Right now there are three cards offering higher than usual sign-up bonuses that you might want to take advantage of.
One is the new IHG credit card from Chase which is now offering 100,000 points while two other cards are small business credit cards offered by American Express.
The Business Platinum offer will be gone in a matter of days and the Business Blue Plus offer will expire next month, so if you’re in search of great business card offers, now might be a good time to look into applying.
Update: Some offers are no longer available — click here for the latest deals!
IHG credit card
The IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card comes with the following features:
- 100,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months
- 5,000 bonus points if you add an authorized user within 3 months of opening the card
- Annual free night certificate at an “eligible hotel”
- 10X for spend at IHG
- 2X at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants
- Automatic Platinum Elite Status
- 20% discount on purchases of IHG points
- 4th night free on award stays
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit of up to $100 every 4 years
- No foreign transaction fees
- $89 annual fee
The previous offer required you to spend $20,000 to earn 90,000 points so this offer is much better since you can earn up to 105,000 points after spending only $3,000 in the first 3 months.
While Chase did devalue the free night certificate, this is still a strong contender of a card due to the great bonus earning rate at IHG properties, the discount on purchases points, and the 4th night free on award stays.
Also, this card is not subject to the Chase 5/24 rule.
Amex Business Platinum
- 50,000 Membership Rewards after spending $10,000 in the first 3 months and then an additional 50,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $15,000 more in the first 3 months.
- 5X on flights and eligible hotels on amextravel.com
- 1.5X per dollar on each eligible purchase of $5,000+
- Centurion lounge access and Priority Pass for you and two guests.
- Does NOT come with the $200 Uber credit.
- Redeem your Membership Rewards at a rate of 1.54 cents per point with premium cabin flights (and one chosen airline)
- $200 airline incidental credit
- Hilton Gold and SPG Gold
- Global Entry ($100) statement credit or one TSA Pre✓® ($85) statement credit every 4 years
- $450 annual fee ($100 lower than the personal version)
- 10 Gogo wifi passes each year
If you can meet the minimum spend requirement, then this offer is very tempting because 100,000 Membership Rewards is a lot of points. People spend months waiting for targeted 100K offers for the personal Platinum Card so being able to pick up 100K Membership Rewards from a public offer is very nice.
If you haven’t been targeted for any special Amex Platinum offers this might be your best bet to cash in on a high welcome offer.
The offer ends 8/8/18 so if you’re interested in it you’ll need to act quickly.
Amex Blue Business Plus
- Earn 10,000 extra Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership.
- 0% intro APR period of 15 months.
- 2X back on all purchases in the form of Membership Rewards (up to $50,000 per year)
- No annual fee
This credit card usually does not come with a welcome offer so it’s nice to be able to pick up an additional 10,000 Membership Rewards.
But it’s the 2X on all purchases on up to $50,000 spent per year that it makes it special. If you value Membership Rewards at 1.8 cents per point this amounts to a 3.6% return on all purchases, which is very impressive.
Another great feature about the card is that it comes with no annual fee and 0% interest for 15 months. This card won’t report to your personal credit report so you can have a balance on this card with no interest and no affect on your personal credit score which is useful for making large purchases.
Offer ends 9/26/2018.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.