Best Credit Card Deals For New Cardholders?

Below is a list of the best sign up bonus and 0% APR Deals in the market today.

50,000 Bonus Points Deal

At present Chase is the most aggressive issuer with regards to bonus points. Here are some of their deals.

The card with the best bonus point deal at the moment is the Chase Sapphire(SM) Preferred Card. As long as you spend $3,000 within the first three months, you will get 50,000 bonus points. For most credit card reward programs, 50,000 points has a $500 value (1%). The unique feature about this card is that you can transfer points into frequent flyer and frequent guest points. That is where you can get more than $500 in value. For example, with this card, you can transfer points into Continental and British Airways miles. 50,000 miles for Continental or United (since they have merged) is more than enough for a flight to Hawaii or Mexico (where tickets tend to cost over $700). If you already have more than 10,000 miles in your OnePass account, then the additional 50,000 miles gets you a trip to South America and Europe. You can also transfer points to Amtrak, Marriott, Hyatt and Priority Club. And 50,000 points gets you a few free nights at these hotel chains. This card also has no foreign transaction fee! And the $95 first year fee is also waived!

The Citi ThankYou(SM) Premier Rewards Card - $665 in airfare is offering new cardholders 50,000 points after spending $2,000 within three months. This card will suit folks who fly a lot because you can earn points from the miles you fly as well. If you book your airline tickets with Spirit Travel, which is Citi's partner, you get 15% discount. Cardholders also get an annual domestic companion ticket. If you travel and use your card abroad, there is also no foreign transaction transaction fee. Because you get 25% more in value when you use your points to book an airline ticket, 50,000 points gets you $665 worth in airline ticket value.

25,000 Bonus Points Deal

The Chase Sapphire(SM) is the no annual fee version of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Unlike the Preferred version, you cannot transfer points to frequent flyer and guest programs. But you can use your points to book flights on Chase's travel portal or book your travel yourself with anyone and then use your points for them. New cardholders get a 25,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 within three months.

The Citi ThankYou(SM) Preferred Rewards Card - $250 in Gift Cards is Citi's no annual fee credit card and they are now offering a 26,000 sign up bonus when you spend $1000 within the first three months.

The Ink Bold(SM) with Ultimate Rewards from chase is Chase's business charge card that essentially has the same reward program as their sapphire card (the Ultimate Rewards). Businesses who use this card stand to gain lots of extra bonus points when they meet certain spending tiers (check our review). Presently, new cardholders will get 25,000 bonus points after their first purchase.

$150 to $200 Cash Back Bonus Deal

Cash back credit cards are also jumping into the sign up bonus game by offering cash back bonuses. Below are cards that are offering great bonuses at the moment.

The Discover® Open Road Card - $150 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate is now offering a $150 Restaurant.com gift certificate after your first purchase. This is one of the rare cards that still allows you to earn gas rebates (2%) all year round. But in addition to this, they are allowing new cardholders to earn 5% rebates on various expenses (including gas) till September.

The Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® MasterCard® - Limited Time Offer is now offering new cardholders $150 in cash back bonus once you spend $500 within the first three months. For the summer (ie 1st July till end of September), you can earn 5% cash back on airlines, hotels and car rentals. This may be a good time to pick up this card to save money on your summer vacation travels.

The Chase Freedom® Visa - $200 Bonus Cash Back is pretty similar to the Citi Dividend Card. And right now, they are also offering $150 cash back bonus when you spend $1500 within the first six months of membership. From July till September, you can earn 5% rebates on gasoline, hotels and airlines. So once again, this might be a good time to get this card for some summer vacation savings.

0% APR Deals

This is such a common strategy with every credit card these days. At present, Citibank is the most aggressive card issuing following this strategy, followed in a distant second by Discover. Below are cards you might want to consider if you are looking to transfer a balance and take advantage of 0% APR deals on balance transfers.

The Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® offers 0% Intro APR deal on balance transfers for 21 months and and 0% Intro APR* on purchases for 21 months. This is the card with the longest balance transfer introductory period in the market today.

Discover is offering the Discover® More Card - Limited Time Offer, which has a 0% Intro APR on balance transfer for 18 months and purchases for 6 months. This card has identical cash back rewards with their regular Discover More Card (but with a different orange design). Though the introductory period is shorter than Citi, this is a card you will probably keep after the intro period is up because of it's great cash back features.