You normally see applications for this card at booths outside of football stadiums with cheesy sign-up offers like a free towel, mug, or shirts. They prey on the unsuspecting (usually inebriated) fan to sign up for another credit card for a small gift so this $200 bonus is a nice surprise. This incentive wont last long so apply today before it expires. The NFL Extra Points credit card is issued by Barclays and gives you 1% cash back option on all of your purchases. 20,000 bonus points will be deposited into your account within 3o days of making your first balance transfer or purchase with your new card. Cash advances and checks used to access your account do not count for this promotion.

This offer is valid for first time NFL cardholders and Barclays has a nice disclosure attached that says if you happen to open another account and get two or more incentives they may revoke the bonus points at any time or charge your account for the “fair value” of the bonus. Extra Points will expire if you have no activity in a four year period.

As stated earlier Barclays give you 1 point for every dollar you spend with your card. You can redeem those points for NFL merchandise for your favorite team, unique fan experiences, gift cards, or statement credit once you earn $25. You also get 20% off all of your NFL website purchases.

Visit the Extra Points Visa website here for full details and to apply.

Discover is typically not one of the primary banks you think of when you think good credit card offers, but this changes the game. Many have made thousands of interest free cash simply by depositing this “free” money into high interest checking accounts or investing wisely with the money. The choice is yours, but act quickly before Discover pulls this offer. The standard offer for this card comes with a 3% BT transfer fee.

Additional benefits:

• Earn up to 5% cash back on purchases. Discover has rotating quarterly rotating bonus categories that pay a pretty penny.
• Earn 1% cash back on any other regular purchase (the first $3,000 you spend yearly only earns .25%).
•  Choose from more than 100 card designs.
• Auto rental insurance.

Additional information:

• Balance transfer must post to your account by July 10th to receive it fee free. After that, the standard 3% will apply.
• Discover More card has no annual fee.
• Do not use this card for purchases if you plan to take advantage of the balance transfer. If you choose to, make sure you understand the payment allocation.
• Never be late. If your payment is even 1 day late Discover may reserve the right to end your promotional rate.

Visit the Discover website here to apply and for more details.

Spirit is definitely one of the “no frills” airlines but during this tough economic time many welcome the approach. I personally love them because they fly nonstop from DFW to Vegas and are even lower than Southwest. This card also gives you more miles than most airline cards – 2 miles per dollar spent on every purchase versus 1 mile on other cards. Get preferred boarding as well as domestic priority check in as a card member. Pay no annual fee for the first year and there is no limit to the amount of miles you can earn per year. After the first year, the annual fee for World MasterCard accounts is $59 and $19 for Platinum Plus cards.

If you are able to spend at least $10,000 in purchases every year Spirit will also give you an extra 5,000 bonus miles. That can seem like a hefty amount of spending but check out Amazon payments and some of the other payment processing sites out there to rack up those free miles.

Additional terms:

• 15,000 bonus miles will be deposited into your Spirit account on the close of your billing cycle that you made the first purchase on.
• 5,000 anniversary miles are posted within 4 to 6 weeks after the first full year of card membership.
• You have to be an active member of the Free Spirit Miles program in order to use the miles. Which means, you must use your card at least once per month.
• Award travel is subject to fees,taxes, etc.

Check out the Bank Of America/FIA website here to learn more and apply.

What also makes this offer different is the fact that it is extremely easy to meet the incentive requirements. Chase will deposit 50,000 miles into your account after your very first use of the card! No outrageous spend requirements like other cards out there. Chase considers “first use” as any purchases, balance transfers, or checks written from your account. The remaining 10,000 miles can be a little tricky for most. In order to get the rest you must spend at least $25,000 on the card annually.

Additional card benefits:

The Mileage Plus Explorer card also has tons of extra perks. The first year is fee free (after the 1st year the annual fee is $95). You can check your first bag for free on any United or Continental flight. Get two free Club Passes every year. The United Club offers you amazing lounge access with drinks, snacks, and wifi during those long layovers. You also earn 1 MileagePlus mile for every dollar you spend and 2 miles for every dollar spent on United & Continental purchases. One of the important benefits for me personally is the fact that I get priority boarding. No more dreading being in the last group to board the plane and fighting for overhead bin space.

Additional terms:

Chase will deposit the bonus miles with 6-8 weeks after you meet the above spend requirements. 2 United Club passes will also be mailed within 6-8 weeks after you open the account and 2-4 weeks after each anniversary. MileagePlus miles do not expire as long as you have some type of activity on your credit card. This offer is valid only for first time Chase United credit card holders.

How to apply?

You must have a mileage plus account set up in order to see this offer. If you do not have an account visit www.united.com to create one for free. Once you are logged into your MileagePlus account visit this link to see the 60k offer. If you are not logged in you will only see a 40k offer. Apply today before this offer expires!

The terms of the offer are pretty easy to complete. All you need to do is spend $500 in new purchases during the first 90 days of account opening. Chase will deposit 20,000 points into an “Ultimate Rewards” account that you can then use to either have the money deposited into a checking account, have a check mailed, or the fastest and my personal favorite have the money applied as a statement credit. You can also redeem the points for gift cards, airfare, hotel stays, car rentals, or merchandise. I use the Freedom card as one of my primary cards because it is a great card with no annual fee. That means you do not have to worry about forgetting to close this card within the first year and getting hit with a $90-$150 annual fee like some of the other incentives being offered right now.

Bonus points will be deposited within 6-8 weeks after you meet the $500 spending requirements. This particular offer is valid for new Freedom account holders and you must be current on your payments when they go to apply the extra points. The Freedom card offers you up to 5% cash back in rotating categories similar to the Discover card and up to 10% when you shop online through the Ultimate Rewards mall. Up to the first $1500 in purchases are eligible for the 5%. Every other purchase earns 1%.

List of 2012 5% categories:

• 1st quarter: Amazon.com and Gas Stations
• 2nd quarter: Movie Theaters and Grocery Stores
• 3rd quarter: Gas Stations and Restaurants
• 4th quarter: Hotels, Airlines, BestBuy and Kohls

Visit the Chase website here to apply and for full terms and conditions. Apply for this card today before the standard $100 offer takes its place.

The Spark card actually makes it easy to get your money. To redeem your points you have a few different options. You can either set it manually, set up an automatic interval which will request the cash back for you on your anniversary month, or you set it to request  your cash back when you reach a certain amount (i.e $25, $50, $100, etc). There is no cap to the amount of cash back you can earn each year which is a nice feature for those who spend a lot, and rewards never expire as long as your account stays open. You can redeem for gift card to some of your favorite stores starting at $20. If you fail to create your own schedule Capital One will automatically mail you a check at the end of the year.

Comparison to other rewards credit cards:

Lets use an easy amount of $10,000 in annual spend. Below is the amount of rewards you would earn on each of your other cards.

• Capital One Spark- $200
• Chase Ink Cash- $149
• American Express Simply Cash Business- $144
• Bank Of America Cash Rewards- $125
• Discover Business- $110

Visit the Capital One Spark site here for the full details and to apply.

What makes this card different is the fact that it has 5% bonus cash back categories right now. You will earn a full 5% cash back on electronics, department, clothing, and toy store purchases until the end of the year. After that,  you get rotating bonus categories each quarter like most cards these days. For q1 2012 you will earn bonus cash back on health care, fitness club, and utilities. Visit the Citi site http://dividend.quarterlyoffer.citi.com for more information. The health care category is especially interesting for those of us who have high deductible insurance at the start of the year this card offers us another bonus. For example, my insurance has an out of pocket $3000 deductible before the insurance company starts paying for anything. After the $3000 is paid everything else is covered for the remainder of the year.

Every other purchase earns a 1% bonus. One downside to this card is that there is an annual cap of $300 for the money you earn (the $200 bonus does not count towards that cap) The Citi Dividend MasterCard has no annual fee so apply today by visiting the Citibank site HERE.

The BankAmericard is a simple cash rewards card with no annual fee. Earn 2% cash back when you buy groceries, 3% back on gas, and 1% on everything else. We love this card because of its simplicity. There are no hoops to jump through for bonus points and other incentives. You earn a straight cash back amount on daily purchases which you can redeem for a check, statement credit, or have your bonus put directly into your Bank Of America checking account. If you do choose to have your cash direct deposited BOA will give you a 10% bonus which can be pretty substantial if you use this card often. BOA does limit the amount of purchases that earn the higher cash back. You will earn the 2% / 3% on up to $1500 each quarter for the respective categories.

A few other benefits of this card include the fact that you also get a 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases for the first 12 months if made within the first 60 days of account opening. This would be a great card to put all of those Holiday expenses on and have the freedom to pay them back interest free for the next 12 months.

Ready to apply? Visit Bank Of America HERE for full details.

The Sapphire card is great for a daily spender.You earn 2 points per dollar spent on a variety of everyday purchases including dining, fast food, airfare, hotels, taxis, rental cars, trains, and cruises! You earn 1 point for every where else. Your Ultimate Rewards points never expire and there is no cap to the number of points you can earn. What makes this card different is the fact that it also has no foreign transaction fees. That can be a huge savings in itself for those who travel abroad often. Most cards charge a 3% fee.

The Ultimate Rewards program is often regarded as one of the best incentive program out there today. You can redeem points at a 1:1 ratio for cash. Meaning, you can have the money deposited directly into your Chase account, have a check written, or get a statement credit. What also sets this program apart is the fact that it has an abundant of hotel and airline partners who allow you to transfer your credit card points into airline miles or hotel points. My favorite loyalty programs are included on this list. United/Continental Mileage Plus as well as Starwood Preferred Guest. I  get free plane tickets and hotel stays from a single card!

A few other benefits of the Ultimate Rewards program include the fact that when you redeem your points for travel on the “UR” website you get a 20% bonus! The prices listed on their website are often the exact same that you would find on other websites so for those who travel a lot or are looking at ways of saving some money on that family vacation this card is second to none.  This card does have a $95 annual fee that is waived for the first year. You earn a 7% bonus each year on the number of points earned so for many, that can offset the annual fee. If you choose not to keep the card simply cancel it before your first anniversary and pocket the $500.

The final reason I love this particular card is the fact that when I call customer service for an issue I immediately get a live adviser without having to go through any phone prompts! That alone is one of the single biggest reasons I keep this card in my wallet!

Ready to apply? Visit the Chase website HERE for full details and to apply.

Offer details:

American Express will deposit 10,000 bonus Starpoints after you make your first purchase with your new card. You will also earn an additional 15,000 points after you make $5,000 in qualifying purchases. Purchases must be made within the first 6 months of membership. Starpoints will be deposited within 8-12 weeks after you meet the above requirements.

This offer is available to first time Preferred Guest Credit card holders.

Additional card benefits:

• Earn up to 5 points per dollar spent at Starwood hotels and one point on everything else. (2 points from SPG and 2 points from American Express or 3 points if you have elite status)
• AMX also gives you 5 night and 2 stay credits towards SPG elite status every year.
• Points do not expire as long as you have qualifying activity once every 12 months.
• If you are approved for an instant account American Express will give you a temporary instant line of credit of $1,500 that you may use on the Starwood website to book hotel stays.
• Eligible purchases do not include balance transfers, cash advances, interest and fees, or travelers checks.
• Purchase protection on products purchased within 90 days up to $300 per item.

Ready to apply? Visit the American Express SPG website HERE.