Which? has analysed more than a hundred credit cards to find the best deals across cashback, travel, air mile, interest-free, 0% balance transfer and low-interest options.

To become a Which? Best Buy, a credit card must meet a range of benchmarks set by our analysts. Read on to find out which credit cards made the grade and compare the best deals.

If you already have an idea of the credit cards you’re interested in, head over to our best credit card providers guide to help you decide which brand is worth switching to.

Please note that the information in this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice. Please refer to the particular terms & conditions of a credit card provider before committing to any financial products.

Best credit card for air miles

The best credit card for air miles allows you to collect points on your everyday spending and exchange them for holiday-related savings on flights (taxes apply), flight upgrades and hotel stays.

In our analysis, one deal stood out as a Best Buy, and it can be used to collect Virgin and Avios points. 

The American Express Rewards Credit Card has no annual fee and lets you earn one American Express point for every £1 spent.

Amex points can be converted into Virgin Points and Avios points at a 1:1 ratio, offering flexibility across various airline reward schemes. 

Grace Witherden, credit card expert, says: ‘We like the flexibility this card offers, allowing you to convert Amex points into a range of different airline reward schemes. The ability to convert Amex points at a 1:1 ratio offers a better rate than the fee-free Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card, which only offers 0.75 points per £1 spent (although you can earn 1.5 points per £1 when shopping with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays). 

‘The card also comes with an attractive introductory offer, enabling you to earn 10,000 Amex points if you spend £2,000 within the first three months.’

• Find out more: to see how our Best Buy compares to other market-leading offers, check out our best air mile credit cards guide

Best 0% balance transfer credit cards

0% balance transfer credit cards to help you clear expensive credit card debt. We’ve analysed credit cards with no balance transfer fee and 0% periods lasting more than 12 months, and have awarded two Best Buys.

When it comes to a 0% balance transfer credit card, you need enough time to clear your debt and to do it as cheaply as possible. 

These Barclaycard and Santander deals combine a decent 0% period with no extra fees for moving your balance and were the cheapest, longest-lasting deals that met our strict criteria.

Santander is also a Which? Recommended Provider for 2025, ranking 5th out of 28 providers in our survey. 

• Find out more: if you think you need a longer 0% period check out our best 0% balance transfer credit cards guide for the longest-lasting deals.

Best cashback credit card

A cashback credit card pays you back a percentage of what you spend, and our analysts think this one is the best deal on the market. 

The Amex Cashback Everyday Credit Card is a Best Buy due to its strong cashback rate, attractive introductory offer, and lack of an annual fee. In contrast, the Amex Cashback Credit Card falls short because of its £25 annual fee, making the Everyday version the better value choice.

Customers also rate the brand highly. American Express has been named a Which? Recommended Provider, coming top out of 28 providers in our latest survey. 

• Find out more: to see how much cashback you’ll earn in a year spending £100 on your card every week, head to our best cashback and reward credit cards guide. 

Best credit cards for holidays and traveling 

The best credit cards for holidays and traveling allow you to spend fee-free overseas. These two deals stood out in our analysis.

Sam Wilson, credit card market analyst, says: ‘The Halifax Clarity and Barclaycard Rewards Visa credit cards stand out with no foreign transaction or cash withdrawal fees, as well as below-average APRs. 

‘These features have kept them as Best Buys in this category since we launched our labels in 2023.’

• Find out more: to see how our Best Buy travel credit cards compare to other deals, head to our best travel credit cards guide.

Best interest-free credit cards

To find the best interest-free credit cards you should look at the length of the 0% period.

A long-lasting deal can help you spread the cost of a big purchase, and at the moment there are three cards that stood out in our research.

The Barclaycard, MBNA, and Lloyds credit cards offer some of the longest interest-free spending periods on the market, with the first two offering 23 months, and Lloyds Bank offering 21 months. Lloyds is also a Which? Recommended Provider for credit cards in 2025.

• Find out more: see how other market-leading deals compare in our best interest-free credit cards guide

Best low-interest credit cards

To find the best low-interest credit cards you need to look at the APR the card charges.

A low-interest credit card does what it says on the tin: it offers a cheap rate of borrowing for as long as you have the card. So if you struggle to keep up with time-limited offers, this type of deal might suit you. But offers can vary.

We’ve named three low-rate credit cards Which? Best Buys.

These deals from Halifax, Lloyds Bank, and Tesco Bank meet our low-rate Best Buy criteria, and offer some of the most competitive rates on the market, with APRs as low as 10.9%, compared to the market average of 35.4%.

Customers also rate these brands highly, with Tesco Bank and Lloyds Bank earning Which? Recommended Provider status.

• Find out more: see how our Best Buys compare to other market-leading low-rate deals in our best low-interest credit cards guide

What about credit-builder credit and money transfer? 

A 0% money transfer credit card lets you shift money from your card to your current account to spend as cash, interest-free for a set period. This could be helpful if you need to clear overdraft debt or pay for services that don’t accept credit cards.

This year no money transfer credit cards matched our criteria to become a Which? Best Buy. If you want take a money-transfer credit card, take a look at our best 0% money transfer credit cards guide for the market-leading deals.

Credit-builder credit cards are excluded from our Best Buy analysis, as personal circumstances play a bigger role in determining which card is best for you. You can check out the market-leading deals to research in our guide to the best credit cards for bad credit.

Is a credit card right for you?

When chosen and used wisely, a credit card can be a cheap way to borrow or build rewards, but there are other options you could explore.

Before applying for a credit card, check if your current account has a fee-free overdraft that will meet your spending needs.

You could also check the rates on offer from a credit union. As a non-profit financial organisation, they usually offer loans that are cheaper than other providers.

If you need more than £5,000, an unsecured personal loan might be a cheaper option and you will have a fixed monthly payment until the loan is paid off.

How we find Best Buy credit cards

A Best Buy credit card must have been one of the top five cards in its category and must also satisfy specific criteria for the type of card, such as the size of balance transfer fee or length of 0% period. 

A provider must have also achieved a provider customer score of over 70% in our latest credit card satisfaction survey.  Each year, we ask thousands of customers to rate their providers and calculate a provider customer score based on their responses, to find the best credit card providers.

We also review our analysis regularly, which means we will withdraw Best Buys if providers make adverse changes to APRs, 0% periods or fees.

How we find Which? Recommended Providers for credit cards

As well as crunching the numbers to reveal the best credit cards on the market, we also survey customers to find the best credit card providers.

Each year we ask thousands of credit card customers to rate brands on customer service, mobile banking and more, so you can get an idea of the quality of service you might receive before you sign up. 

Our provider customer scores are based on an online survey of 4,014 members of the public, conducted in October 2024. 

Provider scores are worked out using a combination of overall satisfaction and the likelihood of recommending the provider to a friend.

Sample sizes for customer score: American Express (Amex) (217), Tesco Bank (207), Marks and Spencer Bank (134), Zopa (40), Santander (165), John Lewis (82), Nationwide (168), Lloyds Bank (219), NatWest (193), Virgin Atlantic (69), Asda Money (77), Barclaycard (440), First Direct (112), Halifax (198), British Airways (99), Capital One (244), HSBC (197), TSB (99), Virgin Money (including Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank) (96), MBNA (125), Bank of Scotland (76), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (149), Ocean (42), Amazon (109), Aqua (123), The Co-operative Bank (76), Post Office (42), Vanquis Bank (71).

To become a Which? Recommended Providers a lender must have:

• a provider customer score of at least 74%
• at least one top-10 card in one of the seven main categories available on the market
• have a product analysis score that’s average or above
• and not have a representative APR of more than 35% on any of its mainstream cards at the time of the analysis.

Find out more: best credit card providers