Best Sign-Up Bonus Credit Cards 2021

The Sallie Mae Evolve℠ card offers 2% Cash Back on your two highest-spending eligible categories per month and 1.5% Cash Back on all purchases. Plus, earn a $200 Cash Back reward after you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months.

The card offers 0% purchase and balance transfer APR for 15 months, then 12.99% - 24.99% (Variable APR).

The Sallie Mae Evolve℠ card has no annual fee.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers rewards of 2 miles for every $1 spent on all purchases.

Earn 60,000 bonus miles when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card's Regular APR: 17.24% - 24.49% (Variable). The card has an annual fee of $95.

When using your Venture card to cover the application fee, you can receive up to $100 in credit for your Global Entry or TSA Precheck application.

As a travel card, your primary redemption options are to book travel through the Capital One rewards portal, receive a statement credit for recent eligible travel purchases (within the last 90 days) or transfer miles to partner airline and hotel programs.

Capital One’s assistant program, Eno, is like your account management system rolled into one helpful assistant. It monitors your account for fraud, sends alerts, creates virtual credit card numbers and provides useful account info like your balance.

Perhaps the most interesting of these abilities is its virtual credit card number storage. Virtual credit cards are getting harder to come by, and Eno provides another layer of protection when you shop online by saving a unique virtual card number for each merchant you transact with.

The Blue Cash Preferred provides high rewards at U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations, and for streaming services and transit expenses. It has a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95.

The Blue Cash Preferred has a welcome bonus where cardholders earn a $300 statement credit after spending $3,000 on the new card within the first six months of card membership.

When you purchase a product with your Blue Cash Preferred card, return protection covers you if the seller won’t accept a return for the item, up to 90 days from the date of purchase.

The card’s Pay It Plan It feature can be helpful in paying down small balances but dangerous for larger purchases. With Pay It, you can quickly tap a purchase in the mobile app that is for less than $100 to make payments throughout the month. Plan It is the reverse of this: You can select purchases that are $100 or more and have them split up to make monthly payments for a fixed monthly fee instead of interest charges. This can be a good deal if the monthly fee is less than you would pay in interest. Of course, an even better strategy would be to pay off your balance in full every month so you never have to pay more than necessary for your purchases.

The Chase Freedom Flex card offers Cash Back in a wide variety of categories.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers 0% introductory APR period (14.99% to 23.74% Variable after that) and a sign-up bonus that’s worth far more than most Cash-Back cards offer — all for an annual fee of $0.

My Chase PlanSM Fee is (monthly fee) of the amount of each eligible purchase transaction or amount selected to create a My Chase Plan while in the 0% Intro Purchase APR period. After that, monthly fee of 1.72% of the amount of each eligible purchase transaction or amount selected to create a My Chase Plan. The My Chase Plan Fee will be determined at the time each My Chase Plan is created and will remain the same until the My Chase Plan is paid in full.

The card offers 3% Cash Back on restaurants and drugstore purchases, 5% back on travel booked through Chase and 1.5% back on other purchases.

Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Enjoy 5% Cash Back on grocery store purchases (not including Target® or Walmart® purchases) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.

The American Express® Gold Card's annual fee is $250. The card offers 4x points on dining and griceries, 3x on flights and 1x on all other purchases.

There is a 15.99% to 22.99% variable APR.

As a new cardholder, you have the chance to earn an impressive 60,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending $4,000 in purchases within your first six months. New cardholders will also have the chance to obtain the alternate Rose Gold art.

There are no foreign transaction fees with this travel card.

Add your Gold Card to your Uber account, and you’ll automatically get $10 in Uber Cash each month, for a total of up to $120 per year. You can use your monthly Uber Cash on Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S.

Dining from the comfort of your home can save you up to $120 annually. Earn up to $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the Gold Card at Grubhub, Seamless, Boxed and other participating partners. Enrollment required.

By booking two consecutive nights or more through the American Express Travel portal at any of 600+ eligible properties with your card, you can receive up to a $100 hotel credit in addition to a possible room upgrade if eligible. The expenses that this credit can cover varies by property, but you can expect money back on qualifying dining, spa services, resort activities and things of that nature.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 2x points on travel and dining. Get 25% more value when redeemed for travel.

The Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee. The card’s variable APR is 15.99% to 22.99%.

My Chase PlanSM Fee is 1.72% (monthly fee) of the amount of each eligible purchase transaction or amount selected to create a My Chase Plan. The My Chase Plan Fee will be determined at the time each My Chase Plan is created and will remain the same until the My Chase Plan is paid in full.

Earning rewards with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is very straightforward.

New cardmembers can earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. The bonus points are worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards for airfare, hotels, car rentals, or cruises.

Transfer your points to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs at 1 to 1 value. That means 1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points equal 1,000 partner miles/points.

Cardmembers receive a $300 credit each card anniversary to be used toward travel. This credit is applied as a statement credit for travel purchases automatically. The card also offers a $100 statement credit every four years toward the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® Fee.

The Discover it® Secured Credit Card offers 2% Cash Back on gas stations and restaurants up to $1,000 in combined spending per quarter, and 1% on everything else, but Discover will match dollar-for-dollar all those rewards at the end of the first year.

The Discover it® Secured Credit Card requires you to put down a refundable security deposit. That deposit becomes your credit line. Minimum deposit is $200. The maximum credit limit is $2,500.

The Discover it® Secured Credit Card reports to the three major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian).

The interest on the Discover it® Secured Credit Card is not very attractive: It comes with 10.99% intro APR on Balance Transfers for 6 months, and then 22.99%.