The best credit cards for holiday shopping

If you've got a long shopping list to get through this holiday season, you might be considering how to maximize your spending in a way that also helps you earn rewards. If that's the case, this list of the best credit cards for holiday shopping can guide you toward a card that fits your spending needs perfectly.

It's important to note that this list is not exhaustive but does highlight the perks and solid earning potential of several cards suitable for varying budgets and spending habits. Here are our top picks for your gift purchases during the holiday season.

The best credit cards for holiday purchases

• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Best for flexible rewards
• Chase Freedom Flex®: Best for rotating categories, including PayPal
• Prime Visa: Best for Amazon purchases
• American Express® Gold Card: Best for purchase protection
• Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card: Best for Bank of America customers
• Citi Double Cash® Card (see rates and fees): Best for simplicity

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards is a great option for those who want to earn flexible rewards without worrying about different spending category bonuses. The Venture Rewards accrues 2 miles per dollar spent on all eligible purchases — ensuring that you earn bonus miles no matter if you're buying stocking stuffers or perusing Cyber Monday deals.

There's also flexibility in how you redeem those miles you earn. You can use your miles to "pay" yourself back for travel booked in the past 90 days. Or, you can transfer your miles to 15+ airline and hotel loyalty programs to book new travel. You can also redeem miles for gift cards or statement credits for eligible purchases, although your best option is to transfer them to airline or hotel partners.

Learn more: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card review: A great beginner travel card

Chase Freedom Flex

Whether you're more of a traditional brick-and-mortar shopper or prefer buying online, you'll enjoy 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in eligible bonus categories each quarter you activate with the Chase Freedom Flex. Its categories for bonus cash back for Q4 tend to include PayPal, just like this year.

While 5% cash back sounds great, experienced points and miles hobbyists know that the Chase Freedom Flex is not just a cash-back card. When it's paired with a premium Chase card that earns full Ultimate Rewards points — such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® — that cash back can be converted to much more valuable Ultimate Rewards points, which you can transfer to partners including United Airlines MileagePlus and World of Hyatt.

TPG's November 2024 valuations peg Ultimate Rewards points at 2.05 cents apiece, so combining the Freedom Flex (or Chase Freedom Unlimited®) with the Sapphire Reserve and the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card creates a formidable points-earning machine.

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If you don't already have this card, Chase Freedom Flex offers new cardholders a $200 cash-back bonus after they spend $500 on the card in the first three months.

Learn more: Chase Freedom Flex card review: Incredible earning with no annual fee

Prime Visa

If you're a regular Amazon shopper, the Prime Visa is the card for you, with no annual fee (though it requires an Amazon Prime membership at $139 for an annual plan).

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming, you want a card that gives you the biggest bang for your holiday shopping buck. The Amazon Prime Visa offers 5% on Amazon, Whole Foods and Chase Travel℠; 2% on restaurants, gas stations and local transit and commuting; and 1% on all other purchases. Additionally, earn 10% or more on a rotating selection of items and categories on Amazon.com.

If you don't have the card already, new applicants will instantly receive a $200 Amazon gift card upon approval for Prime members, helping you lower the cost of your holiday shopping expenses from the start.

Learn more: Prime Visa card review: A good choice for regular Amazon shoppers

American Express Gold Card

Without question, the Amex Gold is one of the best cards for foodies. The card offers an impressive 4 points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 spent per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar) and restaurants (on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar).

In addition, cardmembers receive 3 points per dollar on flights booked directly with an airline or through AmexTravel.com, 2 points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com, and 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases.

While the earning rate for non-bonus purchases yields 1 point per dollar, you may want to consider paying with the Amex Gold this holiday season for its strong purchase protection policy. Eligible items come with up to $10,000 in coverage for theft, damage, or loss within the first 90 days of purchase.* That's considerable, especially if you buy big-ticket items like electronics or furniture this holiday season.

The Amex Gold also comes with an extended warranty, which prolongs a U.S. manufacturer's warranty by an additional year on eligible warranties of three years or less.*

Related: 7 things to consider when choosing a credit card for large purchases

You'll never know when you need to rely on these protections, but they can be quite valuable and may be worth sacrificing the bonus points you'd earn from the other cards on this list.

*Eligibility and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions, and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details. Policies are underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

Learn more: American Express Gold Card review: Best for foodies

Bank of America Premium Rewards credit card

If you have the ability to park a significant amount of your investments and savings at Bank of America or Merrill, the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card is a great option for holiday purchases.

While the card comes with reasonable (though not earth-shattering) earning rates of 2 points per dollar spent on travel and dining and 1.5 points per dollar spent on all purchases (which can be redeemed at the rate of 1 cent per point), the real value of this card comes when you can make it to either the Platinum, Platinum Honors or Diamond award tiers in Bank of America's separate Preferred Rewards® banking program. By doing so, the everyday earning rate on this card can jump all the way to 2.625 points for every dollar spent, making it a terrific choice for holiday gifts.

Related: 5 reasons to get the Bank of America Premium Rewards credit card

The Bank of America Premium Rewards card currently offers a sign-up bonus of 60,000 online bonus points if you make at least $4,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening. Additionally, the card comes with an up to $100 statement credit toward TSA PreCheck/Global Entry and an annual up to $100 statement credit toward airline incidentals — all for a $95 annual fee.

Learn more: Bank of America Premium Rewards credit card review: Not to be underestimated

Citi Double Cash Card

The final card on our list earns a spot in part for its simplicity. The Citi Double Cash Card offers a flat 1% back on every purchase plus another 1% back as you pay your bill (up to a 2% total return).

While this return rate on everyday purchases doesn't compare to the potential returns highlighted above, this is automatic; it results in cold, hard cash in your account. For many shoppers, a no-annual-fee card like this fits the bill.

Learn more: Citi Double Cash Card review: Simple rewards and 2% cash back on everything

Important considerations

Holiday purchases can also be an excellent way to meet the minimum spending requirement on a new credit card, as long as you do it responsibly. There are many great welcome offers to consider.

Plus, some of your current credit cards may offer a calendar-year bonus or additional benefits for spending a certain amount of money on the card, so if you're closing in on any of those, it might make sense to concentrate your holiday spending on them.

In addition to ensuring you're using the right credit cards, we suggest you go through an online shopping portal to maximize your earnings. The best thing about online shopping portals is that you don't have to use a specific card for the purchases.

Our favorite site for deciding which portal to use is CashBack Monitor, as it will compare the earning rates for a given merchant across various shopping portals. You can also download the browser extension of our preferred shopping portal to never forget to activate the extra earnings.

Bottom line

There are many ways to make the most of your purchases during the holiday season. However, every point and miles enthusiast has their own way of figuring out the best card to swipe at checkout, so you may have a card that earns more desirable rewards or will help you hit a calendar year threshold bonus.

Remember that many online purchases can become even more lucrative by going through an online shopping portal, which will give you additional points or miles just for clicking through the site.

Apply here: Capital One Venture Rewards
Apply here: Chase Freedom Flex
Apply here: Prime Visa
Apply here: American Express Gold
Apply here: Bank of America Premium Rewards Card
Apply here: Citi Double Cash Card

For rates and fees of Citi Double Cash, click here.