Fall/Early Winter 09/30/25 Incentives Released

[AstroBlasters]

There's a lot of Mickey Math going on.

I would not personally allocate a "new card" bonus to a DVC purchase unless I couldn't meet the required spend any other way. For example, suppose I wanted to open a CSR for a DVC purchase. 125K UR points! Awesome! Fine, but it only requires $6K over three months to hit the bonus, and I can EASILY do that WITHOUT buying DVC.

So, really the only "extra" thing that DVC gets me is the standard earn for the purchase (which is still worth something!), plus any difference in earnings I got to keep by putting the required $6K on some other card vs. the CSR, which in most cases probably is not much. Depending on the spend category and the other cards in my wallet, that delta might be negative. In other words, I might still have $6K of spend over three months that is best placed on the CSR anyway.

Rather than bend over backwards to justify a purchase that I want to make, I've gotten to the point where I can buy it simply because I want it. It doesn't also have to be the Best Deal.

There is a LOT of that “Mickey Math” value assignment going on these boards.

 

[PolyRob]

What's your strategy for the the annual fee?

I was also looking at CSR for a direct purchase, but read you need to hold it for 12+ months to minimize risk of clawback. That's $1600 for two years. I was debating if that's worth it

You don’t need to hold it two years.

If you wait 12 months and a day and close it Chase won’t claw the bonus back. Chase doesn’t charge the annual fee the day you’re approved either. It’s charged the first day of the next month.

Chase will also refund the annual fee if you close the account within 30 days of the annual fee posting.

Another option is downgrading within the same product family after a year to keep the account open, but not pay the fee. The CSR for business is new and I am not sure if Chase will allow any product changes to its other business cards like Inks that have lower/no annual fee since no one has held it for a year.

Honestly the Chase Ink Preferred has a much smaller annual fee and higher return for spend requirement and also codes 3x travel. The Chase Ink Cash and Chase Ink Unlimited have elevated bonuses making them even higher returns compared to spend in addition to no annual fee and 0% APR. You just lose the category spend for travel.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I figured since I was buying anyway, might as well maximize a signup bonus or two at the same time.

 

[PolyRob]

There's a lot of Mickey Math going on.

I would not personally allocate a "new card" bonus to a DVC purchase unless I couldn't meet the required spend any other way. For example, suppose I wanted to open a CSR for a DVC purchase. 125K UR points! Awesome! Fine, but it only requires $6K over three months to hit the bonus, and I can EASILY do that WITHOUT buying DVC.

So, really the only "extra" thing that DVC gets me is the standard earn for the purchase (which is still worth something!), plus any difference in earnings I got to keep by putting the required $6K on some other card vs. the CSR, which in most cases probably is not much. Depending on the spend category and the other cards in my wallet, that delta might be negative. In other words, I might still have $6K of spend over three months that is best placed on the CSR anyway.

Rather than bend over backwards to justify a purchase that I want to make, I've gotten to the point where I can buy it simply because I want it. It doesn't also have to be the Best Deal.

I churn credit card cards so I personally look for the maximum return in cash after annual fees when I am purchasing direct and factor that into the final price per point out of pocket. I've been able to save at least 10% on my direct purchase price 1:1. Some people prefer airline miles or status.

I wouldn't purchase more points or over extend myself if I couldn't pay for the contract cash out of my account, I just like getting the most "bang for my buck."

 

[VGCgroupie]

There's a lot of Mickey Math going on.

I would not personally allocate a "new card" bonus to a DVC purchase unless I couldn't meet the required spend any other way. For example, suppose I wanted to open a CSR for a DVC purchase. 125K UR points! Awesome! Fine, but it only requires $6K over three months to hit the bonus, and I can EASILY do that WITHOUT buying DVC.

So, really the only "extra" thing that DVC gets me is the standard earn for the purchase (which is still worth something!), plus any difference in earnings I got to keep by putting the required $6K on some other card vs. the CSR, which in most cases probably is not much. Depending on the spend category and the other cards in my wallet, that delta might be negative. In other words, I might still have $6K of spend over three months that is best placed on the CSR anyway.

Rather than bend over backwards to justify a purchase that I want to make, I've gotten to the point where I can buy it simply because I want it. It doesn't also have to be the Best Deal.

I can easily spend 6k to get a bonus. For me my Mickey Math was that if I didnt get signup bonuses I could not justify buying direct. I put the entire $52,000 on various new cards with bonuses and netted well over 1 million points. I can say while I spend a lot of money I would not have been casually spending $52,000 on anything else so for me that is actual math savings no Mickey about it.

 

[davidhr]

TBF, we’re discussing this on a forum dedicated to a timeshare. 99% of us are doing some magical math one way or another. Including a credit card SUB is at the bottom of the list of crazy things I’ve seen.