It seems like every card issuer is upping the signup bonuses to attract new applicants towards the end of the year.  Barclays has just increased signup bonus on its popular Arrival Plus WEMC from 60,000 miles to 70,000 miles while waiving the first year annual fee.  These miles are not and can not be transferred to frequent flyer miles, unlike those miles earned from Arrival Premier WEMC; instead, they can be redeemed to cover any travel expense at least $100 at 1 cent per mile and you also receive 5% of the redeemed miles back each time.  In this way, the signup bonus is worth $735 in travel.  This is very similar to Capital One Venture Card's 75K offer.

Barclays American Airlines Aviator Red WEMC has increased the signup bonus from 50K miles to 60K miles (the best ever offer), still just after your make the first purchase (which is very rare these days).  Our review has been updated too to reflect the post- Amex SPG discussions (see below).

The Facts

• Annual Fee: $95
• Signup Bonus: 60,000 miles after your first purchase within 3 months of new account opening.  Historical best bonus of this card: 60,000 miles for limited time in 2017 and 2018.
• Application Landing Page
• Rewards: 2x American Airlines, 1x everywhere else.  
• Best Use of AAdvantage miles:  AAdvantage is the frequent flyer program of American Airlines, a member of oneworld.  AAdvantage miles are generally valuable when redeemed on American or partner flights.
• Travel Benefits: (1) Receive 10% of your redeemed miles back, up to 10,000 miles per year.  (2) Earn $3,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars after spending $25,000 each calendar year.  (3) First checked bag free for you plus four passengers on your reservation.  (4) Priority boarding (Group 1, after first or business class passengers and elite members) on American flights.  (5) 25% discount for onboard purchases. (6) Waived foreign transaction fees with an embedded EMV chip.
• Standard World Elite MasterCard Benefits: including World Elite Luxury Hotels & Resorts (free breakfasts, upgrades, early check-in, late check-out, and hotel specific amenities), World Elite Air Program (upgrades, savings, or companion tickets, mostly on full fare tickets), World Elite Cruise Program (up to $500 savings), World Elite Tours and Vacations (up to $250 or 5% savings), World Elite Car Rental (savings and elite status with Avis, National, and Sixt), World Elite Chauffeured Car Service (savings and benefits), World Elite Private Jet Program (savings and benefits), MasterCard Airport Concierge (15% savings), and so on.
• Other Facts:  This product was introduced in early 2015 as a replacement for US Airways MasterCard, with the merger of American Airlines AAdvantage and US Airways Dividend Miles.  After the merger until 2017, Citi was the sole issuer of the post-merger American Airlines' credit card products, and Barclays could only convert existing US Airways MasterCard to the new Aviator Cards.  However, starting 2017, Barclays began to issue new Aviator Red cards to new applicants and increased the annual fees from $89 to $95 while upgrading it from World MasterCard to World Elite MasterCard and adding the EQD earning feature.

The Math
In the past we used to not recommend this card for general spending, as the old Amex SPG (before August 2018) returned 25% more AA miles than any AA cobranded cards.  Effective August 2018, AA cobranded credit cards have become the best way of earning AA miles via credit card general spending.

AAdvantage Aviator Red vs. AAdvantage Aviator Silver: Aviator Silver is $100/year more expensive than Aviator Red, and it comes with three premium features: (1) a 3-2-1 earning structure vs. 2-1 on Red (one additional mile on American, hotels, and car rentals), (2) EQM earning potential with $25K-50K spending, and (3) annual $99 companion certificate with $30K spending.  Even if you don't use the last two, you just need to spend $6,250 a year on American airlines, hotels and car rentals to come ahead of the $100 difference in annual fees if you happen to value an AA mile at 1.6 cents a piece like we do, as $6,250 x 1 mile/$ x 1.6 cent/mile = $100.  Of course, if your value is different, you can do your own math.  The bottom line is that if you are a frequent American flyer, you will most likely find upgrading to Silver Aviator a great deal.

AAdvantage Aviator Red vs. Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select:  These two cards are direct competitors - they share many features.  Their differences are: (1) Citi's version has a $99 annual fee ($4 more than Barclays') but waives it for the first year; (2) Citi's version offers 2x dining and gas; (3) Citi's version offers Reduced Mileage Awards (saving 7,500 miles on select routes); (4) Citi's version offers $100 flight discount after $20K annual spending; (5) Barclays's version offers 3K Elite Qualifying Dollars after $25K annual spending.

The Conclusion
Barclays designs the replacement of US Airways MasterCard to align with Citi's counterpart.  However, if you frequent American or just have big hotels/rental cars spending, you will find upgrading from Aviator Red to Aviator Silver very rewarding.

We haven't written many posts in the recent year or so, and the reason was explained in the previous few posts.  However, now we would like to change things up again, based on feedback from readers.  We will have more short, Twitter like posts, for new or updated reviews as well as credit card and poitns/miles related news.

Chase has introduced Southwest Rapid Rewards (RR) Priority Visa, with a up-to-65K points signup bonus.  The 7.5K anniversary points and the $75 annual Southwest credit combined more than offset the $149 annual fee, and you will enjoy upgrades to Business Select (who will mind A1-A15?) four times a year, 20% onboard discount, potential Tier Qualifying Points earning, etc. for free. A great card to keep after 1st year.  For details see our updated Southwest Visa Review.

The recent highlights on the site include the rebranded U.S. Bank Radisson Rewards Visa, the new Chase World of Hyatt Visa, the new Chase Ink Unlimited Business Visa, the revived Barclays Arrival Plus WEMC.

We have been continuing making updates throughout the site, and here are some highlights:

• Barclays has further increased the signup bonus on its Barclays AA RedAmerican Airlines Aviator Red Card.  Now at 60,000 miles (~$960 in our book), the best signup bonus we have seen on this product, and you only need to make one purchase to receive the bonus!
• Chase has brought back 60,000 points offer (~$840) for all three Southwest cards: Southwest RR Premier Visa, Southwest RR Premier Business Visa, and Southwest RR Plus Visa.  This is the highest signup bonus on these cards.  Please see our review for details and the signup links.  When you sign up two of these cards, you will receive 120,000 points which more than gets you the very lucrative Southwest Companion Pass status.  After you receive the signup bonuses, you will be upgraded to Companion Pass status for the rest of 2017 all the way to February 2019.
• We also added the "5/24 rule" language to all Chase cards that are affected.  What is Chase's infamous 5/24 rule?  Based on anecdotal reports, you won't be approved for certain Chase cards if you have opened 5 or more new accounts within the past 24 months; any new account with any issuer will count, not just with Chase; new accounts include most credit cards and charge cards but exclude non-Chase business cards and store charge cards; authorized users are also counted towards 5/24 by computer, but calling in and explaining it is an authorized user account may get them to remove it from 5/24 counting.  Currently, you can bypass the 5/24 rule when you are targeted (pre-approvals in branch; "selected for you" when you are logged in your account; targeted offers in the mail).
• Citi ThankYou has added Turkish Airlines, a Star Alliance member, to its transfer partners.  The transfer ratio is 1:1.  Also note that through September 6, 2017, there is a 20% bonus promotion for transferring ThankYou points to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1:1.2 instead of 1:1).

This is Sean, aka Dr. Credit Card.  First of all, I would like to wish every reader of the site a happy 2017!  It is pretty crazy that the last blog post was almost two months ago - I bought a new house and moved in recently and have been unable to keep up.  Even though there have been updates on the site here and there, I wish more could have been done.  Now we have been slowly settling in, the site should be back to normal.  Here are some highlights of the recent updates.

• Our No. 1 credit card Chase Sapphire Reserve is now offering an online signup bonus of 50K points, down from 100K that was offered since its introduction in August 2016.  However, you can still receive the 100K bonus when you walk into a branch and apply.  Note that the infamous 5-24 rule (you will be denied the new account when you have opened 5 or more new credit cards in the past 24 months) still applies when you do that.  Hurry up if you haven't got this amazing card - source says the in-branch 100K offer will last through March but you never know if Chase decides to pull it earlier.
• Barclays has made American Airlines Aviator Red MasterCard available to new customers, with a signup bonus of 40K.  This means Citi is no longer the sole issuer of American Airlines' credit card products.  We welcome the competition. 
• We are very sad to see one of our favorite card for perks Chase Fairmont Visa has been discontinued for new applications due to Accor's acquisition of Fairmont, Raffles, Swissotel.  Fairmont Visa has been offering an amazing signup bonus (two free nights, possibly in a suite, plus breakfasts) and is also one of the credit cards to keep paying annual fees without spending a dime.
• Chase Southwest Plus Visa's 50K offer is back.  While the higher annual fee Southwest Premier Visa has been offering 50K, it has been a while since last time we saw Plus Visa's 50K offer.
• Citi has increased the signup bonus of Citi Prestige from 40K to 50K, while decreasing the signup bonus of the ThankYou Premier from 40K to 30K.

We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site.  Here we would like to highlight a few important ones:

• Wyndham Rewards Visa has been revamped.  The no-fee version offers 3x points on Wyndham, 2x on gas, utility, grocery stores, 1x everywhere else, and automatic Gold status.  The $75 version offers 5x points on Wyndham, 2x on gas, utility, grocery stores, 1x everywhere else, 6,000 annual bonus points, and automatic Platinum status.  Compared to the old Wyndham Visa, the new cards reduce points earning on general spending from 2x to 1x, but add automatic elite status as well as waived foreign transaction fees.  As we value Wyndham points at around 1 cent per point, the old cards offer great rewards for general spending and thus rated #6 Best Card for Rewards.  We had concern about uncertainty in the rewards program before and it is very sad to see Wyndham/Barclays simply decides to slash the rewards for general spending in half.  Now the new cards won't make it to Top 10.  Even though the new perks such elite status may attractive some customers, we won't recommend the new cards for general spending at all.  It is interesting that you may still sign up the old cards through the old landing page.  We think the existing cardholders have to be grandfathered in for 2x points on general spending, but we have no info at this point and probably won't know how long it will last even if it is indeed the case.
• JetBlue's frequent flyer program TrueBlue has been added as a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou.  You can now transfer ThankYou points to TrueBlue points at a 1.25:1 rate, if you have either ThankYou Premier or Citi Prestige.  TrueBlue points are mostly fixed at value of 1.4 cents per point, so if you use this option, the value of ThankYou points will be 1.12 cents per point - not a very good way of using ThankYou points.  A better way would be using ThankYou to book a revenue JetBlue flight through Citi at fixed value of 1.33 cents per point, instead of transferring the points to JetBlue and then booking an award ticket.  Our value for ThankYou points is 1.4 for ThankYou Premier considering other valuable transfer partners, and 1.6 for Citi Prestige considering the fixed value for booking an American Airlines flight through Citi.
• JP Morgan Ritz-Carlton Visa Infinite offers $100 companion discount per trip for 2-5 domestic round-trip coach class tickets on your reservation.  Even though the terms say that primary cardholder must be one of the ticketed passengers, there are reports confirming that authorized users also enjoy this benefit for free.  This may potentially increase the value of this card quite a bit.
• Marriott and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) offer reciprocal earnings on their credit cards.  Chase Marriott Visa and JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa will start earning 5x points on SPG hotels; while Amex SPG will start earning 2x points on Marriott/Ritz-Carlton hotels.  The two loyalty programs will eventually merge in 2018, but before that customers can take advantage of the best of both programs.  Details about the future of these credit cards still remain uncertain.  We suspect that Marriott or Ritz-Carlton cards probably won't change much, while Amex SPG will probably convert to a Chase product at some point in 2018.

In addition, you may find the following news interesting.

• Amex offers 2x points for select small business purchases through 12/31/16.  That is an additional 1x points you can earn through this "Shop Small" promotion.  You have to enroll your Amex at https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/shop-small-offer/ to take advantage of this promotion.  They also have a useful search tool for you to find the participating small businesses in your area.  The following cards are eligible: Membership Rewards cards (such as Amex Platinum, Amex Premier Rewards Gold, Amex EveryDay Preferred), Delta SkyMiles cards, SPG cards, Blue Sky cards, Blue Cash cards, Hilton HHonors cards, Plenti Card, and Schwab Investor Card.
• Per Bloomberg, Chase will introduce a new business card product called "Ink Preferred", which features a 80K points signup bonus, a $95 annual fee (waived for the first year), 3x points for the first $150K spent on travel, telecommunications, shipping and advertising on social-media and search engines, and 1x points on other purchases.  Chase already has a $95 business card Ink Plus, which offers 5x points on office supplies, wireless services, landline communications and cable services (up to $50K spent annually), 2x on gas and lodging (up to $50K spent), and 1x on other purchases.   At this point, we don't know whether Ink Plus will continue to be offered alongside with Ink Preferred or be converted to the new card in the future.

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

We have been working on numerous updates throughout the site during the last couple of weeks.  Here I would like to highlight some updates.

• Barclays Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard has an increased signup bonus of 50,000 miles (value $525 in travel), from 40,000 miles.
• Amex Business Platinum Card is offering an incredible 75,000 points, and with an effective annual fee of $250, our value of the signing up this card is $875.
• Amex Business Gold Rewards Card is offering a 50,000 points with a first annual fee waiver (our value $750).
• Chase Hyatt Visa's first year annual fee is NOT waived anymore.  The signup bonus is 2 free nights after spending $2,000 within 3 months + 5,000 points for adding an authorized user.
• We finally reviewed Korean Air SKYPASS Visa.  Unless you are need the signup bonus (there are targeted offers of 40K) or you need the up to 20,000 elite qualifying miles towards Morning Calm Club, you'd better to consider Amex SPG, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Chase Sapphire Preferred, as they all allowed points to be transferred to Korean Air miles.
• Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) has added Avianca LifeMiles as a new transfer partner at 1:1.  You also receive a 5K bonus if you transfer 20K.

This week, we have three new reviews going online: Barclays Luxury Card MasterCards (Titanium, Black, and Gold), Barclays Miles & More MasterCard (Lufthansa etc.), and Barclays JetBlue MasterCards (non-annual fee version, JetBlue Plus, JetBlue Rewards, JetBlue Business).

JetBlue Plus World Elite MasterCard is a new product introduced earlier this year and wasn't included in our original analysis to produce the Top 10 Best Credit Cards by Dr. Credit Card list that was published the first time earlier this month.  After a thorough analysis, we were pretty surprised that JetBlue Plus Card takes home the #3 spot in the rewards category and is rated #4 overall.  That is an amazing feat.  Let's see why.

Unlike legacy airlines, JetBlue has a revenue based frequent flyer program, and its TrueBlue points can be redeemed for JetBlue flights at an almost fixed-value rate of around 1.4 cents per point.  Here you won't get an exciting redemption like an international long haul business/first class award, but you also avoid a lot of hassles trying to find an available seat and maximize points value, as TrueBlue points are very straightforward.  JetBlue Plus Card has a unique feature that returns 10% points each time you redeem for JetBlue flights, essentially increasing the value of TrueBlue points to 1.55 cents a piece.  In addition, JetBlue Plus offers a very competitive 6-2-1 earning structure for JetBlue, dining & groceries, and other purchases (9.3%, 3.1%, and 1.55% respectively) and several valuable perks that easily justify the annual fee, including 5,000 anniversary bonus points, first bags free, and a potential Mosaic status after $50K annual spending.  Our biggest concern is that we are not sure if JetBlue will suddenly devaluate its points, as we have seen in many times in the airline/hotel industry.  That is exactly the reason why we always recommend miles/points cards with transfer partners over those affiliated with a certain airline or hotel chain, as the former is much more devaluation proof than the latter.  For now, however, this card makes a lot of sense for JetBlue flyers, considering its good signup bonus, amazing rewards and travel perks, and decent protection.

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

Our website 2.0 is finally online - we have been busy working on revamping our website in the last several weeks.  As you may have noticed, the site's home page now shows a Top 10 Best Credit Cards list.  The ranking was based on a comprehensive analysis considering four "P" factors - Promotions (signup bonus), Points (rewards earned through spending minus effective annual fee), Perks (travel benefits), and Protection (travel and consumer protection).  If you are interested in a particular factor, our top recommendations for each "P" could also be found on each of the four pages.

How did we come up with the list?  Each card is rated an individual score (0-100 points) for each of the four "P" factors, and then a final comprehensive score (also 0-100 points) is calculated by adding up all scores with the following weights for each factor: Promotion (15%), Points (55%), Perks (20%), and Protection (10%).  Now we are copying the Top 10 list below and will also discuss our findings.

Top 10 Best Credit Cards by Dr. Credit Card (2016)

1. Citi Prestige World Elite MasterCard
2. Citi ThankYou Premier Card
3. American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card
4. American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card
5. Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
6. American Express EveryDay Preferred Card
7. Chase United Airlines MileagePlus Club Visa Signature
8. Chase United Airlines MileagePlus Explorer Visa Signature
9. Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard
10. Barclaycard Wyndham Rewards Visa Signature with $69 Annual Fee

​
Honorable Mentions

• Citi Double Cash Card (#1 cashback card)
• Elan Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature (#2 cashback card)
• J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton Visa Signature (#1 in perks and protection)
• American Express Platinum Card (exceptional perks and protection)
  

Citi Prestige takes the #1 spot without too much of surprise, since it is not only highly rated in "Points" (#7 card for rewards) but also very strong in "Promotions", "Perks" (#3), and "Protection" (tied at #2).  All other cards on the final Top 10 list all offer pretty strong rewards for spending.  Amex EveryDay Preferred, the #1 card for rewards, comes down to #7 on the final list, due to relatively weak signup bonus, perks, and protection.  Two excellent cash back cards - Citi Double Cash and Fidelity Visa, fall off the final Top 10 due to similar reasons.  On the other hand, Chase Sapphire Preferred, United MP Club Visa, and United MP Explorer Visa, which did not make to the Top 10 Cards for Rewards, all make a strong come back to the #5, #7, and #8 spots on the final list, due to very strong performance in at least two of the three following categories: signup bonus, perks, and protection.  JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa, the #1 card both in perks and protection, is way down the final list, as the rewards are poor.  Amex Platinum, another strong performer in perks and protection, fails to make to Final Top 10 due to a similar reason.

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.