- Tips for Taking Advantage of Credit Card Promos
- Best credit cards promotions compared
- Best Credit Card company promotions
- Methodology
- Sources
- About the author
- User questions & answers
Tips for Taking Advantage of Credit Card Promos
You might assume that credit card promotions provide nothing but upside. And that’s true for the most part. But you can get yourself into trouble if you aren’t careful. Hopefully, the following tips will help you avoid the pitfalls and get as much out of your credit cards as possible.
- Check Your Credit Score: Most of the very best credit card promotions require good or excellent credit for approval. You can check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub.
- Watch Out for Retailer Financing Promotions: Retailers that offer 0% financing on their store credit cards typically use something called deferred interest. It means if you slip up, interest will apply at a high rate. And it will apply retroactively, to your original purchase amount, too. So it will be like the 0% teaser rate never existed. That could happen if you pay your bill late one month or don’t repay your full balance by the end of the 0% intro term.
- Don’t Apply Too Often: You might be tempted to apply for every new credit card promotion that catches your eye. But don’t go overboard. Your credit score may take a temporary hit when you apply for a credit card, and the more applications you submit in a short period of time, the worse the damage is.
- Sign Up for Personalized Recommendations: WalletHub can tell you which credit card offers are likely to save you the most money, based on your credit report data and information you provide when setting up your free account.
Best Credit Card Promotions Compared
Credit Card | Best For | Promotion | Annual Fee |
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card | Winner | 60,000 points | $95 |
Chase Freedom Unlimited® | Good Credit | Extra 1.5% cash back on everything you buy, up to $20,000 spent in the first year | $0 |
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (see Rates & Fees) | Travel Rewards | 75,000 miles for spending $4,000 in the first 3 months | $95 |
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express | Cash Back | $250 statement credit for spending $3,000 in the first 6 months | $0 intro 1st yr, $95 after |
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card | Business | 100,000 points | $95 |
Chase Sapphire Reserve® | Excellent Credit | 60,000 points | $550 |
Best Credit Card Company Promotions
- Double Rewards the First Year: All Discover credit cards currently double the rewards you’ve earned after the first year your account is open.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees: Capital One, Discover and USAA don’t charge foreign transaction fees on any of their credit cards.
- Round-up Rewards: Citibank gives a special treat to people who get its Citi Rewards+® Card: The points you earn on every purchase are rounded up to the next multiple of 10. If you earn 91 points on a purchase, for example, you get 100. If you earn 12, you get 20. This feature scores cardholders around 30% more points, according to WalletHub’s calculations.
- No Credit Check: OpenSky, Applied Bank and Green Dot don’t do a credit check on applicants for their secured cards.
- Special 4% Military APR: USAA takes Servicemember Civil Relief Act benefits a step further, giving cardholders who owe a balance when they begin active-duty military service a 4% APR until that balance is paid off. Military personnel also get a 4% rate on all balances for up to 12 months during deployment or Permanent Change of Station (PCS).
Best Credit Card Promotions Methodology
WalletHub’s editors track 1,500+ credit card offers and compare them using our proprietary WalletHub Rating. We consider cards for this Best Credit Card Promotions page when they offer stand-out terms in a popular category, particularly when those uniquely valuable terms are available only for a limited-time. For example, many of the best credit card promotions involve a special introductory offer, such as an initial rewards bonus or a 0% intro APR, which is not part of the card’s core offer and thus not always available.
Given that credit card promotions come in many forms, WalletHub’s editors select a mix of rewards and low interest offers for people of different credit levels.
Sources
WalletHub actively maintains a database of 1,500+ credit card offers, from which we select the best credit card promotions for different applicants as well as derive market-wide takeaways and trends. The underlying data is compiled from credit card company websites or provided directly by the credit card issuers. We also leverage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop cardholder profiles, used to estimate cards’ potential savings.