Step 1: Calculate how much you spend in a month
First, this is important to do no matter what. Creating a budget is key to making sure you do not overspend. But in this case it's doubly important because the amount you spend in a given month will dictate how many signup bonuses you can earn. Let's take a few credit card signup bonuses and see how our budgets help us choose them.
| Card | Miles or Points? | Bonus | Spend Required | Amount of Time to Earn Bonus (months) | Spend Required Per Month to Earn Signup Bonus | First Year Annual Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citi American Airlines | Miles | 50,000 | $3,000 | 4 | $750 | $0 |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred | Either | 40,000 | $3,000 | 3 | $1,000 | $0 |
| United MileagePlus Exporer | Miles | 30,000 | $1,000 | 3 | $333 | $0 |
| Barclays Arrival | Points | 40,000 | $1,000 | 3 | $333 | $0 |
Let's say you're able to spend $1,000 a month. Take the 6th column, titled "Spend Required Per Month to Earn Signup Bonus", and add up the cards you want from this list until you get $1,000. Those are the cards you should apply for, and if you were correct about the amount you can spend per month, you should be able to earn the signup bonus for all of them!
Step 2: Pick out your cards
Obviously those five cards are not the only cards out there, silly goose! I've split credit cards into three categories below: miles, points, and both. Chase and Amex make cards that allow you to spend your earned points as points, or you can transfer them to an airline as miles at a 1:1 ratio. This flexibility is fantastic if you do both short- and long-haul travel. We will get more into those in a later discussion.
Note: This is by no means a complete list. These are cards I would personally consider applying for, but there are other cards that are less lucrative, with smaller airlines, or with hefty annual fees. You can find reasonably up-to-date credit card offers at these two websites:
The Frequent Miler
The Points Guy
Points Cards - Short-Haul Travel
| Card | Miles or Points? | Bonus | Spend Required | Amount of Time to Earn Bonus (months) | Spend Required Per Month to Earn Signup Bonus | First Year Annual Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barclays Arrival | Points | 40,000 | $1,000 | 3 | $333 | $0 | |
| Citi ThankYou Preferred | Points | 15,000 | $1,000 | 3 | $333 | $0 | |
| Citi ThankYou Premier | Points | 25,000 | $2,000 | 3 | $667 | $0 | Points worth 1.33 cents apiece |
Miles Cards - Long-Haul and International Travel
| Card | Miles or Points? | Bonus | Spend Required | Amount of Time to Earn Bonus (months) | Spend Required Per Month to Earn Signup Bonus | First Year Annual Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citi American Airlines | Miles | 50,000 | $3,000 | 4 | $750 | $0 | |
| United MileagePlus Exporer | Miles | 30,000 | $1,000 | 3 | $333 | $0 | |
| Chase British Airways | Miles | 50,000 | $1,000 | 3 | $333 | $95 | Miles can be used on American Airlines |
| Amex Delta Gold | Miles | 30,000 | $500 | 3 | $167 | $0 | |
| Amex Starwood | Miles | 25,000 | $5,000 | 6 | $833 | $0 | Miles can transfer to many airlines |
| Bank of America Alaska Air | Miles | 25,000 | $0 | 1 | $0 | $75 | Miles given upon approval for card, can be used on American and Delta |
| Chase AIrTran | Miles | 32 credits (2 roundtrips) | $2,000 | 3 | $667 | $69 | Can be used on Southwest flights |
| Chase Southwest Plus | Miles | 25,000 | $1,000 | 3 | $333 | $69 | Can be used on AirTran flights |
| Barclays US Airways | Miles | 35,000 | One Purchase | N/A | N/A | $0 | Miles will almost definitely convert to American miles after merger |
Points and/or Miles Cards - Flexibility
| Card | Miles or Points? | Bonus | Spend Required | Amount of Time to Earn Bonus (months) | Spend Required Per Month to Earn Signup Bonus | First Year Annual Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Sapphire Preferred | Either | 40,000 | $3,000 | 3 | $1,000 | $0 | Points are worth 1.25 cents apiece |
| Amex Gold | Either | 25,000 | $2,000 | 3 | $667 | $0 |
Step 3: Apply!
If you want to wait a little while to apply, the next few posts I will spend giving a more in-depth review of each mileage and points program. It might make it easier to decide which cards to apply for. For instance, Delta is a huge airline so it may look at first glance like you should apply for their card. But Delta has, in my opinion, one of the worst miles programs around. In any case, assuming you already know what airlines you like/want to fly, or what points cards you want, let's get to the applications.
If you go to one of the two sites I mentioned above, they have links to the applications for each card. Some links have published offers, meaning you can see on the application page the signup bonus you will be offered. Others are unpublished, meaning the link is directly to an application page but the page doesn't show your signup bonus offer. In that case, you'll just have to trust that the links work. There is a greater risk involved with unpublished signup offers, but I can tell you from personal experience I've never had a problem with earning the points or miles from an unpublished offer. The blogger world does a good job of vetting them to make sure they're legit.
Some things to keep in mind:
1. DO NOT apply to more than one card from a specific bank in one day
Most banks, especially with first-time applicants, will not approve you for more than one card within a 60- to 90-day timeframe. That means if you want to apply for a Chase Southwest card, do not also apply for a Chase Sapphire Preferred today. But feel free to apply for a Citi, Amex, Barclays, or Bank of America card!
2. DO all of your applications in one day
Applying for all your cards in one day means that you'll get all your hard credit inquiries in one day. Credit card companies supposedly look at how many inquiries you've had in the past 90 days, so 91 days from now your number will be back to 0, and you'll be more eligible to apply for cards again.
3. DO NOT apply for more than 2-3 cards if you're a first-timer
Keeping track of a bunch of different credit cards takes a little practice, so I recommend starting slow and building up over time.
Step 4: Don't give up if you're not approved
Applying for a credit card is like applying for college. You might get in, but you also might get denied or waitlisted. If you get a "Declined" or "We'll get back to you in 7-10 days", it doesn't mean you can't get approved. Many of the credit card companies will approve you if you call them up after you've applied and let them know you'd be a good customer for them. This is called a "reconsideration call". Million Mile Secrets has a great post about how to make the most of this call. He also has a list of the current phone numbers for each of the credit card companies. Here's the link:
One piece of advice: don't tell them you're just getting their card to earn the signup bonus! Make sure you let them know that you will use this card for a lot of your purchasing.
Over the next few days we'll take a closer look at the individual miles and points programs. If you're applying for cards today, best of luck!
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