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Okay I know there isn’t really such a thing as a one “best” card.  I mean, if you put a gun to my head and forced me to pick only one card to have for the rest of my life, it would probably be either the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Sapphire Preferred.  One of them won our Card Madness 16-card tournament and the other one is the card I find myself most often recommending to people just starting out

I think that there are 3 reasons to get or keep a new card

  1. For a good signup bonus
  2. For ongoing category or spending bonuses
  3. For benefits attached to having the card (free nights, free checked bags, etc)

In the last category, it was hard to beat the cost / benefit ratio of the Chase IHG card – it’s one of the few “no-brainer” cards and one of the very few cards that I am willing to pay the annual fee on

a group of huts in the water

Chase IHG card perks and benefits

The big benefit of the Chase IHG card is that in exchange for paying the $49 annual fee, you got 1 free night at ANY IHG hotel

In addition to the free night, you also got

(SEE ALSO: The 6 best uses of IHG points)

Now, is the Chase IHG card going away?

Now, it appears that the We’ve seen multiple reports (rumors?) that the Chase IHG card is going away. I’ve seen reports from Frequent Miler, Miles to Memories and Ask Sebby

I currently have a link for the Chase IHG card (see below) but as I’ve said many times before, I don’t control what is available at those links, so I don’t have any inside information on when or how long it might be going away.

Doctor of Credit is also proposing that the $49 annual fee card might be going away to be replaced by 2 cards

  • One with a $29 annual fee, 60,000 point signup bonus and no anniversary night
  • One with an $85 annual fee, 80,000 point signup bonus and a free anniversary night

What that means for those of us who already have the $49 annual fee is still unclear

What’s the best IHG offer and where to get the Chase IHG card

My link has the offer for 60,000 IHG points – you can compare the Chase IHG card to other hotel cards here. It gives 60,000 IHG points after spending $1000 in the first 3 months.  The free night certificate is after paying the $49 annual fee on the card anniversary.

I have also seen reports of a targeted 80,000 point offer so that would be worth checking out.  I have not yet seen reliable steps to get that offer to show up.

Are you planning on signing up?  Let us know in the comments


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