digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: avoid the five credit cards Graham Stephan ranks as the worst, and choose cards with no annual fee or clear rewards instead. He presents this as his own opinion for entertainment purposes, arguing that fees, weak rewards, and fine print make these cards costly compared with alternatives like the Bank of America Cash Rewards card, Chase Freedom Flex, or Citi Double Cash.
Key Points
- Ranked list of the 5 worst credit cards (as named in the video):
- Starbucks Rewards Visa (Chase-issued)
- Credit One Platinum Visa for Rebuilding Credit
- Continental Finance Mastercard
- Mastercard Black Card
- Mastercard Gold Card
- The Starbucks card only pays off for very frequent Starbucks buyers; he suggests Chase Freedom Flex or American Express Gold as similar-benefit alternatives, including a limited-time 10 points per dollar at Starbucks offer from Chase Freedom Flex.
- Credit One charges high interest (24%), a cash advance fee (8%), a $39 late fee, and a $99 annual fee after a $75 first-year fee, plus $8.25 monthly charges.
- Continental Finance deducts setup and maintenance fees from the credit line before use, and charges a monthly maintenance fee, which he says brings the annual cost to $199, with no rewards.
- The Mastercard Black and Gold cards, despite luxury branding, offer weaker rewards than the Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Platinum, which he presents as better value.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: For someone building credit, the video's suggested alternatives are the Discover it Secured card (no annual fee, 1 to 2% cash back, first-year rewards matching), the Bank of America Cash Rewards card ($200 bonus after $1,000 spent in 90 days, no annual fee, 0% intro APR for 15 months, up to 3% cash back in a chosen category), and the Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel spenders ($55 more per year but about $200 more travel value, so roughly $145 cheaper annually by his math).
- Starbucks card math: the first-year benefit is up to about $312 in free coffee, including a $49 fee waived in year one, 4,500 bonus stars after $500 spent in three months, 300 bonus stars for loading the Starbucks card, and a monthly drink worth up to $10. Ongoing value depends on heavy spending.
- Mastercard Black Card comparison: at 1 point per dollar, a $1,000 travel spend yields about $20 of value versus about $45 on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, per the video's numbers.
- Mastercard Gold: the video says it costs $995 a year and that breaking even on the extra $400 versus the Black Card would require about $80,000 more spending annually, and that a similar gold-plated card can be bought online for about $189.
Bottom Line
The cheapest way to avoid these cards is to check the annual fee, setup and maintenance charges, and reward rate before applying, since the worst options here combine fees with weak returns.
