Chase Increases The Sign Up Bonus To 18,000 Points On Their Amtrak Card

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Chase has increased the sign up bonus on their Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card to 18,000 points if you spend $1,000 in purchases within the first three months.

The Fine Print

• Earns at following rates:
  • 2x points on Amtrak purchases
  • 1x points on all other purchases
• 5% point rebate on Amtrak travel redemptions
• No annual fee

Our Verdict

The normal bonus on this credit card is 12,000 points after $500 in spend, so this bonus is higher by 6,000 points but also needs an additional $500 in spend to trigger the bonus. The bonus on this card was as high as 32,000 points back in 2011.

I can’t imagine that Amtrak/Chase will increase the sign up bonus to 32,000 points again, at least not publicly. Some people have had success getting targeted offers for that bonus. There are two good uses of Amtrak points:

• Use them for an Amtrak trip.
• Transfer them to Choice points at a 1:3 ratio (this would make this bonus worth 54,000 Choice points).

The problem with transferring to choice points is that you need to spend $200 or more in a calendar year on Amtrak purchases to be able to transfer your points. Personally I’m going to give this offer a miss, if I ever used Amtrak then I might reconsider but I really don’t need the Choice points.

I’d like to do a longhaul Amtrak trip at some stage, but at the moment I probably don’t have the time. I also think it’s something that would be more fun to do with a family, so I’ll save that adventure for later in life. If you want to be inspired to take an Amtrak trip, I’d recommend reading these blog posts:

• My Mega Trip Report riding Amtrak across US & on to Santiago, Chile and to Buenos Aires! by Travel Blogger Buzz
• Amtrak Coast Starlight Trip Summary and my Train Traveling Thoughts by Travel With Grant (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 & Part 5 are here)

If I missed any other good blog posts about Amtrak travel, let me know in the comments and I’ll add them. What are your thoughts on the higher Amtrak bonus? Will you sign up or not?

Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer

Useful posts:

• Chase cards are churnable every 24 months
• Chase will match sign up bonuses if you’ve applied for an inferior offer in the last 90 days
• Chase offers expedited shipping for free
• Chase will combine multiple inquiries
• Check to see if you have a higher pre-approved bonus from Chase first (incredibly doubtful for this offer)
• Asking for a credit limit increase with Chase will result in a hard pull
• It is possible to reallocate your credit limits without a hard pull with Chase
• If you don’t want to pay the annual fee in the second year, click here for your best downgrade options

Hat tip to Lazy Travellers