We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site.  Here are the highlights of the week.

• Effective June 1, 2017, Amex Business Platinum has reduced the 50% rebates to 35% for its fixed-value redemption option when you use "Pay with Points".  Amex introduced the 50% rebate feature back in October 2016, essentially making the Membership Rewards (MR) points worth a fixed value of 2 cents each, when buying First or Business Class tickets with any airline through amextravel.com, and Economy Class tickets with your selected airline also through amextravel.com.  We wrote, "This makes Business Platinum Card a 2% & 10% rewards card, for general purchases and airfare, respectively.  In addition, it opens up opportunities for other MR cards to become more valuable, at least on paper.  For example, when paired with Business Platinum Card, EveryDay Preferred will return stunning 9%, 6%, and 3% rewards for grocery, gas, and general purchases; the personal Platinum Card will return 10% rewards for airfare; Amex PR Gold will return 6% and 4% rewards for airfare and gas/grocery/dining."  Amex has come to the conclusion that this feature is too generous and thus decided to kill it.  Now with the reduced 35% rebates, MR points will be worth 1.54 cents each when you use the "Pay with Points" option, and this value is actually similar to our valuation of MR points when you transfer points to the 21 partner airline or hotel programs.  If you applied the card between October 5, 2016 and May 31, 2017, you are allowed to keep the 50% rebates for a full year.
• Chase has brought the best ever signup offers for its Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa cards, you will receive 60,000 points (~$840 in travel rewards) on each of the three 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.
• Amex has another round of limited-time offers for its Delta SkyMiles cards: 70,000 miles on Delta Platinum Amex (both personal and business) and 60,000 miles on Delta Gold Amex (both personal and business).  Please see our review for details and the signup links.

Amex Blue Business Plus now replaces Amex Blue Business as the entry level Membership Rewards (MR) business card, with no annual fees.  Not only does it offer better rewards for most consumers - 2x (up to $50K spent per year) vs. 1.3x MR points, but it allows points to be transferred to frequent traveler miles/points without another premium MR card.  Amex Blue Business Plus is the first card ever that returns 2x points for general spending while allowing frequent traveler miles/points transfer.  Previously, the best cards of this type (earning SPG, MR, UR, TY, etc.) "only" return 1.5x points: Freedom Unlimited (no annual fee) returns 1.5x UR points but requires another premium UR card to allow miles/points transfer; Amex EveryDay Preferred ($95 annual fee) returns 1.5x MR points with a requirement of at least 30 transactions per month.  Based on our current valuation of MR points at 1.5 cents a piece, the Blue Business Plus returns an impressive 3% travel rewards for general spending; the only downside is that the 2x applies to the first $50,000 spent each year.  Please see our Amex Blue Business Plus review for details.  We are now even calling this no-fee card the "King of Business Cards" due to its lucrative rewards potential.

UBS has joined the already (over) heated high-end credit card market, with its Visa Infinite credit card.  Its 3-2-1 rewards structure competes well with its competitors, and while the maximum value is 1.8 cents per point (cpp), our more realistic valuation is around 1.5 cpp.  However, bear in mind that these points can not be transferred to frequent traveler points/miles, as in the case of its major competitors, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, Amex Platinum.  Please see our UBS Visa Infinite review for details.  While it could be potentially rated high on our Top 10 Best Credit Cards list, as UBS's intention is to cater for its ultra affluent clients, we need more time to evaluate how easily accessible it is to regular consumers.  Now if you are not a UBS client, you have to call the 800 number and request an application to be mailed to you.

We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site, including an updated review for Delta SkyMiles Amex Cards with enhanced signup bonus (60K for Gold versions, 70K for Platinum versions)

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It is obvious that U.S. Bank learned a lot from the success of Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa Infinite, our #1 Best Credit Card.  Intentional leaks a few weeks before the official launch of its high-end Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite have already made many super excited.  On May 1, 2017, with the introduction of Altitude Reserve, most of the rumored details were confirmed true - Altitude Reserve offers a 50,000 points signup bonus (=$750 in travel rewards), $325 annual travel credits that are easy to recover, 3x points on travel and mobile pay spending (=4.5% travel rewards), Priority Pass Select membership with four free visits each year, hotel privileges through Visa Infinite, primary rental car collision coverage, and the highest level of travel/consumer protection among all U.S. Bank credit cards, all come with a $400 annual fee.  As you may have noticed, many of Sapphire Reserve's winning features are found here; however, we do welcome the competition it brings to the already heated high-end card market.  Please see our review for detailed facts and analysis of this card.

It comes no surprise that Altitude Reserve scores high in all four "P"s we evaluated - Promotion (#15 Best Card for Signup Bonus), Points (#2 Best Card for Rewards), Perks, and Protection.  Overall, it is now rated #3 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card, right behind Sapphire Reserve and Citi Prestige.  As a result, our #1 Best Card for Rewards, Amex EveryDay Preferred, previously #10 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card, falls off the Top 10 list.

During last couple of weeks, we continued updating the website.  You probably don't want to miss out the enhanced signup bonus on Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select MC (60K each, for personal and business) and BofA Alaska Visa (30K + $100 credit + one free companion certificate).
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© 2017 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

As discussed before, Amex's iconic Platinum Card has several changes effective March 30, 2017.  We will recap the changes below:
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Personal Platinum Card: (1) the annual fee is increased by $100 to $550; (2) free additional Gold Cards (used to be $45 for up to five additional Gold Cards); (3) receive up to $200 in Uber credits each year (limited to $15 per month plus a bonus $20 in December); (4) receive 5x Membership Rewards (MR) points on prepaid hotels and travel packages booked through amextravel.com (airfare booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel has been earning 5x since last October); (5) its complimentary Priority Pass Select membership now allows two guests for free (used to be $27 per guest); (6) a new metal card design to rival Chase's Sapphire Reserve and Ritz-Carlton Visa; (7) the regular signup bonus is also increased from 40,000 points (after $3,000 spending) to 60,000 points (after $5,000 spending).  

Business Platinum Card: (1) the annual fee is kept at $450 and there won't be any Uber credit; (2) receive 5x points on airfare, prepaid hotels, and travel packages booked through AmexTravel.com; (3) its complimentary Priority Pass Select membership now allows two guests for free.

Even with a $100 increase in annual fees, the increased signup bonus and enhanced travel perks obviously makes the personal Platinum Card better than ever before.  It now overtakes JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa as the #1 Credit Card for Perks.  More significantly, the personal Platinum Card jumps from #8 to #5 on the list of Top 10 Best Credit Cards by Dr. Credit Card.  Chase Sapphire Preferred, Citi ThankYou Premier and Chase United MP Club Visa all drops by one spot as a result.  We also want to mention that Chase Sapphire Reserve still firmly holds the #1 position, even after the recent decrease in signup bonus (from 100K to 50K), as the gap was just too wide for the runner-up Citi Prestige.

If you have a small business, we argue that the business Platinum Card is probably even more attractive.  First of all, you essentially trade $200 Uber credits for the $100 difference in annual fees.  As the Uber credits are $15 per month (with a $20 bonus in December) and expire at the end of each month, most consumers probably won't be able to come out ahead with the $100 increase in annual fees on the personal card.  Secondly, even though the business version's 5x airfare is limited only to purchases made through amextravel.com while the personal version allows airfare booked directly with airlines, as there is no booking fees and the price is essentially the same and you could still earn miles on tickets booked via third parties, we feel that the business version comes very close in this area.  Of course, you need to consider the fact that some airlines such as Southwest can not be booked through Amex.  Also note that we don't consider 5x prepaid hotels and travel packages a major enhancement, because hotels booked via amextravel.com (and in fact most third parties online travel agencies) are not eligible to earn hotel points, stay credits, or elite benefits.  Lastly and perhaps the most importantly, while both cards allows MR points to be transferred to frequent travelers miles/points and our value for MR points redeemed this way is 1.5 cents per point, the business version offers another unique redemption option essentially returning a fixed value of 2 cents per point when redeeming MR points for airfare through Amex.  This unique option makes the business version a 2-10% rewards card, for general purchases and airfare, respectively.  It also opens up opportunities for other MR cards such as Amex EveryDay Preferred and Amex PR Gold to return higher reward value, at least on paper.

© 2017 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site.  Here are some highlights.

• Chase has brought to us the best signup bonus on its Marriott Visa personal card.  You will receive 107,500 Marriott Rewards points after you spend $5,000 and add an authorized user within 3 months of  new account opening.  As the Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) programs are on the way to integrate and allow points transfer between linked accounts at a ratio of 3:1, our valuation of Marriott Rewards points is now 0.75 cent per point, exactly a third of that of SPG points.  The $85 annual fee is not waived, so this signup bonus is worth ~$720 in our book.  107,500 Marriott points can be transferred to 35,833 SPG points, and this offer is similar in value to Amex SPG which offers 35,000 SPG points with an annual fee waiver.
• Amex has upped signup bonus of its Amex Hilton Surpass (annual fee $75) and regular Amex Hilton (no annual fee): Surpass offers 100K points upon signup plus a free weekend night at select Hilton Worldwide hotels after you pay the second annual fee; the regular Hilton Amex offers 80K points on signup.  As our valuation of Hilton points is 0.4 cent per point, the signup bonus is worth $325 for Surpass and $320 for regular Hilton Amex, respectively.  For the second year after paying the $75 annual fee, Surpass also gives a free night, which can invaluable.  Both signup offers are the best in history.

© 2017 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

There have been quite some updates throughout the site and these are the highlights for the past week.

• Chase United MP Explorer is offering a public 55K miles bonus, without an annual fee waiver.  For quite some time, the same offer is targeted to many United MP members, and of course the public offer is always better.  Note that the business version still offers a 50K mile bonus with the first year annual fee waiver.
• We noticed the landing page for JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa's three Tier 1-4 free night offer was dead and re-directed to the new (and reduced) offer of two free nights.  The old application link was kept alive for a few days before pulled.  However, there is a landing page for three free nights that indicates an expiration date of November 30, 2016.  You may try it at your discretion, with the worst scenario being you just receive two free nights instead of three.  Note that Ritz-Carlton Visa is currently exempt from the infamous Chase 5/24 rule which disqualifies you from getting a new Chase card if you have opened five or more credit card accounts in the previous 24 months.  As long as you did not receive a signup bonus on the Ritz-Carlton Card within 24 months, you are eligible for the new signup bonus.  Keep in mind that you can't redeem the free Tier 1-4 certificates at 13 top-tier (Tier 5) properties including The Ritz-Carlton in New York Central Park, Bachelor Gulch, Naples, Miami South Beach, Miami Bal Harbour, Miami Key Biscayne, Grand Cayman, St. Thomas, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Shanghai Pudong, and Dubai.  However, there are still some amazing properties that are Tier 1-4, such as the ones in Half Moon Bay (rates from $599 per night), San Fransisco (from $399), Laguna Niguel (from $479), Los Angeles (from $409), Washington DC (from $329), Georgetown Washington DC (from $409), Boston (from $345), Dallas (from $399), Charlotte (from $399), Reynolds Lake Oconee (from $309), Maui Kapalua (from $399), Cancun (from $299), Aruba (from $299), Hotel de la Paix in Geneva (from $475), Vienna (from $360), Herzliya (from $395), and Macau (from $460)
• We discovered the website for Visa Infinite Hotels that is available to any U.S. issued Visa Infinite card.  Visit VisaInfiniteHotels.com to book a hotel - you have to type in your Visa Infinite card number before start searching for hotels.  Visa Infinite Hotel Collection covers a subset (~200) of Visa Signature hotels (900+ luxury hotels and resorts worldwide) but offers an extra perk such as a $75 dining credit or $100 spa/hotel/rate credit per stay, in addition to Visa Signature Hotel Collection's 7 perks (guaranteed lowest rates, daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, late checkout upon availability, $25 food and beverage credit per stay, free room wi-fi, and VIP amenities).  Currently, the only three U.S. issued Visa Infinite cards - CNB Crystal, Chase Sapphire Reserve / JPM Reserve, and JPM Ritz-Carlton Card - participate in both programs.

We have been making updates throughout the site and this post highlights some changes:

• We finally reviewed the new Avianca LifeMiles credit cards which was introduced last November.  Banco Popular in Puerto Rico is the issuer of these new cards.  You can earn a 60,000-mile signup bonus when you use a special promotion code in the application of Avianca LifeMiles Vuela Visa.
• Amex has reduced the amazing signup bonus on its Business Platinum Card from 100,000 points to 75,000.  This signup bonus is still worth a lot - $1,250 in our book.  The requirement to receive the full bonus was also increased from $15K to $20K.
• Amex has changed the signup bonus on its SimplyCash Plus Business Card to $400 with a spending requirement of $15K.  This is a non-fee business card and normally doesn't offer a signup bonus.
• Southwest Airlines changes how the potentially lucrative Companion Pass is earned.  Points transferred from hotel or rental car programs no longer count toward annual Companion Pass qualification.  However, points earned from the co-branded credit cards, including the signup bonus, continue to qualify.

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 updating our site and here is the highlight of the week.

Chase brought to us Ink Preferred exactly as rumored.  Ink Preferred replaces Ink Plus as the $95 premium Ultimate Rewards (UR) business card.  The existing Ink Plus customers will be grandfathered in for all features and could receive the signup bonus on Ink Preferred as long as they qualify under the infamous 5/24 rule.  "5/24 rule" is a Chase internal rule that makes obtaining a new Chase card almost impossible when you have opened five or more credit cards (regardless of issuers) in the last 24 months.  Ink Preferred offers an amazing 80,000 UR points signup bonus, which is worth $1,200 in our book.  The annual fee is not waived when you apply online, but may be waived when you apply in branch.  Ink Preferred offers very different bonus categories from Ink Plus: 3x travel, shipping, advertising through search engines and social media, and phone / internet / cable services, and 1x everywhere else.  Ink Preferred will be a great combo to pair with the non-fee Ink Cash, as together they will cover 7 bonus categories that are essential to business.  Please see our review for details.

Amex has been fighting back, as Chase has been very aggressive to take its market shares.  Last month, they revamped the iconic Platinum Card, both personal and business versions.  They also upped the signup offer on Business Platinum Card to 100K points.  Now they have made available a public 100K offer through a special link.  It is recommended that you use private browsing mode in your browser if you don't see this offer.  100,000 Membership Rewards points are worth $1,500 in our book.  Keep in mind that Amex is even more stringent than Chase when coming to signup bonus: if you receive a bonus on the same product ever before, you will get the card when you are approved but won't get the bonus again.

We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site.  Here are some highlights:

• BofA MERRILL+ Visa Signature has an incredible 50,000 points offer.  Please see our review for details.  There are reports indicating that you don't need a Merrill Lynch relation to apply and get approved, and a relationship with Bank of America may or may not be required.  50K points are worth $500-$1,000 and we think it should be reasonably easy to redeem them for $800 in airfare.  Even though this card is worth keeping after the first year as there is no annual fee, we won't recommend it for general spending.
• We also reviewed the super-exclusive BofA Merrill Lynch Octave Amex, which carries an annual fee of $950 and is by-invitation-only exclusively for Merrill's richest clients who maintains at least 10 million dollars in asset with them.  The most interesting feature of the card is the up to 5% travel rewards for general spending (4% is reasonably achievable).
• Chase Marriott Visa has a new offer: two free nights at Category 1-5 hotels & $200 statement credit after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening, an additional 7,5000 points after you add the first authorized user and make the first purchase within the same 3 months, and waived first year annual fee ($85).  The old offer of up to 87,500 points is still available.  Please see our review for details.  As for which offer is better, it depends on your value for Marriott points and free nights.  In our book, the new offers is worth $445 and the old offer is $440 - about the same.
• Please always check our Promotion page for the current credit card signup offers which are ranked by our value.