What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

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Drew777
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Drew777 »

rjbraun wrote:
BeneIRA wrote:
It's a miles and points high quality problem to have. Do I spend my 60,000 URs for this redemption or just pay the cash price and hoard the points for a better redemption? It's a lot harder when it is MRs or URs since they are so flexible. With hotel points or carrier-specific points, it's easy since those tend to devalue. It depends how you fly. If you are content with cheap economy fares, finding over 2 cpp isn't as easy, especially since cash prices have been pretty reasonable lately. If you fly Business/First, then finding that rate is much easier, but the issue is that for me, I don't value a first class ticket at $2,000 or whatever it is going for, so the cents per point don't matter as much to me.

<snip>

The enemy of the good redemption is the possibility of a great redemption.
That's a good point, about cash airfares seeming to be attractively priced now. I guess that's part of the equation, in that the cash price is good so I feel okay enough about spending the money. But your point about using URs or other points to snag a Business/First class plane ticket helped to remind me what I am kind of holding out for. I'd be reluctant to shell out cash for a higher-class ticket, but if I could get one (really two, for SO, too) I would love to be able to use points for that. I guess that's kind of what I'm holding out for. I tend to agree with you, I don't think I would necessarily value a first-class ticket at $2000 (or whatever), but I guess I'll have to wait and see when I find a higher-class fare whether I will be prepared to "pull the trigger" to cash in the points. Or, will I say, oh, I could buy x more coach fares with that same amount of points. I hope not but can't say, for sure, how I will feel.
I booked business class tickets to Australia using AA miles. I'm flying ATL-LAX-SYD. It was 80k miles one way and like $11 in taxes. Economy was 40k miles. The cheapest comparable flights would have been about $1,800 in economy roundtrip (2.3 cents per point) or over $8,000 in business (5 cents per point). I think it was well worth paying twice the cost in miles to have a lie flat bed on a 15 hour flight. It's not so bad paying more in miles when the cash price for business is 4-5x as much.
Drew777
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Drew777 »

jay22 wrote:
Bfwolf wrote:
BeneIRA wrote:
Bfwolf wrote:
SrGrumpy wrote:
There's not much literature on the subject, unfortunately. Doctor of Credit has written about it, though.
This is one of the best cards available though you have to call these days to get it. Much better redemptions available than $500 credit: you can get two $500 plane tickets.

Yes you can churn it. My second one is in the mail now.
Do you still have to give them code BAABZX or did they just allow you to apply? I have heard mixed data points. I have even heard one person who called and was told Bank of America doesn't offer the card anymore, which is completely incorrect.
I did not have to give the code to the agent. I just said the offer I wanted to apply for. He asked how I had heard about it, and I said from a friend.
I will try this tonight. How do you redeem 50K points for 2 $500 plane tickets? Thanks.
25,000 points gets you one ticket up to $500. Doesn't matter if the ticket is $1 or $500 it will be 25,000 points. Anything over $500 and you'll get 1 cent per point. So $500 would be the optimal amount. If you fly frequently it's best to try to get close.
vv19
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by vv19 »

Drew777 wrote:
jay22 wrote:
Bfwolf wrote:
BeneIRA wrote:
Bfwolf wrote:
This is one of the best cards available though you have to call these days to get it. Much better redemptions available than $500 credit: you can get two $500 plane tickets.

Yes you can churn it. My second one is in the mail now.
Do you still have to give them code BAABZX or did they just allow you to apply? I have heard mixed data points. I have even heard one person who called and was told Bank of America doesn't offer the card anymore, which is completely incorrect.
I did not have to give the code to the agent. I just said the offer I wanted to apply for. He asked how I had heard about it, and I said from a friend.
I will try this tonight. How do you redeem 50K points for 2 $500 plane tickets? Thanks.
25,000 points gets you one ticket up to $500. Doesn't matter if the ticket is $1 or $500 it will be 25,000 points. Anything over $500 and you'll get 1 cent per point. So $500 would be the optimal amount. If you fly frequently it's best to try to get close.
Thank you. That sounds like a good deal. Are there any restrictions on which airline, black out dates and such?
Mudpuppy
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Mudpuppy »

Thanks to this discussion, I just compared the Chase UR portal to United MP rewards flight for my winter Hawaiian vacation. It looks like transferring points to United will win out for this particular trip because I can travel on days where each leg of the reward flight is 22.5k miles, but each leg would cost about $425-450 at cash price or about 30k UR points for my CSR.
madbrain
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by madbrain »

rjbraun wrote: Appreciate if one or both of you could clarify: do you often prefer to book flights on the Chase portal because

a) the Chase portal has a lower price (including taxes, surcharges, etc.) than you find in the "cash market"?
or
b) even for the same dollar price offered in the cash market, you find it advantageous to book via the portal?

I can totally understand using the portal for reason a) but am not sure why b) is necessarily desirable.

Edit: clarification
a) is never the case is my experience - that should have been obvious from my post.
b) if it's the same dollar price, yes, I find it advantageous to book via the portal, since I can redeem points that way at 1.5cpp.
One has to use the Chase UR portal in order to redeem points.
madbrain
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by madbrain »

Drew777 wrote:
madbrain wrote:
protagonist wrote:I am finding that often purchasing tickets through their online portal with points is a great deal (1.5 UR pts/S with no restrictions or added surcharges) compared with buying tickets with airline miles.
I have found the same, but this is not true for all flights. In many cases, Chase travel seems to be adding surcharges to flights compared to the best price I can find elsewhere. But this is even more so for hotel rooms, where availability for some hotels can be quite limited or non-existent, in addition.

And I have had zero luck getting Chase concierge to match prices or find other availability - I'm told what's on the portal is all they can book, and the only price they have is what's listed.

So, I'm not quite valuing the UR points at 1.5 cpp - for me, on average, it is closer to 1.35 cpp, but that's still better than doing the transfers and redemptions in most cases.
That's usually only going to be true for cheap domestic flights. The real value in transferring to airline partners is for international redemptions, particularly in premium cabins.
Most of my trips are international. I do very little domestic travel. I never fly premium cabins, however, and don't have a desire to do so.
I have not found international coach tickets to be good redemptions when transferring UR points. For example, for the recent trip we took to Vietnam (SFO-NRT, NRT-SGN), it would have cost either 70,000 or 80,000 United miles for the roundtrip coach ticket, when it was only a $480 ticket and thus would have only been 32,000 UR points on the CSR. In this case, we used neither option - we paid "cash" in order to capture the annual $300 credit on each of our respective CSRs.
madbrain
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by madbrain »

guitarguy wrote: So, I'm not quite valuing the UR points at 1.5 cpp - for me, on average, it is closer to 1.35 cpp, but that's still better than doing the transfers and redemptions in most cases.
Really? I disagree on this. I have averaged well over 1.5 cpp on transfers.[/quote]

Maybe for the destinations you fly, but so far, most of the transfer options I have seen average closer to 1cpp, and sometimes much less. So of course, I didn't proceed with the transfers.
rjbraun
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by rjbraun »

Drew777 wrote:At a certain point worrying over redemptions values and how many cents per point you're getting is meaningless. I'm easily earning miles faster than I can spend them. Whenever I want to book an international flight I always have plenty of miles in various programs, so I just go ahead and book business class. I used to think I could never justify that when I started travel hacking, but I didn't realize how much I would build up my point balances. Now it's just trivial, it doesn't matter what the cent per point value is or whether I would pay the cash price. When points are easily acquired the analysis doesn't work the same way. You can't say the 100,000 miles I earned from a signup bonus would be worth $2k if I spent $100k on a 2% cashback card, because I didn't spend near that amount to get them.
Good to know. I hope to be where you are at one day :greedy

But, are you really saying that if you want to fly from x to y, once you find a flight where you can use points you have, you just book it? You mean, you don't even try to figure out which particular points you have will be the best ones to use -- okay, if not the *best* at least one that represents good value?

I ask, at least in part because figuring out the details and keeping current seems to take a fair amount of time, and I'm just wondering if it's possible to get to the point where one doesn't have to even think about which points to use for a given situation.
Bfwolf
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Bfwolf »

jay22 wrote:
Drew777 wrote:
jay22 wrote:
Bfwolf wrote:
BeneIRA wrote:
Do you still have to give them code BAABZX or did they just allow you to apply? I have heard mixed data points. I have even heard one person who called and was told Bank of America doesn't offer the card anymore, which is completely incorrect.
I did not have to give the code to the agent. I just said the offer I wanted to apply for. He asked how I had heard about it, and I said from a friend.
I will try this tonight. How do you redeem 50K points for 2 $500 plane tickets? Thanks.
25,000 points gets you one ticket up to $500. Doesn't matter if the ticket is $1 or $500 it will be 25,000 points. Anything over $500 and you'll get 1 cent per point. So $500 would be the optimal amount. If you fly frequently it's best to try to get close.
Thank you. That sounds like a good deal. Are there any restrictions on which airline, black out dates and such?
http://www.doctorofcredit.com/redeeming ... ir_Rewards
d0gerz
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by d0gerz »

A week or so ago my wife received a mailer from Citi/AA for the AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard offer for 65,000 miles after $4k in spending within the first 4 months.

Today she received another mailer from Citi. The offer is identical to the previous one but they have different invitation numbers.

Can she apply for both?
SrGrumpy
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by SrGrumpy »

My Capital One Venture just arrived in the mail, and I'm apparently one of the first to get the metal version. Now I don't feel so bad about canceling my Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Bh1984
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Bh1984 »

I'm a churner in my own right.

Daily card - Capital One Spark Business - 2% cash back no limit

Travel & Entertainment - Chase Sapphire Reserve - 3% on those categories no limit

Other cards I have for specific purposes.

Chase MileagePlus Club Card - $25k spend to get the spending waiver on United Status, I only use this card until I hit that limit
Chase Ink Business Preferred - Just got this for the 80k point bonus after $5k spend. Not using this anymore after receiving the bonus.

I have plenty of cards but I don't really use them after getting the bonus points.
Last edited by Bh1984 on Sun Sep 17, 2017 10:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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VictoriaF
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by VictoriaF »

Skyccord wrote:I'm a churner in my own right.

Daily card - Capital One Spark Business - 2% cash back no limit

Travel & Entertainment - Chase Sapphire Preferred - 3% on those categories no limit

...
Did you mean Chase Sapphire Reserve for 3%? Or you are getting 3% on the CSP? If the latter, I want to know the trick.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
jriding
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by jriding »

Recently received Chase Saphire Ink Preferred cards for me and DW (separate accounts, so 80k bonus for each of us after $5k spend). I discovered after receiving the cards that I missed out on an extra 20k points through a referral program. If I had it to do over again I would have signed myself up, then, after receiving the card, submitted DWs email to the referral program. That would have made me eligible for an extra 20k points after her account was approved.
Drew777
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Drew777 »

jay22 wrote:
Drew777 wrote:
jay22 wrote:
Bfwolf wrote:
BeneIRA wrote:
Do you still have to give them code BAABZX or did they just allow you to apply? I have heard mixed data points. I have even heard one person who called and was told Bank of America doesn't offer the card anymore, which is completely incorrect.
I did not have to give the code to the agent. I just said the offer I wanted to apply for. He asked how I had heard about it, and I said from a friend.
I will try this tonight. How do you redeem 50K points for 2 $500 plane tickets? Thanks.
25,000 points gets you one ticket up to $500. Doesn't matter if the ticket is $1 or $500 it will be 25,000 points. Anything over $500 and you'll get 1 cent per point. So $500 would be the optimal amount. If you fly frequently it's best to try to get close.
Thank you. That sounds like a good deal. Are there any restrictions on which airline, black out dates and such?
No restrictions as long as the airline is in the portal. I believe most are but there may be a couple that are not, I'm not positive.
Drew777
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Drew777 »

rjbraun wrote:
Drew777 wrote:At a certain point worrying over redemptions values and how many cents per point you're getting is meaningless. I'm easily earning miles faster than I can spend them. Whenever I want to book an international flight I always have plenty of miles in various programs, so I just go ahead and book business class. I used to think I could never justify that when I started travel hacking, but I didn't realize how much I would build up my point balances. Now it's just trivial, it doesn't matter what the cent per point value is or whether I would pay the cash price. When points are easily acquired the analysis doesn't work the same way. You can't say the 100,000 miles I earned from a signup bonus would be worth $2k if I spent $100k on a 2% cashback card, because I didn't spend near that amount to get them.
Good to know. I hope to be where you are at one day :greedy

But, are you really saying that if you want to fly from x to y, once you find a flight where you can use points you have, you just book it? You mean, you don't even try to figure out which particular points you have will be the best ones to use -- okay, if not the *best* at least one that represents good value?

I ask, at least in part because figuring out the details and keeping current seems to take a fair amount of time, and I'm just wondering if it's possible to get to the point where one doesn't have to even think about which points to use for a given situation.
At this point I pretty much know off the top of my head which programs are going to be the best value for a certain trip. Some people read the news daily, I read travel hacking blogs/sites. So I do stay current. There are some sights like awardhacker.com that can give you the answer quickly though. I mean I'm definitely not going to use BA for long haul business class flights, nor am I going to use AA for short haul domestic flights.
Drew777
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Drew777 »

d0gerz wrote:A week or so ago my wife received a mailer from Citi/AA for the AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard offer for 65,000 miles after $4k in spending within the first 4 months.

Today she received another mailer from Citi. The offer is identical to the previous one but they have different invitation numbers.

Can she apply for both?
It depends on whether or not the offer has the 24 month language restricting you to one bonus per 24 months on any personal AA card. If not, then she can receive both offers. You'll have to read the fine print.
dbr
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by dbr »

Drew777 wrote:
d0gerz wrote:A week or so ago my wife received a mailer from Citi/AA for the AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard offer for 65,000 miles after $4k in spending within the first 4 months.

Today she received another mailer from Citi. The offer is identical to the previous one but they have different invitation numbers.

Can she apply for both?
It depends on whether or not the offer has the 24 month language restricting you to one bonus per 24 months on any personal AA card. If not, then she can receive both offers. You'll have to read the fine print.
Exactly, there have been cards that one could duplicate over and over almost indefinitely. Some companies have closed that loophole more or less effectively. The most powerful salvo in that direction is the AMEX "once in a lifetime" rule. 24 months is another common rule.
Drew777
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Drew777 »

dbr wrote:
Drew777 wrote:
d0gerz wrote:A week or so ago my wife received a mailer from Citi/AA for the AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard offer for 65,000 miles after $4k in spending within the first 4 months.

Today she received another mailer from Citi. The offer is identical to the previous one but they have different invitation numbers.

Can she apply for both?
It depends on whether or not the offer has the 24 month language restricting you to one bonus per 24 months on any personal AA card. If not, then she can receive both offers. You'll have to read the fine print.
Exactly, there have been cards that one could duplicate over and over almost indefinitely. Some companies have closed that loophole more or less effectively. The most powerful salvo in that direction is the AMEX "once in a lifetime" rule. 24 months is another common rule.
Amex has actually been having more and more application pages without the lifetime language as well, and people have been successful in getting the bonuses again.
protagonist
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by protagonist »

VictoriaF wrote: So, I'm not quite valuing the UR points at 1.5 cpp - for me, on average, it is closer to 1.35 cpp, but that's still better than doing the transfers and redemptions in most cases.
Appreciate if one or both of you could clarify: do you often prefer to book flights on the Chase portal because

a) the Chase portal has a lower price (including taxes, surcharges, etc.) than you find in the "cash market"?
or
b) even for the same dollar price offered in the cash market, you find it advantageous to book via the portal?

I can totally understand using the portal for reason a) but am not sure why b) is necessarily desirable.
Each individual case is different.

Examples:

Last winter I flew NYC-Saigon RT on Cathay Pacific (one of the best world airlines acc. to multiple review sites). The RT coach ticket price was about $600- very cheap, but flights to the Far East were going at fire sale prices last winter. As 1 UR pt= $1.50 through CSR, I paid somewhere in the 45K points UR range for the tickets- no surcharge and numerous flights, scheduling options available with flights on other airlines at similar prices (KAL, Singapore...multiple others). If I wanted to fly on a worse rated Chinese airline I could have gone RT for about 35K UR points or less. Plus I got to claim the points for my flight. Any airline program would have charged probably at least twice as many points, plus surcharges and limited availability. Flexibility of scheduling alone can be worth quite a bit, especially on a minimum 25-30 hour itinerary RT.

Likewise, I flew United to Havana RT from NYC last winter. The fare was roughly $200, and similar fares were offered by multiple competing airlines. I flew high season. I paid about 15K UR points and got to fly any time I wanted with no surcharges. Many nonstop flights were available daily. United's program couldn't come anywhere close (nor could AA, Delta or others).

And consider if you accrued your UR points through promotions, or at 1.5 points?$ with Freedom Unlimited, or at 3 pts/$ through CSR, or at 5 pts/$ through Freedom. Then these deals seem ridiculously good.

But each case is different, and often it is still beneficial to use the airline program (like this summer when I am flying using BA miles to Bordeaux, France on Aer Lingus. The fares are so high that I definitely came out ahead vs. using the UR portal, but I also had to struggle to find a flight anywhere near the dates I desired to get a decent deal through BA, not to mention hours of my time on the phone, etc. , and I still had to pay surcharges. And I could not get a suitable return flight- I chose to fly Norwegian Airlines in the other direction and pay for the ticket since they had some great deals. I could not get the Norwegian flight via the portal.
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VictoriaF
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by VictoriaF »

protagonist wrote:I chose to fly Norwegian Airlines in the other direction and pay for the ticket since they had some great deals. I could not get the Norwegian flight via the portal.
I am still stuck with the CSP, and won't qualify for the CSR until early 2018. I have not tried booking flights over the Chase portal because I didn't want to waste my URs at the 1.25 rate if I can soon do it at 1.50. And I did not realize that the portal does not support some airlines, such as Norwegian.

Victoria
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protagonist
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by protagonist »

VictoriaF wrote:
protagonist wrote:I chose to fly Norwegian Airlines in the other direction and pay for the ticket since they had some great deals. I could not get the Norwegian flight via the portal.
I am still stuck with the CSP, and won't qualify for the CSR until early 2018. I have not tried booking flights over the Chase portal because I didn't want to waste my URs at the 1.25 rate if I can soon do it at 1.50. And I did not realize that the portal does not support some airlines, such as Norwegian.

Victoria
They support most airlines. Some outliers, like new Norwegian, prob. have not yet made it into their database.

But at 1.25 the flights I mentioned would still have been steals.
Then again, like I said, every case is individual and one may have reasons for conserving UR points for later if you think that ultimately it would work out better for you. The portal works best when flights are cash cheap and mileage point expensive, or when it is difficult to find a flight that meets your needs due to timing issues.
sharpjm
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by sharpjm »

Drew777 wrote:
d0gerz wrote:A week or so ago my wife received a mailer from Citi/AA for the AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard offer for 65,000 miles after $4k in spending within the first 4 months.

Today she received another mailer from Citi. The offer is identical to the previous one but they have different invitation numbers.

Can she apply for both?
It depends on whether or not the offer has the 24 month language restricting you to one bonus per 24 months on any personal AA card. If not, then she can receive both offers. You'll have to read the fine print.
None of the 65k offers have the 24 month language, or so I've read. Also beware d0gerz you can't sign up for both offers within 8 days of each other, citi will only approve one card per 8 days and 2 cards per 60 days.
Barefootgirl
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Barefootgirl »

I have a large purchase coming up (not giftcards or rent or mortgage, etc.) - we are renovating my mother's home.
I can buy many things online (not always in the hardware store category)

Two cards come to mind - Citi More Access for 3X or Amex Business Blue at 2X.

Which would you value more: 3X Thank You Points or 2X Membership Rewards?
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

Barefootgirl wrote:I have a large purchase coming up (not giftcards or rent or mortgage, etc.) - we are renovating my mother's home.
I can buy many things online (not always in the hardware store category)

Two cards come to mind - Citi More Access for 3X or Amex Business Blue at 2X.

Which would you value more: 3X Thank You Points or 2X Membership Rewards?
We aren't (yet?) familiar with the Thank You Points, but Amex MR is one of the two programs we use a lot (AAdvantage is the other).

If travel is of interest to you, then Google "Amex Travel Partners" to get a list of their airline partners. There are quite a few.
But *also* keep in mind that the "partners of those partners" can be useful, too.
We've transferred Amex MR to "Airline A" and then used those points to book on "Airline B", when "B" wasn't a partner of Amex.

For us, the only use that makes sense is for premium cabin on international flights.
(We'd need to pay for business class seats anyway, for long-haul, or just not go, so this is a slam dunk for us. And the "cost equivalent" of the extra points for F is small enough for what one gets, which is, for us, the ability *really* to sleep, in what is close enough to a twin bed. Pretty amazing, with the right airline. With the wrong one, not so good...)

We are slowly learning more of the tricks to get good use of these points for premium travel, including ways to monitor for availability of premium seats, especially F, where it can be difficult to get two (when there are sometimes only 6 or 8 in the entire F cabin).

Mostly, it depends upon how you want to use the "rewards" (purchases, hotels, airlines...).
We've just changed our spending pattern (which card we use for what) now that Amex Plat gives 5x for "travel" spending. Still need to check precisely what they call "travel", however...

If the renovations are $$$ enough (those can add up!), then consider getting more than one new card for the bonus, if there will be enough spending for the extra bonus :happy

RM
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Da5id
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Da5id »

Just got a 60K offer for SouthWest, which I've grabbed as I've been pondering doing it anyway. Not sure it will last forever, it was 40K recently as well, but a link is below:

https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/southw ... PlusNonAEP

60K miles on Southwest is very nice, and I still have CSR/CSP so I can easily add more from Ultimate Rewards as needed. I had to call Chase to get it approved as apparently I had too much credit with Chase between my other cards, but just reducing one of the silly high limits they had on one of my other cards fixed that.
Barefootgirl
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Barefootgirl »

Vinh at Miles Per Day writes this week about being shutdown completely or nearly completely by Capital One bank...accounts and cards it seems.

Shutdowns are a frequent theme on his blog and I believe Cap One is not his first trip to being shutdown by a major bank.

At what point should one be concerned in this era of continuous consolidation?

I am risk averse by nature, so this is something I try to avoid. Short of paying interest, or net loss fees, lol - I attempt to be the kind of customer they don't take pause to notice.

Are you concerned about shutdowns?
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Mudpuppy »

Barefootgirl wrote:Vinh at Miles Per Day writes this week about being shutdown completely or nearly completely by Capital One bank...accounts and cards it seems.

Shutdowns are a frequent theme on his blog and I believe Cap One is not his first trip to being shutdown by a major bank.

At what point should one be concerned in this era of continuous consolidation?

I am risk averse by nature, so this is something I try to avoid. Short of paying interest, or net loss fees, lol - I attempt to be the kind of customer they don't take pause to notice.

Are you concerned about shutdowns?
I don't churn at the level to risk shutdowns. My last card was the CSR for 100k sign-up spend. I'm still in the pondering my next card stage right now, but I'm also looking to buy a condo in a 55+ neighborhood for my parents, so I don't want the hits for cards at the moment.
Drew777
Posts: 616
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 3:53 pm

Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Drew777 »

Barefootgirl wrote:Vinh at Miles Per Day writes this week about being shutdown completely or nearly completely by Capital One bank...accounts and cards it seems.

Shutdowns are a frequent theme on his blog and I believe Cap One is not his first trip to being shutdown by a major bank.

At what point should one be concerned in this era of continuous consolidation?

I am risk averse by nature, so this is something I try to avoid. Short of paying interest, or net loss fees, lol - I attempt to be the kind of customer they don't take pause to notice.

Are you concerned about shutdowns?
I know Vinh pretty well, he's been doing this for decades despite countless shutdowns. He has no intentions of slowing down anytime soon. There are ALWAYS more opportunities. I'm the complete opposite, extremely risk tolerant.
Drew777
Posts: 616
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Drew777 »

While you're worried about getting shutdown there are people out there who have already earned 7 figures of points this month alone. Sure, you can be shutdown doing relatively low volume, but no risk no reward. Lots of people are able to push it to the extreme, maybe get shutdown here and there, but it's rarely permanent anyway. And they've gained so much in the process, who cares?
d0gerz
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 9:45 pm

Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by d0gerz »

sharpjm wrote:
Drew777 wrote:It depends on whether or not the offer has the 24 month language restricting you to one bonus per 24 months on any personal AA card. If not, then she can receive both offers. You'll have to read the fine print.
None of the 65k offers have the 24 month language, or so I've read. Also beware d0gerz you can't sign up for both offers within 8 days of each other, citi will only approve one card per 8 days and 2 cards per 60 days.
Have read the terms and can't find the 24 month language anywhere. Well, at least in the mailer, don't know if that'll change if I go online to the application.

Thanks for the tip about the one card per 8 days.

What if I try to apply using one of the codes and my wife the other? Is that possible?
Almost there
Posts: 1128
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Location: Arizona USA

Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Almost there »

Just started reading the August issue of Kiplinger about: Rewards Card for you.

Comparing various credit cards, bonuses, fees etc.
Last edited by Almost there on Mon Jul 03, 2017 9:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
Drew777
Posts: 616
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Drew777 »

d0gerz wrote:
sharpjm wrote:
Drew777 wrote:It depends on whether or not the offer has the 24 month language restricting you to one bonus per 24 months on any personal AA card. If not, then she can receive both offers. You'll have to read the fine print.
None of the 65k offers have the 24 month language, or so I've read. Also beware d0gerz you can't sign up for both offers within 8 days of each other, citi will only approve one card per 8 days and 2 cards per 60 days.
Have read the terms and can't find the 24 month language anywhere. Well, at least in the mailer, don't know if that'll change if I go online to the application.

Thanks for the tip about the one card per 8 days.

What if I try to apply using one of the codes and my wife the other? Is that possible?
Yes, anyone can use any Citi targeted mailer. I've yet to hear of anyone not getting the bonuses because it wasn't sent to them specifically.
sharpjm
Posts: 657
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by sharpjm »

d0gerz wrote:
sharpjm wrote:
Drew777 wrote:It depends on whether or not the offer has the 24 month language restricting you to one bonus per 24 months on any personal AA card. If not, then she can receive both offers. You'll have to read the fine print.
None of the 65k offers have the 24 month language, or so I've read. Also beware d0gerz you can't sign up for both offers within 8 days of each other, citi will only approve one card per 8 days and 2 cards per 60 days.
Have read the terms and can't find the 24 month language anywhere. Well, at least in the mailer, don't know if that'll change if I go online to the application.

Thanks for the tip about the one card per 8 days.

What if I try to apply using one of the codes and my wife the other? Is that possible?
It depends on the code. If the code is 9 digits, your wife can use it no problem. If the code is 12 digits only you will be able to use it.
d0gerz
Posts: 392
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by d0gerz »

sharpjm wrote:
d0gerz wrote:
sharpjm wrote:
Drew777 wrote:It depends on whether or not the offer has the 24 month language restricting you to one bonus per 24 months on any personal AA card. If not, then she can receive both offers. You'll have to read the fine print.
None of the 65k offers have the 24 month language, or so I've read. Also beware d0gerz you can't sign up for both offers within 8 days of each other, citi will only approve one card per 8 days and 2 cards per 60 days.
Have read the terms and can't find the 24 month language anywhere. Well, at least in the mailer, don't know if that'll change if I go online to the application.

Thanks for the tip about the one card per 8 days.

What if I try to apply using one of the codes and my wife the other? Is that possible?
It depends on the code. If the code is 9 digits, your wife can use it no problem. If the code is 12 digits only you will be able to use it.
Thanks a lot guys. Code is 9 digits on both. I applied for one for myself and was approved. Since I'm already above 5/24 I think I'll apply for the 2nd one for myself as well. My wife is under 5/24 so will save her apps for Chase.
SVT
Posts: 387
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by SVT »

I'm currently at 2/24 and will drop to 1/24 in Feb or Mar 2018. However, I'm on my way to Platinum Honors with BofA and had planned on getting the Travel Rewards Card within the next month. I've been reading a lot lately about all the sign up bonuses one can get and obviously chasing sign up bonuses would yield a much greater cash back than 2.625% with the Travel Rewards Card, even if redeeming at 1cpp as cash back (of course, the Travel Rewards card has a sign up bonus itself, of 20k points). I'm thinking about forgoing the Travel Rewards card and instead go for several CCs for the bonuses first, then later on get the Travel Rewards card when I don't want to chase the bonuses anymore (since I should be able to get the BofA card anytime, yet with Chase, I'm restricted to the 5/24 rule).

1) what are the opinions of which way to go from here? Should I change my plan and go for bonuses?
2) if I go for the bonuses, what cards should I go for and in what order? I was thinking of going for the 2 personal Southwest cards off the bat (apply for both at the same time) with the 60k mile bonus for both cards. That would get me 120k+ miles, and the companion pass for the rest of this year and all of next year. I'm not a big traveler, as in I haven't taken many trips (average 1-2 per year but when I fly, I always fly Southwest) but there are plenty of places I want to go and going for the bonuses might give me an excuse to go to the places I want to go sooner rather than later. I could instead go for some of the other Chase cards first, then the 2 Southwest personal cards later, when I believe I might be able to take more advantage of the companion pass, however, the bonuses may only be 40k or 50k.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
BeneIRA
Posts: 879
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by BeneIRA »

SVT wrote:I'm currently at 2/24 and will drop to 1/24 in Feb or Mar 2018. However, I'm on my way to Platinum Honors with BofA and had planned on getting the Travel Rewards Card within the next month. I've been reading a lot lately about all the sign up bonuses one can get and obviously chasing sign up bonuses would yield a much greater cash back than 2.625% with the Travel Rewards Card, even if redeeming at 1cpp as cash back (of course, the Travel Rewards card has a sign up bonus itself, of 20k points). I'm thinking about forgoing the Travel Rewards card and instead go for several CCs for the bonuses first, then later on get the Travel Rewards card when I don't want to chase the bonuses anymore (since I should be able to get the BofA card anytime, yet with Chase, I'm restricted to the 5/24 rule).

1) what are the opinions of which way to go from here? Should I change my plan and go for bonuses?
2) if I go for the bonuses, what cards should I go for and in what order? I was thinking of going for the 2 personal Southwest cards off the bat (apply for both at the same time) with the 60k mile bonus for both cards. That would get me 120k+ miles, and the companion pass for the rest of this year and all of next year. I'm not a big traveler, as in I haven't taken many trips (average 1-2 per year but when I fly, I always fly Southwest) but there are plenty of places I want to go and going for the bonuses might give me an excuse to go to the places I want to go sooner rather than later. I could instead go for some of the other Chase cards first, then the 2 Southwest personal cards later, when I believe I might be able to take more advantage of the companion pass, however, the bonuses may only be 40k or 50k.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
If you can get the 60,000 point Southwest cards, I would definitely go for both right now if you have a use for the companion pass. Sure, you lost out on a few months, but bird in the hand versus two in the bush. As you said, you don't know if they will have these same offers early next year. Then, if you don't have a CSR or CSP, I would go for one of those. If you feel comfortable getting a business card in between, the Ink Preferred has an 80,000 point offer for $5,000 spend, if you can hit it. Order I would do: 2 Southwest Personal cards for 60,000 points each -> Chase Ink Preferred -> CSR or CSP, you decide which. That puts you at 5/24. You can then hit up the IHG 80,000 point offer for $1,000 spend since that doesn't fall under 5/24. I should mention you will need to space these out. You will have to apply for both Southwest cards, wait over 30 days, then you can continue applying.

After you have gotten all of the Chase cards and are at 5/24, you can do the Bank of America card if you want, but 2.625% is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Meeting minimum spends is much more lucrative. You can then apply for Barclaycard since they seem to be getting pretty strict about inquiries, then Bank of America possibly for the Merrill Lynch+ if that is still around or possibly the Alaska card if you're into that. Then you can do the Citi (hopefully) 60,000 mile AA card if you're into that, etc. The world is your oyster.
SVT
Posts: 387
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by SVT »

BeneIRA wrote:
SVT wrote:I'm currently at 2/24 and will drop to 1/24 in Feb or Mar 2018. However, I'm on my way to Platinum Honors with BofA and had planned on getting the Travel Rewards Card within the next month. I've been reading a lot lately about all the sign up bonuses one can get and obviously chasing sign up bonuses would yield a much greater cash back than 2.625% with the Travel Rewards Card, even if redeeming at 1cpp as cash back (of course, the Travel Rewards card has a sign up bonus itself, of 20k points). I'm thinking about forgoing the Travel Rewards card and instead go for several CCs for the bonuses first, then later on get the Travel Rewards card when I don't want to chase the bonuses anymore (since I should be able to get the BofA card anytime, yet with Chase, I'm restricted to the 5/24 rule).

1) what are the opinions of which way to go from here? Should I change my plan and go for bonuses?
2) if I go for the bonuses, what cards should I go for and in what order? I was thinking of going for the 2 personal Southwest cards off the bat (apply for both at the same time) with the 60k mile bonus for both cards. That would get me 120k+ miles, and the companion pass for the rest of this year and all of next year. I'm not a big traveler, as in I haven't taken many trips (average 1-2 per year but when I fly, I always fly Southwest) but there are plenty of places I want to go and going for the bonuses might give me an excuse to go to the places I want to go sooner rather than later. I could instead go for some of the other Chase cards first, then the 2 Southwest personal cards later, when I believe I might be able to take more advantage of the companion pass, however, the bonuses may only be 40k or 50k.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
If you can get the 60,000 point Southwest cards, I would definitely go for both right now if you have a use for the companion pass. Sure, you lost out on a few months, but bird in the hand versus two in the bush. As you said, you don't know if they will have these same offers early next year. Then, if you don't have a CSR or CSP, I would go for one of those. If you feel comfortable getting a business card in between, the Ink Preferred has an 80,000 point offer for $5,000 spend, if you can hit it. Order I would do: 2 Southwest Personal cards for 60,000 points each -> Chase Ink Preferred -> CSR or CSP, you decide which. That puts you at 5/24. You can then hit up the IHG 80,000 point offer for $1,000 spend since that doesn't fall under 5/24. I should mention you will need to space these out. You will have to apply for both Southwest cards, wait over 30 days, then you can continue applying.

After you have gotten all of the Chase cards and are at 5/24, you can do the Bank of America card if you want, but 2.625% is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Meeting minimum spends is much more lucrative. You can then apply for Barclaycard since they seem to be getting pretty strict about inquiries, then Bank of America possibly for the Merrill Lynch+ if that is still around or possibly the Alaska card if you're into that. Then you can do the Citi (hopefully) 60,000 mile AA card if you're into that, etc. The world is your oyster.
Thanks for your reply! I went ahead and applied for both. I was able to get the 60k successfully for the Plus through the link I had but unfortunately, the link for the 60k for the Premier card is now dead. I just went for the regular 40k offer. So after the minimum spend of $3k between those 2 cards and getting 103k points, I'll need to get another 7k points for the CP. I'm a little bit disappointed and now wish I would've waited but whatever. After I applied for the first card I felt there was no reason not to just get the other one even though it was only for 40k points. Really disappointed I missed out on another $200+ and the CP from just the signup bonus though.

Next, I may go for the Chase Ink Preferred in a couple of months. That should keep me at 4/24. Then I'll get the Sapphire Preferred or Reserve depending on which one has the better signup bonus. That will put me at 5/24. Then I figured I'd wait to go back to 4/24 in Feb/Mar 2018 (can't remember exactly which month it is) and probably apply for 2 Chase cards at once which will get me to 6/24. At least, that's the plan.

PS: Chase is crazy with the credit limits. I was approved for $30k for each card :shock: That's just ridiculous.
TheRightKost87
Posts: 312
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Location: Boston, MA

Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by TheRightKost87 »

SVT wrote: Really disappointed I missed out on another $200+ and the CP from just the signup bonus though.
Can't hurt to send a secure message to Chase asking to be matched to the 60K offer.
"The problem with diversification is that it works, whether or not we want it to"
MikeG62
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by MikeG62 »

DW just got an offer from United (MileagePlus Explorer card). 70,000 miles when spending $3,000 in first three months + 5,000 additional miles when adding an authorized user. While she had taken advantage of a bonus offer on this card before (3-4 years ago), we long ago cancelled that card (before the one year anniversary). So she was eligible for a re-load. Over the weekend, she signed up for this card and we added our youngest daughter as an authorized user (to get the full 75,000 miles). Daughter won't ever use the card though. We signed up with a dummy (placeholder) fare search, so she is also entitled to a $50 statement credit on first purchase.

I have the card as well, but have had mine for years. We travel a lot and take advantage of the free first checked bag and priority boarding. I suppose I could cancel mine after we take our last already booked flight, use her card in the meantime and then sign up for the card again and get another bonus (even if only 50,000 miles) in the future. I'll ponder that. However, this seemed like too good a deal to pass up.
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Accrual
Posts: 135
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Accrual »

MikeG62 wrote:DW just got an offer from United (MileagePlus Explorer card). 70,000 miles when spending $3,000 in first three months + 5,000 additional miles when adding an authorized user. While she had taken advantage of a bonus offer on this card before (3-4 years ago), we long ago cancelled that card (before the one year anniversary). So she was eligible for a re-load. Over the weekend, she signed up for this card and we added our youngest daughter as an authorized user (to get the full 75,000 miles). Daughter won't ever use the card though. We signed up with a dummy (placeholder) fare search, so she is also entitled to a $50 statement credit on first purchase.

I have the card as well, but have had mine for years. We travel a lot and take advantage of the free first checked bag and priority boarding. I suppose I could cancel mine after we take our last already booked flight, use her card in the meantime and then sign up for the card again and get another bonus (even if only 50,000 miles) in the future. I'll ponder that. However, this seemed like too good a deal to pass up.
I jumped on the 70K miles + $50 credit offer as well. Not too familiar with United, though, as I do not travel a lot. I assume the points are convertible for cash (cent per point)?
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

Accrual wrote:
MikeG62 wrote:DW just got an offer from United (MileagePlus Explorer card). 70,000 miles when spending $3,000 in first three months + 5,000 additional miles when adding an authorized user. While she had taken advantage of a bonus offer on this card before (3-4 years ago), we long ago cancelled that card (before the one year anniversary). So she was eligible for a re-load. Over the weekend, she signed up for this card and we added our youngest daughter as an authorized user (to get the full 75,000 miles). Daughter won't ever use the card though. We signed up with a dummy (placeholder) fare search, so she is also entitled to a $50 statement credit on first purchase.

I have the card as well, but have had mine for years. We travel a lot and take advantage of the free first checked bag and priority boarding. I suppose I could cancel mine after we take our last already booked flight, use her card in the meantime and then sign up for the card again and get another bonus (even if only 50,000 miles) in the future. I'll ponder that. However, this seemed like too good a deal to pass up.
I jumped on the 70K miles + $50 credit offer as well. Not too familiar with United, though, as I do not travel a lot. I assume the points are convertible for cash (cent per point)?
We just started doing this, adding more cards only for the points.
We've had so many points saved up for our recent trips, that we weren't doing this (unfortunately, now that we've started some "serious" travel).

Sure enough, Citi AAdvantage promptly sent DH *another* card, and DH promptly did the required spend.
We are just waiting for the points to show up.

If we can really keep doing this... :D

We aren't quite "running out" yet, but if we keep using points at the rate we've been going, these extra points could make a huge difference.
The points are worth a lot more when one would have paid to take business class seats anyway.

(Plan B, previously Plan A, is to "buy points" if we need some, as the cost of the premium tix, even if all points are purchased, is a *huge* savings over purchasing the tix. And the "extra cost" using points, of First over Business class is almost trivial for the difference in travel quality, especially for ultra-long-haul travel. But all the better if we can get many or all of the needed points by adding in the bonus points.)

Thanks so much to those who were posting about these "extra cards" for bonus points some time ago.

RM
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dbr
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by dbr »

Accrual wrote:
I jumped on the 70K miles + $50 credit offer as well. Not too familiar with United, though, as I do not travel a lot. I assume the points are convertible for cash (cent per point)?
I don't think I have ever heard of an airline miles program where points can be sold back for cash straight up. Some programs may do that when buying a plane ticket with dollars and miles. Usually you can buy products in their shopping mall but not usually for that much value.

As a contrast I have a bank card where points can be used to buy tickets or I can simply cash them in at 1 cent cash back in effect.
SVT
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by SVT »

TheRightKost87 wrote:
SVT wrote: Really disappointed I missed out on another $200+ and the CP from just the signup bonus though.
Can't hurt to send a secure message to Chase asking to be matched to the 60K offer.
I guess it couldn't hurt but I can't see them matching an offer that expired June 30th. Anyone ever have success getting matched to an expired offer?
sharpjm
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Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 1:41 pm

Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by sharpjm »

SVT wrote:
TheRightKost87 wrote:
SVT wrote: Really disappointed I missed out on another $200+ and the CP from just the signup bonus though.
Can't hurt to send a secure message to Chase asking to be matched to the 60K offer.
I guess it couldn't hurt but I can't see them matching an offer that expired June 30th. Anyone ever have success getting matched to an expired offer?
Yes, Chase is well known to match offers all the time. Easiest way is to send a secure message when you're logged in.
SVT
Posts: 387
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:56 am

Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by SVT »

sharpjm wrote:
SVT wrote:
TheRightKost87 wrote:
SVT wrote: Really disappointed I missed out on another $200+ and the CP from just the signup bonus though.
Can't hurt to send a secure message to Chase asking to be matched to the 60K offer.
I guess it couldn't hurt but I can't see them matching an offer that expired June 30th. Anyone ever have success getting matched to an expired offer?
Yes, Chase is well known to match offers all the time. Easiest way is to send a secure message when you're logged in.
I know Chase is well known to match a current publicly available offer for someone who applied for a lower previous offer within the last 90 days. I've never heard of Chase matching an offer that has already expired. Are you saying Chase is known to do that, as well?
sharpjm
Posts: 657
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by sharpjm »

SVT wrote:
sharpjm wrote:
SVT wrote:
TheRightKost87 wrote:
SVT wrote: Really disappointed I missed out on another $200+ and the CP from just the signup bonus though.
Can't hurt to send a secure message to Chase asking to be matched to the 60K offer.
I guess it couldn't hurt but I can't see them matching an offer that expired June 30th. Anyone ever have success getting matched to an expired offer?
Yes, Chase is well known to match offers all the time. Easiest way is to send a secure message when you're logged in.
I know Chase is well known to match a current publicly available offer for someone who applied for a lower previous offer within the last 90 days. I've never heard of Chase matching an offer that has already expired. Are you saying Chase is known to do that, as well?
Yes. Typically for about 90 days after expiring.
vv19
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by vv19 »

Got approved for the Chase IHG Rewards Club card with 80,000 bonus points. Was able to get it bumped up to 100K after talking to Chase. I think it is worthwhile to keep this card open just for the free anniversary night for $49/year.
BeneIRA
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by BeneIRA »

SVT wrote:
TheRightKost87 wrote:
SVT wrote: Really disappointed I missed out on another $200+ and the CP from just the signup bonus though.
Can't hurt to send a secure message to Chase asking to be matched to the 60K offer.
I guess it couldn't hurt but I can't see them matching an offer that expired June 30th. Anyone ever have success getting matched to an expired offer?
Kind of. I would still ask and the 50,000 are sometimes targeted. I would SM them now and ask. If they balk at 60,000, try another SM to 50,000. Say you can SM them when you meet the increased $2,000 spend requirement. I would still spend the $2,000 on it. The odds of the card going back up to 50,000 or 60,000 within the next 90 days is good.
SVT
Posts: 387
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by SVT »

BeneIRA wrote:
SVT wrote:
TheRightKost87 wrote:
SVT wrote: Really disappointed I missed out on another $200+ and the CP from just the signup bonus though.
Can't hurt to send a secure message to Chase asking to be matched to the 60K offer.
I guess it couldn't hurt but I can't see them matching an offer that expired June 30th. Anyone ever have success getting matched to an expired offer?
Kind of. I would still ask and the 50,000 are sometimes targeted. I would SM them now and ask. If they balk at 60,000, try another SM to 50,000. Say you can SM them when you meet the increased $2,000 spend requirement. I would still spend the $2,000 on it. The odds of the card going back up to 50,000 or 60,000 within the next 90 days is good.
Well, I SMed them earlier today and already got a response. Part of their response was this:
We understand you are interested to match the 60,000 bonus
offer for $2,000 spend in purchases on your account. In
order to match this offer, please contact us back after
you have met the required total spend of $2,000 in new
purchases within the first three months of opening your
account in order to qualify.
From what I've read in the past, I believe this means it's essentially a yes and I just need to contact them again when I reach the minimum spend for them to add the points to my account. I was suprised at this and am pretty happy!
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