January 2, 2026
Best Credit Card Welcome Offers: January 2026
Pam
If you’ve been considering a new credit card, January is looking great! We have plenty of great offers to let you know about this month. Whether you want to earn free hotel stays, rack up airline miles, or earn transferable points you could use for both, these elevated offers are worth a closer look. Some deals are only available for a limited time, so now is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of these generous welcome offers. Here’s a roundup of the best credit card welcome offers available in January 2026.
Citi Strata Elite℠ Card
This new card has a hefty annual fee but comes with a 100,000-point welcome offer. Even better, Citi ThankYou® points now transfer to American Airlines! Read more about this card here.
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
One of our reader’s favorite deals is back. Five 50K certificates as a welcome offer has worked out great for families!
Learn How to Apply
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Be sure and read this post to make sure it’s right for you! You may not find luxury stays at 50K points a night but there are many family stay options.
Chase Sapphire Cards
Read more about these recently updated offers here.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Learn How to Apply
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The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card was just revamped with a welcome offer of 75K Ultimate Rewards®! As of June 23, 2025, Chase has introduced significant changes to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card welcome-offer eligibility and rewards structure. Welcome offers are now limited, which means if you’ve previously earned a welcome offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you may not be eligible to earn it again.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Learn How to Apply
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The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has an increased welcome offer—and an increased annual fee. However, many of the card’s credits and other benefits may still make this card a worthwhile option for someone who can take advantage of them. And most high annual fees are worth paying, at least in the first year.
Sapphire Reserve for Business℠
Learn How to Apply
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Last, but not least, we have a huge business card offering! And because it’s a business card, that means it won’t count towards your 5/24 status. Yes, it, too, has a high annual fee and a HUGE minimum spend. I applied for it and was approved immediately. If you have any big expenses coming up, this minimum spend may be easier to meet. However, one notable point to consider is that the Chase card has a more extended timeframe than usual—six months instead of three—to reach the high minimum spend. This longer period may make this card a more realistic option for a broader range of people.
Offer Ending Soon!
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card allows you to transfer your points directly to Chase transfer partners like Hyatt, United, Southwest®, etc. We love our Chase Ultimate Rewards®, and the chance to earn more of them is exciting now that the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card increased offer is live!
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American Express® Gold Card
Learn How to Apply
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This card is a keeper card for us because it offers 4 points per dollar spent at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year then 1 point per dollar after that), 4 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar after that), and then 1 point per dollar on other eligible purchases.
If you are interested in the American Express® Green Card, you will want to apply for that one before applying for the American Express® Gold Card. American Express now has a specific family language requiring you to get them in a certain order, or you will be locked out of the welcome offer on any cards you skip over.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, see Rates and Fees.
American Express Platinum Card®
Learn How to Apply
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This is another one that I’ll always have in my wallet because I can more than offset the annual fee by taking advantage of all of its benefits.
Capital One Spark Cash Plus
Learn How to Apply
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Alex, Jess, and I have all applied for this card as the welcome offer is ginormous! The ability to use it to pay our estimated taxes has helped us meet the larger minimum spending requirement. You’ll earn $2,000 in cash back after spending $30,000 in three months. If you have a Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, this card’s welcome offer can be converted from $2,000 cash back to 200,000 Capital One Venture miles, which is what we’ll be doing. And another plus: it won’t count toward your 5/24 status.
Jess used Capital One Venture miles to fly business class on Turkish Airlines to Greece.
Bottom Line
Now is the time to learn more about these cards and take advantage of the best credit card welcome offers! We always advise applying when the welcome offer is high. Which of these elevated welcome offers interests you the most right now?
Opinions, reviews, analyses, and recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply.
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a Travel Mom Squad advertiser, but we always show the best public offer even when we don’t earn a commission. Terms Apply.
Responses 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.
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Hi! What do you recommend doing if we already have the sapphire preferred and want to apply again for the new sign up bonus of 100k?
As a follow up, I’ve had my sapphire preferred just over 4 years!
You could downgrade it: https://pointstalksquad.com/how-to-downgrade-a-chase-card/
Or cancel it and wait a few weeks to reapply. It must be 48 months since you got your welcome offer.
Thank you Pam! Your content is so very helpful ☺️
You mention 75,000 reward points for the Ink Business card. Is that a guarantee because I can’t find point bonus information on the website linked above.
It is a tiered bonus of $350 when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months and an additional $400 when you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first six months after account opening. As long as you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred that translates to 35,000 Ultimate Rewards and then 45,000 Ultimate Rewards.
Do the IHG cards count toward 5/24?
ALL credit cards count towards 5/24, unfortunately. Even store cards like an Old Navy card.
I opened a Chase Sapphire Preferred in November 2023. Am I still eligible for the Sapphire Sub if I recieve the card and meet the spend for the 100k points?
Although it says you can hold the CSP and CSR, it does not appear that people are being eligible for the second unless they have downgraded that CSP first.
I’m active duty Navy and have a number of cards, including:
1. CSR
2. Chase Marriott Boundless
3. AMEX Gold
4. AMEX Hilton Aspire
5. AMEX Green
Wife has:
1. CSP
2. AMEX Green
3. Chase United Quest
Except for the United Quest, we have completed the SUBs for all cards above. All the cards above are free for us as active duty and we are churning only to get the highest welcome bonuses. We don’t have any particular things we spend money on.
Do you have any recommendations for the next card(s) we should get? Thank you.
I would look at the Venture X card – it is one of our favorites!https://pointstalksquad.com/395-annual-fee-for-the-capital-one-venture-x-is-no-brainer/
P2 is at 4/24 and does not qualify for business cards. We typically stay at airbnbs but hotels now and then for shorter stays or near airports etc.
I was considering the IHG card as it has a bigger footprint in Europe, but would also love the Capital One Venture X
He has not opened a card in about 6 months so I was thinking to go for the venture as they may approve him… but that gives up a spot in his 5/24
Thoughts?