Time To Get More Credit Cards
With my trip to Scandinavia, taking my parents around Europe and the recent beer run to the "Old" World, I have been on the major mile/point "burning" spell this year. It is time to get some more credit cards to help build up my point balances and I figured I will share these with you since folks constantly ask me which credit card(s) they should get. There are quite a few pretty good offers available right now, some ending soon, so I plan on taking advantage of most of them.
Disclosure right away: All information and links below are current as of today and will change/disappear soon. I have no affiliate links or interest in any of these and will not gain anything if you apply for any, all, or none of these cards (but if you want to use those miles to fly over and buy me a cup of coffee, I would appreciate it) - these are simply the cards I am applying for myself. For some of the cards, I do provide a link to Frequent Miler's website which contains his affiliate application links for those cards - he will get paid by the credit card companies for each approved cardmember. Unlike many most miles and points bloggers out there, I enjoy useful content he shares on his blog and how he does not pimp up those affiliate links in every post, so I am happy to give him my business.
Ok, now to the fun part! Here are the offers I am considering.
American Express
There are actually not many good American Express offers available right now. There is an offer for Business Premier Rewards card with 50,000 Membership Rewards, but I am not eligible for it so I was choosing between standard bonuses for Starwood Preferred Guest personal card (25,000 Starwood points), a slightly better than usual 45,000 SkyMiles offer from Delta (discussed on SlickDeals), and Blue Cash Preferred card. Since the former two are nothing extraordinary, I settled on the Blue Cash Preferred:
Blue Cash Preferred - cash back
$250 after $1000 in purchases in 3 months, 6% cashback on up o $6k in purchases per year at supermarkets, 3% gas stations and department stores. $75 annual fee is not waived.
Application link: use CardMatch tool, fill out your information (without entering your SSN) and you should be shown the offers on the next page.
Barclays Bank
I already have a personal US Airways MasterCard from Barclays. They have another offer for a personal card with a lesser bonus, their Arrival card with the standard bonus, and a limited time Lufthansa card offer. I think I will go for the Lufthansa card as well as a business US Airways (relatively small bonus, but better get it before they merge with American).
Arrival World MasterCard - 40k points
40k points after $1000 spend in 90 days. Fee waived first year ($89). 2 points per $1 spent. 10% points back when spent on travel. Free TripIt Pro.
Application link: FrequentMiler
Lufthansa Miles & More Premier World MasterCard - 50k miles
20k after first purchase, 30k after spending $5k in first 90 days. $79 annual fee, not waived. 50k miles = round-trip to Europe/Hawaii/Caribbean or up to three first class seats on domestic flights with United. 1 mile per $1 spent. Complimentary companion ticket.
Application link: Frequent miler
US Airways Premier MasterCards - 35k miles
35k after first purchase, annual fee waived first year ($89), 10k bonus on anniversary, one US Airways Club pass, 5k discount off award ticket, spend $25k a calendar year and receive free award redemption for 12 months
More info: Flyertalk
Application link: Frequent miler
Direct application link: Barclays website
US Airways Dividend Business MasterCards - 25k miles
25k after first use, $79 annual fee not waived, spend $25k a calendar year and receive free award redemption for 12 months.
Application link: Frequent miler
Bank of America
There are a few different offers available from Bank of America, none of them amazing so I chose the ones below, figuring that I can always take advantage of the "standard" offer for Virgin Atlantic MasterCard (45,000 miles) later.
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature - 25k + 15k miles
25,000 points awarded one to two weeks after account approval and an additional 15,000 Bonus Miles after making purchases totaling at least $2,000 a month for each of the first 12 months. 1 mile per $1 dollar spent. $75 annual fee.
Direct application link: Bank of America
Slightly different offer - 30k upon approval, no need for additional spend, same fee: FrequentMiler
WorldPoints Travel Rewards Business Visa - $150 bonus + 1.5% cash back
$100 statement credit after $500 spend, 5000 bonus points after first purchase, no annual fee. 1.5 world points for $1 spent, no limits. Points to cash redemption table.
More info: Bank of America
Direct application link: Bank of America
Chase Bank
I am debating a pair of cards (personal + business) to apply for here. On one hand, applying for both Southwest cards will net me over $1500-worth of Southwest points and a companion pass for the next two years. On the other hand, I don't have much use for the companion pass right now and I am very tempted by the no fee British Airways card (for the first time) as well as the Ink Plus business card before it is switched form Mastercard to Visa. Decisions, decisions…
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Visa and Business Visa - 50,000 points each
50k after $2k spend in three months (worth about $700-$800). $69 annual fee not waived. No foreign transaction fees. Receive a companion pass when earning over 110,000 points in one Rapid Rewards account in one year (50k + 50k + 4k from spend + extra 6k from spend) - free flights for companion when ticket is booked using either points or actual $. This offer is rumored to expire 10/31 so hurry up!
Application link: Frequent miler
More info and strategy to maximize companion pass benefits: Frequent Miler Tips and Tricks
British Airways Visa Signature - 50,000 Avios
50,000 Avios after $2k spend in 90 days. $95 annual fee waived first year (first time for this card). No foreign transaction fees and comes with chip/pin combination very popular/almost mandatory in many parts of Europe. 1.25 Avios per $1 spent. Avios can be redeemed for American Airlines flights for ridiculously cheap fares (as little as 4500 points for short one way flight). The no-fee offer is likely to expire soon.
Direct application link & info: British Airways
Ink Plus Business Mastercard - 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points
50k points after $5k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee waived first year. No foreign transaction fees. 5 points per $1 at office supply stores, cell phone bills. Two Lounge Club passes per year. UR points can be transferred to many, many different programs.
Application link: Frequent miler
Citi Bank
Citi used to be very generous, allowing pretty much unlimited, and later somewhat-limited, churning of American Airlines AAdvantage cards. It is no longer the case these days. You can find more information (and application links) in this Flyertalk tread. Since I already had Visa and AmEx versions of the card this/last year, I will go for the Mastercard version.
American Airlines AAdvantage World MasterCard - 50k
50k after $3k spend in first three months. $95 annual fee waived first year. 1 mile per $1 spent. 10% of redeemed AAdvantage miles back (up to 10,000 per calendar year). $100 AA flight discount each year after spending 30k and renewing card membership.
Apply & More Info: Citi bank
American Airlines AAdvantage Business MasterCard - 50k
50k after $3k spend in first three months. $95 annual fee waived first year. 1 mile per $1. Group 1 boarding. 5% mileage bonus on miles from purchases during prior cardmember year (must renew, must keep account open for at least 45 days after renewal, posts in 6-8 weeks). Companion certificate after $30k spend in cardmember year ($99 ticketing plus taxes).
Apply & More Info: Citi bank
Other Issuers
Walmart Discover - $25, TransUnion Fico score
No annual fee. $25 statement credit after spending $75 on walmart.com same day when applying for CC (sounds iffy). Free monthly TransUnion FICO. 5c off Walmart gas stations (not Sam's). So, getting it solely to monitor my TransUnion scores.
Info and direct application link: Walmart
US Bank Cash+ Visa Signature - customizable 2%-5% cash back categories, Experian score
Up to 5% cash back on first $2000 each quarter, 2% unlimited. $25 bonus when redeeming $100 or more (once per calendar year). No limit on total cashback. Free Experian score. US Bank approval process is a major backward pain in the behind. So I may skip this one.
More info: US Bank
Direct application link: US Bank