This site is part of an affiliate sales network and may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Zachary Abel is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Rakuten has their own credit card that offers up additional cashback ( or Ame/Bilt points ) when using Rakuten shopping and dining programs. You’ll earn a bonus 4% on shopping, capped at $7k, and an additional 5% back when using Rakuten dining ( this is in addition to the 5x you would already earn ). This could be particularly interesting if you have set your payment option to earn Amex or Bilt points since this would effectively add on 4x and 5x points to your earning. Personally, this isn’t something I’m looking to add to my wallet right now, but if you hit $7k on Rakuten shopping this would be an easy way to earn an additional 28k Amex points per year and earn 10x points on Rakuten Dining partners.
A Rakuten rep clarified that if you have your account set to earn Amex points, that this is how you would be paid on card spend as well.
Rakuten American Express Card
Could be an interesting way to earn more Amex or Bilt points via Rakuten.
Welcome Offer
$200 after $2000 spend in first 3 months of account opening
Annual Fee
$0
Points Earned
Cashback or Select American Express Membership Rewards
- $0 AF
- $200 Cash back bonus after $2000 within 90 days
- 4% Cash Backor 4x at Rakuten Shopping
- Capped at $7k of credit card spending each calendar year
- 5% Cash back or 5x via Rakuten Dining
- This stacks with the 5x you’d already earn so you’d get 10x total.
- 2% cash back on Grocery and Restaurants.
- 1% cash back on all other purchases.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
You’ll earn a bonus 4% on shopping, capped at $7k, and an additional 5% back when using Rakuten dining. This could be particularly interesting if you have set your payment option to earn Amex points since this would effectively add on 4x and 5x Amex points to your earning. Personally, this isn’t something I’m looking to add to my wallet, but if you hit $7k on Rakuten shopping this would be an easy way to earn an additional 28k Amex points per year.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.