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The SunTrust Prime Rewards Credit Card has an offer for $100 bonus cash when you spend $500 within the first three months. For a card that doesn’t cost anything to carry, it’s a decent welcome bonus. The Chase Freedom card offers a comparable bonus with similar spending requirements. See our list for more cash back credit cards.
SunTrust Travel Rewards earns an unlimited, flat 1% cash back rate on all purchases. That rate goes from not-so-spectacular to decent if you’re a SunTrust Bank accountholder – thanks to its loyalty cash bonus of up to 50%.
Unfortunately, if you don’t already bank with the issuer, you have to live in a state where SunTrust operates in order to apply.
*Check out SunTrust Bank bonuses for Checking & Savings accounts.
| Bonus Available | Get $100 as statement credit after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening. |
| Bonus Value* | $100 |
| Ongoing Rewards/Benefits | Earn unlimited 1% cash back on all qualifying purchases. Receive a Loyalty Cash Bonus of 10%, 25% or 50% when you deposit your cash back into a SunTrust account. Pay no fee when you transfer a balance during the first 60 days of account opening. |
| Foreign Transaction Fees? | No |
| Annual Fee | $0 |
*Bonus value is an estimated value calculated by MoneysMyLife and not the card issuer. Read our card review for more details.
View our latest valuations here.
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PROS
- No annual fee
- Welcome offers
- Loyalty bonus
- Flexible rewards
- No foreign transaction fees
CONS
- Good-Excellent credit needed to qualify
- Poor baseline rewards rate
- Minimum redemption requirement
- Limited availability
CHASE FREEDOM FLEX℠
The Chase Freedom Flex℠ credit card is going to earn you a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. The welcome bonus comes in the form of 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points. This card has no annual fee.
This card earns 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate (new categories each quarter). Travel purchased through Chase also earns 5%.
This card earns Ultimate Rewards (UR) points and is a popular option for a multi Chase card strategy. You can pool points together with consumer cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Or, with a business card like the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card. The 20,000 UR points could be worth around $400 with this strategy, rather than the standard $200. Read more on this here.
SunTrust Prime Rewards Card Offers: $100 Bonus Cash + No-Fee Balance Transfers
Take advantage of the SunTrust Prime Rewards card’s introductory offers:
- Balance transfers are free for the first 60 days after opening your account. After that, you’ll be charged $10 or 3% of the amount, whichever is greater.
- $100 in the form of statement credit when you charge at least $500 to your card within the first three months from opening your account.
Here are some ideas on meeting the spending requirement:
Earning SunTrust Prime Rewards
With the SunTrust Prime Rewards credit card, you earn an unlimited flat rate of 1% cash back on all qualifying purchases. There are no limits to how much you can earn.
Redeeming SunTrust Prime Rewards
Although it is a cash back card, the SunTrust Prime rewards card can be used a number of ways:
- Direct deposits
- Statement credits
- Travel
- Experiences
- Gift cards
- Merchandise
For the best value, redeem your rewards for direct deposits into a SunTrust account (more on that below). Keep in mind, these have a $5 minimum redemption.
SunTrust Loyalty Cash Bonus
With SunTrust Loyalty Cash Bonus, the more you have in your deposit accounts, the bigger the bonus when you redeem your rewards directly into a SunTrust account. Get a:
- 10% bonus if you deposit your cash rewards into a SunTrust checking, savings or money market account. At this tier, there is no balance requirement.
- 25% bonus if you have a SunTrust Advantage Checking, Signature Checking or Exclusive Checking account, and you have combined consumer deposits and investment balances totaling $25,000 up to $100,000.
- 50% bonus if you have a SunTrust Advantage Checking, Signature Checking or Exclusive Checking account, and you have combined consumer deposits and investment balances totaling over $100,000.
- 50% bonus if you’re enrolled in the SunTrust Premier Program or SunTrust Private Wealth Management. There is no balance requirement.
The chart below shows how the Loyalty Cash Bonus will affect your Prime rewards.
| Loyalty Bonus | Rewards Rate |
| No Bonus | 1% |
| 10% | 1.1% |
| 25% | 1.25% |
| 50% | 1.5% |
If you keep large balances in your SunTrust account, the loyalty bonus could help you earn cash rewards similar to what other credit cards with no annual fees offer.
SunTrust Prime Rewards Card Availability
If you don’t already bank with SunTrust, the Prime Rewards card is limited to within the issuer’s network. That includes:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Georgia
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Washington, D. C.
- West Virginia
Otherwise, you’ll need to consider other credit card options.
Bottom Line
If you don’t already bank with SunTrust, its Prime Rewards credit card won’t be as attractive as other no-annual-fee cards on the market. The card’s poor baseline rate of 1% cash back only becomes decent with the bank’s loyalty cash bonus. But even then, you’ll need to hold a large balance in your bank accounts to get a worthwhile rewards rate. All-in-all the SunTrust Prime Rewards credit card is a tough sell.
What’s The Competition?
Below are some of the top competitors to the SunTrust Prime Rewards credit card you should consider.
CHASE FREEDOM UNLIMITED®
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® credit card has an offer for $200 bonus cash after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
This card also earns 5% on travel purchased through Chase, 3% on dining at restaurants and drugstores, and 1.5% on all other purchases.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® earns Ultimate Rewards points. Points can be pooled with those from other eligible Chase cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card. More on this here.
CAPITAL ONE® SAVORONE® CASH REWARDS CREDIT CARD
The Capital One® SavorOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card has a $200 bonus when you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months of account opening. This card has no annual fee. The annual-fee version of this card is the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card.
This SavorOne card earns unlimited 3% cash back on dining and entertainment spending. Grocery store spending earns 2% cash back. All other purchases earn 1% cash back. There are no rotating categories to worry about and the cash back won’t expire while the account is open.
| OFFER LINK | OFFER | OUR REVIEW |
| Chase Business Complete Banking℠ | $300 Cash | Review |
| Chase Total Checking® | $225 Cash | Review |
| Chase Secure Banking℠ | $100 Cash | Review |
| TD Bank Beyond Checking | $300 Cash | Review |
| TD Bank Convenience Checking℠ | $150 Cash | Review |
| HSBC Premier Checking | $450 Cash | Review |
| Axos Business Checking | $100 Cash | Review |
| Aspiration Checking | $150/$200 Cash | Review |
| Ally Invest | Up To $3,000 | Review |
| Betterment | Up To 1 Year Free | Review |
| BlockFi | Up To $250 BTC | Review |
| Voyager (code BH5F1A) | $25 In BTC | Review |
| TradeStation | $100 Bonus | Review |
| Coinbase | $10 In BTC | Review |
| Robinhood | Free Stock | Review |
| Motley Fool | Stock Advisor Discount | Review |
Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Disclaimer: These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post. It is not the bank advertiser's or any other entity's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.