The Best No-Fee Travel Credit Cards

Posted: 3/16/23 | March 16th, 2023

One of the easiest ways to save money traveling is by
travel hacking. Using credit cards (responsibly) to collect points and miles essentially transforms your everyday spending into free flights, free hotel stays, and other awesome travel perks.

Not only does this stretch your travel budget but it levels up your travel experience, providing free upgrades, lounge access, and much, much more.

Whether you want to be on the road for longer, take more trips, or simply save money on your next vacation, points and miles can get you there.

However, most of the best travel credit cards have annual fees (sometimes huge ones).

While annual fees are usually worth it for frequent travelers (you can get much more value out of a card than its annual fee), if you’re new to travel hacking or don’t travel, you may want to get a no-fee card first.

And there are a lot of no-fee cards out there. Which one do you pick?

Here is my list of the best no-fee travel credit cards so you can start earning points toward free travel today:
 

1. The Bilt Rewards Mastercard

Without a doubt my favorite no-fee travel card, the Bilt Mastercard enables you to earn points when you pay your rent (as well as on everyday purchases). The card is primarily geared toward travelers and restaurant-goers since it offers 2x points spent on travel and 3x points on dining out.

You can transfer points 1:1 to travel partners, including American Airlines, United, Emirates, Hawaiian, Virgin Atlantic, Air Canada, Air France/KLM, Hyatt, and IHG. The fact that you can transfer Bilt points to American Airlines really sets this card apart; no other card’s points are transferable to American, so amassing Bilt points is the only way to get AA points without having an AA card.

Bilt also integrates with point.me, a handy search and booking engine for award flights.

With the Bilt card, you get:

• 1x points on rental payments
• 2x points on travel
• 3x points on dining
• American Airlines as a transfer partner (it’s the only card that does)
• Rent Day benefits: monthly giveaways and challenges as well as 6x points on dining, 4x points on travel, and 2x on all other spending on the 1st of the month
• Travel protection including trip cancellation and delay
• No foreign transaction fees

The Bilt card is absolutely a no-brainer for renters who love to travel. To learn more, read my full Bilt Review. It is the card I use the most right now (especially on rent days).