I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thanks for all the suggestions!! Question - those of you who mentioned URs - I used the awesome glossary at the beginning of this thread to figure out those are Ultimate Rewards. How do I use URs and what can I use them for? Are they super flexible like the Capital One rewards that I’m used to?

You may not find ultimate rewards to be as flexible as Capital One rewards. However they can be straight-up cashed out at 1 cent each which provides the ultimate flexibility. I just sent you a PM with a lot of details and an invitation to DISchurners also

 

[Calfan]

Question: DH has a Biz Green that I am going to want to cancel when the AF hits. I do want to keep his smaller stash of MRs alive though. But I'd rather not get him a personal card because he is at 3/24 with Chase, and I've got some other Chase cards I want him to get. Is the BBP the best option for a no fee biz card that earns MRs? It looks like I can refer him from my Biz Gold to get myself 20k MRs. Then it looks like the referral offer for him is 10k MRs after $3K spend. I'm hesitating on that because I don't really need to build up his MR balance and don't really want to diver that spend away from earning URs or MRs that go into my account right now. If that is the best card option, though, I suppose I can just fail to meet MSR and not get the bonus, or play it by ear. I also plan to get that card for myself, but would be fine meeting that MSR for the 10k bonus since those would go into my account. I'd like the card to have a universal 2x MR earner for my MR account.

In other news, DH's Feb. statement on his SW Priority closed yesterday. Still no 50k points in his SW account, but I do see the 50k points on Chase now. I took a picture of that, lol! Now impatiently waiting for them to hit his account and then for the CP to appear!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Question: DH has a Biz Green that I am going to want to cancel when the AF hits. I do want to keep his smaller stash of MRs alive though. But I'd rather not get him a personal card because he is at 3/24 with Chase, and I've got some other Chase cards I want him to get. Is the BBP the best option for a no fee biz card that earns MRs? It looks like I can refer him from my Biz Gold to get myself 20k MRs. Then it looks like the referral offer for him is 10k MRs after $3K spend. I'm hesitating on that because I don't really need to build up his MR balance and don't really want to diver that spend away from earning URs or MRs that go into my account right now. If that is the best card option, though, I suppose I can just fail to meet MSR and not get the bonus, or play it by ear. I also plan to get that card for myself, but would be fine meeting that MSR for the 10k bonus since those would go into my account. I'd like the card to have a universal 2x MR earner for my MR account.

In other news, DH's Feb. statement on his SW Priority closed yesterday. Still no 50k points in his SW account, but I do see the 50k points on Chase now. I took a picture of that, lol! Now impatiently waiting for them to hit his account and then for the CP to appear!

BBP is definitely your best bet and also a decent card to have for the long term. The only minor issue with it is that it is a credit card and keeping it open counts to your 5 card limit (if that matters to you).

 

[Psychodisney]

Thanks for all the suggestions!! Question - those of you who mentioned URs - I used the awesome glossary at the beginning of this thread to figure out those are Ultimate Rewards. How do I use URs and what can I use them for? Are they super flexible like the Capital One rewards that I’m used to?

I have always loved my Capital One Venture....but then I found Chase UR. I actually still love my Venture points for car rentals because I like to keep control of the reservation via Costco. The UR points are pretty easy to use too, especially when it come to transferring to SWA. You can use them to book flights or hotels directly too.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I guess I didn’t know this. We only got the cards for our Japan trip so I don’t think we will gather too many Hilton points then

Not directed specifically at you but this is another reason I always advise having a detailed spreadsheet of all points.

We've had a lot of discussion here recently about Theft Of points. Well you also want to keep track of last activity and any potential expiration dates on points...Here are the fields I have in my spreadsheet for this:

• Program Name
• Person (i.e. me, wife, daughter1, daughter2)
• Points Balance
• Date of Last Activity
• Expiration Date (calculated based on last activity field - you'll need to look these up for your various programs)
• Info As Of (date I last logged in verified everything - so if something is ever wrong I can pinpoint when the change occured)
• Approx. Value (calculated based on my valuations
• Notes
• Membership ID #

I then check all of this info monthly or more frequently.

Off the top of my head here are some expiration policies:

• Southwest = 24 months
• Marriott = 24 months
• Hilton = 12 months
• IHG = 12 months
• American Airlines = 18 months
• Delta = NEVER (wow you go Delta!)
• AMEX MRs = remain active as long as you have 1 active MR earning card
• Chase URs = remain active as long as you have 1 active UR earning card

These are the programs I'm actively tracking so I don't know details on others like Hyatt, United, etc...

 

[tink1970]

Question: DH has a Biz Green that I am going to want to cancel when the AF hits. I do want to keep his smaller stash of MRs alive though. But I'd rather not get him a personal card because he is at 3/24 with Chase, and I've got some other Chase cards I want him to get. Is the BBP the best option for a no fee biz card that earns MRs? It looks like I can refer him from my Biz Gold to get myself 20k MRs. Then it looks like the referral offer for him is 10k MRs after $3K spend. I'm hesitating on that because I don't really need to build up his MR balance and don't really want to diver that spend away from earning URs or MRs that go into my account right now. If that is the best card option, though, I suppose I can just fail to meet MSR and not get the bonus, or play it by ear. I also plan to get that card for myself, but would be fine meeting that MSR for the 10k bonus since those would go into my account. I'd like the card to have a universal 2x MR earner for my MR account.

In other news, DH's Feb. statement on his SW Priority closed yesterday. Still no 50k points in his SW account, but I do see the 50k points on Chase now. I took a picture of that, lol! Now impatiently waiting for them to hit his account and then for the CP to appear!

BBP is probably the best MR "placeholder" no fee card, at least that I can think of. It does have a forex, though so just one thing to be aware of.

 

[platamama]

Hi there! Credit card newbie here. If you're up for it, I'd love a recommendation on a broad, likely hard-to-answer question . . . what do you think is the best all-around credit card?

Here's some info on me:

We've currently got a Capital One Venture One Rewards card (the lame one that gives 1.25 points per dollar). I generally love it because it's super easy to redeem my points for any travel-related expense right on the app. We do a lot of vacation travel (Disney and other), so I've always got *something* I can redeem my points for.

The only other credit cards we have are handful of store cards that I've had forever - Belk, Banana Republic and Ann Taylor. I rarely use those unless I get an extra percentage off for using the store card.

I got the Chase Southwest Plus, Premier and Business Cards this past year for the Southwest companion pass. I got the Plus in December 2017, the Premier in January 2018 and the Business in February 2018. I've since cancelled all 3 of those and am planning to re-apply to try to get another companion pass in the Spring of 2020. I understand that, as of now, I can't get two personal cards at one time, and I'll need to do a personal plus a business (I didn't mean to wind up with all 3 of those cards - I messed up the timing and got the Plus card too early.) I qualified for the Southwest Business card based on selling stuff on eBay, at consignment sales, etc. My "revenue" from that (while legitimately calculated) was really small - maybe $500-1000. Chase approved me right away and didn't ask for any follow-up information.

We put EVERYTHING on our credit card, and we pay them off every month. It's not uncommon for us to have ~$10k/month on our credit card. Our credit score is very good.

I don't mind a card that requires a bit of effort to get the value out of it, but I do like how easy the Capital One card is to redeem my points.

DH is generally anti-a bunch of credit cards, but I think I could convince him to get one (or maybe 2, if the perks make sense) to supplement or replace our Capital One card, along with the Southwest cards next year.

I know this is a complicated question disguised as a simple one, but I'd love the opinions of you experts!

Welcome to the thread. What is the best all-around credit card? I looked for that too and I think I found what is a best all-around card for me but I haven't used it much because I keep finding new cards that I want to sign up for to get the bonuses! I'll echo the other recommendations for the Chase Ink Business Preferred for the sign up bonus that's worth $800 cash or $1000 toward travel (booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal) after spending $5000 in the first 90 days. As long as you're 4/24 or under (reminder - even closed cards and store cards still count in that tally!), the Chase business cards are probably the best place to start with their high bonuses, since Chase won't approve you for any of their cards if you're over 4/24. Seeing that you are planning on getting the SW CP next year, you'll need to pay close attention to when you open cards going forward as any personal card will count towards that tally. That's why the Chase business cards are a really good avenue, because even though you need to be 4/24 or under to get approved, they won't count toward your 4/24 going forward.

Would you be open to carrying numerous cards at once so that you get the best value for where you're spending your money? Discover and Chase Freedom with their rotating 5% categories are good ones to boost rewards earning. Or are you looking for one card for ease and simplicity?

That said, if I ever pare down to just a few cards, one I think I will keep for the long haul is the Bank of America Premium Rewards card...but only because of their Platinum Honors tier. At that level, it earns 2.625% everywhere and 3.5% on travel & dining. It has a $95 annual fee but you get $100 of travel credits yearly, a $100 Global Entry credit, no foreign transaction fee, and it's very easy to redeem rewards as a statement credit (DOES NOT need to be a travel expense). It usually has a $500 sign up bonus for $3000 spend in 90 days. It's not super popular on this thread, but there are a handful who have it.

With your monthly spending, it should be easy for you to meet the spending requirements for sign up bonuses. Just keep an eye on your 5/24 count for the SW CP plan.

 

[Calfan]

BBP is definitely your best bet and also a decent card to have for the long term. The only minor issue with it is that it is a credit card and keeping it open counts to your 5 card limit (if that matters to you).

Thanks! Yes, I was aware that BBP is a credit card, but appreciate you reminding me. I've got room for one more right now, but plan to close my SPG Biz this year anyway and could also close my no-fee Hilton if the 5-card limit becomes an issue for me. DH has only one Amex credit card, which is his Hilton Ascend, so he's in good shape there.

 

[Calfan]

Definitely hoping SW continues to work because I have also been holding off with 3 of my cards on buying SW gift cards until I get a little more clarity into whether another airline might be useful for the credit this year. @wanderlust7 I don't know for sure, but my sense is that you are going to be ok with your "AA ARC" description. I purchased actual American airline tickets yesterday using my Plat, and the description in the pending charge is also "AA ARC."

@wanderlust7 quoting myself here because now I'm second-guessing my post above. Since my actual airline tickets coded the same as your gc purchase, will Amex think you bought tickets that don't qualify for the incidental fee credit? But maybe the description will change when the charge goes from posted to pending.

I was kind of kicking myself for not thinking that I could have tried to change my designated airline from SW to AA and bought some AA gift cards to apply toward the flights I bought yesterday, but now I'm thinking that churning fail might have helped me to dodge a bullet...

Hope everything works out for your pending charge and the reimbursement.

 

[elgerber]

BBP is probably the best MR "placeholder" no fee card, at least that I can think of. It does have a forex, though so just one thing to be aware of.

What's a forex??

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I have summer camp expenses coming up and am looking to use them to meet minimum expense on a new card. What is the best deal out there right now?

I currently have:
AmEx Blue Cash Preferred-- have had this for years
Chase Sapphire Preferred--also had for years
AmEx Gold Business--got this and the next two over a year ago but less than two years
AmEx SPG Business
Chase Ink Business
Also an Express and a J Jill, over two years old

I don't want another business card. Any ideas?

You say you have had CSP for years...how many years? Has it been 48 months since you earned the bonus? You could transfer any URs you have to your CIP, close your CSP, and then wait a week (or up to a month if no big rush) and then open a new CSP and earn the 50k bonus! (If it has NOT been 48 months since your bonus on the card though this is not an option)

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

What's a forex??

Foreign Exchange Fee I assume

 

[Calfan]

BBP is probably the best MR "placeholder" no fee card, at least that I can think of. It does have a forex, though so just one thing to be aware of.

Thanks and good to know about the foreign transaction fees. I usually use my United Club card to avoid forex and still get 1.5x (unless it's travel or dining, in which case I use my CSR).

 

[tink1970]

What's a forex??

Oops, sorry. Foreign exchange fee. DD used my BBP for something and I was shocked to see it...most of my Amexes don't have one which is why I mentioned it!

 

[elgerber]

@Haley R , we are sitting at the 4th snowiest February on record, and it's only the 12th. Isn't that exciting?!?! Or depressing :-(

 

[elgerber]

Not directed specifically at you but this is another reason I always advise having a detailed spreadsheet of all points.

We've had a lot of discussion here recently about Theft Of points. Well you also want to keep track of last activity and any potential expiration dates on points...Here are the fields I have in my spreadsheet for this:

• Program Name
• Person (i.e. me, wife, daughter1, daughter2)
• Points Balance
• Date of Last Activity
• Expiration Date (calculated based on last activity field - you'll need to look these up for your various programs)
• Info As Of (date I last logged in verified everything - so if something is ever wrong I can pinpoint when the change occured)
• Approx. Value (calculated based on my valuations
• Notes
• Membership ID #

I then check all of this info monthly or more frequently.

Off the top of my head here are some expiration policies:

• Southwest = 24 months
• Marriott = 24 months
• Hilton = 12 months
• IHG = 12 months
• American Airlines = 18 months
• Delta = NEVER (wow you go Delta!)
• AMEX MRs = remain active as long as you have 1 active MR earning card
• Chase URs = remain active as long as you have 1 active UR earning card

These are the programs I'm actively tracking so I don't know details on others like Hyatt, United, etc...

IHG has an exception. If you are a Chase IHG Cardholder it gives you elite status and they don't expire for elite members.

 

[1GoldenSun]

You say you have had CSP for years...how many years? Has it been 48 months since you earned the bonus? You could transfer any URs you have to your CIP, close your CSP, and then wait a week (or up to a month if no big rush) and then open a new CSP and earn the 50k bonus! (If it has NOT been 48 months since your bonus on the card though this is not an option)

I looked it up and it's only been exactly two years. I thought it had been longer.

Do you have any certain type of points you are trying to earn? I like the Barclay arrival+ Offer of 70k points after 5k spend. After the msr is met, you’d have $800 towards travel expenses. It’s a personal card so it would count against your 5/24.

Ultimate rewards, maybe? That's what I have the most of, I guess. I have a kind of hodgepodge of points and I'm really not sure what to do with any of them. I've never redeemed anything except my cash back on my AmEx preferred. That is what I need to figure out next, probably.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I looked it up and it's only been exactly two years. I thought it had been longer.



Ultimate rewards, maybe? That's what I have the most of, I guess. I have a kind of hodgepodge of points and I'm really not sure what to do with any of them. I've never redeemed anything except my cash back on my AmEx preferred. That is what I need to figure out next, probably.

So if you want Ultimate Rewards, you got a CSP bonus 2 years ago, and you don't want business cards...you're kind of out of luck...

You could get a Chase Freedom or a Chase Freedom Unlimited but neither are "big time offers". Both are perfectly fine cards though that numerous people here are willing to use a sign-up slot for. Your best bets would be the 2 other Chase biz cards (CIC and CIU) if you'd concede on biz cards.

If your stats are correct, you're basically at 0/24 and can get any cards you want...(now you did say "currently have" so is it possible you got other cards in the past 24 months that you have since closed...the best way to ask for advice is to follow the instructions in the sticky threads )

 

[wendow]

Maybe?

The annual fee for up to 3 Additional Platinum Cards is $175. Each Additional Platinum Card after the first 3 Cards is $175. You also have the option to add Additional Gold Cards to your account for no annual fee. Note: Additional Gold Card benefits vary from above. For more information, click here.

That might make it worth it but I am not sure I could get to 4 there’s only DH, DS and me since DS is only 11 and you need to be 13.

I just got the same offer. I already added my dd’s, my mom and stepdad all before so they could get tsa precheck. I did the free gold. Sounds like only your dh would be one to add but it’d go against his 5/24 so not worth it for 5k MRs.

 

[Haley R]

Not directed specifically at you but this is another reason I always advise having a detailed spreadsheet of all points.

We've had a lot of discussion here recently about Theft Of points. Well you also want to keep track of last activity and any potential expiration dates on points...Here are the fields I have in my spreadsheet for this:

• Program Name
• Person (i.e. me, wife, daughter1, daughter2)
• Points Balance
• Date of Last Activity
• Expiration Date (calculated based on last activity field - you'll need to look these up for your various programs)
• Info As Of (date I last logged in verified everything - so if something is ever wrong I can pinpoint when the change occured)
• Approx. Value (calculated based on my valuations
• Notes
• Membership ID #

I then check all of this info monthly or more frequently.

Off the top of my head here are some expiration policies:

• Southwest = 24 months
• Marriott = 24 months
• Hilton = 12 months
• IHG = 12 months
• American Airlines = 18 months
• Delta = NEVER (wow you go Delta!)
• AMEX MRs = remain active as long as you have 1 active MR earning card
• Chase URs = remain active as long as you have 1 active UR earning card

These are the programs I'm actively tracking so I don't know details on others like Hyatt, United, etc...

We do have a spreadsheet we started awhile back mainly to keep track of our cards and when they were opened. It’s definitely not as detailed as your though lol