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Chase has really stepped up their credit card offers in recent years. The signup bonuses, point transfer partners, and credit card spending bonus categories have really stolen much of the thunder of wundercards like the Starwood American Express, though there is space in my wallet for all of them based on when it makes the most sense to use each card.
Besides for the mega signup bonuses and earning 2, 2.07, 3.21, 5, or even 5.5 points per dollar in different categories on various cards, the Chase UR points themselves are much more valuable than points from most other banks that are worth only a penny each.
How so? Here are just a few examples of redemptions that I have made:
-A United business flight to Israel for 120,000 miles instead of $5,000, a value of over 4 cents each.
-A last minute United mid-haul coach flight cost me 20,000 miles instead of $850, a value of over 4 cents each.
-A Park Hyatt hotel in Paris, Sydney, Zurich, or the Maldives is $1,000 a night or 22,000 points, a value of over 4 cents each.
-A last-minute BA flight that I took was 9,000 points or $1,200, a value of over 13 cents each.
-2 first class Korean flights I took cost a total of 95,000 points instead of $13,000, a value of over 13 cents each.
-A regular old Southwest flight in coach will be worth 1.95 cents per point or 3.9 cents if you earn a companion pass.
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Here’s a quick roundup of the current offers:
–Chase Ink Plus and Chase Ink Bold business cards.
Signup bonus: Both of these cards give 50,000 bonus Chase Ultimate Rewards points each for spending $5,000 within 3 months. You should easily be able to get a value of at least 1.9 cents for your Ultimate Rewards points, making the signup bonus on each worth $950. The Ink Plus is a credit card and Ink Bold is a charge card.
They both have no annual fees for the first year, no foreign transaction fees, and 2 free lounge visits per year.
But even more importantly you earn 5 points per dollar at office supply stores, where you can find hundreds of gift cards to other online and retail stores. And that’s besides for 5 points per dollar on telecom, cable, and internet as well as 2 points per dollar on gas and hotels. Plus you also get cash back on top of points with Visa Savings Program and Mastercard Easy Savings
50,000 signup points and 5 points per dollar earning makes the Ink cards a must-have for any mileage junkies.
If you need some help to meet the spend threshold you’ll want to signup for a free Bluebird card from where you can pay any of your bills or write checks. Between Amazon Payments, Vanilla Reloads, Vanilla MVDs, One Vanilla cards, or even buying Visa gift cards (which work on Amazon Payments and Bluebird as well) or store gift cards from office supply stores with 5x points, it’s really not all that difficult. Even if you pay your federal taxes via a credit card for a 1.88% fee, you’ll be coming out way ahead thanks to the generous signup bonus.
Read more about getting business cards and the credit benefits of using business cards in this post.
Read more about the awesome Chase Ultimate Rewards program in this post. Points transfer to some of the best airlines and hotel programs out there.
-Chase Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card® Card
Signup bonus: 40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for spending $3,000 within 3 months. The annual fee is waived for the first year.
You should easily be able to get a value of at least 1.9 cents for your Ultimate Rewards points, making the signup bonus worth $760.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers a 7% points dividend every February for the previous year’s purchases, effectively making the card earn at least 1.07 points per dollar spent. You will also earn 2.14 points per dollar spent on restaurants, airfare, hotels, car rentals, charges in airports, travel agencies, caterers, timeshares, trains, buses, taxis/limos, ferries, bridges, tolls, and parking. On the first Friday of every month this year you earn 3.21 points per dollar on dining. There is no foreign exchange fee.
-Chase Southwest Visa Signature
Signup bonus: 50,000 Southwest points for spending $2,000 within 3 months.
This offer is scheduled to end on October 30th.
There are 4 versions of this card, each giving 50,000 points that are accessible via the link above under the “Additional Southwest Airlines Credit Cards.” They include a consumer and business premier card with a $99 annual fee that have higher annual bonuses and no foreign exchange fees and a consumer and business plus card with a $69 annual fee that have lower annual bonuses and charge foreign exchange fees.
When used for flights points are worth roughly 1.95 cents each and when used for gift cards points are worth 1 cent each, making making the signup bonus worth anywhere between $500 and $975.
If you collect 110,000 Southwest points in a year from select sources, including all points from Southwest credit cards, you can to bring along a companion for free on all of your Southwest (and Southwest coded Airtran) flights for the remainder of the year and for the entire following year. That’s good on paid flights and on award flights, so you can effectively get twice the value out of your points earned, bumping the potential value of the signup bonus up to $1,950.
The best part about Southwest? Award changes and cancellations are free and everyone gets 2 free checked bags.
Read this post for more info on the Southwest program and various options for the points for non-flyers, such as $500 in gift cards to various stores.
-Chase British Airways Visa Signature
Signup bonus: 50,000 BA Avios for spending $2,000 within 3 months.
This offer with the annual fee waived for the first year is scheduled to end on September 30th.
You should easily be able to get a value of at least 1.3 cents for your Avios, making the signup bonus worth $650.
With short-haul flights starting at just 4,500 Avios you can get a lot of free travel from your Avios. Plus BA doesn’t charge any last minute expedite/close-in fees, doesn’t collect massive fuel surcharges for flights on AA within the Western Hemisphere, Qantas within Australia, or worldwide on Aer Lingus, Alaska, Air Berlin, or LAN, and only charges $2.50-$10 (just the 9/11 fees) to cancel a domestic award online.
Cardholders also get 10% off paid BA tickets and can earn a companion award ticket if they spend $30K.
Want to learn more about the BA Avios program. I’ve written up an entire knowledgebase of facts that you can peruse.
More on the card in this post.
Other awesome Chase cards with lesser published signup bonuses that you can add onto a “3BM” include the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (which has no annual fee and has 5 point per dollar and 2 point per dollar categories along with free lounge passes), Chase Freedom (which has no annual fee, gives 5 points per dollar in rotating categories, and 10% bonus points if you have a Chase checking account making it 5.5 points per dollar), the Chase United Explorer (which gives free luggage, free primary car rental insurance worldwide except Israel, expanded saver and standard award ticket availability, priority boarding, a 10K bonus for spending $25K in a year, and more). There is also a business version of the United Explorer (click on “are you a business owner” on the Explorer application) and a Club version of the United card (click on the Club tab on the Explorer application) that gives 1.5 miles per dollar spent, 2 free checked bags per person, a United Club membership with unlimited free lounge and airport terminal access for you and your family, and waived expedite fees on United awards.
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31 Comments On "Current Mega Signup Bonuses From Chase"
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You mention above that you can purchase one vanilla and unload via bb.
I went last week to load and used last 4 #’s as PIN and had no luck. It was denied. Am I doing something wrong? I know how to load the chase GC to bb.
Can I still match to 55,000 miles and $50 cash back on the United card?
@chaim:
Still alive, just send a secure message to request the match.
Hi Dan if I close any of these cards on my own will it affect my credit score
dan-I’m should be over 110000 on swa.have 2 cards but have been told by some chase agents I cAn only get 1 bonus of 50000 per swa mileage number.some agents say I will get the other 50000.it will be 3 months in a week . If I don’t receive , any suggestions?btw, each card is registered in a different business name
@Trader: I just got an email a few days ago that I qualify for companion pass. I got 2 cards with 1 mileage #. Don’t call.
Btw ultimate rewards points are no longer worth 1.9.
Brokers are paying 1.7 and flipping them at 1.8. No where is there 1.9 going on. . . .
Chase United business = 50,000 with no fee 1st year & $2,000 spend.
im still getting 1.9 or even 2.
@Elaine: Do you know if the 110,000 miles have to be purely from money you spent to earn miles, or can it be from signup bonuses with partner cards?
I just got an e-mail from Southwest that will affect the value of Southwest miles.
“Wanna Get Away® reward flight bookings made on or after March 31, 2014 will require 70 points per dollar. This is an increase from the 60 points per dollar currently required.”
Do you realy think its worth the 1.88 fee to pay your taxes with a cc?
@Elaine:
You tried at the WM ATM or with an associate?
Works perfectly for me either way…not really sure what you’re doing wrong.
@joe:
As long as you transfer the credit line to another card (new or existing) then it won’t hurt your credit.
@Steve:
Believe it or not your points have value besides for selling them on the grey market.
If you USE them then you can easily get 1.9 cents value out of them if not several times that.
Brokers are merely finding people that will use them and making money on the difference.
@ih:
I have been able to match to that but I don’t know about a public link.
@brisker dude:
Nice.
@Yehuda:
Only on the Southwest cards.
@David R:
Ouch!
@Avremie:
If you pay $5,000 in taxes on Ink you’ll pay $94 in fees.
For that you’ll get 55,000 points on a new card, worth roughly $1,045 at 1.9 cents each.
Logged into my Chase account today morning and saw that all three of my cards are closed. I had a Freedom, an Amazon, and a Southwest. Called the risk department and they told me that they closed the cards because of the below reasons.
1. My total credit history is only a little over 3 years old.
2. My total available credit of around 60k seems like a risk to them with limited history.
3. Too many recent requests for credit.
I wanted to check here if there is anything I Can do to get the accounts reopened. Also, if I am not able to do it, how does it affect my credit history and how long before Chase normally approved a new credit card? Need to mention here that they closed my wife’s only Chase card too.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase-ultimate-rewards/1502397-word-caution-closed-accounts-chase-gcs-additional-employees-15.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/21293906-post64.html
the Chase club carlson card, Marriot card, and IHG rewards card all have fantastic signup bonuses that will get you between 2 and 7 free nights!
@jim:
Have you transferred points to anyone?
You can also read about why it can happen and how to solve it on DDF:
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=11216
Luckily it’s pretty rare.
@JackDaniels:
There is no such thing as Chase Club Carlson.
Marriott and IHG do have big bonuses, but their points are worth well under a cent a piece compared to other currencies worth 2 cents each, so just be sure to compare apples to apples.
Dan, what can you say to recon to get a new card approved if they deny you for opening 10 cards this year already, but currently have only 2 or 3 open.
Does anyone know, for the companion fare, does the cardholder have to travel, or does he jut have to book the ticket with that card?
Dan,
Can you apply and get bonuses for multiple UAL Explorer business cards using my own SS# and another TIN #s?
Dan, please advise not sure what to do. I followed your link to apply for amex business gold and then called to change it to business platinum, but additional 25000 points didn’t post and reps saying they can’t offer it.
if I downgrade from sapphire to freedom am I still getting the 7% on the UR earned on sapphire later in Feb? Tnx
didnt know that i get free luggage with my Chase United Explorer. any way to get reimbursed for a trip i took about 6 weeks ago? Thanks so much for your knowledgeable assistance! That’s why we keep coming back 🙂
You posted that you have 6 ink cards for several businesses. Did you receive sign up bonus for each? Like if I have 2 sole proprietor businesses can I get the bonuses for each business using the same ssn?
Lounge passes are one per account or per card?
I have a Southwest biz card and just reached the spending requirement and got the 50,000 bonus points. The points are posted to my SW account, but they are not showing as qualifying points for tier status. Has anyone else had this problem on? Is it because of the biz card? Does it take extra time for points to post as tier qualifying? Another data point, the 3k points I got for reaching the spending threshold also are not showing as tier qualifying.
hi Ive been reading the forums for about a year religiopusly trying to learn all the tricks and terminology ect. I was finally ready to earn some miles and I did my first 3bm with Chase applying for a british airway card, sapphire card, and united card last week. I was instantly approved for united for 20k credit line but declined for the other two. I called reconsideration and they were able to move part of the united line to either of the other cards to get it approved but said that chase has a max 2 card per 30 day sign up guideline. If this is the case, how is it possible to do a 3bm with Chase??? Do I HUCA or is this a set in stone guideline?
Dan it’s almost impossible to find visa or Amex gift cards for $500 to be purchased by credit card the most they’re offering are $200 set gift cards plus $7 fee. Do u still think ink cards are most valuable way to go? Any ideas or solutions? Thanks
Dan,
What is the general rule with regard to Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Are they more valuable to you use them to purchase flights via Ultimate Rewards or do you cash them in through ‘sell miles now’?
Thanks for your clarification on this.
Dan,
Is there any credit card that gives bonus points for college spending? I pay my tuition on credit card and I want to get the most out of it
I have an Alex business gold and the fee is coming up soon. What is the best thing to do so I don’t have to pay it. Also what’s the best flights to take to Israel from Cleveland on the second week in January?
What’s the best way to book a Maasada Suite at David Dead Sea resort with chase ultimate rewards?