Skip to content

The best big cash back bonuses: $500 or more for new cardmembers

December 6, 2024: Today, we’re launching our coverage of the best big cash back credit card bonuses.

These new cardmember offers can give you the most cash back rewards (or points that can be easily redeemed for cash back.) On this list, we include cards we found that offer a $500 or greater bonus once you subtract the card’s annual fee.

Best $500+ cash back new cardmember bonuses in December 2024

Here are the sign-up bonuses and welcome offers where you can earn $500 or more as of our last update:

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card card art
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: annual_fees
Offers great rewards on travel. Points can be redeemed for 1 cent each for cash back or used for higher-value travel redemptions through Chase Travel℠ or transfer partners.
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card card art
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
Sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: annual_fees
An excellent card for small business owners who buy office supplies or internet/cable/phone service.
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card card art
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: annual_fees
A great option for small business owners who want cash back rewards on purchases with no annual fee.
U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa® Business Card card art
U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa® Business Card
Sign-up bonus: Earn $750 in cash back. Just spend $6,000 on the Account Owner's card in the first 180 days of opening your account. Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: $0
An option for small business owners with 3% rewards at restaurants.
All information about the U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa® Business Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
Capital One Spark Cash card art
Capital One Spark Cash
Sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: annual_fees
Offers unlimited 2% cash back rewards for your small business.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card card art
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: annual_fees
A good travel credit card that offers Ultimate Rewards® points, which can be redeemed for 1 cent of cash back each or transferred to travel partners.
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card art
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card
Sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: annual_fees
An excellent card for everyday spending, travel, and dining rewards if you have at least Platinum status with Bank of America Preferred Rewards. Points can be redeemed for 1 cent of cash back each.
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card card art
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card
Sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: annual_fees
Earns increased rewards in a number of useful travel categories, plus grocery and gas purchases. ThankYou Points® can be redeemed for 1 cent of cash back each or transferred to travel partners.
Capital One Spark Cash Select card art
Capital One Spark Cash Select
Sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: annual_fees
Earns 1.5% cash back on every business purchase.
Signify Business Cash℠ Card card art
Signify Business Cash℠ Card
Sign-up bonus: Earn a $500 cash rewards bonus when you spend $5,000 in purchases for your business in the first 3 months. Learn how to apply.

Annual fee: $0
A card offering uncapped 2% rewards on business spending with no annual fee.
All information about the Signify Business Cash℠ Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.

How we selected cards for this list.

We made some editorial choices in which cards we included in our list of best large sign-up bonuses. Here are the criteria we used when selecting cards for this list:

  • Large cash back bonus. The cash-back value of the bonus, net of the first year annual fee is greater than $500.
  • Earning the bonus gets you 10% or greater cash back. The amount of spending required to earn a bonus represents an effective 10% cash back or better. (For example, an offer earning $500 after spending $3,000 would make this list because it is effectively 17% cash back, but an offer that earned $600 after spending $10,000 would not make the list because it is effectively 6% cash back.)
  • Card must earn cash back or points that can be easily redeemed for cash back. While we love our miles and points, only cash-back or equivalent cards make this list. Cards requiring you to have an additional account (such as a deposit account with a specific bank) are not on this list.

Editor’s take: Several cards with $500+ bonuses flying under the radar

When we put together this list, we were surprised at how we found several cards that we didn’t see on other large sites. In particular the Signify Business Cash℠ Card, U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa® Business Card, and Capital One Spark cash cards seemed to be missing from other lists published elsewhere.

Maybe this is unsurprising, since those banks either have no affiliate programs or have less-accessible affiliate programs. But it is our editorial policy to publish the best offers we know about, regardless of our affiliate relationships.

There’s plenty of reason to like many of the cards on this list. The Chase cards are great if you’re into the Ultimate Rewards® ecosystem—they offer plenty of ways to get additional value if you redeem for travel. Same with the Capital One cards. If you also hold a card that earns points, you can transfer you cash back rewards to your points-earning card, and then transfer your rewards to one of Capital One’s transfer partners. And the Bank of America card is an essential card if you’ve earned Platinum Honors or higher status with Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards program.

Bottom line: Lots of opportunities to earn a huge cash back bonus

The cards on this list represent your best bet if you’re looking for a card with a large (>$500) new cardmember bonus. And with many small business cards on this list, you can earn plenty of extra points without having additional accounts showing up on your credit report.

About the author

  • Photo of Aaron Hurd, credit card and travel rewards expert.

    Aaron Hurd is a credit card, travel rewards, and loyalty program expert. Over the past 15 years, he has authored over a thousand expert contributions published by leading outlets including WSJ, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, NerdWallet, The Points Guy, Bankrate, CNET, and many others. He has also served in consulting roles for many of these same outlets, designing content strategy, hiring teams of teams of editors and contributors, developing thought-leadership pieces, and ghost-editing for senior editors. Aaron is well-known in the miles and points community and regularly presents about travel rewards at conferences like the Chicago Seminars and Minnebar. Aaron has enjoyed the game of optimizing credit card rewards since getting his first credit card shortly after he turned 18. He started learning about credit cards and travel rewards from the (now defunct) FatWallet Finance forums and FlyerTalk. He holds more than 40 open credit cards and has first-hand experience with almost every major credit card product.

    View all posts