BBVA Compass credit cards

The BBVA Rewards Card stands out among the competition if you qualify for the rewards rate. It’s a good choice if don’t want to keep track of tiered rewards.

Earn unlimited 2% rewards on all purchases with a monthly deposit to a BBVA Compass savings account.

• Annual fee: None.
  Use your card and earn rewards over the long term with no initial fee.
• Intro APR: 0% for 13 months on balance transfers made within the first 60 days your account is open.
  After that, your APR reverts to a variable 12.99% to 30.99%. This is a solid balance transfer intro APR.
• Rewards: Flat rewards on every purchase.
  After qualifying direct deposits into your BBVA Compass deposit account, you’ll earn 2% rewards on all purchases. Without the qualifying deposits, you’ll earn 1.5% rewards on all purchases.

Of all BBVA Compass rewards cards, this one’s a powerhouse. Its best benefit is Build Your Own Rewards, which lets you choose the categories in which you’ll earn accelerated points. If you spend heavily in these categories, you could easily offset the card’s annual fee.

• Annual fee: Waived for the first year, then $125.

  Earn rewards toward the signup bonus without paying an annual fee for the first year, afterwards, the annual fee is $125.

• BBVA Compass Build Your Own Rewards.

  Choose one category to earn 3x points on your spending. Choose two categories to earn 2x points. On everything else, you’ll earn 1x points. You can change these categories every 90 days.

  If you don’t select your bonus categories, they will default to 3x points on groceries and 2x points on gas and travel.

• Points boost.

  Each month you use your card to make $5,000 or more in qualifying purchases, you’ll earn 1,000 bonus points.

• $100 account credit.

  To earn it, spend $2,000 in qualifying purchases within the first 90 days your account is open.

• Narrow APR range.

  Your purchase and balance transfer APRs will fall within a variable range of 14.99% to 18.99%. That’s right around the average credit card APR.

Go with the BBVA ClearPoints Card if you want the flexibility of choosing your accelerated-reward categories but don’t want to pay an annual fee.

• Annual fee: None.
  Because you won’t have to pay to activate the card, your rewards are all upside.
• Intro APR: 0% for 13 months following your account opening on purchases and balance transfers.
  After the intro, your APR reverts to a variable 12.99% to 30.99%. This is a decent intro APR, especially as it applies to purchases and balance transfers. Only transfers you make within the first of card membership qualify for the special rate.
• Rewards: BBVA Compass Build Your Own Rewards.
  Choose one category to earn 3x points in. Choose another category to earn 2x points in. On everything else or if you don’t activate your rewards each quarter, you’ll earn 1x points.

You’ll pay a relatively high annual fee of $40. However, The BBVA Optimizer Credit Card offers a purchase and balance transfer APR that’s lower than most of its competitors. And your security deposit earns interest while you build toward stronger credit.

• Earn interest on your security deposit.

  This secured card requires an initial deposit into a savings account, which then acts as your credit line. But unlike other similar cards, your deposit generates interest.

• Relatively low APR.

  Many secured cards come with purchase and balance transfer APRs around 24% variable, which is a high rate. The BBVA Optimizer Credit Card has a purchase and balance transfer APR of 23.99% variable. That’s still slightly higher than the average credit card APR, but it’s lower than what many competitors offer.