Credit card welcome offers are the fastest way to earn a ton of points with relatively little spending. I never worry about running out of cards because there are always new offers to be found. Here are the current best ones.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is my go-to card and my top recommendation for anyone who does not already have it. The welcome offer is for 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in your first 3 months from account opening.
These points are easy to earn and easy to use. Plus, Chase has great transfer partners (Hyatt is my favorite), and there are so many options for using your points.
Read more about why everyone should have one.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is an excellent card with premium benefits like a $300 travel credit, unlimited airport lounge access, a 10,000-mile anniversary bonus, no foreign fees, and more. The welcome offer is for 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 in the first three months. This is a pretty standard amount for a rewards card and is actually low compared to other premium cards. There is a $395 annual fee, which is fully covered by all of the great benefits. You can read more about the card here.
If you’re unfamiliar with Capital One Miles, you can check out this post which goes over everything you need to know about these flexible miles.
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is the little sister to the Venture X. It’s a great option if you don’t want to pay a higher annual fee (although I truly think the Venture X fee is worth it!). Like the Venture X, the Venture’s welcome offer is for 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 in the first three months.
Learn more about the card here.
Related: Compare the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Venture X
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card
This little-talked-about card earns flexible ThankYou® Points, which can be used with a variety of airline and hotel partners. For a limited time, earn 75,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
We each opened this card a few years ago and used the points to book a Choice Hotels property in Rome because points transfer at a 1:2 ratio from Citi to Choice Hotels. Choice gets a bad rap in the States, but there are some great properties throughout Europe!
For that trip, we also took advantage of the card’s annual $100 off a $500 hotel booking benefit when booking through the Citi Travel℠ Portal and booked a short-term rental in Venice.
Related: Best Travel Cards
Hyatt
It’s no secret that Hyatt is my favorite hotel brand. Chase cards make it so easy to earn a ton of points that can be transferred to Hyatt to get incredible value for your hotel stays.
There are two Hyatt cards that currently have elevated offers. I’ll be honest, these offers aren’t amazing. Only slightly better than the standard offer. However, it’s better than nothing!
The World of Hyatt Credit Card earns 35,000 points after you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months, plus up to 30,000 more points by earning two points per dollar in the first six months from account opening, up to $15,000 spent.
The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card earns 60,000 points after you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months, plus earn a Category 1-4 Free Night Award when you spend $15,000 in the first six months of account opening.
Related: Best Hotel Cards
Chase Ink Business Cards
The Ink Business suite of cards are some of my top recommended cards. Don’t let the fact that they’re business cards scare you off. They’re easier than you think! These cards are a great way to stock up on a mountain of Chase points. Furthermore, they don’t count against your 5/24 number since they are business cards. Plus, two of them have no annual fee. They’re no-brainers!
Learn more about all of the Ink Business cards here.
Related: Best Business Cards
Capital One Spark Cash Plus
This card has a huge spending requirement of $30,000 in the first three months of account opening. However, if you can meet that, you will earn the giant welcome offer of $2,000 cash back. Not only that, but if you have a card that earns Capital One Miles, you can combine the cash back onto your miles-earning card and turn it into 200,000 flexible miles instead!
The card earns an easy 2X on all purchases, so after meeting the spending requirement and earning the welcome offer, you’ll have a whopping 260,000 miles!! Bananas. It is a business card, but unlike other Capital One business cards, it does not count against Chase’s 5/24 rule.
Learn more about the card here.
Cards for the Southwest Companion Pass
It’s Companion Pass season, meaning it’s the best time to work toward earning a Southwest Companion Pass for 2025-2026.
You can get the pass by earning 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in one calendar year. Once earned, you have the pass for the rest of the year in which you earn it plus all of the following year. So the goal is to earn it as early in the year as possible.
Check out this deep dive post to learn more.
Here are the cards that help toward a Southwest Companion Pass:
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card*
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
- Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
- Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
Related: Best Airline Cards
*All information about Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card has been collected independently by The Traveling Hansens. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
If you’re looking for different card options not listed here, check out my best offers page below.
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Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.