For today (February 13th) only, Rakuten has increased the welcome offer on its new American Express credit card to $200 after $2,000 spend in the first 90 days.
The Offer & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $79 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates $100 cash back ⓘFriend-ReferralThis is a friend-referral offer. A member of the Frequent Miler community may earn a referral bonus if you are approved for this offer Earn $100 bonus cashback after $1000 spend in the first 90 daysNo Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: None FM Mini Review: Earning 4% extra (or 4x Membership Rewards) on purchases via Rakuten is good, but the limit of $7,000 spending limits its usefulness. Earning rate: 5X extra on Rakuten Dining ✦ 4X extra on Rakuten purchases (limit $7k spend per calendar year) ✦ 2X groceries & restaurants ✦ 1x everywhere else Base: 1% Grocery: 2% Dine: 2% Brand: 4% Card Info: Amex issued by FEB. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: If you have another Amex card that earns Membership Rewards, you can change the earning preference on your Rakuten account to Membership Rewards as well. If you do this, the "cash back" earned via this card will be converted to Membership Rewards and deposited into your Amex account. |
Quick Thoughts
When the Rakuten American Express card launched, the welcome offer was a meager $50. They soon increased it to $100 and have done a couple of one-day boosts to $200. Hopefully, that becomes the new standard offer eventually.
Depending on your Rakuten earning preference, the welcome offer could be worth significantly more than $200. That’s because if your Rakuten account is set up to earn American Express Membership Rewards or Bilt points, the $200 bonus is effectively a 20,000-point bonus. That’s not as impressive as the Membership Rewards you can earn from the welcome offers on other Amex cards, but it’s still a nice bonus if you’re interested in getting the Rakuten card for its 4x earnings. Just remember that the 4x earning rate is only on purchases via Rakuten, and it’s capped at $7,000 of spend per calendar year.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Is this offer coming back anytime soon?
word of warning, they stiffed me 3 months ago on welcome offer…..take a screen shot, don’t be stupid like me
Rakuten points transferred to Bilt today.
Annoyingly, if you received a preapproval in the last 30 days which you did not accept, it appears you’re ineligible for this enhanced offer.
If P2 applies to get the card can I use it for my, (P1) Rakuten account to pool the points on my account?
I think the names would have to match. If you’re wanting the points awarded as Bilt points and you’d be transferring them to Hyatt, she could do that and then transfer her Hyatt points to you as a workaround.
does this count against 5/24?
I believe so
That’s my only consideration. If not this would be a no brainer
Love this card – you can shop Giant Food pick up orders for 1x points and if you use your card it’s 4x points, so 5x for groceries which you can easily hit the max.
The 10x Rakuten dining could be pretty valuable for some people.