This Is How Much You Could Earn From 2024 Credit Card Rewards

Rewards credit cards may not sound that special when you first hear about them. Why get excited about earning 2% back? If you spend $100, that's only $2.

It's true that on most purchases, you're not going to earn a ton of credit card rewards. The magic is how much you can earn over longer periods, like a year, especially if you also take advantage of new cardholder bonus offers. To demonstrate, let's look at how much you could earn in rewards over the rest of 2024 and exactly how to do it.

Sign-up bonuses: $200 to $1,500

As every fan of rewards cards learns, the real money is in the sign-up bonuses. These are an incentive available to new cardholders that you earn by meeting a spend requirement. Here are a few examples of sign-up bonuses on cash back credit cards:

• The Chase Freedom Flex℠ offers a $200 bonus for spending $500 on purchases in the first 3 months.
• The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card offers a $200 cash rewards sign-up bonus for spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.

Even bigger bonuses are available with travel credit cards. They require more spending, but you also get much more value. Here are some of the best options:

• The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 75,000 bonus points for spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Rewards are worth $0.01 per point for cash back or $0.0125 per point for bookings through Chase's travel portal -- a value of $600 to $750.
• The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers 75,000 Miles for spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Rewards are worth $0.01 per mile for travel -- a value of $750.

At a minimum, you could easily open a cash back card and earn a $200 sign-up bonus this year. That's the simplest option. If you don't mind opening multiple cash back cards, you could earn $500 or more in bonuses. And with travel cards, you could earn bonuses with $750 to $1,500 in value, or more.

Purchase rewards: $100 to $1,000

You're also going to earn rewards on your purchases. The amount will depend on your spending habits and your rewards cards. Some are flat-rate cards that earn the same amount, regardless of the spending category. With these, the highest rate you can find is usually 2%.

There are also rewards cards with bonus categories. They generally earn 2% to 6% in bonus categories, and 1% everywhere else.

Let's assume you'll earn 2% back on your purchases. That's a good estimate, because it's an amount you can get from a flat-rate card. You may earn more or less than that if you use a card with bonus categories, but 2% works as an average.

Now, we're already a couple of months into 2024. Here's how much you could earn over 10 months of spending at 2% back, depending on how much you spend with your rewards card per month:

• $500 per month: $100
• $1,000 per month: $200
• $2,000 per month: $400
• $3,000 per month: $600
• $4,000 per month: $800
• $5,000 per month: $1,000

You could earn $300 to $2,500 in 2024 credit card rewards

As you can see, there's a pretty wide range for how much you could earn with credit cards over the rest of the year. If you keep it simple with one card, and you spend $500 per month, you could earn $300 back. An extra $300, for hardly any work, certainly isn't bad.

If you take a few steps to maximize your rewards, you could do even better. For those with high monthly spending, and who don't mind opening multiple cards for more sign-up bonuses, it's possible to earn thousands.

I'd recommend picking out one rewards card you like to start. Open it and use it for all your regular spending. After you've spent enough to earn the sign-up bonus, you can open another card if you like, or stick with the one you have. Whichever option you choose, make sure to continue using a rewards card for your expenses. Over time, it adds up to big savings.