Americans Say Everyday Life Is Less Affordable. 5 Credit Cards That Can Help

With most gas credit card, you don’t have to fill up with a specific brand or location. And depending on the card, you’ll earn cash back, points or miles on your spending for post-purchase savings.

The Citi Strata Premier^® Card earns 3X Citi ThankYou® Points on both gas and EV charging, so you’ll earn regardless of your vehicle type. You’ll also earn 3X points on spending at restaurants, supermarkets, air travel and general hotel purchases.

Even better, your Citi points are transferable, meaning you could move them to one of Citi’s 22 airline and hotel partners for greater value (potentially over 1 cent per point). This could be a good option if you’re familiar with rewards transfers and are looking to save on upcoming summer travel — say, a cross country roadtrip. Then, the card’s annual hotel benefit can help you further reduce your travel costs and fully make up for the card’s $95 annual fee.

According to the March consumer price index, energy across the board increased by 10.9% last month — its largest monthly increase since September 2005. If you’re feeling the heat after paying for heat this past winter, there are actually credit cards that can help soften the impact on your wallet.

If you spend $200 per month on home utilities, for example, and pay for them with the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature, you could earn $120 in cash back over the course of a year. And if you enroll in Real-Time Rewards, you can use your rewards to offset the cost of qualifying purchases almost immediately.

The card also earns 2% cash back on one everyday category you choose each quarter (either grocery stores, gas and EV charging stations or restaurants), and you won’t be charged an annual fee.

Certain health care accounts, like a health savings account (HSA) or a flexible spending account (FSA), can be a big help, but they’re not available to everyone. In fact, our survey found that 20% of Americans have paid for medical expenses using a credit card. While you don’t want to use a credit card to float thousands of dollars in medical bills, the rewards you earn can help take the sting out of the cost of routine visits or medical purchases.

The AARP® Essential Rewards Mastercard® from Barclays earns an unlimited 2% cash back on eligible medical expenses, including purchases at doctors, dentists and chiropractors, glasses purchases, hearing aids and more. Plus, if you spend $500 on purchases in the first 90 days of account opening, you’ll get a $100 cash bonus.

Unlike its namesake, you don’t have to be above a certain age (or even an AARP member) to apply for the card.

For many people, a house is their largest asset — but it can also represent one of their largest monthly payments.

Bilt is one of the most well-known names in the market, and earlier in this year, it expanded its rent-only program to include mortgage payments. The company offers three different cards, and they all earn the same amount of rewards on housing payments. You’ll also never pay a fee on your housing payments, but if you don’t hit minimum spending thresholds, you won’t get the maximum rewards.

The mid-tier Bilt Obsidian Card (see rates and fees) comes with a $95 annual fee and can earn up to 1.25X points on housing payments or up to 1X points per dollar on housing payments and 4% Bilt Cash on eligible non-housing spend (on top of Bilt Points earned).

The Bilt Rewards program can take some getting used to, so it may require a little upfront research if you want to maximize the card’s value. Bilt also offers the no-annual-fee Bilt Blue Card (see rates and fees) and premium Bilt Palladium Card (see rates and fees).

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