Reader Andrew asked the following on the “Ask Lucky” page of the blog:

Any idea if Chase is going to return the $300/30,000 point bonus for the Freedom card? Have the Chase Sapphire, so would like the points, but 10,000 is low right now.

While I have no inside information, I’ve been putting some thought into this question, or more generally what I imagine Chase’s strategy to be the past year or so. Going back a few years American Express hands down had the most valuable consumer credit cards. However, Chase has quickly gained market share, and I’d argue on the whole now has more valuable cards for the savvy consumer (though there are cards with both issuers that are “must haves”).

I think the biggest growth we’ve seen at Chase is with non co-branded credit cards that accrue Ultimate Rewards points and not points in any of their co-branded points programs (like United MileagePlus, Hyatt Gold Passport, etc.). This essentially makes these “super-cards,” given that you can accrue points in a central currency, and later decide where you want those points transferred to. And while the cards that accrue Ultimate Rewards points have annual fees, they offer an extraordinary amount of value. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Visa Card accrues double points on dining and travel and offers a further 7% annual points dividend, while the Chase Ink Plus® Business Card and Chase Ink Bold® Business Card offer 5x points on the first $50,000 spent annually at office supply stores, and on cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services, and double points on the first $50,000 spent annually at gas stations and on hotels.

Both of these cards have annual fees of $95 which are waived for the first year, though don’t really offer any other annual “bonus” which incentvizes customers to keep the card. But for most, the sheer number of points you can earn thanks to the bonus categories more than justify the annual fee.

Interestingly a majority of co-branded Chase cards (including Hyatt, Priority Club, etc.) offer an annual bonus just for keeping the card. It basically makes the card a keeper regardless of whether you plan on using it or not. This is unique because there aren’t many American Express cards I can think of that offer such a bonus.

So with that in mind, my perception is that Chase thinks of both the Ultimate Rewards branded and co-branded credit cards as being more in the “stable” phase than the “let’s-grow-the-heck-out-of-it” phase. And I say that simply because they’re not offering mega sign-up bonuses for the most part anymore, at least not like in the past. I think there are exceptions, like the Chase Ink Bold and Chase Ink Plus where Chase continues to offer 50,000 point sign-up bonuses, mainly because it seems they still want to largely grow their business credit card division.

This brings us to the Chase Freedom® Visa Card, which is one of the most unique “valuable” Chase cards out there, given that it has no annual fee. Not the first year, not ever. The card is valuable because it offers 5x points in rotating quarterly categories for up to $1,500 of spend. This basically translates into an easy 30,000 points per year. It’s worth noting each point can be redeemed for 1% cash back, though if you link it to an Ultimate Rewards branded card, they can also turn into Ultimate Rewards points. As a result the card has been getting more popular, because it’s not just worthwhile for people looking for 5% cash back, but it’s also worthwhile for people looking for five Ultimate Rewards points per dollar.

Over a year ago we saw sign-up bonuses on the card ranging from 20,000-30,000 points, though nowadays it’s at 10,000 points after spending $500 within three months.

Could we see that bonus again? Sure, it’s definitely possibly. Is it likely? I don’t think so. This is a no annual fee credit card and I think the reason behind the higher bonus while the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Bold, and Chase Ink Plus cards were being promoted, was to try and get people engaged in the Ultimate Rewards program. I think Chase is done trying to promote the Freedom Card as an every day spend card, but rather all the branding focuses around the 5x points category, which is the card’s “hook.” And that makes sense because while a 1% cash back credit card might have been competitive a few years ago, it’s not anymore. Now that people are sufficiently engaged in the Ultimate Rewards program, they really don’t have to offer a huge sign-up bonus on the card anymore.

Anyway, just my guess, though hope I’m wrong. I’m going to be picking up the Freedom in my next round of credit card applications since I’ve had so many other cards I’ve prioritized over it, but at the end of the day not having it is costing me ~24,000 Ultimate Rewards points per year.

Has anyone else been holding off in hopes of a better sign-up bonus?

(In the interest of full dislcosure I earn a referral bonus for anyone that’s approved through the above links. Thanks for your support!)

While there are several excellent long standing credit card offers, the specifics of the best offers are constantly changing (be it the annual fee, minimum spend requirement, or even amount of the sign-up bonus).

Continuing with what I started doing two months ago, I’m making a post on the first Monday of every month with what I consider to be the best credit card sign-up bonuses of the month. If you read my blog on a daily basis then by all means skip this post, but I know it’ll be a useful, “current” place for me to refer people that ask about which cards they should sign-up for, a question I get a daily basis. This month there are several changes to the list.

With that in mind, here are what I currently consider to be the 10 best credit card sign-up bonuses:

1. Chase Ink Bold® Business Card and Chase Ink Plus® Business Card

Current offer: 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 within three months
Annual fee: $95, waived the first year

Why it’s a great offer: This remains the single best credit card sign-up bonus out there, and the best part is that you can earn the bonus on both the Chase Ink Bold and Chase Ink Plus cards. So if you have just one of the above cards you can still get the other.

Ultimate Rewards points are one of the most valuable points currencies given that they can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to United, Hyatt, and many other programs. The cards are also great for everyday spend given that they offer 5x points at office supply stores, and on cell phones, internet, and cable TV, and double points on gas and hotels. So this is a card that’s good for both for the sign-up bonus and for everyday spend. I value Ultimate Rewards points at 1.8 cents each, so to me these points are worth a whopping $900.

2. The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN

Current offer: 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 within three months
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $175

Why it’s a great offer: This is a promotional sign-up offer on a card that doesn’t ordinarily come with any sign-up bonus. While there’s a high annual fee it’s waived for the first year, and at the very least has some good short term potential for earning points given that it offers triple points on airfare, double points on gas, shipping, and advertising, and one point per dollar spent on everything. I value Membership Rewards points at 1.8 cents each, so to me the sign-up bonus is worth $900. Furthermore there are often transfer bonuses from Membership Rewards to their partner programs, potentially making these points even more valuable. For example, there’s a 35% bonus on transfers to British Airways Executive Club at the moment.

3. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Visa Card

Current offer: 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $3,000 within three months
Annual fee: $95, waived the first year

Why it’s a great offer: Ultimate Rewards points are one of the most valuable points currencies given that they can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to United, Hyatt, and many other programs. The cards are also great for everyday spend given that it offers double points on dining and travel, plus a 7% annual points dividend. I value the sign-up bonus on this card at $720. Given that you can get the Chase Ink Bold, Chase Ink Plus, and Chase Sapphire Preferred, that’s an easy 140,000 Ultimate Rewards points worth of sign-up bonuses alone, not factoring in the points you can earn for everyday spend.

4. Citi American AAdvantage Visa Card

Current offer: 50,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $2,500 within four months
Annual fee: $95, waived the first year

Why it’s a great offer: American miles are extremely valuable for OneWorld travel, and offer some of the best premium cabin redemptions out there, like first class between the US and Asia on Cathay Pacific for 67,500 miles one-way. I value American miles at 1.8 cents each, so this sign-up bonus is worth $900 to me.

5. British Airways Visa Signature® Card

Current offer: 50,000 Avios after spending $1,000 within three months
Annual fee: $95

Why it’s a great offer: British Airways has a distance based award chart which is extremely lucrative for shorthaul travel, as awards start at just 4,500 Avios one-way. Given that short flights are often disproportionately expensive when paying cash, I’ve found Avios to be invaluable. I value British Airways Avios at 1.3 cents each, so to me the sign up bonus is worth ~$550 (factoring in the annual fee).

6. Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Visa Card

Current offer: Two free weekend nights at most Hilton family properties after spending $2,500 within four months
Annual fee: $95

Why it’s a great offer: In late March Hilton substantially devalued their award chart, making some properties as expensive as 95,000 HHonors points per night. These free night certificates are redeemable all the way up to category 10 properties, potentially making this sign-up bonus worth the equivalent of 190,000 HHonors points. So in terms of buying power, the value of these certificates has hugely increased over the past week compared to the buying power of HHonors points. Furthermore you get HHonors Gold status for as long as you have the card, which gets you free breakfast and internet. As far as I’m concerned those are the two most useful hotel elite benefits, and you get that all for the low annual fee on the card.

The Chase Hyatt Visa Card and Fairmont Visa Signature Card also offer similar sign-up bonuses of two free nights after completing the minimum spend, though I’d say the thing that gives the Citi Reserve Card the “edge” is that it gets you their mid-tier status as well, which is extremely valuable.

7. Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Card from American Express

Current offer: 10,000 Starpoints after the first purchase, 15,000 additional Starpoints after spending $5,000 within six months
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65

Why it’s a great offer: Starpoints remain the most valuable points currencies out there, and a great value for both hotel redemptions and airline mileage transfers. I value Starpoints at 2.2 cents each, so this sign-up bonus is worth $550 to me.

8. US Airways Barclays Mastercard

Current offer: 35,000 Dividend Miles after the first purchase
Annual fee: $85, waived the first year

Why it’s a great offer: Use it or lose it. Once the merger takes place it’s a near guarantee that Citi will be issuing American’s new co-branded credit card, so this card won’t be around much longer. It’s an easy 35,000 Dividend Miles given that you get the miles after the first purchase. I value US Airways miles at 1.6 cents each, so this sign-up bonus is worth ~$560.

It’s worth noting that while the above link seems to work as of now, I can’t guarantee for how long it’ll continue to work. Last time I posted a similar link the application continued to work though people started getting automatically rejected since the offer wasn’t intended to be publicly available. The only offer on which I can guarantee the bonus is my affiliate link, which only offers 30,000 Dividend Miles after the first purchase and doesn’t have the first year annual fee waived.

9. Lufthansa Miles & More World MasterCard

Current offer: 20,000 Miles & More miles after the first purchase, 30,000 bonus miles after spending $2,500 within 90 days
Annual fee: $79

Why it’s a great offer: As discussed in this post, Miles & More miles are valuable both for domestic travel within the US and for travel in Lufthansa and Swiss first class. The sign-up bonus alone will get you enough miles for three one-way tickets within the US in United two cabin first class or three cabin business class.

It’s worth noting that while the above link seems to work as of now, I can’t guarantee how long it’ll continue to work. It’s not an “official” offer and doesn’t have a landing page, so if you prefer to apply through an official link you can use this one, which has the same details except requires a minimum spend of $5,000 in order to earn the full sign-up bonus.

10. Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard

Current offer: 40,000 miles after spending $1,000 within 90 days
Annual fee: $89, waived the first year

Why it’s a great offer: Each point can be redeemed for one cent towards the cost of travel, and you get a 10% refund of redeemed miles, making each point worth 1.1 cents. This sign-up bonus is therefore worth $440, and you can earn a pretty great 2.2% cash back towards travel for every dollar spent on the card.

Anyway, those are my top 10 cards based on sign-up bonuses this month. If you have any questions or other cards you think have great sign-up bonuses, let me know in the comments section!

(In the interest of full disclosure, I earn a referral bonus for anyone approved through some of the above links. All are for the best available offers. Thanks for your support!)

You know when you went trick-or-treating as a kid and people started giving out “healthy” snacks in place of candy, like apples or bananas? Well, I can’t help but feel like this is kind of what has happened with Chase’s new Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. On one hand more options are a good thing, on the other hand of all possible frequent flyer programs to start a relationship with, this is the least valuable one.

Chase has just added Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club as their latest Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. Points transfer instantly at a 1:1 ratio, as they do with most of their transfer partners.

I recently valued various mileage currencies, and in that valuation Virgin Atlantic ranked dead last in value, at just 0.8 cents each. The fact is that the program just isn’t that interesting. They impose heavy fuel surcharges on virtually all redemptions, and their award rates aren’t especially low either. The value in their points used to be that you could transfer them at a 1:2 ratio to Hilton, and while you can still do that, Hilton points were devalued substantially just a couple of weeks ago, so that’s not as valuable anymore either.

So aside from very limited sets of circumstances — like one-way awards in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class where you don’t have any flexibility, or Hilton points transfers for redemptions at mid-range properties — I don’t see this being especially valuable. Still, options are options are options are options. Right?

Secretly, and perhaps mildly realistically, I’m still hoping that either American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards steal Alaska Mileage Plan, either by issuing their co-branded credit card or by adding them as a partner to their programs. Now that would be a nice addition to either program.

(Tip of the hat to Gary)

Introduction
Credit Card Points
Airline Miles
Hotel Points

With the introduction out of the way, here are my valuations of Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest points. Yes, I realize Starwood points aren’t typically thought of as one of the major fluid credit card points currencies, though I still put them into this category given how easily they can be transferred.

American Express Membership Rewards – 1.8 cents/point (previously 1.6 cents/point)

The past couple of years have been really rough for the value of Membership Rewards points. Back in 2010 Membership Rewards points were the golden standard of points currencies, though a lot has happened over the past several years to devalue them, including:

• Continental was removed as a transfer partner on September 30, 2011
• British Airways hugely devalued their award chart for those in North America as of November 15, 2011
• Aeroplan gutted their award chart and added huge fuel surcharges to award redemptions on most non-US carriers
• There wasn’t a single transfer bonus to Delta SkyMiles all of last year year, while in previous years we frequently saw a 30-50% transfer bonus

But Membership Rewards points are on the rebound, in my opinion. In November of last year Singapore Airlines began making their famous “Suites Class” available to KrisFlyer members at the saver level, and Membership Rewards points transfer to KrisFlyer at a 1:1 ratio. This is hands down the most aspirational airline product out there, so the ability to redeem for this at a reasonable rate is certainly a big score for those with Membership Rewards points.

Double bed in Singapore Suites

Furthermore, last year we saw several 30-50% transfer bonuses to British Airways Avios. While the program has remained the same for the most part, there are some real gem redemptions, like 50,000 Avios for roundtrip business class between Boston and Dublin with no fuel surcharges, 80,000 Avios for roundtrip business class between New York and Berlin/Dusseldorf on Air Berlin with no fuel surcharges, and the option to transfer points to Iberia’s Avios program and redeem for travel on them without fuel surcharges. Factor in a 30-50% transfer bonus on the above, and you’re looking at flying business class for less than coach.

Great use of Avios without fuel surcharges

The relative value of Delta SkyMiles has also gone up, in my opinion. They’re hands down the best way to get to Australia, given that they partner with Virgin Australia which releases which releases more saver business class award space between the US and Australia then any other airline. Best of all they eliminated fuel surcharges on these redemptions last year, which saves about $800 per ticket.

Membership Rewards points also remain the most “transferable” points currency out there. You can transfer your Membership Rewards points to a mileage account in someone else’s name, which I find to be a great feature when topping off an account that’s a bit short on miles.

Best credit card(s) for earning Membership Rewards points: American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card, which offers 3x points on airfare, 2x points on gas and groceries, and 15,000 bonus points for any year in which you spend $30,000 on the card.

Chase Ultimate Rewards – 1.8 cents/point (previously 1.9 cents/point)

Chase Ultimate Rewards is a great program given that points transfer to some of my favorite loyalty programs, including United MileagePlus and Hyatt Gold Passport. They also offer 1:1 transfers to Korean Air, Southwest, Marriott, Priority Club, Ritz-Carlton, and more.

Hyatt charges just 22,000 points per night for their top end properties, including the Park Hyatts in the Maldives, Paris, Sydney, and Tokyo, for example. Those are some of the most reasonable redemption rates in the hotel industry for properties that otherwise go for $800+ per night.

Revenue rates at Park Hyatt Sydney

Similarly United MileagePlus gives you access to the Star Alliance, and they have extremely generous routing rules as well. For example, you can route from the US to Asia via Europe, or from the US to Australia via Asia. They don’t do any blocking of partner award space and allow one stopover and a double open jaw, so there’s no mileage currency I value more than MileagePlus miles.

Great use of 67,500 MileagePlus miles in first class!

However, the one reason I slightly lowered my value of Ultimate Rewards points is that in the past they could freely be transferred between Ultimate Rewards accounts, and you could also transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to a mileage account in anyone’s name. Nowadays that isn’t possible anymore, so that takes away the option of topping off a mileage account using Ultimate Rewards points. At the end of the day points can only be as valuable as their best use, and in this case it’s what I value MileagePlus miles at.

Best credit card(s) for earning Ultimate Rewards points: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Visa Card, which offers double points on dining and travel and a 7% annual points dividend, the Chase Ink Plus® Business Card and Chase Ink Bold® Business Card, which offer 5x points on office supply stores, cable, TV, phone, and internet, and 2x points on gas and hotels, and the Chase Freedom Visa Card, which offers 5x points in rotating quarterly categories.

Starwood Preferred Guest – 2.2 cents/point (previously 2.2 cents/point)

This one really pains me. As I started writing the post I decided to value Starpoints at 2.0 cents each. Earlier in the month the value of Starpoints for hotel redemptions did drop given that Starwood devalued cash & points by about 20-25%, which was the best use of Starpoints for hotel redemptions prior to this. Furthermore, 150 more Starwood properties went up in price than down in price with the recent category shifts, and when you only have a bit over 1,000 properties, that’s a pretty substantial number of properties going up in price.

So on the hotel redemption front I was ready to drop the value down to two cents a piece. But I can’t do that because you can still transfer Starpoints to many airline currencies at a 1:1 ratio, with a 5,000 point bonus for every 20,000 points transfered. That means you can convert 20,000 Starwood points into 25,000 American miles. At a valuation of 2.2 cents per Starwood point, that means you’re valuing an American mile at 1.76 cents per mile, which is pretty close to my previous valuation of 1.8 cents per American mile.

Some of Starwood’s airline transfer partners

So what can I do here? Previously I thought cash & points and airline mileage transfers were an equally good use of Starwood points. Now cash & points isn’t as good of a value, while the value of mileage transfers hasn’t changed. So I guess I can’t lower their value?

On the plus side in one way the value of Starwood points did go up on the mileage transfer side. Japan Airlines changed their award chart in October whereby redemptions on Emirates became cheaper in many cases. For example, New York to Dubai roundtrip is just 85,000 miles in business class or 135,000 miles in first class. That means you need to transfer just 70,000 Starwood points for business class or 110,000 Starwood points for first class. Starwood is Japan Airlines’ only major transfer partner, so you can’t beat Starwood points for redemptions on Emirates.

Emirates first class

Best credit card(s) for earning Starwood points: Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Card from American Express, which offer two points per dollar spent at Starwood properties and one Starwood point per dollar spent on everything else

How do you value Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, and Starwood points?

(In the interest of full disclosure, some of the above links earn me a referral bonus, and all are for the best available offers for each card — thanks for your support!)

I asked you guys what you’d like to read about, so this post is in response to a question posted there. I’ll address as many of the questions as I can in the coming weeks. Feel free to keep adding to the list and I’ll use it as a basis for future posts.

Reader Bundy asked:

What credit cards are currently in your wallet and why? What cards are you planning to churn?

About seven months ago I wrote a post sharing my active credit cards, so I figured I’d provide an update. I’ll also put each card in either the “keep” or “cancel” category, based on whether I plan on keeping or canceling the card when the annual fee hits.

With that in mind, here’s what’s in my wallet right now:

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Visa Card (personal) – Keep
Annual fee: $95, waived first year

This one is of course a no brainer, and a card everyone should have. The card offers double points on dining and travel plus a 7% annual points dividend. That means you’re earning 2.14 points per dollar spent at restaurants and on just about all travel expenses, including hotel, airline tickets, car rentals, transportation, and even parking. While I can get a good return on hotels and airline tickets with other cards, it’s the dining and other travel expenses (taxis, trains, parking, etc.) that make this card awesome. Since it has no foreign transaction fees I use it when I’m traveling abroad almost exclusively.

Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express (personal) – Keep
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65

On a per point basis, Starwood points are probably the most valuable points currency out there. I value them at about 2.2 cents each, and they’re actually the only points currency I value at over two cents per point. So I put all my Starwood hotel stays and spend in categories that don’t earn bonuses on other cards on this card.

That being said, I’d keep the card alone for the fact that it offers two stays and five nights towards Starwood status annually. In the past I’d qualify for Starwood Platinum on 25 stays instead of 50 nights, but now I’m qualifying on nights given that you don’t get the 10 suite night awards annually if you qualify on stays. That’s basically like picking up night credits towards status at $13 each.

Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Card from American Express (business) – Keep
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65

I like this card for exactly the same reasons as the personal card. They both offer the same bonuses, so the one reason to have both of them is because they each offer you two stays and five nights towards status annually. Between the two cards that’s four stays and 10 nights towards status, a very nice head start each year.

American AAdvantage Citi Visa (personal) – Keep
Annual fee: $85, waived first year

Last year Citi added new benefits to this card, including a 10% rebate on award redemptions, up to 10,000 miles per year. I easily max that out every year (since I make at least 100,000 AAdvantage miles worth of award redemptions per year), so by keeping this card I’m basically buying 10,000 miles at $95 annually, which is 0.95 cents per mile. Deal. I don’t put a dime in spend on the card, though.

US Airways MasterCard (personal) – Keep
Annual fee: $89, waived first year

Now that the American and US Airways merger is underway I doubt this card will be around for long, given that Citi will almost certainly be the bank issuing the “new” American’s credit card. This card offers a 10,000 mile anniversary bonus just for having the card, so up until now it has been a way to essentially “buy” 10,000 US Airways miles annually for 0.89 cents each. I suspect this card will be going away shortly, but for the time being I might as well keep it.

Chase Ink Plus® Business Card and Chase Ink Bold® Business Card (business) — Keep one, cancel the other
Annual fee: $95, waived first year

The Chase Ink cards are the best business cards out there at the moment, in my opinion. You get double points on the first $50,000 spent annually at hotels and gas stations, and 5x points on the first $50,000 spent annually at office supply stores, and on cell phones, landlines, internet, and cable TV. The last category alone justifies the annual fee on the card (which is waived the first year), given that those are fixed monthly expenses for me, and when I add them up and calculate the 5x points I’m earning, I’m already coming out ahead.

You can actually be approved for both of these cards, though beyond the first year there’s not much benefit to keeping both of them. So I plan on canceling one of them when the annual fee hits, and keeping the other.

Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Visa Card (personal) — Keep
Annual fee: $95

Despite the huge Hilton HHonors devaluation on the way, I still think this is one of the very best cards out there. Just for having the card you get HHonors Gold status, which gets you free internet and club lounge access/breakfast. Even though I have top tier status with Hyatt and Starwood, they don’t have hotels everywhere I need to be, while Hilton usually does. So no matter how devalued their points program gets, you can’t beat the on-property benefits you get simply for having a $95 annual fee credit card.

Chase Hyatt Visa Card (personal) — Keep
Annual fee: $75

The only time I spend a dime on this card is for actual Hyatt stays, since you earn three points per dollar. Other than that I keep the card for the annual free night certificate, redeemable at category one through four properties. That more than justifies the annual fee, given that it can be redeemed at properties like the Andaz West Hollywood, Andaz Shanghai, Park Hyatt Melbourne, etc.

The Platinum Card® from American Express (personal) — Keep
Annual fee: $450

This card is expensive but worth every dime to me. It offers lounge access with American, Delta, US Airways, and Priority Pass. If I were to purchase a lounge membership with one of those airlines alone it would cost me about $350 per year.

But beyond that you get an annual airline fee credit for $200, which in practice can be used to purchase airline gift cards. So I’m able to purchase $200 in American Airlines gift cards per year and have it reimbursed. What sweetens the deal even further is that the annual fee is based on a rolling 12 month period, while the airline fee credit is based on a calendar year. So that means with your first year’s annual fee you can actually pick up two airline fee credits, worth $400.

The other thing that makes this card awesome is access to American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN Application (business) — Cancel
Annual fee: $450

Last year I applied for the The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN when they had a 50,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus (right now there is no sign-up bonus associated with the card), and as the annual fee approached I got an upgrade offer to the Business Platinum card, offering 25,000 Membership Rewards points if I upgraded. I crunched the numbers and figured it made sense to pay the $450 annual fee to upgrade, as I’d be getting both 25,000 Membership Rewards points and $400 in airline gift cards (through the airline credit reimbursement). It’s not worth renewing since I have the personal Platinum card as well, but I think it was a good deal for the upgrade.

American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card Application — Keep or Cancel?
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $175

I’m still a bit torn on the value of this card. It offers triple points on airfare and double points on gas and groceries, plus a 15,000 point bonus for any year in which you spend $30,000 on the card. But the big downside is that it has foreign transaction fees (which means when you’re booking an airline ticket with a foreign carrier you’re charged a 3%+ fee for doing so, which more or less negates the rewards) and a hefty annual fee of $175. If I can get a retention bonus on the card I probably won’t cancel it, but I’m not going to pay $175 to renew the card. It was great for the first year, though.

Hilton HHonors Card from American Express — Keep
Annual fee: none

This no annual fee credit card is worth keeping solely for the fact that it gives you access to Hilton’s AXON awards. Through Hilton’s AXON awards you can book any category seven property for four nights for just 145,000 points, compared to the usual rate of 50,000 points per night. That’s better than buy three get one free. That being said, with the upcoming devaluation I’m not sure what will happen to AXON awards. In the meantime the card has no annual fee, so I might as well keep it.

Cards I’m eying for my next credit card churn include:

The Mercedes Benz Platinum Card from American Express (personal)
Annual fee: $475

This card is more or less identical to the American Express Platinum Card except the annual fee is $25 higher and the sign-up bonus is double as big. So if you’re only going to get either the Platinum Card or Mercedes Benz Platinum Card you should get the latter due to the higher sign-up bonus. Apparently you can get both cards at once, so I figured I might as well pick this card up for the 50,000 point sign-up bonus and $400 worth of airline fee credits, essentially bringing down the first year’s fee to $75.

Chase Freedom® Visa Card (personal)
Annual fee: none

Chase seems to have all the good offers, so most of the time I’m just trying to “pace” myself in not applying for too many offers with them at once. This is an awesome card since it offers 5x points in rotating categories for up to $1,500 in spend every quarter and doesn’t have an annual fee. That’s an easy way to pick up 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points per year.

Chase Priority Club Visa Card (personal)
Annual fee: $49, waived first year

The card has a decent sign-up bonus (80,000 Priority Club points after spending $1,000 on the card within three months) and an awesome anniversary bonus of one free night at any Priority Club property annually. For a $49 annual fee that’s an amazing value. The issue is that much like the other great cards out there this one is issued by Chase, and you can’t really have a dozen of their cards open at once.

Alaska Airlines Visa Card (personal)
Annual fee: $75

The sign-up bonus on the card is presently 25,000 miles upon approval. I’m hoping for a better bonus, though will otherwise probably pull the trigger on it as this card is supposedly churnable. I’m trying to rack up some Alaska miles either for travel on Emirates or Cathay Pacific.

Anyway, that’s a summary of the cards I have and the ones I’m eying. Any good cards I should be applying for that aren’t listed above? Which cards are on your list?

(In the interest of full disclosure, some of the above links earn me a referral bonus, and all are for the best available offers for each card — thanks for your support!)