Deal has expired, view the best credit card bonuses by clicking here.
Reposting because this deal is due to expire on the 31st.
The Offer
- 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.
Card Details
- Annual fee of $95 is not 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).
- Offer expires October 31st, 2017 according to e-mail sent out to members.
Our Verdict
Standard bonus on this card is 25,000 and that’s the only bonus we’ve ever seen. This is double that and in my opinion makes signing up for the card worth it. 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):
I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on redeeming miles, because I’m not. I’d recommend you read this post over at Travel is Free to get a good idea on the best uses of these miles. Let me know if you’re going to apply for this card in the comments and if so what your plans are for the miles. Also keep in mind that miles expire after a three year period and the only way to extend them is by paying a fee.
Can these cards be churned for the bonus points? If so, what are the tricks/timing involved?
My account was just closed by them. Just hit minimum spend. Investigating now…
any update
Updated public offer:
link: http://us.cathaypacific.com/offers/credit-card?utm_source=HOMEPAGE&utm_campaign=creditcardlaunch&utm_medium=BANNER-US?&siteCode=CCXBTCCLP1
Earn up to 45,000 Bonus Asia Miles*
Earn 35,000 Bonus Asia Miles
When you spend $2,500 in the first 90 days of account opening.
Plus, earn additional 10,000 Bonus Asia Miles
When you purchase and fly with Cathay Pacific* round-trip or 2 one-way flights by June 30, 2018.
This is our first Synchrony card. I applied on Oct. 23. Went to pending. They pulled TU (California). Five days later, Synchrony reported the new account on my TU report but didn’t tell me for another week. 13 days after the app, received card and met the spend organically that day. The first statement cycle closed 11 days later, and two days after that, having made zero payments to the card, the 50k bonus points posted to my AsiaMiles account. My wife applied a week later, got auto-approved, and her card came a little quicker, arriving the same day as the letter informing her she’d been approved.
I was auto approved on 31st and just received the card today. Call the CSR and was told that the account was set up on 3rd so I am not eligible for this offer???
Update: still received 50k.
Interesting that both my wife and I applied and received a 15 days notification, rather than the 7-10 days and a message to call in. I waited a week (TU credit pull) to call in and spoke with a rep who verified I was approved for $9,500 ($8,600 for my wife). Nothing yet in Credit Karma and no email indicating my approval. I was actually surprised it went pending, considering how many pre-approved letters they’ve sent me over the past few months.
TU in NJ. Recived new account alert after a week.
Likewise, TU in NJ and just showed up as a new account on my TU report today.
Pulled TU in DC
Nice, auto approved! Pulled from TU in VA.
I had two negative experiences with Synchrony that has really put me off applying for their cards anymore. The first was back when they launched their 5% rebate Amazon card. I was flatly denied for their card despite having good credit and an existing Amazon Chase card (which at the time gave the 3% back).
Then just this past summer when they started the increased signup for the Cathay Pacific card I was excited and applied. I was approved and sent the card, but then they put a hold on the card stating that there was a problem with my identity. I tried to call to have this resolved. They said they could not confirm my mobile phone number (which I had listed as the primary contact number. We don’t use a land line). I’ve had no issues with other card sign ups (Chase, Citi, Amex). They said they would send me some paperwork and I would have to scan copies of my DL and show proof of address, and send it all back. They sent me a notice of the hold on the card, but no other paperwork arrived. By this time a month was up and I’d missed the window for making the first set purchases I’d planned (to meet the three month spend for the award). But beyond this, I’d received a statement billing me for the annual fee. I was beyond ticked. So I called and after considerable time with customer service, got the card cancelled and the annual fee rescinded. I had to get transferred to two departments because of the hold on the card. But that wasn’t the end of it. The next month, I get another bill for interest on the annual fee (which was rescinded). So back on with customer service again.
So despite having a hold on the card (from inception), because they couldn’t confirm my identity, they were still able to bill me and send me statements. >_<
Thankfully, I was able to get back on track and take advantage of the increased Hilton Surpass signup bonus instead.
I realize that my experiences are limited to my own circumstances and not indicative of other users, but I've never encounter such difficulty when applying for other cards (with the exception of having bumped against the 5/24 rule).
Thanks for sharing your experience. I had an issue with the mobile number and didn’t get approved and that was a super frustrating experience but it pales in comparison to what you had to go through. If I apply for a Synchrony card again, I’m going to use my work phone number.
Don’t bother calling in even if you can find a number. I found a number and called because I went pending and got to analyst who suggested I was approved but needed to do verification. Makes sense because I moved recently. Then I got bounced around to 6 different people before finally getting to fraud and being told I would get something in the mail.
Did you eventually get approved or denied?