Why You Shouldn't Apply For A Southwest Credit Card Right Now

The Southwest personal credit cards just increased their bonus offer to 60,000 points, but I don't think you should pull the trigger just yet. 

The new offer for all personal Southwest credit cards is:

•  40,000 points for spending just $1,000 in the first 3 months 
• 20,000 bonus points when you spend $12,000 in the first year

You can only hold one personal Southwest credit card at a time. The cards are the:

Southwest Priority 

• $149 annual fee for the first year
• $75 Southwest credit 
• 7,500 anniversary points annually
• 2x on Southwest purchases
• 1x on everything else

Southwest Premier

• $99 annual fee
• 6,000 anniversary points annually
• 2x on Southwest purchases
• 1x on everything else

Southwest Plus

• $69 annual fee
• 3,000 anniversary points annually 
• 2x on Southwest purchases
• 1x on everything else

 Southwest also offers two business cards, the Performance and the Premier with 80,000 and 60,000 bonus offers respectively. 

Here's why you should hold off on applying for any of these cards until late October or early November, one word, the companion pass. Okay, that's three words. The companion pass is one of the best perks in the miles and points game. 

The Southwest companion pass allows you to bring a guest along on any flight for FREE for the year you earn the pass and the following year. You earn it by collecting 110,000 Southwest points. 

So if you earn the pass in January, you will get to use it for the rest of the year PLUS the following year. That's almost two years of buy one, get one FREE travel. 

If you earn the pass in November, you get to use it in November and December PLUS the following year. You lose about 10 months of travel! That's a lot. You can check out my blog post to see how I earned the pass this year. I have had the companion pass for the past five years and it has saved me well over $10,000. 

If you hold off applying for one of these personal Southwest cards until November, then you can plan for the bonus to occur in January. If you apply for a business card at the same time and that bonus hits in January too, you will have earned enough for a companion pass good for two years. 

Make sense?

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