Any reason NOT to have 2 SWA RR Visa cards?

[MommyBryn]

Maybe this should have been in another board since it's not necessarily financial related...???

We did the 2 roundtrip flight deal via the SWA Visa a few months back. I was thinking of opening a 2nd card for my husband. That would get us 4 roundtrip flights (or at least a good leg up, as we'll need 5-6 flights for our trip and that's half the cost of our vacation).

We are good with finances/credit cards, never carry a balance, milk them to get the best we can from the rewards be being responsible and smart with them. I've been earning extra RR points online as well. We figure that, though I plan to just keep the cards for a year or two, even if we had 2 cards for 2 years before we cancel them (because after we take this trip and use those flights, there's really no incentive for us to keep them, as we rarely fly anyway!), it would be ~$400 in annual fees which is still just the cost of ONE (maybe 2 on a good day) flight for us, as we come from the other side of the country. That's still a great deal.

Any reason NOT to get hubby a card as well?

One question I did have...being that RR is a program that isn't exclusive to the credit card (as in, you can have a RR account an no Visa), if you close the Visa, does that affect when you have to use the points? (like with some card reward programs, you have "X" amount of time to use your rewards after you close the account)

 

[DLgal]

We have two of them. We have excellent credit and didn't notice any negatives related to our credit standing. Nothing has changed.

And, you do pay an annual fee, BUT they gift you the point equivalent on your anniversary, so it ends up a wash.

 

[MommyBryn]

We have two of them. We have excellent credit and didn't notice any negatives related to our credit standing. Nothing has changed.

And, you do pay an annual fee, BUT they gift you the point equivalent on your anniversary, so it ends up a wash.

Thanks! We've done this before with Disney cards, like when they offered the $200 GC, though obviously there was no annual fee involved. But I'm new to SWA, as opposed to Disney, so just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

 

[MinnieForMe]

We did the same thing! No worries!

To answer your question, even if you cancel your SW visa, you keep your SW rewards card (that's not what it's called but I'm having a brain freeze).

 

[MommyBryn]

We did the same thing! No worries!

To answer your question, even if you cancel your SW visa, you keep your SW rewards card (that's not what it's called but I'm having a brain freeze).

Thanks! I figured there was no way they could do that if they are seperate anyway, but just wanted to check!

 

[PatMcDuck]

We have 2 cards.

I am debating going to the premier one, or whatever it is, to get more free flights. But I have so many CC right now (most have 0 balance, one has a small balance).

 

[dminnie]

I see no reason not to have two cards if you have good credit, pay in full each month, etc.

I'm not sure if this would effect your decision. Southwest did just recently announce that the points won't be worth quite as much as they had been. I can't remember what the difference is, but it did change.

 

[MommyBryn]

I see no reason not to have two cards if you have good credit, pay in full each month, etc.

I'm not sure if this would effect your decision. Southwest did just recently announce that the points won't be worth quite as much as they had been. I can't remember what the difference is, but it did change.

True, I did get that notice in the mail. Maybe it would be better to have the two cards for this very reason.

 

[lurkernj]

No reason not to have two. And Southwest doesn't seem concerned either.

When I got my premium card last year (the $99 card), I called to cancel my basic card ($69). I explained that I just received the premium card and I didn't need two cards. He said he'd give me another 3000 points if I didn't cancel my base card (it wasn't even close to the renewal time with the fee), so I said ok and got 3000 more points.

When it was time for the renewal fee, I cancelled it, but got to keep the extra points.

 

[ValpoCory]

We are good with finances/credit cards, never carry a balance

People always say this on threads like this. I don't carry a balance either, but for those that do, they can feel like Hester Prynne on this board sometimes. In my opinion, as long as they understand what they are doing and are not doing this to go further into debt, there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of credit card perks while they work on reducing their debt. Just my 2 cents.

 

[cherrybomb11]

We did the 2 roundtrip flight deal via the SWA Visa a few months back. I was thinking of opening a 2nd card for my husband. That would get us 4 roundtrip flights (or at least a good leg up, as we'll need 5-6 flights for our trip and that's half the cost of our vacation).

The SW visa you got, did you have 50,000 point bonus offer? If you did, you may want to open a second credit card in your name and work towards the Southwest Companion Pass. Southwest has this amazing program where if you earn 110,000 points in one year, you get to pick a companion and every time you fly on southwest, your companion flies with you for FREE. And you can earn these points through the SW visa.

In March, I applied for a SW visa that came with a 50k point bonus (after spending $2,000). Then I applied for another one around June, it also came with a 50k point bonus. One is a "plus" and one is a "premier" card. Once I completed the spending on that, I then had 104,000 points and the other 6,000 points came from bonuses on spending. I had also booked a southwest trip for 2 and paid for it on the card and earned something like 3 or 6 points per dollar? End of story, by Sept I earned a companion pass and from now until 12/31/2014 my companion flies for free every time I fly.

This was the simplified explaination; Google southwest companion pass credit card for more details.

If you didnt get the 50k bonus, you could wait until January and have your husband do this process and open both cards in his name. I have read stories where people applied for and got both cards at the same time, but I wasn't able to spend that quickly so I did it one at a time.

 

[MommyBryn]

People always say this on threads like this. I don't carry a balance either, but for those that do, they can feel like Hester Prynne on this board sometimes. In my opinion, as long as they understand what they are doing and are not doing this to go further into debt, there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of credit card perks while they work on reducing their debt. Just my 2 cents.

I get that, but since I was just asking for myself, I didn't think it would hurt to get all the specifics of my situation out there from the start so that there weren't a bunch of replies that would end up not being relevant.

 

[MommyBryn]

The SW visa you got, did you have 50,000 point bonus offer? If you did, you may want to open a second credit card in your name and work towards the Southwest Companion Pass. Southwest has this amazing program where if you earn 110,000 points in one year, you get to pick a companion and every time you fly on southwest, your companion flies with you for FREE. And you can earn these points through the SW visa.

In March, I applied for a SW visa that came with a 50k point bonus (after spending $2,000). Then I applied for another one around June, it also came with a 50k point bonus. One is a "plus" and one is a "premier" card. Once I completed the spending on that, I then had 104,000 points and the other 6,000 points came from bonuses on spending. I had also booked a southwest trip for 2 and paid for it on the card and earned something like 3 or 6 points per dollar? End of story, by Sept I earned a companion pass and from now until 12/31/2014 my companion flies for free every time I fly.

This was the simplified explaination; Google southwest companion pass credit card for more details.

If you didnt get the 50k bonus, you could wait until January and have your husband do this process and open both cards in his name. I have read stories where people applied for and got both cards at the same time, but I wasn't able to spend that quickly so I did it one at a time.

Hmmm... Interesting! May have more questions when I get back to my computer.

 

[MommyBryn]

The SW visa you got, did you have 50,000 point bonus offer? If you did, you may want to open a second credit card in your name and work towards the Southwest Companion Pass. Southwest has this amazing program where if you earn 110,000 points in one year, you get to pick a companion and every time you fly on southwest, your companion flies with you for FREE. And you can earn these points through the SW visa.

In March, I applied for a SW visa that came with a 50k point bonus (after spending $2,000). Then I applied for another one around June, it also came with a 50k point bonus. One is a "plus" and one is a "premier" card. Once I completed the spending on that, I then had 104,000 points and the other 6,000 points came from bonuses on spending. I had also booked a southwest trip for 2 and paid for it on the card and earned something like 3 or 6 points per dollar? End of story, by Sept I earned a companion pass and from now until 12/31/2014 my companion flies for free every time I fly.

This was the simplified explaination; Google southwest companion pass credit card for more details.

If you didnt get the 50k bonus, you could wait until January and have your husband do this process and open both cards in his name. I have read stories where people applied for and got both cards at the same time, but I wasn't able to spend that quickly so I did it one at a time.

Okay I'm back...yes, the card we have now was the 50k point offer.

So I can have 2 in my own name? Tell me more, I'm not sure how this works.

Those bonus points qualify towards that 110k point = companion pass? And with that, does your companion pass only last for a year? (we won't be flying within a year, it'll be closer to 2 years before our vacation) Is it basically like a "free ticket" then?

(oh and the offer came to my hubby's name...does that make a difference? I guess I haven't checked to see whether the 50k bonus is still available to the general public or not...)

 

[cherrybomb11]

I'm new, so I can't post links yet but please do a google search because there are expert blogs who explain it tons of detail. They are also up to date on the bonus offers.

SW offers two personal cards, one is a plus and one is a premier. The bonus counts do qualify towards earning a companion pass but they have to be earned in the same calendar year. And the points have to be earned by one person, which is why the credit cards both have to be in the same person's name. The companion pass is good from the moment you earn it until december of the following year. If you got the 2nd card now and completed the requirements before 12/2013, the pass would be good until 12/2014. It's one year (or more) of buy 1, get 1 free tickets.

If you decide to wait and do two credit cards in January 2014, your pass would be good until 12/2015. The points have to be earned in the same calendar year, so the card & points you got in 2013 won't count.

 

[gigi1313]

I need to learn more about companion pass... I got the 50,000 sign on bonus and have used (and paid) my card quite a bit... Where/how can I check my annual accrual of points?

 

[manning]

People always say this on threads like this. I don't carry a balance either, but for those that do, they can feel like Hester Prynne on this board sometimes. In my opinion, as long as they understand what they are doing and are not doing this to go further into debt, there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of credit card perks while they work on reducing their debt. Just my 2 cents.

It's good not to carry a balance. However be aware that you tend to spend more to get those rewards.

 

[MommyBryn]

I'm new, so I can't post links yet but please do a google search because there are expert blogs who explain it tons of detail. They are also up to date on the bonus offers.

SW offers two personal cards, one is a plus and one is a premier. The bonus counts do qualify towards earning a companion pass but they have to be earned in the same calendar year. And the points have to be earned by one person, which is why the credit cards both have to be in the same person's name. The companion pass is good from the moment you earn it until december of the following year. If you got the 2nd card now and completed the requirements before 12/2013, the pass would be good until 12/2014. It's one year (or more) of buy 1, get 1 free tickets.

If you decide to wait and do two credit cards in January 2014, your pass would be good until 12/2015. The points have to be earned in the same calendar year, so the card & points you got in 2013 won't count.

Okay, thank you! It doesn't look like it is something that would work for us then, as we won't be able to fly in the same year that I could earn those points.

Thank you for the info though!

 

[gigi1313]

from what I read, it's the year you earn them in, and the full year *after!*
In my case, I opened my card in late January 2013, hope to have my 110,000 w/in 12 months, so let's say early Jan 2014, and if I understand correctly, I will have a companion pass for all of 2014 and 2015. Now, if I hit my 110,000 in December 2013, then I only get companion for last weeks of Dec and all of 2014. It would pay for me (again, if I am understanding correctly) to hit it early January.

Oh, and you can change your companion up to three times during the life of your pass!

 

[ScottOKW2K]

from what I read, it's the year you earn them in, and the full year *after!*
In my case, I opened my card in late January 2013, hope to have my 110,000 w/in 12 months, so let's say early Jan 2014, and if I understand correctly, I will have a companion pass for all of 2014 and 2015. Now, if I hit my 110,000 in December 2013, then I only get companion for last weeks of Dec and all of 2014. It would pay for me (again, if I am understanding correctly) to hit it early January.

Oh, and you can change your companion up to three times during the life of your pass!

Nope. All points toward companion pass have to be earned in the same calendar year. Since you opened the card in January 2013 the promo for the 50,000 points has to be completed in the first 3 months you have the card to earn the 50K bonus. At the time the bonus is in your Rapid Rewards account that will be the time you "earned" it according to Southwest. If you do another promo for the 50K points you would have to "earn" those points in the same calendar year as the first promotion to have those qualify your account for Companion Pass status. I did both of my cards in the beginning of this year and reached CP status by summer.

BTW, I plan on keeping the Premier card and cancelling the regular. Though the Premier is a $99 annual fee vs. the $69 for the regular, the premier gives you 6,000 points on your anniversary instead of 3,000.