Breaking Points: Credit Card News

Amex is targeting certain cardholders with an offer to receive a $200 statement credit after spending $1,000 or more on eligible Lufthansa Group flights through the Amex Travel portal by October 31, 2026. The spending requirement can be met across multiple transactions, and Lufthansa Group includes several airlines: Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Discover Airlines. Flights must originate in the U.S. and be charged in U.S. dollars to qualify. We wouldn't go out of our way to plan a trip around this promo, but if you're already planning a trip and paying cash to fly one of these airlines, you're effectively getting 20% back if you spend exactly $1,000. Unfortunately, the Amex Travel requirement means you can't use the offer toward taxes and fees on award tickets.

Planning a wedding or commitment ceremony? Consider Hyatt as your location, as it is offering bonus points and elite night credits at participating properties with promo code HMOON through December 31, 2027. You can earn 30,000 bonus points with $5,000 in eligible spending, increasing at various thresholds up to 150,000 points with $40,000 in spending, plus 2 elite night credits for every $5,000 spent. Where this gets really interesting is stacking the promotion with a World of Hyatt credit card. Eligible Hyatt spending earns 4X points and additional elite night credits, so $40,000 charged to the World of Hyatt Business Card would earn 160,000 points from the card, 150,000 bonus points from the promotion, 16 elite nights from the promotion, and another 20 elite nights from card spending. That would give you 310,000 total Hyatt points and 36 elite night credits, enough for Explorist status at 30 nights and more than halfway to Globalist at 60 nights. The promotion includes a wide range of Hyatt brands, including Hyatt Place and Hyatt House, so this isn't limited to traditional destination weddings or luxury resorts. You must request promo code HMOON when making your wedding inquiry and have it included in the signed contract.

Marriott is offering up to a 40% bonus on purchased points through September 9, 2026. Buy 2,000-39,000 points to receive a 30% bonus or 40,000+ points for the full 40% bonus, which drops the purchase price to about 0.89¢ per point. That is still above our 0.70¢ valuation for Bonvoy points, so we would not recommend buying speculatively. It can make sense if you need to top off for a valuable redemption or already have a specific award stay in mind. For this promotion, Marriott has also increased the annual purchase limit from 150,000 to 200,000 points.

September 28, 2026 update: The Rakuten bonus on the Bank of America Travel Rewards card is back up to its all-time high of $400/40,000 Bilt points. The Customized Cash Rewards and Unlimited Cash Rewards cards are both offering $200/20,000 Bilt points, below their all-time highs of $225/22,500 points.

These Rakuten bonuses change frequently and sometimes last only a day or two. We've seen the Travel Rewards bonus reach as high as $400/40,000 Bilt points and the Customized Cash Rewards and Unlimited Cash Rewards bonuses reach $225/22,500 points. If you're considering one of these cards, it's worth checking the current Rakuten offer before applying.

August 25, 2026: Rakuten is offering elevated bonuses when applying for three Bank of America cards, which you can then stack with each card's welcome offer. Earn $250 from Rakuten on the Bank of America Travel Rewards card, $150 on the Customized Cash Rewards card, or $75 on the Unlimited Cash Rewards card. The Travel Rewards card also offers 25,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days, while the Customized Cash and Unlimited Cash cards offer $200 and $250, respectively, after meeting their spending requirements. That makes these solid overall offers for cards with no annual fee. If you have your Rakuten earning preference set to Bilt, you can earn Bilt points instead of cash back, although the conversion rate depends on your Bilt status. These offers are not available if your Rakuten account is set to earn Amex Membership Rewards.

If you or someone in your family is not already a Delta SkyMiles member, Delta is offering new members up to 5,000 bonus miles for completing a few activities after joining the program. First, you'll earn 100 miles for simply opting into marketing emails, then you can earn another 1,400 miles for joining SkyMiles Dining and spending $30 within 30 days. Earn 1,500 miles for booking a Delta flight through the Fly Delta app and completing the flight within three months. If you complete all three activities, you'll earn another 2,000 bonus miles, for a total of 5,000 miles. You must enroll in the promotion within 45 days of joining SkyMiles, and this must be done by December 31, 2026. Both paid and award flights can qualify for the flight requirement, but the flight must be operated by Delta or Delta Connection. 5,000 miles isn't a huge bonus, but the requirements are relatively easy to fulfill, especially if you were already planning on flying Delta within the necessary timeline.