What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

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BUBear29
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by BUBear29 »

USAA 2.5% back (primary)
Amex Blue Cash Preferred (gas 3%, grocery 6%)
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xb7
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by xb7 »

BUBear29 wrote: Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:34 pm USAA 2.5% back (primary)
Amex Blue Cash Preferred (gas 3%, grocery 6%)
I don't believe that the USAA 2.5% cash back is available for new applicants. Great if you're grandfathered in (?), but not a factor for those looking to make a change.

Wish it was! We've been paying an annual fee of $45 for quite some time now to get 1% back via USAA's "Eagle Points" program. They were kind enough to not bother us with the information that better options were available, and we hadn't been paying attention.

So now we've got a Citi 2% "double cash back" card --- good enough. Would have been nicer to just stay with USAA, however (one less financial institution to deal with ...).
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smarcus3
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by smarcus3 »

Citi double cash yielding 2% cash back.

Also continuously churn new credit card offers for any introductory bonus offers. There's been several get 200 when spending 500. As long as you don't spend extra this is all gravy.
This is my personal opinion. I'm an engineer not a financial advisor.
AlphaLess
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by AlphaLess »

chocolateolive wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:58 am Would appreciate some advice:

The 4 credit cards I have/use are:

1. Amex platinum
2. Amex gold
3. Amex blue cash preferred
4. Barclay mastercard (only use this when Amex is not accepted)

As you can see, I am a heavy Amex user. I have about 580,000 amex points, which I am coming to realize might not be as useful as I thought.

I was amassing amex points so I can use them to purchase business/first class tickets for faraway vacations for me and my husband. However, my husband is going to Australia for xmas this year and I was surprised to find out that I could not cover the cost/mileage of the trip from LA to Australia sufficiently with the points I had.

Should I keep the platinum and blue cash preferred and cancel the gold since I mostly use the gold for points at supermarkets and restaurants? The blue cash preferred has 6% cash back at supermarkets, but would only offer 1% back on other purchases.

At this point, I am paying a total of $895 in amex cc fees for the three cards, which is pretty ridiculous.

My father in law suggested that the best point to mileage conversion cc is the American Airlines one. Should I get that and cancel the gold amex?

I welcome all thoughts and suggestions!
With that many points, I would recommend getting the Amex Platinum Biz. With that card, you get a 35% rebate on points redeemed, when you redeem via Amex Travel, and either for premium travel, or for economy travel for the DESIGNATED airline (which effectively make your points worth 1.55 cents). But note that if you have 580K points, you can't buy a ticket worth $8700. Rather, you buy ticket(s) worth at most $5800, and get an equivalent rebate back in 31 days.

I would do the following:
- get rid of the gold,
- for the personal platinum, try to get the $200 / yr uber benefit, and $200 / yr airline benefit. Buying American airlines gift cards for amounts below $100 work (e.g., buy a card for $99.95 and one for $99.50 or something like that). that reduces your annual effective fee for personal platinum to $150 (550 - 200- 200). If you find yourself UNABLE to use those benefits, cancel that card,

I am recommending you get the Biz Platinum, even if for a period of time to milk out a better value for the 580K points you have.

Another possible venue for redemption, albeit very hard, but possibly MUCH MORE lucrative, is to transfer your Amex MRs into airline miles. Here, you need a serious strategy: which airline, when, how, how much, etc.
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

AlphaLess wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:03 pm
chocolateolive wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:58 am Would appreciate some advice:

The 4 credit cards I have/use are:

1. Amex platinum
2. Amex gold
3. Amex blue cash preferred
4. Barclay mastercard (only use this when Amex is not accepted)

As you can see, I am a heavy Amex user. I have about 580,000 amex points, which I am coming to realize might not be as useful as I thought.

I was amassing amex points so I can use them to purchase business/first class tickets for faraway vacations for me and my husband. However, my husband is going to Australia for xmas this year and I was surprised to find out that I could not cover the cost/mileage of the trip from LA to Australia sufficiently with the points I had.

Should I keep the platinum and blue cash preferred and cancel the gold since I mostly use the gold for points at supermarkets and restaurants? The blue cash preferred has 6% cash back at supermarkets, but would only offer 1% back on other purchases.

At this point, I am paying a total of $895 in amex cc fees for the three cards, which is pretty ridiculous.

My father in law suggested that the best point to mileage conversion cc is the American Airlines one. Should I get that and cancel the gold amex?

I welcome all thoughts and suggestions!
With that many points, I would recommend getting the Amex Platinum Biz. With that card, you get a 35% rebate on points redeemed, when you redeem via Amex Travel, and either for premium travel, or for economy travel for the DESIGNATED airline (which effectively make your points worth 1.55 cents). But note that if you have 580K points, you can't buy a ticket worth $8700. Rather, you buy ticket(s) worth at most $5800, and get an equivalent rebate back in 31 days.

I would do the following:
- get rid of the gold,
- for the personal platinum, try to get the $200 / yr uber benefit, and $200 / yr airline benefit. Buying American airlines gift cards for amounts below $100 work (e.g., buy a card for $99.95 and one for $99.50 or something like that). that reduces your annual effective fee for personal platinum to $150 (550 - 200- 200). If you find yourself UNABLE to use those benefits, cancel that card,

I am recommending you get the Biz Platinum, even if for a period of time to milk out a better value for the 580K points you have.

Another possible venue for redemption, albeit very hard, but possibly MUCH MORE lucrative, is to transfer your Amex MRs into airline miles. Here, you need a serious strategy: which airline, when, how, how much, etc.
I had assumed that chocolateolive meant those points weren't enough when transferred to an airline partner.
THAT is the way to get the most value if one is planning international travel.

Did you mean the transfer points weren't enough?

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

Post by AlphaLess »

ResearchMed wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:27 pm
AlphaLess wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:03 pm
chocolateolive wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:58 am Would appreciate some advice:

The 4 credit cards I have/use are:

1. Amex platinum
2. Amex gold
3. Amex blue cash preferred
4. Barclay mastercard (only use this when Amex is not accepted)

As you can see, I am a heavy Amex user. I have about 580,000 amex points, which I am coming to realize might not be as useful as I thought.

I was amassing amex points so I can use them to purchase business/first class tickets for faraway vacations for me and my husband. However, my husband is going to Australia for xmas this year and I was surprised to find out that I could not cover the cost/mileage of the trip from LA to Australia sufficiently with the points I had.

Should I keep the platinum and blue cash preferred and cancel the gold since I mostly use the gold for points at supermarkets and restaurants? The blue cash preferred has 6% cash back at supermarkets, but would only offer 1% back on other purchases.

At this point, I am paying a total of $895 in amex cc fees for the three cards, which is pretty ridiculous.

My father in law suggested that the best point to mileage conversion cc is the American Airlines one. Should I get that and cancel the gold amex?

I welcome all thoughts and suggestions!
With that many points, I would recommend getting the Amex Platinum Biz. With that card, you get a 35% rebate on points redeemed, when you redeem via Amex Travel, and either for premium travel, or for economy travel for the DESIGNATED airline (which effectively make your points worth 1.55 cents). But note that if you have 580K points, you can't buy a ticket worth $8700. Rather, you buy ticket(s) worth at most $5800, and get an equivalent rebate back in 31 days.

I would do the following:
- get rid of the gold,
- for the personal platinum, try to get the $200 / yr uber benefit, and $200 / yr airline benefit. Buying American airlines gift cards for amounts below $100 work (e.g., buy a card for $99.95 and one for $99.50 or something like that). that reduces your annual effective fee for personal platinum to $150 (550 - 200- 200). If you find yourself UNABLE to use those benefits, cancel that card,

I am recommending you get the Biz Platinum, even if for a period of time to milk out a better value for the 580K points you have.

Another possible venue for redemption, albeit very hard, but possibly MUCH MORE lucrative, is to transfer your Amex MRs into airline miles. Here, you need a serious strategy: which airline, when, how, how much, etc.
I had assumed that chocolateolive meant those points weren't enough when transferred to an airline partner.
THAT is the way to get the most value if one is planning international travel.

Did you mean the transfer points weren't enough?

RM
On most airline charts, business class award tickets, even to Asia, are not so expensive as to cost more than 580K round-trip.
I am not sure how many tix he was trying to buy, but one round-trip biz ticket should definitely cost less than 580K on most airlines.
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

AlphaLess wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:33 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:27 pm
AlphaLess wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:03 pm
chocolateolive wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:58 am Would appreciate some advice:

The 4 credit cards I have/use are:

1. Amex platinum
2. Amex gold
3. Amex blue cash preferred
4. Barclay mastercard (only use this when Amex is not accepted)

As you can see, I am a heavy Amex user. I have about 580,000 amex points, which I am coming to realize might not be as useful as I thought.

I was amassing amex points so I can use them to purchase business/first class tickets for faraway vacations for me and my husband. However, my husband is going to Australia for xmas this year and I was surprised to find out that I could not cover the cost/mileage of the trip from LA to Australia sufficiently with the points I had.

Should I keep the platinum and blue cash preferred and cancel the gold since I mostly use the gold for points at supermarkets and restaurants? The blue cash preferred has 6% cash back at supermarkets, but would only offer 1% back on other purchases.

At this point, I am paying a total of $895 in amex cc fees for the three cards, which is pretty ridiculous.

My father in law suggested that the best point to mileage conversion cc is the American Airlines one. Should I get that and cancel the gold amex?

I welcome all thoughts and suggestions!
With that many points, I would recommend getting the Amex Platinum Biz. With that card, you get a 35% rebate on points redeemed, when you redeem via Amex Travel, and either for premium travel, or for economy travel for the DESIGNATED airline (which effectively make your points worth 1.55 cents). But note that if you have 580K points, you can't buy a ticket worth $8700. Rather, you buy ticket(s) worth at most $5800, and get an equivalent rebate back in 31 days.

I would do the following:
- get rid of the gold,
- for the personal platinum, try to get the $200 / yr uber benefit, and $200 / yr airline benefit. Buying American airlines gift cards for amounts below $100 work (e.g., buy a card for $99.95 and one for $99.50 or something like that). that reduces your annual effective fee for personal platinum to $150 (550 - 200- 200). If you find yourself UNABLE to use those benefits, cancel that card,

I am recommending you get the Biz Platinum, even if for a period of time to milk out a better value for the 580K points you have.

Another possible venue for redemption, albeit very hard, but possibly MUCH MORE lucrative, is to transfer your Amex MRs into airline miles. Here, you need a serious strategy: which airline, when, how, how much, etc.
I had assumed that chocolateolive meant those points weren't enough when transferred to an airline partner.
THAT is the way to get the most value if one is planning international travel.

Did you mean the transfer points weren't enough?

RM
On most airline charts, business class award tickets, even to Asia, are not so expensive as to cost more than 580K round-trip.
I am not sure how many tix he was trying to buy, but one round-trip biz ticket should definitely cost less than 580K on most airlines.
I haven't looked recently for that route for *two* people in premium class...

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

Post by Bfwolf »

chocolateolive wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:58 am Would appreciate some advice:

The 4 credit cards I have/use are:

1. Amex platinum
2. Amex gold
3. Amex blue cash preferred
4. Barclay mastercard (only use this when Amex is not accepted)

As you can see, I am a heavy Amex user. I have about 580,000 amex points, which I am coming to realize might not be as useful as I thought.

I was amassing amex points so I can use them to purchase business/first class tickets for faraway vacations for me and my husband. However, my husband is going to Australia for xmas this year and I was surprised to find out that I could not cover the cost/mileage of the trip from LA to Australia sufficiently with the points I had.

Should I keep the platinum and blue cash preferred and cancel the gold since I mostly use the gold for points at supermarkets and restaurants? The blue cash preferred has 6% cash back at supermarkets, but would only offer 1% back on other purchases.

At this point, I am paying a total of $895 in amex cc fees for the three cards, which is pretty ridiculous.

My father in law suggested that the best point to mileage conversion cc is the American Airlines one. Should I get that and cancel the gold amex?

I welcome all thoughts and suggestions!
USA to Australia business class is a very difficult award to find in the "saver" (i.e. reasonable) class for all airlines. However, I don't think you should give up on the idea of getting good value from those Amex points. I just don't think it's going to be to Australia. But would you and your husband like to go to Europe? For 220,000 Amex points, the two of you can fly roundtrip in business class from USA to Europe by transferring the points to Aeroplan, which offers awards on Star Alliance flights. It helps to plan the trip very far in advance (i.e. 11 months), and you do have to avoid Lufthansa, Air Canada, and Austrian if you want to keep fuel surcharges down. But that still leaves lots of other carriers you can use: United, Turkish, Swiss, Brussels, SAS, and LOT.
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

Use Google to find all Amex airline partners.

There are many, and for at least some of them, it is not too difficult to get Business class tickets, and in some cases, First.
But I think F awards tix to Australia are hard to get.

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

Post by heartwood »

Just a heads-up on at least one card application from CApital One.

I got a mailer for a Capital One Savor card. Spend $3000 over 3 months, get a $500 reward, with various cash back in several categories. Not really attractive except for the $500 teaser.

Tried to activate online and was told it could not be completed, you'll get a letter in 7 -10 days explaining why not. Called the number on the folder and had to wait 24 minutes to speak to an agent who didn't have a specific answer for my application but suggested it might be frozen credit. I asked what agency they use; all 4 bureaus. I was told to wait for the letter, then unfreeze all four (4) agencies for at least 10 days, call them to let them know, and then wait for their underwriters review in up to 15 days.

Anyone else have problems like this with frozen credit reports? Should I just ignore any offers?
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Ketawa
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Ketawa »

hoops777 wrote: Sun Dec 09, 2018 6:32 pm
Ketawa wrote: Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:35 am Something else that I'm sure a lot of people missed: for a few hours on Tuesday, it was possible to cash out Hilton Honors Points at 0.5¢ through Amazon. It was some kind of glitch and the second time it has happened. I cashed out almost 300K points for an Amazon e-gift card. The DoC post showed up in my RSS feed and I was able to take advantage of it. There are other ways to be notified of DoC deals linked in the post. [Dead – Back To 0.2¢] Hilton Points Can Be Redeemed At Amazon For A 0.5¢ Again!!
I do not see the value in this.I understand it was 0.2 normally which is horrible but 0.5 is still pretty horrible.
Hilton typically sells points for 1¢ per point, but periodically runs promotions with 80% or 100% bonuses on points purchases, so you can buy Hilton points at 0.5¢ occasionally. If Hilton can sell them for 0.5¢ or 0.56¢, cashing them out at 0.5¢ is a no-brainer.

This is more particular to my circumstances, but I also have the Aspire card and can frequently get a military rate. Booking with points means forgoing points on the card and earning points due to Diamond status, which effectively reduce the amount I pay by about 20% or so. I definitely can't do as good as 0.5¢ on redemptions.
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Bfwolf »

Ketawa wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:51 am
hoops777 wrote: Sun Dec 09, 2018 6:32 pm
Ketawa wrote: Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:35 am Something else that I'm sure a lot of people missed: for a few hours on Tuesday, it was possible to cash out Hilton Honors Points at 0.5¢ through Amazon. It was some kind of glitch and the second time it has happened. I cashed out almost 300K points for an Amazon e-gift card. The DoC post showed up in my RSS feed and I was able to take advantage of it. There are other ways to be notified of DoC deals linked in the post. [Dead – Back To 0.2¢] Hilton Points Can Be Redeemed At Amazon For A 0.5¢ Again!!
I do not see the value in this.I understand it was 0.2 normally which is horrible but 0.5 is still pretty horrible.
Hilton typically sells points for 1¢ per point, but periodically runs promotions with 80% or 100% bonuses on points purchases, so you can buy Hilton points at 0.5¢ occasionally. If Hilton can sell them for 0.5¢ or 0.56¢, cashing them out at 0.5¢ is a no-brainer.

This is more particular to my circumstances, but I also have the Aspire card and can frequently get a military rate. Booking with points means forgoing points on the card and earning points due to Diamond status, which effectively reduce the amount I pay by about 20% or so. I definitely can't do as good as 0.5¢ on redemptions.
Cashing out Hilton points at half a cent per point is excellent value. They've basically tied their points to the cash rate and you consistently get .4 to .5 cents per point. But of course you might have found another hotel for a more attractive cash rate if you weren't tied to Hilton points, so cashing them all out for 0.5 cents a point is phenomenal. Especially since cash in hand is way better than Hilton points in hand.
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

heartwood wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:36 am Just a heads-up on at least one card application from CApital One.

I got a mailer for a Capital One Savor card. Spend $3000 over 3 months, get a $500 reward, with various cash back in several categories. Not really attractive except for the $500 teaser.

Tried to activate online and was told it could not be completed, you'll get a letter in 7 -10 days explaining why not. Called the number on the folder and had to wait 24 minutes to speak to an agent who didn't have a specific answer for my application but suggested it might be frozen credit. I asked what agency they use; all 4 bureaus. I was told to wait for the letter, then unfreeze all four (4) agencies for at least 10 days, call them to let them know, and then wait for their underwriters review in up to 15 days.

Anyone else have problems like this with frozen credit reports? Should I just ignore any offers?
Cap One is real picky, ala Chase's 4/24 and maybe even worse. I was denied a Savor but I'm at the end of a long churning stint, so I'm more like 24/24. Someone else in this thread said they had 2 opened this year, 2 last year and was denied a Savor.
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ZinCO
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ZinCO »

Jack FFR1846 wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 1:49 pm
heartwood wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:36 am Just a heads-up on at least one card application from CApital One.

I got a mailer for a Capital One Savor card. Spend $3000 over 3 months, get a $500 reward, with various cash back in several categories. Not really attractive except for the $500 teaser.

Tried to activate online and was told it could not be completed, you'll get a letter in 7 -10 days explaining why not. Called the number on the folder and had to wait 24 minutes to speak to an agent who didn't have a specific answer for my application but suggested it might be frozen credit. I asked what agency they use; all 4 bureaus. I was told to wait for the letter, then unfreeze all four (4) agencies for at least 10 days, call them to let them know, and then wait for their underwriters review in up to 15 days.

Anyone else have problems like this with frozen credit reports? Should I just ignore any offers?
Cap One is real picky, ala Chase's 4/24 and maybe even worse. I was denied a Savor but I'm at the end of a long churning stint, so I'm more like 24/24. Someone else in this thread said they had 2 opened this year, 2 last year and was denied a Savor.
Capital One is also well-known to use all 4 bureaus (or more likely, simply be unwilling to tell you which one they are going to use). All other issuers that I have dealt with have told me exactly which bureau needs to be unfrozen, either by single-use PIN or even 3-way conference call.
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by MikeG62 »

Jack FFR1846 wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 1:49 pm
heartwood wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:36 am Just a heads-up on at least one card application from CApital One.

I got a mailer for a Capital One Savor card. Spend $3000 over 3 months, get a $500 reward, with various cash back in several categories. Not really attractive except for the $500 teaser.

Tried to activate online and was told it could not be completed, you'll get a letter in 7 -10 days explaining why not. Called the number on the folder and had to wait 24 minutes to speak to an agent who didn't have a specific answer for my application but suggested it might be frozen credit. I asked what agency they use; all 4 bureaus. I was told to wait for the letter, then unfreeze all four (4) agencies for at least 10 days, call them to let them know, and then wait for their underwriters review in up to 15 days.

Anyone else have problems like this with frozen credit reports? Should I just ignore any offers?
Cap One is real picky, ala Chase's 4/24 and maybe even worse. I was denied a Savor but I'm at the end of a long churning stint, so I'm more like 24/24. Someone else in this thread said they had 2 opened this year, 2 last year and was denied a Savor.
I was denied Capital One Venture two weeks ago for, in their opinion, having opened too many CC’s in the last 24 months. I think I have opened five, with four being airline branded cards (all have been open over one year and all have an annual fee - so no churning here). They were not interested in any explanation or justification from me, just made their decision and that was that. I’ll make sure to not do business with capital one in the future (haven’t in the past either).

I think it’s getting harder and harder to churn CC’s nowadays. Not sure I’ll bother applying for other card bonus offers as it’s not worth the hassle (I had to unfreeze all three of my credit reports this last time).
Last edited by MikeG62 on Fri Dec 14, 2018 6:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Leesbro63 »

MikeG62 wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:07 pm
Jack FFR1846 wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 1:49 pm
heartwood wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:36 am Just a heads-up on at least one card application from CApital One.

I got a mailer for a Capital One Savor card. Spend $3000 over 3 months, get a $500 reward, with various cash back in several categories. Not really attractive except for the $500 teaser.

Tried to activate online and was told it could not be completed, you'll get a letter in 7 -10 days explaining why not. Called the number on the folder and had to wait 24 minutes to speak to an agent who didn't have a specific answer for my application but suggested it might be frozen credit. I asked what agency they use; all 4 bureaus. I was told to wait for the letter, then unfreeze all four (4) agencies for at least 10 days, call them to let them know, and then wait for their underwriters review in up to 15 days.

Anyone else have problems like this with frozen credit reports? Should I just ignore any offers?
Cap One is real picky, ala Chase's 4/24 and maybe even worse. I was denied a Savor but I'm at the end of a long churning stint, so I'm more like 24/24. Someone else in this thread said they had 2 opened this year, 2 last year and was denied a Savor.
I was denied Capital One Venture two weeks ago for, in their opinion, having opened too many CC’s in the last 24 months. I think I have opened five (with four being airline branded cards). They were not interested in any explanation or justification from me, just made their decision and that was that. I’ll make sure to not do business with capital one in the future (haven’t in the past either).

I think it’s getting harder and harder to churn CC’s nowadays. Not sure I’ll bother applying for other card bonus offers as it’s not worth the hassle (I had to unfreeze all three of my credit reports this last time).
I've kinda concluded the same thing. A lot of hoops to jump through for smallish benefits (compared to a few years ago). I will concentrate my efforts on brokerage bonuses and just keep using my Citi 2% card and SamsClub Card (3% on T&E and 5% on gasoline).
auggiedoggies
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by auggiedoggies »

chocolateolive wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:58 am Would appreciate some advice:

The 4 credit cards I have/use are:

1. Amex platinum
2. Amex gold
3. Amex blue cash preferred
4. Barclay mastercard (only use this when Amex is not accepted)

As you can see, I am a heavy Amex user. I have about 580,000 amex points, which I am coming to realize might not be as useful as I thought.

I was amassing amex points so I can use them to purchase business/first class tickets for faraway vacations for me and my husband. However, my husband is going to Australia for xmas this year and I was surprised to find out that I could not cover the cost/mileage of the trip from LA to Australia sufficiently with the points I had.

Should I keep the platinum and blue cash preferred and cancel the gold since I mostly use the gold for points at supermarkets and restaurants? The blue cash preferred has 6% cash back at supermarkets, but would only offer 1% back on other purchases.

At this point, I am paying a total of $895 in amex cc fees for the three cards, which is pretty ridiculous.

My father in law suggested that the best point to mileage conversion cc is the American Airlines one. Should I get that and cancel the gold amex?

I welcome all thoughts and suggestions!
You have more than enough points, there are a few good options for going to Australia from the US utilizing Amex points. You definitely need to transfer them to the correct frequent flyer programs, but that's relatively easy:



1. ANA RT Business Class is 110k miles US-Australia, or 210k 1st class

2. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is anywhere from 110k-130k round trip for biz class

3. Virgin Atlantic will let you book on Virgin Australia, about 180k round trip for biz class.

All of these are transferrable from Amex.
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Bfwolf »

auggiedoggies wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:57 am
chocolateolive wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:58 am Would appreciate some advice:

The 4 credit cards I have/use are:

1. Amex platinum
2. Amex gold
3. Amex blue cash preferred
4. Barclay mastercard (only use this when Amex is not accepted)

As you can see, I am a heavy Amex user. I have about 580,000 amex points, which I am coming to realize might not be as useful as I thought.

I was amassing amex points so I can use them to purchase business/first class tickets for faraway vacations for me and my husband. However, my husband is going to Australia for xmas this year and I was surprised to find out that I could not cover the cost/mileage of the trip from LA to Australia sufficiently with the points I had.

Should I keep the platinum and blue cash preferred and cancel the gold since I mostly use the gold for points at supermarkets and restaurants? The blue cash preferred has 6% cash back at supermarkets, but would only offer 1% back on other purchases.

At this point, I am paying a total of $895 in amex cc fees for the three cards, which is pretty ridiculous.

My father in law suggested that the best point to mileage conversion cc is the American Airlines one. Should I get that and cancel the gold amex?

I welcome all thoughts and suggestions!
You have more than enough points, there are a few good options for going to Australia from the US utilizing Amex points. You definitely need to transfer them to the correct frequent flyer programs, but that's relatively easy:



1. ANA RT Business Class is 110k miles US-Australia, or 210k 1st class

2. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is anywhere from 110k-130k round trip for biz class

3. Virgin Atlantic will let you book on Virgin Australia, about 180k round trip for biz class.

All of these are transferrable from Amex.
But will there be business class availability on any of them that doesn't require you to fly through mainland Asia?
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

Bfwolf wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:53 am
auggiedoggies wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:57 am
chocolateolive wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:58 am Would appreciate some advice:

The 4 credit cards I have/use are:

1. Amex platinum
2. Amex gold
3. Amex blue cash preferred
4. Barclay mastercard (only use this when Amex is not accepted)

As you can see, I am a heavy Amex user. I have about 580,000 amex points, which I am coming to realize might not be as useful as I thought.

I was amassing amex points so I can use them to purchase business/first class tickets for faraway vacations for me and my husband. However, my husband is going to Australia for xmas this year and I was surprised to find out that I could not cover the cost/mileage of the trip from LA to Australia sufficiently with the points I had.

Should I keep the platinum and blue cash preferred and cancel the gold since I mostly use the gold for points at supermarkets and restaurants? The blue cash preferred has 6% cash back at supermarkets, but would only offer 1% back on other purchases.

At this point, I am paying a total of $895 in amex cc fees for the three cards, which is pretty ridiculous.

My father in law suggested that the best point to mileage conversion cc is the American Airlines one. Should I get that and cancel the gold amex?

I welcome all thoughts and suggestions!
You have more than enough points, there are a few good options for going to Australia from the US utilizing Amex points. You definitely need to transfer them to the correct frequent flyer programs, but that's relatively easy:



1. ANA RT Business Class is 110k miles US-Australia, or 210k 1st class

2. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is anywhere from 110k-130k round trip for biz class

3. Virgin Atlantic will let you book on Virgin Australia, about 180k round trip for biz class.

All of these are transferrable from Amex.
But will there be business class availability on any of them that doesn't require you to fly through mainland Asia?
I guess I missed that they can't connect in Asia.

I would have recommended that they try Cathay Pacific, which is amazing, especially if beds open in F class (if planes with F fly the routes they need).
But J (business) would also be excellent.
That would probably connect through Hong Kong.

We flew home from Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific F from Hong Kong to the USA last year, and I seriously did not want to get off the plane. (We also had the most amazing F crew.)
The beds are almost twin size, something like 33 inches wide.
We did it using awards; the dollar cost would have been astronomical.

We'll be spoiled forever :wink:

But premium class on any top international carrier should also be wonderful.
OP should try to avoid flying on domestic airline equipment, even if code shared with an international carrier.

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

Post by Starper »

^Which awards did you use to buy Cathay Pacific 1st and business class between the US and HK?

I use AAdvantage miles for this route with Cathay, but they only have economy class seats available and even for that I need to call American airlines because the web site doesn't show availability.
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

Starper wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:12 pm ^Which awards did you use to buy Cathay Pacific 1st and business class between the US and HK?

I use AAdvantage miles for this route with Cathay, but they only have economy class seats available and even for that I need to call American airlines because the web site doesn't show availability.
I'm pretty sure we used AAdvantage, too.
[I would have to double check to be absolutely sure; it should be Google-able :happy ]
About the Amex, I'm assuming the previous post about that was accurate (that is, unless I was wrong about the AAdvantage use; our only other program is Amex).

And yes, for most overseas, one needs to call AAmerican International Awards.
I found them difficult to deal with, but due to DH's elite status, I realized we could call a "special" number, and wow... service was so much better.

But any class of service was available by awards IF there were awards seats still left.
And IF that class of service is available on the specific flight. Equipment can vary.
In some cases, they open up more seats as the flight date approaches, or other awards passengers could cancel.

In our case, we use a special service for this (not expensive in our minds, given the comfort!), and while we were in Japan spending a couple of days at a Buddhist Monastery, he was able to grab those two F seats for the return from HK about 2+ weeks later. Great news to get later!

Yup; I just checked about AAdvantage and Cathay Pacific.

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

Post by madbrain »

ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 1:05 pm I would have recommended that they try Cathay Pacific, which is amazing, especially if beds open in F class (if planes with F fly the routes they need).
But J (business) would also be excellent.
That would probably connect through Hong Kong.

We flew home from Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific F from Hong Kong to the USA last year, and I seriously did not want to get off the plane. (We also had the most amazing F crew.)
The beds are almost twin size, something like 33 inches wide.
We did it using awards; the dollar cost would have been astronomical.

We'll be spoiled forever :wink:

But premium class on any top international carrier should also be wonderful.
OP should try to avoid flying on domestic airline equipment, even if code shared with an international carrier.

RM
I can confirm that Cathay Pacific is amazing. Flew from Hanoi to SFO through Hong Kong last week on Cathay Dragon and Cathay Pacific in business. Lie flat bed. I could use my CPAP machine almost the whole time, except during takeoff and landing. I slept and skipped all the meals on the HKG-SFO leg. This was my first time in business ever. I used business because I suffered 2 broken ribs during my trip, and the doctor wrote down that I must fly back on business for pain management. I don't have an Amex so no way to transfer to Asia miles. I do have plenty of American Airlines miles and checked the AA web site - there was no availability in business on my route for the next 2 months. I believe it would have cost 175,000 miles in business and 210,000 miles in first, and I had 162,000 miles.
I ended up booking a 1-way business ticket with cash. That was $2250 for same-day booking (just a few hours ahead). Other carriers were $4000 and up. Also booked a coach ticket on the same route for my husband for $800 since he didn't want to be left behind, and I needed help with the checkin luggages also. We had 4 luggages of 23 kg each.

The original trip was booked in coach as award ticket with Delta miles for both of us. I spoke with them on saturday and they said they would refund my miles and taxes given the medical situation, but it would take 3 business days. I saw the tax refund already, but not the miles yet.
The hotel said they would refund my SPG points for the last night also since we checked out 19 hours early, but haven't seen them yet.
I don't believe that any insurance I have will pay for the business ticket in my situation, unfortunately. I paid the flight taxes with my Sapphire Reserve. They said that they cover trip interruption and cancellation, and medical expenses up to $2500, but they wouldn't cover rebooking me in business. I will try to submit it anyway. I will also try to submit it with my medical insurance, but don't believe they will pay either.
I only had $200 of medical expenses for the doctor visit, ultrasound and Xray in Hanoi. Can highly recommend Family Medical Practice there. I avoided the Hanoi French hospital after a terrible experience there years ago. Still got to see a French doctor at FMP which was nice (I'm a native French speaker).
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

madbrain wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:27 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 1:05 pm I would have recommended that they try Cathay Pacific, which is amazing, especially if beds open in F class (if planes with F fly the routes they need).
But J (business) would also be excellent.
That would probably connect through Hong Kong.

We flew home from Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific F from Hong Kong to the USA last year, and I seriously did not want to get off the plane. (We also had the most amazing F crew.)
The beds are almost twin size, something like 33 inches wide.
We did it using awards; the dollar cost would have been astronomical.

We'll be spoiled forever :wink:

But premium class on any top international carrier should also be wonderful.
OP should try to avoid flying on domestic airline equipment, even if code shared with an international carrier.

RM
I can confirm that Cathay Pacific is amazing. Flew from Hanoi to SFO through Hong Kong last week on Cathay Dragon and Cathay Pacific in business. Lie flat bed. I could use my CPAP machine almost the whole time, except during takeoff and landing. I slept and skipped all the meals on the HKG-SFO leg. This was my first time in business ever. I used business because I suffered 2 broken ribs during my trip, and the doctor wrote down that I must fly back on business for pain management. I don't have an Amex so no way to transfer to Asia miles. I do have plenty of American Airlines miles and checked the AA web site - there was no availability in business on my route for the next 2 months. I believe it would have cost 175,000 miles in business and 210,000 miles in first, and I had 162,000 miles.
I ended up booking a 1-way business ticket with cash. That was $2250 for same-day booking (just a few hours ahead). Other carriers were $4000 and up. Also booked a coach ticket on the same route for my husband for $800 since he didn't want to be left behind, and I needed help with the checkin luggages also. We had 4 luggages of 23 kg each.

The original trip was booked in coach as award ticket with Delta miles for both of us. I spoke with them on saturday and they said they would refund my miles and taxes given the medical situation, but it would take 3 business days. I saw the tax refund already, but not the miles yet.
The hotel said they would refund my SPG points for the last night also since we checked out 19 hours early, but haven't seen them yet.
I don't believe that any insurance I have will pay for the business ticket in my situation, unfortunately. I paid the flight taxes with my Sapphire Reserve. They said that they cover trip interruption and cancellation, and medical expenses up to $2500, but they wouldn't cover rebooking me in business. I will try to submit it anyway. I will also try to submit it with my medical insurance, but don't believe they will pay either.
I only had $200 of medical expenses for the doctor visit, ultrasound and Xray in Hanoi. Can highly recommend Family Medical Practice there. I avoided the Hanoi French hospital after a terrible experience there years ago. Still got to see a French doctor at FMP which was nice (I'm a native French speaker).
If you had third party travel insurance, almost without a doubt they would have covered it, as long as the insured amount was "enough".

We use www.TripInsuranceStore.com to purchase coverage from Travel Insured (the insurer).
And they've paid large claims without any haggling.
Indeed, they covered something sort of like this, but it involved almost an extra week at a 5* hotel in Italy, when I got sick and we couldn't travel further for a while. Needed physician documentation, etc., of course.

SO sorry to hear of your medical problems, and also the driver!
DH sometimes uses Uber, but I refuse (and wouldn't even consider it if I were alone).

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

Post by madbrain »

ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:36 pm If you had third party travel insurance, almost without a doubt they would have covered it, as long as the insured amount was "enough".
Yes, I'm sure you are right, although I wonder how this works when booking trips with miles. How do you figure out the insurance amount in this case when you are only paying the taxes ?
We use www.TripInsuranceStore.com to purchase coverage from Travel Insured (the insurer).
And they've paid large claims without any haggling.
Thanks, I will take a look in the future. This is harder to justify when one already pays for a premium card (Chase Sapphire Reserve, $225 net annual fee for 2).
SO sorry to hear of your medical problems, and also the driver!
Yeah, that Lyft issues still vexes me. I believe all those "gig economy" companies, like Lyft, Uber, and AirBNB are just tax avoidance scams, at best.
DH sometimes uses Uber, but I refuse (and wouldn't even consider it if I were alone).
My first instance of using Lyft was to come back from the ER last year (all was OK) when my husband was abroad. The hospital called a taxi, but they just didn't show up. That first Lyft ride was OK.

On Saturday it cost us $185 by taxi in an SUV to come from SFO to our remote place in San Jose. Lyft app was quoting $115 for extra large car. Still didn't use them. Wish there were decent routes to Asia to the much closer SJC airport instead.
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

madbrain wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:46 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:36 pm If you had third party travel insurance, almost without a doubt they would have covered it, as long as the insured amount was "enough".
Yes, I'm sure you are right, although I wonder how this works when booking trips with miles. How do you figure out the insurance amount in this case when you are only paying the taxes ?
We use www.TripInsuranceStore.com to purchase coverage from Travel Insured (the insurer).
And they've paid large claims without any haggling.
Thanks, I will take a look in the future. This is harder to justify when one already pays for a premium card (Chase Sapphire Reserve, $225 net annual fee for 2).
SO sorry to hear of your medical problems, and also the driver!
Yeah, that Lyft issues still vexes me. I believe all those "gig economy" companies, like Lyft, Uber, and AirBNB are just tax avoidance scams, at best.
DH sometimes uses Uber, but I refuse (and wouldn't even consider it if I were alone).
My first instance of using Lyft was to come back from the ER last year (all was OK) when my husband was abroad. The hospital called a taxi, but they just didn't show up. That first Lyft ride was OK.

On Saturday it cost us $185 by taxi in an SUV to come from SFO to our remote place in San Jose. Lyft app was quoting $115 for extra large car. Still didn't use them. Wish there were decent routes to Asia to the much closer SJC airport instead.
You'd probably need to pay in advance for hotels and such to cover "enough".
If the awards travel are all there is, then I don't think it would work.
But TIS would be good to ask. I've asked them many questions, and they always know, or make some calls to find out for me.
We often use these flights in conjunction with cruises, so that bumps the coverage up a lot (ahem).

The insurance isn't cheap by many standards, but for those with some "pre-existing medical conditions", it's well worth it.
We were ahead until recently, because of two large claims, plus several smaller ones.
But as with homeowners insurance, we'd rather not be ahead; we'd rather have uneventful travel.

At least your Cathay J seat wasn't as expensive as I'd have thought.
But if you ever have a chance to try their F, enjoy!

(Our next goal: Singapore Suites, with that double bed configuration availability. It's a picture we'd love to have! Hard to get with points, but we are usually very flexible in flight dates.)

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

Post by Bfwolf »

The true bargain in Cathay awards is with Alaska miles. If one wanted, one could fly first class from USA to Hong Kong, layover as long as one wanted, and then fly to South Africa in business class for a total of 70K miles one way.
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

Bfwolf wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:31 pm The true bargain in Cathay awards is with Alaska miles. If one wanted, one could fly first class from USA to Hong Kong, layover as long as one wanted, and then fly to South Africa in business class for a total of 70K miles one way.
:shock:

Eh!?? :happy

Are seats (er, beds) actually available?

Does this work if awards are transferred into Alaska, if possible?

I think something like this (?) is why the person who helps us with this had us open an Alaska points account... something about it having to age at least a month for... (maybe transferred points?). That is, it couldn't be done "right away" once we decided we wanted to do it that way.

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

Post by Jags4186 »

Capital One, Barclays, and Chase are difficult to impossible to get approved for if you’ve opened more than a few cards—Chase is a hard 5/24 others are just very strict, not sure if there is a hard coded rule or not. My wife and I both have previously had Arrival + cards but are unable to get them a 2nd time with the new 70k bonus. Neither of us have ever been approved for a Capital One card. I think Chase UR are incredibly overrated and don’t see myself falling under 5/24 for them. At the moment we’re hitting Bank of America hard—we’ve opened 3x BOA cards each this year on top of the Merrill card we opened about 2 years ago. A total of $1900 in bonuses for a combined $9000 in spend. We’re also getting around $150 in cashback from the spend.

I don’t believe it is worth “cooling it” until you are shut out everywhere. Even then, it is rarely if ever worth it to fall under 5/24. A $200 bonus on $500 spend from a smaller bank is better than $500/50k on $3000 or $750/75k on $5000 spend from the big boys.
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:54 pm
madbrain wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:46 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:36 pm If you had third party travel insurance, almost without a doubt they would have covered it, as long as the insured amount was "enough".
Yes, I'm sure you are right, although I wonder how this works when booking trips with miles. How do you figure out the insurance amount in this case when you are only paying the taxes ?
We use www.TripInsuranceStore.com to purchase coverage from Travel Insured (the insurer).
And they've paid large claims without any haggling.
Thanks, I will take a look in the future. This is harder to justify when one already pays for a premium card (Chase Sapphire Reserve, $225 net annual fee for 2).
SO sorry to hear of your medical problems, and also the driver!
Yeah, that Lyft issues still vexes me. I believe all those "gig economy" companies, like Lyft, Uber, and AirBNB are just tax avoidance scams, at best.
DH sometimes uses Uber, but I refuse (and wouldn't even consider it if I were alone).
My first instance of using Lyft was to come back from the ER last year (all was OK) when my husband was abroad. The hospital called a taxi, but they just didn't show up. That first Lyft ride was OK.

On Saturday it cost us $185 by taxi in an SUV to come from SFO to our remote place in San Jose. Lyft app was quoting $115 for extra large car. Still didn't use them. Wish there were decent routes to Asia to the much closer SJC airport instead.
You'd probably need to pay in advance for hotels and such to cover "enough".
If the awards travel are all there is, then I don't think it would work.
But TIS would be good to ask. I've asked them many questions, and they always know, or make some calls to find out for me.
We often use these flights in conjunction with cruises, so that bumps the coverage up a lot (ahem).

The insurance isn't cheap by many standards, but for those with some "pre-existing medical conditions", it's well worth it.
We were ahead until recently, because of two large claims, plus several smaller ones.
But as with homeowners insurance, we'd rather not be ahead; we'd rather have uneventful travel.

At least your Cathay J seat wasn't as expensive as I'd have thought.
But if you ever have a chance to try their F, enjoy!

(Our next goal: Singapore Suites, with that double bed configuration availability. It's a picture we'd love to have! Hard to get with points, but we are usually very flexible in flight dates.)

RM
I should clarify about the costs.

It can differ by age, and we are older than you (probably considerably so). DH's rates just jumped noticeably higher than mine.
But interestingly, costs are not based upon any medical underwriting, although there are some deadlines for starting coverage, and one must be "fit to travel" on the date the policy is taken out.

Also, we get "CFAR" (Cancel For Any Reason, which now includes "Interrupt" for any reason, which is very good), and most people don't. That adds to the cost.

You might want at least to look into it, especially given the question about whether there is a way to insure for more than actual out of pocket advance costs.
Most policies are based upon "non-refundable advance payments" (with proof required if there is a claim).

Good luck, and hope you are feeling better soon.

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

Post by TravelGeek »

madbrain wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:46 pm Wish there were decent routes to Asia to the much closer SJC airport instead.
I assume you know about them, but just in case:

ANA to Narita (Star Alliance)
Hainan to Beijing (partners with Alaska Airlines)

Nothing compared to SFO, of course, but better than in the past when it was basically all domestic and Mexico.

When I lived on the peninsula, I hated the cabs (drivers) so much and found the Supershuttle so unreliable that I sometimes just rented a car from a Hertz Local Edition nearby, drove us to the airport, and dropped the car off. Often about the same cost as a cab, but of course a bit more hassle due to the rental drop-off. Or parked my own car in long term parking.
Mister A
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Mister A »

Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:42 pmI think Chase UR are incredibly overrated
I'd like to hear the reasoning on this. I'm frequently making tough calls between charging things to my Chase or AmEx ecosystems so always open to arguments.
Freefun
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Freefun »

Bfwolf wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 2:46 am
chocolateolive wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:58 am Would appreciate some advice:

The 4 credit cards I have/use are:

1. Amex platinum
2. Amex gold
3. Amex blue cash preferred
4. Barclay mastercard (only use this when Amex is not accepted)

As you can see, I am a heavy Amex user. I have about 580,000 amex points, which I am coming to realize might not be as useful as I thought.

I was amassing amex points so I can use them to purchase business/first class tickets for faraway vacations for me and my husband. However, my husband is going to Australia for xmas this year and I was surprised to find out that I could not cover the cost/mileage of the trip from LA to Australia sufficiently with the points I had.

Should I keep the platinum and blue cash preferred and cancel the gold since I mostly use the gold for points at supermarkets and restaurants? The blue cash preferred has 6% cash back at supermarkets, but would only offer 1% back on other purchases.

At this point, I am paying a total of $895 in amex cc fees for the three cards, which is pretty ridiculous.

My father in law suggested that the best point to mileage conversion cc is the American Airlines one. Should I get that and cancel the gold amex?

I welcome all thoughts and suggestions!
USA to Australia business class is a very difficult award to find in the "saver" (i.e. reasonable) class for all airlines. However, I don't think you should give up on the idea of getting good value from those Amex points. I just don't think it's going to be to Australia. But would you and your husband like to go to Europe? For 220,000 Amex points, the two of you can fly roundtrip in business class from USA to Europe by transferring the points to Aeroplan, which offers awards on Star Alliance flights. It helps to plan the trip very far in advance (i.e. 11 months), and you do have to avoid Lufthansa, Air Canada, and Austrian if you want to keep fuel surcharges down. But that still leaves lots of other carriers you can use: United, Turkish, Swiss, Brussels, SAS, and LOT.
United has Polaris direct to Sydney. I know because I booked it. 80k each way.
Remember when you wanted what you currently have?
Jags4186
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Jags4186 »

Mister A wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:32 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:42 pmI think Chase UR are incredibly overrated
I'd like to hear the reasoning on this. I'm frequently making tough calls between charging things to my Chase or AmEx ecosystems so always open to arguments.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with UR, it’s just hard to get outsized value. Hyatt is their best transfer partner. The lack of transfer bonuses really hurts them. Right now AMEX points are more valuable than UR for hotel stays if you can believe it. Transfer 30,000 MR to Hilton you get 90,000 HH points. That lets you stay at the highest tier property in Hilton’s portfolio during peak period. You’ll also get 5th night free. A top tier Hyatt property also costs 30,000UR/30,000 Hyatt points and you don’t get 5th night free.

As far as airlines, unless you are a Southwest flyer (I’m not) there’s no comparison. AMEX and Citi can do everything Chase does, but not the other way around.
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by madbrain »

TravelGeek wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:30 pm
madbrain wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:46 pm Wish there were decent routes to Asia to the much closer SJC airport instead.
I assume you know about them, but just in case:

ANA to Narita (Star Alliance)
Hainan to Beijing (partners with Alaska Airlines)

Nothing compared to SFO, of course, but better than in the past when it was basically all domestic and Mexico.

When I lived on the peninsula, I hated the cabs (drivers) so much and found the Supershuttle so unreliable that I sometimes just rented a car from a Hertz Local Edition nearby, drove us to the airport, and dropped the car off. Often about the same cost as a cab, but of course a bit more hassle due to the rental drop-off. Or parked my own car in long term parking.
Yes, I'm aware of those, and considered them, but ...
This is what google flight shows for next day Hanoi - and showed last saturday when I booked my flight 5 hours ahead of departure. I was looking to make only 1 stop, so this is filtered by 1 stop, and business class, 1 way.

https://www.google.com/flights#flt=HAN. ... 1;t:f;tt:o

Least expensive one is HAN-HND and NRT-SJC, with a change of airports in Japan, and a 19 hour layover and 33hr total trip time for $3147. With that long of a layover, they should include a hotel room.

The next 2 are on Vietnam airlines or Japan airlines to Tokyo Narita, with a 10 hour layover and 24hr total trip time, and cost $5400+.

Those itineraries were just too long and too expensive. I really wanted to fly the least amount possible.

Same search to SFO returns many more choices :
https://www.google.com/flights#flt=HAN. ... 1;t:f;tt:o

The shortest would have been 15h total trip time for $2658, with a 1h25min layover in Taipei :
https://www.google.com/flights#flt=HAN. ... USD.265712

The one we took was
https://www.google.com/flights#flt=HAN. ... USD.225682
Ie. 16hr total trip time with 2h20min layover in Hong Kong for $2250.
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by theplayer11 »

Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:09 pm
Mister A wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:32 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:42 pmI think Chase UR are incredibly overrated
I'd like to hear the reasoning on this. I'm frequently making tough calls between charging things to my Chase or AmEx ecosystems so always open to arguments.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with UR, it’s just hard to get outsized value. Hyatt is their best transfer partner. The lack of transfer bonuses really hurts them. Right now AMEX points are more valuable than UR for hotel stays if you can believe it. Transfer 30,000 MR to Hilton you get 90,000 HH points. That lets you stay at the highest tier property in Hilton’s portfolio during peak period. You’ll also get 5th night free. A top tier Hyatt property also costs 30,000UR/30,000 Hyatt points and you don’t get 5th night free.

As far as airlines, unless you are a Southwest flyer (I’m not) there’s no comparison. AMEX and Citi can do everything Chase does, but not the other way around.
yes, but you can't accumulate a ton of points with AMEX..one and done on the sign up bonus. With Chase and a partner, you can really hit the sign up bonuses. Also get 1.5 points along the way with Freedom unlimited and Business unlimited. Just more cards and more options to accumulate with Chase.
Olemiss540
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Olemiss540 »

Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:09 pm
Mister A wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:32 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:42 pmI think Chase UR are incredibly overrated
I'd like to hear the reasoning on this. I'm frequently making tough calls between charging things to my Chase or AmEx ecosystems so always open to arguments.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with UR, it’s just hard to get outsized value. Hyatt is their best transfer partner. The lack of transfer bonuses really hurts them. Right now AMEX points are more valuable than UR for hotel stays if you can believe it. Transfer 30,000 MR to Hilton you get 90,000 HH points. That lets you stay at the highest tier property in Hilton’s portfolio during peak period. You’ll also get 5th night free. A top tier Hyatt property also costs 30,000UR/30,000 Hyatt points and you don’t get 5th night free.

As far as airlines, unless you are a Southwest flyer (I’m not) there’s no comparison. AMEX and Citi can do everything Chase does, but not the other way around.
Which is a shame since Southwest is a GREAT redemption of UR points. Are you factoring the 1.25 and 1.5x multiplier when redeemed through the portal?

Recently finished the 5/24 loop (with some business cards on the way) and was just approved the C1 Venture. Easy 750!

Hope the wife gets approved for one too....
I hold index funds because I do not overestimate my ability to pick stocks OR stock pickers.
Jags4186
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Jags4186 »

theplayer11 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:48 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:09 pm
Mister A wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:32 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:42 pmI think Chase UR are incredibly overrated
I'd like to hear the reasoning on this. I'm frequently making tough calls between charging things to my Chase or AmEx ecosystems so always open to arguments.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with UR, it’s just hard to get outsized value. Hyatt is their best transfer partner. The lack of transfer bonuses really hurts them. Right now AMEX points are more valuable than UR for hotel stays if you can believe it. Transfer 30,000 MR to Hilton you get 90,000 HH points. That lets you stay at the highest tier property in Hilton’s portfolio during peak period. You’ll also get 5th night free. A top tier Hyatt property also costs 30,000UR/30,000 Hyatt points and you don’t get 5th night free.

As far as airlines, unless you are a Southwest flyer (I’m not) there’s no comparison. AMEX and Citi can do everything Chase does, but not the other way around.
yes, but you can't accumulate a ton of points with AMEX..one and done on the sign up bonus. With Chase and a partner, you can really hit the sign up bonuses. Also get 1.5 points along the way with Freedom unlimited and Business unlimited. Just more cards and more options to accumulate with Chase.
This is simply untrue. There are dozens of MR earning cards, targeted no lifetime language offers, targeted higher than normal bonus offers, AMEX offers, 2x everywhere, 3x gas, 4x restaurant & up to 4.5x groceries, frequent transfer bonuses, upgrade offers, and the ability to earn 20,000 points per referral.

There are 7 UR earning cards available and to be in a position to continue to get them without being autodeclined you must forego dozens of bonuses elsewhere. 5X on Freedom is nice, but its only incremental over what you get elsewhere. 5x office supply stores is great provided either 1) you’re willing to buy gift cards and use them for your regular spend (I don’t) or 2) you can MS, which has been completely dried up in my area. Over the last 2 years my wife and I have each gotten 13 cards from other banks for a little over $10,000 in sign up bonuses. I am not willing to forgo $10000 in order to get a couple of Chase bonuses.

I do not value redeeming points at 1.5cpp. Reason being that if you’re going to pay cash for something, you can do better with real cash than you can redeeming at $0.015/pt. For example, you can regularly buy hotels.com gift cards for 10% off. In addition you get 10% back when you book through hotels.com. You can also book through a cashback portal and usually get another 5-10% discount. And I would additionally earn points from the CC spend on this—another 2% at least. If a $1000 hotel stay costs me $680 - $730 real dollars using real cash, or booking through the Chase portal at “1.5cpp” costs me 66,667 points, then I really only got $0.01 - $0.011 per point, no $0.015.

I’m not against Chase UR. It IS a good program. I’ve earned and burned over 1,000,000 UR. But I can’t sit around and let Chase’s rules prevent me from earning elsewhere. I have the 4 main Chase cards but I am going to downgrade my CSR to a Freedom in January after I get my $300 reimbursement. I just don’t see how I will accumulate enough points in Chase to make it worthwhile to pay an AF with them.
Last edited by Jags4186 on Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 8:55 pm
theplayer11 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:48 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:09 pm
Mister A wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:32 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:42 pmI think Chase UR are incredibly overrated
I'd like to hear the reasoning on this. I'm frequently making tough calls between charging things to my Chase or AmEx ecosystems so always open to arguments.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with UR, it’s just hard to get outsized value. Hyatt is their best transfer partner. The lack of transfer bonuses really hurts them. Right now AMEX points are more valuable than UR for hotel stays if you can believe it. Transfer 30,000 MR to Hilton you get 90,000 HH points. That lets you stay at the highest tier property in Hilton’s portfolio during peak period. You’ll also get 5th night free. A top tier Hyatt property also costs 30,000UR/30,000 Hyatt points and you don’t get 5th night free.

As far as airlines, unless you are a Southwest flyer (I’m not) there’s no comparison. AMEX and Citi can do everything Chase does, but not the other way around.
yes, but you can't accumulate a ton of points with AMEX..one and done on the sign up bonus. With Chase and a partner, you can really hit the sign up bonuses. Also get 1.5 points along the way with Freedom unlimited and Business unlimited. Just more cards and more options to accumulate with Chase.
This is simply untrue. There are dozens of MR earning cards, targeted no lifetime language offers, targeted higher than normal bonus offers, AMEX offers, 2x everywhere, 3x gas, 4x restaurant & up to 4.5x groceries, frequent transfer bonuses, and the ability to earn 20,000 points per referral.

There are 7 UR earning cards available and to be in a position to continue to get them without being autodeclined you must forego dozens of bonuses elsewhere. 5X on Freedom is nice, but its only incremental over what you get elsewhere. 5x office supply stores is great provided either 1) you’re willing to buy gift cards and use them for your regular spend (I don’t) or 2) you can MS, which has been completely dried up in my area.

I do not value redeeming points at 1.5cpp. Reason being that if you’re going to pay cash for something, you can do better with real cash than you can redeeming at $0.015/pt. For example, you can regularly buy hotels.com gift cards for 10% off. In addition you get 10% back when you book through hotels.com. You can also book through a cashback portal and usually get another 5-10% discount. And I would additionally earn points from the CC spend on this—another 2% at least. If a $1000 hotel stay costs me $680 - $730 real dollars using real cash, or booking through the Chase portal at “1.5cpp” costs me 66,667 points, then I really only got $0.01 - $0.011 per point, no $0.015.
What's the 20k points per "referral"?
Or frequent transfer bonuses?

We can purchase AAdvantage points/miles for far less than the value to us when redeemed for premium international travel.
But we can't "purchase" Amex rewards, so we are trying to switch most spending from Citi to Amex.

Thanks.

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

Post by Bfwolf »

ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:35 pm
Bfwolf wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:31 pm The true bargain in Cathay awards is with Alaska miles. If one wanted, one could fly first class from USA to Hong Kong, layover as long as one wanted, and then fly to South Africa in business class for a total of 70K miles one way.
:shock:

Eh!?? :happy

Are seats (er, beds) actually available?

Does this work if awards are transferred into Alaska, if possible?

I think something like this (?) is why the person who helps us with this had us open an Alaska points account... something about it having to age at least a month for... (maybe transferred points?). That is, it couldn't be done "right away" once we decided we wanted to do it that way.

RM
I think Alaska has as much availability for Cathay awards as, say, AA does. Though I'm not sure.
Jags4186
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Jags4186 »

ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:01 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 8:55 pm
theplayer11 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:48 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:09 pm
Mister A wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:32 pm

I'd like to hear the reasoning on this. I'm frequently making tough calls between charging things to my Chase or AmEx ecosystems so always open to arguments.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with UR, it’s just hard to get outsized value. Hyatt is their best transfer partner. The lack of transfer bonuses really hurts them. Right now AMEX points are more valuable than UR for hotel stays if you can believe it. Transfer 30,000 MR to Hilton you get 90,000 HH points. That lets you stay at the highest tier property in Hilton’s portfolio during peak period. You’ll also get 5th night free. A top tier Hyatt property also costs 30,000UR/30,000 Hyatt points and you don’t get 5th night free.

As far as airlines, unless you are a Southwest flyer (I’m not) there’s no comparison. AMEX and Citi can do everything Chase does, but not the other way around.
yes, but you can't accumulate a ton of points with AMEX..one and done on the sign up bonus. With Chase and a partner, you can really hit the sign up bonuses. Also get 1.5 points along the way with Freedom unlimited and Business unlimited. Just more cards and more options to accumulate with Chase.
This is simply untrue. There are dozens of MR earning cards, targeted no lifetime language offers, targeted higher than normal bonus offers, AMEX offers, 2x everywhere, 3x gas, 4x restaurant & up to 4.5x groceries, frequent transfer bonuses, and the ability to earn 20,000 points per referral.

There are 7 UR earning cards available and to be in a position to continue to get them without being autodeclined you must forego dozens of bonuses elsewhere. 5X on Freedom is nice, but its only incremental over what you get elsewhere. 5x office supply stores is great provided either 1) you’re willing to buy gift cards and use them for your regular spend (I don’t) or 2) you can MS, which has been completely dried up in my area.

I do not value redeeming points at 1.5cpp. Reason being that if you’re going to pay cash for something, you can do better with real cash than you can redeeming at $0.015/pt. For example, you can regularly buy hotels.com gift cards for 10% off. In addition you get 10% back when you book through hotels.com. You can also book through a cashback portal and usually get another 5-10% discount. And I would additionally earn points from the CC spend on this—another 2% at least. If a $1000 hotel stay costs me $680 - $730 real dollars using real cash, or booking through the Chase portal at “1.5cpp” costs me 66,667 points, then I really only got $0.01 - $0.011 per point, no $0.015.
What's the 20k points per "referral"?
Or frequent transfer bonuses?

We can purchase AAdvantage points/miles for far less than the value to us when redeemed for premium international travel.
But we can't "purchase" Amex rewards, so we are trying to switch most spending from Citi to Amex.

Thanks.

RM
If you have a platinum or business platinum you can refer someone to an AMEX card and get 20,000 points. You can even refer yourself. If you don’t wan to pay for a Platinum annual fee (I certainly don’t), you can refer for 15,000pts for free with Blue Business Plus. It’s a helpful way around 1) the once in a lifetime sign up bonus (you can always refer yourself to get a 15,000 bonus), and a way to boost earnings in 2 player mode.

Frequent transfer bonuses refers to the ratios AMEX transfers to its partners. At Chase all transfers are 1:1. You send 1000 UR to Marriott you get 1000 Marriott points. You send 1000 points to United you get 1000 Mileage Plus points. With AMEX they often offer promotions—you send 1000 MR to Hilton you get 3000 Hilton points. You send 1000 points to British Airways you get 1400 Avios. I don’t believe Chase has ever offered a transfer bonus to any partner.
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

Bfwolf wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:03 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:35 pm
Bfwolf wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:31 pm The true bargain in Cathay awards is with Alaska miles. If one wanted, one could fly first class from USA to Hong Kong, layover as long as one wanted, and then fly to South Africa in business class for a total of 70K miles one way.
:shock:

Eh!?? :happy

Are seats (er, beds) actually available?

Does this work if awards are transferred into Alaska, if possible?

I think something like this (?) is why the person who helps us with this had us open an Alaska points account... something about it having to age at least a month for... (maybe transferred points?). That is, it couldn't be done "right away" once we decided we wanted to do it that way.

RM
I think Alaska has as much availability for Cathay awards as, say, AA does. Though I'm not sure.
Thanks!

This may be a great reminder to us about something we were "already told about".
The reason we turned to a service to help was that there are so many darned ways to get from A to B *comfortably*, using awards.

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

Post by TravelGeek »

ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:35 pm I think something like this (?) is why the person who helps us with this had us open an Alaska points account... something about it having to age at least a month for... (maybe transferred points?). That is, it couldn't be done "right away" once we decided we wanted to do it that way.

RM
Yeah, Alaska doesn’t seem to like it when new customers who have never flown a mile on their aircraft somehow acquire or transfer in a pile of miles and then immeditely redeem a premium class award. Hard to tell how often that triggers alarm bells and account audits/closures, but there are reports on FT and other sites.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska- ... ng-20.html

Hopefully your guy is familiar with it and careful.
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ResearchMed
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by ResearchMed »

TravelGeek wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:19 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:35 pm I think something like this (?) is why the person who helps us with this had us open an Alaska points account... something about it having to age at least a month for... (maybe transferred points?). That is, it couldn't be done "right away" once we decided we wanted to do it that way.

RM
Yeah, Alaska doesn’t seem to like it when new customers who have never flown a mile on their aircraft somehow acquire or transfer in a pile of miles and then immeditely redeem a premium class award. Hard to tell how often that triggers alarm bells and account audits/closures, but there are reports on FT and other sites.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska- ... ng-20.html

Hopefully your guy is familiar with it and careful.
We are double checking now about the "why", etc.
(Yes, he seems to know a lot, and gets excellent reviews on FlyerTalk, not to mention seeming to produce miracles for us :-) )
We HAVE flown Alaska once (maybe twice) but about 10 years ago. Doubt they have a record of it. We weren't "doing" awards back then, and wouldn't have signed up for anything.
Maybe we'll try to force a domestic flight on them once in the near future.

Thanks again!

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

Post by ResearchMed »

ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:28 pm
TravelGeek wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:19 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:35 pm I think something like this (?) is why the person who helps us with this had us open an Alaska points account... something about it having to age at least a month for... (maybe transferred points?). That is, it couldn't be done "right away" once we decided we wanted to do it that way.

RM
Yeah, Alaska doesn’t seem to like it when new customers who have never flown a mile on their aircraft somehow acquire or transfer in a pile of miles and then immeditely redeem a premium class award. Hard to tell how often that triggers alarm bells and account audits/closures, but there are reports on FT and other sites.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska- ... ng-20.html

Hopefully your guy is familiar with it and careful.
We are double checking now about the "why", etc.
(Yes, he seems to know a lot, and gets excellent reviews on FlyerTalk, not to mention seeming to produce miracles for us :-) )
We HAVE flown Alaska once (maybe twice) but about 10 years ago. Doubt they have a record of it. We weren't "doing" awards back then, and wouldn't have signed up for anything.
Maybe we'll try to force a domestic flight on them once in the near future.

Thanks again!

RM
Clarification about Alaska. Turns out one key reason for the account was to allow us to *purchase* points if needed. Can only be done on accounts open at least a month.

Also found out that Cathay is making it more difficult to get F (and it was difficult before!) using AA points.
But the other way is to transfer Amex rewards directly to Cathay.
So we really need to switch our spending to Amex!
[I *think* I've got that right...]

We've just learned to let him guide us when we tell him where we want to fly, and he suggests airlines/routes, and I check SeatGuru (which isn't guaranteed, but hasn't been wrong thus far). Then he does his best to get us awards tix. Once, we changed at almost last minute, when Lufthansa F opened up with about 2 weeks to go, so we cancelled BA, which we had hoped would work that way. Again, we had to change the travel date by one day, which is rarely a problem. It was worth the small fee, to us.

Thanks again for the reminder about Alaska. I had totally forgotten about "them".

BTW, that link seems to mostly involve getting tickets for others, which could more easily look "off"...
Although we have different last names, we'd be traveling together, so I don't think *that* particular alarm bell would ring.

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

Post by Mister A »

Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:09 pm There’s nothing particularly wrong with UR, it’s just hard to get outsized value....
I think this depends a lot on your strategy and travel habits. The 1.5x bonus through the portal is also a tremendous win in terms of guaranteed flexibility. I tend to think the Chase ecosystem is a roughly competitive player and, on a 1:1 basis, will happily take URs over MRs anywhere I can get them.
theplayer11 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:48 pmyes, but you can't accumulate a ton of points with AMEX..one and done on the sign up bonus. With Chase and a partner, you can really hit the sign up bonuses. Also get 1.5 points along the way with Freedom unlimited and Business unlimited. Just more cards and more options to accumulate with Chase.
While the travel category on CSR is amazing, I no longer feel that this is true in light of the new AmEx Gold. Right now, I'm keeping my CSR as a travel and international dining card and a transfer pool for all my everyday spend in CFU, but pushing the U.S. dining and supermarket spend over to AmEx Gold.

With that said, you'll have to pry the Chase UR shopping portal out of my cold, dead hands. There are also some nice synergies between carrying both AEP and CSR.
Jags4186
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Jags4186 »

Mister A wrote: Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:38 am
Jags4186 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:09 pm There’s nothing particularly wrong with UR, it’s just hard to get outsized value....
I think this depends a lot on your strategy and travel habits. The 1.5x bonus through the portal is also a tremendous win in terms of guaranteed flexibility. I tend to think the Chase ecosystem is a roughly competitive player and, on a 1:1 basis, will happily take URs over MRs anywhere I can get them.
theplayer11 wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:48 pmyes, but you can't accumulate a ton of points with AMEX..one and done on the sign up bonus. With Chase and a partner, you can really hit the sign up bonuses. Also get 1.5 points along the way with Freedom unlimited and Business unlimited. Just more cards and more options to accumulate with Chase.
While the travel category on CSR is amazing, I no longer feel that this is true in light of the new AmEx Gold. Right now, I'm keeping my CSR as a travel and international dining card and a transfer pool for all my everyday spend in CFU, but pushing the U.S. dining and supermarket spend over to AmEx Gold.

With that said, you'll have to pry the Chase UR shopping portal out of my cold, dead hands. There are also some nice synergies between carrying both AEP and CSR.
All of this travel hacking has one thing in common—the more effort you’re willing to put in the more return you’ll get out. I don’t believe redeeming for $0.015/pt through Chase’s portal is actually getting $0.015/pt. I gave an example above where your seemingly 1.5cpp is really 1-1.1 cpp. Not such a great return. In addition, you are paying a premium for this service—to the tune of $159-$193.50/yr.

Chase has steadily nerfed the UR program over the past 5 years. I will give you this—they have a great marketing team. Everyone thinks UR is the absolute best and is willing to not only throw all their spending onto Chase cards but forgo signing up for competitive cards because they want to stay under 5/24. But over the years they’ve dropped transfer partners without adding new ones, limited sign up bonuses, eliminated points dividend, changed the timing of the travel credit, removed points earned on purchase made for the travel credit, removed travel sites from the UR mall, and I’m sure other things I’ve seemingly forgotten about. It’s heading in the wrong direction. Even TPG, the biggest Chase stooge, values UR and MR equally these days.

I’m not trying poopoo Chase, I just value UR and MR points roughly equally with TYP a little behind. I find it easier to earn MR than UR so therefore $1 spent on AMEX generally will get me a greater return than $1 spent on a Chase card. I still put 5x spend on my Freedoms when there is an opportunity to get 5x, I still use my Ink card at Staples when I occasionally shop there, etc. etc.
lexie2000
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by lexie2000 »

I'm more into simplicity these days.

Citi Double Cash - 2% on everything.
COSTCO Citi Visa - used for Costco purchases, gas (4% everywhere), dining (3%)
michaeljc70
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by michaeljc70 »

I use the Citi Double Cash for almost all purchases. Unless I am doing bonus spends on reward cards. I prefer the reward cards that give miles on airlines I travel (AA/UAL) because I can get more than 1 cent per point. I just went to Europe on two one way tickets (different arrival/departure cities) for 40k miles on AA. It would have cost around $800. I avoid the cards that just give a $ credit for travel is that is almost always fixed at 1:1. I may be locked out of the AA/UAL so may have to do something else. The Barclays Arrival Plus is offering 70k points. I don't open credit cards that give puny rewards... nothing under $500 worth of rewards.
Jags4186
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by Jags4186 »

michaeljc70 wrote: Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:31 am The Barclays Arrival Plus is offering 70k points. I don't open credit cards that give puny rewards... nothing under $500 worth of rewards.
You’ll reconsider once you’ve gone through the big ones and get over the the thought that hard pulls are the end of the world. If you’re willing to do multiple cards you can get way better rewards than you can with the single big hitters. That Arrival card is giving you $700 bonus for $5000 spend, or a total of $800 when you add in the points you earn from the spend. My wife and I are currently doing 2x BOA Travel Rewards and 2x BOA Cash Rewards. We will get $940 for only $3000 spend. If we each open up 2x more Cash Rewards flavors we would get a total of $1760 for that same $5000 spend where you only received $800.
michaeljc70
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Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

Post by michaeljc70 »

How do you know if for the AA and UAL cards you will get the bonus? Obviously, if you are turned down you won't. But I believe there is language in the terms (which I believe might vary when comparing an unsolicited application vs. an offer you receive in the mail) that allow a bonus every 24 months or something like that. Some seem to be from when you got the bonus last and some seem to be since you closed the account. I guess what I am getting at is I don't want to open a card, do the spend, and then get nothing.
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