Update: This offer is expired.

Chase has increased the sign up bonus on the Sapphire Preferred from 40,000 bonus points to now 50,000 + 5,000 bonus points when you add an authorized user. You will now receive 50,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months and an additional 5,000 points when you add an authorized user to your account.

There is also another new offer of 40,000 + 5,000 bonus points. The difference between the offers is that the 55k bonus offer comes with a $125 annual fee after first year as opposed to the 45k sign-up bonus which comes with a $95 annual fee.

There is no fee for adding an authorized user.

Benefits of the Sapphire Preferred:

• 2x points on travel and dining, 1 point on all other purchases.
• Earn an annual 7% point bonus on all spending.
• Points are redeemable for 1% cash back or points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to United Airlines, British Airways, Korean Air, Southwest Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Hyatt, Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Priority Club and Amtrak or points can be used at a value of 1.25 for each point towards airfare.
• No Foreign transaction fees.
• Card come with an EMV chip so that you can use it hassle free in Europe.
• 24/7 Customer service – your calls are always answered by a human.
• Worldwide collision insurance when renting a vehicle (including Israel)
• First year free

Update: This offer is expired.

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Originally posted November 7th.

Starting November 18, The Discover IT credit card will start offering your FICO Score for FREE! This is a nice added perk to this card.

As of now, only the Discover IT will get this added benefit, not the other Discover cards.

The free FICO score benefit, seems to be part of the new FICO open access program which allows finance and credit card companies to provide credit scores for free to their customers. As we reported earlier this week Barclays was the first to join and now Discover will joint too. Here’s hoping that this is the start of a good trend and we’ll see American Express, Chase and Citi offering free credit scores in the near future.

With the Discover IT credit card, there is No annual fee, No overlimit fee and also No late fee on your first late payment, and paying late won’t raise your APR.

There is also No Foreign Transaction Fees with this card ever. If you travel overseas every so often and don’t want to pay the 3% foreign transaction fee that most other credit cards charge – The Discover IT is for you. It can lay around until you are ready to travel without charging any fees.

Some of the great things about this card:

1. 5% quarterly cash back. The Discover IT offer 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in purchases on revolving categories throughout the year. All other purchases get 1% cash back with no limit. The current 5% cash back categories (through December 31, 2013) is All Online Shopping Anywhere which even includes Amazon Payments!
2. This card offer 5-20% extra thru the ShopDiscover shopping portal. You can make many of your online purchases through Discover’s shopping portal and get up-to a whopping 20% cash-back on your purchase! – Nothing to sneeze for a fee free card.
3. This card gives you Free Collision insurance on car rentals – including in Israel for up-to 25,000 in damage.

Additionally, Discover sends out throughout the year targeted promotions to it’s cardholders for additional cash back opportunities.

The Discover IT also offers 0% Apr for purchases and balance transfers for the first 14 months.

The cash back on this card can be redeemed in the form of a statement credit, direct deposit to your bank account, gift cards or you can shop at Amazon and pay with your points. When redeeming your points for gift cards, discover will also many times offer a bonus on your redemption.

As of today, Barclaycard has partnered with FICO to offer it’s card-members the Transunion FICO (Not FAKO!) score absolutely free.This means that card-members will have access to the same information and score that the banks and credit cards issuers have. Card-members can now access their Transunion FICO scores right from their Barclaycard online profile.

In addition to generating your score, Barclaycard’s site also provides the top two factors currently affecting your score and a chart showing historical changes (available after three months of history, showing up to 12 months of data). You can also opt to get an email alert anytime your score changes.

While many companies claim to offer “free” credit scores, most are not “real” ones (aka FAKO scores) or require a fee for ongoing access, so this free FICO score is a a pretty nice added perk.

Select Barclaycards such as the Barclaycard Arrival (One of the best cash-back credit cards out there, Read more here) the Barclaycard Ring, and the USAirways Mastercard are now giving the FREE credit score.

There are 3 credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and Transunion. There is therefore 3 individual credit scores – one for each bureau.

The most widely used credit score company is FICO. FICO is a company that simply aggregates credit data from the bureaus and generates a unique score for every bureau based on your credit info at that particular bureau. They then sell that information to companies and banks. It produces a number based on your perceived credit worthiness on a scale of 300-850, with roughly 700 being the average. Per the FICO website, the five main factors of your credit score are: 35% payment history, 30% amounts owed, 15% length of credit history, 10% new credit and 10% types of credit.

Generally a score above 700 is considered good. Once you are above 720, it generally doesn’t matter whether you have a 760 or 850 score. Perfect credit will make you feel good, but realistically doesn’t really make much more of a difference than say people who have very good credit. In fact, many people can still get in on credit cards with mid to high 600′s – it just depends on your income and history with the lender.

No Barcalycard? You can get your real Transunion score directly from Transuinion with a free trial. You can cancel online hassle free. What’s recommended is to get your credit report and credit score, print or save to PDF, and then cancel immediately afterward on the same day so that you won’t forget later.

You can also get your real Equifax FICO score at MyFico. You can call 1.888.577.5978 to cancel, you are able to do it online as well, though it’s not cancelled automatically as the Transunion is. The trick is to get your credit score and/or credit report, and then cancel immediately afterward on the same day so that you won’t forget later. Hours (PDT) M-F 6am-6pm, Sat 7am-4pm, Sun Closed.

“Like” DealsMaven on Facebook (by clicking the above “like” button) and/or “follow” on Twitter to be be updated on other great freebies, deals and more!

Update: This offer is expired.
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Generally its not worth it to apply for credit cards if you are not planning on paying the statement balance in full each month. Credit cards are not free money. Even with all the “bonuses” and “offers” its only worth it if you will be on top of your finances and not fall down the slippery slope of credit card debt.

Having said that, there are times when you just “need” that 0% APR offer. If you already owe money on your credit cards or if you need to make a large purchase its definitely better to pay 0% interest then the alternative 20% – ….

Below is a list of some current 0% APR Credit Cards which have 0% promotions of  between 12 – 18 months.

1. Discover It Credit Card – The Discover IT card offers 0% interest on purchases for the first 6 months and 0% interest on balance transfers for the first 18 months.
There is no annual fee and no foreign exchange fees for this card.
Note: There is a 3% fee for transferring a balance to this card.
This card offers 5% cash back in rotating categories.

2. Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard – The Barclaycard Arrival offers 0% interest on purchases for the first 12 months.
There is an $89 annual fee which is waived for the first year. After the first year, you can downgrade the card to the no annual fee version.  This card does not charge foreign exchange fees.
Besides for the free $400 signup bonus (which becomes $440 thanks to 10% back on all redeemed points) you can also get 2.2% cash back on all spending.
Read more in this post.
There is also a no-annual fee version of this card with 12 months of 0% APR but you don’t get the same mega sign-up bonus of $440 or the 2.2% cash back everywhere with this card.

3. US Airways Premier World MasterCard – The US Airways Mastercard offers 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers for the first 12 months after account opening.                                         There is a $89 annual fee for this card.  With this card you will earn up-to 40k bonus points!                                                 Read more in this post

4. Premier Miles & More Credit Card – The Lufthansa Miles & More credit card offers 0% interest for both purchases and balance transfers for the first first 12 months after account opening.                There is a $79 annual fee for this card which is not “officially” waived. (you can try requesting for them to remove the annual fee – many have had luck)                         This card does not charge foreign transaction fees.                                                    A great thing about this card is the up-to 35k bonus points!                                     Read more in this post

5.Chase Slate Visa – The Chase Slate Visa offers 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers for the first 15 months of cardmembership.
A great thing about the Chase Slate is if you transfer a balance to this card within 60 days of opening it, there will no fees at all!
There is no annual fee for this card.

6. Chase Freedom Visa – The Chase Freedom offers 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers for the first 15 months of cardmembership.
Note that there is a 3% fee for transferring a balance to this card.
There is no annual fee for this card.
You will receive 10k bonus points after $500 in spend within the first 3 months. Besides for the signup bonus you also earn 5 points per dollar in quarterly rotating categories.   A great thing about this card is the possibility to transfer them into valuable airline/hotel miles. To do so, you or your spouse must have a Chase Ink Bold, Ink Plus, or Sapphire Preferred credit card to transfer the rewards points into miles.

7. Citi Simplicity card offers 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers for 18 months.                                                                              There is no annual fee for this card. There are also no late fees with this card.
Note: There is a 3% fee for transferring a balance to this card.

8. Citi Diamond Preferred Card offers 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers for the first 18 months.
There is no annual fee for this card.
Note: There is a 3% fee for transferring a balance to this card.

9. Citi Dividend Platinum Select Visa offers 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers for the first 12 months.
There is no annual fee for this card.                                      Earn $100 cash back after $500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.                                                  This card offers 5% cash back in rotating categories.

10. Citi ThankYou Card offers 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers for the first 15 months.
There is no annual fee for this card.
Note: A 3% fee for transferring a balance to this card will apply.

Applying for credit cards: All credit card offers can be viewed and applied for by clicking here or on the credit cards tab above. On the credit cards page, you can click on the “Credit Cards By Issuing Bank” link, to view all credit card offers offered by any specific credit card issuer. Just scroll down and click on the logo of the bank issuer of your choice.

Update: This offer is expired.

For a limited time Citi has raised the offer on the Citi ThankYou Preferred Rewards Card from 20,000 bonus points, to 30,000 bonus points!

Full benefits:

• Earn up to 30,000 bonus ThankYou Points after qualifying purchases – redeem for $300 in gift cards or other great rewards
• Earn 20,000 bonus points after $1500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening, plus another 10,000 points after $1500 in purchases within the next 3 months
• 0% intro APR on Balance Transfers and Purchases for 7 months. After that, the variable APR will be 12.99%-22.99% based upon your creditworthiness
  There is a balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
• New: 2x Points on purchases for dining and entertainment
• 1 ThankYou Point on other purchases
• Points do not expire and earn unlimited Thank You Points
• Redeem ThankYou Points for merchandise, travel rewards, gift cards, cash and more
• Travel with ease and enjoy global acceptance with Chip Technology
  No annual fee

To earn the bonus points you will need to make at least $3000 in purchases within the first 6 months. $1,500 within the first 3 months and $1,500 within the next 3 months. Amazon Payments should be great for reaching the minimum spend ;-).

Each Thank You point is worth at least 1 cent when you redeem for gift cards or travel from the Citi Thank You portal, so that’s $300 in FREE gift cards or travel.

You can use these points to buy flights up to any value, just as you would if you pay cash. This is  a great perk as you can virtually use these points for ANY flight anytime. –  Think all those occasions where you are not able to use miles and points to find a flight you are looking for or where you have no flexibility with your travel plans. You can also use these points to cover expenses which you can’t usually cover with miles and points.

If you have the Citi Thank You Premier credit card, you can redeem these points for 1.33 cents towards airfare, so 30,000 points are worth $399 of free travel.

This card has no annual fee and you earn 1 Thank You point per $1 spent.

Also, Citi offers what they call “Price Rewind“. Citi will refund you the difference (minimum of $25 and up to $250 per item) if you buy an eligible item with any Citi personal (NOT business) credit card and find a lower price for the item within 30 days.  Price Rewind claims to track your purchase and will automatically search for a lower priced item, once you register your purchase.

Update: This offer is expired.                                                                               ———————————————-

For a limited time, American Express has raised the bonus on the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) credit card to 30k bonus points! This credit card normally comes with a 25k bonus. With this offer you will receive 10,000 bonus points after first purchase and an additional 20,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 within the first 6 months of card opening.

The bonus has been raised on both the Consumer card and the Business card!

The Starwood American Express credit card is from the best overall credit cards for your average daily spending.

Not all “points” are created equal. Starwood points are the most valuable and flexible from all the different points out there.

Here’s what they can be used for;

1. FREE Hotel Stays: SPG points can be redeemed for hotel stays at over 1,100 hotel properties worldwide. Starwood has great award availability with no blackout dates. If there is a room available you will get it.The Starwood hotel chain includes Westin, St. Regis, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Le Meridien, Loft, W Hotels, The Luxury Collection and element hotels.

Free nights start at just 2,000 points a night for weekend redemption’s or 3,000 points a night for weekday redemption’s at category 1 hotels. Category 2 hotels are 3,000 – 4,000 points a night, Category 3 are 7,000 points a night, Category 4 are 12,000 points a night, Category 5 are 20,000 points a night, Category 6 is 20,000 points a night and Category 7 is 25,000 points a night.  (If you are a gold member redemption’s will be less 250 points).

For instance the Le Meridein Dead Sea hotel normally costs about $500 a night but is only a category 1 hotel so a free night will be just 2,000 – 3,000 points a night respectively!

2. Cash and Points! Many times when redeeming for free nights, there is also a Cash & Points redemption option. This option allows you to use a small amount of points with a cash (in USD) outlay. For instance you can redeem for a free night at the Sheraton Providence Airport Hotel for just 4,000 points a night or just 2,000 points + $35 or for instance the Le Méridien Vienna for either 12,000 points per night or 6,000 points + $110. Since the Cash & Points is always priced in USD, this can save you a bundle in Europe where everything is normally priced in Euro/Pound.

3. Airline Transfers. The SPG points can also transferred to 28 different airlines most at a 1:1 ratio, additionally when transferring to many airlines, you will receive a 5,000 mile bonus when you transfer 20,000 points in one shot.

Below is a list of airline transfer partners and the transfer ratio;

1. Aeroplan/Air Canada 1:1
2. Air Berlin 1:1
3. Air China Companion 1:1
4. Air New Zealand & Air Points 65:1
5. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan 1:1
6. Alitalia MilleMiglia 1:1
7. All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club 1:1
8. American Airlines AAdvantage 1:1
9. Asia Miles 1:1
10. Asiana Airlines 1:1
11. British Airways Executive Club 1:1
12. Delta Air Lines SkyMiles 1:1
13. Emirates Skywards 1:1
14. Flying Blue 1:1
15. Hawaiian Airlines 1:1
16. Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank 1:1
17. King Club Miles 1:1
18. LAN LANPASS 1:1.5
19. Mexicana Frecuenta 1:1
20. Miles and More 1:1
21. Qatar Airways 1:1
22. Saudi Arabian Airlines Alfursan 1:1
23. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 1:1
24. Thai Airways International Royal Orchid Plus 1:1
25. US Airways Dividend Miles 1:1
26. United Mileage Plus 2:1
27. VARIG Smiles 2:1
28. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club 1:1

5. SPG Flights. Generally not the best redemption, but Starwood lets you use points for 1 cent each towards booking revenue airline tickets (meaning you get the miles and elite status for the flights) on over 350 airlines.

6.  Gift Cards. You can also redeem your starpoints (though I’m not sure why you’d do this) for gift cards at a 1 cent per point ratio.

Other Benefits:

Elite Status. By having the SPG credit card you’ll get credit for 2 stays/5 nights towards Starwood elite status. If you have both the consumer card and the business card you’ll get 4/10 nights towards elite status.

Earn 2x points at Starwood properties. You’ll earn at least 2 points per dollar spent on Starwood purchases. Regular Starwood Preferred Guest members get 2 points per dollar spent at Starwood hotels. If you have the SPG card, that increases to 4 points per dollar, and if you have elite status it’s 5 points per dollar spent.

Amex Promo’s. This is not exclusive to the SPG card, but Amex offers from time to time very lucrative promotional offers, such as the $25 back per amex (Including authirized user cards) credit card for the small business saturday promo etc;

Acesse to Amex protection. American Express return protection and warranty protection are second to none in the credit card industry. I’ve returned multliple items to Amex after the merchant refused to take it back – many times Amex even let me keep the item. Same with warranty protection. Amex doubles the manufacturers warranty up-to 1 year. Both Warranty protection and Purchase protection are seamless.

Bear in Mind:

If you had this card within in the last 12 months Amex will most likely not give you the bonus offer. Though there is always the Business version of the card that you can apply for.

This card charges 2.7% foreign transaction fees.

There is an annual fee of $65 which is waived for the first year. After the first year is up, you can make back the annual fee by adding multiple “Authorized Users” on your account and using those cards for promo’s like the “Small Business Saturday” promotion where you’ll earn $25 per card!

Update: This offer is expired.                                 ————————————————-                                                                           Originally posted June 8th

For a limited time, the Citi AAdvandage credit card is offering 40,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of cardmembership! This card usualy comes with a 30,000 miles bonus.

Full benefits of the card are as follows:

• For a limited time, Earn 40,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of cardmembership
• Your first eligible checked bag is free when flying American Airlines
• Priority Boarding with Group 1 privileges and 25% savings on eligible in-flight purchases
• Earn a $100 American Airlines Flight Discount every cardmembership year with qualifying purchases and cardmembership renewal
• Double AAdvantage miles on eligible American Airlines purchases
• Earn 10% of your redeemed AAdvantage miles back – up to 10,000 AAdvantage miles each calendar year
• First year free, the $95

Up until recently there had been an unofficial offer for 50,000 bonus miles after just $2,500 spend, but that offer appears to finally be dead.

Churning: Unlike some other cards where you almost most definitely will get your bonus points when reapplying, the Citi AAdvantage card on the other hand is a bit more difficult to churn. It is recommended to wait approximately 18 months or so before reapplying, to ensure that you will get your bonus points.

app-o-rama: Doing an app-o-rama, with applying for multiple Citi cards at the same time, has recently gotten much harder. Citi has recently changed the rules, you can now only apply for 1 credit card per day (the second application will be automatically discarded) and only a total of 2 every 60 days. BUT, if you trying to vie for more AAdvantage miles, what you can do is, apply for the Barclays US Airways credit card on the same day. US Airways will be merging with American Airlines, so all the US Airways miles will eventually be converted into AAdavantage miles, in the process expanding your AAdvantage mileage account balance if you have the US Airways credit card.

Another great benefit of also applying for the US Airways credit card on the same day, is that, Barclays Bank always pulls from Trans Union, now depending on your location, if Citi pulls from either Experian/Equifax, that means that when Barclays will pull your credit, they won’t see your recent application for the AAdvantage card, thus making it easier to get approved for the US Airways credit card. BUT, if you wait a while before applying for a Barclaycard, and in the interim got approved for the AAdvantage card (or other cards), then the newly opened credit card will show on Trans Union’s credit pull, thus showing Barclays that you recently got a new card, and in the process making it slightly more difficult to get approved for the Barclaycard.

Doing an app-o-rama on Barclaycards are doable, other great Barclaycard offers you may be interested in, are the 50,000 point Miles & More and the 40,000 Bonus Point Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard.

Update: American express has discontinued the “Secure Message” service and has instead instituted an online “live chat” option.
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Sending a “Secure Message” (SM for short) is an an incredible tool, a time saver and can many times work wonders where if you were to call you would get nowhere.

A SM is a message which you send to your credit card company which you can do after logging into to your online credit card account.

Why Send A SM?

The benefits of using the SM service are many;

1. Match to a better bonus offer.                                                                            This is by far IMO the best use of sending a SM. Many credit cards have official sign-up bonuses such as the Chase Marriott which officially comes with a 50k bonus or the Chase United Explorer which comes with a 30k bonus, but with sending a SM you can get the Chase Marriott bonus raised to 70k or the Chase United Explorer bonus raised to 55k with a $50 statement credit to boot. There are many other credit cards which also fit into this category such as the Citi AAdvantage card, Chase Priority Club etc;. With American Express, matching better bonus offers via SM is apparently dead (of course it never hurts to ask) unless you received a targeted better offer.
When sending the SM you will request being matched to the better offer “as I heard about from a colleague” etc;.

2. Receive a refund of a credit balance.                                                                     If for instance you have a credit balance on one of your accounts, you can request the balance be sent to you via check be credited to another account or even transferred to your bank account via ACH transfer.

3. Reconsider an application.                                                                                    This for the most part works well with Chase. If you were denied on an application, you can try sending a SM explaining why you feel they should reconsider your application. Explain why you want the card, it may be for its benefits (for instance with United explorer to get free bags when flying United Airlines and primary car rental insurance, etc;) also write if you are willing to move over part or all of the credit line from another card to get the new card approved.

Continue reading →

On the first Friday of every month, Chase offers 3x Ultimate Reward points for dining purchases, when you pay with your Chase Sapphire credit card. Normally the Sapphire earns you 2x points on dining.

Even if you do not plan on making any dining related purchase this Friday, you can still maximize this benefit by purchasing gift certificates to the restauraunts that you do plan on eating at in the future.

Chase Ultimate Reward points can be redeemed as cash back or for gift cards at a 1 cent value per point. However, if you have the awesome Chase Sapphire Preferred or either the Chase Ink “Bold” or Chase Ink “Plus” credit cards you can redeem the Ultimate Reward points at a rate of 1.25 cents each for travel using pay with points, or – where the most value is –  you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to one of the program’s travel transfer partners which includes: United Airlines, Hyatt Hotels, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Korean Air, Southwest Airlines, Marriott Hotels, Priority Club, Ritz-Carlton and Amtrak.

Update: This offer is expired. ————————————————-                                     Originally posted on may 4th

Barclaycard just increased the sign-up bonus from 20,000 miles to 50,000 miles on the Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard.

Benefits:

Activation LINK

Chase Freedom credit card holders can now activate their Q3 5% cash back.

This quarter’s (July – October)  5% cash back categories are, Gas stations, Theme parks & Kohl’s.

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Update: This offer is expired.

Chase Freedom – Benefits: 10,000 ($100) Bonus points when you spend $500 within the first 3 months, 1% cash back  for every dollar spent, 5% rotating cash back categories every 3 months, up to $1,500. If You have the Chase “Sapphire”, or Chase “INK” credit cards, the Chase Freedom points can be transferred to the “Sapphire” or “INK” cards making the points transferable to airlines and hotels, and hence more valuable. There is no annual fee for this card, and there is a 0% Intro APR for the first 15 months, on purchases and balance transfers.

Update: This offer is expired.

Limited time: Through this Monday, you can earn additional bonus points on the Chase Ink credit cards!

There are 4 “types” of INK credit cards. They are: Chase Ink Bold, Chase Ink Plus, Chase Ink Cash and the Chase Ink Classic.

Both the Chase Ink Bold and the Chase Ink Plus are currently offering 60,000 bonus points (usually 50,000 bonus points) when spending $5000 within the first 3 months of card opening. The difference between the “Plus” and “Bold”, is that the “Plus” is a credit card where you can carry a balance and has a credit limit, while the “Bold” is a charge card where you need to pay your balance in full each month and does not have a credit limit.

The Chase Ink “Cash” and “Classic” are currently offering 25,000 (usually 20,000 bonus points) bonus points when spending $3000 within the first 3 months of account opening.

All the “Ink” cards have the following benefits:

• Earn 5X points per $1  spent annually at office supply stores and on cellular phone, landline, internet and cable TV services.
• Earn 2X points per $1 spent annually at gas stations and for hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel.
• Earn 1 point per $1 on all other card purchases—with no limit to the amount you can earn.
• Receive complimentary LOUNGE CLUB membership, plus 2 complimentary lounge visits for access to over 350 VIP airport lounges worldwide.
• Points don’t expire.
• No over-limit fees

Now, here is where the Chase Ink Bold and Plus differ from the Chase Ink Cash and Classic. With the Chase Ink Plus and Bold, you can transfer your points at a 1:1 point ratio to Airline and Hotel loyalty programs where you can redeem your points for free flights or for free nights at hotels worldwide! The transfer partners are, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Korean Air, Southwest Airlines, Ritz-Carlton, Priority Club, Marriott Rewards and Hyatt.

Other differences are, with Ink Plus and Bold there are no foreign exchange fees, you get 20% off travel — when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards, and there is an annual fee of $95 with the first year free.

The Ink “Classic and “Cash” do not have an annual fee and you can only redeem the points for gift cards or for a check in the mail at a 1 cent per point ratio or for merchandise – not nearly as lucrative as with the Ink “Plus” or “Bold”.

The “Ink” credit cards are Business cards, BUT you DO NOT NEED to be incorporated or have a business in the traditional sense to apply for a business credit card. If for instance you sell on ebay, or even if you have any other side business (and you want to keep your expenses separate), you are eligible to apply for a business credit card.  When filling out the business credit card application, choose “Sole Proprietor” as the type of business and fill in your name as your business name. For the Tax I.D. you will write your Social Security Number.
You do not need to have any revenue yet from your business to be eligible for a business credit card.

Additionally, With a business credit card, your balance is not reported on your personal credit report. That’s a nice perk, being that a whopping 30% of your credit report is made up of your credit utilization.

Maximize your points, by applying for 2 – 3 cards at the same time. This is done by opening 2 – 3 internet browsers, filling out application 1 then 2 and then 3 (1 application per web browser) AND ONLY hitting “submit” once all the apps are filled out and hitting “submit” on all the apps at the same time. This method will minimize your credit pulls, where normally you would receive 2-3 credit pulls with this method you will only receive 1.

You can also maximize your points by purchasing gift cards such as to Amazon, Marshalls etc; on your “ink” cards at office supply stores like Staples, OfficeMax etc; where you will earn 5x points on the purchase, that means that you will essentially be earning 5x points when shopping on Amazon, at Marshalls etc;!

Reconsideration numbers: If you were denied for any of these cards, these numbers may come in handy trying get your card approved:

Application Status: 1-800-432-3117
Business Reconsideration: 1-800-453-9719
Credit Reallocation 1-800-453-9719 (Shift a credit line from an existing chase card to the one you are trying to get approved)

Now through August 31st American Express is offering Photo Gift Cards without the usual fee of $3.95-$6.95 per card when using promo code GIFTFG1. Though this promo code does not waive the shipping charge.

Gift cards range between $25 – $3000 and you can purchase up-to $5000 worth of gift cards.

A great thing about gift cards (besides for giving gifts, of course) is that it’s a great way to meet minimum spend requirements for credit card sign-up bonuses within the alloted time frame!

Here is a list of some current credit cards with mega sign-up bonuses

Unlike merchant specific gift cards, Amex gift cards can be used virtually anywhere, as they are accepted anywhere American Express is accepted.

Note: Citibank generally processes gift card purchases as cash advances, so you definitely DO NOT want to purchase these on your Citibank credit card. Additionally, purchasing large amounts on your American Express credit card “may” lead to a “financial review”.

Photo Gift Cards LINK

Update: This offer is expired.

Chase recently announced that as of June 1st, the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card will no longer charge a 3% foreign transaction fee. This is a nice addition to the card especially since it’s a “travel” credit card.

The Chase UnitedExplorer card – unless you are targeted – “officially” come with a 30,000 point bonus offer – not shabby -. But you can send a “Secure Message” to Chase asking to be matched to the better offer which is 50,000 bonus points plus 5,000 bonus points for adding an authorized user and a $50 statement credit. Chase will generally match you to the better offer

The full benefits are:

• Earn 30,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.
• Get 5,000 additional bonus after adding an authorized user to your account during your first 3 months as a Card-member.
• Earn 10,000 bonus miles every calendar year you spend at least $25,000 on your Card.
• Earn 2x points on United purchases, 1 point on all other purchases.
• First checked bag is free on United.
• Free Priority boarding and Non-expiring miles with card.
• Expanded Saver award availability.
• Free primary car rental CDW.
• Receive 2 annual United lounge passes.
• No foreign exchange fees.
• $0 annual fee the first year,  then $95.

Many credit cards will typically charge between 2% – 3% foreign transaction fee when you make purchases overseas. Though, there are many which do not. The UnitedExplorer has now joined the club.

If you are looking for a creidt card with a NO ANNUAL FEE which does not charge foreign transaction fees you can get the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard – No Annual Fee Card, or the Discover it credit card. Of course you can always just get the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard annual fee card (which is free for the first year) for the mega 40,000 bonus point offer, and then simply downgrade when your annual fee is due to the no annual fee Arrival World MasterCard.

Update: This offer is expired.
Here are some current consumer credit cards that are currently offering mega sign-up bonuses.

Barclays Miles & More Credit Card

Read more here

• Earn 20,000 award miles after your first purchase
• Earn an additional 30,000 award miles after spending $5,000 or more in purchases in the first 90 days of opening your account
• Earn 2 award miles per $1 spent on ticket purchases directly from Miles & More integrated airline partners
• Earn 1 award mile per $1 on all other purchases
• FREE Annual Companion Ticket
• 0% APR on all purchases & Balance Transfers for the first 12 months
• $79 annual fee

Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard

Read more here

• Earn 40,000 bonus miles when you make $1,000 or more in purchases in the first 90 days after account opening. 40,000 bonus miles equates to $400 off your next trip!
• 0% intro APR on purchases for the first 12 months after account opening.
• Earn 2X miles on all purchases
• No mileage caps and no foreign transaction fees!
• Get 10% of your miles back when you redeem for travel
• Use miles for a statement credit toward any airline purchase to any destination with no restrictions and no blackout dates
• Easily redeem your miles for statement credits toward flights, cruises, car rentals, hotels and more
• Complimentary Triplt Pro subscription – the mobile travel organizer that helps make traveling easier ($49 value)
• First year free, afterwards $89 annual fee

The US Airways Premier World Mastercard

Chase Sapphire Prefered

• Earn 40,000 points after spending $3,000 within the first 3 months.
• 2x points on travel and dining, 1 point on all other purchases.
• Earn an annual 7% point bonus on all spending.
• Points are redeemable for 1% cash back or Points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to British Airways, United Airlines, Korean Air, Southwest Airlines, or Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, and Priority Club or for 1.25 cents each towards airfare.
• No Foreign transaction fees.
• No fee first year then $95.

British Airways Visa 

• Earn 50,000 bonus Avios points after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.
• Card-members earn 2.5 Avios for every $1 spent on British Airways purchases and 1.25 Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa Signature card, you will earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years when you redeem for a flight on British Airways.
• Annual fee of  $95

Marriott Rewards “Premier” Visa Signature Card

• Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months of account opening,.
• Receive an additional free night stay upon account approval, valid at category 1-4 hotels worldwide.
• Receive an annual free night certificate valid at categories 1-5 hotels worldwide.
• 5x Points on Marriot purchases, 2x points on car rentals, airline purchases and restaurants, 1 point everywhere else
• 15 night credit towards elite status.
• Every $3,000 you spend on purchases earns you one additional night credit toward Elite status.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• First year free, then $85.
• Note: You can try sending a “secure message” to chase to match your offer to 70,000 points

United MileagePlus Explorer Card 

• Earn 30,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.
• Get 5,000 additional bonus after adding an authorized user to your account during your first 3 months as a Card-member.
• Earn 10,000 bonus miles every calendar year you spend at least $25,000 on your Card.
• Earn 2x points on United purchases, 1 point on all other purchases.
• First checked bag is free on United.
• Free Priority boarding and Non-expiring miles with card.
• Expanded Saver award availability.
• Free primary car rental CDW.
• Receive 2 annual United lounge passes.
• $0 annual fee the first year,  then $95.
• Note: You can send a “secure message” to Chase, and they will match you offer to 55,000 miles + a $50 statement credit

American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles

• Earn 25,000 bonus miles after your first purchase
• Earn an additional 20,000 bonus miles after you spend $5000 within the first 3 months of cardmembership
• First checked bag free, on all Delta flights.
• Priority Boarding on Delta flights.
• Discounted admission to Delta Sky Clubs.
• 2x points on Delta purchases, 1 points on all other purchases
• $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.

Update: This offer is expired.

Here is a list of some current business credit cards that have mega sign-up bonuses.

Also, don’t forget that you can maximize your sign-up bonuses by applying for 2 or 3 cards at the same time and and thereby only receive 1 credit pull. If you choose to apply for 2 or more credit cards at the same time1. Make sure they are all from the same bank 2. Open diferent web browsers, such as Mozilla, Internet Explorer etc; one browser per application 3. Fill out each application in it’s own internet browser, and only after you are finished filling out ALL the applications, hit “Submit” on each of the applications.

Chase Ink Bold Ultimate Rewards Card 

• Earn 50,000 Bonus points for spending $5,000 within the first 3 months.
• Points are redeemable for 1% cash back or Points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to British Airways, United Airlines, Korean Air, Southwest Airlines, or Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, and Priority Club or for 1.25 cents each towards airfare.
• Free membership to Lounge Club + receive 2 free lounge passes for entry to over 350 lounges worldwide
• Free additional user cards. Additional user cards also receive the 2 free passes to Lounge Club lounges.
• 5x points per dollar on wireless, landline, cable services, and office supplies, 2x points per dollar on gas and hotels, and 1 point per dollar on everything else.
• No foreign exchange fees
• No fee first year then $95.

Chase Ink Plus Ultimate Rewards Card 

• Earn 50,000 Bonus points for spending $5,000 within the first 3 months.
• Points are redeemable for 1% cash back or Points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to British Airways, United Airlines, Korean Air, Southwest Airlines, or Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, and Priority Club or for 1.25 cents each towards airfare.
• Free membership to Lounge Club + receive 2 free lounge passes for entry to over 350 lounges worldwide.
• Free additional user cards. Additional user cards also receive the 2 free passes to Lounge Club lounges.
• 5x points per dollar on wireless, landline, cable services, and office supplies, 2x points per dollar on gas and hotels and 1 point per dollar on everything else.
• No foreign exchange fees
• No fee first year then $95.

Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Business Card

Note: Only the consumer version of this card will pop up. Click on the application for the consumer card, and in the top right hand corner click on “Are you a business owner” to access this business version. Also, although officially the bonus on this card is 30,000 points, many have had luck getting 50,000 points by sending a “Secure Message” to chase asking for the higher sign-up bonus.

• Earn 30,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months your account is open.
• Get an additional 10,000 bonus milesevery calendar year you spend at least $25,000 on your Card.
• Save up to $100 per roundtrip. Primary cardmembers and one companion on the same reservation can each check their first bag free on United-operated flights when purchasing tickets with their Explorer Card.
• Get 2 free United Club passes each year
• Earn two MileagePlus miles for each $1 spent on United tickets purchased directly from the airline and 1 mile per $1 on all other purchases.
• Your miles don’t expire as long as you are a Cardmember, with no limit to the number of miles you can earn.
• Priority boarding
• $0 Intro Annual Fee for the first year, then $95

The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN

• Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months of card opening
• Earn 3x points on airfare 2x points on advertising, gas and shipping, and 1 point on everything else
• $0 Intro annual fee for the first year, then $175

Update: This offer is expired.

Barclays has improved the bonus on Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard for a limited time from 20,000 points to 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 within the first 90 days.

The benefits:

• Earn 40,000 bonus miles when you make $1,000 or more in purchases in the first 90 days after account opening. 40,000 bonus miles equates to $400 off your next trip!
• 0% intro APR on purchases for the first 12 months after account opening. After that, variable APR, currently 14.99% or 18.99% depending upon your creditworthiness.
• Earn 2X miles on all purchases
• No mileage caps and no foreign transaction fees!
• Get 10% of your miles back when you redeem for travel
• Use miles for a statement credit toward any airline purchase to any destination with no restrictions and no blackout dates
• Easily redeem your miles for statement credits toward flights, cruises, car rentals, hotels and more
• Complimentary Triplt Pro subscription – the mobile travel organizer that helps make traveling easier ($49 value)
• First year free, afterwards $89 annual fee

40,000 miles can be used for $400 Cash Back for  travel related purchases. The way it works is you book any “travel expense” anywhere or via any booking site and then you can just go online to your Barclays account and request that the purchase be refunded using your points. You can refund any purchase that is categorized as “Airlines, Travel Agencies & Tour Operators, Hotels, Motels & Resorts, Cruise Lines, Passenger Railways and Car Rental Agencies.”

The way the refund works is for instance, if you spend $600 on a plane ticket, and you have 45,000 points, you’ll get a refund of $450! + you’ll get 4,500 points back! (Because of the 10% refund)

Other great benefits of this card are the 2 percent (really 2.2 points after the 10% back) cash back on ALL purchases! and the no foreigin transaction fees!

There is no fee for the first year afterwards it is $89. Of course, once the free first year is up you can always downgrade to the No annual fee card.

The no annual fee Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard – The main difference between the no annual fee and the $89 fee card is 1. you only earn 20,000 bonus miles and 2. you only earn 1 point for every dollar spent (barring travel purchases where you earn 2 points)

Full benefits of the no annual fee card:

If you are denied after applying for any of these cards, you can call reconsideration at 1-866-408-4064.

Bottom Line:

This card offers a lucrative cash back of 2.2% on ALL your purchases. This card also comes with a pretty lucrative sign-up bonus. Even if you do not want to use this card for everyday purchases, the lucrative sign-up bonus alone, makes it worth it to get this card!