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Best bonus ever for Amex Platinum, Amex Gold, Chase Ink Cash, Chase Ink Unlimited, and Chase United Explorer

11/13/2020

Wow, Amex and Chase have brought us a few truly exciting offers this week, each representing the historical high. We estimate the value of each offer based on our valuation of points, mostly from the miles transfer feature for long-haul international premium cabin redemptions, as well as typical spending pattern. Do your own math to see your value. See the fine prints for the eligibility.

Amex Platinum Card: 100,000 points + 10x on groceries & gas for 6 months :: $300 effective annual fee (our value $1,605).
Amex Platinum Card (via Resy.com): 75,000 points + $300 for dining + 10x groceries & gas for 6 months :: $300 effective annual fee (our value $1,530).
Amex Gold Card (via Resy.com): 60,000 points + $250 for dining :: effective annual fee $150 (our value $1,000).
Chase Ink Cash: 75,000 points :: no annual fee (our value $750, or $1,125 if you have Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Preferred).
Chase Ink Unlimited: 75,000 points :: no annual fee (our value $750, or $1,125 if you have Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Preferred).
Chase United Explorer: 70,000 miles :: first year free (our value $910).

Chase introduces more temporary bonuses to its credit card portfolio for November and December 2020

10/31/2020

Chase has introduced temporary benefits on more of its credit cards. In a recent post, we covered Chase Sapphire series, Ink series, and Freedom series. Now select cardmembers will receive the following category bonuses between 11/1/2020 and 12/31/2020; you need to activate the offer through a link in the promotional email or at chase.com/mybonus directly.

5x miles/points on Amazon.com and groceries, up to $1,500 in combined spending per month, for United Airlines cards, Southwest RapidRewards cards, Brith Airways Visa, Iberia Visa, Aer Lingus Visa, Marriott Bonvoy cards, and Ritz-Carlton cards.
5x points on Amazon.com and 3x on groceries, up to $1,500 in combined spending per month, for Hyatt cards and IHG Rewards cards.
10x points on Marriott portfolio hotels, up to $3,500 spent per month, for Marriott Bonvoy cards and Ritz-Carlton cards.

In addition, not from Chase or Amex, the following hotel program policies are recently announced:

Marriott: annual free night certificates expiring before 12/11/2020 will be valid until 1/31/2021, and those expiring between 12/11/2020 and 7/31/2021 will be valid until 8/1/2021. These cards earn annual free night certificates: Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, and those Marriott/Ritz-Cartlton/SPG cobranded cards issued by Chase or Amex that are no longer accepting new applications.
Hyatt: annual free night certificates with an expiration date between 3/1/2020 and 12/31/2021 will be valid until 12/31/2021. Chase World of Hyatt Visa and Hyatt Visa earn annual free night certificates.

Finally, to track all the COVID-19 related temporary credit card benefits, please visit our featured review which has been under continuous update with the most recent updates highlighted in cardinal.

Chase Sapphire Preferred 80,000 points ($1,000 in travel rewards, or 80K miles of United, Southwest, JetBlue, Singapore, British, Hyatt, etc.)

9/14/2020

Chase just brought us an improved signup bonus for Sapphire Preferred:

80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (=$1,000 travel rewards via Chase, or 80K miles/points of United, Singapore, British, Flying Blue, Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt, etc.) after spending $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening. Note that there is no more first annual fee waiver as before.
This bonus is not available if you currently have a Sapphire card (Sapphire, Sapphire Preferred, or Sapphire Reserve) or have received signup bonus from any Sapphire card in the past 48 months.
Based on anecdotal reports, this card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (you won't be approved for this card 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).
The historical high of the signup bonus for this card was 100,000 points, but it was many years ago in 2012. This 80K points offer is the best bonus we have seen since 2012.
Sapphire Preferred is a great card to pair with the newly enhanced Chase Freedom Unlimited which offers 5x points on travel through Chase, 3x on dining & drugstores, and 1.5x everywhere else, because you might move points earned from Freedom Unlimited (which is ineligible for miles/points transfer) to Sapphire Preferred's account so they become eligible for miles/points transfer as well as the 1.25 cents per point fixed-value travel redemptions, greatly improving Freedom Unlimited's value.

Chase Southwest personal Visa 65,000 points each (Plus, Premier, Priority) & Southwest Premier Business 60,000 points & United Explorer 60,000 miles & United Business 60,000 miles & United Club 100,000 miles

8/5/2020

Chase has just brought back some good signup offers for Southwest and United cobranded credit cards:

Chase Southwest RR Plus Visa (personal, annual fee $69): 65,000 points after $2,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase Southwest RR Premier Visa (personal, annual fee $99): 65,000 points after $2,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase Southwest RR Priority Visa (personal, annual fee $149): 65,000 points after $2,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase Southwest RR Premier BUSINESS Visa (annual fee $99): 60,000 points after $3,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase United Explorer Visa (personal, 1st year free, $99 thereafter): 60,000 miles after $3,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase United Club Visa Infinite (personal, $525 annual fee): 100,00 miles after $5,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase United BUSINESS Visa (1st year free, $99 thereafter): 60,000 miles after $3,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.

Chase United Club Visa no longer a Top 10 Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card with the recent devaluation of United miles

6/6/2020

With the unfortunate recent devaluation of United miles, we have to adjust our ranking. Chase United Club Visa is now replaced with Amex Green Card as the #10 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card. We don't want to cover the details of the devaluation - you might visit travel blogs such as onemileatatime for details. In a nutshell, United has decided to align its Star Alliance partner redemption rates with those of its own metals, and as a result, our valuation of United miles is adjusted from 1.4 cents per mile (cpm) to 1.3 cpm. Below is a comparison of our Top 10 list before and after this change.

The ravamped Chase United Business Visa 100,000 miles offer

1/24/2020

Chase has re-branded United Explorer Business Visa as United Business Visa, and introduced a few changes:

Annual fee is increased from $95 to $99, and not waived for the first year any more;
Annual 10,000 miles booster for $15K spending is removed;
Local transportation is now a 2x points category; NEW
Receive 5,000 miles upon each anniversary when you also have a personal United credit card; NEW
Receive $100 statement credit upon each anniversary when you buy at least 7 United tickets of $100 or more each. NEW

Also now the card offers 100,000 miles after you spend $10,000 within 3 months of new account opening, better than United Explorer Business Visa ever offered.

A few updates on the website...

8/24/2019

There are quite a few updates on the website in the recent weeks, and here is a quick roundup.

Chase Southwest Performance Business Visa write-up is up - please see the Chase Southwest Visa Cards review for details. The impressive 80K points signup will get you really close to the 110K-point qualifying threshold to achieve the potentially extremely lucrative Southwest Companion Pass which allows you take a companion for free for a year.
Amex Blue Business Cash review is up - this card is no the new benchmark for general business spending with a strait 2% cashback on everything up to $50K spent per year and no annual fees. If you can leverage Membership Rewards' miles transfer feature to achieve a points value higher than 1 cent a piece (1.5 cents in our book), you'd better off with the old "King of Business Cards" Amex Blue Business Plus; however, for most business owners, Blue Business Cash is a much easier option to get $1,000 in rewards per year.
U.S. Bank Business Cash WEMC review is up. Its 3.75% & 1.25% cash rewards structure is nothing to write about, but the $500 signup bonus is worth looking into.
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold Visa review is up. If you can take advantage of the annual free night capped at 35K redemption level, the $95 Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa is actually a better card to apply and keep.
Chase United Explorer Business Visa is offering up to 100,000 miles at signup. Before get too excited, you have to know that this comes with a rather difficult spending requirement of $25K within 6 months of new account opening. Even with the devaluation of United miles in the coming November, due to the fact that partner redemption will be kept the same, this signup offer (worth $1,250 in our book) still tops our chart of best signup bonuses.
Chase IHG Premier MasterCard offers the historical high - 125K points & $50 statement credit & 15 extra points for IHG purchase for the first year & 2 extra points for other general spending for the first year. However, due to the relative low value of IHG points, this signup offer is worth about $460 in our book.
Amex Hilton Ascend has been rebranded back to Amex Hilton Surpass, and nothing else changed. It still comes with 130K Hilton points at signup (worth $425 in our book), complimentary Hilton Gold status, and an annual free weekend night after $15K spending.
Amex Platinum Card offers 75K Membership Rewards at signup now. It is very decent offer for those who are also interested in the iconic card's Fine Hotels & Resorts program, arguably the best airport lounge program offered by a credit card, Hilton Gold status, Uber & Saks credits, 5x points on airfare, etc.

Chase United Explorer BUSINESS Visa Signature 75K miles (best in history)

1/16/2019

Chase has just upped the signup bonus on the United Explorer Business Visa Signature, from 50K miles to 75K miles: you will receive 75,000 United miles after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months of account opening. The $95 annual fee is waived for the first year. Our current valuation for United miles is 1.5 cents a piece, so the signup bonus is worth $1,125 in our book. This is the best offer in history for this product!

With certain United perks such as free bag fees, 2x miles on United | dining | gas | office supplies, as well as the annual 10,000 miles booster when you spend at least $25K per year, this is a great card to keep after the first year for United flyers and/or if collecting United miles is of your interest.

Increased signup bonuses: Capital One Spark Cash/Miles up to $2,000, Capital One Venture 75K miles, Chase United Explorer 65K miles, Chase Southwest Cards 60K points each (three cards), and Avianca LifeMiles Visa 60K miles

11/16/2018

Several cards are offering increased signup bonuses - please always check out our Promotions page for the latest credit card signup offers, sorted by our valuation.

Capital One Spark Cash Business Card: up to $2,000: $500 after spending $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening and an additional $1,500 after spending $50,000 total within 6 months. Even though requirement of the additional $45K spending to get the full $2,000 is undoubtedly on the high side, the effective cashback of 5.3% (3.3% from bonus + 2% from regular cashback) is not bad at all. For comparison, the best business card for general spending is Amex Blue Business Plus which returns 2x Membership Rewards (MR) points on the first $50,000 each year and with our valuation of MR point at 1.5 cents per point represents equivalent cashback of 3%.
Capital One Spark Miles Business Card: up to 200,000 miles: 50,000 miles after spending $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening and an additional 150,000 miles after spending $50,000 total within 6 months. Capital One Miles can be redeemed for travel rewards at exactly one cent a piece, so this signup bonus is similar to Spark Cash's. However, one thing to know is in the coming December, Capital One will finally introduce the miles transfer feature that allows its Miles to be transferred to the following partners: Aeromexico, Air Canada (Aeroplan), Alitalia, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Etihad Guest, EVA, Finnair, FlyingBlue (Air France & KLM), Hainan Airlines, Qantas, and Qatar. The transfer ratio will be 1 Capital One Miles = 0.75 frequent flyer miles (1,000:750). Based on these transfer partners, our valuation for Capital One Miles will be 1.1 cents a piece, and the 200K miles you obtain from this signup bonus will be worth $2,200, a little more than the fixed value travel redemption.
Capital One Venture Card: 75,000 miles after you spend $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening. Similar to Spark Miles, these miles are worth 1 cent a piece when redeemed for travel rewards, but can be transferred to frequent flyer miles after December.
Chase United Explorer Visa: up to 65,000 miles: 40,000 miles after spending $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and an additional 25,000 miles after spending $10,000 total within 6 months of new account opening. If you don't want to spend $10K to get the full 65K miles, you may consider another offer of 50,000 miles after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening.
All three personal Chase Southwest RapidRewards Visa Credit Cards are offering 60,000 points: 40,000 points after spending $1,000 within 3 months of new account opening and an additional 20,000 points after spending $12,000 total within the first year of new account opening. All three personal Southwest Visas offer the same signup bonus: Southwest RR Plus Visa, Southwest RR Premier Visa, and Southwest RR Priority Visa. Note that the Southwest RR Premier Business Visa still has an easier offer of 60,000 points after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening.
Banca Popular Avianca LifeMiles Vuela Visa: 60,000 miles after the first purchase - increased from the regular 40K offer. You need to enter the promotion code LM17WB to receive this offer.

February 8, 2017 Update - Chase United MP Explorer 55,000 miles, Ritz-Carlton Visa three free nights ending soon, and details of Visa Infinite Hotels

2/8/2017

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.