By Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Card Review (2021.7 Update: 100k Offer)
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2021.7 Update: The new offer is 100k, and this time the spending requirement is not so huge any more: $5,000 in 3 months.
2019.8 Update: The new offer is 50k+50k.
Application Link
Benefits
- 100k offer: earn 100,000 bonus Avios after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first 3 months . This is the best offer in recent years.
- We value EI Avios at 1.2 cents (Airline Miles Value), so the 100k highest sign-up bonus is worth about $1,200. BA Avios, IB Avios and EI Avios can be transferred to each other at a 1:1 ratio (both accounts need to be at least 90 days old).
- Earn 3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and Level. Earn 2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations. And earn 1 Avios per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- Every calendar year you make purchases of $30,000, you’ll receive an economy companion ticket good for 12 months.
- No foreign transaction fee.
Disadvantage
- Annual fee $95, NOT waived first year.
Recommended Application Time
- [5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application on this card, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
- This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months. Note that what matters here is the time you got the sign-up bonus, not the time you open the account or close the account.
- Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, or it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
- We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than a year.
Summary
The sign-up bonus on this card is quite decent. BA Avios, IB Avios and EI Avios can be transferred to each other at a 1:1 ratio, so it is a good card to earn Avios quickly together with Chase BA. These mileage programs each has its own advantage. The earning structure is not attractive at all, so if you are not flying EI frequently then it is not a good card to keep for long.
Related Credit Cards
Recommended Downgrade Options
- You can not downgrade this card to any card with no annual fee, so I suggest you close it when you don’t want to keep it any longer.
After Applying
- Call 800-436-7927 to check Chase application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.
- Chase reconsideration backdoor number: 888-270-2127 or 888-609-7805. Call it if you didn’t get approve immediately. Your personal information will be acquired and they will then review it. You seldom answer questions, instead, just enjoy the music and then you get approved or rejected, or further information is needed to be hand in to the branch or faxed.
Historical Offers Chart
Note: Sometimes there are offers such as 100k or 75k on this card, but the spending requirements after the first 50k are huge. Therefore, we don’t treat them as sign-up bonus; instead, we treat them as spending bonus instead. Similarly, the 4x up to 100k offer is also not counted.
