I love credit cards so much!

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Ok, so now I have made a spreadsheet to keep track of our cards & not miss anything. Currently working on spend for Chase Marriott 100k. That puts me at 5/24 until August. DH is 2/24. In August I will downgrade my CSP to Freedom (which one?) as DH has CSR.
Plans are for WDW once a year and maybe one other vacation per year. The Marriott points will cover Swolphin stay next March, need points for SW flight. Was thinking CSP for DH to transfer points. If I sign DH up for CSP & Chase SW that would be 90k points. Would those count towards Companion Pass? Can I transfer points from my SW account to DHs towards CP? Never thought I could get CP but maybe I could.
Transferred points from one Rapid Rewards account to another do not count towards Companion Pass. Also, SW charges you for the transfer, thereby totally negating any point of transferring.

Points transferred in from your CSP will also not count towards CP.

Southwest made changes this past March that make Companion Pass Qualifying Points much more restrictive in terms of what counts. The bonus and spend points from the SW Visas are still CPQPs, as are points from SW flights. Outside of that, there's not a lot that counts. Perhaps someone else could weigh in?
 
What is the easiest way to see where you stand as far as the 5/24 rule goes? I have a spreadsheet I started, but it doesn't have anything from prior to January 2016. I'm not sure if I applied for anything that would count before that or not.
 
Yes, I'm sad to miss it as I don't think I will be renewing my AMEX Platinum unless they give me a killer retention offer or enhance the benefits. Looks like I'll have to pay for one of my kids as only 3 people are allowed in under one card.
 


What is the easiest way to see where you stand as far as the 5/24 rule goes? I have a spreadsheet I started, but it doesn't have anything from prior to January 2016. I'm not sure if I applied for anything that would count before that or not.

i could be wrong and it varies by state but pull up the credit report that chase pulls. For California, Chase pulls from Experian 99% of the time.
 
i could be wrong and it varies by state but pull up the credit report that chase pulls. For California, Chase pulls from Experian 99% of the time.
So if it's not on the CR or older than 2 years it won't be counted? I'm hoping the SW business I recently opened won't be on it.
 
What is the easiest way to see where you stand as far as the 5/24 rule goes? I have a spreadsheet I started, but it doesn't have anything from prior to January 2016. I'm not sure if I applied for anything that would count before that or not.

I pull my credit report from Experian b/c Chase pulls from them in CO. Like @Albort said, it varies by state.
 


Ok, so now I have made a spreadsheet to keep track of our cards & not miss anything. Currently working on spend for Chase Marriott 100k. That puts me at 5/24 until August. DH is 2/24. In August I will downgrade my CSP to Freedom (which one?) as DH has CSR.
Plans are for WDW once a year and maybe one other vacation per year. The Marriott points will cover Swolphin stay next March, need points for SW flight. Was thinking CSP for DH to transfer points. If I sign DH up for CSP & Chase SW that would be 90k points. Would those count towards Companion Pass? Can I transfer points from my SW account to DHs towards CP? Never thought I could get CP but maybe I could.
The points for the CSP won't work for the CP. I don't think transferred points would work either. He'd be best getting 2 SW cards if CP is your goal. I'd say hold off until the signups go back up to 50K. Or at least try getting it in Jan/Feb next year so you have 2 full years.
 
The points for the CSP won't work for the CP. I don't think transferred points would work either. He'd be best getting 2 SW cards if CP is your goal. I'd say hold off until the signups go back up to 50K. Or at least try getting it in Jan/Feb next year so you have 2 full years.
If we did two cards back to back would have to start in July to finish in January. By 2 cards, you mean the Plus & Premier, or Business? We don't really have a business (do have the AA Business card but I feel it's not totally honest)
Didn't think about getting both Plus & Premier but it wouldn't get us close enough to CP anyway. I'll need something for SW airfare for WDW trip, so maybe I'll do CSP first then see if SW increases the bonus.
 
If we did two cards back to back would have to start in July to finish in January. By 2 cards, you mean the Plus & Premier, or Business? We don't really have a business (do have the AA Business card but I feel it's not totally honest)

I applied for the personal Plus and Premier back to back with instant approvals for both. That was when the bonuses were up to 50K each. You have to earn the 110K points in one calendar year, so to get two full years out of a CP you'd need to sign up for both cards at the end of 2017 and complete the minimum spends so that the points post to your account in January 2018.
 
I applied for the personal Plus and Premier back to back with instant approvals for both. That was when the bonuses were up to 50K each. You have to earn the 110K points in one calendar year, so to get two full years out of a CP you'd need to sign up for both cards at the end of 2017 and complete the minimum spends so that the points post to your account in January 2018.
No way we could meet spend on both cards at the same time so I guess it's a pipe dream. Thanks for clarifying
 
No way we could meet spend on both cards at the same time so I guess it's a pipe dream. Thanks for clarifying

You can always do one at a time, but the longer it takes to get your points in 2017, the less time you'll have the CP. You'd still have it for the remainder of 2017 and all of 2018. You definitely want to time things so that both cards have a 50K signup bonus, though. After completing minimum spends, you'd have 104K points. Then you still have to accumulate another 6K for the CP. I was able to do that partially with regular spending and partially by taking advantage of some lucrative deals in the SW Shopping Portal. For instance, I was able to buy $3-$5 magazine subscriptions that gave me 650 points per subscription.
 
Not working on any cards right now. So I figured out why the travel charge for the airline taxes would not "erase" on the Barclaycard. Air Canada booked them as separate charges so since they are not over $100 ($94 each), they can't be redeemed. It's ok because my family of 4 is headed to Las Vegas in June (just booked!) and I plan to use it then. I also booked a day trip to the Grand Canyon and Hoover dam!
We are staying at the Bellagio booked with my AMEX platinum through Fine Hotels and Resorts which gave us 4th night free, free breakfast and $100 resort credit. I did pay for flights through SW with cash after my leftover gift cards from the AMEX platinum and PRG travel credit. Nonstop flights to Vegas from Philly plus 4 nights at the Bellagio for 4 people, (2 adults plus 2 kids) was $2,000. Not bad at all.
I plan to stop by the Centurion lounge in Vegas too. June can't come soon enough!

Glad you got it figured out. What a bummer though.

Oooh, we just stayed at the Bellagio for the first time last Thanksgiving for DH's birthday. What a lovely hotel! We also used the Fine Hotels and Resorts benefit. I absolutely love that benefit! The free breakfast alone was such a great perk since their prices are crazy high! They gave us up to a $40 per person breakfast credit so that was $320 in breakfast that we didn't pay for. We did a helicopter tour to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon which was my B-day present to DH since he's always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. I was trying to cram as much as we could into a long weekend. We were able to see 3 shows and cross off a Foodie wannabe experience too! Love Centurion lounges! So happy for you that you got a really cool trip booked and get to use those awesome Amex Plat perks! :flower3:

What is the easiest way to see where you stand as far as the 5/24 rule goes? I have a spreadsheet I started, but it doesn't have anything from prior to January 2016. I'm not sure if I applied for anything that would count before that or not.

The one time I checked I used Credit Karma. This was when I thought I might have to actually hold off travel hacking to get the CSR before deciding to try the CPC route. I wanted to see how much longer I'd need to wait. It would have been nearly a year *shudders* since I was over 10/24. You are allowed to get a free credit report from each of the agencies once per year. If you are looking for something more accurate.
 
What is the easiest way to see where you stand as far as the 5/24 rule goes? I have a spreadsheet I started, but it doesn't have anything from prior to January 2016. I'm not sure if I applied for anything that would count before that or not.

Has anyone else signed up for/used Credit Journey -- the free credit monitoring service offered through your Chase account? Incidentally, one of the factors it monitors is new accounts in the last 24 months. However, I believe the score is derived from TransUnion (please correct me if I'm wrong).
 
Hello all you amazingly savvy people workin the system! I am new to this points thing, and although I have plenty of points for hotel, I was wondering if someone could help me out with a strategy for getting enough points for airline travel for 4 people. My goal is to do this over the next 2 years. I was thinking about getting the chase sapphire card because it has 50k bonus and 2x most travel points (i travel at times for work - but rarely on the same airline). The SW points seem to go a bit farther it seems, so I was thinking maybe getting the sapphire and then transferring those points to a SW rewards account might be a good way to do it?

Overall, it seems a bit ambiguous to me, and i'm having a hard time nailing down on if this would actually be a good idea... (sorry - i think i need some hand holding).
 
My goal is to do this over the next 2 years. I was thinking about getting the chase sapphire card because it has 50k bonus and 2x most travel points (i travel at times for work - but rarely on the same airline)

You didn't mention whether you had a Chase SW card-if you're going to stick with SW that might be the place to start!

If you're wanting a more general travel card I would recommend the Chase Sapphire Reserve first since it has 3x points for travel. There IS a $450 annual fee but then a $300/year travel credit so most of us view it as essentially $150 annual fee (450-300) which is still more than the Preferred $95 but if you travel/dine out enough is worth it. The $300 credit is totally seamless and automatically applied (also fairly flexible in its definition of travel).

Honestly if I were under the 5 cards (not just Chase) in 24 months I'd apply for the Reserve, do the minimum spend, then apply for the Preferred. That would be >100,000 points (50,000 for CSR -actually 54,000-62,000 depending on what the minimum spend was on-travel v. everyday PLUS 54,000-60,000 for CSP). That would be a great head start on your airline miles quest. If you didn't want to have both after a year then I'd request a product change for the CSP to a chase freedom. Chase freedom has rotating 5x points OR 5% cash back in rotating categories (often warehouse clubs). So then, during the rotating category when it's warehouse clubs, I would buy a boatload of SW gift cards-they are usually discounted a bit, plus the 5x points can be transferred to your UR points with the CSR (so worth "more" if you use Chase's travel portal).

Another option is to go ahead and get 3 chase cards closer to each other (if you can tolerate the spend and are under 3/24)-the CSR, CSP and freedom so you can take advantage of the 5x or 5% back sooner. Again, I'm far from an expert but if I had not have been a bonehead that's what I should've done :) Hope this made some sort of sense!
 
Hello all you amazingly savvy people workin the system! I am new to this points thing, and although I have plenty of points for hotel, I was wondering if someone could help me out with a strategy for getting enough points for airline travel for 4 people. My goal is to do this over the next 2 years. I was thinking about getting the chase sapphire card because it has 50k bonus and 2x most travel points (i travel at times for work - but rarely on the same airline). The SW points seem to go a bit farther it seems, so I was thinking maybe getting the sapphire and then transferring those points to a SW rewards account might be a good way to do it?

Overall, it seems a bit ambiguous to me, and i'm having a hard time nailing down on if this would actually be a good idea... (sorry - i think i need some hand holding).

You didn't mention whether you had a Chase SW card-if you're going to stick with SW that might be the place to start!

If you're wanting a more general travel card I would recommend the Chase Sapphire Reserve first since it has 3x points for travel. There IS a $450 annual fee but then a $300/year travel credit so most of us view it as essentially $150 annual fee (450-300) which is still more than the Preferred $95 but if you travel/dine out enough is worth it. The $300 credit is totally seamless and automatically applied (also fairly flexible in its definition of travel).

Honestly if I were under the 5 cards (not just Chase) in 24 months I'd apply for the Reserve, do the minimum spend, then apply for the Preferred. That would be >100,000 points (50,000 for CSR -actually 54,000-62,000 depending on what the minimum spend was on-travel v. everyday PLUS 54,000-60,000 for CSP). That would be a great head start on your airline miles quest. If you didn't want to have both after a year then I'd request a product change for the CSP to a chase freedom. Chase freedom has rotating 5x points OR 5% cash back in rotating categories (often warehouse clubs). So then, during the rotating category when it's warehouse clubs, I would buy a boatload of SW gift cards-they are usually discounted a bit, plus the 5x points can be transferred to your UR points with the CSR (so worth "more" if you use Chase's travel portal).

Another option is to go ahead and get 3 chase cards closer to each other (if you can tolerate the spend and are under 3/24)-the CSR, CSP and freedom so you can take advantage of the 5x or 5% back sooner. Again, I'm far from an expert but if I had not have been a bonehead that's what I should've done :) Hope this made some sort of sense!

sorry tink1970, but i think it should be the other way around. CSP first, CSR last. If the goal is to earn points and travel 2 years later, the CSP will just be used for the sign up bonus, downgrade after a year or before the year if you get lucky.. When it comes close to travel dates, apply for the CSR so it can be used during the travel dates($300 travel credit + 1.5 redemption through the portal). The SW are great if you want to go for the CP, but honestly, i think the earning power on that card is not good. To Earn CP, its best to get 2 SW cards. its like $6k spendings in total? The UR cards are the best for earning power. That could be something to think about if you find yourself travelling a lot domestically with your partners.

as for @TheyCallMeStacey a good start is to see what your local airport hosts. Is it a hub? Im assuming your hotel loyalty is with Marriott. What is your travel destination? Sometimes, earning for a certain card because of a certain airline is important. IE, if Hawaii is your destination, then perhaps Korean Air(UR will work) or Alaska Air(BOA), the specific cards should be gotten.

everyone has different ideas though... :]
 
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