Mike FriedmanWith travelers back on the road and ready to spend, banks are anxious to pick up your business and are rolling out some big bonuses to do so. We’ve gone through the flotsam and jetsam in credit card land to locate the best deals available now, a few of which are offering $700+ just to sign up for the card and meet a minimum spending requirement. They also offer great benefits for ongoing spending.
Here are a few options:
Citibank Premier Card
The Citibank Premier Card is one of the best options currently available. It comes with a sign-up bonus of 80,000 Citi ThankYou Points (TYP) when you spend $4,000 in the first three months as a cardholder. There is a $95 annual fee.*
So what’s a point worth? If you redeem for cash or gift cards, that’s $800, which you can take as a statement credit or gift card (including MGM gift cards). Feel like traveling? You can exchange those points for 80,000 miles in one of 15 airline partners or 2 hotel programs.
The card also has great ongoing spending bonuses. You’ll earn triple points on purchases on airfare, dining, supermarkets, gas stations and hotels.
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Another great option is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 60,000 Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months as a cardholder. There is a $95 annual fee.*
CSP points are particularly valuable. They’re worth up to 1.25 cents each, so those 60,000 points translate into as much as $750. They can also be exchanged for points with 11 airlines or 3 hotel programs.
Chase/Las Vegas Special: Hyatt has a partnership with MGM, allowing you to use points at one of their properties, which range from 8,000 – 25,000 points per night. You can simply transfer CSP points to Hyatt and use them to book MGM.
The card also comes with additional spending bonuses, including:
- 5X points for airfare, car rentals, hotels, Lyft, other travel
- 3X points dining and streaming services
Other Cards (Down The Rabbit Hole We Go!)
There are credit cards for all shapes, sizes and purposes. If you really want to see everything that’s out there, you can start here. Just pick the categories that interest you and take it from there.
The most popular categories are airlines and hotels. Not only do you usually get a bonus for the airline/hotel but you may also get additional ongoing benefits, frequently including elite status.
*Some people automatically recoil when they hear the term “annual fee.” You don’t have to be one of them. Simply subtract the fee from the total of the bonus.
