh, and plenty of electrical outlets).

These are far from the only benefits of the card, so read our full Amex Business Platinum review for more details.

Annual fee

$550 (See rates and fees)

Why it’s worth it

A particularly useful perk of this card for Black Friday and Cyber Monday is its purchase protection.

When you pay for eligible items using your card, Amex will match the length of the manufacturer warranty, as long as it’s less than two years.  If the manufacturer warranty is between two and five years, Amex will increase the warranty by two years. You’re covered up to the amount charged to your card for the item (up to a maximum of $10,000 per item and $50,000 per calendar year).

As a side note, if you’re going big this holiday season, you should know that when you spend $5,000+ on a single purchase, the card will earn 1.5 Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar.

Total value

Hopefully none of your upcoming purchases find themselves in need of the Amex Business Platinum purchase protection benefit. If you’re making some expensive purchases, though, this is the card to use — you’re covered up to $10,000 per eligible item.

Apart from that, the card’s statement credits alone are worth $400 annually. And the welcome bonus can be worth literally thousands, if you redeem your points with Amex transfer partners. You can read our full American Express Points Review for better ideas of how to use your points.

Don’t forget to use a shopping portal

If you plan to shop online, you need to use a shopping portal. They’re a super easy way to earn even more bonus miles, points or cash back on the purchases you plan to make anyway. Nearly every airline, hotel, and bank has some kind of shopping portal.

Shopping portal bonuses are always changing, so we recommend using shopping portal aggregators. They surveil all shopping portals and let you know which one is offering the highest return for your purchase. My personal favorite is Cashback Monitor. Be sure to read our guide to online shopping portals for everything you need to know.

Bottom line

These are the best credit cards for Black Friday and Cyber Monday to earn cash back or travel rewards:

• Discover it® Cash Back: Best credit card for Amazon purchases
• Chase Freedom®: Best credit card for department stores
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Best credit card for booking Black Friday and Cyber Monday travel deals
• Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card: Best credit card for office supply stores
• The Business Platinum® Card from American Express: Best credit card for price protection

No matter where you shop this Black Friday, there’s likely a travel rewards credit card that can earn you extra miles, points, or cash back. For me, I’m looking to do most of my Black Friday shopping online this year. What about you?

For rates and fees of the Amex Business Platinum Card, please click here.