Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is doing well 😊 

I mention this to people from time to time, but December is a great month to get a new credit card, particularly the ones that offer annual credits for things on a calendar-year basis. That way, if you get approved in December, you can get the credit in December, and then again in January once the new year comes!

That doesn’t necessarily make January a bad month to get these cards, but there’s definitely some opportunity cost there. Since December tends to be a bigger month for spend with gifts, traveling to see family, etc., it could be something to consider, as that spend would help hit a signup bonus 🤷

Wanted to talk just about those annual credits that some cards offer today! It’ll be just that, so should be a shorter newsletter today 👍️

In today’s edition:

• 🎟️ Using your Credits before Year’s End 🎟️

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

🎟️ Using your Credits before Year’s End 🎟️

Cards that offer credits and other ancillary benefits are awesome - they help offset the annual fee, especially when you’d spend money at those places without the credit anyway!

But sometimes when you leave all the credits to the last minute, they can become a bit of a pain to track, and then you may forget to use them all! As I try to use all of my remaining credits for the year, I thought maybe it would help others too to write them all out so that we all take advantage of all our credits and don’t leave money on the table!

To be clear, I’m not talking about any credits that occur monthly, like the Amex Gold’s Uber or dining credits - I’m talking about anything that comes quarterly, or semi-annually, or annually, and specifically those that will expire on December 31st. With that, I’ll do my best to compile a list of those credits offered by the major card issuers and cards:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • $250 credit for The Edit (Chase’s hotel collection)

  • $150 semi-annual dining credit for restaurants on this list

  • $150 semi-annual StubHub credit

• Amex Platinum/Business Platinum

  • $200 Airline Fee credit

  • $300 semi-annual Amex FHR credit

  • $100 quarterly Resy credit

  • $75 quarterly Lululemon credit

  • $50 semi-annual Saks credit

  • $200 Oura Ring credit

  • $209 CLEAR credit

  • $50 quarterly Hilton credit (Business Plat only)

  • $150 Dell credit (Business Plat only)

  • $90 quarterly Indeed credit (Business Plat only)

• Citi Strata Elite

  • $300 hotel credit through Citi Travel

  • $200 Splurge credit, which can be used at:

    • 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy®, Future Personal Training, or Live Nation - you can spend on up to 2 of these for the credit.

  • $100 semi-annual Blacklane credit

Any credit not listed above for the 3 cards there are monthly credits or credits that require a minimum spend before activating, so I didn’t list those. But wow, the list is quite long, especially for someone that has all 3 of these cards!!

In my family we have two of the three cards here, and while we have fortunately used up most of my credits, there’s still some work to do! Also, there are some credits on this list I have no plans on using, and that’s okay too! Based on how I value these credits, I still come out ahead despite not using some of them, so all is good 👍️

But yeah, it’s funny because I wanted to write all these credits out for myself so I remember to use them all. Figured it could help some others too, so there you go!

And as I mentioned in the intro, if you are spending a bit on gifts, etc., and are looking to hit a signup bonus, December is a good month for that! 📆

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

A chart of transfer partners by bank, along with other information, can be found here!

¹ Transfer between 1,000-74,999 points for a 15% bonus, between 75,000 and 174,999 for a 20% bonus, and 175,000 or more points for a 25% bonus.

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• ⬇️ Amex’s transfer ratio to Cathay Pacific is being reduced from 1:1 to 5:4 on March 1st, 2026…

• 🎯 Some CSP cardholders are being targeted with an upgrade offer to the CSR, of $25k points after $3k spend by 2/14/2026.

  • Speaking of, there’s also a targeted 75k signup bonus for the Amex BBP!

💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

Again, the usual solid cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred^® / Reserve®

• Chase Freedom Unlimited^®/Flex^®

• Amex Gold & Plat

• Capital One Venture X

Do search for public links for the above cards to compare signup bonuses to make sure you get the highest one (incognito mode, Resy, etc.).

For cards with elevated signup bonuses (targeted bonuses are not included), I’ve got:

📤️ Spread the Word! 📤️

Thanks for subscribing! This newsletter is committed to helping you maximize your points and rewards, at no direct cost to you! (appreciate you using any of my referral links, though!)

If you do find this newsletter informative, helpful, or entertaining, I’d greatly appreciate you spreading the word about it! If not, please do give me feedback on how I can improve your Sense per Point experience.

Also, if my newsletter helps you to book travel using points, let me know! It’ll make me so happy 😄 

Hope that all makes sense! That’s all for this week’s edition of Sense per Point.

Wishing everyone a wonderful rest of your day and week 😊 

- Sean Kim

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