The 2025 Hater's Guide to Credit Cards

So people love to hype up certain credit cards and talk about what's so great about them or why you have to have them, but I have the strong belief that no credit card is perfect and they all have their own flaws. So in this video here, we're going to do something just a little bit different and talk about everything I don't like and sometimes even hate about the most popular credit cards on the market. Essentially, this is going to be a 2025 haters guide to credit cards that's actually inspired by the top post all time over on the credit card subreddit by the same title. And I thought that was a super interesting read just because it kind of forces you to approach these cards from their negatives instead of their positives. So let's go ahead and start off here by hating on some Chase credit cards first with card number one, the Chase Sapphire Preferred. To me, the $95 per year Sapphire Preferred is going to be the most beginner friendly entry level travel credit card because first of all, you can get 1.25 cents per point whenever you book travel with points through the Chase portal. And then second of all, you've also got access to a number of great transfer partners, including Hyatt, to potentially get even more value. However, the hating here with this card is that if Hyatt ever goes away as a transfer partner, that's going to pretty much ruin one of the main reasons why so many people have the CSP. And honestly, even outside of getting access to Hyatt with this card, the points multipliers here aren't really that great anyway. For example, you're getting 2x back on any travel booked outside of Chase, but there's a ton of other cards out there that already get 2x back on everything. So there's really no advantage to that. Plus you're getting 3x back for online groceries only, which honestly has always just been pretty annoying in my opinion, because why not just make it all groceries? You're also earning 3x for select streaming services and 3x for dining, which are both pretty decent. But then for the $50 Chase travel hotel credit on this card, you got to make sure it's really going to be worth $50 because the prices over there in that portal can sometimes be just a little bit inflated depending on the situation, but your mileage may vary. Now additionally, Chase likes to remind people that each account anniversary, you're going to earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made with this card in the previous year, which sounds really good on paper. But once you go ahead and read the numbers in their example, that means if you spend 25K on purchases, you're only going to get 2500 bonus points. 2500 points is worth just $31.25 at a 1.25 cent per point value. And that divided by the 25,000 in spending it took to get that, you're looking at effectively only 0.125% extra earn per dollar, which is better than nothing, but also not really worth Chase hyping it up as a feature. Now, if you want to spend an even higher annual fee on the premium older sibling to this card with a Sapphire reserve that we'll talk about next year, the hope is that maybe you're going to get even more value over on that card instead. The Sapphire reserve costs $550 per year and comes with a $300 travel credit to partially offset that, but that means you're still going to be left with an effective annual fee of 250 bucks that you have to find a way to overcome. Now you do earn 3X on dining with this card as well, plus 3X back on travel booked outside of Chase, which is also pretty good. But if you really want to take advantage of the highest multipliers on this card, including 10X back on hotels and rental cars and 5X on flights, then what you have to do is book through Chase travel. And again, with that, your mileage may vary, but there's always the risk that the prices in that portal could be inflated. Chase also markets over 1000 bucks in additional partnership value on the CSR to make it sound like you're getting a very good deal here. But how much do you really value the Lyft Pink, DoorDash and Peloton benefits? Because personally, I might get some value on that stuff, but not 1000 bucks. However, the one thing that could make this card really worth having is going to be access to the Chase Sapphire lounges, which I do have to say, honestly, are better than Amex lounges just based on my own experience with them. But Amex lounges are still outnumbering Chase going into 2025. So the value of this feature is going to be highly location and travel dependent. Now, if you're going to have either one of those Sapphire cards, then you're probably also running a Chase Trifecta set up with both the no annual fee Freedom Flex and the no annual fee Freedom Unlimited cards that I want to talk about next here. With these two cards, there's definitely some value, but there's also some stuff to hate on. So for me, that's going to start with the fact that both these cards and both the Sapphire cards as well all earn three X back on dining. That's a ton of overlap, and it's probably only there because Chase knows the average credit card customer is not really going to be optimizing things in their setup like myself and other credit card people are doing. But still, let's admit that if you've got the Chase Trifecta, then you're pretty much never going to be using a Chase Freedom card to pay at a restaurant because you'd much rather earn three X back by paying with your metal Sapphire card instead. Now, the Freedom Flex is great for earning five X back on rotating quarterly categories. However, you are going to be limited to earning that five X back for only up to $1,500 in spending per quarter. And you also have to remember to activate that and then keep track of those categories, which some people might not do. The Freedom Flex also probably serves as your grocery store card for three months out of the year, whenever Chase usually makes that one of the rotating categories. But then for the other three quarters, it might not even get used at all, depending on what your spending habits are. Then for the Freedom Unlimited, the main thing to really dislike about this card is going to be obviously that you're only earning 1.5 X back on everything if you're using this as a catch-all card compared to the two X back that plenty of other cards offer. Personally, I do this myself because I really value those high transfers within the whole Chase ecosystem where 1.5 X back with this card could be worth more than two X back somewhere else when I redeem those points. But in my opinion, at some point, Chase does have to make this a two X card to stay competitive. So we'll see if they ever do that. Next, we've got the Chase Amazon Prime Visa card. And for this one, there's really not much to hate on here because honestly, if you're an Amazon customer, then it's pretty tough to beat the 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods. However, those rewards are effectively earned as only cash back and not more valuable Chase points here. And in my opinion, there is going to be sort of an opportunity cost just with using this card, because even though you are earning 5% back on Amazon, you could just also go ahead and take that spend and put it towards a signup bonus on a new credit card. But that's really only if you're somebody who's okay with having 20 plus credit cards like me. Now, after talking about a lot of these popular Chase credit cards, let's go ahead and move on to another popular card that's probably one of the most well-known cards on the market with the Apple card. And to me, the Apple card is pretty easy to hate on. So here it goes. First of all, no standard signup bonus unless you find an offer through maybe Credit Karma. Second, you're only earning 2% back on everything if you're using Apple Pay versus only 1% back when using the actual titanium credit card they send you. And for anyone that explains that Apple Pay is available almost everywhere, so 2% is easy. I totally get that. But why slap such an un-premium 1% back feature on the most premium looking physical credit card? Also, even though you can finance new Apple products at 0% with the Apple card, is that really going to be a valuable feature here? Because you could always just save money and buy a used MacBook instead. And even though some Apple card users like to brag about the whole Apple savings account being another huge benefit here, the truth is that 3.90% APY offered by that account at the time of filming this is actually going to be slightly less than what's offered by a ton of other really great savings accounts out there. For example, I've been using SoFi Checking and Savings for years, and right now I'm earning 4.00% APY with them at the time of filming this. Plus, I get a ton of other great additional benefits with SoFi, like no account fees, up to two-day early paychecks, and a bunch of other features as well for tracking my money. Right now, if you sign up for SoFi Checking and Savings and then set up direct deposit, you can even receive a bonus of either $50 or $300. So, definitely go ahead and check them out at the link that I'll have down below in the description. Now, next, let's jump over to some American Express cards, starting with the infamous Amex Platinum, which is going to be a super easy card to dislike, and that's because it's got a higher annual fee of $695, and then you've got a bunch of credits out there that can possibly offset that fee to make it worth it. Amex says there's over $1,500 in value from this card, but really, unless you're super organized and you truly know you're going to get value from all those credits, you're probably not going to offset that annual fee from the credits alone. You might also only realistically use this card to earn 5X back on flights, because you're going to get that multiplier whenever you're booking from airlines directly, versus the 5X back that you get from hotels when you only book that through Amex Travel. And then, when you do travel and go to the airport, chances are you got this card to go and visit the Amex Centurion lounges. Now, I like going to Amex lounges myself, but honestly, we're starting to see that the newer Chase and Capital One lounges are kind of better, especially because I guarantee you've had to wait in a line for an Amex lounge at some point in your life, along with everyone else that's paying $700 for this metal coupon book, but it's also, sort of, a status symbol now, so there's that too. Now, speaking of status symbols, even though the Platinum card is going to be more expensive, I always seem to get more and more people admiring my Amex Gold card whenever I use that to pay for something, so let's talk about that one next. If you've got this card, then you're probably almost always using it to earn 4X back on groceries and at restaurants, which is definitely hard to beat. However, the only problem here is that American Express recently decided to continue its whole coupon book trend on the Gold card as well. The card now costs $325 per year and comes with credits to Resi, Dunkin', and Uber, as well as a dining credit, but personally, I don't think you can really even call this a dining credit anymore when it only works at, like, five places that you probably don't visit every single month. That's the other catch with most of these credits, is that they're monthly use-it-or-lose-it credits, so if you do not use them in a certain month, then that value is kind of just gone. So, yes, you are earning 4X back on groceries and at restaurants, but you might be better off just earning 3X back on those things with the no annual fee Capital One Saver card that we'll talk about later. Next, there's the Amex Green card that doesn't really get enough attention anymore from people, but the main reason why I don't think it gets enough attention is just because there's not that much to like about it compared to the competition. It's got a $150 annual fee that can only be offset by a $199 Clear Plus credit after Amex announced that it's removing the Lounge Buddy credit in January of 2025, and let's be honest, you probably were not going to spend almost $200 on Clear if it was not covered by your credit card already, so should you really even place any value on that? The Green card also has one of the worst standard welcome offers compared to the other credit cards out there in the $95 to $200 annual fee range because you're only getting 40,000 points after 3K of spend in six months, and even though the 3X Travel, Transit, and Dining categories are fine here, most of those things are covered by the categories with other cards out there as well that are a lot less expensive. Hopefully, this Green card is going to be updated pretty soon here because I definitely do think it's outdated a bit in its current state, but next here, let's move on to a couple of cashback Amex credit cards that are not too bad with the Blue Cash Every Day and the Blue Cash Preferred cards. The Blue Cash Every Day has no annual fee and earns 3% back on groceries, online retail purchases, and gas, but the things to dislike here are that those categories are going to be only valid in the US, and you're only earning that 3% back for the first 6K of spend in each category per year, so 3% cashback sounds good at first, but then you also have to remember that 2X points earned on any other card out there could be redeemed for effectively more than 3% in value, so then you might look at the more premium $95 per year Blue Cash Preferred instead. Now, the annual fee is going to be waived in year one, which is nice, and it might also help push you towards this card over the Every Day card, and then the other selling point here is that now you're going to earn 6% back on US groceries, 6% back on US select streaming, 3% back on transit, and 3% on US gas. If you have the Blue Cash Preferred, then you probably have this card mostly for that 6% on groceries category because that's pretty tough to beat, even for just a cashback card. However, keep in mind that it's 6% on groceries for, again, only up to the first 6K of spend per year for up to $360 of cashback, which isn't too bad for a $95 annual fee. However, you've always got to think about opportunity costs, and remember that you could be earning 3% back for that first 6K of grocery spend for $180 of cashback over on the No Annual Fee Every Day card, so is earning $180 more in cashback with Preferred worth the $95 you're paying for that starting in year two? That's for you to decide because it might not be worth the hassle. Next here, I want to move on to Capital One with the VentureX card that most people agree is going to be an easier premium travel credit card to justify compared to the Sapphire Reserve or the Amex Platinum, but still, with a $395 annual fee, you have to ask, is it actually worth it? Yes, there's a $300 annual travel credit, and yes, there's a 10,000 mile anniversary bonus worth at least $100 at a minimum that makes it like Capital One is paying you $5 per year to have this card, but you probably live in a fear that this card is going to get devalued in the future because of how easy that math works out. It's a good catch-all card earning 2X miles per dollar on everything, but like the Sapphire Reserve, you're also getting 10X on hotels and car rentals and then 5X on flights only if you book through Capital One's travel portal. Now, that portal is arguably the best for pricing with some of the features it has, but are you really going to go and book all of your travel through Capital One just to earn more miles? And also for those miles you earn, just know that you don't really get many good hotel transfer partners here because Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton are all missing. There's also the cheaper $95 per year Venture Card, which is pretty similar to the Venture X, but maybe just a little bit weaker overall, and that's because there's actually not going to be a way to fully offset that $95 annual fee, so the argument can be made that the Venture X actually makes more sense here for anyone looking to reduce their effective annual fees. You're still getting 2X on everything and a good sign-up bonus if you do decide to go with the Venture Card, but again, still the same Capital One transfer partners for redeeming those miles and still the same lack of great hotel programs. Next, the Saver Card, which was recently rebranded from the Saver One, is honestly going to be a great no annual fee card, earning 3% back on grocery stores, dining, entertainment, and popular streaming. However, around the time this card got updated, the limited time Uber benefits expired, which previously gave cardholders a complimentary Uber One membership, plus 10% back on Uber and Uber Eats, so now with that gone, the partner features here on this card have essentially been devalued. You can also combine the Saver with the Venture or the Venture X in a Capital One duo setup, where you can then turn the cash back earned from the Saver into more valuable miles, but again, just make sure you know how to get good value from your flight redemptions if you're going to be transferring your miles because there's less value on the hotel side. Next, the Capital One Quicksilver Card is going to be another popular option that's mostly just marketed towards beginners or people that might not be as familiar with the whole credit card game, so if you have this card, then it's probably one of your first or your only credit cards, or we've just simply moved on to better options for your wallet, but maybe you keep it open as your oldest account on your credit report. You're earning only 1.5% back, and yes, you can pair this card with the Venture or the Venture X to turn that into 1.5x miles instead, but if we're comparing 1.5x earning cards, then the Chase Freedom Unlimited is going to beat the Quicksilver every single time because of the whole Chase Points ecosystem. Now, let's move on to some city credit cards next here, starting with the Strata Premier, which was just recently rebranded earlier in 2024 from just being called the Premier Card, and if you have this one like I do, then you're probably using it mostly just for the spending multipliers it has and not much else. This card, which can now also be called the CSP, earns 3x points on air travel, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and EV charging stations, and it also even earns 10x back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through City Travel. However, like all the other higher multipliers, when you're booking travel through an issuer's portal, like I've been saying here in this video, you have to make sure you check the prices aren't more expensive, and honestly, in my own brief research here with this card, I think that City Travel unfortunately might have the worst price inflation, but again, your mileage may vary. There's also a $100 hotel benefit here, so maybe you tell yourself that this is going to offset the $95 annual fee on the Strata Premier, but again, like I just said, the hotel pricing through City might be a little bit inflated, so are you actually getting that much value from this credit? Also, just like Capital One, the City Transfer Partners here that you get access to with the Strata Premier are going to be good for the airline programs but not really so much with the hotel programs, but at least they have added some travel protection benefits back to this card during the recent refresh, so that's another small improvement over the older card. Next, we've got the no annual fee City Custom Cash that most people deep in the whole credit card game probably have because it just makes a lot of sense to have to sort of fill in the gaps in any credit card setup, and that's because it earns 5% or really 5x back in whatever your highest spend category is every billing cycle. The original idea with this card when it was released a few years ago was probably that it'll adapt to your spending across several different categories to give you 5x back on whatever your top category is without you even thinking about it, but they made it just a little bit too easy for everyone to optimize, so now most people just use it for only one thing to basically lock that in for the 5x back. There's really not much downside to the Custom Cash other than maybe the fact that the minimum spend requirement of $1,500 is a little bit high compared to the competition just to get a $200 welcome bonus, and also now we do have to kind of live with the worry that City is going to eventually make some sort of a change to limit the upside of this card because it's too easy, but until then, if you're like me, this is probably going to be your dedicated gas credit card. Next, there's the no annual fee City Double Cash, the OG catch-all credit card earning 2% or really 2x back on everything by getting 1% back when you buy something and then another 1% back when you pay that off. Again, not really that much to hate on here with this card other than another $1,500 minimum spend to get the welcome offer, but if you're running the City Trifecta with this card along with the Custom Cash and the Strata Premier, then it's probably not the only trifecta you have, and also you're probably hoping that you never run into any issues with the setup here because City's customer service is apparently really, really bad according to everyone over on Reddit. All right, next, we've got the Discover It card, which you probably got as your first real credit card years ago, and honestly, not really that much has changed about this card, which is sort of the main thing to dislike about it. Yes, you're getting 5% back and rotating quarterly categories, and yes, there's going to be the famous Discover First Year Cashback Matching program, which is going to be great for getting them new customers in the door, but after that, you probably either just kept on using this as your one and only credit card for everything and you don't really care that much about credit cards, or you might have moved on to more in exciting points and miles cards, and then you occasionally just work this one into your setup when it makes sense. Now, after that, we've got some Wells Fargo credit cards, starting with the No Annual Fee Active Cash card, which you probably only have if you're just an existing Wells Fargo customer for years, or you were upgraded from maybe a Wells Fargo student credit card after college like I was. Now, it's a fine catch-all option, earning 2% back on everything. However, the main thing to hate here might just be the fact that it's a Wells Fargo credit card because out of my four years running this whole YouTube channel, no bank really seems to be more disliked in the comment section than Wells Fargo. If you have the Active Cash card, then there's also a chance you're pairing it with one or both of the Autograph and Autograph Journey cards next year in some sort of a Wells Fargo setup. The Autograph card is a pretty decent No Annual Fee option, earning 3X on restaurants, travel, gas, transit, streaming, and phone plans, and then the $95 per year Autograph Journey is going to be sort of a newer addition to the Wells Fargo lineup, earning 5X on hotels, 4X on airlines, and 3X on restaurants and other travel. Now, all that sounds really good at first, but when you go ahead and look at the transfer partners that you have access to with Wells Fargo right now on those cards, you're only getting Aer Lingus, Flying Blue, Avianca, British Airways, Iberia, and Virgin for the airlines, and then only Choice Privileges for hotels. That's honestly just not enough options compared to the other transferable points currencies, so if you're using Wells Fargo credit cards right now, then you're probably just hoping that more will be added in the future at some point, but only time is going to tell. So for right now, these cards are just pretty much going to be your backup options after all the other major issuers in the Points and Miles game. However, there is going to be one card issued by Wells Fargo that has managed to get a lot of traction in the whole credit card world, which is the Bilt Mastercard. Even though personally, I do really like Bilt, like I said, no card is perfect. First of all, there's no standard sign-up bonus for a fixed amount of points with the Bilt Mastercard. Second of all, you have to make sure you make at least five transactions per statement period in order to keep the points you earn. And then third, even though you can earn points on rent payments, which is great, customers who own a home and then pay a mortgage have not really been able to capitalize on that for the past few years. Now, apparently points on mortgages, or at least some form of that, is coming in 2025, according to a recent letter to Bilt members from the CEO, so stay tuned for that. But because this video is talking about hating on every credit card, I have to also mention a few other recent negative Bilt changes, like American Airlines going away as a transfer partner, and the other month here, the Bilt Rent-A-Promotion, where you could basically earn double points on the first day of the month. That was just devalued because now you can only earn up to 1,000 points per month on that. So yeah, even though this no annual fee card is going to unlock a ton of value for people who pay rent, you probably do live in fear that there's going to be some other changes in the future, or you at least worry about whether or not Wells Fargo is going to continue being okay with the cost of issuing this card after the Wall Street Journal did an article about that earlier this year. Now, that's a lot of credit cards and a lot of hate for this video, so I didn't even get to cover everything I wanted to, but if you want to see a part two with more issuers and some hotel and airline credit cards as well, then be sure to go ahead and like this video and then comment down below to tell me. But next year, if you want to watch something that's a bit more positive, then this video over here on the screen is going to be a full breakdown as to what credit cards I think are the best out there on the market right now. As always, thanks so much for watching.