A sign-up bonus can be worth more than a year of ordinary earning on the same card. It is also governed by terms that are easy to fall foul of, and issuers do not make exceptions for people who misread them.
How the requirement is measured
The standard structure is: spend a defined amount on purchases within a defined number of months from account opening, and receive a lump sum of points or cash back.
Three details decide whether you qualify.
| Counts toward the bonus | Does not count |
|---|---|
| Ordinary purchases | Balance transfers |
| Recurring subscriptions | Cash advances and cash equivalents |
| Authorized user purchases (usually) | Annual fees and other card fees |
| Most bill payments made by card | Interest charges |
| Travel and dining | Returned purchases (deducted) |
The annual fee exclusion catches people. On a card with a $95 fee posting in the first statement, that $95 does not count toward a $3,000 requirement — you need $3,000 of actual purchases on top.
The clock
The window runs from account opening. That is the date the issuer approved and opened the account, which can be a week or more before the card reaches you.
On a three-month window, losing ten days to shipping is over 10% of your time. Add the card to a digital wallet as soon as the issuer allows, which many now permit before the physical card arrives.
Eligibility restrictions
Issuers limit repeat bonuses, and the rules vary by issuer and by product.
- A common structure bars a bonus on a product if you received one on that same product within a defined period, often measured in years.
- Some issuers apply family-level rules covering all cards in a product line rather than the single card.
- Some restrict approvals based on how many new accounts you have opened across all issuers recently.
- Some limit how many of their own cards you can hold at once.
These rules are generally not published in full, change over time, and are applied inconsistently. Any specific version circulating online should be treated as a rumor. The terms on the offer page are the only authoritative statement, and they are worth reading.
When a bonus is worth pursuing
Consider it if
- The spending requirement fits what you would spend anyway in that period
- You have a large planned purchase already scheduled
- The card is one you would want to keep after the first year
- There is no annual fee, or the first year's fee is waived
Think twice if
- You would need to spend more than usual to qualify
- You are about to apply for a mortgage or another large loan
- You would carry a balance to reach the threshold
- The card has an annual fee you cannot justify beyond year one
That third item in the second column is the one that ruins the arithmetic. Carrying a $3,000 balance for three months at 24% costs roughly $180 in interest — which can exceed the bonus entirely.
After you earn it
Bonuses typically post within one to two billing cycles after you meet the requirement. If it has not appeared after two cycles, call — bonus posting errors do happen and are usually resolved quickly when you have your own record of the qualifying spend.
Then decide what the card is for. If it earns well on your ordinary spending, keep it. If it exists only for the bonus and charges a fee, note the fee's anniversary date and decide before it posts whether to downgrade rather than close.
