New limited-time 100k small business card bonus. Southwest Airlines offers a unique feature called the Companion Pass, which lets you pick one person to fly with free when you book either paid or award flights (including to Hawaii!). If you either fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 125,000 qualifying points (or 100 one-way flights) within calendar year 2020, you’ll earn the Companion Pass for the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021! (That makes right now the perfect time to start your collecting.) You can change your designated companion up to three times each calendar year.

Points earned from credit cards count toward that 125,000 point requirement, including sign-up bonuses. You can often get very close to that magic number when you add up the potential miles from these Southwest consumer and business cards. This is on top of the value of redeeming those points for miles (75,000 points can get you $1,100+ in Wanna Get Away airfare).

New! – Qualify for a Companion Pass in 2020 and 2021 with a single credit card sign-up and 25k in qualifying purchases! For a limited-time, if you apply for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business card (see below) and can satisfy the required $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months and $25,000 in purchases in the first 6 months, you will have earned at least 25,000 Rapid Rewards points from your spendings PLUS the 100,000 bonus points, which brings you to a total of 125,000 points = Companion Pass! Not to mention the roughly $1,500 worth of in Wanna Get Away airfare.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business card

• Up to 100,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points. Earn 70,000 points after $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. Earn an additional 30,000 points after $25,000 in purchases in the first 6 months, for a total of 100,000 points.
• 9,000 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
• 3 points per $1 spent on Southwest Airlines® purchases.
• 2 points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
• Inflight WiFi Credits of up to 365 x $8 credits.
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® Fee credit in the form of a statement credit of up to $100 every four years.
• $199 annual fee.

Here is the rest of the Southwest credit card line-up:

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority card

• 40,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points after you $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
• 7,500 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
• $75 Southwest annual travel credit.
• Four Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
• 20% back on inflight drinks, WiFi, messaging, and movies.
• Earn tier qualifying points towards A-list status.
• 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases.
• 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• $149 annual fee.

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus credit card

• 40,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points after you $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
• 3,000 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
• 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases.
• 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• $69 annual fee.

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier card

• 40,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points after you $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
• 6,000 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
• 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases.
• 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• $99 annual fee.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business card

• 60,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
• 6,000 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
• 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases.
• 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• $99 annual fee.

Value of Rapid Rewards points. Redeeming Southwest points for flights varies in a narrow range, but a very reasonable approximation from my experience is 1.5 cents in Wanna Get Away airfare in per point. That works out to $600+ in Wanna Get Away airfare from 40,000 points or $900+ in Wanna Get Away airfare for 60,000 points or $1,100+ in Wanna Get Away airfare from 75,000 points (you are still liable for taxes and fees from $5.60 one-way). Importantly, Southwest does NOT have blackout dates or seat restrictions when you redeem with points. This means that Southwest points are much easier to use than a “saver award” on traditional airlines.

Now, if you manage to qualify for the the Companion Pass on every trip that you book with those points, that doubles the potential value of each award redemption. In other words, 125,000 Rapid Rewards, would usually get you $1,850 in Wanna Get Away airfare, but with the Companion Pass you’d get an extra companion ticket for every flight booked.

A backup option is gift card redemptions. You can currently redeem 6,750 points for a $50 a Amazon.com or Walmart gift certificate. That makes 60,000 points worth $444 in Amazon or Walmart gift cards. It’s something, but less than half the value you could get from redeeming for flights.

Southwest still includes two free checked bags per person. The fees on the other airlines have crept up to $30 per bag, each-way. That adds up.

Our family policy is to not try out a new credit card unless it offers us $500 in total value. Just the free award flights from the points are enough to satisfy that rule, and then you can add on the potential value of the companion tickets.

Card restrictions. All of these Southwest credit cards are subject to “5/24” restrictions, which means that your application will be automatically denied if you have opened 5 or more credit cards in the last 24 months (check your credit reports). Our household strategy is to have one person only apply for Chase 5/24 cards, and the other person applies for everything else. There is also this language on the consumer card:

The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to Cardmembers of the Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Card and Employee Credit Card products.

Basically, you can get one sign-up bonus from a Southwest consumer card once every 24 months. You can also get one sign-up bonus from a Southwest business card once every 24 months.

Extending your Companion Pass with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest points on a 1:1 basis. The idea is is to book an award flight with those Southwest points while you have the Companion Pass, thus doubling the value of your Ultimate Rewards points as well.

Bottom line. Right now, you can earn up to 100,000 Southwest points from qualifying for a single credit card sign-up, which in itself can be redeemed for a lot of free Southwest flights (including to Hawaii!). Earning 125,000 points overall (including from credit card rewards and bonuses) in a year will earn you the Southwest Companion pass, which provides a free companion ticket on every flight bought with cash or points for the rest of the current year and all of the next year. Finally, Southwest still includes two free checked bags per person on every flight.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers and also the Top 10 Best Business Card Offers.

The JetBlue Plus credit card has a limited-time offer for 60,000 bonus TrueBlue points for first-time cardmembers. The previous bonus was 40,000 points. Here are the highlights:

• 60,000 bonus TrueBlue points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days and paying the $99 annual fee.
• First checked bag is free for the primary cardmember and up to 3 companions when you use your JetBlue Plus Card.
• 6X points on JetBlue purchases, 2 points per $1 at restaurants and grocery stores and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.
• No blackout dates on JetBlue-operated flights & redeem for any seat, any time on JetBlue flights. – Points required for an Award Flight will vary based on the published base fare at the time of booking.
• Annual $100 statement credit after you purchase a JetBlue Vacations package of $100 or more.
• Points awarded in your TrueBlue account don’t expire.
• Earn and share points together with Family Pooling.
• 50% savings on eligible inflight purchases including cocktails, food and movies.
• Get 10% of your points back every time you redeem to use toward your next redemption.
• 5,000 TrueBlue bonus points annually after your account anniversary.
• $99 annual fee.

First checked bags on JetBlue usually cost $30 each-way, per person. The free checked bag perk applies to you and up to 3 travel companions on the same reservation when (1) the ticket is purchased with your JetBlue Plus card, (2) the primary cardmember’s TrueBlue member number must be entered at the time of booking. That works out great for a family traveling together. If you buy higher fare classes, a certain number of complimentary bags may already be included.

How does redeeming TrueBlue points work? TrueBlue works on a revenue-based system, where the points required depends on the current cash cost of the flight (with no blackout dates). If they sell it for cash, you can book it with points. This is opposed to traditional chart-based systems that charge a fixed point balance but imposes blackout dates and limited seat availability.

TrueBlue points are best redeemed for JetBlue flights. There are some other options like newspaper or magazine subscriptions, but I won’t cover them here.

TrueBlue points can be estimated at 1 points = 1.4 cents. Ex. 30,000 points would cover $420 in JetBlue airfare. The exact value may vary, but 1.4 cents is very close to what I found across Blue, Blue Plus, and Blue Flex fares. You can easily test it out yourself by pricing out the same flight on JetBlue.com using points or cash.

This means 2X points back on restaurants and groceries can be estimated as 2.8% back in the form of TrueBlue airfare. The 3X points back on Jetlue-operated flights can be 4.2% back in the form of TrueBlue airfare. The 6X points back with the Plus card on Jetlue-operated flights can be 8.4% back in the form of TrueBlue airfare.

Upon the renewal of your $99 annual fee, you get another 5,000 TrueBlue points ($70 of airfare value at 1.4 cents/point). If you can take advantage of the free checked bag perk, there is definitely ongoing value for regular JetBlue fliers. I haven’t investigated the $100 off a JetBlue Vacations package, but it could be worth something as well.

Bottom line. The JetBlue Plus card from Barclaycard is running a limited-time offer. At 1.4 cents per TrueBlue point, 60,000 bonus points can be valued at $840 towards JetBlue fares. Minus the $99 annual fee, and that is still a very solid first-year value for even casual JetBlue customers. Add the baggage perk which you could value at an additional $60 per roundtrip Blue fare, per person (covers you and 3 companions, so great for a family traveling together). You would need to be a regular JetBlue flier to get value out of the card on an ongoing basis.

Cards updated. Delta Airlines has updated their line-up of co-branded American Express cards. These still offer various special perks like free checked bags, priority boarding, and the ability to earn Delta Skymiles with card purchases. In addition, as you can only get the welcome bonuses once on each of these cards per person per lifetime (each card is considered different, but these are not “new” cards), I recommend waiting until a limited-time offer to maximize your benefit. Here are the latest such offers:

Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card

• Up to 70,000 bonus miles 60,000 bonus miles after $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. Get an additional 10,000 bonus miles after your first card anniversary. Limited-time offer expires 4/1/2020.
• New – $100 Delta flight credit after $10,000 in purchases on your card in a calendar year.
• First checked bag free on Delta flights – that’s a savings of up to $240 per round trip for a family of four ($30 each way, per person).
• Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding.
• New – 2X miles at restaurants worldwide and U.S. supermarkets. 2x miles on Delta direct purchases. Earn 1 miles per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
• $0 annual fee for the first year, then $99.

Delta offers a minimum value out of your Skymiles via the “Pay with Miles” option. That means 60,000 Skymiles can reduce the price of your Delta ticket by $600 at the very least. (5,000 mile = $50 minimum redemption.) You can still book the traditional award tickets and possibly get better value.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card

• Up to 100,000 bonus miles 80,000 bonus miles after $3,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. Get an additional 20,000 bonus miles after your first card anniversary. Limited-time offer expires 4/1/2020.
• 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after $25,000 in purchases in a calendar year, up to two times per year. This helps get you reach elite Medallion Status, but does not earn you miles towards reward flights.
• New – Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. Worth up to $100 towards Global Entry membership (which includes TSA PreCheck).
• Domestic Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal.
• First checked bag free on Delta flights – that’s a savings of up to $240 per round trip for a family of four ($30 each way, per person).
• Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding.
• 2X miles at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets. 3X miles Delta direct purchases. Earn 1 miles per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
• $250 annual fee.

BUSINESS Card Versions

Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card

• Up to 70,000 bonus miles 60,000 bonus miles after $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. Get an additional 10,000 bonus miles after your first card anniversary. Limited-time offer expires 4/1/2020.
• New feature – $100 Delta flight credit after $10,000 in purchases on your card in a calendar year.
• First checked bag free on Delta flights – that’s a savings of up to $240 per round trip for a family of four ($30 each way, per person).
• Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding.
• 2X miles at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. supermarkets, and on Delta direct purchases. Earn 1 miles per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
• $0 annual fee for the first year, then $99.

Delta offers a minimum value out of your Skymiles via the “Pay with Miles” option. That means 60,000 Skymiles can reduce the price of your Delta ticket by $600 at the very least. (5,000 mile = $50 minimum redemption.) You can still book the traditional award tickets and possibly get better value.

Platinum Delta SkyMiles® BUSINESS Credit Card from American Express

• Up to 100,000 bonus miles 80,000 bonus miles after $3,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. Get an additional 20,000 bonus miles after your first card anniversary. Limited-time offer expires 4/1/2020.
• 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after $25,000 in purchases in a calendar year, up to two times per year. This helps get you reach elite Medallion Status, but does not earn you miles towards reward flights.
• Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. Worth up to $100 towards Global Entry (which includes TSA PreCheck).
• Domestic Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal.
• First checked bag free on Delta flights – that’s a savings of up to $240 per round trip for a family of four ($30 each way, per person).
• Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding.
• 2X miles at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets. 3X miles Delta direct purchases. Earn 1 miles per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
• $250 annual fee.

In my opinion, the Delta Gold is still the best for most casual Delta customers because of the free checked bag, new $100 flight credit, and relatively big sign-up bonus. The main draw of the Platinum is the MQMs for those that fly a lot on Delta (note that you don’t earn actual rewards miles) and the companion certificate. I have used the companion certificate several times in the past and have gotten good value out of it. However, the annual fee is now $250 for the Platinum so the math is a lot tighter.

I will be adding the Delta Gold Skymiles limited-time offer and annual fee waiver to my list of the Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

New card features, 100k offer. United is discontinuing their “Business Explorer” card and replacing it with the… United^SM Business Card as the Chase business credit card that offers unique perks for regular United customers including free checked bags and expanded award seat availability for redeeming miles. I don’t really get the point of changing the name, but they did add these perks:

• $100 annual United travel credit after 7 flight purchases of $100 or more.
• 5,000 miles annual bonus miles when you have both the United Business Card and a personal Chase United credit card.
• 25% back on United inflight purchases.
• 2X miles per $1 spent on local transit and commuting- including train tickets, taxi cabs, mass transit, tolls and ride share services.
• Note: Annual fee is now $99 (instead of $95).

More good news is that this is a “new” card and thus everyone is able to get the sign-up bonus again as a new cardholder (no bonus if you convert your old card over). They are starting out with a limited-time offer of up to 100,000 bonus United miles for with a lower total spending requirement while keeping all the perks from the old card:

• 100,000 bonus United miles after spending $10,000 within the first 3 months.
• Free first checked bag for both you and a companion (a savings of up to $120 per roundtrip) when you use your Card to purchase your ticket.
• Two one-time United Club passes each year ($100+ value)
• Expanded award availability. Having this card makes it easier to redeem for that saver award economy ticket.
• Priority boarding for you and companions on the same reservation on United-operated flights.
• 2X miles at restaurants, gas stations and office supply stores.
• 2X miles on United purchases and 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Your miles don’t expire as long as your credit card account is open, with no limit to the number of miles you can earn.
• Employee cards at no additional cost.
• $99 annual fee.

Keep in mind the following terms and conditions:

This product is available to you if you do not have this Card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for this Card in the past 24 months.

However, you CAN get this card if you had the consumer version of the United Explorer in the past 24 months (or have one now).

Many people aren’t aware of the fact that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. The business type is called a sole proprietorship, and these days many people are full-time or part-time consultants, freelancers, eBay/Amazon/Etsy sellers, Uber/Lyft drivers, or other one-person business owners. This is the simplest business entity, but it is fully legit and recognized by the IRS. On a business credit card application, you should use your own legal name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as the Tax ID.

Note that Chase has an unofficial rule that they will most likely deny approval on new credit cards if you have 5 or more new credit cards from any issuer on your credit report within the past 2 years (aka the 5/24 rule). This rule is designed to discourage folks that apply for high numbers of sign-up bonuses. This rule applies on a per-person basis, so in our household one applies to Chase while the other applies at other card issuers.

The good news is that small business cards from Chase hardly ever show up on personal credit reports, so getting this card in itself won’t affect your future 5/24 eligibility. This it makes a “free” application if you are already eligible.

This card is very focused on rewarding you for being a United customer. Before you board, you might use one of your free United Club lounge passes. You have the first checked bag for free on United flights, both for your and a companion traveling on the same reservation. The fee is usually $30 per person, each way, so that this how they get the value of $120 each roundtrip. You also get Priority Boarding, which helps you find space for your carry-on.

Expanded award availability. You earn United miles for all your purchases (double miles on restaurants and hotel stays), but then they also make it easier for you to redeem those miles on Saver level tickets with no blackout dates. Expanded award seat availability is another of the top perks from this card, and it is actually a significant difference. Saver Award ticket redemptions start at 12,500 miles one-way within the continental U.S. and Canada.

Another unique feature of this card is that it offers primary coverage on the Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver. On many other cards, this coverage is offered as secondary coverage, meaning it only kicks in after your personal auto insurance has been exhausted.

Bottom line. The United Business card offers valuable perks for folks that fly United even just once or twice a year. The card provides lounge passes, a free checked bag, priority boarding, and inflight discounts. There are bonus categories to earn more miles, and special expanded award seat inventory for credit card holders to make it easier to actually redeem those miles for flights. Right now, there is a 100,000 mile limited-time offer.

I have added this card back to the Top 10 Best Small Business Card Bonus Offers.

New 140k limited-time offer! The Chase IHG Rewards Club Premier credit card is the IHG hotel co-branded card that includes special IHG perks like a free night award every year you keep the card. Right now, they are also offering a limited-time offer with the highest bonus size ever. Here are the highlights:

• 140,000 bonus IHG points after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.
• Free Night award after each account anniversary year at eligible IHG hotels worldwide. Valid at IHG Hotels with a current point redemption level of 40,000 points or less. An additional free reward night when you redeem points for any stay of 4 or more nights.
• 25X points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel.
• 2X points at gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.
• Platinum Elite status included as a Premier card member.
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® fee credit of up to $100 every 4 years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• $89 annual fee.

Please note the following:

This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.

This offer is for the new “IHG Club Premier” card, so this language means that if you have the older and different “IHG Club Select” card, you can still apply for this card and get the sign-up bonus.

What can you get with IHG points? The best redemption value for IHG points is for free hotel nights. The other options offer significantly less value. While the points don’t translate directly to a dollar value, but overall you should expect around 0.60 cents of value per point, which would make 140,000 IHG points worth an estimated $840 value. You can perform the calculations for hotels that fit your needs. I tried a bunch of other various combinations and got between 0.5 cents and 0.8 cents per point equivalent value.

(IHG points are worth less than other points like Hyatt or Chase Ultimate Rewards points, but you get a lot more of them with this bonus!)

IHG stands for Intercontinental Hotel Group which has over 5,000 hotels including the following brands:

• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts
• Crowne Plaza
• Kimpton
• Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express
• Staybridge Suites
• Candlewood Suites
• Hotel Indigo
• EVEN Hotels

IHG points expire after 24 months of inactivity, so if you keep up your activity then you can save up these free nights for later. Chase Ultimate Rewards points also convert to IHG points.

Total of 25x points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG. Here’s how this breaks down: Earn 10X points per $1 spent as an IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Cardmember + 10X points per $1 spent from IHG® for being an IHG® Rewards Club Member + 5X points per $1 spent from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of this card = total of 25X points total at 5,400+ IHG® hotels & resorts.

I would book my IHG nights on this card, but not my everyday purchases on an ongoing basis.

• 2 IHG points per $1 spent at gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants.
• 1 IHG point per $1 spent on all other card purchases

I would keep this card if you can use the anniversary night certificate with the 40,000 point maximum value. You should be able to get $89 value out of it as long as you need a hotel night. Stay must be completed within 12 months from date of issue.

Bottom line. The Chase IHG Rewards Club Premier credit card has a current sign-up bonus boost of 140,000 IHG points. This is a limited-time offer and the highest bonus size ever. If you’ve been thinking about this card, now is the time to apply. As with most of these co-branded cards, the best value is obtained if you can redeem for IHG hotel nights.

I will be adding this to my list of Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

New limited-time offer ends 4/2. The United Explorer Card is a Chase-issued credit card that offers unique perks on United Airlines including free checked bags and expanded award seat availability for redeeming miles. Right now, there is also a limited-time offer bump up to 60,000 bonus miles with no annual fee during the first year. Here are the highlights:

• Limited time offer – 60,000 bonus miles after $3,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
• Free first checked bag for both you and a companion (a savings of up to $120 per roundtrip) when you use your Card to purchase your ticket.
• Expanded award availability. Having this card makes it easier to find that saver award economy ticket.
• Up to $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Fee Credit
• Priority boarding + 2 United Club one-time passes every year for your anniversary.
• 2X miles at restaurants and on hotel stays.
• 2X miles per on purchases from United.
• 25% Back on United inflight purchases (Wi-Fi, Food and Drinks).
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Your miles don’t expire as long as your credit card account is open, with no limit to the number of miles you can earn.
• Use your miles for any seat, any time, on any United flight.
• $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.

Keep in mind the following terms and conditions:

This product is available to you if you do not have this Card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for this Card in the past 24 months.

This card is very focused on making it a better experience to fly on United. You have the first checked bag for free on United flights, both for your and a companion traveling on the same reservation. The bag fee is usually $30 per person, each way, so that adds up to $120 each roundtrip. Before you board, you might use one of your free United Club lounge passes. You also get Priority Boarding, which helps you find space for your carry-on. While onboard, you get 25% back on your inflight purchases of WiFi, food, and drinks.

Expanded award seat availability. You earn United miles for all your purchases (double miles on restaurants and hotel stays), but then they also make it easier for you to redeem those miles on Saver level tickets with no blackout dates. Expanded award seat availability is another of the top perks from this card, and I’ve found a very significant difference when searching. If you’re constantly trying to find economy tickets for the entire family like me, this is a big deal. Saver Award ticket redemptions start at 12,500 miles one-way within the continental U.S. and Canada.

Another unique feature of this card is that it offers primary coverage on the Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver. On most other consumer cards, this coverage is offered as secondary coverage, meaning it only kicks in after your personal auto insurance has been exhausted.

Bottom line. The United Explorer Card offers great perks for folks that fly United even just once or twice a year. The card provides lounge passes, a free checked bag, priority boarding, and inflight discounts. There are bonus categories to earn more miles, and special expanded award seat inventory for credit card holders to make it easier to actually redeem those miles for flights. Right now, there is a limited-time offer up to 60,000 bonus United miles with no annual fee during the first year.

I’ll be adding this limited-time offer to my list of Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

The Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express has a limited-time offer if you are referred. Highlights:

• 70,000 bonus miles. 60,000 miles after you spend $2,000 in purchases within first 3 months. Earn an additional 10,000 Bonus Miles after your first anniversary of Card Membership. Special Offer Expires: 04/01/2020.
• 60,000 Skymiles is worth $600 in Delta airfare minimum. With this card, you get a minimum value out of your Skymiles via the “Pay with Miles” option. 60,000 Skymiles can reduce the price of your Delta ticket by $600 at the very least. (5,000 mile = $50 minimum redemption.) You can still book the traditional award tickets and possibly get better value.
• New feature – $100 Delta flight credit after $10,000 in purchases on your card in a calendar year.
• First checked bag free. Delta now charges $30 for the first checked bag, each way. That means this perk is worth $60 per person each roundtrip. For a family of four, this perk is worth $240 per person each roundtrip.
• Annual fee is waived for the first year, then $99.

Here is the new rewards structure on card spend:

• 2X miles at restaurants.
• 2X miles at U.S. supermarkets.
• 2X miles on Delta purchases. 2 miles for every dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta.
• 1 miles per dollar spent on all other purchases.

Here is my link for the Gold Delta SkyMiles American Express referral offer. Thanks if you use it.

I will be adding this limited-time offer to the Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

Limited-time offer. The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card emerged after the merger of Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott (formerly the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus card). This card offers unique perks for regular Marriott customers, and right now there is a limited-time offer bump to 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points (a 25k increase to their previous 75k offer). Here are the highlights:

• Limited time offer: 100,000 bonus points after $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• Additional Free Night Award (valued up to 35,000 points) every year after account anniversary.
• 6X Bonvoy points per $1 spent at over 7,000 participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels.
• 2X Bonvoy points per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• Automatic Silver Elite Status each account anniversary year. Gold Status when you spend $35,000 on purchases each account year.
• 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year.
• $95 annual fee.

Keep in mind the following:

The bonus is not available to you if you:

(1) are a current cardmember, or were a previous cardmember within the last 30 days, of Marriott BonvoyTM American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express);

(2) are a current or previous cardmember of either Marriott Bonvoy BusinessTM American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express) or Marriott Bonvoy BrilliantTM American Express® Card (also known as the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card), and received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade bonus in the last 24 months; or

(3) applied and were approved for Marriott Bonvoy BusinessTM American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express) or Marriott Bonvoy BrilliantTM American Express® Card (also known as the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card) within the last 90 days.

That’s a lot of long card names, but note the different 30-day, 90-day, and 24-month waiting periods that may now include Marriott business cards. (See my Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card Review.) This is why you should be looking to get the best possible bonus (like a limited-time offer) if you do apply.

The Marriott and Starwood merger is now complete, and you can use these points at either Marriott properties (Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Springhill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites) or former Starwood Properties (Westin, Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Four Points by Sheraton, W Hotels, St. Regis, Le Méridien, Aloft).

Here’s the new award chart information:

You could use 70,000 points on two free nights at a Category 5 hotel like the Courtyard Waikiki Beach in Hawaii on a standard date, or you could get 4 free nights at a Category 3 hotel like the Residence Inn Austin Arboretum.

You can still turn your points into airline miles with a bonus. 60,000 Marriott points = 25,000 airline miles. Similar to the old Starwood bonus structure, they will add 15,000 points for every 60,000 points you transfer to airline miles.

Finally, Marriott points are also convertible to gift cards, but it takes 60,000 points to redeem for a $200 gift card for Marriott or retailers like Best Buy, Home Depot, or Nordstrom. That ratio isn’t all that great so you’ll definitely get the most value via hotel night redemptions or airline miles transfer.

Free Night Award. At your card anniversary (when you pay the annual fee), you will receive a Free Night Award that is good for one night (redemption level at or under 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) at a participating hotel. This excludes the very top properties, but for regular travelers it will be very easy to get your $95 value. Many W Hotels, Westin, and even some Ritz-Carltons worldwide are included. Here are some sample hotels that qualify under the 35,000 point limit:

• Sheraton Kona Resort (Big Island, Hawaii)
• Westin Hapuna Beach Resort (Big Island, Hawaii)
• Courtyard Waikiki Beach (Honolulu, Oahu)
• Sheraton Kauai Resort (Kauai, Hawaii)
• W Atlanta
• New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge
• Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile
• W Chicago
• The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing, China
• The S. Regis Bangkok, Thailand

Bottom line. The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card (formerly the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card) has been refreshed with a new limited-time offer of 100,000 bonus Marriott points. Previously the standard offer was 75,000 points, so you may consider this a good time to apply. As with all hotel cards, the value is dependent on your unique travel preferences. If you stay at Marriott/Starwood properties regularly, the free annual night award should easily cover the annual fee.

During the limited-time offer, I have added this to my list of Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to pay down debt. Rewards-earning credit cards may not be optimal for those carrying balances and thus more impacted by 18% interest rates than a relatively puny 2% back on purchases. Consider the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card, which doesn’t offer a fancy rewards structure but has brought back their longest 0% APR intro balance transfer period. The highlights:

• 0% Intro APR on balance transfers for 21 months from date of first transfer. All transfers must be completed in first 4 months.
• 0% Intro APR on purchases for 12 months from date of account opening.
• There is a balance transfer fee of either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
• No annual fee.

The strong part of this card is the long 21 month period, so you can spread out payments over 1.75 years and ideally pay it all off by the end. If you make a transfer in January 2020, that means 0% APR until October 2021. There is a 5% balance transfer fee ($5 min). However, if you’re currently paying 18% APR, then 5% works out to 3 months of interest over a 21 month period. Once the intro period on all 0% cards expire, the rates will go right back up. You’ll either need to pay it off or transfer your balance again if you need more time. This card lets you spread your payments out over 21 months instead of 6 or 12.

If you are certain that you can pay it off within a shorter time period, look for a card with no balance transfer fee. Compare with other low fee 0% APR balance transfer offers.

Bottom line. The Citi® Diamond Preferred® is a card targeted that for those serious about paying down their balances. The 0% introductory period of 21 months on balance transfers is the longest they offer, with a one-time 5% balance transfer fee ($5 min). No annual fee.

• Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card application link

The Chase IHG Rewards Club Traveler card is the IHG hotel co-branded card that includes special IHG perks but now without an annual fee. Here are the highlights:

• 60,000 bonus IHG points after $2,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.
• Earn 15X points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel.
• Earn 2X points at gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Fourth Reward Night Free when you redeem points for any 4+ night stay.
• No annual fee.

This is a new card, but please note the following:

This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.

This offer is for the new “IHG Club Traveler” card, so this language means that if you have the older and different “Premier” or “Select” card, you can still apply for this card and get the sign-up bonus.

What can you get with IHG points? The best redemption value for IHG points is for free hotel nights. The other options offer significantly less value. While the points don’t translate directly to a dollar value, but overall you should expect around 0.60 cents of value per point, which would make 60,000 IHG points worth an estimated $360 value. Not bad for a no annual fee card. You can perform the calculations for hotels that fit your needs. I tried a bunch of other various combinations and got between 0.5 cents and 0.8 cents per point equivalent value.

IHG stands for Intercontinental Hotel Group which has over 5,000 hotels including the following brands:

• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts
• Crowne Plaza
• Kimpton
• Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express
• Staybridge Suites
• Candlewood Suites
• Hotel Indigo
• EVEN Hotels

IHG Rewards Club puts out a new list of PointBreaks hotels every few months where you can redeem a hotel night for only 5,000 to 15,00 points. There are some nice hotels on the list, but the locations are very specific and few people are sufficiently flexible with their travel to constantly take advantage of these deals. However, you could get value of over 1 cent per IHG point with a hotel on this list.

IHG points expire after 24 months of inactivity, so if you keep up your activity then you can save up these free nights for later. Chase Ultimate Rewards points also convert to IHG points.

Total of 15x points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG. Here’s how this breaks down: Earn 5X points per $1 spent as an IHG® Rewards Club Traveler credit cardmember + 10X points per $1 spent from IHG® for being an IHG® Rewards Club Member, for a total of 15X points total at any of their 5,400+ IHG® hotels & resorts.

Given my 0.6 cent per IHG point valuation, I would book my IHG nights on this card, but not my everyday purchases on an ongoing basis.

• 2 IHG points per $1 spent at gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants.
• 1 IHG point per $1 spent on all other card purchases

Upgrade to Premier? Downgrade to Traveler? If you can reliably use a anniversary night certificate (40,000 point maximum value) and get $89 value out of it, you should consider going with the IHG Rewards Premier credit card mentioned on the same application page. The Premier card also adds some other small perks like Platinum Elite status and a TSA Precheck fee credit.

If you already have the Premier card and don’t want those added perks, you may consider asking if you can downgrade to this Traveler now without any annual fee.

Bottom line. The Chase IHG Rewards Club Traveler credit card now comes with no annual fee and a current sign-up bonus boost of 60,000 IHG points. As with most of these co-branded cards, the best value is obtained if you can redeem for IHG hotel nights.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

The Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business card is a rewards business card offering a big early spend bonus offer in addition to ongoing 2% cash back rewards. Here are the highlights:

• Unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases.
• $500 cash bonus when you spend $4,500 in purchases within the first 3 months.
• $0 annual fee for the first year, then $95 annual fee after that.
• Cash back rewards don’t expire as long as your account is open.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Free additional employee cards.

Consider that if you meet the $4,500 spending requirement within 3 months, you will end up with $500 + $90 from 2% cash back – that’s $590 on $4,500 spending (13% cash back!).

Note that “Existing or previous Accountholders may not be eligible for this one-time bonus.” For comparison, there is also a Spark Select for Business and Spark Classic that are different cards with lower sign-up bonuses but no annual fee.

The 2% cash back for all purchases is a strong rewards structure, and the annual fee is waived for the first year as well. From the second year onward, you’ll have to weigh that against the $95 annual fee after the first year. The math says that you would have to spend more than $19,000 every year ($1,583 a month) to make the 2% back and $95 annual fee (Spark Cash) pay out more rewards than 1.5% cash back and no annual fee (Spark Cash Select).

Here is some info taken from the Terms and Conditions regarding rewards cash back redemptions:

How do I redeem my rewards?
You can get your cash back upon request in the form of a statement credit or a check. You can also set up an automatic redemption preference; options include: (1) at a set time each calendar year or (2) when a specific threshold ($25, $50, $100 or $200) has been reached. Just go online to capitalone.com or contact our Rewards Center. You can also redeem for credits for previous purchases, gift cards, and more. Rates for these redemption options may vary and are subject to change without notice.

Alternatively, the Capital One Spark® Miles for Business has a 50,000 mile bonus – redeemable for $500 statement credit towards travel – once you spend $4,500 in purchases in the first 3 months.

The travel can be booked directly through airlines and hotels, and there are no blackout dates or award seat limits to worry about. $0 annual fee for the first year, then $95 annual fee after that. No foreign transaction fees. Similar to the offer above, the Spark Miles offers 2 miles per dollar with the $95 annual fee but there is also a Spark Miles Select for Business that offers 1.5 miles per dollar with no annual fee.

Mileage transfer options. Capital One now allows you to transfer your “miles” into select airline miles programs as well, on a 2:1.5 ratio (ex. 20,000 Capital One miles = 15,000 Air Canada Aeroplan miles). Here are the 12 transfer partners:

• Aeromexico
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France/KLM
• Alitalia
• Avianca
• Cathay Pacific
• Etihad
• EVA
• Finnair
• Hainan
• Qantas
• Qatar

Unless you know how to leverage one of these international airline miles programs, I would prefer earning cash rewards over the “miles”, since these Capital One “miles” only get their maximum value when redeemed against a travel purchase.

If you are looking for a comparison with other strong business cards, check out my updated list of Top 10 Best Small Business Credit Card Bonus Offers.