Many premium credit cards offer a travel credit as part of their benefits packages. This travel credit provides a cash offset to travel purchases that you are likely to make anyway. Many high-end premium credit cards offer travel credits north of $300 per year. If a credit card offers an annual travel credit, it is likely a large part of your value calculation when considering whether to pay an annual fee or to keep a card after the first year.
But not all annual travel credits are the same. Here’s what you need to know about annual travel credits.
What is an annual travel credit?
Annual travel credits are headline features of high-end premium travel rewards cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the Amex Platinum card. Typically, charging eligible travel purchases to your card triggers your credit card issuer to apply a statement credit to your account.
Many cards offer general use credits applicable toward a wide variety of travel purchases. For example, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers a $300 credit that automatically applies to almost any travel purchase you charge to your card. Some cards, like the many variants of the Amex Platinum and the Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite Credit Card offer credits that can offset airline incidental purchases
Annual travel credits offered on popular cards
Here are some of the annual travel credits offered by popular credit cards.
Chase Sapphire Reserve® – $300 travel credit
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers a $300 annual travel credit that is, frankly, the gold standard for travel credits. Every account anniversary year, Sapphire Reserve cardholders are entitled to credits to offset the first $300 of travel purchases charged to their card.
The credit is automatic and is applied to the first $300 of travel credits you receive after your cardmember account anniversary year. And because the card earns 3 points per dollar on travel, it’s likely to be the card you’re using for your travel purchases anyway.
Chase Sapphire Reserve® travel credit at a glance
Here’s what you need to know about the Chase Sapphire Reserve® travel credit.
- Amount – $300
- Eligible purchases – Travel purchases charged to the card
- How to get it – Charge eligible travel purchases to the card. The credit applies automatically.
- Reset date – Based on your account open date
- Other things to know – You won’t earn the usual 3x Ultimate Rewards points on the first $300 of travel purchases each account anniversary year.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card – $300
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offers a $300 annual credit for purchases made through Capital One Travel.
Capital One Travel is Capital One’s travel portal. Capital One grants 10x miles for hotel and rental car booking through its portal and 5x miles on flights booked through the portal. Hotel booking typically will not receive points or status credit in the hotel program, but airfares are generally eligible to accrue frequent flyer miles and credit toward airline status.
The requirement to book travel through Capital One is a bit of a pain, but most people will find that booking one or two flights a year through the Capital One portal is an easy hoop to jump through. And the credit is applied automatically.
Capital One Venture X Rewards travel credit at a glance
Here’s what you need to know about the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card travel credit.
- Amount – $300
- Eligible purchases – Travel purchased through Capital One Travel
- How to get it – Make a booking through Capital One Travel and charge it you card. The credit applies automatically.
- Reset date – Based on your account open date
- Other things to know – You receive bonus points for your Capital One Travel booking as normal when using your travel credit.
The Platinum Card® from American Express – A coupon book of credits
The Platinum Card® from American Express is marketed as having over $1,500 per year in statement credits. Many of these statement credits are applicable only to purchases from certain vendors. And only some are related to travel. Here are the statement credits offered by the Platinum card that approximate travel credits offered on other cards.
$200 Hotel Credit – Good toward Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection bookings through American Express Travel. This credit resets at the start of each calendar year.
$200 Uber Cash – Platinum cardholders receive a $15 Uber Cash credit each month, plus a $20 “bonus” credit in December. This credit can be used for Uber rides or Uber Eats delivery and takeout orders within the United States. The credits are granted on the first day of the month and expire at the end of each calendar month.
$200 Airline Fee Credit – Good toward incidental fees when traveling on your selected qualifying airline. You must select your qualifying airline before you’ll receive a credit and your qualifying airline can only be changed in January of each year. This credit resets at the start of each calendar year.
U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card – $325
U.S. Bank is perhaps the most generous of the large banks when it comes to travel credits. The $325 travel credit from the U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card applies not only to travel, but also to dining purchases. Not only will you get automatic credits for travel purchases made on the card, but you’ll also receive a statement credit to offset dining purchases
U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card credit at a glance
Here’s what you need to know about the U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card travel credit.
- Amount – $325
- Eligible purchases – Travel and dining, including takeout and delivery, charged to the card.
- How to get it – Charge eligible purchases to the card.
- Reset date – Based on your account open date.