No Annual Fee Credit Cards From Our Partners (2018)

How Do No Annual Fee Credit Cards Work?

Simply put, these cards cost you nothing to own, so once you have applied and been approved for a card, you can keep it indefinitely without any sort of negative impact.

This not only affects your wallet (although maybe physically...don't carry them all with you!) but also your credit score.

In fact, no annual fee cards are the best place to start when you want to build your credit since you can open them and leave them alone. In other words, not all of them are credit cards for good or excellent credit scores.

Choosing No Annual Fee Credit Cards

Getting a credit card can be a big decision, especially if you are new to the credit card world. If this describes you, we always recommend starting with fee-free credit cards, because you can try them out without having to pay.

Even better, you can leave a new card open and get another one if you don't like it, which helps build your overall credit score, credit pool, and so on.

Business Credit Cards With No Annual Fee

Right now, we have reviewed these business credit cards with no annual fee:

• The Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card from American Express
• Chase Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card
• SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express

The Chase Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card offers a good sign-up bonus with 1-5% cash-back, which can be converted into Chase Ultimate Rewards points and combined with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card to be used for travel.

Earn 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on cellular phone, landline, the internet and cable TV services each account anniversary year.

Earn 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year. Earn 1% cash back on all other card purchases with no limit to the amount you can earn.

The SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express earns 1-5% cash-back that can be used for a statement credit.

The Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card from American Express earns 2x points on the first $50,000 per year, then 1x points thereafter.

Choosing a Credit Card To Build Credit

Our current favorite card for building credit is the Chase Slate® Card. Not only is this a no annual fee card, but it is also the only Chase card to offer a free FICO score.

You'll get great 0% intro APRs, low-interest rates, and balance transfer deals.

The only drawback is that this card doesn't earn points.

If you want a good credit-building and points-earning card, try the Blue from American Express®. You will earn one point per dollar for all spending and be eligible to redeem for Membership Rewards.

Choosing Cash-Back Credit Cards With No Annual Fee

For cash-back credit cards, here are some of the cards that we've reviewed:

• Citi® Double Cash Card
• Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi
• Chase Freedom®
• Chase Freedom Unlimited℠
• Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
• American Express Serve® Cash Back Card
• Barclaycard CashForward™ World MasterCard®

And of course, the business cards mentioned above:

• Chase Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card
• SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express

The Citi® Double Cash Card is a pure cashback card; it has no other travel rewards that go with it. It does offer a great 2% total cashback and other fringe benefits.

The Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi earns 4% cash-back on Costco gas purchases, 3% cash-back at restaurants and for travel purchases, 2% for Costco purchases and 1% cash-back everywhere else.

You'll earn between 1-5% cashback from the four cards Chase offers. The Chase Freedom® earns 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate and earns unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.

Enjoy new 5% categories every 3 months like gas stations, restaurants, and wholesale clubs.

The Chase Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card, as mentioned above, offers a variety of business expense categories at 2-5%, with 1% on everything else.

If you want across-the-board cash-back, the Chase Freedom Unlimited℠ earns unlimited 1.5% cash-back on every purchase.

Remember that the benefits of these Chase cards are even better when you combine them with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card to transfer points to travel partners.

For rewards in more specialized categories, the Chase Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card offers 2-3% on Amazon purchases, gas, drugstores, and dining.

The Chase Disney Rewards® Visa® Card earns a flat 1% cash-back for all purchases.

For American Express cards, the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express earns 1-3% cash-back in the categories of U.S. supermarkets, gas stations, and department stores.

The American Express Serve® Cash Back Card earns 1% cash-back for all purchases. Note, however, that the cash-back version of the card actually has an annual fee!

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card earns 1.5% cash-back for all purchases. The difference between that the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card is that the latter has a $39 annual fee and is for bad credit individuals.

Finally, the Barclaycard CashForward™ World MasterCard® earns 1.5% cash-back for all purchases.

Flexible Points Credit Cards With No Annual Fee

These 6 cards all fall under the flexible points card category:

• Chase Freedom®
• Chase Freedom Unlimited℠
• Chase Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card
• Blue from American Express®
• The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express
• The Plenti® Credit Card from Amex
• Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card

And of course, The Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card from American Express mentioned above.

The three Chase cards were mentioned above in the cash-back cards section, but it is of importance to note that this cash-back becomes flexible Ultimate Rewards Points when you combine it with one of the Chase travel rewards credit cards.

The Amex EveryDay® Card from American Express earns 2x Membership Rewards points at U.S. supermarkets for the first $6,000 spent in a year, and 1x point everywhere else. It also earns a 20% bonus on all points earned if you make 20 or more transactions in a billing month!

The Blue from American Express® simply earns 1x points for all purchases.

The Plenti® Credit Card from Amex earns 3x Plenti points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1 point), 2 points at U.S. restaurants and 1 point on other purchases.

Earn 2x points for dining and entertainment (a unique category!) when you use the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card.

Credit Cards With Travel Rewards and No Annual Fee

These cards earn either airline or hotel points for spending on the card:

• The JetBlue Card
• Discover it Miles Card
• Hilton Honors™ Card from American Express

The JetBlue Card is a new Barclaycard partnership and the card earns 3x point for JetBlue purchases, 2x points at restaurants and grocery stores, and 1x points on all other purchases.

No travel partner is specified with the Discover it Miles Card; instead, cash-back accumulates on the card itself and can be applied as a statement credit for travel purchases.

Note that you cannot transfer those points to any other partners.

The Hilton Honors™ Card from American Express is a good card for the Hilton lovers: 7x points for stays at Hilton, 5x points at U.S. gas stations, restaurants, and supermarkets, and 3x points on all other purchases.

Credit Cards with Cash Rewards and No Annual Fee

One card falls under this category, which is essentially the same as cash-back:

• Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card (Learn More)

The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card earns 1.25 points for each dollar spent, and 100 points can be redeemed for $1, the same as cash-back.

You may also be interested in the following credit card related articles:

• Best First Credit Cards
• Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards
• Best 0% APR Credit Cards
  
• Best Business Credit Cards
• Best No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards
  
• Best Cards For Excellent Credit
  
• Instant Approval Credit Cards
  
• Pre-Approved & Pre-Qualified Credit Card Offers
• Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards with 0% APR
• Best Secured Credit Cards