I love credit cards so much!

[Judique]

So,after 3 calls to Chase recon, 30 minutes on hold, another 40 minutes talking to a rep, DH was finally approved for SW card! But with only a 2k limit but hey I'll take it.
What I don't understand is, 2 weeks ago DH had a total of 40k limits on his chase cards (CSR & CSP) I reduced them to 12k each to have room for other cards. Today they only approved him for 2k & that was pulled from his CSP, reducing it to 10k.

I wish they would all give me a small limit. I never intend to run these cards up past the minimum spend that I need to get the bonus so no need for 25K credit cards every time. Glad you got the approval!

 

[AmyAnne]

So,after 3 calls to Chase recon, 30 minutes on hold, another 40 minutes talking to a rep, DH was finally approved for SW card! But with only a 2k limit but hey I'll take it.
What I don't understand is, 2 weeks ago DH had a total of 40k limits on his chase cards (CSR & CSP) I reduced them to 12k each to have room for other cards. Today they only approved him for 2k & that was pulled from his CSP, reducing it to 10k.

Reducing the credit limits might have lowered his credit score.

 

[pinkxray]

I have been reading through this thread and there is so much great info.

I am hoping to use my credit cards points to pay for our resort for Disney/Universal in Feb 2019. I have the Freedom Unlimited(2011) and Disney Visa(2008) and just got the Amazon Visa a few months ago. Last month I applied for the Disney Visa with the fee and was denied. I was pretty surprised bc I have never been denied by Chase. I have had the Chase Preferred in the past and both Southwest Visas back in 2010-2014. When my son was born in 2014 I cancelled those since we wouldn't be traveling much.

Anyway.. my denial letter said too much credit. After reading here I think maybe I have too much credit with the other 3 Chase cards and could have called to move that credit around? Not too concerned about it but really want to get the Chase Sapphire Reserve in early 2018 for the bonus and the 1.5 transfer rate for travel when using points.

Do they look at other credit cards for too much credit. It seems like most of you have a lot of available credit and don't have an issue. I also have a Discover and Capital One Quicksilver that I don't want to close bc I have had them since I was 18 and they show my longest timeline for good credit. They have a pretty high credit limit each. Should I call and have the limits on those made smaller or do they only count Chase?

Thanks for all your answers. Starting in Aug we will have 2 in daycare so I'm hoping to minimize our out of pocket cost to convince DH to go to WDW in 2019

 

[Albort]

Anyway.. my denial letter said too much credit. After reading here I think maybe I have too much credit with the other 3 Chase cards and could have called to move that credit around? Not too concerned about it but really want to get the Chase Sapphire Reserve in early 2018 for the bonus and the 1.5 transfer rate for travel when using points.

that is correct, you can move credit around between your chase cards.

 

[DLgal]

We are aiming to get his score over 800 as soon as possible, so that it is in line with mine and we are then eligible for the best rates on loans and such.

There is no need to get above 750 for the purposes of getting the best loan rates. 750 is the cutoff for "excellent" rating and everyone above that gets the same low rates.

Sounds like your DH is almost there!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Reducing the credit limits might have lowered his credit score.

Maybe but they pulled his credit report for SW before I did it. So they were looking at credit score before any changes.

I wish they would all give me a small limit. I never intend to run these cards up past the minimum spend that I need to get the bonus so no need for 25K credit cards every time. Glad you got the approval!

But the problem is the spend is 2k, so I'd have to max it to meet spend. We don't need 20k on each card for sure, but 5k is ok. My first chase card was 2k at approval and I couldn't even charge my whole Disney vacation on it.

 

[ski_mom]

Maybe but they pulled his credit report for SW before I did it. So they were looking at credit score before any changes.

But the problem is the spend is 2k, so I'd have to max it to meet spend. We don't need 20k on each card for sure, but 5k is ok. My first chase card was 2k at approval and I couldn't even charge my whole Disney vacation on it.

I'm not sure if you can overpay your credit card, but you can definitely log onto your account and pay your balance off before your statement closes and then you'd still have the entire $2,000 limit to use again.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I'm not sure if you can overpay your credit card, but you can definitely log onto your account and pay your balance off before your statement closes and then you'd still have the entire $2,000 limit to use again.

I pay all our total balance on the last day of each month, even the pending charges. You can do this by selecting "pay a different amount" and type in the total or you can "push" it through your bank. At least this is what I do with Chase.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Can someone help me pls? Is 28k UR points for a $350 YC room a good use of points? Otherwise I can stack discounts at orbitz to get the 2 nights at $671 total.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I'm not sure if you can overpay your credit card, but you can definitely log onto your account and pay your balance off before your statement closes and then you'd still have the entire $2,000 limit to use again.

Yes that's the plan. After I put 1k on it I will make a payment.

 

[Albort]

Can someone help me pls? Is 28k UR points for a $350 YC room a good use of points? Otherwise I can stack discounts at orbitz to get the 2 nights at $671 total.

YC room? what hotel? 28k UR pts = $280. your looking at .0125 cents per point which is decent imo. even with 2 nights stacked, UR points still come out ahead as $671/2 = $335.50.

 

[Judique]

I'm not sure if you can overpay your credit card, but you can definitely log onto your account and pay your balance off before your statement closes and then you'd still have the entire $2,000 limit to use again.

Just what I was going to reply. I start paying off as the items post. Kind of keeps me in check. They usually give you 3 months to meet the spend and before I consider one of these offers I have to know that my meeting the spend will not exceed what my ordinary expected spending will be.
No interest is the goal and if I can't meet that goal the card is not desirable.

 

[AmyAnne]

Maybe but they pulled his credit report for SW before I did it. So they were looking at credit score before any changes.

That is odd then - glad you got it worked out.

 

[amalone1013]

Can someone give me a quick run through on how transferring UR points between spouses work? I'm just curious, I might have DF get a UR card. Also, do you have to prove you're spouses? Do last names have to match or is address enough? We'll be married by the end of the year. Again just curious.

I was doing some figuring at work today (when they make me work weekends, I research churning ). I would like to keep DF below 5/24 at the end of 2018, so we could try for the SW CP in his name for 2019/2020. And I realized that right now, he'll be 0/24 by 8/2018, so we've got some room to play! He's at 4/24 now.

Am I missing anything between CSR and CSP here for him?
CSR = $450 fee + $300 credit + $750 sign up bonus = $600 gain
CSP = $0 fee first year + $625 sign up bonus = $625 gain
Considering: I'm keeping my CSR for year 2, so his UR points would transfer, and we don't spend enough to support a 2nd CSR, we'd probably downgrade it to Freedom because he has his Barclay at 2pts/$. Most dining/traveling spend is done when we're together and goes on my card, so I'd lean towards keeping his Barclay for another flexible point type(plus it's an older card for him), and get him a Freedom for the 5x categories.
His work pays for Global Entry... but they might reimburse it, so I guess that would be a $100 fee - CSR credit - work reimbursement = $100 gain.

If I'm not missing anything, I'm leaning towards a CSP now, thinking to avoid the AF for now and then maybe a CSR after his next card drops off, on the off chance there's a referral bonus by then.

I figure right now we can support about $1k a month towards a minimum spend without paying ahead, buying gift cards, or taking away from bonus category cards (to maximize our spending). We've got the couple big expenses in the next few months, so I figure we might as well plow through 2 more higher spends with those (1 each) and then we might do a couple keeper hotel cards (where free night > annual fee) together so anniversary dates would line up.

Here's hoping our day-of wedding lunch charges (which should be drinks) code as dining on the CSR! It's at a restaurant and all other charges are just showing as the restaurant name, but they've all been towards a minimum spend on other cards.

Update on removing DH as an authorized user from my Marriott card. I removed him a few weeks ago, but the card was still showing up on his Transunion and Experian credit reports. Earlier this week, I submitted a dispute through the Transunion website and sent an email to dispute through Experian (it wouldn't let me submit through the website for some reason). Well, Transunion has already resolved the dispute and removed any record of the Marriott card from DH's credit report. It just took a few days. Hoping that Experian also resolves this quickly and removes the record.

Did you just say he was no longer an AU on the account?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Just what I was going to reply. I start paying off as the items post. Kind of keeps me in check. They usually give you 3 months to meet the spend and before I consider one of these offers I have to know that my meeting the spend will not exceed what my ordinary expected spending will be.
No interest is the goal and if I can't meet that goal the card is not desirable.

True, I know I have 3 months but getting the points for a March flight sooner would be better. 2k is about our monthly CC spend anyway. I put utilities, gas, grocery, everything except mortgage on CC. Need to buy school clothes & supplies, plus I have taxes due. I can prepay, but generally schedule everything on it's due date. Just a bit inconvenient.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

@amalone1013 that all seems correct to me. Transferring points between spouses is super easy. At the top of the UR page is a tab when you tap on it, it says "combine points". From there you can combine from your other accounts or indicate a spouses account

 

[wendow]

But the problem is the spend is 2k, so I'd have to max it to meet spend. We don't need 20k on each card for sure, but 5k is ok. My first chase card was 2k at approval and I couldn't even charge my whole Disney vacation on it.

I only got 2k on my SW card also. Which means I cannot use it to pay my mortgage like I had hoped would at least be an option.

Congrats on the approval!!!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

YC room? what hotel? 28k UR pts = $280. your looking at .0125 cents per point which is decent imo. even with 2 nights stacked, UR points still come out ahead as $671/2 = $335.50.

YAcht club. Ok, thx!

 

[gottalovepluto]

So,after 3 calls to Chase recon, 30 minutes on hold, another 40 minutes talking to a rep, DH was finally approved for SW card! But with only a 2k limit but hey I'll take it.
What I don't understand is, 2 weeks ago DH had a total of 40k limits on his chase cards (CSR & CSP) I reduced them to 12k each to have room for other cards. Today they only approved him for 2k & that was pulled from his CSP, reducing it to 10k.

Lesson I'm taking from that is absolutely don't proactively reduce credit lines with Chase. Offer to shift them but for sure don't reduce them.

CONGRATS on the approval BTW!!

 

[calypso726]

Lesson I'm taking from that is absolutely don't proactively reduce credit lines with Chase. Offer to shift them but for sure don't reduce them.

CONGRATS on the approval BTW!!

There was a school of thought when 5/24 was coming into effect that reducing Chase credit lines would help with an instant approval with a new card. With all the DPs since then, I'd rather call recon and shift credit. Reducing the credit lines doesn't give you the ability to shift lines of credit to open a new card and also causes a negative impact on the overall credit score. Lots to learn in this hobby and it's nice to share experiences so we can all learn from each other.