Best credit card signup bonuses

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A credit card's value is based on its combination of benefits, reward rates, and signup bonus. Much of this website is dedicated to letting you know about credit cards which are valuable to get, use, and hold onto.

However, the list below only takes into consideration the value of the credit card's signup bonus. While some of these cards may have benefits that might make them interesting additions to your core credit card collection—all of them are worth getting, even if it is simply to receive the signup bonus.

If you are new, make sure to look at our Credit Cards 101 and Credit Card Signup Bonuses: The Easiest Path to Free Airplane Tickets and Hotel Nights guides. There is more to consider than simply making your way down this list.

Covid Impacts

The Covid pandemic is causing a lot of economic disruption. As a result, banks are getting nervous about extending credit. In some cases, they are lowering the credit limits for existing cardholders. For the time being, it has become more difficult to get approved for new cards, especially small business credit cards. And banks are more nervous about behavior that looks like someone might be extending themselves to far. Take things slowly until the uncertainty has passed.

Determining which cards are best

There are some basic guidelines for evaluating signup bonuses.

• You don’t want to sign up for the cards that gives you the most POINTS, you want to sign up for the ones that give you the most VALUE. Points from different reward programs have radically different values. An Ultimate Rewards point is easily worth more than 1.5 cents per point, due to the ability to transfer them to different frequent flyer programs or the Hyatt hotel program. On the other hand, a Hilton point is worth less than .5 cents per point, because of the large number of points you need for a hotel redemption.
• Points from foreign airlines are still valuable, even if you never plan to fly on them. For example, you may dismiss getting a card that offers British Airways points, because you don’t often fly British Airways. However, British Airlines and American Airlines both belong to the Oneworld Alliance, so you can use your British Airlines miles to book award travel on American (as well as a bunch of other partners).

In some ways, points on British Airlines can be even more valuable than American Airlines miles. Their program is distance-based, so it requires fewer miles when you are taking shorter American Airlines flights.

• Transferable credit card points are more valuable than regular frequent flyer miles. You can transfer Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards, and ThankYou points to a set of different airline and hotel partners. This gives you the ability to book awards on almost any major airline and take advantage of whichever program offers the most valuable redemption for any given trip. With Ultimate Rewards, you also have good options to use your points for hotel awards or regular travel purchases. This is usually better than being locked into any given airline program and its partners. Introduction to 'Transferable' Reward Points.
• The value of a signup offer depends on your individual circumstances. The values in our table are based on a "typical" value per point. You will need to make adjustments based on how you expect to use your points.
• If you don’t want to mess with award tickets, Membership Rewards and ThankYou points are worth less than is shown in the table. You’ll typically only get 1 – 1.25 cents per point, when you redeem for options other than frequent flyer tickets. The signup bonuses are still valuable—just less valuable than before. For example, a 60,000-point signup bonus for an Amex card might be worth $600 rather than $900; but $600 is still one of the better offers available. Ultimate Rewards points are still about as valuable as our standard values, even if you never use them for frequent flyer tickets.
• If you highly value business and first-class award tickets, transferable award points and frequent flyer miles are even more valuable than shown in the table. If you can accumulate enough points for the award tickets, the points can be worth more than 4 cents each, rather than the 1.2 – 2 cents used in the table. In our example, a 60,000 Membership Rewards signup bonus may be worth $2,000 or more towards the purchase of an international business or first-class ticket.
• Points for your “local” airline(s) can be somewhat more valuable than the points for other airlines. Having points with the airline that that fly most frequently gives you the opportunity to take advantage of non-saver award tickets. While these awards require extra miles, they give you some additional flexibility.
• While most hotel points are worth considerably less than a frequent flyer mile, it is far easier to use them for awards. While there are only limited amounts of award space available for frequent flyer tickets, most hotel companies will let you use your points for almost any room that is still available, even when the regular room rates are more expensive than normal. Furthermore, you can use hotel points for more frequent awards, instead of needing to save up over a lengthy period of time to get an expensive (but valuable) frequent flyer ticket. Once you adjust for the value per point, we prefer an equal dollar value of hotel points to airline miles.
• If the card has an annual travel credit or includes a special credit as part of the signup offer, you can offset some of the charges you make with the card during your initial year. We add that to the net value you would receive by signing up for the card. For example, if you get the Chase Sapphire card, we count the $300 travel credit as part of the signup value.

If the travel credit is available on a calendar year basis, you can use two credits during the first year you have a card. For example, if you get the card in August, you can use one credit between August and December and another credit between January and your anniversary date.

• However, we don't always use the full face-value of the credit. If the credit is extremely easy to use, like the Sapphire Reserve's annual travel credit, we value it at full value. If the credit is harder to take full advantage of, like the Amex Platinum card's incidental airline credit, we value it at half-value or even quarter-value. If you think you can get more or less value from the card's annual credit, you should raise or lower the net signup value. Technically, we should value all credits as being less valuable than their full value, as they all require at least some effort to use, but we don't bother.

Value per Dollar

Most credit card signup offers have an initial spending requirement. For example, to earn the signup bonus, you may need to spend $3,000 during the first three months you have the card.

The number of signup offers you can qualify for is constrained by the amount of money you can spend over the year.

Rather than concentrating on earning the most valuable overall signup bonuses, you can focus on first earning the signup bonuses that deliver the most "value per dollar spent". In other words, if you can naturally spend $12,000 per year on your credit cards, you can initially receive more value by signing up a larger number of cards that have smaller spending requirements, rather than a smaller number of cards that have higher signup bonuses but require a larger amount of initial spending.

On the other hand, you are somewhat limited by the total number of new cards you can get, so you'll still want to concentrate on getting cards that have a high total net signup value. Alternatively, you can take advantage of some tricks to increase your credit card spending, without increasing the amount of money you are spending each year. Advanced Strategies for Collecting Signup Bonuses.

The best signup offers

These are all the credit cards with a net signup value of around $450 or higher.

Amtrak Credit Card Guide	BOA Amtrak $1380 .55/$ Promotional offer of 40,000 Amtrak points, worth 2.9 cents each towards Amtrak travel plus $100 credit. ($2,500 initial spend). You also get a companion ticket, upgrade certificate, and single-visit lounge pass, which we value at a total of $200. $79 annual fee. This is nearly twice the normal offer and a fantastic deal if you can use over $1000 in Amtrak points.
Ink Preferred Guide	Chase Ink Preferred (Business Card Only) $1,225 .25/$ 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points, valued at $1360. ($5,000 initial spend). $95 annual fee. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
Southwest Credit Card Guide	Southwest Performance Business $950 .19/$ 80,000 Southwest Airlines points ($5,000 initial spend). This may be an introductory offer or it may be the standard offer for this card. $199 annual fee. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
Sapphire Preferred Guide	Chase Sapphire Preferred $890 .22/$ From a strictly signup bonus perspective, the Sapphire Preferred is a better option than the Sapphire Reserve, and you can only have one of these cards at a time. But, if you are looking to hold onto one of these cards for its ongoing benefits, the Sapphire Reserve is usually the better of the two options. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule. If you are collecting signup bonuses, probably your best strategy is to sign up for this card and convert it to the Sapphire Reserve when you start shifting your spending away from meeting initial spending requirements (and towards cards with higher ongoing reward rates).
Avios Credit Cards Guide	British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus full $20,000 initial $3,000 $850 $470 .04/$ .16/$ All 3 cards offer 50,000 points after $3,000 initial spend and an additional 50,000 points with a total of $20,000 of spending during the first year.
Ink Cash Guide	Chase Ink Cash (Business Card Only) $830 .28/$ Promotional offer of 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points ($2,000 initial spend). No annual fee. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
Ink Unlimited Guide	Chase Ink Unlimited (Business Card Only) $830 .28/$ 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points ($2,000 initial spend). No annual fee. This is probably a promotional offer, but because the card is new, we don't know for sure. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
American Airlines Credit Card Guide	Citi AAdvantage personal business $680 $830 .23/$ .17/$ Promotional offer of 60,000 American Airlines miles ($3,000 initial spend) for the personal card or 75,000 miles ($5,000 initial spend in the first five months) for the business card. For both cards there is an alternative offer of 40,000 points and a $200 statement credit ($2,000 initial spend), that is worth slightly less, but with less spend. In addition, you can probably call in and get that offer matched to 60,000 points, making it significantly more valuable. Annual fee is waived the first year.
Alaska Airlines Credit Card Guide	BOA Alaska Airlines (Personal and Business) $810 .41/$ Promotional offer of 40,000 Alaska Airlines miles ($2,000 initial spend) plus $100 statement credit. You also receive a companion certificate when you sign up, but unlike the new "standard" offer, you'll pay the normal $99 companion fee. As a result, we value it at $250. Business version doesn't come with statement credit but offers an extra 2,000 miles for getting an employee card.. $75 annual fee.
Delta Credit Card Guide	Amex Delta Platinum personal business $770 $790 .26/$ .13/$ Personal card has a promotional offer of 75,000 Delta miles ($3,000 initial spend), business card has a promotional offer of 80,000 miles ($6,000 initial spend). Both cards provide a $100 statement credit for a Delta purchase in the first three months. If you aren't taking a flight, you can always stock up on Delta gift cards for later. $195 annual fee.
Delta Credit Card Guide	Amex Delta Gold personal business $740 $790 .37/$ .20/$ Personal card has a promotional offer of 60,000 Delta miles ($2,000 initial spend), business card has a promotional offer of 70,000 miles ($4,000 initial spend). Both offers also include a $50 statement credit for a Delta purchase in the first three months. If you aren't taking a flight, you can always stock up on Delta gift cards for later. Annual fee waived first year.
Aviator Card Guide	Barclay Aviator Card Personal Business $625 $790 Promotional offer of 60,000 American Airlines miles on personal card. $95 annual fee. Business card has promotional 60,000 mile offer ($1,000 initial spend), plus 10,000 more points for first purchase on an employee card.
United Credit Card Guide	Chase United Explorer (business) full $25,000 initial $3,000 $780 $440 .03/$ .09/$ Promotional offer of 50,000 United Miles with $5,000 initial spend, plus an additional 50,000 miles for $25,000 total spend in the first six months. Annual fee is waived the first year. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
Southwest Credit Card Guide	Chase Southwest Premier Business $770 .26/$ 60,000 Southwest Airline miles ($3,000 initial spend). Southwest operates a fixed-value rewards program, where you can get around 1.2 - 1.6 cents per point, without having to worry about award availability. $99 annual fee. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule
U.S. Bank Leverage Card Guide	US Bank Leverage (business) $750 .10/$ Standard offer of 75,000 points. Since it earns 2% on your choice of over 50 different categories, there isn't much opportunity cost to the $7,500 of spend. Annual fee waived the first year.
Hilton Credit Card Guide	Amex Hilton Aspire $730 .18/$ Promotional offer of 150,000 Hilton points, valued at $680 ($4,000 initial spend). You also get a free weekend night certificate good at any Hilton hotel, which we value at $300. In addition, you get a $250 Hilton resort credit, and up to two $250 airline incidental credits, during your initial year. We value the airline credit at only 25% of its face value and the resort credit at half of its face value (for at total of $275). If you are willing to make the effort, you can get full value from these credits (an extra $475).
JetBlue Credit Card Guide	Barclays JetBlue personal business) $450 $730 .45/$ .73/$ Promotional offer on business card of 50,000 JetBlue points ($1,000 initial spend) plus an additional 10,000 points for a purchase on an employee card. Personal card is 40,000 points ($1,000 initial spend) $99 annual fee.
Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card Guide	Barclay Hawaiian Airlines (personal and business) $720 .36/$ Promotional offer of 60,000 Hawaiian miles ($2,000 initial spend). You also receive a half-priced companion ticket, that we value at $250, making this a pretty valuable signup offer, if you can use the companion certificate to fly to Hawaii. The business version of the card has the same promotional offer, but with only $1,000 initial spend, making it about $15 more valuable.
IHG Credit Card Guide	Chase IHG $710 .24/$ Highest ever promotional offer of 125,000 IHG points, plus $50 statement credit, plus bonus points on all purchases for the first year.
Southwest Credit Card Guide	Chase Southwest Airlines (Personal) full $12,000 initial $1,000 710 $520 .06/$ .52/$ 40,000 Southwest points with $1,000 initial spend, plus an additional 20,000 points with a total of $12,000 of spending during initial year. The Plus version of the card has a $69 fee, versus the Preferred version's $99 fee, making it a slightly better option. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
Hyatt Credit Cards Guide	Chase Hyatt $700 .12/$ 50,000 Hyatt points ($6,000 initial spend). $95 annual fee. The signup offer of two free nights is no longer available. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
Citi Premier Guide	Citi Premier $700 .18/$ 60,000 ThankYou points ($4,000 initial spend). $95 annual fee. The Prestige version is usually a better option, but from a pure signup bonus perspective, you get a bit more from this offer for the Premier card.
Sapphire Reserve Guide	Chase Sapphire Reserve $670 .17/$ The signup offer for the Sapphire Preferred version is better, and you can only have one of these two cards. However, the Sapphire Reserve card is a more interesting card for the long term. $550 annual fee. The $300 travel credit is valued at full value. The $120 of DoorDash credits are valued at $100. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
Citi Prestige Guide	Citi Prestige $660 .17/$ 50,000 ThankYou points ($4,000 initial spend). $495 annual fee, but gives you $500 in travel credits the first year you have the card. Lower annual fee for Citigold customers.
Virgin Atlantic Credit Card Guide	BOA Virgin Atlantic $660 .33/$ Promotional offer of 60,000 Virgin miles ($2,000 initial spend), plus 2,500 miles per authorized user (up to 5,000 extra miles. $90 annual fee.
United Credit Card Guide	Chase United Explorer (personal) full $5,000 initial $2,000 $635 $550 .13/$ .28/$ Promotional offer of 40,000 United Miles with $2,000 initial spend, plus an additional 10,000 miles for $5,000 total spend in the first six months. Annual fee is waived the first year. Affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
Altitude Reserve Guide	U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve $630 .14/$ 50,000 points, worth 1.5 cents each ($4,500 initial spend). $400 annual fee, but a $325 airfare credit brings the effective annual fee down to $75.
Amex Platinum Card Guide	Amex Platinum (Multiple Versions Available) Promotional offers Normal offer $1,175 $575 .24/$ .12/$ The Platinum card's normal signup bonus of 60,000 points is very generous. At 1.5 cents per point, the points are worth $900. But, you can get offers as high as 100,000 through targeted mailings, the "card match" tool, and private browsing. The card's annual fee is $550, but it comes with a $200 airline incidental credit that you can receive twice during your initial year, and a $50 Saks credit that you can receive three times during your initial year. You can also receive $200 worth of Uber credits each year. But, because these credits can be hard to use, we value the Saks and Uber credits at 50% of face value and the airline incidental credits at 25% of face value (for a total of $275). If you are willing to make the effort, you can get close to full value of these credits (for an extra $475). You can earn signup bonuses from multiple different versions of the Platinum card, although only the "regular" version typically has higher-than-normal signup offers.
Miles & More Credit Card Guide	Barclay Miles & More (Lufthansa) full $20,000 initial $3,000 $550 $470 .03/$ .16/$ Promotional offer of 50,000 Miles & More points ($3,000 initial spend) plus an additional 25,000 points with $20,000 in total spending during the first year. $89 annual fee.
Capital One Venture Card Guide	Capital One Venture $540 $.18/$ 50,000 points, which can now be transferred to airlines (for 37,500 miles), with $3,000 initial spend. Waived first year annual fee.
Captial One Spark Card Guide	Capital One Spark (Cash or Miles, Business Card Only) $535 .11/$ 50,000 points after $5,000 initial spend. Points from the Cash version are worth a little less because they can't be transferred to airline partners.
Amex Platinum Card Guide	Amex Business Platinum 75,000 point offer Targeted offer max $530 $1,650 .03/$ .08/$ 75,000 Membership Rewards points ($20,000 spend), valued at $1130. You'll get 50,000 points if you spend $10,000, and an additional 25,000 points if you spend a total of $25,000 in the first three months. Targeted offers can be available for up to 150,000 points. Comes with a $200 airline incidental credit that you can use twice during your first year, and a $200 per year Dell credit. But, because these credits can be hard to use, we value the Dell credits at 50% of face value and the airline incidental credits at 25% of face value (for a total of $200). If you are willing to make the effort, you can get close to full value of these credits (for an extra $400). $595 annual fee.
Marriott Credit Card Guide	Chase Marriott Boundless $510 .10/$ Promotional offer of 100,000 Marriott points ($5,000 initial spend). $95 annual fee.
Altitude Connect Guide	US Bank Altitude Connect $500 .17/$ 50,000 points with $3,000 spend. 2% for grocery and dining (and 4% for travel) reduce the opportunity cost of earning the bonus. Annual fee waived the first year.
Sonesta Hotels Credt Card Guide	BOA Sonesta $500 .50/$ 60,000 Sonesta points valued at .8 cents each, plus an extra 5,000 points for an additional cardholder. Annual fee waived first year.
Wells Fargo Reward Credit Cards Guide	Wells Fargo Visa Signature $500 .04/$ Earns 4x extra points, valued at 1.3 cents each, on the first $12,500 of gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases, during the first six months you have the card. If you can maximize the bonus, probably via gift card purchases, you can earn 50,000 extra points. No annual fee. The Wells Fargo Reward card has an identical bonus, but if you don't also have the Visa Signature, the points are only worth 1 cent each (rather than 1.3 cents).
Amex Gold Card Guide	Amex Gold $490 .25/$ Referral offer of 40,000 Membership Rewards points ($2,000 initial spend). You also get up to two $100 airline incidental credit during your initial year, and $10/month credit at participating restaurants, but because these credits can be hard to use, we only value them at half their face value. $250 annual fee. If you can get the 50,000 point "private browsing" offer, the net signup bonus rises to $640.
BOA Premium Rewards Guide	Bank of America Premium Rewards $460 .15/$ 50,000 points, worth 1 cent each ($3,000 initial spend). $95 annual fee. You can receive the card's $100 airline incidental credit twice during your initial year. But, we only valued the credit at half of the potential $200 value. If you have $100,000 in combined assets with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, you'll earn 2.625% on every purchase, so there is no opportunity cost for using the card to qualify for the bonus. $95 annual fee
Hilton Credit Card Guide	Amex Hilton Surpass and Business $450 .23/$ Promotional offer of 130,000 Hilton points. $2,000 spending requirement for personal card, $3,000 spending requirement for business card. $95 annual fee. You might possibly get an extra $100 statement credit if you apply during the reservation process.
US Bank Business Cash Rewards Guide	US Bank Business Cash Card $450 .15/$ 50,000 points with $3,000 spend. Not as good as another US Bank Leverage Card, but still a very worthwhile offer. No annual fee.
Amex Green Card Guide	Amex Green Card $440 .17/$ 30,000 Membership Rewards points plus a $100 credit for Away-brand luggage ($2,000 initial spend). We value the luggage credit at 50% of the stated value. This offers is better if you get the 45,000 point offer that you may be able to find when browsing in private mode, or the 35,000 point referral offer (that also gives someone you like a referral fee. $150 annual fee.
Cathay Pacific Credit Card Guide	Cathay Pacific $440 .15/$ Promotional offer of 40,000 Asia Miles ($3,000 initial spend). $95 annual fee.

Additional great offers that require little or new spending

The following offers are all worth at least $350 and don't have a high initial spending requirement. In many cases, you'll qualify for the signup bonus after making your first purchase. In other cases, you may need to spend $500-1,000.

Hilton Credit Card Guide	Amex Hilton Card (no annual fee) $350 .35/$ Promotional offer of 80,000 Hilton points ($1,000 initial spend). No annual fee.
Amtrak Credit Card Guide	BOA Amtrak No-annual-fee $350 .35/$ 12,000 Amtrak points, worth 2.9 cents each on Amtrak travel ($1,000 initial spend). No annual fee.
Spirit Airlines Credit Card Guide	Bank of America Spirit Airlines $350 .71/$ Promotional offer of 30,000 Spirit miles ($500 initial spend). No annual fee.

Take advantage of promotional offers

Banks occasionally offer higher-than-normal signup bonuses for their cards. Sometimes, these promotional offers are available to everyone. Sometimes, they are only available to specific people who have been targeted by the bank.

• The table above reflects publicly available promotional offers. It shows you the most valuable signup offers that are available right now. In many cases, any promotional offer will be displayed directly on the bank's website. In other cases, you'll need to click on a special link that leads you to the higher-than-normal offer. These links are available in each card's credit card guide.
• Before applying, you may want to check elsewhere to see if you can find an even better offer. It is always possible that we've missed something. As discussed in more detail in our step-by-step guide, if you want to be sure that you are getting the best offer, take the time to check some other websites. The entire process should only take a few minutes and can let you earn tens of thousands of extra points for the same card. Step-by-Step Guide: Before You Apply.

• To see better Amex signup offers, you often need to browse in "Private" mode. When you visit the Amex website, any signup offers are individually targeted to you. If Amex hasn't targeted you for a better offer, you won't see it.
Better offers are often available to anonymous users. To see these offers, you need to open a private browser window, which ignores all your cookies and other identifying information. Each web browser uses a different name for this feature. You may also need to refresh the page a few times. In some extreme cases, you'll need to use a Virtual Private Network to make it look like you are visiting Amex from a foreign country. Of course, when you actually sign up, you would still be using your real information on the application form.
• To receive better offers from other cards, you may need to use the "checkout trick". When you are using a credit card that is associated with an airline, hotel, or store, you will sometimes receive a better-than-normal credit card signup offer when you are in the middle of "checking out". To get this offer, you start the process of buying something, wait until you receive the offer, apply for the credit card, and then don't bother completing the purchase. We recommend always trying this approach, before applying for one of these cards.

For example, to see if a better offer is available for the Alaska Airlines card, you would go to the Alaska Airlines website and start buying an airline ticket. You aren't going to complete the purchase, so any airline ticket will do. Partway through the process, the website will ask you if you want to sign up for a new Alaska airlines credit card. Click to apply for the card. Then, when you return to the check-out page, you can cancel the original purchase and enjoy the benefits of the enhanced signup offer.

How we calculate the "Net Value" of signup offers

The “net sign-up value” for each of these cards is determined by calculating the value of the signup offer and then subtracting the costs involved with earning the bonus.

• There are two costs involved with earning a signup bonus: the initial year's annual fee (if it isn't waived) and the opportunity cost of spending enough money with the new card to qualify for the signup bonus. For every dollar you need to spend, we assume that you could have earned 2.5 cents in value from your general purpose reward card and then subtract the value of the points that you will receive by using the new card instead. For example, if you have to spend $3,000 to earn the bonus and you receive 1.5 cents per dollar for spending with the card, you are giving up $30 in rewards you could have earned by using your regular reward card. To keep things simple, we don't factor in bonus reward categories, either from the new card or from the existing cards that you could have been using. Your exact opportunity cost will depend on your bonus category mix and the cards you have.
• We don't consider the value of the card's other benefits. Many of these cards come with extra benefits, like hotel elite status benefits or primary rental car insurance. There is a good chance that you'll get at least some value from these benefits, during the initial year that you hold onto the card. For example, the Citi Prestige card comes with a 4^th night free benefit that can save you hundreds of dollars. For anyone who can make use of this benefit, the card becomes even more valuable.

Since it can be hard to determine the value of these ongoing benefits, we only focus on benefits that you only receive when you first get the card and the core credits and certificates that are specifically mentioned in the table above.

Credit Cards 101

Advanced Strategies for Collecting Signup Bonuses

Which Signup Bonuses to Get First

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