How I'm Earning Extra Chase Points

I've shared about shopping portals before (what they are and how to compare them to find the best deal); but recently Chase announced a new partnership that gives you the ability to earn even more points with a few extra clicks.

What's Paze?

Paze is a digital wallet, similar to ApplePay or even Paypal. It's a third party vendor that you can link your credit cards to, to pay securely to vendors who accept Paze.

Why Use Paze?

When you link select Chase credit cards, including Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, or Sapphire Reserve; you can earn 10X points on select purchases when you use Paze as your form of payment!

Where Can You Use Paze?

You can find a full list of merchants that currently accept Paze here on Paze website. Keep in mind, Paze is a fairly new vender and their merchant list continues to expand.

Some of the places I've used Pazed already include: Stubhub (utilizing my $150 Reserve benefit), and Newegg (to purchase giftcards; unfortunately this option was a little too popular and has already been shut down). Other merchants include Sephora, United (use to purchase Travel Bank, which is similar to United cash credit), Fanatics, etc.

How to Set up Paze:

• Log into your Chase Mobile App and click on your Freedom or Sapphire Card
• Click Manage Account
• Then Select Digital Wallets

• Select Paze

• Select your Chase card to enroll

• Select Activate Paze (which will take you to Paze website to complete). If you don't already have a Paze account; you'll be asked to create one. Utilize the same email as your Chase account.

Paying with Paze

When you're on a website, check the Payment Methods to see if Paze is accepted. If so, simply select Paze as your form of payment. It's that easy!

Examples of Using Paze 

Unfortunately this first example is a bad example because Newegg Giftcards no longer work for this hack): at the time, I going to place an Instacart order. Instead of checking out directly on Instacart with my saved form of payment; I first went to Newegg and purchased $150 of Instacart giftcards:

I then uploaded the giftcards into my Instacart as form of payment and proceeded with my purchase (also utilizing Rakuten for more points!).... but because I used Paze, I also earned 10X points on my $150 paze purchase in my Chase account: 

I mentioned above, but another GREAT way to use this is for the Sapphire Reserve $150 Stubhub credit. Stubhub is a Paze merchant AND this can be stacked with Rakuten also.

If you spend $150 on Stubhub, checking out via Paze; you'll earn 1,650 points. Plus, if you're lucky like me and Rakuten is at 10% for Stubhub; you'll earn another 1,500 Rakuten points.

In total, that's 3,150 extra points for a few clicks; AND with the Reserve benefit, you'll get your $150 statement credit - so that's an extra 3,150 points for $0 out of pocket!

Summary

Are you still with me?! Lol

While the best way to earn a large amount of points remains to earn a new card sign up bonus; I really think that Paze is another great option to add extra points that will add up over time.

Let me know if you give it a try and where you use it

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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 suggestions.

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

Newly Improved Best Card - Sapphire Preferred

 That's right! In June 2025, Chase revamped the Chase Sapphire Reserve card (learn more here) and also introduced the Sapphire Reserve for Business (learn more there). But this June, Chase announced a revamp of my favorite card; the Chase Sapphire Preferred!

You will find this card in several of my posts, including Best Beginner Cards and My Everyday Cards; for good reason! It has a low annual fee and is a great point earner for every day purchases. Let's just in to review the card and it's newest benefits!

A few "Chase Rules" to keep in mind:

• Chase now allows you to hold the Sapphire Preferred AND Sapphire Reserve at the same time (in the past, this was not allowed)
• Chase added "lifetime language" that you are only eligible for a sign up bonus once for each card (ie one SUB for Preferred and one SUB for Reserve; this is a change from the past and the former 48-month rule)
• You need a "premium" Chase card, aka a Chase brand card with an annual fee, in order to transfer Chase points to travel partners (like hotels and airlines). Transferring points to these partners often help you spend less points than if you used points to book in the Chase Travel Portal. Sapphire Preferred is the lowest annual fee card with benefit.

Now on the main event!

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Annual Fee: $95

Current Elevated Offer*: Spend $5,000 in 3 months and earn 100,000 points!

(*elevated, meaning it's a limited time higher offer than the standard offer. The standard offer for this card is spend $5,000 in 3 months and earn 75,000 points )

Referral Link: absolutely free to you to use to open this card; but gives me credit with Chase for you applying. This is an easy way to help support my small business and keep free content coming! 

5/24: This is a personal card and therefore WILL take up one spot in your Chase 5/24 count. (What's Chase 5/24? Read Rule 2 in This beginner post)

Cash Value Benefits

• $100 Annual Hotel Credit (added 2026): Valid for any hotel booked in the Chase Portal and charged to this card. You will receive a $100 statement credit to offset the charge
• This benefit was previously $50 and as of 6/15/26, increased to $100. 
• If you use this one benefit every year, you are gaining more value for the card than what you pay for the annual fee!

• Global Entry/TSA Precheck: $120 credit every 4 years; charge this card for your application and receive a statement credit

• AppleTV: get one year of free AppleTV when activated by 12/31/26
• Activate through Chase.com or Chase app
• If you already have an active paid Apple TV subscription purchased directly through Apple, your complimentary Apple TV subscription through Chase will automatically suspend your existing subscription. Once your complimentary Apple TV subscription through Chase ends, your paid Apple TV subscription will automatically resume at the then-current price.
• If you close or change your eligible card to an ineligible card at any time during this offer, you will no longer be eligible for complimentary Apple TV 

• Doordash: Annual free DashPass (which saves you on delivery fees) AND monthly $10 credit for non-restaurant door dash purchases)

Points Earning/Use Benefits

• Earn 5X points on Chase Travel Portal
• Earn 3X points on dining (including food delivery services)
• Earn 3X points for online groceries (excludes Target, Walmart, and Wholesale Clubs)
• Earn 3X points on gas stations and EV charging (new in 2026)
• Earn 3X points vacation homes top brands* (new in 2026)
• * Bookings made with Airbnb, VRBO, Plum Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa qualify
• Earn 2X points on travel
• Earn 1X point on all other purchases
• Ability to transfer to travel partners (remember rule 3 above?)
• Travel insurance protection (for travel charged to this card)

Yall; so many of these earn point earn category are what makes this the card I grab for on a daily basis when we're not working on a minimum spend for a new card. You can learn more about My Every Day Cards here.

Why this Card?

I truly recommend starting with this card and starting with the Chase ecosystem because I find it the most straightforward and easiest to use. I know, some of you are rolling your eyes because I've thrown a lot of information at you that feels overwhelming and it IS a lot of info; but I promise - Chase Points Travel is user friendly!

 
Without a doubt, this is definitely the best place to start. Chase credit cards allow you to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards (CURs), which are their universal flexible points. While you can use CURs to book travel in the Chase Travel Portal, this is much like booking a trip through a third party service like Expedia. You don't earn any loyalty or benefits. The best way to maximize your value of your points (aka spend less points for travel) is to transfer to Chase Travel Partners. You can view all of Chase's Transfer Partners and how/why to transfer in this post.

As mentioned in the intro, there are only a few Chase credit cards that allow you to transfer your Chase points directly to travel partner. Basically any Chase card with an annual fee. The Sapphire cards are the only non-business cards that allow this. Chase points are considered highly flexible because they transfer to 3 hotel chains (Hyatt, Marriott, and IHG), and 11 airlines (but keep in mind, airlines work in alliances or partnerships. So while there are 11 airlines with a direct transfer, alliances give you the opportunity to book flights with over a dozen airlines).

I know a lot of people are hesitant to open credit cards with annual fees. The Sapphire Preferred DOES have an annual fee of $95/year, but there are benefits to offset that cost. (and honestly, the $95/year to have the ability to transfer to travel partners like Hyatt, Southwest, and United to take free trips we've taken is worth it alone to me).

The Bad 2026 Changes? 

• Transfers to Hyatt Drop to 4:3
• Chase is changing the transfer ratio for Hyatt with the Sapphire Preferred Card (CSP). When you transfer Chase points to Hyatt, it will be at a 4:3; meaning you "lose" 25% of your points moving them to Hyatt. 
• Meaning, if you have 100,000 Chase Points, they become 75,000 Hyatt points. Bummer!
• However, if you're willing to get the "big brother" card, the Sapphire Reserve (Personal or Business), is maintaining the 1:1 ratio.
• If you opened your Sapphire Preferred before 6/15/26, you will maintain the 1:1 Hyatt Ratio until 10/1/26, at which point it will drop to the 4:3 mentioned above.

• 10% Anniversary Points Go Away
• CSP used to award 10% of your spend from your anniversary year as points. This is going away 10/1/2026

Summary

I will forever hold a Chase Sapphire card to maintain my ability to transfer my Chase points to travel partners! And to earn extra points on our common daily spend items (groceries, gas, dining).

The CSP, with it's low annual fee, is a great card to have at least one household member hold at all times. Keep in mind that when transferring points from Chase to a Transfer Partner (Hotel or Airline), the name on the CSP card MUST match the name on the loyalty account you're transferring too.

Since I generally like to have our flights and hotels booked under my name/accounts when I can, I will always hold a Sapphire card to have this ability.

If you open this card, I would truly appreciate if you use my referral link! This doesn't cost you a cent, but provides me with some extra points and keeps all of my content free! Thank you in advance!

____________________________________________

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 suggestions.

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

June Elevated Offers

Chase is FULL of elevated offers right now! Let's see if any of them are a good fit for you. 

Keep in mind - Chase has recently changed their eligibility rules on several cards. For the following cards, you are now only to receive ONE sign up bonus (EVER!): 

Personal Cards

• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Chase Sapphire Reserve

Business Cards

• Chase Ink Preferred
• One bonus from either (but not both!): Chase Ink Cash OR Chase Ink Unlimited
• (Currently we believe you can earn the sign up bonus more than once on the Sapphire Reserve for Business!)

With this information in mind; if you have not previously opened and received a sign up bonus for these cards; I would highly suggest considering opening any of these cards when there is an elevated offer; which conveniently all of these cards have (at least as this very moment).

Before I dive into the offers themselves, I want to acknowledge that a lot of people see "business card" and automatically write them off as not applicable. This isn't always the case! You can get approved for Business Cards without an LLC/EIN; etc. If you sell used items on Facebook, Poshmark or perhaps you shop for Instacart or drive Lyft - all of these incomes can qualify you as a "sole proprietor" business. This post outlines why you should reconsider applying for business cards and even gives you a step-by-step tutorial how to apply!

Chase Elevated Offers

Below is an overview of each card and it's elevated offer. If you want more details on the card and it's benefits, click the informational link.

As a reminder, I also share my referral links. If you decide to open one of these card, I appreciate you using my referral link to apply. It is absolutely free to you, but provides me a small kick back from the bank. Think of it as a free thank-you gift for the time and effort to share and educate how to earn and use points ;)

Chase Sapphire Reserve

• Elevated Sign Up Bonus (scheduled to end 6/15/26; 9am ET): Spend $6,000 in 3 months; earn 150,000 points
• High annual fee - but a high amount of points and benefits to offset
• Information on Annual Fee and Benefts
• Referral Link

Chase Ink Business Unlimited

• Elevated Sign Up Bonus: Spend $8,000 in 4 months; earn 100,000 points*
• (*Note: this elevated offer has not quite hit referral links yet; but is anticipated to start 6/15. I would so appreciate if you'd be willing to wait and use my link!)
• No annual fee card with one month longer than usual to hit the minimum spend
• Information on Annual and Benefits
• Referral Link

Chase Ink Business Cash

• Elevated Sign Up Bonus:  Spend $8,000 in 4 months; earn 100,000 points*
• (*Note: this elevated offer has not quite hit referral links yet; but is anticipated to start 6/15. I would so appreciate if you'd be willing to wait and use my link!)
• No annual fee card with one month longer than usual to hit the minimum spend
• Information on Annual and Benefits
• Referral Link

Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business

• Elevated Sign Up Bonus: Spend $30,000 in 6 months; earn 200,000 points*
• (*Note: this elevated offer has not quite hit referral links yet; but is anticipated to start 6/15. I would so appreciate if you'd be willing to wait and use my link!)
• High annual fee - but a high amount of points and benefits to offset; 6 months to hit the minimum spend instead of the stand 3 months
• Information on Annual and Benefits
• Referral Link

United Elevated Offers

United is making a huge push for credit cardholders! Starting in April, United will offer a minimum of 10% savings in all flights purchased (cash and points) AND expanded award availability for cardholders. If you live in a United hub, or know you'll be flying United in the next 12 months, I would take advantage of a United card sign up bonus now.

United Mileage Plus Card

Current (standard) sign up bonus: Earn 50,000 points for spending $3,000 within 3 months of opening the card. Earn an additional 10,000 points for adding an authorized user.

(Elevated offer of 70,000 points for spending $3,000 within 3 months of opening the card ended 5/20/2026)

Annual Fee: $0 the first year! 

Then $150 after (as a reminder, after holding a card for 12 months, you can choose to close or downgrade it. You could open this card, use it for 12 months, and once that $150 fee hits the second year, you could close the card within 30 days of the fee hitting and have the fee reimbursed

5/24: This IS a personal card, so it will take up one of your 5/24 spots. (Don't know what 5/24 is? Review Item 2 here!)

Benefits Highlights:

• Free checked bag for you + one, on every single flight (To be honest, I usually save my cash and book a Basic seat, then with this benefit, I check my bag for free!)
• Up to $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit: simply use this card to pay for your application fee and you'll receive a credit statement
• 2 United Club passes (yearly)
• Priority Boarding
• Cardmember pricing discounts: starting in April, a minimum discount of 10%

On top of these, you also benefit from:

• Earn 7x points on all United flights
• Earn 2x points on inflight food and beverage
• No foreign transaction fees 
• $10/mo Instacart credit (when you pay with this card) + a 3 months Instacart+ Membership
• 2 $50 Hotel Credits, when you book and prepay for a hotel through United Hotels
• $5/mo rideshare credit
• Insurances such as lost luggage, trip delay, baggage delay, extended warranty, auto rental, and trip cancellation and interruption

My Take: I have this United Explorer card and it's actually one of my older cards! In the past I've kept in because if we fly one roundtrip flight, getting 2 free checked bags each way, covers the cost of the annual fee! Now with the "Cardmember" pricing and discount, it's definitely a keeper for me, living in a United hub.

Referral Link: Using one of my referral links is free for you, but provides me a small kick back of points and helps keep this small business running! Thank you!

United MileagePlus Business Card

Current (standard) sign up bonus: Earn 100,00 points + 2000 PQP by spending $5,000 within 3 months of opening the card. Earn an additional 10,000 points for adding an employee within 3 months of opening.

Annual Fee: $150 

5/24: This  a business card and does not count against your 5/24. (Don't know what 5/24 is? Review Item 2 here!)

Benefits Highlights:

• Free checked bag for you + one, on every single flight (To be honest, I usually save my cash and book a Basic seat, then with this benefit, I check my bag for free!)
• Earn $125 Travel Bank each calendar year that you make five (5) United flight travel-related purchases, each totaling $100 or more with your UnitedSM Business Card. United flight travel-related purchases include seat upgrades; Economy Plus®; inflight food, beverages and Wi-Fi; baggage service charges or other United fees <this is like a $125 United giftcard! You can use this to purchase cash flights, upgrades, baggage, seats, etc. 
• 2 United Club passes (yearly)
• Priority Boarding
• Cardmember pricing discounts: starting in April, a minimum discount of 10%

On top of these, you also benefit from:

• Earn 7x points on all United flights
• Earn 2x points on inflight food and beverage
• Earn 2x points on all dining
• Earn 2x points at gas stations, office supply stores and local transit
• 25% back for United inflight food/beverage/wifi
• No foreign transaction fees 
• Complimentary Premier upgrades on award tickets

My Take: this business offer is GOOD! I'm currently contemplating if my P2 or I should try to grab this, even though we're still working on our Chase Sapphire Reserve Business minimum spend!

Referral Link: Using one of my referral links is free for you, but provides me a small kick back of points and helps keep this small business running! Thank you!

Summary

If you're looking for United miles to have on hand, look no farther than these elevated offers. I personally would consider the Business offer first (learn more if you could actually qualify for business cards and how to apply here!), but the personal card offer is enticing too!

If you want to open either of these cards card, I would truly appreciate if you use my referral links (Personal Card or Business Card). This doesn't cost you a cent, but provided me with some extra points and keeps all of my content free! Thank you in advance!

____________________________________________

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 suggestions.

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

Chase Transfer Partners

With all of the attention Hyatt got this week, announcing changes to their award pricing, a new transfer partner has been added to Chase somewhat under the radar. 

While I don't think this is all that exciting, I wanted to be sure to update my list of Chase Transfer Partner Hotels and Airlines. Remember - airline and hotel partners vary across banks, with some overlap (Air Canada and Flying Blue), but often not (such as Hyatt, United, and Southwest). You can find American Express transfer partners here and Capital One's here. 

Chase Transfer Partner Hotels and Airlines

Why do you want to transfer your points verse book travel in the bank travel portal?

Typically, bank travel portals all you to book travel trading in 1 point for 1 cent. Granted, Chase does now offer Points Boost, where depending on the cards you hold and travel you want to book, you may get up to 1.65 cents per point of value.

However, generally speaking, when you transfer your points to partner hotels and airlines, you can book travel directly through those programs for LESS points. Using less points to book travel, means that you can travel more! Currently all of Chases transfer partners are a 1:1 ratio

This post walks you step by step how to transfer Chase points to a travel partner. Keep in mind, you need a "premium" (aka annual fee) Chase card to have the ability to transfer. My number one recommendation is the Sapphire Preferred, due to it's benefits and low annual fee; but these cards also provide the ability to transfer points to partners: Chase Sapphire Reserve, Ink Business Preferred, or Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business  If you don't have one of these cards, then your points are "stuck" in Chase and you only way to redeem is through the Travel Portal.

But, if you open one of these cards, you can then combine your points amongst accounts and transfer existing points out to partners too!

Hotels

Chase has four hotel partners that you can do direct points transfers to:

Chase Hotel Partners

Airlines

Chase has 10 airline partners that you can do direct points transfers to. (Emirates partnership ended in 2025)

Chase Airline Partners

Don't see your favorite airline above as a direct transfer partner? Keep in mind that airlines unite together and have formed alliances that allow you to cross book among alliance airlines. Therefore, if an airline you want to fly isn't listed above as a direct travel partner; through alliances, you may still be able to fly a specific airline, as long as you transfer to their alliance partner and see the flight in the alliance airline's search.

This post discusses airline alliances in more detail.

For example, you can't directly transfer points to Lufthansa, but Lufthansa is in Star Alliance, as is United. Therefore, you may be able to search United and come across a Lufthansa flight that you can book by transferring points to and booking with United.

Summary

Chase is my favorite bank and favorite flexible points because not only are their partners familiar domestic brand names you recognize, at the same time; they have other travel partners that you can use around the world!

Chase Ultimate Rewards are arguably the most valuable flexible points. You can earn them from a variety of Chase credit cards: Freedom Flex or Unlimited, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Ink Business Preferred, Ink Business Unlimited or Cash, or Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business 

Each of the links above will lead you to specific details on each card. If you want to open one of these cards, I would SO appreciate if you utilized my referral links to open cards. This doesn't cost you anything, but provides me with some extra points and keeps all of my content free! Thank you in advance!

Reminder, if you're viewing this through a Meta app, please open an external browser to apply. This protects your data and gives me credit. If you're interested in business cards, but want more information, as well as directions how to apply for them; read here!

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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 suggestions.

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

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

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)

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

Referral Link

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

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)

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

Referral Link

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

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)

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

Referral Link

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!

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

• Freedom Unlimited (learn more here): Spend $500 in 3 months; earn $200/20,000 points
• Freedom Flex (learn more here): Spend $500 in 3 months; earn $200/20,000 points
• Sapphire Preferred* (learn more here): Spend $5,000 in 3 months; earn 75,000 points
• Sapphire Reserve* (learn more here): Spend $5,000 in 3 months; earn 125,000 points

*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

• Sapphire Reserve Business (learn more here): Spend $20,000 in 3 months; earn 150,000 points
• Ink Business Cash (learn more here): Spend $6,000 in 3 months; earn 75,000 points
• Ink Business Unlimited (learn more here): Spend $6,000 in 3 months; earn 75,000 points
• Ink Business Preferred (learn more here):  Spend $8,000 in 3 months; earn 90,000 points

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

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus: Spend $1,000 in 3 months; earn 50,000 points
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier: Spend $1,000 in 3 months; earn 50,000 points
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority: Spend $1,000 in 3 months; earn 50,000 points

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

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business: Spend $3,000 in 3 months; earn 60,000 points
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business: Spend $5,000 in 3 months; earn 80,000 points

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 $12,000 in 6 months, earn up to 175,000 points (the minimum spend updated to $12,000 from $8,000 on 2/5/26)

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 :)

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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!