The Offer
- Synchrony & Cathay Pacific have increased the sign up bonus on their cobranded credit card to 35,000 miles after $2,500 in spend within the first 90 days of account opening. Annual fee of $95 is also waived for the first year
Card Details
- Annual fee of $95 is waived the first year
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 2x Asia miles per $1 spent on eligible Cathay Pacific travel and in-flight purchases
- 1.5x Asia miles per $1 spent on dining in the US or aboard
- 1.5x Asia miles per $1 spent on purchases outside of the US
- 1x Asia miles on all other purchases
- No foreign transaction fees
- Complimentary first year green tier membership in the Marco Polo Club (Cathay Pacific’s loyalty program. Green tier is their base level and as I understand it first year is always free. Second year onwards you need to pay $100 USD or earn 100 Club points).
Our Verdict
Standard bonus is 25,000, but we’ve seen a public offer for 50,000 points without the annual fee being waived and a targeted offer for 75,000 points as well. Most recently it has been 35,000 without the annual fee waived as well. Personally I’d probably wait until the 50,000 miles bonus returns, but with the $95 annual fee waived this could be similar value depending on how much you value the miles.
Keep in mind that this card is issued by Synchrony, I’d recommend reading this post about them before applying. It seems that they always pull TransUnion for applications. You can read our full review of the card here (just note the higher sign up bonus now available). It is worth remembering that SPG, American Express Membership Rewards & Citi ThankYou points all transfer to Cathay.
In terms of using Cathay Pacific miles below is their award chart (found here):
Travel is Free probably has the best post on redeeming Cathay Pacific miles, read that here.
The min spend requirement is now only $1,500 but seems like annual fee is not waived first year.
Better to wait for 50k bonus to come back
I called a CSR and they told me this offer will be available until March 31st.
The previous $95AF for sign up bonus of 50,000 miles is much better than this no AF but only 35,000 miles. Just how much money you would need to spend in order to gain another 15,000 miles? Even with purchase on Cathay Pacific, you got to spend $7500 for 15,000 miles while the previous offer costs $95 instead of $7500.
One MAJOR benefit of Asia Miles is that you can get award seats at ~360 days while AA is locked out until 330.
I recall something abouit having to use the miles within 3 yrs or something or else they are forfeited?
That’s correct
I regret that I applied for it when the bonus was 50k miles with $99 annual fee. They ruined my credit. They approved but some how card get lost in transit. I also moved that time. Call them and they send me a new card.
Everything went fine until one day I check credit karma and saw 2 accounts with them, 1 open and 1 closed (2 open on EX). Call them and they told me because they closed old one and opened new account for me. The problem is they closed it with $99 balance although I’ve paid annual fee with the new account already. 4 calls and 4 months already and they just give me the same answer: we submit the electronic file to credit bureaus already, please wait 30 days for update.
Now the closed one have 90 days late and first payment never received. open dispute with TU more than a month, no result yet. EQ even make it worse. EQ removed the good account and dump all bad info into the closed one.
Not sure how can I fix it. My score went from 750 to 550 now. I will never apply for anything related to Synchrony.
Had a similar experience. Applied and approved for the card, then called to have card expedited since I was taking a trip soon. The guy I spoke with said card should arrive in two days. Card took over a week to arrive. Then I tried to set up an online account but kept receiving an error. Called and was told that I have two different accounts with them since they rushed shipped one and then created me another one. They said they’d look into it. And a few days later, second card shows up in the mail but with the same card number as the first one. I call again to follow up explaining the situation, and the guy I spoke with insisted that it was an IT error so I should try again tomorrow. I call later that week, explain everything again and a manager gets assigned the issue and tells me they call me back within a week. It’s been over a month now, since I forgot about it, but thanks to this article I’ll be calling them back again.
Maybe the CFPB can help you out. Looks like they opened a second account without your permission.
According to the terms, it seems you can only ever get a bonus once. Is this enforced if you try to get bonus #2+ ?
Be the DP you want to see.
I still have the card from the 50 k bonus. Unfortunately I cannot be the DP
I do know that you cannot have 2 CP cards at the same time as synchrony will reject the 2nd app as already having the product
Hope someone can try be the DP? 🙂
“Synchrony & Cathay Pacific have increased the sign up bonus on their cobranded credit card to 50,000 miles after $2,500 in spend within the first 90 days of account opening.”
You have a typo in your first sentence. It says 50,000 miles, not 35,000.
There seems to be a typo. your title says they’ve increased the bonus to 35k miles but then the text of the post says the bonus is 50k miles. The link to the direct offer is for 35k miles so methinks the typo is in the text saying 50k miles
“Cathay Pacific have increased the sign up bonus on their cobranded credit card to 50,000 miles after $2,500 in spend within the first 90 days of account opening”. I think you mean 35,000 miles.
Fixed, thanks