by PointsGuru | Mar 30, 2022 | Chase Cards, Sign-Up Bonus
New Chase Freedom card members can get a $200 bonus after $500 in purchases, a $25 bonus for adding an authorized user, and a $50 bonus for each new card member that you refer for up to an extra $500 cashback in referrals.
The Chase Freedom card is available directly on the Chase Bank website, in Chase branches, and through our application link here for the up to $200 in bonuses offer.
Chase Freedom Card $200 Bonus Details
The Chase Freedom credit card is offering a $200 bonus after $500 in spending within 3 months.
Plus, you can also earn an extra $25 bonus when you add your first authorized user to your account and make a purchase within the same 3-month period.
SIGN UP HERE!.
Chase Freedom is a cash rebate credit card that provides new applicants with cash bonus promotions and excellent card features. The Chase Freedom card has no annual fees, so you’ll never pay an annual fee with this cash rebate card from Chase Bank.
Chase Freedom 5% Quarterly Rebates for 2022
Chase Freedom 5% past cash back categories include:
- 5% Back at Department Stores
- 5% Back at Drug Stores
- 5% Back at Wholesale Clubs (such as Costco and Sam’s Club)
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by PointsGuru | Dec 18, 2021 | Capital One, Sign-Up Bonus, Travel
We recently saw the introduction of the new Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, which is Capital One’s new premium credit card. May travel experts are saying this is the card you should be replacing your American Express Platinum and Sapphire Chase travel cards with as the best card. This card builds on the basics of the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review), which has long been Capital One’s flagship travel credit card.
With many Capital One Venture cardmembers trying to make sense of the Capital One Venture X and compare to see which card is better and if you are you eligible for the Venture X if you have the Venture we are looking to address some of these questions here.
Both cards offer 2x Venture miles per dollar spent with no foreign transaction fees, making these the best cards for everyday spending. They both offer a TSA Precheck or Global Entry fee credit once every four years.
Capital One Venture cards are one of the best overall for travel rewards
The Venture X is such a no-brainer over the Venture. The card’s annual fee is $300 higher ($395 vs. $95), but for that you’re getting:
A welcome bonus of 100,000 Venture miles plus a $200 vacation rental credit upon completing minimum spending, rather than a bonus of 60,000 Venture miles
A $300 credit valid through Capital One Travel every cardmember year, which you can apply towards flights, hotels, and rental cars
10,000 Venture bonus miles on your account anniversary every year, which you can transfer to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners, or can be redeemed for one cent each towards a travel purchase
A Priority Pass membership plus Capital One Lounge access (the DFW lounge is amazing); these benefits apply not only to the primary cardmembers, but also to up to four authorized users, which you can add to your card at no cost
Hertz President’s Circle status, which will score you upgrades and more when renting with Hertz
A variety of protection benefits on account of this being a Visa Infinite Card, including cell phone protection
10x miles on hotel and rental car purchases through Capital One Travel, and 5x miles on flight purchases through Capital One Travel
The math works out very favorably here. For the Venture X you’re paying an extra $300 per year over the Venture, and the $300 Capital One Travel credit should cover that. Then you’re receiving endless incremental perks, like the anniversary bonus miles, lounge access for you and up to four authorized users, and so much more.
Access the Capital One Lounge DFW with the Venture X
How should you acquire the Venture X if you have the Venture?
Say you have the Capital One Venture, and you decide that you want to pick up the Capital One Venture X. What’s the best way to go about it? You have two options — you can either apply outright, or you can potentially upgrade your card. Let’s go over the details, as well as the pros and cons, of each of these options.
Apply outright for the Venture X and receive the bonus
Even if you have the Capital One Venture, you can still apply for the Capital One Venture X, and be eligible for the welcome bonus. This is no doubt the most lucrative path to getting the card:
You’d be eligible for the welcome bonus of 100,000 Venture miles plus a $200 vacation rental credit
You don’t have to pick up the phone, as you can apply for the card directly online
The downside to this method is that this would be like any other credit card application, so your credit would be pulled, and you’d have to be approved for the card; that being said, there are lots of reports of instant approvals on the card, and you may even end up with a significantly higher credit line than you have on the Venture
Redeem your Venture miles for Emirates first class
Product change & upgrade to the Venture X
Most credit card issuers will let you product change between cards in the same “family,” assuming you’ve had a card for at least 12 months (generally product changing isn’t possible within the first year). This will be an option for many, but generally isn’t as lucrative:
You don’t receive the welcome bonus if you product change or upgrade from the Venture to the Venture X
Some Venture cardmembers are being targeted for an upgrade offer of 50,000 miles if upgrading from the Venture to the Venture X; however, this is targeted (so check your email or online account), and for that matter that’s still a far cry from the standard welcome bonus of 100,000 miles plus a $200 vacation rental credit
The benefit of this option is that there’s generally no credit pull when product changing (though you’ll want to officially verify when you make the request, based on your situation); so this could be useful if you don’t think you’d be approved, or if you’re trying to stay under Chase’s 5/24 limit
You may be able to upgrade to the Venture X
The strategy I’d take for acquiring the Venture X
If it were me, I’d try to apply outright for the Capital One Venture X, given the exceptional welcome bonus being offered. Unless you have a specific reason that this would be problematic, that seems like the best bet. Personally I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so that welcome bonus is worth around $1,900 to me, which is massive.
We recommend you apply outright, even if I had the Venture Card. However, in the event that you get denied or have issues with approval, you can always later try to product change from the Venture to the Venture X. Even if you get rejected for the application, that wouldn’t impact your odds of being able to product change to the card in the future.
Bottom line
The new Capital One Venture X is a highly lucrative travel rewards credit card. It’s a no-brainer to get this card over the Capital One Venture. While the annual fee is $300 higher, there are so many incremental perks that should prove worthwhile for anyone who travels with any frequency.
For those who already have the Venture, there are a couple of ways you could acquire the Venture X. You could apply outright, which is what I would do, since you’re eligible for the massive bonus on the card. Alternatively, you may also be able to product change. The catch is that you won’t be eligible for the full bonus — you may be targeted for some sort of an upgrade offer, but it will be at most 50,000 Venture miles.
by PointsGuru | Feb 12, 2021 | Apply Now!, Sign-Up Bonus
We normally put together a list of our favorite credit cards each month and this is what we have come up with from across the web. There are so many offers that it is sometimes hard to decide and because we are one of the only unbiased sites online that does not have affiliate links to offers you can assure we could care less which card you apply for. We just rank these cards in the order that we feel we would want to apply if we had not already had most of these cards and could reapply for them. Let us know if any of the links are broken or if you are having problems with these.
Keep in mind that miles and points are not equal and that each Hotel and Airline are not equal. There are also other factors we look at when weighing programs such as mile bonuses and how many more points we can earn per charge. Always read the small print on these credit card offers to make certain it is the right card for you.
Some recent card changes include The JetBlue American Express card which is being phased out for another program. The Barclays Lufthansa card has dropped the miles bonus so we recommend when it goes back to 50,000 miles. The Bank of America Asiana Miles and the US Bank LifeMiles also need to go back up to better bonus sign-ups before we would consider them again.
Here is the list of the top rated Rewards credit cards right now:
#1 Discover It – Our Favorite Card of 2016 is by far the Discover It Card. Not only is Discover a known pioneer of the credit card industry when it comes to rewards but its DOUBLE cash back offer is the best out there especially when they double your shopping and Apple Pay bonuses. Head here to get a $100 Bonus when you sign up and Double points for a Year.
#2 American Express Cards – American Express has had incredible AMEX offers for their accounts in the past year. Two must have cards are the Discover It card (above) and an American Express in your wallet. AMEX Offers pop-up and save me about a thousand a year. You can get these applied to any AMEX Card. Here are a few AMEX Business and Personal cards we rate the highest:
#3 Chase Credit Card Offers:
- Free Night Stay at a Holiday Inn or Kimpton or any IHG Hotel you find.
- $150 when you spend $500 on the Chase Freedom plus 5% on Gas Purchases!
- 75 Points British Airways Avios
- Spend $2,000 in 3 months. Get 50,000 points. Spend $20,000 total in the first year for a total of 100,000 points.
- Great for having these Avios for U.S. domestic American Airlines flights or for use in Europe.
- $600 worth of points from Ink Plus
- Spend $5,000 in 3 months. Get 60,000 points.
- The points transfer to United, Southwest, British, Hyatt, British Airways, and more.
- 5x the points on purchases at office stores.
- You may be able to get a 70,000-point offer at your local Chase branch.
- 50k Miles United Airlines
- You may be targeted for the 50,000-mile offer when you log-into your account. You can also apply at airports at the kiosks for that offer.
- Business Owner? 50,000-miles with no annual fee for the first year. See here for details: theexplorercard.com/Business50KAFW.
- 50k Points Southwest Rapid Rewards
- Best Offer is to go to the Southwest Premier link and scroll down to where it says “Not the card for you” and click “More.” That way you will get the same card basically plus 50k points for only $69 instead of the $99 fee. The Plus Card does charge for foreign exchange fees but who uses their Southwest Airlines card for that?
- You get 50k points when you spend $2,000 in 3 months.
- The Premier Business card will also score you 50k points.
- 60,000-point Business Premier if you call 1-888-883-2721.
Two highly competitive cards are the Sapphire and the Arrival Card Below:
- Sapphire (creditcards.chase.com)
- Spend $4,000 in 3 months to get 40,000 points.
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- These Ultimate Rewards points are highly valuable compared to most card issuers. The Sapphire Preferred card is still the best card to use for travel and restaurant purchases, assuming you don’t have a 3x or 5x card.
- Barclays Arrival (FindMyBarclayCard.com)
- Spend $3,000 in 3 months to get 40,000 miles.
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- The Barclay’s Arrival card has great value for non-bonused spending because you can earn 2.22 cents per dollar on everything. This makes it superior to the Sapphire Preferred Card from Chase on non-bonused spend when redeeming for travel purchases.
Citibank Credit Cards:
- 50k Miles American Airlines cards
- Spend $3,000 in 3 months. Get 50,000 miles.
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- The American AAdvantage Executive card is back up to 75,000 miles for a limited time.
- 50k Points Citi Prestige
- Spend $3,000 in 3 months and get 50,000 points.
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- Benefits include a $250 credit per year, but huge $450 annual fee.
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- 60,000-point offer possible if you go into your local branch.
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- Citibank shows cards you are prequalified for with a tool on their site where you should find this 50k offer. You may be targeted for a 100k point offer that would really be incredible.
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- If you stay at a hotel for 4 nights you get the 4th night free by calling their travel concierge to book the stay.
- 50k Points Thank You Premier
- Spend $3,000 in 3 months to get 50,000 points.
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- Similar to the Prestige card but no huge annual fee.
- AT&T Citi Offer
Hot Hotel Card Offers: Free Room at Ramada and Wyndham Hotels with Wyndham from BarclaysCard
- 15,000 points after first purchase which gets you a FREE night at any of their hotels.
- Book any hotel for 15,000 points a night including Ramada hotels!
- 2 Free Nights Hilton Honors Reserve
- Spend $2,500 in 4 months for 2 free weekend nights. Also, the annual fee of $65.
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- Gold status while you have the card including upgrades, free breakfast, free wifi.
- 2 Free Nights Ritz Carlton (Marriott)
- Spend $3,000 in 3 months to get 2 free nights at any Marriott or Ritz Carlton hotel.
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- These 2 free nights will cost you at a $395 annual fee but it comes with a travel credit of $300 to use once per year and you can make it add up to $600 in credits if you plan it right.
- 2 Free Nights Hyatt Hotels
- Spend $1,000 in 3 months to get 2 nights, $50, and 5,000 points for adding a user.
- 80k Points InterContinental Hotel (IHG aka Priority Club)
- Spend $1,000 to get a possible 80,000 points plus the small annual fee.
- 85k Points Club Carlson Premier from US Bank
- Spend $2,500 in 90 days to get 85,000 points.
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- Lot’s of great hotels across the world in beautiful places such as Amsterdam.
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- You likely do not already have a US Bank Card
- 2 Free Nights Fairmont Hotel from Chase
- Spend $3,000 in 3 months to get 2 nights and breakfast at any Fairmont.
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- Expensive chain of hotels so the 2 free nights are worth the annual fee!
- Up to 80k Points Marriott (Chase)
- Spend $2,000 in 3 months to get 50,000 points.
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- The regular 70,000-point Business link still works plus there are other offers for 40,000 points and $100.
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- Find targeted 80k point offers by going into a Chase branch or calling.
- 70k Points Best Western from First Bank of Omaha
- First Bank of Omaha offers 4 different card options for this card with up to 70,000 points with one listed.
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- You have to do some high spending to get the 70k points but you get the annual fee free for the the first year then its $59.
- Hilton HHonors has a card from Citibank and American Express. The AMEX Card will get you up to 75k points .
Bank Of America Cards:
- 25k miles Alaska Airlines
- Spend $1 and get 25,000 miles.
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- Call 1.800.932.2775 and give priority code VACFQ7 if you cannot find a good offer for Alaska Airlines online you can also shop for a flight on their website and see credit card offers listed.
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- Bank of America cards are easier to churn than other banks meaning you can possibly cancel the card and reapply to get the bonus again.
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- You can apply for two BOA Alaska Airlines cards at once just by applying with two open browsers at the same time. It will also run on the same credit report inquiry.
- $200 Bank Americard Travel Rewards
- Spend $1,000 in 90 days to get 20,000 points. Offer is up $100 from its normal offer.
- Up to 20k points Amtrak
- 20,000 and 12,000 points cards offered but limitations on point transfer
Wells Fargo Cards:
- 40k points Propel
- Spend $3,000 in 3 months to get 40,000 points.
Capital One
- $500 Bonus Spark Business Card
- Spend $4,500 in 3 months to get 50,000 miles or $500 in travel purchases.
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- Capital One also offers a beautiful green 2% back Spark Business Card with a $500 bonus.
- Venture (Personal)
- Spend $3,000 in 3 months then get 40,000 miles instead of the normal 20k mile offering.
BMO Harris Bank:
- Diners Club Elite (DinersClubUS.com for more information)
- 3x points at gas station, grocery stores, and pharmacies that can turn into Starwood points.
TD Bank:
- 25k miles Aeroplan
- Spend $1,000 in 3 billing statements to get 25,000 miles.
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- Not spectacular, but low spend and not the usual issuer.
Comenity Bank:
- Virgin America
- Airline is expanding but they offer a card that allows you to cancel flights for free even though they barely offer any flights unless you live in their hub San Francisco.
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- The Virgin America Platinum card has something that we wish all airline credit cards would have which is a cancellation-fee reimbursement. The annual fee is steep but if you fly Virgin America and cancel a lot of flights then this is a great card.
Other cards possibly worth mentioning:
- LAN (US Bank)
- 20,000 miles after first use. Was 25,000 before March 1.
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- Down from a 40,000-mile offer.
- Frontier Airlines (Barclayscard)
- Spend $500 in 3 months to get 40,000 miles.
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- Frontier’s miles expire after 6 months of no activity.
Citibank offers the Expedia card where you can spend $2,000 in 3 months and get 20,000 points.This comes with an annual fee but they offer a 10k card with no fee. Choice Hotels has a card from Barclays and you can see some of their latest hotels here. This could be a good one to own for 4 free stays. Cash Back Cards we wish that had a bigger bonus or any at all are the following:
- BarclaysCard NFL Card Offer was great a few years ago when they offered more than a $100 bonus. Let’s hope that bonus goes back up to $500 or so.
- TD Easy Rewards – 5% cashback select categories for 6 months.
- Fidelity Card– 2% cashback. $50 bonus available for now.
- Citi Double Cash – 2% cashback.
- BB&T Spectrum Card– 3% cashback for 90 days, plus bonuses. Limited states.
- Capital One Quicksilver Card – 1.5% cashback and 20% Back on Uber Ride Share.
- Barclays Sallie Mae – 5% gas, grocery, and books. On first $750 per month. Including Amazon!
by PointsGuru | Feb 2, 2018 | Sign-Up Bonus, US Bank
As if you need another reason to watch the Winter Olympics now you can monetize the sport when you get this credit card offer.
U.S. Bank is bringing back the Winter Olympics US Bank FlexPerks card promotion. You’ll earn an increased sign-up bonus of 25,000 FlexPoints after meeting minimum spending requirements. Plus bonus FlexPoints for every medal the US Olympic team wins!
Because FlexPoints are worth 1.5 cents each when you redeem them through the US Bank travel portal for airfare, hotels, and rental cars, this could end up being a decent deal. We’ve bought some excellent flights through their portal and for some reason a better deal than Citi ThankYou, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and the much over hyped Membership Rewards.
The US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards card normally comes with 20,000 FlexPoints after spending $2,000 within 4 months of account opening. But US Bank is celebrating the Winter Olympics by increasing the card’s welcome offer and adding bonuses.
With this deal, the US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards card earns 25,000 FlexPoints after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months. And you’ll get bonus points for each medal the US team wins:
- 500 FlexPoints for each gold medal
- 250 FlexPoints for each silver medal
- 100 FlexPoints for each bronze medal
The card also comes with:
- 2 FlexPoints per $1 spent on 1 category (gas, grocery or airline purchases) which you spend the most on each month and on most cell phone expenses
- 2 FlexPoints per $1 of eligible charitable donations
- 1 FlexPoint per $1 of all other eligible purchases
- $25 airline credit for every award flight booked with FlexPoints (baggage fees, in-flight food, drinks, etc.)
The $49 annual fee is waived the first year.
During the 2014 Olympics, the US team won 28 medals (9 Gold, 7 Silver, 12 Bronze), which were worth 7,450 FlexPoints (9 Gold X 500 FlexPoints + 7 Silver X 250 FlexPoints + 12 Bronze X 100 FlexPoints). So if the US team earns a similar amount of medals as last time, you’d end up with ~32,000 FlexPoints (25,000 FlexPoints sign-up bonus + ~7,000bonus FlexPoints).
FlexPoints are worth an average of 1.5 cents each when redeemed for airfare, hotels, or rentals cars through the US Bank travel portal. So you could end up with ~$450 toward your next trip!
If you were considering applying for the US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards card, now is the best time. You can apply with this link. If you’re a newbie to credit cards we recommend a Chase card first such as the Freedom Card here that comes with a $150 bonus.
by PointsGuru | Jan 1, 2018 | HSBC, Sign-Up Bonus
HSBC is offering a new HSBC Cash Rewards credit card with no annual fee and a $150 bonus when you spend $500 or more in the first 3 months from account opening. Additionally, you’ll get 2% cash back on purchases made within the first 6 months from Account opening, and 10% Anniversary Bonus on all Cash Rewards earned each year. The card also comes with no foreign transaction fees and other decent travel benefits.
We recently applied for this HSBC Cash Rewards Mastercard to earn $150 cash back after spending $500 in the first 3 months of account opening. This a really low spending requirement to make in three months of opening to get a $150 bonus. The process was easy with HSBC and we instantly got approved which was a relief because other banks such as BarclayCard and Chase have made it harder and harder lately. The credit limit was much lower than we would get with other banks but we only need to spend $500 so that’s more than OK.
Rewards
2% cash back on purchases – You’ll make 2% cash back during the first 6 months from account opening then 1.5% cash back after those months are over.
10% Anniversary Bonus – Earn this bonus on all Cash Rewards earning each year.
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by PointsGuru | Nov 22, 2017 | Free Stuff, Retail, Sign-Up Bonus, Taxi Rideshare & Rentals
You’ll earn $4 Cashback in points for EVERY ride you take with Uber with no limit to the points you can earn with this new promotion plus you can get another dollar per ride by opening the app through Ibotta. You will also be entered for the $5,000 Shop Your Way Sweepstakes every time you ride.
Shop Your Way (SYW) and Uber have teamed up to provide SYW members the opportunity to earn SYW points for their Uber rides. Shop Your Way is a points currency where you can redeemed at Sears, Kmart and/or at shopyourway.com. You cannot redeem SYW points as payment for an Uber ride. You can redeem your rewards at Sears, Kmart, Lands’ End, or online for clothing, electronics, entertainment and much more.
Here’s how to get up to $5 per UBER Ride:
Step 1: Sign-Up here for Shop Your Way
Step 2: Connect Shop Your Way with UBER
Step 3: To earn the $1 extra cash back, download Ibotta (YOU GET $10 to start you off with Referral Code UNCVEUI). Here are more details on Ibotta. You must open the Ibotta app before booking the UBER ride and it stacks with with Shop Your Way promo.
All linked members can earn $4 Cashback in points per Uber ride anywhere in the US, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Shop Your Way points earned for rides in qualifying market Areas expire 30 days after issuance. Please note split fare rides do not count as a ride for purposes of this offer. Offer Valid 11/17/17-1/2/18.