Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card Review (2023.8 Update: 5FN Offer!)

ThunderFat      2023-08-18     2023-08-18

Non-affiliate disclosure: all information about the this card have been collected independently by US Credit Card Guide and has not been reviewed by the issuer.

2023.8 Update2: 5FN offer is back!

2023.8 Update: The current offer is 3FN (up to 50k).

2023.6 Update: The 5FN links are all dead now. The current offer is 75k+50k/75k+$300/3FN.

Application Link

Benefits

1. 5 FN (up to 50k) offer: Earn 5 Free Night (FN) Awards (with a redemption level up to 50,000 points) by spending $5,000 in the first 3 months. This is one of the best offer on this card.
2. Marriott points are now very flexible after the merger with SPG. We estimate the value of a Marriott point at 0.7 cents/point. We estimate the value of 50k FN to be about $210, so the 5 FN highest sign-up bonus is worth about $1,050!
3. Earn 6x Marriott points at Marriott hotels (including Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and SPG brands). Earn 2x Marriott points on everything else.
4. [New] Earn 3X Bonvoy points per $1 on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on grocery stores, gas stations, and dining
5. If you pay the annual fee after your first account anniversary, you will be credited free night (FN) with a redemption level up to 50,000 points.
6. Complimentary Marriott Silver status. Earn Marriott Gold status by spending at least $35k within each membership year.
7. Earn 15 elite nights each calendar year (elite nights are for status, not free nights). You will only receive Elite Night Credits from ONE Marriott co-branded personal credit card even if you have more than one Marriott/SPG/Ritz-Carlton credit cards. You can get 15 more Elite Night Credits if you have a Marriott co-branded business credit card.
8. [New] Earn 1 Elite Night Credit towards Elite Status for every $5,000 you spend.
9. No foreign transaction fee.

Disadvantages

1. Annual fee $95, NOT waived for the first year.
2. Free night certificate is only valid for one year.
3. Certificates don’t give the flexibility of points.

Introduction to Marriott Points

• Marriott points are the most flexible transferable points (After the merging with SPG, Marriott obtained all its airline partners).
• You can earn Marriott points with Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold, AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Business, and the following cards that do not accept new applications but accept product change: Chase Ritz-Carlton, and AmEx Marriott Bonvoy.
• Marriott points are stored in your Marriott account, not in your credit cards, so you won’t lose your points by canceling the credit cards.
• Your Marriott points will expire if you don’t earn or spend any Marriott points in 24 months. As long as you earn make a purchase with the corresponding credit cards or stay in a hotel, or you redeem some points during the time frame, the point expiration date will be postponed accordingly.
• Marriott points can be transferred to a lot of airlines miles (you don’t have to have a Marriott related credit card to make the transfer), and the ratio is 3:1.25 (i.e. 3:1 transfer rate, plus you get 5k bonus miles for every 60k Marriott points you transfer at a time). The good options are: Alaska Airlines (AS) (Non-alliance), Japan Airlines (JL) (Oneworld), United Airlines (UA) (Star Alliance), American Airlines (AA) (Oneworld), All Nippon Airways (ANA, NH) (Star Alliance), Korean Air (KE) (SkyTeam), etc. If you use Marriott points in this way, the value is about 0.7 cents/point.
• Marriott points can also be redeemed for hotel stays obviously. Here’s the redemption chart: Marriott redemption chart. Generally speaking, you can get a better redemption value from lowest categories. If you use Marriott points in this way, the value is about 0.7 cents/point.
• In summary, we estimate that Marriott points are worth about 0.7 cents/point.

Recommended Application Time

1. [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.
2. This product is available to you if you do not have the old Chase Marriott credit card, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold, or the current Marriott Bonvoy Boundless (this card) and have not received a new cardmember bonus for the old Chase Marriott credit card, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold, or 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.
3. The bonus is not available if you:
   1. are a current cardmember, or were a previous cardmember within the last 30 days, of AmEx Marriott Bonvoy (Formerly AmEx SPG);
   2. applied and were approved for AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Business (Formerly AmEx SPG Business), AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Bevy, or AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant (Formerly AmEx SPG Luxury) within the last 90 days.
   3. or are a current or previous cardmember of either AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Business (Formerly AmEx SPG Business), AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Bevy, or AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant (Formerly AmEx SPG Luxury), and received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade bonus in the last 24 months.
4. Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
5. We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than a year.

Summary

The signup bonus for this card is good. The annual FN offered by the Bonvoy Boundless is capped at 35k per night, meaning you can use it at any Category 1-5 hotels in the new chart (except during Cat 5 peak season). Category 5 hotels can be found even in New York or Paris, providing significant value for those certificates. We believe the new annual FN will be worth the annual fee. In conclusion, if you don’t have any Marriott products, we recommend you sign-up the new version and keep it. If you have the older version, upgrade it to the Bonvoy Boundless. Be aware the card is subject to Chase 5/24 rule.

Related Credit Cards

Recommended Downgrade Options

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

Application Link

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