It has been awhile since we’ve seen MBNA offer increased sign up bonuses for their proprietary ‘Rewards’ credit cards. These are the cards that underwent some changes earlier in the year and late last summer. The cards were very popular up until the middle of 2018 as the points there earned could be redeemed for travel or cash back at the same rate. Some of the value was eroded when the annual fee on the World Elite Version was bumped to $120 per year from $89. This was with no increase in benefits or sign up bonus. It was also announced at that time that the redemption rate for cash back was changing in February 2019 from 2% to about 1.67%. The only good news was the redemption rate for travel was not changing which meant it was still a really good 2%. The Platinum Plus version is essentially a 1% back version of the World Elite when redeeming for travel however it does offer 2 points per dollar (2%) on eligible gas, groceries and restaurant purchases on the first $5,000 in spending in each category, which is pretty good for a No Annual Fee card.
If really flexible travel rewards are key for you and you are not interested in cash back or a ton of extra benefits these cards are ones you could consider, especially with these new limited time welcome bonus increases:
For the MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® the welcome bonus has been doubled to 20,000 points, which is worth $200 towards any travel redemption. The MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard® also sees its welcome offer double to 10,000 points worth $100 towards any travel redemption. To take advantage of these new increased welcome offers you have to apply for either card by October 31, 2019.
The card details below show the latest offers on these cards and may not be representative of the discussion above: