The Best Deals Live Right Now
Six deals. Math checked. Family filtered.
Ink just hit $1,000 cash back with zero annual fee — the highest bonus Chase has ever put on that card. Delta's elevated offers die on July 15. The Chase Sapphire Reserve is at its best-ever 100K. And there's a flight to Cartagena for 14,200 points.
This issue covers all six. We'll show you the math, flag the deadlines, and tell you what to actually do — starting tonight.
Cards
Four offers worth your attention this week — one record high, two with a hard deadline, and one that just hit its best-ever bonus. Each one has been checked against the family math.
Chase Ink Business Unlimited® — $1,000 Bonus, $0 Annual Fee
The Ink Business Unlimited normally sits at $750. Chase just pushed it to $1,000 cash back — an all-time high for this card — and it still carries zero annual fee. There's no break-even math to do. The bonus is real value from day one.
Here's where it gets interesting for families: this card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. On its own, you redeem at 1 cent per point — $1,000 cash. But if you already have a Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, those same 100,000 points become transferable to United, Flying Blue, Aeroplan, and Hyatt. At 1.5–2¢ per point in travel, that $1,000 bonus becomes $1,500–$2,000+ in real trips.
This is a business card, so you need a business to apply. But the definition is broader than most people think — freelancing, tutoring, selling anything online, or driving rideshare all qualify. Verify current terms at chase.com before applying.
The two Delta cards below are running elevated welcome bonuses that disappear on July 15, 2026 — about three weeks from now. The standard bonuses are meaningfully lower. If you're considering a Delta co-brand card, this is the window.
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Amex — 125,000 Miles
The Reserve's elevated offer pays out in two tiers: 100,000 miles after $6,000 in the first 6 months, then an additional 25,000 miles after another $3,000. Total: 125K miles on $9K spend over six months.
125,000 SkyMiles goes a real distance. Domestic round trips for two, a one-way business class seat to Europe, or a family vacation in the off-peak window. Long-term, the card earns its keep through the annual companion certificate (companion flies economy for taxes only) and lounge access — meaningful perks for families that fly Delta regularly.
If the $9K spend feels steep or $650 is a lot upfront, see the Platinum below. Same deadline, lower threshold, half the annual fee.
Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Amex — 90,000 Miles
The Platinum earns 90K miles in two tiers: 70,000 after $3,000 in 6 months, then 20,000 more after another $2,000. That's $5,000 total — about $833/month, which most families reach without stretching.
The math here is actually better than the Reserve: more miles per dollar of spend, half the annual fee. The Platinum also includes a domestic companion certificate and a free checked bag for the cardholder and up to 8 companions — on a family of four, that's $120+ back per round trip just in bag fees.
No lounge access and no upgrade priority, which is where the Reserve justifies its higher fee. But for most families who want the bonus and companion cert without a $650 commitment, the Platinum is the better deal this week.
- You want lower annual fee ($350)
- Lower spend threshold is more realistic
- You just need the companion cert + bag
- You're newer to co-brand cards
- You fly Delta frequently
- You'll actually use Delta lounges
- Upgrade priority matters to you
- $9K spend is achievable in 6 months
Chase Sapphire Reserve® — 100,000 UR Points
The Reserve just matched its all-time high: 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $6,000 in the first 3 months. This card is the flagship of the Chase ecosystem — and right now it has a structural advantage that the Sapphire Preferred lost in June 2026.
In June 2026, Chase changed the Sapphire Preferred's transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3 for new cardholders. The Reserve still transfers at 1:1. If your family is targeting a Hyatt stay — a Mexico resort, a Caribbean property, or a Category 1–4 weekend — every 4,000 Reserve points becomes 4,000 Hyatt points. The same balance on a Preferred now only gets you 3,000. On a trip requiring 100,000 Hyatt points, that's a 33,000-point difference.
100,000 UR points at 1:1 to Hyatt = 100,000 Hyatt points — enough for multiple nights at a Category 5 property or a full week at lower-tier resorts. Combined with the $300 travel credit, 3x on dining and travel, and Priority Pass lounge access, the Reserve's net annual fee is around $250 for most cardholders.
Awards
Award availability changes fast. This is what's showing right now — with the math done and the transfer path mapped.
Cartagena, Colombia — 14,200 Points One-Way
Economy flights from Atlanta to Cartagena are showing at 14,200 points one-way in August, plus $48.50 in taxes. The CPP comes in at 1.59¢ — below our usual 2.0¢ floor — but we're including it because the out-of-pocket is almost nothing, and Cartagena is one of the most underrated family destinations in the western hemisphere.
FFC's standard floor for award flights is 2.0¢ per point. This one comes in at 1.59¢ — so by the math alone, it doesn't make the cut. We're including it because the value prop here isn't CPP efficiency, it's low out-of-pocket: $48.50 per person to fly internationally in August. If you have points sitting idle in Chase or Amex and you've been eyeing a Caribbean trip, this is a legitimate use case even below the floor. Just go in knowing you're optimizing for cash savings, not point value.
For a family of four roundtrip, you're looking at roughly 113,600 points + ~$390 in taxes — one welcome bonus from the Ink or Sapphire Preferred, with a little earning on top.
Transfer paths: Chase UR → United (search United for ATL–CTG routing), or Amex MR → Aeroplan or Flying Blue depending on the airline. Check award availability at the airline's site first. Don't transfer until you've confirmed all four seats on your exact dates — award space on Caribbean routes moves quickly.
Cartagena itself: walled colonial city, warm Caribbean beaches, great food, direct flights from ATL in August. One of the better options for families wanting international without the 10-hour flight.
Find the seats first, then transfer. Award space can disappear in hours. Once points are in an airline program, they cannot be moved back. Confirm all four seats on your exact dates before initiating a single transfer.
Cash
Not every trip should use points. When cash fares drop this far below normal, sometimes the right move is to pay — and save your points for a higher-CPP redemption later.
Costa Rica (Liberia) — $300 Roundtrip from Atlanta
$300 roundtrip from Atlanta to Liberia (LIR) — the gateway to Guanacaste on Costa Rica's Pacific coast. The normal fare runs around $550. That's $250 per person off, or $1,000 in savings for a family of four.
These fares are date-specific — you're not browsing, you're committing to what's available. If your family's summer window aligns, this is worth jumping on before it disappears.
Guanacaste is the driest, sunniest region of Costa Rica — the right choice for a beach trip, especially when other parts of the country are in rainy season. National parks, zip lines, sea turtle nesting, warm Pacific water. It's genuinely one of the better family-friendly international destinations accessible from Atlanta on a short flight.
If you're weighing this against the Cartagena award: paying $300 cash and keeping your points for a higher-CPP redemption is a completely legitimate call. At 1.59¢ on Cartagena, it's a decent award — but if you have your eye on a Hyatt stay or a business class redemption worth 3¢+, holding the points makes sense. Use the FFC Points Lab to run your own comparison.