Chase has increased the offer on the Southwest Airlines Performance Business credit card: it is now possible to earn all 125,000 points required for a Companion Pass with one credit card offer, though you’ll need to be able to spend $25,000 total within the first few months. This could be a great deal for those looking to earn the pass without adding to their 5/24 count.
The Offer & Key Card Details
For more information about this card and to find a link to apply, click the card name below to go to our dedicated card page.
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
80K points ⓘ Affiliate 80K after $5K spend in first 3 months$199 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Earning rate: 4X Southwest ✦ 3X Rapid Rewards(R) hotel and car partners ✦ 2X rideshare ✦ 2X social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services ✦ 1X on all other purchases. Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: If you earn 135,000 points in one calendar year, you'll get a companion pass good for the rest of that calendar year and all of the next year ✦ Earn 1,500 TQPs for each $5K in purchases Noteworthy perks: 9000 bonus points each year upon card renewal ✦ 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available ✦ Global Entry or TSA Pre✔ Fee Credit ✦ Up to 365 Inflight WiFi Credits ✦ 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year. |
Quick Thoughts
This new offer essentially takes the previous bonus for this card and adds an additional 30K bonus points for an additional $20K in purchases (which means that you’ll earn a total of 50K points for that $20K in spend). In total, you’d end up with at least 125,000 points as follows:
- 5K for the initial spending requirement of $5K in the first 3 months
- 70K for the initial spending bonus
- 20K for the second spending requirement of an additional $20K in the first 6 months
- 30K for the second spending bonus above
- In total: 125,000 points
That’s assuming of course you don’t make use of any of the bonus categories, in which case you’d have even more points.
If you’re well-under 5/24 and you’re looking for a path to the Companion Pass for the least total spend, this offer (alone, anyway) is not it. You could currently pick up one of the personal cards (which feature welcome offers of 75K bonus points at the time of writing) and also get either of the business cards. Given two welcome bonuses, you would eclipse 125K points with far less spend.
That said, you’ll give up a 5/24 slot if you open a personal card. With this new business card offer, you could avoid giving up a 5/24 slot. That’s because while Chase business cards are subject to the 5/24 rule, they do not add to your 5/24 count.
| Chase 5/24 semantics ("Subject to" vs. "Count towards"): Most Chase cards are subject to the 5/24 rule. That means the rule is enforced in making approval decisions. In other words, you probably won't get approved if your credit report shows that you opened 5 or more cards in the past 24 months. Meanwhile, most business cards (such as those from Chase, Amex, Barclaycard, BOA, Citi, US Bank, and Wells Fargo) are not reported on your personal credit report. These cards do not count towards 5/24. Example: Chase Ink Business Preferred is subject to 5/24, so you likely won't get approved if over 5/24. If you do get approved, it won't count towards 5/24 since it won't appear as an account on your credit report. |
Keep in mind that the Companion Pass now requires you to earn 125,000 points in a single calendar year and then it is good for the rest of that year and the entire next year. You can even change your companion up to 3 times per year (read more about it in our Southwest Companion Pass Complete Guide 2020). If you can meet the spending requirement easily, earning the Companion Pass for nearly two years with a single card is a very interesting offer. You could obviously put that spend towards multiple welcome offers, but if you’ll make good use of the Companion Pass and you are comfortable meeting spending requirements, this is hard to pass up.
Note that if you’ve recently applied for this card, you may wonder if Chase will match you to the new offer. I always give the same advice: they never match someone who doesn’t ask. It’s always worth a call or secure message to see.
H/T: Doctor of Credit
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I spent $10K on my New United card in 3 weeks Been Throwing Up ever Since .
Pay ur Taxes.
Thanks Steve how’s the Dog ?
CHEERs
If my husband has a Southwest business card could I also apply for a Southwest business card? It would be the same business. I am an authorized user on the current card.
Yes you can
Generally, I think it’s best to not be an authorized user on someone else’s card. Each of you can get your own CC and each get a bonus.
Being an authorized never prevents you from getting the welcome bonus. On a personal account, it may initially count against your 5/24 count, but you can usually recon it if it’s just AU accounts putting you over 5/24.
I think I’ll take the leap and do this one.
Nick, in about two weeks I’ll probably be looking for a post with a title like “How to spend $25,000 quickly on your credit card”!
We’ve had that post out for quite a while now:
https://frequentmiler.com/simon-says-again-ms-is-great-and-theyre-willing-to-help/
FYI, also see:
https://frequentmiler.com/mistakes-to-avoid-on-1k-simon-visa-gift-cards/
Thanks, I’ve read them. I guess the post I’m looking for is “How to quickly spend $25,000 on your credit card without leaving your house and have the bank send you a thank you note and box of chocolates afterwards”.
It would be so much easier if Simon Malls would just open a kiosk next to the gift card counter that let you convert gift cards to cash and changed their gift card sales reporting to go to the bank as “totally legitimate, charitable spending by an upstanding citizen any financial institution would be honored to be associated with”.
That’s the article I’m looking for! 😉
As CaveDweller notes below and we mention in this week’s podcast (not yet published), you could give your Uncle Sam a loan. It’ll cost you 1.87%, but if it nets you 125K Southwest points and a companion pass, that might come as close as possible to fitting your needs.
I actually have a legitimate business (which accounts for all my income) and pay relatively high estimated taxes. It wouldn’t be a loan, I’d really owe that much over two tax periods. So I could certainly go that route — it’s $467.50 for the whole 25K spend but possibly worth it just to make it easy and get it done with quickly. In practice, I’ll figure out what I can do organically and then possibly pad that out with one round of $1K gift cards — and then do the rest with a straight credit card tax payment.
No chocolates though.
130K. Your own screenshot shows it’s an additional $25K spend, not $20K spend.
That’s not a screen shot but our own internal table — and it was my typo in that table. It’s a total of $25K spend — i.e. $20K additional (as written in my analysis). I’ve fixed the table. Thanks for pointing it out.