Breaking Points: Credit Card News

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.

Marriott is offering 2,000 bonus Bonvoy points per night on Homes & Villas stays of two or more nights. You can earn up to 10,000 bonus points per stay by registering and booking by October 1, 2026 and completing your stay by December 31, 2026. The biggest caveat is that you must spend at least $1,500 before taxes and fees. We wouldn't book a stay with Homes & Villas just to earn these bonus points, but if you're also targeted for the current Amex Offer for $350 back after spending $1,000 with Marriott Homes & Villas, then it gets more interesting. You can stack both promotions and earn $350 back and the 2,000 bonus bonus points every two nights.

Citi ThankYou Rewards is offering a 25% transfer bonus to Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club. The standard transfer ratio is 5:1 for eligible premium Citi cards and 5.714:1 for other eligible Citi cards, so with the bonus, you’ll receive 250 Leaders Club points for every 1,000 Citi ThankYou Rewards points transferred with eligible premium cards, or 175 Leaders Club points with other eligible Citi cards. Offer expires September 19, 2026.

The American Airlines Citi AAdvantage Executive card is now offering 125,000 points after spending $15,000 in 5 months. That’s up 50,000 miles over the previous offer of 75,000 miles, which requires $7,500 in 3 months. This card was just very recently refreshed, with new statement credits and an increased annual fee from $695 instead of $595. The card page has been updated with the new features.