Shopping cashback portal Rakuten is offering an additional bonus on select Bank of America credit cards. The values may fluctuate as with all their payout rates, but currently I am seeing the following:

• $250 cash back on the BofA Travel Rewards credit card.
• $150 cash back on the BofA Customized Card Rewards credit card.

This is on top of the existing sign-up bonus for each card, so it should be worth clicking through Rakuten before applying. I usually don’t experience 100% perfect tracking from shopping portals in general, but Rakuten has been pretty reliable for me. If you don’t have an account yet, you can open a new Rakuten account through my referral link for an extra $50 bonus after you spend your first $50 through the portal.

Historically, these are two of my favorite BofA rewards credit cards. They have no annual fee, but really work best on an ongoing basis if you can move over stocks/ETFs to Merrill Edge brokerage and hit the highest tiers on their Preferred Rewards program. Unfortunately, BofA recently raised the balance requirements. If you are an existing Preferred Rewards member, you may have an extra year before the change takes effect, depending on your anniversary month.

Still, even without the Preferred Rewards, the first-year value for both cards will get you in the $500 range when you add both bonuses together. Keep in mind that you can buy Costco gift cards after picking the “Online Shopping” category of the Customized Cash card (which can earn 6% cash back during first year, up to $2,500 per quarter).

New limited-time 200k offer. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express is the premium co-branded rewards card for Marriott hotels. This card has a hefty annual fee, but a closer look reveals it’s not as bad as it looks initially due to perks like flexible dining credits, airport lounge access, and elite status. Right now, there is a limited-time offer boost that is double the standard bonus. Here are the highlights:

• 200,000 Marriott Bonvoy(R) bonus points after you use your new Card to make $6,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 05/13/2026.
• $300 Brilliant Dining Credit: Each calendar year, get up to $300 (up to $25 per month) in statement credits for eligible purchases made on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant(R) American Express(R) Card at restaurants worldwide.
• Automatic Marriott Bonvoy(R) Platinum Elite Status.. With Marriott Bonvoy(R) Platinum Elite Status, you can receive room upgrades, including enhanced views or suites, when the stay is booked with a Qualifying Rate at hotels that participate in Marriott Bonvoy, subject to availability upon check-in.
• Priority Pass(TM) Select airport lounge membership, with an unlimited number of visits to over 1,200 airport lounges in over 130 countries, regardless of which carrier or class you are flying. This allows you to relax before or between flights. You can enjoy snacks, drinks and internet access in a quiet, comfortable location. Enrollment required.
• 6X Marriott Bonvoy(R) points for each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy.
• 3X points at restaurants worldwide and on flights booked directly with airlines.
• 2X points on all other eligible purchases.
• Up to 21X Marriott Bonvoy(R) points for every $1 spent on eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy. Earn 6X points with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant(R) American Express(R) Card. Earn up to 10X points from Marriott Bonvoy for being a Marriott Bonvoy member. Earn up to 5X points from Marriott Bonvoy with the 50% Bonus Points on Stays, a benefit available with your complimentary Platinum Elite status.
• $100 Marriott Bonvoy(R) Property Credit: Receive up to a $100 property credit for qualifying charges at The Ritz-Carlton(R) or St. Regis(R) when you book direct using a special rate for a two-night minimum stay using your Card.
• Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Receive either a statement credit every 4 years after you apply for Global Entry ($120) or a statement credit every 4.5 years after you apply for a five-year membership for TSA PreCheck® (up to $85 through a TSA PreCheck official enrollment provider) and pay the application fee with your Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card. If approved for Global Entry, at no additional charge, you will receive access to TSA PreCheck.
• 1 Free Night Award every year after your Card renewal month. Award can be used for one night (redemption level at or under 85,000 Marriott Bonvoy(R) points) at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy(R), such as Le Metropolitan, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel in Paris. Certain hotels have resort fees.
• Each calendar year after spending $60,000 on eligible purchases on your Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant(R) American Express(R) Card, you will be eligible to select a Brilliant Earned Choice Award benefit. You can only earn one Brilliant Earned Choice Award per calendar year. See https://www.choice-benefit.marriott.com/brilliant for Award options.
• With Cell Phone Protection*, you can be reimbursed, the lesser of, your repair or replacement costs following damage, such as a cracked screen, or theft for a maximum of $800 per claim when your cell phone line is listed on a wireless bill and the prior month’s wireless bill was paid by an Eligible Card Account. A $50 deductible will apply to each approved claim with a limit of 2 approved claims per 12-month period. Additional terms and conditions apply. *Coverage is provided by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.
• 25 Elite Night Credits each calendar year.
• No Foreign Transaction Fees.
• $650 Annual Fee.

Keep in mind the following:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card or previous versions of these Cards. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.

Welcome offer not available to applicants who (i) have or have had The Ritz-Carlton® Credit Card from JPMorgan or the J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card in the last 30 days, (ii) have acquired the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card from Chase in the last 90 days, or (iii) received a new Card Member bonus or upgrade offer for the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card from Chase in the last 24 months.

This is why you should be looking to get the best possible bonus when you do apply.

$300 Dining Statement Credit. As long as you make $25 in restaurant purchases on this card each month, they $300 in annual dining statement credits should be easily obtainable. This knocks down the scary $650 annual fee down to effectively $350 net. My first read of this perk was that you had to spend it at a Marriott hotel restaurant, but in fact you can make the purchase at any restaurant worldwide.

You can receive up to $300 in statement credits issued to your Card Account for eligible purchases charged to your Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card at restaurants worldwide. Purchases by both the Basic Card Member and Additional Card Members on an eligible Card Account are eligible for statement credits. Each Card Account is eligible for up to $25 in statement credits per month, for a total of up to $300 per calendar year in statement credits across all Cards on the Account.

Priority Pass Select. Includes access at over 1,200 airport lounges for the cardholder plus two guests free. Enrollment required. I’m not sure how I’d value this perk, but I’ve definitely enjoyed it in the past.

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card Members must enroll in the Priority Pass Select program through the benefits section of their americanexpress.com account or by calling the number on the back of their Card to receive the benefit. Priority Pass is an independent airport lounge access program. At any visit to a Priority Pass Select lounge that admits guests, you may bring in two guests for no charge.

What is a reasonable estimate for the value of a Marriott Bonvoy point? Since 2022, Marriott no longer has a fixed hotel category chart for booking points. You can still use these points at either long-time Marriott brands (Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Springhill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites) or former Starwood brands (Westin, Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Four Points by Sheraton, W Hotels, St. Regis, Le Méridien, Aloft), but now it is “dynamic” awards where the points required are more linked to the actual cash cost than before.

Based on multiple real-world searches of redeemable properties, I choose to use a conservative estimate of 0.70 cents per Bonvoy point. Other estimates that I’ve seen are 0.8 cents per point. That means 200,000 Bonvoy points = estimated $1,400 redeemable value. Remember to compare the full price of the hotel price with all taxes, as that is what you would have to pay instead of just points. With the flexibility of points, you could book a week stay at a modest hotel or a couple nights at a luxury resort.

You can use the Marriott free night search tool to price out some sample hotels for yourself.

Free Night Award (85K) with Card Renewal. At your card anniversary (when you pay the annual fee), you will receive a Free Night Award that is good for one night (redemption level at or under 85,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) at a participating hotel. This is a much better perk than the other 35K and 50K free night awards out there. It’s definitely not hard to get $350 of value out of this award. Here are some sample hotels that I have tried to book in the past that came in at or under 85,000 points for selected dates:

• The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Hawaii
• JW Marriott Maldives Resort & Spa
• Prince de Galles, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Paris
• The St. Regis Deer Valley
• The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, Washington, DC
• The Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch, Colorado.
• The Ritz-Carlton, Koh Samui (Thailand)
• The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (Big Island, Hawaii)
• The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
• Wailea Beach Resort – Marriott, Maui

NEW: Certificates can be combined with up to 25,000 points for nicer hotels. Marriott now allows you to supplement your free night certificates with up to 25,000 points of your own. In other words, if your certificate is worth 85,000 points, the maximum hotel value you can redeem for is 110,000 points after adding 25,000 points of your own. Here are details on the Free Night Award Top Off option.

Bonvoy Points can also be transferred to airline miles with a bonus. You can convert your Bonvoy points to miles at 39 participating airlines. The standard ratio with most programs is 3:1 (60,000 Bonvoy: 20,000 airlines) miles. Most programs will add on a bonus 5,000 miles for every 60,000 points you transfer to frequent flyer miles (does not apply to American Airlines AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles, Delta SkyMiles and Korean Air SKYPASS.) If you’re a United MileagePlus® member, you’ll get 10,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer. More information here.

Finally, Marriott points are also convertible to gift cards, but it takes 60,000 points to redeem for a $200 gift card for Marriott or retailers like Best Buy, Home Depot, or Nordstrom. That ratio isn’t all that great, so you’ll definitely get the most value via hotel night redemptions or airline miles transfer.

Bottom line. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express has a long list of perks, including a flexible dining credit on restaurant purchases, airport lounge access, and a valuable free night award each card anniversary. During this limited-time offer, the net first-year value is over $1,000. I would value the points at $1,400 plus the $300 in annual dining credit, minus the $650 annual fee. As with all hotel cards, the value will only be there if you can use the points.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

New limited-time 175k offer. The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express is the mid-tier co-branded rewards card for Marriott hotels. Right now, there is a limited-time offer boost, making it worth a look. Here are the highlights:

• 175,000 Marriott Bonvoy(R) bonus points after you use your new Card to make $5,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 05/13/2026.
• Free Night Award (50k). Earn 1 Free Night Award after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases on your Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card in a calendar year. Award can be used for one night (redemption level at or under 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy® points) at a participating hotel. You can top-up the Free Night Award with up to 25,000 of your own points, getting you up to a 75,000 points award night.
• 1,000 Bonus Points Per Stay. Earn 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy® bonus points per paid eligible stay booked directly with Marriott for properties participating in Marriott Bonvoy.
• Automatic Marriott Bonvoy(R) Gold Elite Status.
• 6X Bonvoy points for each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy.
• 4X Bonvoy points at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S., and U.S. Supermarkets (on up to $15,000 in combined purchases at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets per calendar year, then 2X points).
• 2X points on all other eligible purchases.
• 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year.
• $250 Annual Fee.

Keep in mind the following:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card or previous versions of these Cards. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.

Welcome offer not available to applicants who (i) have or have had The Ritz-Carlton® Credit Card from J.P. Morgan, the J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card, the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy® Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy® Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy® Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Business® Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Rewards Business® Credit Card from Chase in the last 30 days, (ii) have acquired the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card from Chase in the last 90 days, or (iii) received a new Card Member bonus or upgrade offer for the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card from Chase in the last 24 months.

This is why you should be looking to get the best possible bonus when you do apply.

What is a reasonable estimate for the value of a Marriott Bonvoy point? Since 2022, Marriott no longer has a fixed hotel category chart for booking points. You can still use these points at either long-time Marriott brands (Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Springhill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites) or former Starwood brands (Westin, Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Four Points by Sheraton, W Hotels, St. Regis, Le Méridien, Aloft), but now it is “dynamic” awards where the points required are more linked to the actual cash cost than before.

Based on multiple real-world searches of redeemable properties, I choose to use a conservative estimate of 0.70 cents per Bonvoy point. Other estimates that I’ve seen are 0.8 cents per point. That means 175,000 Bonvoy points = estimated $1,200 redeemable value. Remember to compare the full price of the hotel price with all taxes, as that is what you would have to pay instead of just points. With the flexibility of points, you could book a week stay at a modest hotel or a couple nights at a luxury resort.

You can use the Marriott free night search tool to price out some sample hotels for yourself.

NEW: Certificates can be combined with up to 25,000 points for nicer hotels. Marriott now allows you to supplement your free night certificates with up to 25,000 points of your own. In other words, if your certificate is worth 50,000 points, the maximum hotel value you can redeem for is 75,000 points after adding 25,000 points of your own. Here are details on the Free Night Award Top Off option.

Bonvoy Points can also be transferred to airline miles with a bonus. You can convert your Bonvoy points to miles at 39 participating airlines. The standard ratio with most programs is 3:1 (60,000 Bonvoy: 20,000 airlines) miles. Most programs will add on a bonus 5,000 miles for every 60,000 points you transfer to frequent flyer miles (does not apply to American Airlines AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles, Delta SkyMiles and Korean Air SKYPASS.) If you’re a United MileagePlus® member, you’ll get 10,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer. More information here.

Finally, Marriott points are also convertible to gift cards, but it takes 60,000 points to redeem for a $200 gift card for Marriott or retailers like Best Buy, Home Depot, or Nordstrom. That ratio isn’t all that great, so you’ll definitely get the most value via hotel night redemptions or airline miles transfer.

Bottom line. The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express is having a limited-time offers, such that the first-year value is over $900, assuming that you are looking to redeem Bonvoy points at a Marriott hotel.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

Bilt recently revamped their credit cards, leaving Wells Fargo and switching to Cardless. The good news is that they now give rewards on mortgage payments in addition to rent. The bad news is that they require a lot of non-housing spend for you to “unlock” those rewards. Overall, the program is much more complicated than before, requiring you to carefully juggle housing and non-housing spending amounts on your card to make it barely possible to gain value above a simple 2% cash back card.

Importantly, separate from their original Bilt points, which are great and convert 1:1 to Hyatt points in addition to possible monthly transfer bonuses to other airline programs, they added a new thing confusingly called “Bilt Cash” which is nothing like cash at all.

I decided to convert to the new no-annual-fee Bilt “Blue” credit card as they offered me a “$100 sign-up bonus”, but this bonus turned out to be in Bilt Cash, which I haven’t been able to redeem for anything of value to me.

On March 1st only, Bilt is offering a Rent Day transfer bonus of between 25% to 100% to Japan Airlines. If you pay them $135 in Bilt Cash, they will let you bump up to an increased bonus percentage. So if you are on the base tier like me and only get a 25% transfer bonus to JAL, I could pay them $135 in Bilt Cash and make it a 50% transfer bonus. Possibly a good use of Bilt Cash and a way to use up your points, but again only on March 1st.

I wish I could explain the new program here simply, but I can’t. Personally, I have gone ahead and converted nearly all of my Bilt points to Hyatt, and will wait and see if things get better.

Limited-time 75k offer with $1,000 spending hurdle. The JetBlue Plus Mastercard is a rewards credit card that earns TrueBlue points for purchases and includes special perks for JetBlue customers. Right now, there is an increased offer above the common prior 50k and 60k offer levels, this time with a low spending requirement but without a first-year annual fee waiver. This is a limited-time inflight offer, where you can enter a 5-digit promo code to credit the flight crew. I have read that the code is 6+Flight number (ex. Flight 214 is 60214), but it seems that any 5-digit code will work. I’ve used 00000 on a similar Barclaycard app and it still worked fine. Here are the highlights:

• 75,000 bonus TrueBlue points after spending $1,000 on purchases and paying the annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days.
• First checked bag is free for the primary cardmember and up to 3 companions when you use your JetBlue Plus Card on JetBlue-operated flights.
• 6X points on JetBlue purchases, 2 points per $1 at restaurants and grocery stores and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.
• No blackout dates on JetBlue-operated flights & redeem for any seat, any time on JetBlue flights. Points required for an Award Flight will vary based on the published base fare at the time of booking.
• Annual $100 statement credit after you purchase a JetBlue Vacations package of $100 or more.
• Points awarded in your TrueBlue account don’t expire.
• Earn and share points together with Family Pooling.
• 50% savings on eligible inflight purchases including cocktails, food and movies.
• Points Payback option allows you to redeem points for a statement credit – up to $1,000 per year.
• Get 10% of your points back every time you redeem to use toward your next redemption.
• 5,000 TrueBlue bonus points annually after your account anniversary.
• $99 annual fee.

First checked bags on JetBlue usually cost at least $35 each-way ($35 off-peak and $40 peak), per person (technically $35 if prepaid or $45 if paid at the airport). The free checked bag perk applies to you and up to 3 travel companions on the same reservation when (1) the ticket is purchased with your JetBlue Plus card, (2) the primary cardmember’s TrueBlue member number must be entered at the time of booking. That works out great for a family traveling together. If you buy higher fare classes, a certain number of complimentary bags may already be included.

How does redeeming TrueBlue points work? TrueBlue works on a “dynamic” revenue-based system, where the points required depends on the current cash cost of the flight (with no blackout dates). If they sell it for cash, you can book it with points. This is different than traditional chart-based systems that charge a fixed point balance but imposes blackout dates and limited seat availability.

TrueBlue points are best redeemed for JetBlue flights. There are some other options like newspaper or magazine subscriptions, but I won’t cover them here.

TrueBlue points can be estimated at 1 points = 1.3 cents. Ex. 30,000 points would cover roughly $390 in JetBlue airfare. The exact value may vary, but 1.3 cents is a conservative average of what I found across Blue and Blue Extra fares. You can test it out yourself by pricing out the same flight on JetBlue.com using points or cash (you don’t need to sign-in or have an account). Here is an example of a randomly-chosen flight between SFO and JFK. Below are both the cash price and points required.

That means the $333 net cost ($339-$6 in taxes) was offset by 23,000 points, or a value of 1.43 cents per TrueBlue point. 1.3 cents per TrueBlue point is a conservative average estimate.

Upon the renewal of your $99 annual fee, you get another 5,000 TrueBlue points ($65 of airfare value at 1.3 cents/point). If you can take advantage of the free checked bag perk, there is definitely ongoing value for regular JetBlue fliers. I haven’t investigated the $100 off a JetBlue Vacations package, but it could be worth a look.

Redemption for cash. As a minimum baseline value, you can redeem TrueBlue points for a flat statement credit. Details from the website are below, and so the value is roughly 0.75 cents per point (10,000 points = $75). Max redemption is $1,000 in statement credits per year. You can nearly always get more value redeeming for a JetBlue flight, but I know some people may just want to cash out.

JetBlue’s Points Payback program allows JetBlue Plus Card holders to redeem TrueBlue points for statement credits on their eligible JetBlue-affiliated credit card. The program starts at 3,333 points for a $25 statement credit, which is worth 75 cents per point. Card holders can redeem up to $1,000 annually in statement credits.

Bottom line. The JetBlue Plus card from Barclaycard offers several perks for regular JetBlue customers such as a free first checked bag for you and up to 3 companions. Right now, the sign-up bonus is slightly higher than usual. 75,000 points are worth roughly $975 in JetBlue airfare at Blue/Blue Extra levels, minus the $99 annual fee is still $875 in first-year value.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

There is also a JetBlue Business card that currently offers up to 60,000 bonus points. Also see: Top 10 Best Business Card Offers.

New limited-time offers. Delta Airlines American Express cards offer various special perks like free checked bags, priority boarding, and the ability to earn Delta SkyMiles with card purchases. As you can only get the welcome offers once per specific card name per person per lifetime (a Gold and Platinum card are considered different), I recommend waiting until a limited-time offer to maximize your benefit. I recommend the Gold card as the first sweet spot for many casual travelers, as it currently offers a $900 potential first-year value with no annual fee the first year, along with a free checked bag benefit. Details:

Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card

• Up to 90,000 Bonus Skymiles. 70,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 or more in purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership and an additional 20,000 bonus miles after you make an additional $2,000 in purchases within the first 6 months, starting from the date your account is opened. Offer Ends 4/1/2026.
• $200 Delta Flight Credit. Get a $200 Delta Flight credit to use toward future Delta travel after $10,000 in purchases on your card within a calendar year.
• $100 Delta Stays Credit. Get up to $100 back annually as a statement credit after using your Delta SkyMiles(R) Gold American Express Card to book prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays on delta.com.
• First checked bag free (worth $70 roundtrip, per person) on Delta flights. This perk is worth up to $280 per round trip for a family of four ($35 each way, per person).
• 15% off discount on Award Travel booked through delta.com and the Fly Delta app. Applies to Delta flights only, not applicable to partner-operated flights or taxes and fees.
• Zone 5 Priority Boarding.
• 2X miles at Delta purchases, at U.S. Supermarkets and at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S. Earn 1 miles per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
• Simplified Pay with Miles option. Take up to $50 off the cost of your flight for every 5,000 miles you redeem with Pay with Miles when you book on delta.com.
• 20% back on eligible Delta in-flight purchases with this card in the form of a statement credit .
• No Foreign Transaction Fees.
• $0 introductory Annual Fee for the first year, then $150.

90,000 Skymiles is worth at least $900 in Delta airfare. Delta offers a minimum value out of your Skymiles via the “Pay with Miles” option. For example, that means 50,000 Skymiles can reduce the price of your Delta ticket(s) by $500 at the very least. (5,000 mile = $50 minimum redemption.) You can still search and book traditional award tickets and possibly get better value.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card

• Limited-time offer: Up to 100,000 Bonus Miles 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 or more in purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership and an additional 20,000 bonus miles after you make an additional $2,000 in purchases within the first 6 months, starting from the date your account is opened. Offer Ends 4/1/2026.
• $2,500 Medallion(R) Qualification Dollars with MQD Headstart each Medallion Qualification Year and earn $1 MQD for each $20 in purchases on your Delta SkyMiles(R) Platinum American Express Card with MQD Boost to get closer to Status next Medallion Year.
• $150 Delta Stays Credit. Get up to $150 back annually on eligible prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays on delta.com.
• $120 Resy Credit. Get up to $10 in statement credits each month after you pay with your enrolled Delta SkyMiles(R) Platinum American Express Card to dine at U.S. Resy restaurants or make other eligible Resy purchases. Enrollment required.
• $120 Rideshare Credit. Up to $10 back in statement credits each month on U.S. rideshare purchases with select providers using your Delta SkyMiles(R) Platinum American Express Card. Enrollment is required.
• 15% off discount on Award Travel booked through delta.com and the Fly Delta app. Applies to Delta flights only, not applicable to partner-operated flights or taxes and fees.
• Up to $120 Global Entry Fee Credit. You can get either a $120 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 years for a TSA PreCheck(R) (through a TSA official enrollment provider) application fee, when charged to your Delta SkyMiles(R) Platinum American Express Card. Card Members approved for Global Entry will also receive access to TSA PreCheck at no additional cost.
• Companion Certificate benefit. Enjoy a Companion Certificate on a Delta Main round-trip flight within the U.S. and to Mexico, the Caribbean, or Central America each year after renewal of your Card. The Companion Certificate requires payment of government-imposed taxes and fees of between $22 and $250 (for itineraries with up to four flight segments). Baggage charges and other restrictions apply. Delta Basic experiences are not eligible for this benefit.
• First checked bag free (worth $70 roundtrip, per person) on Delta flights. This perk is worth up to $280 per round trip for a family of four ($35 each way, per person).
• Receive Zone 5 Priority Boarding on Delta flights; board early, stow your carry-on bag and settle in sooner.
• 3X Miles on Delta purchases and purchases made directly with hotels.
• 2X Miles at restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery in the U.S., and at U.S. supermarkets.
• 1X Miles on all other eligible purchases.
• No Foreign Transaction Fees.
• $350 annual fee.

The Platinum version can be a worthy upgrade from the Gold version if you can take advantage of the added perks including Resy/Rideshare credits and especially the annual Main Cabin Companion Certificate (i.e. you plan to book two tickets together on Delta at least once a year). I’ve used it several times in the past and it is easy to use while booking tickets online at Delta.com. My savings from using the Companion Certificate for Delta Main has exceeded $500.

100,000 Skymiles is worth at least $1,000 in Delta airfare. Delta offers a minimum value out of your Skymiles via the “Pay with Miles” option. For example, that means 50,000 Skymiles can reduce the price of your Delta ticket(s) by $500 at the very least. (5,000 mile = $50 minimum redemption.) You can still search and book traditional award tickets and possibly get better value.

New quarter, new offers. A quick 2026 Q1 reminder that you can discover targeted offers for your Chase-issued credit card at Chase.com/mybonus. This includes both their in-house cards like Sapphire or Freedom Flex and their co-branded cards like United, IHG, Hyatt, Southwest, Amazon, etc. For some reason, these are often offers that they don’t tell you about otherwise by email or snail mail.

You might get 5X points or 5% cash back on up to $1,000 spent on Gas Stations, Groceries, and Restaurants:

You may also simply get a message that your card can’t be found or that you weren’t targeted:

Updated for Rent Day 12/1. Bilt Rewards recently announced “Bilt 2.0” which promises three new credit cards with rewards on both mortgage payments and rent. Applications are not open yet; More details supposedly coming January 2026. If you have the existing card issued by Wells Fargo, it is scheduled to work as usual until February 6th, 2026.

December 1st, Bilt is offering a transfer bonus to British Airways* Avios of between 50% and 100%. (* or Aer Lingus and Iberia Avios.) Avios can be pretty useful in many cases, and this transfer bonus is a potential way of getting excellent value out of your Bilt points, if you have a redemption in mind.

If you haven’t, you should also link your Rakuten account to Bilt for a small but pretty easy bonus. Look for the option in the app.

Rent Day also means 2X double points where you can get 6X on dining, 4X on travel, and 2X on other purchases (except rent). There is a cap of 1,000 bonus points. Remember that you must use your card to make 5 purchases (of any amount) each statement period to earn points.

Existing Bilt members can still earn lots of Bilt points just for paying monthly rent to any landlord with no transaction fees, which is their most important feature.

Full review on the old card:

The updated Bilt Mastercard is a unique credit card that earns rewards on rent payments to any landlord. Bilt is a rent payment platform and they will send your landlord a check or ACH bank transfer so that your landlord will not have to do anything. The credit card itself is issued by Wells Fargo. Bilt has bonus categories and a variety of points redemption options like many other rewards credit cards. Here are the highlights:

• Up to 1X points spent on rent payments without the transaction fee, up to 100,000 points each calendar year.
• 3X points on dining.
• 2X points on travel including hotels, rental cars, and cruises when booked directly with airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies.
• 1X points on other purchases.
• Earn points when you make 5 transactions that post each statement period.
• When renting at a Bilt Alliance property, you can choose to have your rent payments automatically reported by Bilt to the three major credit bureaus each month; Experian(TM), TransUnion(TM), and Equifax(TM).
• No annual fee.
• World Elite Mastercard perks like cell phone insurance and purchase protection.

That means your rent can be up to $100,000 per year ($8,333 per month) and you would still be able to take full advantage of the 1X points per dollar spent on rent payments. They do require you to make at least 5 transactions per month (rent can be one), otherwise too many people might just put their rent on the card and not use the card otherwise.

Bilt has partnered with the owners of over 2,000,000 apartment units to create the Bilt Rewards Alliance. The easiest way is find out if you live in a qualifying property is to simply type in your address into the Bilt app.

Bilt also offers Double Points on “Rent Day”, aka the 1st of every month. This means that on the 1st day of every month, you can get 6X on dining, 4X on travel, and 2X on other purchases(except rent). They also offer other promos on this day.

Bilt Rewards Points redemption options

Travel partners. Bilt Rewards points transfer on a 1:1 basis to the following hotel and airline partners. You can also get 100 bonus points for every loyalty program you link to Bilt.

• Alaska Airlines Atmos (Hawaiian)
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• United Airlines
• FlyingBlue (Air France/KLM)
• Miles & Smiles (Turkish Airlines)
• Emirates Skywards
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Aer Lingus Aer Club
• Turkish Miles & Smiles
• Iberia Plus
• TAP Air Portugal
• World of Hyatt
• IHG One
• Accor ALL

Hyatt hotel points, Alaska, and United are likely the most useful points for the average US traveler. I am conservative when valuing points and miles due to their redemption hassles and steady threat of devaluation, so I would place the value here a 1 cent a point even though I definitely plan to exceed that. You may wish to use a different value.

Home Downpayment? Bilt says that your points can be redeemed at 1.5 cents per point when used towards a home downpayment. This seems like it might be rather complicated to actually redeem, so I would keep it mind but wouldn’t count on it. If you racked up 100,000 points over time, it would be nice to have $1,500 via this method.

Shop with Points at Amazon. You can link your Bilt Rewards points to Amazon and pay for your purchases at rate of 0.70 cents per point.

Rent. Bilt will let you convert points towards your next rent payment at 0.55 cents per point. This is not a good redemption rate when compared to the miles/Hyatt option. It’s too bad there is no easy, decent cash-out option.

Statement credit. Bilt will also let you convert points towards a statement credit on your credit card statement at 0.55 cents per point.

Other options include fitness classes or physical items like “limited-edition” home decor or art in the “Bilt Collection” catalog. Personally, I like being able to add to my Hyatt and Canada Aeroplan stash.

Possibly help your credit score? When renting at a Bilt Alliance property, your on-time payment activity can be automatically reported to the three major credit bureaus. In addition, with the optional “BiltProtect” feature, your rent payments will be immediately withdrawn from a linked bank account so your credit limit is not decreased (and ideally your rent won’t contribute to your credit card debt).

How do I pay my landlord or property manager? They don’t take credit cards due to the transaction fees. Bilt will provide you with a bank ACH routing number and account number that you can use to perform an ACH transfer, or they will simply send a paper check on your behalf. In March 2025, Bilt added a pre-authorization step that you have to do first in the Bilt app. After that they will provide you new routing and account numbers. You don’t actually pay with the credit card, nor do you or your landlord have to pay any credit card transaction fees.

1. Pre-authorize your payment in the Bilt app (before you pay rent)
Each month, pre-authorize your rent payment from the Bilt app, up to five (5) days before paying rent.
Select your rent amount and payment method.
Use your Bilt Mastercard® for your usual rewards and waived fees, or
Use any other credit/debit card to earn both Bilt Points AND your card’s rewards.
First time only: You’ll receive your BillPay by Bilt routing and account numbers. Add these to your property’s payment portal, replacing your old Rent Rewards account details.
Optional: After setting up BillPay, you can enable auto-authorization under ‘Rent Payment Options’ by selecting the day of the month and payment amount you want automatically authorized each month.

Free cell phone protection. Pay your monthly cell phone bill with your Bilt Mastercard and get up to $800 of protection (subject to $25 deductible) against covered damage or theft. For complete coverage details, visit wellsfargo.com/biltbenefits. To file a claim, call 1-800-316-8051 or visit mycardbenefits.assurant.com.

Bottom line. The Bilt Mastercard offers a unique rewards structure targeted specifically at all renters with any landlord. At $2,000 a month in rent, the 1X rewards would add up to 24,000 points per year in rewards = 24,000 Alaska Atmos (Hawaiian) or United miles or 24,000 Hyatt points with no additional transaction fees and no credit card annual fee. You may even do better if you wait for a “Rent Day” promo on the first of the month. Something to consider if you already have to pay rent anyway.