Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Promotional Companion Pass

It's baaaack!

Right now, Feb 2026, the sign up bonus for ANY Southwest Personal Credit Card will get you a buy one, get one flights; earning a companion pass through 2/28/2027!

Now, there are a few cons to this offer; or at least differences from the “traditional companion pass”, that you should consider before taking this offer. The Cons are covered later on in this post, so that you can know full scope and decide if this offer is right for you. 


Promotional Southwest Companion Pass

There are 3 Southwest personal credit cards with an elevated offer right now, that includes earning Companion Pass, through 2/28/27. Each card's minimum spend, sign up bonus offer, annual fee, and benefits vary. Let's talk through each card!

Rapid Rewards Plus Card

Current Elevated Offer: Spend $3,000 in 3 months; earn 20,000 points AND Companion Pass through 2/28/27

Annual Fee: $99

Benefits:

  • Free checked bag for cardholder and up to 8 people on the same reservation. You do NOT have to use the card to purchase flights in order to utilize this benefit
  • Free standard seat selection 48 hours in advance of flights for everyone one your reservation
  • 10% Flight Discount
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • 3,000 anniversary points yearly



Rapid Rewards Premier Card 

Current Elevated Offer: Spend $4,000 in 3 months; earn 30,000 points AND Companion Pass through 2/28/27

Annual Fee $149

Benefits:
  • Free checked bag for cardholder and up to 8 people on the same reservation. You do NOT have to use the card to purchase flights in order to utilize this benefit
  • Free Preferred seat selection 48 hours in advance of flights for everyone one your reservation
  • 15% Flight Discount
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • 6,000 anniversary points yearly


Rapid Rewards Priority Card 

Current Elevated Offer: Spend $5,000 in 3 months; earn 50,000 points AND Companion Pass through 2/28/27

Annual Fee $229

Benefits:
  • Free checked bag for cardholder and up to 8 people on the same reservation. You do NOT have to use the card to purchase flights in order to utilize this benefit
  • Free Preferred seat selection at time of booking  for everyone one your reservation
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • 7,600 anniversary points yearly

Comparing All 3 Cards...


Cons for this Elevated Offer

You can only earn a sign up bonus on ANY Southwest Personal card every 24 months. That means, if you open one of the cards listed above now, you will not be eligible to earn a sign up bonus on a Southwest Personal card for 24 months after you hit the Feb 2026 Personal card SUB.

Why does this matter? This promo CP only lasts until 2/28/27. While a year of BOGO flights is great,  the traditional method of earning companion pass lets you earn bogo flights for up to 24 months.

Additionally, with the traditional method of earning CP, you earn 125,000 points that you can then spend to book flights! The offers above only get you 20,000-40,000 points, which may not even be enough for a one-way flight in some cases.

If you have opened a SW Personal card in the past 24 months and earned a sign up bonus, then you are NOT eligible for this offer.


This is a Great Offer For...

1. People who absolutely cannot open a business card. Although, you really should read this post and reconsider!

2. Someone who has big holiday travel planned, especially over Christmas 2026/New Years 2027. Going to Hawaii next winter? SW roundtrip flight to Hawaii around the holidays can easily cost 120,000 points for ONE person, round trip. If you have companion pass, then you're saving ~120,000 points with this offer by itself, which is easily just as good as any other sign up bonus!

Summary

This offer isn't right for everyone, but there are some situations where I think this is a GREAT offer! If you're interested in applying, here is a referral link (you can open any of the SW personal cards with this!)! This is free to you, but gives me a small kick back of points for using my referral. 

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Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know my suggestions.

Wondering how I keep all of this information organized? Check out my Points Tracker!

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!







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Friday, January 30, 2026

Is this a Good Offer?

Is this a Good Deal?!

This is another common question I receive! This post will run through the standard/typical sign up offers for common cards that I recommend and/or hold. 

Any offer higher than what is shown below is considered to be an "elevated" limited time offer. Elevated offers are not always better than standard offers, but are at least worth a consideration. 

If you're new to the idea of credit card points and how to use them for travel, I recommend starting with these posts: Points 101, New to Points, and Beginner Cards

All of the cards below will be linked with my referral and to more details. Linked details include information such as annual fee and benefits to utilize to offset the annual fee. If you have any questions about these cards - please reach out and ask. I'm here to help! 

If you are considering opening any of these cards, I greatly appreciate you using my referral link. That is, apply through my link - which is free to you, but gives me a small kick back of points, which helps me to continue bringing you free content and support! Thank you!

Standard Sign Up Bonus Offers

Chase

You'll see this list is pretty heavy on Chase cards; that's because Chase is generally the most beginner friendly transferrable/flexible points program of all banks, due to it's vast variety of domestic and international airline and hotel transfer partners. Learn more here on Chase Transfer Partners.

Chase Transferrable Points

Chase Personal Cards

*As of January 2026; you can now hold the Sapphire Preferred AND the Sapphire Reserve at the same time. The previous 48-month rule no longer exists.

Chase Business cards


Chase Airlines and Hotels

Interested in buy one, get one free flights for close to two years? Consider opening Southwest Credit cards to earn companion pass! Learn more about companion pass here.

Keep in mind, with Southwest 2025 changes, all credit card holders get free checked bags as well as option to select seating in advance (when you get to select varies depending on which card(s) you hold. If you fly Southwest a few times a year, the free checked bag benefit can easily cover the cost of the annual fee.

Southwest Personal Cards

These cards all have the same standard sign up bonus, but varying  annual fees and associated benefits - including when you are allowed to select seats for free and how many points you earn upon your cardholder anniversary.

Southwest Business Cards


Misc Chase Hotel Cards

Hyatt Personal Card: Spend $5,000 in 3 months, earn 60,000 points

There is often an elevated offer to earn up to 5 nights free, BUT it requires you to spend $15,000 in the first 6 months! Personally, I don't think this is worth it. If I have $15K to spend, I'm looking to open a new card with flexible points. The free nights awards are only valid for 1 year and only valid on lower tier, Category 1-4 hotels. I would rather get the 60,000 Hyatt points and have the flexibility to spend them where and when I want!


Marriot Bonvoy Boundless: Spend $3,000 in 3 months; earn 3 free night awards. Each Free Night Award (FNA) is valid up to 50,000 points and valid for 1 year. 

FNAs can be redeemed and "topped" off with additional points up to a maximum of 15,000 points per night; which means if you have extra Marriott points, you can redeem your FNA+points for up to 65,000 points per night.


Capital One

Capital One is known to be rather picky for approvals. If you have one or more inquiries on your credit in the past six months, you may or may not be able to get approved. You can use Capital One's preapproval tool to check your odds. Also, if you freeze your credit (I freeze with all of the bureaus. This is free to do) and unthaw 24 hours before you apply.

This is also because in Nov 2025, Capital One implemented a rule that in order to qualify for sign up bonuses you must open the cards "in order" of lowest tier to highest tier. This is you need to open the cards in this order to earn a sign up bonus on each: Venture One, Venture, and Venture X).

Often the Venture One card is skipped (due to lower sign up bonus/benefits not worth taking on up spot of you 5/24). 

It's recommended to open a Venture card BEFORE opening a Venture X card. 

If you open a VentureX card first, you will not be eligible for a Venture Card sign up bonus until 48 months have passed since earning the Venture X sign up bonus. 

Capital One Transferable Points

Venture Card (learn more here): Spend $4,000 in 3 months; earn 75,000 points
VentureX Card (learn more here): Spend $4,000 in 3 months; earn 75,000 points

American Express 

Amex Personal Cards

Similar to Capital One rules; Amex also has a rule to open personal cards in "family order". The Family Rule dictates that you need to get Amex personal cards in tiered "order", otherwise, you aren't eligible for future sign up bonuses of lower tier cards.

Basically, Amex has Green, Gold, and Platinum personal cards. If you get a Platinum card as your first Amex Personal card, then you are not eligible to get the sign up bonus for the Green or Gold cards in the future.

I personally don't think the Green card offer is worth a 5/24 spot, so I recommend starting off getting Amex Gold Personal before an Amex Platinum Personal.

  • Green: Spend $3,000 in 6 months, earn 40,000 points 
  • Gold (learn more here): Spend $6,000 in 6 months, earn up to 100,000 points. (Note, the standard offer is 60,000 points, but I wouldn't accept this offer for less than 80,000 points).
  • Platinum (on of my favorite benefits here): Spend $8,000 in 6 months, earn up to 175,000 points
Note the 6-month minimum spend on American Express personal cards instead of the usual 3-month duration! I know this really helps out low spenders.

*Amex is weird with sign up bonuses. The same link may produce a 75K offer on your phone and 100K offer on your computer. It's always best to check the link in a few different browser and devices (clear your cookies, incognito mode, on your phone), before you apply and accept - to ensure that you're getting the highest offer. If you don't receive a high offer, decline the offer and wait a day or two and try again!

Amex Business Cards

  • Gold: Spend $15,000 in 3 months, earn up to 100,000 points (Note, you can find elevated offers to earn up to 200,000 points, but I wouldn't accept this offer for less than 150,000 points).
  • Platinum: Spend $20,000 in 3 months, earn 200,000 points (Note, you can find elevated offers to earn up to 300,000 points, but I wouldn't accept this offer for less than 250,000 points).
  • Blue Business Plus: Spend $3,000 in 3 months, earn up to 15,000 points. (However, typically you can find an elevated offer to spend $4K in 4 months and earn 50,000 or even 75,000 points!)

Summary

The above is A LOT of information; but it's also good to know! If I were ready to open a new card and had the spend to do so, I wouldn't NOT get a card just because it doesn't currently have an elevated offer.... but at the same time, I hope the list above is something you can reference so that when you are opening new credit cards, you can use this information to weigh out which card and card offer is best for you at any given time!

As always, I love and appreciate your support! Please consider using my referral links when you open new credit card(s); which is free to you, but supports my small business :)

___________________________

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know my suggestions.

Wondering how I keep all of this information organized? Check out my Points Tracker!

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!


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Sunday, January 25, 2026

Capital One Venture Card

The second credit card I suggest opening on my 2026 Beginner's Card List is the Capital One Venture Card. This is because not only does the card have a low annual fee and great benefits to off set the fee (see below!), but Capital One is known to be rather picky for approvals. If you have one or more inquiries on your credit in the past six months, you may or may not be able to get approved. You can use Capital One's preapproval tool to check your odds. Also, if you freeze your credit (I freeze with all of the bureaus. This is free to do) and unthaw 24 hours before you apply.

This is also because in Nov 2025, Capital One implemented a rule that in order to qualify for sign up bonuses you must open the cards "in order" of lowest tier to highest tier. This is you need to open the cards in this order to earn a sign up bonus on each: Venture One, Venture, and Venture X).

Often the Venture One card is skipped (due to lower sign up bonus/benefits not worth taking on up spot of you 5/24). 

In essence, it's recommended to open a Venture card BEFORE opening a Venture X card. 

If you open a VentureX card first, you will not be eligible for a Venture Card sign up bonus until 48 months have passed since earning the Venture X sign up bonus. 


Capital One Venture Card

Standard Offer: Spend $4,000 in 3 months and earn 75,000 points

Current Elevated Offer (Jan 2026): Spend $4,000 in 3 months and earn 75,000 points + a $250 travel credit (to be used in Capital One Travel portal). This offer is worth a minimum of $1,000 in travel!

Annual Fee: $95 

5/24: This is a personal card, therefore it takes a spot for the Chase 5/24 rule (Chase will only allow you to have 4 personal credit cards from ANY bank/store/airline/hotel/etc in the previous 24 months. If you exceed this limit, Chase likely will automatically not approve you for more cards. Read Item 2 here for more beginner basics)

Card Benefits:
  • 2x points on all purchases
  • 5x points on travel purchases booked through Capital One Travel (including rental cars)
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Up to $120 credit towards TSA PreCheck or Global Entry when you use this card to apply (note, credit is available once every 4 years)
This is a great no-brainer card to use on all of your purchases and to take on international travel, since it's earns 2x's points on all purchases AND doesn't have foreign transaction fees!

Capital One Benefits:
  • Ability to combine points with anyone! 
  • Ability to transfer points to Capital One Travel partners for direct bookings and to gain larger value from points (compared to Capital One Travel portal, where 1 point equals 1 cent). See Capital One Airline and Hotel Partners, plus other ways to use Capital One Points here.
  • Ability to redeem miles for travel-related purchases (as long as the purchase is coded as "Travel"). This can be a great option to use points to cover the cost of items such as rental cars, airbnbs, and even Disneyland tickets (when purchased through a travel agent like Undercover Tourist)

Summary

 If you're interested in applying for a Venture Card, here is a referral link! This is free to you, but gives me a small kick back of points for using my referral. Note that you will likely be directed to Capital One Pre-approval tool from this link. After completing the pre-approval tool, you can accept the Venture Card offer!

Thank you as always for your support! If you already have a Venture Card and want to earn more Capital One Points, I suggest opening the VentureX next. If you already have Venture Miles, here are Capital One's Transfer Partners and ways to use your Venture Miles.

___________________________

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know my suggestions.

Wondering how I keep all of this information organized? Check out my Points Tracker!

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!













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Good and Bad Chase Changes

The Bad
In recent months Chase seems to be making it harder and harder to earn Ultimate Rewards.

Early October 2025 they changed the referral rules for business cards - in that those referring others to business cards will only earn referral points if the card opener is a "new business". IE, if someone already has an existing Chase business card, then you won't earn referral points if you refer them to a new business card. 

In a 2-player household, this is a huge bummer! We have earned more than 500,000 points over the years, simply by having one of us refer the other person to an Ink Business card when it was time for a new card. This means in addition to the sign up bonus, we were often earning another 20,000 - 40,000 points for referring as well.

Then in November 2025, Chase came out with new language that says "you may not be eligible for a sign up bonus..." if you've previously earned one on the Ink business cards. Essentially the data points show that if you've earned a sign up bonus (SUB) on a no-fee in card (Ink Unlimited or Cash) then you're not likely to be able to earn another sign up on either of these card types. Similarly, if you've earned a SUB an Ink Preferred previously, you're not likely to able to get another SUB on a new Ink Preferred.



In both of these situations, when applying, you will receive a pop up that tells you you aren't eligible for a sign up bonus; if you receive this pop up, decline the application!

The Good
However, starting today (1/25/2026), there is some good news!

You can now hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred AND the Chase Sapphire Reserve at the same time. Prior to this, you could only hold one of these cards at a time. You also had to wait 48 months in between closing or downgrading a Sapphire card in order to apply for a new card for a new SUB. 


Currently, both the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve have "lifetime language". That is, similar to the Inks change above, if you've previously earned a sign up bonus on a Preferred or Reserve, you're unable to earn another SUB on the same card. However, if you're like me and you've only ever held the Preferred - you ARE still eligible for a SUB on a Reserve! And as of today, if you want, you can hold both the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve at the same time.

Summary
In a time that's getting harder and harder to continually earn more Chase points, I found the Sapphire update as welcomed news! Neither my P2 nor I have held CSR previously and it's good to know that for now, we still have a way to earn a nice sign up bonus for each of us! The CSR card is on my radar for both of us in the future!

___________________________

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know my suggestions.

Wondering how I keep all of this information organized? Check out my Points Tracker!

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!
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Thursday, January 22, 2026

How to Transfer Chase Points

Many of my followers have started earning points and the next logical question is what to do I with this points and how?!

While you can redeems your flexible bank points in the bank's travel portal, this generally is at a fixed ratio of 1 points equal to 1 cent (there are exceptions to this, such as "Points Boost" with Chase when you hold a Sapphire card. Sapphire Reserve cards have a higher "Points Boost" than Sapphire Preferred. However, "Points Boost" is only applicable to select flights and hotels - not all.

Often you will find the most value, ie spend the least amount of points, by transferring your flexible bank points to airlines and hotels, to then book directly in the airline/hotels loyalty program. A quick example: Let's say you wanted to come to Vail for a few nights over Spring Break.

Grand Hyatt Vail is 35,000 points per night, when booked directly on Hyatt's website:


Logging into Chase Travel Portal (log into Chase, at the top of your accounts, click "Benefits and Travel" > "Travel". When I search the same dates, on Chase Travel Portal, I see that for one night (the same date as when I searched Hyatt website), Chase would charge 61,257 points; for the same room type, same exact night!

And note, that is the "discounted" points price for holding a Sapphire Preferred card. It's still 75% more points than booking direct with Hyatt!

This is why it's often better to transfer. You can check both the Chase Travel Portal and direct airline/hotel before booking, but odds are transferring will cost you less points.


In order to transfer points, you'll need to have a loyalty account set up with the airline/hotel you are transferring to. In most cases the name on the credit card you are transferring from needs to match the name on the loyalty account. (This is to say, you can't transfer points from your credit to your spouse's United account because he has United status).

This post is intended to show you how to transfer Chase points you've earned to Chase travel partners (which is to say select airlines and hotels that the bank partners with). Keep in mind that while airlines and hotels overlap banks, each bank has a specific set of travel partners.

This understanding is fundamental when considering which credit cards to open and from which bank. The posts linked below lists the airlines and hotels each bank partners each:


How to Transfer Points

I'm starting with Chase because I think Chase is the most beginner friendly bank when it comes to points. This is because there are low annual fee cards to earn points and many hotels and airlines that are domestic to the US and popular household names.

However, the caveat to Chase is that you MUST have a premium Chase card in order to be able to transfer points out of the bank to travel partners. Essentially this is a Chase card with an annual fee. The current options for this are: Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Ink Business Preferred, or Chase Sapphire Reserve Business.

1. Log into your Chase account
2. Locate and click on your premium card (Sapphire or Ink Preferred)
3. Once the card details appear, locate your Ultimate Rewards. Click "Redeem".



4. This will load your Ultimate Rewards. Near the top right of your screen. Click "Travel" and select "Transfer points to partners" from the drop down.
5. This loads the Transfer page, where you can then access all of the travel partners:


6. Find the partner you want to transfer to. Click the ">" arrow and then click Transfer Points. This will direct you to 3-step page:
  1. You'll be prompted to enter your account number/log in information for the travel partner. Link your Travel Partner Account to Chase (ie where you input your frequent flyer #; you only need to do this the first time. In the future, your account is already linked). Once your travel partner account is linked, click Next.
  2. You'll then be asked how many points to transfer. Points can be transferred in 1,000-point increments. Keep in mind that all points transfers are final! Input the number of points to transfer and click Next

      3. Review transfer details and click Submit! 

Transfers are often instantaneous (like United, Southwest, or Hyatt); if you log out and back into your travel partner account you should see the points. Although I've also seen others say it's taken 24hours - 5 business days to see the points appear (this is also come with other bank). The quicker the transfer, the better; as award bookings are limited availability and can increase in point-price or entirely go away.

I generally DO NOT transfer my points until I'm ready to book travel. This keeps my points flexible.

It's important to verify the booking is available on the travel partner immediately before you transfer points, then book as soon as the points have been deposited to your travel partner.

(Ie, if you have a specific United flight you want to book - log into to United and search for the flight paying with Miles. Once you've confirmed the flight is available with points; immediately log into Chase and follow the steps above to transfer to United. Then log out of your United account, log back in (the points should be there), and book your flight before it's gone!

A few reminders:
  • Once universal points are transferred, they are stuck with the travel partner!
  • The name on the Travel Partner account you transfer to, MUST MATCH the name on the card you are transferring too.

Have multiple cards and trying to figure out how to pool all of those points together? Want to combine points from your partner to your Chase account? Read this post!


Summary
Hopefully this post provided you with some insight as to why and how to transfer points from Chase to Chase's partner airlines and hotels!

Earning points is fairly easy, but learning how to redeem them can be tricky!
___________________________

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know my suggestions.

Wondering how I keep all of this information organized? Check out my Points Tracker!

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!



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Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Jan 2026 Elevated Offers

There are SO many good offers right now! I wanted to put together a list for you to view all of the offers in one place to compare and make your decision as to what card to open next!

Can't decide? Fill out my free form or shoot me an email and I'll give my opinion!

January 2026 Elevated Offers

Capital One Venture Card

Current (elevated) offer: Spend $4,000 in 3 months and earn 75,000 points + $250 Travel Credit

Annual Fee: $95

My Thoughts on this Offer: This offer is worth at least a minimum of $1,000 of travel (more if you transfer your points to Capital One Travel Partners (hotels/airlines)! This second is my number 2 recommendation for Beginner Points Credit Cards. You can read more about which cards I recommend if you're just getting started and why here.

Learn more about the Venture Card and it's benefits here. Interested in applying for this card? Here's my referral link!


Chase Sapphire Reserve Business

Current (elevated) offer: Spend $30,000 in 6 months and earn 200,000 points (elevated offer ended January 22nd, 2026 at 9am ET)

Note: as of 1/22/2026, this card is now at it's Standard Offer: Spend $30,000 in 3 months, and earn 150,000 points.

Annual Fee: $795

My Thoughts on this Offer: This card has a huge annual fee; but it's benefits (including $300 travel credit on any purchase) plus 200,000 of the most valuable flexible points there are, really make it worth getting this card for the elevated sign up bonus and keeping it just for a year (then downgrading or closing). 

Uncertain about qualifying or applying for business cards? This post dives in deeper to business cards and includes a step by step application tutorial.

Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve Business and it's benefits here. Interested in applying for this card? Here's my referral link!


Current (elevated) offer: Spend $8,000 in 3 months and earn 100,000 points

Annual Fee: $95

My Thoughts on this Offer: This is a great offer for a good chunk of flexible Chase points with a low annual fee and lower minimum spend. This is also a "premium" Chase card, so it allows you to transfer points from Chase to partner airlines and hotels. It also do not have a foreign transaction fee, which makes it a great card to grab now and use on a vacation towards your minimum spend!

Uncertain about qualifying or applying for business cards? This post dives in deeper to business cards and includes a step by step application tutorial.

Learn more about the Chase Ink Business Preferred and it's benefits here. Interested in applying for this card? Here's my referral link!



Current (elevated) offer: Spend $3,000 in 3 months and earn five one-night award certificates*

*Each one free night award is redeemable for up to 50,000 points per night. In addition, you can "top off", or add/transfer an additional 15,000 points per night (from your Marriott account, or bank partners), to book rooms up to 65,000 points per night.

The 5 free-night-awards can be used individually or all together. Free night awards expire in one year.

Annual Fee: $95

My Thoughts on this Offer: This is a great offer for someone who has a specific trip and hotel in mind to use these points. Because Marriott Point pricing is tied to cash price, the amount of points it costs to stay at any given Marriott can fluctuate greatly. I recommend searching for hotel options to use your five 50,000 point free night awards BEFORE you apply for this card.

I personally don't have this card, as it's a personal card and takes up a 5/24 spot. If you're not familiar with the "5/24 rule", read this post, Rule 2. Because you can only open so many personal cards in any given time period, I currently am focused on earning flexible points from banks with cards like Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve, American Express Gold Personal, and Capital One Venture Card.


Summary

There are always going to be new offers that come and go! Don't feel obligated to sign up for a card if it's not the right moment for you. However, if you have the natural spend - these are some great offers to take advantage of!

I personally plan to open the Sapphire Reserve Business for myself, given upcoming property taxes, federal taxes, 40th birthdays, summer camps, and Europe vacation; on top of our day-to-day expenses, in the next six months!
___________________

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know my suggestions.

Wondering how I keep all of this information organized? Check out my Points Tracker!

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!









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Thursday, January 15, 2026

Beginner Cards - 2026 Refresh

Wondering how to start and what to do? You're not alone! Two of the most common questions I receive when it comes to points are:

Which card(s) do I need to open to start in this hobby?
What card should I open next?

9 times out of 10, if this is someone who has interested in learning about points and/or has opened their first card, my response is going to be the same. Last year I posted my Top 3 Beginner Cards (of 2025) and due to some rule changes, I'm posting an update to that list.

Copenhagen, Aug 2025

But before we jump in, let's start with a few reminders, pulled from my Points 101 post and my New to Points post:

First and foremost - this "game" is for people who have a steady income and who are able to pay off their credit card statement(s) monthly. The point of this is not to bring you into debt, or farther into debt*; it's to take money that you're already spending for every day life (home utility bills, groceries, car insurance, internet, streaming, childcare (if you're lucky), etc) and spend it more strategically on a credit card in order to earn points that you can them redeem for travel. (*I am not a financial advisor!)

The easiest and quickest way to earn a lot of points is by opening a new credit card and spending the minimum spend amount in the allotted time given (commonly 3 months, up to 6 months), in order to obtain the card's sign up bonus. Sign up bonuses ARE the reason to get a new credit card. Earning a sign up bonus will typically, if not always, outweigh the amount of points you'll earn verse using the same credit card daily for all of your expenses.

This WILL lead to you having more credit cards opened and more management on your end; however, you also don't HAVE to keep getting new credit cards if you don't want to. You can simply start with one new card, get the sign up bonus, and utilize those points and be done. How many cards you want to get (and manage) is up to you and your spend. 

Remember, you don't have to keep these cards open forever! You can close cards! While this post talks about closing (and/or downgrading) cards, the most important thing to know is: never close a credit card until you've had it open at least 12 months. Closing a card any sooner than the one year mark will jeopardize your relationship and ability to get future cards with that bank.

Chase 5/24 Rule: If you have no idea what I'm talking about, Chase will NOT approve you for new credit cards (personal or business cards) if you've got 5 or more personal* credit cards of any time in the last 24 month period. This can include cards from ANY bank, not just Chase, like Chase, Amex, Capital One, Citi Wells Fargo, etc), store cards (Old Navy, Lowes, Nordstrom, you name it), Airlines, Hotels etc. This also includes if you have been added as an authorized user to someone else's credit card** 

The majority of the time, the best way to utilize flexible points earned, is to transfer them to Hotel and/or Airline Partners of the bank to book directly. This typically leads to lower points price (compared to using points in a bank travel portal at a fixed rate of 1 point to 1 cent), maximizing the value of your points (saving more points for travel!). Each bank has their own set of travel partner Airlines and Hotels; some overlap across banks, but other Hotel/Airlines are specific to only one bank.


2026 Beginner Card Recommendations



Card 1 - Chase Sapphire
This is the absolute number one card that I recommend to open and for at least one person in each household to hold long term. There are two options for this card: Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve.

These are both personal cards and you can only hold ONE of them at a time. The Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee and Sapphire Reserve has a whopping $795 fee (but a lot of additional benefits). Which card is right for you? It depends on your ability to pay higher annual fees and utilize the enhanced benefits to offset the annual fee. Follow the links above to learn more about each card and it's benefits.

Why is the Sapphire my top card?
Chase is the best flexible points to start with because it's travel partners (Hotels and Airlines) for transferring points are good for both domestic and international travel. They are also all likely brands you are familiar with, or at least have heard of.

The second reason is that in order to have the ability to transfer points from Chase to a partner, you must have a "premium" Chase card. This essentially means, a Chase card with an annual fee. Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve are the only two personal cards that have this ability.

Long Term Planning: I will always hold a Sapphire card to maintain the ability to transfer to travel partners (and not my Player-2; as the name on the card must match the name on the loyalty account you are transferring too. I like to have those airline/hotel reservations in my accounts/name as much as possible)

Learn more about Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve


Next Up... Pick Your Path:
Personal Cards vs Business Cards

Depending on your monthly spend, consider if you're willing and able to open Business Cards. They often have a higher minimum spend, but yield a higher amount of points. This blog post talks about what qualifies as a "business" in the bank's eyes for business cards (hint: you can apply with you social security number and I walk you through how to do this). I have helped people get approved for business cards using their facebook "resale" with an estimated annual revenue of under $1K per year. 

Business cards are desirable, not only for more points, but also because they don't report to your personal credit, after initial inquiry to apply for the card. Therefore, as mentioned above, business cards don't count in your Chase 5/24; therefore the only "limit" to the amount of business cards you can open is your spending level and waiting at least 30 days between cards (although 90 is more ideal).


Personal Card Route:


Card 2A - Capital One Venture Card
Venture Card is my number 2 due to Capital One rules and approval methods.

First, Capital One is known to be picky about card approval in general. The less recent inquiries you have on your credit (this includes car loans, credit cards, mortgage, etc) the best. Capital One may automatically decline you if you have one or more credit inquiries in the past six months.

One way to try to "trick" the system if you have more than one recent inquiry is to freeze your credit with all 3 credit bureaus (Transunion, Experian, and Equifax) BEFORE you apply, then wait at least a week and unfreeze the two bureaus with the least amount of inquiries.

Ideally, if you are opening the Venture card "early" in your credit card game, you'll have less inquiries and have an easier time being approved.

Secondly, Capital One recently announced a change to qualification for sign up bonuses of the Venture-Series cards (Venture One, Venture, and Venture X). In order to qualify for a sign up bonus, you must open the cards "in order" of lowest tier to highest tier to be eligible for sign up bonuses. 

Often the Venture One card is skipped (due to lower sign up bonus/benefits not worth taking on up spot of you 5/24). In essence, it's recommended to open a Venture card BEFORE opening a Venture X card. If you open a VentureX card first, you will not be eligible for a Venture card sign up bonus until 48 months have passed since earning the Venture X sign up bonus. 

Long Term Planning: I personally would open the Venture Card first and then the VentureX card. Then after holding the Venture Card for 12 months, I could close Venture Card and keep the Venture X long term.

Learn more about the Venture here and if you choose to open, I appreciate your support by using my Referral Link (no cost to you!)


Card 3A - American Express Gold (Personal)
Amex Gold Personal is one of the cards myself and/or my Player 2 (aka my husband) will always hold. It has a $325 annual fee, but it's benefits offer ways to offset the cost.

The real reason I love this card is that it offers 4x's points for every dollar spent on groceries and dining; which often are top spend budget line items for households.

Long Term Planning: Either myself or my Player 2 will always hold this card moving forward. We don't both need to have it, but it's good for one of us to have for the 4x's dining and groceries when we aren't working on a sign up bonus

Learn more about American Express Gold Personal here and if you choose to open, I appreciate your support by using my Referral Link (no cost to you!)


ALTERNATIVE PATH - Business Cards:

This alternative path has a Chase Focus. Using this path, you can rack up a ton of Chase points and stay in the same bank/ecosystem if you're not ready to jump into Amex or Capital One. A lot of people, myself included, go this route to keep things simple and learn all of the rules you can with Chase first. Then later on, once you have all of the cards listed here, you can consider expanding to another bank like American Express or Capital One. 

I think the most common thought with business cards is, "I don't have a business" so these aren't for me. But what if I told you to rethink what a business is? Do you resell items on FB Marketplace or Craigslist? Babysit? Property Manage? All of these items can count as a small business and qualify you for a business card, even if you don't have an EIN.

This is where the business card application option for sole proprietor comes into play. You don't need an EIN, you simply use you SSN instead! Read more about business cards and follow my step-by-step sole proprietor business card application instructions here!

Let me just say.... business cards can play a pivotal role in earning points. Chase Ink Cash and Chase Ink Unlimited are amazing cards, in that they have no annual fee, often have an elevated sign up bonus, and you can combine your points earned with your Chase Sapphire to then transfer to direct travel partners. 

Not only are the sign up bonuses usually great, like 75,000 points for a $6,000 spend in 3 months, but if you are working on points in a two-person mode (ie maybe you and a significant other), then you can also refer one another to cards (this is true for all point earning credit cards), so each card you get is not only the SUB (sign up bonus), but it's also the referral points added in too.

*Note, there are four Chase Ink Cards; but only one of them is a true cash back card. (The rest are marketing, but award a sign up bonus in the form of points). The Ink Premier is cash back and this is not an ideal card to get for earning flexible points.




Card 2B - Chase Ink Business Preferred
This card has a $95 annual fee, but also currently has an elevated sign up bonus of 100,000 points for spending $8K in 3 months (as of Jan 2026).

Long Term Planning: This doesn't have to be a long term card (although it is a Chase Premium card, which allows you to transfer points to air/hotel partners. If you don't have a Sapphire card, this is a great alternative for a long term card, that also earns 3x's points on travel!)

Learn more about Chase Ink Preferred




Cards 3C and D - Chase Ink Business Unlimited or Cash
Neither of these cards have an annual fee, which is great! The standard offer is to earn 75,000 points by spending $6,000 in 3 months. The cards have different benefits, that can help you earn more points long term.

Long Term Planning: Because these cards don't have annual fees, there's really no reason not to keep them long term initially (later on you may need to close them in order to free up some credit in order to be approved for more cards. I hit on that in this post)



Summary
There you have it, which cards I would start with if I were just getting into points now! Keep in mind, if you have another adult in your household/life (aka a Player 2) who is willing/able to open credit cards - you can open a card and then use your card to refer Player 2 to the same card. With this, you earn referral points and Player 2 earns a sign up bonus!

If you're interested in going the Business Card route first, I would then circle back and get the personal cards next (Card 2A Capital One Venture and Card 3A American Express Gold Personal).

If you consider opening any of these cards I highlight (or others I have, check My Cards page), I can't thank you enough for using my referral links (all of the cards listed above are clickable referral links). This is completely free to you and provides me with a point kickback so that I can keep traveling on points and sharing the world of points with you! Thank you!
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Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know my suggestions.

Wondering how I keep all of this information organized? Check out my Points Tracker!

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!














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