Credit Card Miles & Points Earned in 2012

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2012 was another great year for earning miles and points from credit card sign up bonuses. 
As good as it was, I knew it was unlikely that I'd do better than in 2011. 

The big offers seen over the last few years never seemed to come and I had to settle for offers that were in the 50,000 mile/ point range. Still nothing to complain about!

In 2011 I earned 775,000 miles & points. I wrote a recap about which cards I signed up for which you can check out here.

It's time for my recap of Miles & Points earned in 2012 from credit card sign up bonus offers.

For this recap I am counting bonuses for all cards that I applied for in 2012. 
I am still waiting for the bonuses to post on a couple of my cards and for one card half of the bonus miles will not post until the summer.

Here are the cards that I signed up for along with the bonus earned:

• Chase Southwest Airlines Visa Personal - 50,000 miles
• Chase Southwest Airlines Visa Business - 50,000 miles
• Citi American Airlines Business Visa- 50,000 miles
• Citi American Airlines Amex- 50,000 miles
• Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa- 35,000 miles
• Barclay's US Airways Premier World Mastercard- 40,000 miles
• Chase United Explorer Card- 55,000 miles
• JP Morgan (Chase) Ritz Carlton Rewards- 70,000 points + $200 airline incidentals & lounge access
• Chase British Airways Card- 100,000 miles (50K after one purchase, additional 50K miles after one year anniversary & making a purchase and paying $75 fee)
• US Bank FlexPerks- 33,150 points worth over $600 in travel
• Amex Delta SkyMiles- 70,000 miles + $100 statement credit with eligible Delta purch.
• Amex HHonors- 65,000 points
• USBank Club Carlson Business Visa- 85,000 points

Including miles/ points that I am waiting on posting to my accounts, I earned 753,150 from credit card sign up bonuses! I fell short of my 2011 total by a very small amount. I also feel that the miles and points earned in 2011 were added to more valuable programs.

Other things to consider for the 2012 earnings:

• I earned Southwest Companion Pass status which essentially makes my SW points worth double in value.
• Two cards gave me cash savings in addition to miles & points. The JP Morgan Chase card saved me $200- I used $100 for bag fees and the other $100 to buy an AA gift card. The Amex Delta card also got me a $100 statement credit for making an eligible Delta purchase- a $2 can of pink lemonade (the $2 went to charity) purchased on a flight.   

Overall I found 2012 to be a very successful year for earning miles and points. I hope that 2013 can be even better and bring more great earning opportunities. You can never have too many miles or points!

If you would like to share how you did earning miles & points in 2012, I'd love to hear about it. Feel free to leave a comment below.