That’s still below the record 1.58 billion mailings sent out during the third quarter of 2005, but a huge increase from the 349.1 million sent out during the same quarter of 2009. This shows that credit card issuers are quite optimistic about the future and are aggressively courting new customers.

With so many offers to choose from, that’s where this list comes in. In this post, I’ve tried to identify the offers with the best initial sign up bonuses so that you can spend your time on the offers that are the most rewarding.

Best Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses List for 2012

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

Signup Bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months. 50,000 points are worth $500 in statement credit or $625 towards travel.
Annual Fee: $95 (waived first year)
Details: An excellent all-around rewards card for the frequent traveler, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card should appeal to a wide range of consumers due to its flexible point redemption opportunities. For more details, see this review.

Feedback

Have opinions on this list? Picking a “Best of” list is subjective to a certain extent, so let me know what you think in the comment section below.

Citi ThankYou Premier Card

Signup Bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $2,500 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. 50,000 ThankYou points are redeemable for $500 in gift cards or $665 in travel. Expired: 2/3/12
Current offer: 30,000 ThankYou points worth $300 in gift cards after spending $2,000 within 3 months. For details, see this link.
Annual Fee: $125 (waived first year)
Details: The natural competitor to Chase’s Sapphire Preferred Card. For more details, see this post.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher, where you'll always find the best credit card deals.

Best Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses 2012

Unlike some older United/Continental offers, you do not need to have elite status in order to get this deal.

If you have miles in your account and still don’t see the 60,000 mile offer, you should try clearing your cache and reloading the page. While nearly everyone should be able to get the offer using this method, YMMV, as it appears that a few unlucky souls still cannot. (Via SD)

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United MileagePlus Explorer Card: Up to 60,000 Miles

This is the same offer that was also available for a limited time about a year ago. It represents a significantly larger bonus–while requiring significantly more spend–over the standard offer available now (30,000 bonus miles after spending $500 within 3 months).

Earn 55,000 bonus SkyMiles for the Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card from Amex
There’s also an even richer deal available for the business version of the card. Under this offer, you’ll earn 25,000 bonus SkyMiles after your first purchase and another 30,000 bonus SkyMiles after you spend $10,000 within 6 months of opening your account for a total of 55,000 bonus miles.

Link

Both cards carry an annual fee of $95, which is waived for the first year.

While the deal for the personal card has a certain expiration date, it’s unclear how long the offer for the small business card will last.

Thanks to reader Dave for the tips on these offers.

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Delta SkyMiles Amex Offers: 55k Miles for Biz App, 45k Miles for Personal App

Under this offer, the first year’s annual fee is also waived. After the first year, the consumer cards carry an annual fee of $85 while the CitiBusiness AAdvantage card has an annual fee of $75.

While this offer is not as lucrative as the now expired 75,000 bonus AAdvantage miles deal, it’s currently the best available for these cards.

For more details, see away7.citicards.com.

Update 2/3: The previous URL has expired, but the offer can still be found at this link. In addition, on this landing page, the expiration date for this offer has been updated to February 29, 2012.

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Citi AAdvantage Credit Cards: 50,000 Bonus Miles + $150 Bonus

The card also offers the following benefits:

• Free night every year at any IHG property
• 5 points per $ spent at any IHG property
• 2 points per $ spent on gas, groceries and dining
• 1 point per $ on everything else
• 10% points rebate on any award redemptions
• No foreign transaction fees
• Gold Elite status

In addition, the annual fee of $49 is waived for the first year.

Link (Via FT)

Note: The application’s landing page makes no mention of the 80,000 bonus points, but several posters in the FT thread have already received confirmation emails after applying through the link that they would in fact receive their 80,000 point bonus after their first purchase.

Note 2: If you have applied for this card within the past 90 days under the 60,000 point offer (or even the default 30,000 point offer through Chase’s site), you can try asking Chase to bump you up to this offer. Log into your Chase account online and send a secure message saying that you saw an offer for 80,000 points. If you politely ask if the offer can be matched, in most cases Chase will grant the request, provided that you’re within the 90 day window.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher, where you'll always find the best credit card deals.

Priority Club Visa Credit Card: 80,000 Bonus Points?

Update 12/19/11: This offer has now expired. To view the current Chase Freedom deal, see this link.
Update 1/24/12: Looks like the offer is back. See this link for details.
Link (Via SD)

Note: As is often the case with Chase, if you recently applied for a Freedom card with a less lucrative bonus, you can ask Chase to match this offer. The best way to do this is to log into your account online and send a secure message to customer service. Tell them that you saw an offer with a $300 bonus and ask politely if it can be matched. Assuming you haven’t had the card for too long (the guideline appears to be within 90 days of your account open date), they’ll usually credit you the difference.

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Chase Freedom – $300 Signup Bonus

• 5 points for every $1 spent at Marriott® locations
• 2 points for every $1 spent on eligible dining, airline and rental car purchases
• 1 point for every $1 spent on purchases anywhere else
• No foreign transaction fees
• A free night stay at a category 1-5 hotel every year
• 15 nights credit towards Elite status every year

70,000 bonus points is enough for 9 free nights at a category 1 hotel. (Click here to see the full award redemption chart, as well as how hotels are categorized.)

Update 11/11/11: This link no longer works.
70,000 bonus points application

Other notes and related offers:
If you recently applied for this card under the 50,000 point offer, you may want to log into your account online and send Chase a Secure Message asking them to match this promo.

There is also a 50,000 bonus point offer + $75 statement credit for the Premier card here. Most people, however, would be better served with the 70,000 point offer.

For the standard (non-Premier) Marriott card, this promo offers 30,000 points, 2 free nights and a $75 statement credit after first use.

If you’re looking for a Marriott Rewards Business credit card offer, you can find one here that offers 22,500 bonus points plus 2 free nights.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher, where you'll always find the best credit card deals.

Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card: 70,000 Bonus Points

The card has a $69 annual fee which is not waived for the first year. That fee, however, is substantially offset by the 3,000 points you’ll receive on your card membership anniversary every year, good for $50 towards a Wanna Get Away fare.

In addition, you’ll earn 2 points per $1 spent directly with Southwest. That includes flight, inflight, southwestgiftcard, Jackpot Deals, and Southwest Airlines Vacations package purchases, and purchases made at participating Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Hotel and Rental Car Partners. You will earn 1 point for each $1 of all other net purchases.

Redeem your Points towards Flights, Gift Certificates or other Travel
Points can be redeemed towards any Southwest flight, but the amount of credit you’ll receive will depend upon the fare type. For example, 120 points are good for $1 towards Business Select fares, while 100 points can be redeemed for $1 towards Anytime fares. The best redemption value, however, is towards Wanna Get Away fares, where you’ll receive $1 in credit for only 60 points. This means your 50,000 point signup bonus could be applied towards $833 of Wanna Get Aware fares, $500 of Anytime fares or $416 of Business Select fares.

Alternatively, your points can be applied towards gift cards and other travel rewards at a value of roughly a penny per point. Through December 15, 2011, there is also a special promotion where you’ll receive a 20% discount when you redeem your points for gift cards. For instance, a $50 Amazon gift card can currently be had for 4000 points, or a value of 1.25 cents per point. Note, however, that redeeming your points towards Wanna Get Away fares still yields the best redemption value at 1.67 cents per point.

At this point, it’s unclear how long Chase and Southwest plan to run the 2 free flights promotion. For more info or to apply, see the link below:

Update 11/11/11: This offer has expired.
For the current Southwest credit card offer, see this link.

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Southwest Airlines Credit Card – 2 Free Flights is Back

Under this offer, you’ll receive 50,000 bonus ThankYou points after making $2,500 in purchases within the first 3 months. 50,000 bonus points is enough to redeem for $500 in gift cards, or even more when you redeem for travel. One of the features of the Citi ThankYou Premier Card is that you’ll be eligible for a 25% discount on flights when you redeem your points through Citi’s ThankYou Travel Center, meaning that your 50,000 points can be used for $665 towards travel.

While their point systems are quite different, this new offer from Citi is now quite competitive with Chase’s Sapphire Preferred 50,000 point deal. Both are targeted towards the same upscale, traveling demographic.

For more details or to apply for the Citi ThankYou Premier card, see this link:

Citi ThankYou^SM Premier Card – $500 in Gift Cards

Update 2/3: The 50,000 bonus point offer has now expired. To see the current Citi ThankYou Premier offer, see this link.

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Citi ThankYou Premier Card – 50,000 Bonus Points, First Year’s Annual Fee Waived

This is the most lucrative sign up bonus offered yet for the Preferred Card, though it also has the largest spending requirement. You’ll earn 25,000 bonus points when you spend at least $5,000 within the first 6 months of opening your account; you’ll earn an additional 25,000 points when you spend another $5,000 in the following 6 months.

As is standard for the card, you’ll receive 1 point for every $1 on all purchases and also earn an anniversary bonus for every year you remain a member. There is no annual fee.

Update 12/22: This offer has now expired. Please see this link for the current Citi ThankYou Preferred Card deal.
Citi ThankYou Preferred Rewards Card application – Up to $500 in gift cards

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Citi ThankYou Preferred Rewards Card: Up to $500 in Gift Cards

Purchases earn 1 point per dollar spent with no limit to the points you can earn. In addition, you’ll earn point bonuses when you reach certain spend levels:

• Upon reaching $25,000 in annual spend, receive 7,500 bonus points
• Upon reaching $50,000 in annual spend, receive an additional 15,000 bonus points
• Upon reaching $100,000 in annual spend, receive an additional 25,000 bonus points

There is an annual fee of $95 which is waived for the first year. For more info or to apply, see the following link:

Chase Ink Bold application

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Chase Ink Bold with Ultimate Rewards: 50,000 Bonus Points Worth $625 in Airfare

Using your Hawaiian Miles
You can use your Hawaiian Miles for award flights for as little as 7,500 for an interisland Coach SuperSaver one-way ticket or 20,000 miles for a Coach SuperSaver one-way ticket between the continental US and Hawaii. The full award chart can be found here.

It’s also possible to redeem your miles for various gift certificates for car rentals, dining, hotels, shopping and more, though you’re going to get a poor value for your miles if you redeem them this way.

Why is this an interesting deal?
What makes this offer interesting is that Hilton is one of Hawaiian Air’s partners and allows you to exchange 1 Hawaiian mile for 2 HHonors points in increments of 5,000 miles. This exchange ratio is valid only for miles that were originally Hawaiian miles (such as those earned by flying Hawaiian Air, flying on a partner airline and crediting to Hawaiian Air, or shopping through the Hawaiian Air’s shopping portal.) Fortunately, your bonus points from the Hawaiian Air Visa can also be exchanged at this rate, meaning that you can transfer your 35,000 Hawaiian miles for 70,000 HHonors points. This is significant because that’s a larger signup bonus than either of the co-branded Hilton cards themselves offer. (Hilton HHonors Surpass Amex’s current signup bonus is up to 60,000 HHonors points, while the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa offers a 40,000 HHonors bonus.)

If you are a regular Hilton customer, however, it still makes sense to get a Hilton-branded card for the other perks, such as additional points for spending at Hiltons or elite status. For example, you’ll automatically earn HHonors Silver status just for being a Citi HHonors Visa cardmember, while you’ll earn HHonors Gold status when you spend at least $20,000 on your Hilton Amex.

An important caveat
One other very important note is that if your credit doesn’t qualify you for a Visa Signature card, Bank of America may instead approve you for a Visa Platinum card, which carries a much lower 10,000 mile bonus after first purchase. Getting a Visa Signature card typically requires excellent credit, so if your credit is less than perfect, this is a risk you’ll want to consider.

Double the fun
Hawaiian Airlines currently has two separate credit card offers that are nearly identical, except for the issuing bank. Both Bank of America and the Bank of Hawaii offer their own versions of the card that provide virtually the same benefits. The Bank of Hawaii’s card does additionally allow you to make payments at a Bank of Hawaii branch and also to have your credit balance count towards Bankohana status, potentially reducing some of your banking fees.

Despite the fact that the Bank of Hawaii card is actually admistered by FIA, a subsidiary of Bank of America, you can still apply for both Hawaiian Airlines cards (each with a $79 annual fee) and get the bonuses for a potential total of 140,000 HHonors points.

For more info, see:

Hawaiian Air Visa Signature (Bank of America)
Hawaiian Air Visa Signature (Bank of Hawaii)

(via MMS)

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70,000 Hilton HHonors Points for Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card Signup

Cardmembers will also enjoy these existing benefits:

• No foreign transaction fees
• Dedicated customer service — all calls are answered by people, never machines
• Redeem points through the Ultimate Rewards portal for a 20% discount
• Transfer your points to participating hotel and airline programs
• Collect 7% annual points dividend, even on already redeemed points

As mentioned previously, Chase is offering new Chase Sapphire Preferred cardmembers an extremely generous one-time bonus of 50,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first three months, enough for a $500 statement credit or $625 towards airfare or hotel accomodations.

To apply, see this link.

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Chase Sapphire Preferred Adds Travel and Dining Bonuses

• Automatic Gold Elite status in The Ritz-Carlton Rewards your first year. Gold Elite membership offers a 25% bonus on your points, free high-speed internet access and complimentary room upgrades subject to availability. Your status can also be used at Marriott hotels to enjoy all Marriott Gold Elite benefits. The card also allows you to maintain your Gold Elite status by spending at least $10,000 per year.
• A $100 hotel credit on each stay of 2 nights or longer that can be used towards your choice of dining, spa or other hotel recreational activities.
• Upgrade to The Ritz-Carlton Club Level three times per year, with each stay up to 7 nights, subject to availability. As the difference in price between a regular room and a Club level room can be $100-200/night, this is a very valuable benefit.
• $200 airline incidentals credit. Each year, you can be reimbursed up to $200 for baggage fees, in-flight meals, charter transportation or other air travel-related expenses when you use your card. Simply contact J.P. Morgan Priority Services within 4 billing cycles of your purchases to receive statement credit, up to $200 per year.
• Complimentary airport lounge access with Priority Pass™ Select, granting you access to over 600 airport lounges worldwide.
• No foreign transaction fees

In addition, you’ll earn 5 Ritz-Carlton Rewards points per $1 spent at The Ritz-Carlton hotels, 2 points per $1 spent on airfare, car rentals and dining and 1 point per $1 on all other card purchases.

Standard hotel rewards range from 30,000 points/night required for a Tier 1 hotel to 70,000 points/night for a Tier 5 hotel, but there are a few ways to make your points go further. Similar to Starwood’s program, when you use your points to reserve a 5 night stay, the fifth night is free. And under the PointSaver program, when you book your reservation during select dates at participating hotels, you can also save up to 33%. PointSaver rewards start at 20,000 points/night for a Tier 1 hotel and go up to 60,000 points/night for a Tier 5 hotel.

The card does carry a hefty $395 annual fee, which is not waived for the first year. It still can be a compelling option if you are a frequent guest at Ritz or Marriott hotels. To apply or to get more info, see theritzcarltonrewardscard.com.

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Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card: 50,000 Points After First Use

Even without its generous signup bonus, however, the SPG Amex is one of my favorite travel credit cards. What makes it so great? Read this detailed SPG Amex review explaining why I love the card (as well as why the card isn’t for everyone).

Note: As of August 22, 2011, this 30k bonus Starpoints offer has expired.

To view or apply for the current offer, see these links:

• SPG Amex Application – Personal Version
• SPG Amex Application – Business Version

Note #1: If you click through to the application and don’t see the 30k Starpoints offer, you may need to clear your cookies, then try again.

Note #2: If you’re applying for a new Starwood Amex, don’t include any additional cardmembers as part of your application. Instead, apply and get the card first, then use this link to add additional users. It will allow you to earn 1,000 additional Starpoints when you add an Additional Cardmember to your account and they spend $150 in the first 3 months (up to 2 additional cardmembers).

Note #3: For a limited time, Amex is also running a referral program for this same 30k offer. If you know someone who already has an SPG card, you can ask them if they received a referral offer. If they did, they can send you a link for this 30k offer and if you sign up under their link, they will receive 5k Starpoints as well.

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Starwood Amex: 30,000 Points Bonus is Back

You’ll also earn 2 points per $1 spent on all Southwest purchases and 1 point per $1 spent everywhere else.

Redeem your Points towards Flights, Gift Certificates or other Travel
Points can be redeemed towards any flight, but your redemption rate will vary depending upon the fare type. 120 points are good for $1 towards Business Select fares, 100 points can be redeemed for $1 towards Anytime fares and it takes only 60 points to redeem for $1 towards a Wanna Get Away fare. This means your 50,000 point signup bonus could be applied towards $833 of Wanna Get Aware fares, $500 of Anytime fares or $416 of Business Select fares.

Alternatively, your points can be applied towards gift cards and other travel rewards at a value of roughly a penny per point.

Earn Elite Status Faster
In addition, the card can help you earn elite status. You’ll earn 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) for each $10,000 of net purchases on the card, with a maximum of 15,000 TQPs earned from credit card spend per year. 35,000 TQP/year earns you A-List status (with perks like priority boarding and a 25% earning bonus), 70,000 TQP/year will earn you A-List Preferred (with benefits such as priority boarding, a 100% earning bonus and free inflight wifi), while earning 110,000 TQP in a year will earn you a free companion pass, enabling you to designate one person of your choice to fly free when traveling with you, anytime for the entire year.

For more details or to apply for the card, see the link below.

Note: This offer expired August 8, 2011.
To see the current Southwest credit card deal, please see this link.

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Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card – 50,000 Bonus Points, Enough for 2 Free Flights

The card also has an intro 0% APR on both purchases and balance transfers for the first 6 months, although balance transfers are assessed a hefty 5% fee, with a $15 min and no cap. There is, however, no annual fee.

Ink Cash Business application

Another Ink business credit card offering a $250 bonus is the Ink Bold with Ultimate Rewards. The Ink Bold is a pay-in-full card with no interest expense and up to 30 days to pay.

Under the Ink Bold offer, you’ll earn 25,000 bonus points after your first purchase (worth $250 in cash, or more if redeemed for travel). In addition, you can earn over 45,000 additional bonus points every year for meeting specified spending thresholds. For instance, once you spend at least $25,000, you’ll receive 7,500 bonus points. Upon reaching $50,000 in net purchases, you’ll earn another 15,000 bonus points. And finally, upon exceeding $100,000 in net purchases, you’ll receive an additional 25,000 bonus points. What this means is that if you spend exactly $100,000 in a year, your effective cash back would be 1.475%. If redeemed for travel through Ultimate Rewards, your points will be worth 25% more.

The annual fee of $95 is waived for the first year under this offer.

Ink Bold with Ultimate Rewards application

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Ink Business Credit Cards from Chase: $250 Signup Bonus

As is standard for the Venture Rewards card, you’ll earn 2% back on all purchases that can only be redeemed towards travel. If you choose to instead redeem your miles for cash, they’ll instead be redeemed at a 1% reward rate. Another nice feature of the card is that, like all Cap One cards, there are no foreign transaction fees.

The card does carry a $59 annual fee, but it’s waived for the first year.

For more info, or to apply, see capitaloneventure.com.

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Capital One Venture Rewards Card: 25,000 Bonus Miles

If you’ve taken advantage of the current 50,000 bonus point offer (which is quite generous as it is), it appears that Chase may be willing to basically match the targeted offer. A poster on SD reports:

I applied chase preferred sapphire card a few days ago with 50k bonus points after spending 3000$ in three months. Now I hear there is a better target promotion that is Earn 100,000 bonus points when you spend $500 within the first 3 months. I sent a secure message and asked them to match this offer, and they kindly offer me extra 50K points. Now the 50k points are shown in my account and I can earn extra 50k bonus points after spending 3000$ in three months. Hope you can get it as well!

If you applied recently, it certainly seems worth contacting Chase to see if the offer can be matched.

Edit 6/19: It seems many SD users who applied for the card recently are reporting success getting an additional 50k bonus points. The key appears to be logging into your Chase account and sending a secure message online to ask for the additional points, rather than calling and talking to a rep. Good luck!

Edit 6/22: Based on multiple reports, it appears that this deal is now dead. As of yesterday, people asking for the 100k deal to be matched were being turned down. The 50k point offer, however, is a very good deal, available to everyone and still alive.

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Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: 100,000 Bonus Points?

As is standard for the card, it carries no annual fee and you’ll earn 5% in categories that rotate quarterly. For instance, from July 1 through September 30, 2011, you’ll earn 5% on up to $1,500 in spending on gas, hotel and airline purchases. All other purchases earn 1% cash back.

Link

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Chase Freedom Visa: $200 Signup Bonus is Back

However, the Preferred card is bare bones in features compared to the Premier card. The Premier card offers the following benefits that the Preferred does not:

• 1.2 points per dollar at supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations
• 1 Flight point per mile flown that must be matched by spending
• No foreign transaction fees

The Premier card, of course, is also currently offering twice as large a signup bonus. Whether these perks are worth $125/year is up to you. To apply for either, see the links below:

• Citi ThankYou Preferred Card: $250 in gift cards, no annual fee
• Citi ThankYou Premier Card: $665 in airfare, $125 annual fee

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Citi ThankYou Preferred Card: $250 in Gift Cards

• Citi ThankYou Preferred Rewards Card
• Citi ThankYou Premier Rewards Card

You’ll also earn 1.2 points per $1 when you use the card at gas stations, supermarkets, drugstores, and at commuter transportation and parking merchants. Everywhere else, you’ll earn 1 point per $1 spent.

In addition, some of the card’s other benefits include:

• No foreign exchange fees
• Earn points for the miles you fly when you purchase a ticket with your Citi ThankYou Premier Card.
• Earn an anniversary bonus based on the number of points earned from purchases every year. The longer you remain a cardholder, the larger your bonus percentage will be.
• Receive a complimentary domestic companion ticket each year

The Premier Card does carry a $125 annual fee which is not waived for the first year under this offer. The annual fee is permanently waived, however, if you are a CitiGold customer. For this reason alone, the current Chase Sapphire deal is the better value at this time for non-CitiGold customers if you were only going to apply for a single card. Nevertheless, this 50,000 bonus ThankYou points promo is still an attractive option.

Note 8/15: This promo has now expired. For the latest Citi ThankYou deals, see the following links:

• Citi ThankYou Preferred Rewards Card
• Citi ThankYou Premier Rewards Card

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Citi ThankYou Premier Card: 50,000 Bonus Points Worth $665 in Airfare

Redeeming Your Chase Sapphire Points
With Chase Sapphire points, you have a number of redemption options. You can convert your Chase Sapphire points into BA miles, Continental miles or Hyatt miles at a 1:1 ratio at any time you want. Point transfers are also possible to Amtrak, Priority Club and Marriott at lower conversion ratios.

If you convert your 50,000 points to one of these programs, what does that get you?

• With 50,000 BA miles, for instance, you can get 2 tickets within the continental United States and Canada on American Airlines.
• 50,000 Continental miles are also enough for 2 tickets on Air Canada, Continental, United or US Airways.
• 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points, on the other hand, can be redeemed for between 2-10 free hotel nights with no blackout dates, depending on hotel category and room type.

Alternatively, if you use Chase’s online travel portal, you can redeem your 50,000 points towards $625 worth of airfare or hotel accommodations.

For those who aren’t into travel or prefer cold hard cash, you can also redeem the 50,000 points for a $500 gift card or a $500 statement credit.

The annual fee of $95 is waived for the first year. You can also downgrade to the standard version of the card after a year, which does not carry an annual fee.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card also earns double the number of points per dollar spent on travel (including air, hotel, car rental, trains, travel agencies, taxis, etc.) and on dining purchases (from fast food and coffee shops to fine dining).

In addition, there are no foreign exchange fees when you use the card overseas and you’ll earn a 7% annual points dividend on any points you earned during the year, so you actually earn 1.07 points per dollar spent on regular purchases and 2.14 per dollar spent on travel and dining, making it a particularly excellent choice for the international traveler.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Application Link

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Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: 50,000 Bonus Points

Note: According to SD, this offer appears to be targeted to Columbia 2011 and 2012 MBA students, so YMMV on receiving your bonus points.

Link

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Premier Rewards Gold Card from Amex: 50,000 Bonus Points + No Annual Fee for 2 Years

Through May 31, 2011, when you apply for a Miles & More Premier World MasterCard, you can earn up to 50,000 bonus miles — enough for a round-trip transatlantic ticket from the US. You’ll receive 20,000 bonus miles after your first purchase and an additional 30,000 bonus miles after spending $2,500 within 90 days of opening your account.

In addition, benefits of the card include:

• Earn 2 points per $1 spent on ticket purchases directly from Miles & More partners
• Earn 1 point per $1 spent on other purchases
• Annual companion ticket
• A low 1% fee on transactions made in foreign currencies

There is a $79 annual fee for the premier card, which is waived for Senator and HON Circle members.

Link

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Lufthansa Miles & More Credit Card: Up to 50,000 Bonus Miles