This blog is usually all about points and miles. The game we play involves acquiring points & miles, usually without traveling, in order to travel nearly for free. Current events, though, has led some of us to turn towards cash-earning options: new credit card bonuses, new bank account bonuses, cash rewards from spend, cash back shopping portals, etc. This post is designed to dive into the first in the list: credit card bonuses.
The cards shown below are sorted by our formula for estimated first year value. With cash back cards you’d think that a formula isn’t necessary. Can’t you simply take the welcome bonus and subtract out the first year annual fee? Nope. We also have to account for the cost of spend. Some cards have much higher minimum spend requirements which we need to account for. For example, I’d argue that a $300 welcome offer that requires $500 spend is much better than a $300 offer that requires $3,000 spend.
For help with meeting spend requirements, please see: 7 ways to increase credit card spend from home.
Top 10 Cash Back Credit Card Offers
Top 10 offers are shown. Press “Next” to see more.
Card Offer |
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U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card |
Capital One Spark Cash Business Credit Card $500 Cash back Earn a one time bonus: $500 cash back after $4.5K spend in 3 months from account opening. No Annual Fee First Year, Then $95 Note: Most Capital One Business cards count against Chase's 5/24 Rule, but this one DOES NOT Recent better offer: Up to $2,000 Cash Back: Earn a one time bonus: $500 after $5K spend in 3 months from account opening and earn an additional $1,500 when you spend $50K in the first 6 months of account opening. [Last available in early 2020 and briefly in 2021] |
Wells Fargo Business Platinum Visa® card $500 Cash Back $500 after $5K spend in the first 3 months OR no signup bonus if you choose to earn points instead of cash back No Annual Fee |
BBVA Compass Select |
U.S. Bank Business Cash Rewards World EliteTM Mastercard |
American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card Up to $500 in statement credits Up to $500 in statement credits: Earn a $250 statement credit after $5K in purchases in the first 6 months plus an additional $250 statement credit after another $10K in purchases in the first year. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees) No Annual Fee |
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express Up to $300 back 20% back on Amazon purchases for the first 6 months, up to $200 back + $100 back after $1K in the first 6 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees) No Annual Fee |
Capital One Quicksilver |
Capital One Savor $300 Cash Back Earn a one time bonus: $300 after $3K spend in 3 months from account opening No Annual Fee First Year, Then $95 |
Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card |
American Express Cash Magnet® Card $200 Cash Back $200 back after $1K in purchases in first 3 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees) No Annual Fee |
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express $300 cash back $300 cash back as a statement credit after $1K in the first 3 months. Terms Apply. (Rates & Fees) $95 Annual Fee Recent better offer: Up to $350: 10% cash back on purchases at U.S. Restaurants in the first 6 months, up to $200 back. Plus, earn $150 back after $1K spend in 3 months. (Expired 5/3/17) |
Bank of America Cash Rewards Recent better offer: $200 back after $500 spend in 90 days [Expired 1/19] |
Capital One Spark Cash Select Business Credit Card $200 Cash Back One time bonus: $200 after $3,000 spend in 3 months from account opening No Annual Fee |
Amazon Business American Express Card Get a $125 Amazon Gift Card Eligible Prime members get a $125 Amazon.com Gift Card upon approval. No Annual Fee |
The Plum Card® from American Express Up to $600 Earn a $200 statement credit after each $10,000 you spend on the card, up to $30,000, in the first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply. (Rates & Fees) No Annual Fee First Year, Then $250 |
ABOC Platinum Rewards |
Affinity Cash Rewards Visa® Signature Credit Card |
Discover it Miles - Double Miles your first year $100 + First Year Double Get $100 after first purchase. All "miles" earned in first 12 months will be doubled. This makes this a 3% cash back card for the first year. No Annual Fee |
Upromise World MasterCard® issued by Barclays |
AARP Credit Card from Chase This card is believed to not be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule Recent better offer: $200 after $500 spend in 3 months |
Schwab Investor Card® from American Express |
Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Card |
Citizens Bank Cash Back Plus® World Mastercard® Offer Expired Previous Offer: 10% back on groceries, restaurants, and food delivery (on up to $500 in purchases each month) until 5/5/21 No Annual Fee |
Santander® Ultimate Cash Back® credit card |
Fidelity Rewards Visa Recent better offer: $100 back after $1K in first 3 months |
UBS Cash Rewards Visa Business |
Top 10 Redeemable for Cash Offers
Many cards earn points that are easily redeemed for cash where one point equals one cent. This includes cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards, US Bank FlexPerks / Altitude points, Wells Fargo Go Far Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Rewards. With Citi points, cashing out for 1 cent per point requires requesting a check to pay for a mortgage or student loan. The Citi Prestige card is an exception since it allows a direct cash out at 1 cent per point.
The cards listed below offer points that are more valuable when used towards travel. As a result, our estimated first year value (which uses enhanced travel value of points) is not a good measure for this post.
In order to understand how valuable each of the below offers is, convert the number of points to cash back, in your head by following this pattern (replace the “K” with a zero and add a dollar sign):
- 25K points = $250
- 50K points = $500
- 60K points = $600
- 80K points = $800
- 100K points = $1,000
Since the first year value estimates use point values based on travel value, Please use the estimates shown below only as relative indicators of which offers are best for cash back. However, if you think you are likely to use the points for travel, then the shown estimated values may be useful to you.
Top 10 offers are shown. Press “Next” to see more.
Card Offer |
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Chase Ink Business Preferred Card See: How to sign up for Chase Ink cards Recent better offer: 80K after $5K spend. Many preferred the 80K offer due to the much lower spend requirement |
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card 60K Points + up to $50 in statement credits 60K after $4K spend in 3 months + up to $50 in statement credits for grocery purchases within the first year $95 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Recent better offer: 80K after $4K Spend (Expired 11/9/20) |
Citi Premier Card Alternate offer: There is an in-branch offer for 65K points (or 70K for CitiGold members) after $4K in purchases in 3 months. Some have reported success getting matched to that higher offer by request (YMMV). Recent better offer: None |
Wells Fargo Visa Signature Card Up to 50K bonus points 5X rewards points on up to $12,500 in gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases for 6 months. (that's 1x normal earnings plus 4x bonus) No Annual Fee |
Wells Fargo Rewards Visa® card Up to 50K bonus points 5x rewards points on up to $12,500 in gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases for 6 months (that's 1x normal earnings plus 4x bonus) No Annual Fee |
Citi ThankYou Prestige Card Recent better offer: 75K after $7.5K spend in 3 months |
Chase Freedom Unlimited 20K points Earn 20,000 points (worth $200 cash back) after spending $500 in the first 3 months. 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases, then a variable APR of 14.99 - 23.74%. No Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Even though this card is marketed as a cash back card, it actually earns Ultimate Rewards points which are redeemable for 1 cent each, or can be combined with other Ultimate Rewards-earning cards to get even more value. This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months. Recent better offer: 20K points + 5x on up to $12K in groceries for first year [Expired 1/13/21] |
Chase Freedom Flex 20K points Earn 20,000 points (worth $200 cash back) after $500 spend in 3 months. 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases, then a variable APR of 14.99 - 23.74%. No Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Even though this card is marketed as a cash back card, it actually earns Ultimate Rewards points which are redeemable for 1 cent each, or can be combined with other Ultimate Rewards-earning cards to get even more value. This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months. Recent better offer: 20K points + 5x on up to $12K in groceries for first year [Expired 1/13/21] |
Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa® Card Alternate offer: Some people are targeted (in their online Wells Fargo account or via snail mail) for 3% cash rewards for the first year up to $30,000 spent) |
AT&T Access Card 15K points + $100 statement credit 15K ThankYou Points after $1K Spend in 3 Months + $100 statement credit after $250 in AT&T purchases in the first 3 months No Annual Fee |
Advertiser and Refer-A-Friend Disclosure
Many of the card offers that appear on this site are from companies from which Frequent Miler receives compensation. Please see our full advertiser disclosure here. And, some offers are friend referrals in which we will earn points or other rewards in exchange for successfully referring you through the link shown here.
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Affiliate Link Example Offers for which we receive compensation are shown with credit card images. |
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Refer A Friend Example Refer-a-friend offers are shown with this image |
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Non-Affiliate Link Example With many of the best offers, we do not receive compensation. This is indicated by this “No Affiliate” card image |