What is the best Credit Card gimmick offer right now?

November 24, 2008 2:44 PM

In the past I have been paid the following things to sign up for a Credit Card: a slice of pizza, a shirt, a $15 discount, and now at Amazon, a $30 discount. Are there any with a higher value than that?

The reason I ask is because I'm getting a credit card anyway and I want something free. (By the way I pay the full balance every month and I have a credit score of 790.

posted by brenton to shopping (20 comments total)

I've seen GPS units offered.
posted by BrandonAbell at 2:49 PM on November 24, 2008

Continental was giving away 10,000 miles for their branded Visa card a few months ago. That was at the airport, though.
posted by Burhanistan at 2:59 PM on November 24, 2008

Sears used to offer a $50 gift certificate for signing up for their card (I don't know if they're still doing it).
posted by amyms at 2:59 PM on November 24, 2008

I defer to the Fatwallet forums for credit-card related questions. Plenty of $100 and $50 coupons.
posted by meowzilla at 3:04 PM on November 24, 2008

I've seen store-issued credit cards offering a 10% discount on your first purchase, which on purchases over $300 would be a discount of over $30.

Of course, these are often for stores with a profit margin greater than 10%, so you aren't exactly taking them to the cleaners if you buy $1000 of stuff and get a $100 discount.
posted by Mike1024 at 3:05 PM on November 24, 2008

Your pursuit of free stuff is admirable. Do watch out for cards with yearly fees — cards with enticing sign-up gifts can be tied to other fees you may not want to pay.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:17 PM on November 24, 2008

Wal-Mart gives away a two liter of Pepsi for signing up for their credit card.
posted by nitsuj at 3:22 PM on November 24, 2008

Alaska Airlines visa gives 20,000 air miles.
posted by ainsley at 3:35 PM on November 24, 2008

I got a $125 amazon gift cert from discover.com. Took about 4 weeks after my first discover purchase to get it. Redeemed it the other day.
posted by RustyBrooks at 3:37 PM on November 24, 2008

BTW my wife found the Discover thing through slickdeals.net and they regularly post good CC signup deals. She got a GPS when she signed up for discover. It's a good place to look because it's a forum, and there are lots of posts where people describe their experiences, so it's easy to tell if it's a legitimate offer or not.

I also got a nice dell for $300 through something posted on slickdeals.
posted by RustyBrooks at 3:39 PM on November 24, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Do watch out for cards with yearly fees — cards with enticing sign-up gifts can be tied to other fees you may not want to pay.

OTOH, these card tend to have the best sign-up bonuses. So if they waive the first year (which is common), and you can remember to cancel before it renews, you come out ahead.

Also, cards that earn points or miles tend to give better bonuses, which can be redeemed for significant value. A few recent deals:

15k Northwest miles (halfway to a free domestic ticket)
5k Amtrak points (1k short of two coach tickets)
15k Citi Thank You points ($125-$150 in giftcards)
10k Starwood points (at least one free night, maybe two)

Often, the deals that are offered directly on the sites are not nearly as good as what's out there, so it's good to do your research. Fatwallet and Flyertalk are full of people researching this stuff.
posted by smackfu at 4:01 PM on November 24, 2008

The Sony Card (a Sony branded Chase Visa) alternately gives $100 or $150 off the purchase of a new Sony product. I bought a PS3 a year ago with it...when it was at $100 of course.

Citi often has 10,000 Thank You point signup offers, which is worth a $100 gift card to various places.

WaMu was doing 10% cash back on gas purchases for the first 6 months after account opening.
posted by wierdo at 4:04 PM on November 24, 2008

Just got an offer from US Airways for up to 35,000 free miles on their new business credit card. IIRC, it's 20,000 just for signing up and up to 15,000 more if you do certain purchases and balance transfers. That's nearly enough for two domestic round-trip tickets.
posted by kindall at 4:14 PM on November 24, 2008

REI offers a no-annual-fee Visa with a free $30 gift certificate plus 1% cash back on all purchases and an added discount on stuff you buy at REI.
posted by mullingitover at 5:19 PM on November 24, 2008

If you're cool with carrying around a Playstation branded card, Sony will give you $150 off a PS3.
posted by yellowbinder at 6:31 PM on November 24, 2008

http://www.limitedtimerewards.com/woot_rebut/

iPod Shuffle + $25 iTunes gift card
posted by qvtqht at 7:08 PM on November 24, 2008

OTOH, these card tend to have the best sign-up bonuses. So if they waive the first year (which is common), and you can remember to cancel before it renews, you come out ahead.

Opening credit cards to get sign up bonuses and then canceling the account = bad idea

Keep the tradeline open. Closing it can only hurt your credit score.
posted by doomtop at 7:18 PM on November 24, 2008

If you live near an airport served by Southwest, you can get a free roundtrip award by applying for their branded Visa card through the correct link. I'll MefiMail it to you if you are interested. There is a $59 annual fee associated with the card, though.
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 6:35 AM on November 25, 2008

Closing an account won't hurt your credit score that much (or for very long) -- certainly not enough to pay an annual fee to avoid it.
posted by kindall at 9:56 AM on November 25, 2008

Yes, usually the advice is more "don't close old cards just because you don't use them", because it's good to have really long-standing credit.

A bigger hit on your credit score is almost surely from opening too many lines of credit in the last 12 or 24 months, so it is wise to limit your cards to the good ones.
posted by smackfu at 10:25 AM on November 25, 2008