Credit Card for Airline Miles

[Ava]

I only ended up getting 65 cards mailed, but I figure that's at least 32,500 points and well worth it. I also got my IHG credit card in the mail and am working on getting to the minimum spend for the bonus. I'm trying to start off slowly; there are other cards I'd like to get but want to make sure I can meet the minimum spend for bonuses on whatever cards I open. Once I hit the minimum on the IHG card I will look into the next one.

 

[calypso726]

I only ended up getting 65 cards mailed, but I figure that's at least 32,500 points and well worth it. I also got my IHG credit card in the mail and am working on getting to the minimum spend for the bonus. I'm trying to start off slowly; there are other cards I'd like to get but want to make sure I can meet the minimum spend for bonuses on whatever cards I open. Once I hit the minimum on the IHG card I will look into the next one.

Awesome! Good for you! I have received 90 of my emails now so I am at 48.5k points. Hoping the other 4 come in tomorrow. If they don't I'll be sending an email. Nothing wrong with starting out slow. I will say though if you are even considering a Chase Sapphire Preferred then let that be your next card since Chase will now deny any Ultimate Rewards earning card if the person has had 5 credit card applications in the last 24 months. Good luck!

 

[Ava]

Awesome! Good for you! I have received 90 of my emails now so I am at 48.5k points. Hoping the other 4 come in tomorrow. If they don't I'll be sending an email. Nothing wrong with starting out slow. I will say though if you are even considering a Chase Sapphire Preferred then let that be your next card since Chase will now deny any Ultimate Rewards earning card if the person has had 5 credit card applications in the last 24 months. Good luck!

Do you remember how long it was between sending in your cards and getting the first e-mails? I haven't gotten any e-mails yet but I just sent mine within the last week.

Thanks for the tip on Chase! Is that 5 applications for Chase cards, or 5 applications in general? The majority of my CCs are from Chase, but with the exception of the IHG card I just opened, I've had them all for more than 2 years. I also already have a Chase Freedom, which earns UR points, but I don't really use it. It used to be an Amtrak Guest Rewards card but when Amtrak terminated their relationship with Chase it was converted to a Freedom card. I've thought about closing it but its one of my older accounts and has a high limit.

I want to look into a different AmEx card. Right now I have the Blue Cash Everyday which only earns cash back, not Membership Rewards.

 

[calypso726]

Do you remember how long it was between sending in your cards and getting the first e-mails? I haven't gotten any e-mails yet but I just sent mine within the last week.

Thanks for the tip on Chase! Is that 5 applications for Chase cards, or 5 applications in general? The majority of my CCs are from Chase, but with the exception of the IHG card I just opened, I've had them all for more than 2 years. I also already have a Chase Freedom, which earns UR points, but I don't really use it. It used to be an Amtrak Guest Rewards card but when Amtrak terminated their relationship with Chase it was converted to a Freedom card. I've thought about closing it but its one of my older accounts and has a high limit.

I want to look into a different AmEx card. Right now I have the Blue Cash Everyday which only earns cash back, not Membership Rewards.

It was just over a week before the first emails came in for me and I didn't get them all at once. I got them in batches. Still missing 4 emails and will send an email to Hello World since they are running the sweepstakes and see when I should expect those.

I just started a thread about the 5/24 rule which is going to extend to both the Chase Ink business card in March and then the co-branded hotel and airline cards in April. This is being reported across the travel hacker blogosphere and it is said that the information is coming form a reliable Chase insider. It is for 5 applications of any credit cards, not just the Chase ones. If you are even considering a Chase Sapphire Preferred, which earn Ultimate Rewards, I'd get one soon and definitely before picking up any other credit card. As for a good Amex Membership Rewards cards there is the Everyday no fee card - Rewards: 2x groceries, up to $6,000 per year in purchases, and 1x everywhere else. Earn 20%bonus on purchases if you use your card 20 or more times in a statement period. Everyday Preferred card - Annual Fee: $95, Rewards: 3x groceries, up to $6,000 per year in purchases, 2x gas stations, and 1x everywhere else. Earn 50% bonus on purchases if you use your card 30 or more times in a statement period.

 

[Ava]

I finally started getting e-mails from the IHG promotion. I've gotten 6 so far, so I'm expecting 59 more, lol. I did win 2,000 points on one of them though! 500 on the other 5.

General question re: minimum spends for sign up bonuses - do you get the bonus on the statement after you meet the minimum spend, or do you have to wait the 3 months or however long you are given to meet it before you receive the bonus? I'm sure this information is buried in the small print of the packet that came with the card, but I'm terrible about reading those. Even if I do read them, I forget it all within 5 minutes.

I want to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but the $4,000 minimum spend in 3 months worries me. We don't spend a lot, our largest monthly expense is rent which I can't pay by credit card out right. I've read a little about manufactured spending but I'm not sure it's something I want to get into. I would feel comfortable buying a money order to pay my rent but the only place I've read of that you can consistently & cheaply do this with a credit card is Wal-Mart, which we don't have here.

 

[elgerber]

I want to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but the $4,000 minimum spend in 3 months worries me. We don't spend a lot, our largest monthly expense is rent which I can't pay by credit card out right. I've read a little about manufactured spending but I'm not sure it's something I want to get into. I would feel comfortable buying a money order to pay my rent but the only place I've read of that you can consistently & cheaply do this with a credit card is Wal-Mart, which we don't have here.

What I have done before, is bought store gift cards for a place I shop regularly. Grocery store, Target, gas, something you will need to spend money on regularly, just consider it paying for it in advance.

 

[Albort]

I would feel comfortable buying a money order to pay my rent but the only place I've read of that you can consistently & cheaply do this with a credit card is Wal-Mart, which we don't have here.

plastiq.com but they charge 2.3%. worth it if your getting the bonus.

 

[calypso726]

I finally started getting e-mails from the IHG promotion. I've gotten 6 so far, so I'm expecting 59 more, lol. I did win 2,000 points on one of them though! 500 on the other 5.

General question re: minimum spends for sign up bonuses - do you get the bonus on the statement after you meet the minimum spend, or do you have to wait the 3 months or however long you are given to meet it before you receive the bonus? I'm sure this information is buried in the small print of the packet that came with the card, but I'm terrible about reading those. Even if I do read them, I forget it all within 5 minutes.

I want to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but the $4,000 minimum spend in 3 months worries me. We don't spend a lot, our largest monthly expense is rent which I can't pay by credit card out right. I've read a little about manufactured spending but I'm not sure it's something I want to get into. I would feel comfortable buying a money order to pay my rent but the only place I've read of that you can consistently & cheaply do this with a credit card is Wal-Mart, which we don't have here.

Woo Hoo! Each card is different. With the majority of my cards I've received the bonus on the following statement if I made all my spend on the previous statement even if the 3 months aren't up yet. I don't have the IHG card but hope to soon. One card that made me wait well past the full three months to post the bonus was the Wells Fargo Propel card. I had so many issues with them and I was very happy to cancel it months after I received and redeemed the bonus.

In addition to purchasing gift cards for places you shop regularly or using a service like Plastiq there are other ways. Buying electronics at a discount and re-selling on Amazon or Ebay. Finding out if any friends or family have any larger purchases they are going to make and pay cash. Ask them if you can pay with your credit card and then they give you the cash. Adding someone you trust as an authorized user to your card and have them help you make the spend. Then of course there is manufactured spending which is what we usually do to help make the spend for the bonus.

 

[PerfessorZ]

I started getting emails back, but my IHG Rewards account seem to have been closed

 

[LynnTH]

I applied for the Chase Sapphire card last week. Was approved instantly. I then called them and asked if they could expedite the card to me as I had some expenses this week that would be helpful for the $4000 I need to spend to get 50,000 points. Wasn't sure if we could spend that much in 3 months but now it seems we won't have a problem. I got the card on Monday. (also got cards for DH and DS17 and DD14 - I like them to have a card in case of emergencies). I brought kids to eye dr and then got DS New Glasses and all of us new contacts. So, that was $500 right there which I get reimburse for on my FSA account. DS bought some $200 speakers with his Birthday money, so he used the CC and then paid me the cash. I have to sign up kids for High School Registration for next year and that will be $620 plus just day to day expenses like gas, groceries, ACT Test, etc. I have already spent over $1500. (All of which I have the money to pay the CC right away). We are going on a cruise in a few weeks so that will be about another $1000 (which I also have the cash to pay off). The rest will be just regular expenses that we normally take out of checking so getting to the $4000 was easier than I thought. (the timing was good). I also have the kids put everything on the card that they normally pay with cash and they just pay me instead.

I also read some of the travel blogs and would like to do more of this but DS is going to college next year and not sure if opening a bunch of cards will hurt anything for student loans. Both of our credit scores are about 815. We have high amounts of credit available and probably only using 5% of the total right now. I like the Chase Sapphire as I can transfer to Southwest. We have both opened up the different Southwest cards a few times over the years so didn't want to do that again. Glad I found this option. Thinking about the IHG card one for hotel points... May wait a little bit.

For those of you who have tons of miles/points. How does this affect your credit and do you end up closing some of the cards?

 

[calypso726]

I applied for the Chase Sapphire card last week. Was approved instantly. I then called them and asked if they could expedite the card to me as I had some expenses this week that would be helpful for the $4000 I need to spend to get 50,000 points. Wasn't sure if we could spend that much in 3 months but now it seems we won't have a problem. I got the card on Monday. (also got cards for DH and DS17 and DD14 - I like them to have a card in case of emergencies). I brought kids to eye dr and then got DS New Glasses and all of us new contacts. So, that was $500 right there which I get reimburse for on my FSA account. DS bought some $200 speakers with his Birthday money, so he used the CC and then paid me the cash. I have to sign up kids for High School Registration for next year and that will be $620 plus just day to day expenses like gas, groceries, ACT Test, etc. I have already spent over $1500. (All of which I have the money to pay the CC right away). We are going on a cruise in a few weeks so that will be about another $1000 (which I also have the cash to pay off). The rest will be just regular expenses that we normally take out of checking so getting to the $4000 was easier than I thought. (the timing was good). I also have the kids put everything on the card that they normally pay with cash and they just pay me instead.

I also read some of the travel blogs and would like to do more of this but DS is going to college next year and not sure if opening a bunch of cards will hurt anything for student loans. Both of our credit scores are about 815. We have high amounts of credit available and probably only using 5% of the total right now. I like the Chase Sapphire as I can transfer to Southwest. We have both opened up the different Southwest cards a few times over the years so didn't want to do that again. Glad I found this option. Thinking about the IHG card one for hotel points... May wait a little bit.

For those of you who have tons of miles/points. How does this affect your credit and do you end up closing some of the cards?

Congratulations! DH and I have well over 2 million miles and points. We have opened up a large number of cc over the last 3 or 4 years. Over the long term our credit scores have gone up. When I began travel hacking my score was in the low 7's and DH was high 7's. Currently, both of our scores are well into the 800's. Each time we apply for a card our scores will take a small hit from the hard pull by a few points but then goes back up. This is what all of the other bloggers and travel hackers report as well. While the new account application affects the score a little negatively, the new line of credit and lower overall utilization ratio affects it positively. Lastly, new apps information drops off your score factoring within a year.

There are cards we keep because the benefits outweigh the annual fee. For us those would be the Chase trifecta for collecting Ultimate Reward points (Sapphire preferred, Freedom, Ink business), Starwood Preferred Guest (points transfer to over 30 airlines), Marriott (free night each year), Club Carlson (40,000 points every year on anniversary). There are cards we apply for just to get the bonus and then cancel once the year rolls around too. We picked up an Amex Platinum, and two American Airlines Executive cards each. They all were 100,000 mile offers so we weren't going to pass it up. Each card also had a $450 annual fee so I wasn't planning to keep them either.

If I can downgrade the card to a no fee card or am offered a decent retention bonus then I will not cancel it. When I cancelled my Amex plat card I still had not used all of my points so I applied for a no fee Amex everyday card which also earns Amex membership rewards and then cancelled platinum card so I wouldn't lose my points.

 

[LynnTH]

Congratulations! DH and I have well over 2 million miles and points. We have opened up a large number of cc over the last 3 or 4 years. Over the long term our credit scores have gone up. When I began travel hacking my score was in the low 7's and DH was high 7's. Currently, both of our scores are well into the 800's. Each time we apply for a card our scores will take a small hit from the hard pull by a few points but then goes back up. This is what all of the other bloggers and travel hackers report as well. While the new account application affects the score a little negatively, the new line of credit and lower overall utilization ratio affects it positively. Lastly, new apps information drops off your score factoring within a year.

There are cards we keep because the benefits outweigh the annual fee. For us those would be the Chase trifecta for collecting Ultimate Reward points (Sapphire preferred, Freedom, Ink business), Starwood Preferred Guest (points transfer to over 30 airlines), Marriott (free night each year), Club Carlson (40,000 points every year on anniversary). There are cards we apply for just to get the bonus and then cancel once the year rolls around too. We picked up an Amex Platinum, and two American Airlines Executive cards each. They all were 100,000 mile offers so we weren't going to pass it up. Each card also had a $450 annual fee so I wasn't planning to keep them either.

If I can downgrade the card to a no fee card or am offered a decent retention bonus then I will not cancel it. When I cancelled my Amex plat card I still had not used all of my points so I applied for a no fee Amex everyday card which also earns Amex membership rewards and then cancelled platinum card so I wouldn't lose my points.

I can't even imagine having over 2 million points. That would be awesome. We have flown for free for many years now with the Southwest Points. Usually we go to Disney or take a cruise and it has always been in March. In the past I could fly all 4 of us RT for 50,000-70,000 points. This year it was way more. I even booked right when the fares came out. I had to originally spend about 130,000 for the same flights. Some of the flights came down for a bit ( I looked at them every day). So, I got about 30,000 points credited back. But still way more points to fly than before.

I will have to read all the different blogs and get good deals when they come up. I read about the IHG point for sending in your info on 3x5 cards but by the time I read out about it there were only 2 days left. Hope something like that comes around again.

 

[calypso726]

I can't even imagine having over 2 million points. That would be awesome. We have flown for free for many years now with the Southwest Points. Usually we go to Disney or take a cruise and it has always been in March. In the past I could fly all 4 of us RT for 50,000-70,000 points. This year it was way more. I even booked right when the fares came out. I had to originally spend about 130,000 for the same flights. Some of the flights came down for a bit ( I looked at them every day). So, I got about 30,000 points credited back. But still way more points to fly than before.

I will have to read all the different blogs and get good deals when they come up. I read about the IHG point for sending in your info on 3x5 cards but by the time I read out about it there were only 2 days left. Hope something like that comes around again.

It's been a fun hobby so far. We accumulated nearly a million our first year learning to do this and I still barely know what I'm doing compared to the serious travel hackers LOL Sadly, it isn't as easy as it was even just a couple of years ago with credit card companies tightening their rules and methods of manufactured spending dying left and right.

Miles also don't go as far as they used to with airlines devaluing their frequent flyer programs as you've noticed. Either way, we'll keep at it so we can mitigate the expenses on our vacation budget. I am thankful for the bloggers for sharing their methods and deals when they pop up. Sorry you missed out on the IHG promo. I hope they do something like that again.

 

[Albort]

It's been a fun hobby so far. We accumulated nearly a million our first year learning to do this and I still barely know what I'm doing compared to the serious travel hackers LOL Sadly, it isn't as easy as it was even just a couple of years ago with credit card companies tightening their rules and methods of manufactured spending dying left and right.

damn, and i thought my 125k points was a lot... im still working my 50k from citi and hopefully work my way on my ink plus.