Roundup Of Limited Time Increased Credit Card Signup Bonuses From AMEX, Capital One, Chase, And Citibank

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American Express Limited Time Offers:
American Express is a DansDeals.com advertiser.

-The SimplyCash® Business Card from American Express offers a $250 statement credit for spending $5,000 in 6 months if you apply by 09/21. It also offers 5% cash back at office supply stores and wireless phone bills. You also get 3% cash back on your choice of: Airfare, Hotels, Car rentals, gas stations, restaurants, advertising, or shipping. There is no annual fee.

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Capital One Limited Time Offers:

Note that Capital One does a credit pull from all 3 credit bureaus when applying for cards, though some have had success getting a card with 1 pull by freezing the reports by 2 of the 3 credit bureaus. More info on freezing from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

-Capital One Spark Cash for Business offers $500 cash back for spending $4,500 in 3 months for a limited time only.  This card offers 2% cash back everywhere and there are no foreign transaction fees.  $59 annual fee is waived for the first year.

 

-Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card offers 21.5% cash back on all Uber rides until 04/30/16 and $100 cash back for spending $500 in 3 months. This card offers 1.5% cash back everywhere and there are no foreign transaction fees. No annual fee. More info in this post.

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Chase Limited Time Offers:

 

-Chase Marriott is offering 80K points for spending $3K in 3 months if you apply by 08/31. There is an $85 annual fee. You’ll also get a free night at a category 1-5 hotel every anniversary.

The Marriott program is split into “categories” and “tiers.”

Marriott has 9 categories of hotels that range from 7,500 to 45,000 points per night or 6,000 to 40,000 points per night when they’re on PointSavers.

Marriott also has 5 tiers of Ritz Carlton hotels that range from 30,000 to 70,000 points per night or 20,000 to 60,000 points per night when they’re on PointSavers.

When you stay 4 nights you get the 5th night free.  You can browse hotels in each of those categories and tiers via the find button on this page. While there you can look at the additional free night you receive at signup besides for the bonus points at category 1-4 hotels.

You can also transfer points into miles here. The ratios aren’t great, but if you need some Southwest points for Companion pass status that can be worthwhile.

Marriott also offers miles+nights packages.

Read more about using Marriott points in Israel in this post.

 

-Chase British Airways offers 50K Avios for spending $2K in 3 months and normally has a $95 annual fee. If you apply by 08/31 the annual fee is waived for the first year.  Awards start from 4.5K Avios each way and can be cancelled for just $5.60. When used for flights it’s not difficult to get a value of 1.5 cents per point when using, making the signup bonus worth $750, though it can be lower or much higher depending on how you use the miles. There are no foreign transaction fees.

Everything you want to know about British Airways Avios in this post.

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Citi Limited Time Offers:

 

-The Citi AAdvantage Executive Mastercard is offering 75K AA miles for spending $7,500 in 3 months for a limited time only.

There’s a $450 annual fee. After meeting the spend requirement you’ll have at least 82.5K miles which is more than enough for 2 round-trip awards to Europe or a round-trip award to Israel.

You’ll get a full Admirals Club membership that you can use regardless of what airline you’re flying for free access for you and your spouse and kids or 2 guests. Membership alone is normally $500/year and this is the only card that gives a full Admirals Club membership that works for access even when you’re not flying on American (The Citi Prestige card doesn’t give access if you’re not flying American).

American has an excellent award chart with awesome one-way values from the US48/Canada like:
-12.5K to Alaska (versus 17.5K on United)
-12.5K to the Caribbean and Mexico during off-peak times (17.5K on United)
-17.5K to Hawaii during off-peak times (22.5K on United)
-20K to South America during off-peak times (30K on United)
-20K to Europe between October-May (30K on United)
-25K to Japan/Korea during off-peak times (35K on United)
-55K business class to Hong Kong (70K-80K on United)
-67.5K first class to China (80K-120K on United)

-A business class flight on Cathay Pacific from JFK to Vancouver or on AA from JFK to LAX or SFO is 25K (versus 37.5K BA Avios)
-A first class flight on Cathay Pacific from JFK to Vancouver or on AA from JFK to LAX or SFO is just 32.5K (versus 50K BA Avios)

-A first class flight on Etihad from JFK to the Maldives in your own first class apartment with a shower onboard is 90K miles.

While a flight from the US to Israel via Philadelphia is 45K miles each way you can fly to Israel via Europe for just 40K miles each way between October-May and you can stopover in Europe for as long as you want.

From Israel there are many bargains as well, a few examples include:
-25K to the Maldives in business (35K on United)
-30K to Thailand in business (60K on United)
-45K to Australia in business (60K on United)

Fuel surcharges only apply for flights on British Airways. It’s worth noting that many AAdvantage partner awards (such as on like Air Tahiti Nui, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, JAL, LAN, and TAM) can only be booked by calling American to hold or book them.

 

Yes, the card carries a whopping $450 annual fee, though it’s refundable if you close it within 37 days of that being billed.  Sometimes the fee is billed on the first statement, sometimes on the second statement.   Sometimes the first statement comes right away, sometimes it takes a month. YMMV.

There are no foreign transaction fees with the card. You ad 8 companions get a free bag when flying on American or USAirways as well as priority checkin, security, and boarding. You’ll also get 25% off in-flight food, beverages, and headsets.

If you spend $40K on the card in a calendar year you’ll get 10,000 bonus elite qualifying miles.

The card also offers free Global Entry or Pre-Check membership.

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-The Citi Hilton HHonors card normally offers 50K, but is offering 75K Hilton points for spending $2K in 3 months for a limited time only.  There’s no annual fee. You’ll also get Silver elite status for as long as you’re a cardholder. If you spend $20K/year you’ll get Gold status.

There’s no limited time offer for the Citi Hilton Reserve card, but it’s a great card as it which gives 2 free nights at any Hilton in the world (including the excellent Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem). It also gives Gold elite status for as long as you’re a cardholder, which gets you free breakfast, including the most over-the-top breakfast I’ve had in my life at the Waldorf Jerusalem.  If you spend $40K/year you’ll get top-tier Diamond status, which confirmed room upgrades and space available suite upgrade at hotels like the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem. This card has a $95 annual fee.

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-The Citi Premier® Card  offers 50K ThankYou points for spending $3,000 in 3 months for a limited time only.  The points are transferrable to airlines/hotels or 50K points can be used for a $500 gift card or $625 of travel purchases. If you have a Prestige card the points can be worth even more.

The Premier card has very strong spend categories. It offers triple points for travel and gas and double points on dining and entertainment. The travel category on the Premier card includes airfare, car rentals, hotels, cruises, travel agencies, public transportation, boat rentals, taxis, tolls, parking, etc. Entertainment includes sporting events, amusement parks, tourist attractions, theater, concerts, movies, etc.  There are no foreign transaction fees and the $95 annual fee is waived for the first year.  More info in this post.

 

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-The Citi Prestige card offers 50K ThankYou points for spending $3,000 in 3 months for a limited time only.  The points are transferrable to airlines/hotels or 50K points can be used for a $500 gift card,  $665 of airline purchases, or $800 of travel on American or USAirways. More info in this post.

The Prestige card offers 3 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, and travel agencies, and double points on dining and entertainment.  Note that the less expensive Premier card actually has better bonus categories.

There is a $450 annual fee. However the Prestige card comes packed with awesome benefits:

1. $250 annual air travel credit. No need to pick an airline. No need to buy a gift card. Just a straight credit for up to $250 of whatever you spend from any airline including tickets, bag fees, seat fees, etc. In your first cardmembership year you can get $250 back in 2015 and $250 back in 2016, which more than covers the annual fee.

2. Free American Admirals Club lounge access for you and your family or you and 2 guests when flying American.

3. Priority Pass lounge membership with free guest access for your family or 2 guests when flying any airline. Additional Prestige cardmembers are just $50 and they also get their own Priority Club lounge membership with free guest privileges. The Priority pass membership that comes with the AMEX Platinum card doesn’t include free guests access, so that’s a nice perk of this membership. Click here to search for lounges in airports across the world.

4. Global Entry or Pre-Check reimbursement. A 5 year Global Entry membership is normally $100 but will be free when paid with the Prestige card. Skip the lines when returning to the US and get Pre-Check included as well. Pre-Check allows you to keep your shoes and jacket on, skip the nude-o-scope, and leave your laptop in the bag.  It makes traveling a whole lot easier.

5. A 4th night free on all paid hotel stays. When you make a hotel reservation of 4 or more nights just call 561-922-0158 to make the reservation and you’ll get the 4th night of the reservation rebated back to your for free. The rates will be the same as on the hotel website and the rates do qualify for hotel elite status and points. Note that the 4th night of the stay will be the rebated night. In some cases the 4th night may cost significantly more or less than the rest of the nights, so always check to see the actual rate for each night. There is no limit to how many times you can take advantage of this offer. You need to use your Prestige card, but you get triple points for hotel spending, so that’s not a bad thing.

6. 3 free rounds of golf per calendar year. You can search for courses here and make reservations here. That’s 6 free rounds of golf in your first cardmembership year.

CitiGold benefits:

Several folks who have CitiGold accounts have gotten notices that their annual fee on the Prestige account has been adjusted down from $450 to just $350. CitiGold customers also get 15% bonus points on the Prestige card. Citigold checking is free for 2 months after which point you can downgrade to a free checking account or keep $50K in it, but benefits typically stay even after your downgrade. CitiGold customers can also signup for the card in-branch with the $350 fee, but the in-branch offer requires $15,000 in spending.  If you have a CitiBusiness Preferred checking account you can get a personal CitiGold account for free.  CitiBusiness Preferred requires you to maintain $15K in the account to waive the fees.

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The advantage of having both the Premier and the Prestige cards:

When you have a Prestige card you can also redeem ThankYou points for 1.33 cents towards airfare or 1.6 cents towards airfare on American or USAirways. That means you can book $800 of free travel (and earn miles for the flights) with the 50K signup bonus if you would rather go down that route as opposed to transferring points into miles.

If you have both the Prestige and Premier cards all of your points will be able to be used at the 1.6 cents per point value towards American or USAirways airfare.  From just the signup bonuses alone that’s at least $1,600 in free travel from the points plus $500 in free travel from the Prestige airline credit in your first cardmembership year.

The cheaper Premier card actually has better bonus categories including triple points on all travel expenses and on gas, but the Prestige card makes all of your ThankYou points worth more.

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Getting more than one Citi card and repeat bonuses:

Citibank doesn’t generally allow 2BMs anymore, though some people have reported success. You can apply for one card, wait 8 days, and then apply for another Citi card. You would have to wait 60 days from the date of your first card application before you can apply for a 3rd Citi card and 60 days from the date of your second card application before you can apply for a 4th Citi card.

Most Citi card applications now require an 18 month waiting period from when you last had that exact card before you can get the signup bonus again.

Citi phone reconsideration (888-201-4523) can be tough if denied, but many people (myself included) have had great luck reconsidering via snail mail! Just write a short letter explaining why you want the card to: Mr. Ken Stork, Office of the President, PO Box 6000, Sioux Falls, SD 57117

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12 Comments On "Roundup Of Limited Time Increased Credit Card Signup Bonuses From AMEX, Capital One, Chase, And Citibank"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Shlomo

Can you get both citi prestige and premier?

Yaakov

BA announced a few months ago that they will be reducing the earnings on the Chase card to 1 point/$. I still somehow get 1.25 points/$. 🙂

jacob

Chase has a new rule if u applied for 5 cards from ANY bank in last 24 months u will not be approved for chase UR cards like , Ink, Freedom, Slate,

Dan

@Shlomo:
Yes.

@Yaakov:
Nice!

@jacob:
Not a hard and fast rule. Try getting a banker to fill out a special recon form for you if you have a chase checking account with $10K in it.

shragie

amex has a complientary 1 night at select fairmont hotels plus 25 dollars if you stay 3 nights minimum, would i be able two book three nights with IHG and then get the 4th night with amex?

a European

“from 4.5K Avios each way”

Not true now within Europe off peek it is 4K 😉

abo456

i thought closing a credit card (like the Citi AAdvantage Exec) right after the annual fee hits and getting it refunded would get you flagged by the bank and make it harder to get approved for more citi cards in the future. is this not the case?

phil

wait so i have to open a chase checking account now to apply for more chase cards??

pcgeek

@phil:
Where do you see that?

phil

From @dan reply to @Jacob,above.
I’m asking, because I just applied for a bunch of cards tonight, and obviously 3 months ago I did the same…
I just need the ink plus, because my bold annual fee is coming up

wolf

how long after closing the marriot card could i reopen one and still be able to get the bonus?

mechayamom

Hiltons Honors Reserve…comment above says 2 free nights. Website says 2 free weekend nights. Are the free nights only valid for weekend stays? So Friday and Saturday nights?

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