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Christine ran her own business developing and managing insurance and financial services. This stoked a passion for points and miles and she now has over 2 dozen credit cards and creates in-depth, deta...
With a degree in media and journalism, Stella has been in the points and miles game for more than 6 years. She most recently worked as a Corporate Communications Analyst for JetBlue. Find her work in ...
Kellie’s professional experience has led her to a deep passion for compliance, data reporting, and process improvement. Kellie’s learned the ins and outs of the points and miles world and leads UP’s c...
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Our topic today focuses on some of the best credit cards issued specifically using the Visa network. The network is one of the world’s largest, processing transactions on over 3.8 billion (yes, billion) credit cards with over 100 million merchants worldwide.¹
When you glance at any credit card, you may immediately notice the issuing network to which that card is affiliated. This network is important as it serves as a link between the card issuer and the accepting merchant to facilitate the transactions you make with the card. The network will also be the foundation for some of the benefits you receive on your credit cards.
You’ll find popular card networks such as Mastercard or Visa facilitating transactions for a variety of bank-issued credit cards, however, you’ll also find that all Mastercard and Visa credit cards are not created equal and do not offer all the same features and benefits.
In an effort to sort out some of the best cards available that use the Visa network, we’ve researched a long list of credit cards and zeroed in on some of the best Visa cards in each category.
But before we share our list with you, we want to talk briefly about how the Visa network works, in general, and its relationship to your credit card. This overview will only take a quick minute then we’ll be ready to dive into our take on some of the best Visa credit cards available.
The 15 Best Visa Credit Cards for Travel Rewards, Cash-back & Business — Summary
We’ll expand on some of the top benefits of these Visa cards shortly but first, let’s look at a high-level overview of some of the travel, cash-back, and business benefits you can expect from this collection of some of the best Visa credit cards.
We’ve also listed the annual fee for each card but fees can change so be sure to check for current information prior to applying for any card.
Card Summary of Our Favorite Cards in Each Category
NEW OFFER: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Annual fee of $95
Bonus earnings on Lyft rides, travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable, phone services, advertising on social media and on search engines (limits apply)
Redeem Ultimate Rewards for 25% more for travel via Chase Travel portal
Earn 30,000 points when you spend $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months. Plus, up to 30,000 additional points by earning 2x in the first 6 months on purchases that normally earn 1x, on up to $15,000 spent.
Annual fee of $95
Bonus earnings on Hyatt, restaurants, flights purchased directly with the airline, local transit, commuting, fitness/gym membership
Complimentary entry-level World of Hyatt elite status and faster path to higher elite status
Note that this is simply an overview of benefits — to learn more about a specific card, you’ll want to read on as we dig deeper into the details.
Let’s look closer at each of our featured Visa credit cards, how the cards earn rewards, your options at redemption time, and additional benefits.
The 5 Best Visa Travel Rewards Credit Cards
Travel rewards credit cards may offer elevated earnings on travel purchases, redemptions that focus on travel, and benefits that can make your travel more comfortable, cost-effective, and with travel-related protections. Also, a good travel rewards card should not charge foreign transaction fees.
Here are some of the best Visa travel rewards credit cards.
1. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is one of our favorite travel rewards credit cards because of its generous welcome bonus and the fact that it earns valuable Ultimate Rewards points. Additionally, you’ll find flexible redemption options that maximize the value of those rewards and a long list of travel and shopping benefits/protections.
Here are just some of the card’s additional key features and benefits:
5x earnings on Lyft rides through March 2025
5x points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $250 (through March 31, 2025)
Earns Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed for travel at 1.25 cents per point or transferred to the Chase travel partners for greater potential value
Trip interruption, trip cancellation, and trip delay coverage
Baggage insurance
Purchase protection and extended warranty
2. Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card shines as a premium travel rewards card with a collection of equally premium travel benefits. While the card does come with a higher annual fee than most of the Visa cards we’re covering here today, you’ll find stellar benefits that, if utilized, can make the card an excellent value.
The card fits nicely into the travel rewards card neighborhood with a generous welcome bonus, lots of ways to earn Capital One miles, value at redemption time, and several useful travel/shopping benefits and protections.
Here is just a sampling of the key benefits you’ll find on the card:
Let’s continue with a rewards-earning card perfect for those who want simplicity when it comes to earning rewards but also want flexibility at redemption time.
Earn 2 miles per dollar spent on every purchase
Transfer to airline and hotel partners, or redeem for travel with Capital One
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck statement credit
Secondary collision damage waiver car rental coverage
Roadside dispatch services for 1 flat fee per service call
Purchase security and extended warranty
Hot Tip: See if you have any pending offers before you apply with the Capital One pre-qualification tool.
We like the card’s simplicity when earning and redeeming rewards, as well as the elevated earning levels for existing Bank of America customers in the Preferred Rewards program.
The card also comes with a lot of travel benefits for a low-annual-fee card:
2x points earned on travel and dining
1.5x points on all other purchases
Eligible existing Bank of America customers qualify for up to 3.5x earnings
Redeem points for cash-back, statement credits, credit to Merrill account, or to purchase travel
$100 airline incidentals statement credit each year
Statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
Travel and shopping protection, such as emergency medical evacuation coverage, secondary collision damage waiver car rental insurance, trip interruption/cancellation/delay coverage, baggage insurance, and purchase protection
Bottom Line: Travel rewards credit cards offer earnings, redemption, and benefits that have a travel-specific focus. For example, you’ll find greater earnings on travel purchases, redemption options that include flights/hotels, and benefits that can make your travel more comfortable, such as lounge access, rebates on expedited security services, and travel-specific insurance coverage.
The 3 Best Visa Cash-back Credit Cards
There’s certainly no shortage of cash-back earning credit cards associated with the Visa card network. You won’t find a rewards category more flexible than cash-back, especially at redemption time.
Let’s look at the Visa cards that work well in this category.
1. Chase Freedom Unlimited®
There’s a certain freedom (pun intended) in knowing you can pull your Freedom Unlimited card from your wallet and earn well on most everyday purchases. The card could also quickly become your go-to card for large purchases that don’t fall into any bonus category earnings.
For a Visa card with no annual fee, the Freedom Unlimited card is a surprising little powerhouse of earning, redemption, and benefit options.
2. Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card
If you’re not a big spender but want to earn rewards on the purchases you do make, the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards card might be a fit. We like that you can select your 3% cash-back category (gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings) and that the card has no annual fee.
While the card doesn’t come with a lot of travel and shopping benefits, it does offer nice earnings in popular everyday spending categories.
Benefits include:
3% cash-back in the category of your choice including gas stations, online shopping, drugstores, home improvement/furnishings, dining, or travel
2% cash-back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs
3% and 2% bonus categories combined limit is $2,500 in purchases per quarter
Unlimited 1% cash-back on all other purchases
If you’re a Preferred Rewards member, you can earn 25%-75% more cash-back on every purchase, which means you could earn 3.75%-5.25% cash-back on purchases in your choice category.
3. U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card
For the consumer who wants flexibility in selecting their own cash-back bonus-earning categories, the U.S. Bank Cash+ Signature card offers this creative solution.
We like this Visa cash-back card for its ability to earn well on everyday purchases.
Bottom Line: You’ll find a generous selection of cash-back rewards earning cards that utilize the Visa network. Keep in mind, however, that most Visa cash-back rewards cards, including the cards mentioned above, work well domestically but charge foreign transaction fees, so not every card may be suitable for international use.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular options.
1. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
We like the elevated 3x earnings on common business purchases and the fact that every purchase you make earns rewards. We also like that the Ink Business Preferred card features plenty of additional value-added benefits:
5x earnings on Lyft purchases through March 2025
Transfer points to hotel or airline partners for potentially greater value
Trip interruption, trip cancellation, and trip delay coverage
Primary car rental insurance coverage
Baggage insurance
Purchase protection and extended warranty
2. Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
We like that the Ink Business Cash card earns 2% and 5% cash-back on common business purchases, up to $25,000 each year in each percent category, and the card comes with plenty of travel/shopping benefits:
Earns Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed for travel or statement credits at good value
Transfer points to premium Chase rewards cards for greater potential redemption value
Employee cards at no additional cost
Primary collision damage waiver car rental insurance
Baggage insurance
Roadside dispatch service
Purchase protection and extended warranty
3. Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
You’re a busy business owner with little time to keep track of bonus categories or complicated earning structures. The Ink Business Unlimited card won’t bog you down with details as every purchase earns at least 1.5% cash-back and features benefits such as:
Ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to premium Chase rewards cards for potentially greater value
Redeem points for statement credits, travel, or shopping
Employee cards at no additional cost
Primary collision damage waiver car rental insurance
Baggage insurance
Roadside dispatch service
Purchase protection and extended warranty
Bottom Line: As you may have noticed, some of the best Visa business cards are issued by Chase. To learn more about these options, you’ll want to navigate over to our article on the best Chase business credit cards where we dig deeper into features and benefits.
The 4 Best Visa Airline- and Hotel-branded Credit Cards
1. United℠ Explorer Card
If United is your airline of choice, you’ll want to have a United-branded Visa card for earning miles that can be redeemed for free travel, United-specific perks during your travels, and a faster path to elite status.
Earn 2 miles per dollar spent on United, on dining, and hotel stays
United-specific benefits include a free checked bag for you and your companion, priority boarding, and a 25% rebate on inflight food/beverage
Global Entry/NEXUS/TSA PreCheck statement credit
Receive a faster path to United MileagePlus elite status after spending $25,000 on the card in a calendar year to waive any PQD (Premium Qualifying Dollar) requirement for up to Platinum Premier elite status
Enhanced award ticket availability
Trip interruption, cancellation, and delay insurance
Baggage insurance
Purchase protection and extended warranty
2. Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® Credit Card
With its Oneworld alliance affiliation, there are even more reasons to make Alaska Airlines your go-to airline. And if you’re frequenting the airline, you may want to enhance that relationship with a card that will help you earn miles faster and offer perks that can save you money during those travels.
Hot Tip: The best credit card for airline purchases may not be an airline-branded credit card. Check out our recommendations for alternate cards that still reward your purchases with the airlines, provide travel benefits, and give you greater flexibility at redemption time.
Shopping benefits such as purchase protection and extended warranty
To learn more about all the available Marriott Bonvoy-branded cards and their benefits, our article on the best Marriott Bonvoy cards will have all the information you need to find the best match no matter your level of Marriott Bonvoy loyalist.
4. The World of Hyatt Credit Card
While the Hyatt footprint isn’t as expansive as some of the bigger hotel chains, what it lacks in numbers of properties, it makes up for in the quality of experience and its popular World of Hyatt loyalty rewards program.
If you stay at Hyatt properties, even occasionally, you’ll want to glance at what the World of Hyatt card has to offer:
2 points per dollar spent on dining, airfare purchased directly from the airlines, fitness and gym membership, and local transit
Additional free hotel night certificate after spending $15,000 each calendar year
5 elite tier night credits towards elite status each calendar year
Earn 2 additional elite tier nights for each $5,000 spent on the card
Trip cancellation, trip interruption, and trip delay coverage
Purchase protection and extended warranty
Bottom Line: There are plenty of worthwhile hotel credit cards, of which these are just 2 examples. If you frequent a particular brand, it makes sense to explore associated credit cards that align with loyalty programs and provide benefits with that hotel group. You’ll find a wealth of information for doing so in our article featuring some of the best hotel-branded cards.
How Does the Visa Network Work?
It’s not necessary to know all the ins and outs of credit card networks, also called card associations, but it is good to have basic knowledge when selecting a credit card as not all networks are accepted universally.
First, Visa is not a credit card issuer but a link between the financial institution that issued your card and the merchant from which you make a purchase. When you use your Visa card, the associated VisaNet payment processing network kicks in and facilitates the transaction.
Visa also offers a collection of core benefits that serve as a menu from which the credit card issuer may choose to offer on each of the individual cards it issues. For example, Visa may offer a roadside dispatch benefit on its menu of available benefits, but the card issuer may or may not choose to offer it as a card benefit.
The card issuer (the financial institution) will ultimately decide which of these benefits it will pass along to the cardholder. In addition, it will add its own level of benefits. For example, a card issuer may choose to offer additional benefits such as statement credits for specific purchases, food delivery subscriptions, or airport lounge access membership.
Finally, Visa (and Mastercard) network associations do not issue credit cards but, just so you’re aware, there are other card networks, such as American Express, which serve as both card issuers and as payment processing networks.
We talk about this dual relationship in another article, but for now, let’s look at some of the best credit cards available that are issued with Visa as the associated network and the benefits you can expect from those cards.
Bottom Line: Visa is a card association network that does not issue credit cards but functions as a payment processor between the merchant from which you make your purchase and the financial institution that issued your card. Visa also offers core benefits that the card issuer can choose to include, or not, on each specific credit card issued.
Final Thoughts
It’s good to have a basic understanding of what a card network is and the relationship it has to your credit card.
It’s also good to understand the acceptance each card network has worldwide, and be sure to have cards that utilize various networks, especially when traveling.
If you only have cards, for example, that use and are issued by the American Express network, you may be inconvenienced if American Express is not accepted by a particular merchant.
With one of the world’s largest processing networks, it would be prudent to have at least 1 card that utilizes the Visa network as a staple in your wallet.
Please note there are so many worthy Visa cards we have not mentioned — there are just too many. Also, we have not included all available card benefits and the descriptions have been abbreviated. You’ll want to reference the Guide to Benefits for each card for specific benefits and the terms and conditions that apply.
Finally, you’ll note that the best Visa credit cards we’ve selected are not always the ones with the most benefits (or highest annual fees). We’ve selected Visa cards that offer a balance between the 2 factors and therefore the potential to deliver overall good value.
The best Visa card for you, however, will be one that matches your spending profile, has benefits that will outweigh any annual fee you’re willing to pay, and that has redemption options fitting your objectives.
Enrollment required through Capital One website or mobile app. Upon enrollment, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
The information regarding the Chase Freedom Unlimited® was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding The World of Hyatt Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
Featured Image Credit: Upgraded Points
Frequently Asked Questions
The best Visa card will be different for each individual consumer. Since there are so many Visa cards from which to choose, selecting the one that matches your spending habits and redemption objectives is key.
You’ll also want to make sure you’re comfortable with the annual fee and determine if you can use the card’s offered benefits.
If a Visa card matches all those criteria, it may be the best Visa card for you.
You can’t go wrong with either card network as both are widely accepted throughout the world, especially compared to American Express or Discover.
Even domestically, both Visa and Mastercard networks are equally good choices.
Visa is a payment processing network and does not issue credit cards. Financial institutions use the Visa card payment network to facilitate the transactions you make when you use your credit card to make a purchase with a merchant.
You can access your Visa credit card account online at the website of the financial institution that issued your Visa credit card.
You can also call the number on the back of your Visa credit card or stop by your financial institution’s branch location. Additionally, you could mail your payment to the address on your statement.
Christine ran her own business developing and managing insurance and financial services. This stoked a passion for points and miles and she now has over 2 dozen credit cards and creates in-depth, detailed content for UP.
Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.
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