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Capital One Venture up to 100,000 Miles ($1,000 in travel rewards or 75,000 frequent flyer miles)

9/22/2020

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Capital One Venture Rewards Visa Signature is offering up to 100,000 Miles (50,000 Miles when you spend $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and an additional 50,000 Miles when you spend a total of $20,000 within the first year). This comes close to this card's historical high of 100,000 miles with the first year annual fee waiver and low spending requirement in 2011 & 2012.
Since May 2020, the $95 annual fee is no longer waived for the first year.
100,000 Capital One Miles can be redeemed for $1,000 in fixed-value travel rewards, or for food delivery, takeout, streaming services through 9/30/2020 as a COVID-19 relief measure.
100,000 Miles can also be transferred to 75,000 frequent traveler miles/points of the following parter programs: Aeromexico, Air Canada Aeroplan, Alitalia, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, EVA, Finnair, FlyingBlue (Air France & KLM), JetBlue, Qantas, Singapore, and Wyndham Rewards, or 50,000 Accor Live Limitless points.
Our current valuation for Capital One Miles is 1.1 cents a piece based on the miles/points transfer feature, or 1 cent based on fixed value rewards. This card returns 2x Miles on everything, i.e., 2~2.2% rewards. Even though the $20K spending requirement is kind of high, you don't really lose anything compared to a benchmark 2% cashback card such as Citi Double Cash or Fidelity Visa. So if you could spend this much in the first year, opening this card is highly recommended.
Keep in mind that while most other card issuers usually pull from one of the three credit reporting agencies, Capital One is infamous for pulling all three.

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Chase introduces Freedom Flex and revamps Freedom Unlimited

9/14/2020

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Today, Chase introduces a new product Freedom Flex World Elite MasterCard (WEMC), which replaces the popular Freedom Visa while keeping the 5% quarterly rotating categories and zero annual fee. Freedom Flex WEMC offers a few new bonus categories: 5% cashback on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR), and 3% cashback on dining & drugstores. The signup bonus remains the same: $200 with $500 spent within 3 months of new account opening + 5% cashback on groceries up to $12,000 spent for the first year. Freedom Visa will be discontinued for new applications, and the existing cardmembers will have an option to product change to the new Freedom Flex WEMC.
A few words about the 5% cashback on travel booked through UR: it makes a lot of sense to book airfare (other than a few exceptions such as Southwest) to take advantage of the bonus, as the rates are the same as if you book directly with airlines and if you remember to add your frequent flyer number you will still earn miles and be recognized for your elite status; however, you may want to think twice before booking hotels, because several hotel programs won't allow points accumulation or recognize your elite status if you book through a third party; you may also need to be careful about car rentals, as you might not be able to apply certain coupons or promotions.
Chase also revamps Freedom Unlimited Visa, adding 5% cashback on travel booked through Chase UR and 3% on dining & drugstores, while keeping 1.5% cashback everywhere else and zero annual fee. The signup bonus also remains the same: $200 with $500 spent within 3 months of new account opening + 5% cashback on groceries up to $12,000 spent for the first year. The existing cardmembers don't need to do anything to receive the new benefits.
Even though both Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited are advertised as cashback cards, they actually earn UR points and have the "1,000 points = $10 cash" redemption option (starting with 2,000 points minimum per redemption). Both offer impressive rewards, especially for the bonus categories. However, if you have a premium UR card such as Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Preferred, you can move the UR points earned from either Freedom card to the premium UR account and take advantage of two premium redemption features: (1) transfer UR points to miles/points of frequent traveler programs (such as United, Singapore, British, Flying Blue, Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt) at 1:1 ratio, or (2) fixed-value travel redemption when booking through UR at 1.25 cents/point for Sapphire Preferred / Ink Preferred or 1.5 cents/point for Sapphire Reserve. This increases the rewards value of either Freedom card by 50%, based on our current valuation of UR points.
Freedom Unlimited is now rated as #9 Best Credit Card for Rewards, which is only based on 1 cent per point value because our ranking method is based on single-card scenarios. If we use 1.5 cents value assuming pairing with a premium UR card, Freedom Unlimited will easily take the top spot from the current champion Citi Premier, and Freedom Flex will be rated #2.
Freedom Unlimited and Sapphire Reserve make a great combo, allowing you to pool UR points in Sapphire's account for fixed value rewards or points transfer with elevated value. Obviously, you want to use Freedom Unlimited for most purchases, while using Sapphire Reserve for foreign transactions. As for travel, it makes sense to put hotels & car rentals on Sapphire Reserve as previously explained, and you need to decide on which to use for airfare - even though Freedom Unlimited gives you 2 more points, Sapphire Reserve's travel protection is second to none, offering Travel Delay, Baggage Delay, and other coverages with higher insurance amounts. In addition, if you want to throw in Chase Freedom Flex that earns 5x points on quarterly rotating categories, your return will be even higher. Chase is smart to make you keep all three cards if you want to maximize UR point earning.

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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

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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.

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BofA Alaska Visa historical high @signup (personal 65K miles + $99 companion pass, business 40K miles + $200 + $99 companion pass)

9/7/2020

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BofA Alaska Visa has offered the best historical bonuses for both the personal version and business version:

Personal version: up to 65,000 miles + one $99 companion certificate (40,000 miles + one $99 companion certification which allows you to take a companion for $99 plus fees and taxes starting $22 when you pay your own ticket, after spending $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and additional 25,000 miles after spending a total of $8,000 with 6 months). Based on our current valuation of 1.8 cents a piece, the signup bonus is worth $1,180.
Business version: $200 statement credit + 40,000 miles + one $99 companion certificate after spending $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening. The signup bonus is worth $945 in our book.

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Capital One Venture up to 100,000 Miles ($1,000 in travel rewards or 75,000 frequent flyer miles)

Chase introduces Freedom Flex and revamps Freedom Unlimited

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

BofA Alaska Visa historical high @signup (personal 65K miles + $99 companion pass, business 40K miles + $200 + $99 companion pass)

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