Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses 25% More Generous This Year

NEW YORK, Feb. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Credit card sign-up bonuses are 25% more generous this year, according to ThePointsGuy.com, the leading rewards website which helps millions of consumers maximize their points and miles.

A single sign-up bonus can provide enough miles for a first-class airline ticket anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, only 42% of credit cardholders are accumulating travel rewards points or airline miles, according to a survey commissioned by ThePointsGuy.com and conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Millennials are the least likely to earn travel rewards (just one in three are doing so).

Some of the best offers available right now are:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred: 40,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. Two points per dollar spent on all dining and travel. No foreign transaction fees, annual fee waived the first year. 11 transfer partners including major airlines and hotel chains.
• Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard: 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days. Two miles per dollar spent on all purchases, a 10% bonus on miles redeemed for travel, annual fee waived the first year. No foreign transaction fees. Can redeem with any airline.
• Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard: 50,000 American Airlines miles after spending $3,000 in the first three months. Admirals Club membership privileges, a free checked bag on every flight and no foreign transaction fees.

So far this year, the Platinum Card from American Express has offered 100,000 points to select new cardholders who spent $3,000 within the first three months.

Other common mistakes:

• A whopping 79% of travel credit cardholders have never transferred their valuable credit card rewards points into an airline or hotel loyalty program.
• One-third of credit cardholders don't know if their card charges foreign transaction fees (this could cost them around 3% per purchase abroad).

Why should people care?

Imagine flying to an exotic destination for free while relaxing in a first-class cabin equipped with your own private shower and endless access to champagne, caviar and other delicacies. It sounds too good to be true, but that's a typical day for Brian Kelly, the founder of ThePointsGuy.com. The former Wall Street recruiter has unlocked the secrets of frequent flyer and credit card rewards programs and now advises over 1.5 million readers each month.

"Travel rewards are the best because savvy travelers can easily get three, four or five cents of value per point/mile," said Kelly. "That's far greater than the typical one cent per point offered by cash-back credit cards. And don't get me started on the people who waste their points redeeming for magazines!"

For more information go to www.ThePointsGuy.com

PSRAI obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults living in the continental United States. Telephone interviews were conducted by landline (501) and cell phone (502, including 300 without a landline phone). Interviews were done in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source from February 5-8, 2015. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

About Brian Kelly and ThePointsGuy.com:

Brian Kelly is "The Points Guy." He shares his rewards program knowledge with eager consumers across the globe via his website, ThePointsGuy.com.

Passionate about travel and adventure since his childhood, Brian's worldwide jetsetting earned him elite status with US Airways by his sophomore year in college. He later became a recruiter for a major investment bank; his extensive travel schedule enabled him to master the ins and outs of frequent flyer miles and credit card rewards programs. Due to the massive amount of interest in his advice, Brian left his job on Wall Street in June 2011 to work full-time as a travel blogger and consultant. Through his earning strategies and travel savvy, ThePointsGuy.com now has grown to over 1.5 million unique monthly visitors, with a growing staff of 10 editors and writers keeping their readers up to date on important points and travel news.

For More Information:

Caroline Farhat
Senior Publicist
[email protected]
917-368-8638

SOURCE ThePointsGuy.com

Related Links

http://www.ThePointsGuy.com