RateHerald

Bonus planner

Which bonuses should you go for next?

Card and bank bonuses are worth hundreds to thousands a year, if you take them in the right order. Tell us what you spend and can park, and what you’ve had; we plan the bonuses worth most to you, at a pace you can meet, checked against each issuer’s own rules.

What you spend on cards each month
Cards
Bank accounts

Nothing you enter is stored.

For a plain case: $2,500 a month on cards · Good credit · a new card every 3 months · $5,000 to park · no direct deposit · any state. Enter your own numbers

8 cards and 2 bank bonuses, worth $2,164 over the next two years.

Worth over two years
$2,164
bonuses after fees and interest given up
Cards
8
at $2,500 a month of spending
Bank bonuses
2
with $5,000 to park

  1. Now

    • Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Credit CardBank of AmericaSpend $4,000 in 3 months ($1,333 a month) · $95 first-year feepoints valued at 1¢, the program's cash rewards value.Track itIssuer’s site$505$600 bonus less the fee
    • SECU Total™ Checking & RewardsState Employees CU Of Maryland, INCkeep $10 · 60 daysThe bank says the offer ends 12/31/26.
      The bank’s wording
      “Current students at Maryland colleges or universities who become new SECU members and open checking between 7/15/26 and 12/31/26 must open a Share Savings and SECU Total™ Checking & Rewards account using promo code STUDENT100 and, within 60 days of opening checking, set up e-statements and enroll in”
      Track itBank’s site      $100$100 less interest given up

  2. Jan 2027

    • Freestyle SavingsHancock Whitney Bankkeep $5,000 · 60 daysThe bank says the offer ends 2/28/2027. If the offer is still there then: offers change.
      The bank’s wording
      “Open a Freestyle Savings account using the required promo code, deposit $5,000 or more within 30 days of opening, and maintain a $5,000 or more minimum daily balance for 60 days; the account must be open and have a positive balance when the bonus is awarded.”
      Track itBank’s site      $59$100 less interest given up

  3. Feb 2027

  4. May 2027

  5. Aug 2027

  6. Nov 2027

  7. Feb 2028

  8. May 2028

  9. Aug 2028

Not in the plan

How the plan is made
  • Cards: each card’s welcome bonus for your spending, at our published values (cash, or points at their program’s stated cash value), less the first year’s annual fee. The best go first, one new card as often as you chose and one from the same issuer every six months at most (issuers limit how often they approve), and a card joins only when its spending requirement fits beside the others in progress. Bonuses worth under $50 are left out.
  • Issuer rules: each issuer’s own bonus rule (“once per 48 months”, “once per lifetime”), checked against what you’ve had. Chase’s widely reported limit of five new cards in 24 months isn’t in its terms; we apply it and say so.
  • Bank bonuses: the bonuses you can meet where you live with your direct deposit and cash, worth the bonus less the interest that money would have earned at the best savings rate. One new account a month, one bonus per bank, within the money you can park at once.
  • Later steps assume today’s offers: offers change, and the plan is made again from the current ones each time you open it. Spending you move to a new card earns its rewards instead of your usual card’s. Bonuses can be taxable.
  • Ranked on what each bonus is worth to you. Whether a link pays us never changes the plan.