Amex SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest), the No.3 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card, has come back to give the 35K offer once again.  This is the best signup bonus on this card in terms of total points; however, the spending requirement is a little higher than the similar offer that came out about a year ago.  If you open both personal and business SPG Card, you will receive a total of 70,000 points.  Keep in mind that you can only get the signup bonus when you have never received bonus on the specific card before.  For example, if you received bonus on the personal SPG Card before you are not eligible for the 35K on the personal card, but if you never received bonus on the business card then you are still eligible for the 35K on the business card.

With the merger between Marriott and Starwood, you can now link your SPG account to your Marriott / Ritz-Carlton Rewards account and transfer SPG points to Marriott / Ritz-Carlton Rewards points at a ratio of 1:3.  Thus the signup bonus of 35,000 SPG points equals to 105,000 Marriott points.  If you open both personal and business cards, you can transfer 70,000 SPG points to 210,000 Marriott points.  As we expect at some point, Amex SPG Card will be gone, it is your best chance of getting a boatload of SPG/Marriott points if you have never had SPG Card before. 

Personal Amex SPG Landing Page: you will receive 25,000 points after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and another 10,000 points after spending an additional $2,000 within 6 months, thus a total of 35,000 points with $5,000 spent.

Business Amex SPG Landing Page: You will receive 25,000 points after spending $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and another 10,000 points after spending an additional $3,000 within 6 months, thus a total of 35,000 points with $8,000 spent.

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 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.

Over the weekend, the Ritz-Carlton website was updated to reflect an updated Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card.  See the Visa Infinite logo?  Yes, this is the first Visa Infinite product issued by Chase, and also among the major U.S. financial institutions.  Previously, the only known U.S. Visa Infinite product was City National Bank's Crystal Card.  Let's take a look at the changes from the Visa Signature version.

• Increased Signup Bonus: Three free nights at any Tier 1-4 Ritz-Carlton hotel, after you spend $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and 10,000 points after you add an authorized user and make the first purchase within 3 months of new account opening.  Note that the current signup offer on the Visa Signature version is two free nights at Tier 1-4 Ritz-Carlton.  The free night certificates will expire after 12 months.  Keep in mind that you can't redeem these certificates at 13 top-tier (Tier 5) properties including The Ritz-Carlton in Bachelor Gulch, Naples, Miami South Beach, Miami Bal Harbour, Miami Key Biscayne, New York Central Park, 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 Laguna Niguel (rates from $449 per night), Half Moon Bay (from $495), San Fransisco (from $399), Washington DC Georgetown (from $369), Aruba (from $359), and Vienna (from $360).  A Tier 4 Ritz-Carlton will cost 60,000 points per night, so this new offer may be considered as 190,000 points at most.  However, we still think there is obvious difference between this offer and the actual 190K points, as the latter will offer more flexibility and no expiration date as long as you keep your Ritz-Carlton Rewards account active every 24 months.  Proceed to Application Landing Page to find out more.
• Increased Benefits: (1) Complimentary Priority Pass Select membership in lieu of Lounge Club that is offered by the Visa Signature version.  Priority Pass Select covers the same lounges in Lounge Club plus an additional 400+ lounges.  At this point, we are not sure about the number of guests that will receive free access and if an authorized user will receive a separate membership.  (2) Reimbursement for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) application every four years.  (3) Visa Infinite $100 companion discount per trip on domestic round-trip coach class tickets for your companion(s) on your reservation.  (4) There have been discussions on whether the Visa Infinite version will continue to receive three Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge upgrade certificates, as the new webpage and fine prints don't include this benefit.  However, as of now, new Visa Infinite card members still receive this benefit.
• Increased Annual Fees: The annual fee is $450 on the Visa Infinite, $55 more than the Visa Signature's.  However, the existing Visa Signature card members will be grandfathered in for the $395 annual fee (we don't know for how long though) and upgraded to Visa Infinite to enjoy the extra benefits.
• Worth it?  If you make use of the $300 annual airline credit (on incidentals), your effective annual fee becomes $150.  With that, you you receive Priority Pass Select membership, three Ritz-Carlton club-level upgrade certificates, Ritz-Carlton & Marriott Gold with $10K annual spending, Visa Infinite $100 companion ticket discount, and other great features such as primary rental card coverage, waived foreign transaction fees, embedded EMV chip, and Global Entry credit.  We think this card is one of the best cards for signup bonus, perks, and protection.
• Bottom Line: If you are an existing Visa Signature card member, you will get the best of both worlds - you should be able to request the upgrade and take advantage of the enhanced benefits (Chase is also likely to upgrade all members in the future).  If you don't have a Ritz-Carlton Visa and would like to get one, you probably should go with the Visa Infinite version for the increased signup bonus alone, even though Chase still keeps the Visa Signature version here (only two free nights upon signup).

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

One of the most asked questions by my friends and readers is "what is in your wallet?"  Even though I always think this is a very personal question as you may value a credit card very differently than I do, I think it will be at least interesting to talk about it.

I have quite a few credit cards, and I keep several in the drawer for their perks without even spending a dime on them.  However, these four cards are in my wallet most of the time:

• Amex EveryDay Preferred Card
• Citi Prestige World Elite MasterCard
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Signature
• J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton Visa Signature

Before I discuss them, let me go back a little bit and talk about the three cards I used a lot in the past and why I decided to switch to the current lineup.  For years, I used a very powerful rewards combo - Amex SPG and Chase Sapphire Preferred for my daily spending.  Please move to our featured review "All About Credit Card Rewards" to see the best rewards credit card combos, and you will see this combo is one of our top recommendations.  As I have had a sufficiently large balance of both SPG and Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points, I have decided to diversify my points to pick up more Amex Membership Rewards (MR) and Citi ThankYou (TY) points.  These four programs have always been our recommendations to people who prefer frequent traveler miles/points to cash back rewards, since they are not tied to a single frequent traveler program but rather allow points transfer to multiple partners.  The third card I had for several years was Amex Platinum Card, which was not for rewards but for travel perks such as airport lounge access and luxury hotel privileges.  Since now I don't fly as much as before and I can obtain hotel privileges from somewhere else, I have closed this card to avoid the $450 annual fee.

Now let's see why I decided to open and keep the four cards that are now in my wallet.  I opened Amex EveryDay Preferred (EDP, annual fee $95) in 2015 when Amex offered 30,000 points signup bonus and have since kept charging at least 30 purchases each statement cycle to trigger the monthly 50% monthly points bonus.  In this way this card returns 4.5x, 3x, and 1.5x MR points for groceries, gas, and other spending (6.75%, 4.5% and 2.25% respectively, based on our current valuation).  Obviously, EDP is my most used card nowadays due to its powerful rewards for both bonus categories and general spending.  In addition, EDP also features Amex Offers that save me money or give me extra points here and there, for the purchases I will make anyway. 

I pair EDP with another excellent rewards card Cit Prestige, which I opened in late 2014 when Citi offered 60,000 points signup bonus and a free companion ticket.  Since then I have kept paying the reduced $350 annual fees (down from the regular $450), as I have a Citigold account.  It's pretty easy to get the annual $250 airline credit as airfare is eligible, and the effective annual fee of Prestige becomes $100, comparable to most premium rewards cards.  It offers 3x TY points for most travel purchases and 2x for dining/entertain (5.5% and 3.7%, respectively, based on our current valuation and the 15% annual bonus thanks to Citigold relationship).  Between EDP and Prestige, they cover four most important bonus categories: groceries, gas, travel and dining, and rewards points add up really quickly.  Note that when I charge airfare to Prestige, I will have industry-leading travel protection including $1M Travel Accident Insurance, Travel Cancellation or Interruption, Lost Luggage, Travel Delay beyond 3 hours, and Baggage Delay beyond 3 hours.  In addition, I will also use Prestige for electronics and other items that may have a price drop in near future (Citi Price Rewind) and event tickets (Event Ticket Protection).  Last but not least, as one of the premium high-end cards, Prestige offers amazing travel perks such as airport lounge access through Admirals Club and Priority Pass Select, 4th Night Free at most hotels, luxury hotel privileges through World Elite Luxury Hotels and Resorts program, 3 free rounds of golf each year, Global Entry application fee reimbursement, enhanced Roadside Assistance (free towing up to 10 miles, etc., which makes me think about canceling my AAA membership), and so on.  In this way, Prestige more than fills the gap left by Amex Platinum when it comes to travel perks.

Unlike Amex SPG which I am about to cancel, I decide to keep paying the $95 annual fees on my Chase Sapphire Preferred mainly due to my UR points balance, as I would rather enjoy the flexibility than transfer points to a specific partner program such as United or Hyatt.  Since I am keeping it, now I actually have more reasons to use this card.  Even though its bonus categories (travel and dining) overlap with Citi Prestige's, I will use Sapphire Preferred for all awards tickets plus tickets I pay for other people like my parents, due to the fact that Chase's Travel Accident Insurance covers awards tickets as well as family members.  I will also use Sapphire Preferred for car rentals (primary Rental Car Collision Coverage in the U.S. and abroad),  Costco (starting June 2016 only Visa will be accepted), and some online shopping (Chase UR is the only one among the aforementioned four programs with multiple transfer partners that still offers bonus points through shopping portal).

JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa, which I opened in early 2015 and received 140,000 points signup bonus from, is mostly for perks.  The annual fee is $395, but after making use of the annual $300 airline credit, I am paying $95 effectively.  I will charge $10,000 each year to maintain the Ritz-Carlton/Marriott Gold status, which is arguably the best mid-tier hotel status and guarantees lounge access at JW Marriott, Autograph Collection, Renaissance, and Marriott hotels (while resorts are excluded).  The three annual lounge level upgrades at Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts are also extremely valuable, especially when combined with the $100 hotel credit for each stay of 2+ nights.  Ritz-Carlton Visa also offers free Lounge Club memberships with unlimited access to primary and additional cardholders (there is no annual fee to add an additional cardholder).  I don't need Lounge Club membership myself since I have already received Priority Pass Select from Citi Prestige, which covers all Lounge Club lounges plus some more; however, Lounge Club will be great for my family members with no additional cost.

Lastly, I would add that for couples it doesn't make sense to pay double annual fees for the same rewards card, unless there is a very specific reason.  I added my wife to my EDP and Sapphire Preferred accounts, so she has these two cards for daily spending.  In this way, we avoid paying double annual fees and rewards points can be pooled quickly.  Why don't I add her to my Citi Prestige account?  Well, there is an additional $50 annual fee for that and Sapphire Preferred offers similar rewards.

Now you have known what is in my wallet, would you tell me which cards you have in your wallet?

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

Chase has just brought back the 80K offer for its Marriott Rewards Premier Visa, for both personal and business versions.  You will receive 80,000 points when you spend at least $3,000 within 3 months of new card opening.  For the personal card, you will also receive an additional 7,500 points when you add an authorized user and s/he makes a purchase within 3 months.  This is by far the highest signup bonus in terms of points for this product.  However, the first year annual fees ($85 for personal and $99 for business) are NOT waived with this offer.  As usual, you will continue to receive a free night at a Cat 1-5 hotel worldwide upon anniversary every year.  If you open one personal card and one business card, you have the potential of receiving 167,500 points!

Landing page for personal card
Application page for personal card
Landing page for business card
Application page for business card

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

With personal Marriott Premier Visa 70K and 80K both expired, the best current Chase Marriott Visa offer is the business card 70K - you will receive 70,000 points when you spend at least $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening, with the 1st year annual fee waived (saving $85).  However, the Category 1-4 free night is no longer part of the signup bonus.  You will still receive the anniversary Category 1-5 free night each year you renew the card.

Landing Page
Application Page

© 2015 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

Chase has changed the signup bonus for its JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa once again.  The standard offer was 70,000 points when it was first introduced, and then changed to one free night at any Ritz-Carlton hotel a couple of years later.  The best limited time offers include one with 140,000 points (no annual fee waiver) and the other with 70,000 points plus a first year annual fee waiver.

Now the standard offer is two free nights at any Tier 1-4 Ritz-Carlton hotel worldwide - you will need to pay the $395 annual fee and spend $3,000 within 3 months.  Note that the certificate will expire after 6 months.  A Tier 4 hotel requires 60,000 points per night.  Thus you may view this as an 120,000 points offer; however, we will choose points over the night certificates any day due to the better expiration policy and flexibility.  We think while this is not as lucrative as the best limited time offers, it is better than the previous standard offers - kudos to Chase.  Keep in mind that you can't redeem these certificates at 14 top-tier properties including The Ritz-Carlton hotels in Bachelor Gulch, Naples, Miami South Beach, Miami Bal Harbour, Miami Key Biscayne, New York Central Park, Grand Cayman, St. Thomas, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai Pudong, Dubai, and two EDITION hotels in Miami Beach and New York.  However, there are still some amazing properties that are Tier 1-4, such as the ones in Laguna Niguel (rates from $449 per night), Half Moon Bay (from $495), San Fransisco (from $399), Washington DC Georgetown (from $369), Aruba (from $359), London (EDITION, from $500), Vienna (from $360), and Kyoto (from $440).

While the $395 annual fee seems high, remember after you take advantage of the annual $300 airline credit your effective annual fee is only $95 and it does come with valuable perks such as Ritz-Carlton & Marriott Gold status for the first year and maintained with $10K spending each year thereafter, three Ritz-Carlton Club level room upgrades each year (which can only be used on paid stays), unlimited Lounge Club membership, and primary rental car insurance.  That is why we regard this product highly and recommend it as one of credit cards worth paying annual fees without spending.  However, if you decide to cancel after the first year, you may actually get up to $600 in airline credit since the credit is based on calendar year rather than membership year.

Landing Page
Application Page

© 2015 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.