After looking at all the cards last night, I'll have a bunch of questions to ask as I go through all my notes. But first, just curious, but what is the deal with there being both a Marriott card and the new SPG Lux card out? Didn't they merge? We are looking at the Lux and want to make sure we don't make a mistake in not getting the Marriott one.
Marriott did acquire Starwood, and merged their rewards programs on about 8/18. However, the separate Marriott, Starwood, and Ritz-Carlton umbrella brands will continue to exist into next year, when presumably they’ll all be merged into Marriott (or some other new name).
Chase held Marriott’s credit card portfolio, and Amex held Starwood’s SPG portfolio. Chase has the Marriott Business and Premier Plus consumer cards. Amex has the SPG Business, Personal, and now Luxury cards. With the merger, the combined Marriott (which we sometimes call Starriott) renegotiated its credit card offerings with Chase and Amex. The result is that in early 2019, Chase will be the issuer of Marriott’s mass consumer and premium (the Premier Plus) consumer cards; Amex will be the issuer of the small business (the SPG Business) and super premium consumer (SPG Lux) cards. We can probably expect Chase to discontinue the Marriott Biz and Amex to discontinue the SPG Personal cards in early 2019, and perhaps some rebranding to whatever unified hotel brand Starriott decides to become. Best guess seems to be that current cardholders of the Marriott Biz and SPG Personal cards will be grandfathered in and can continue to hold their cards if they want to.
As for which card to apply for? If you’re under 5/24, focus on Chase’s Sapphire and Ink cards first; and after you are at or over 5/24, you can start looking around.
Do you already have any SPG/Marriott cards? After you are 5/24, and assuming no SPG/Marriott cards, I would focus on the Amex SPG cards and avoid the Chase Marriott cards for now, and maybe try for the Chase Marriott cards if you can get back under 5/24 in about two years.
The reason is under new restrictions that went into effect on 8/26/18, getting any of the Marriott cards now would, generally speaking, disqualify you from the Amex SPG cards for the next two years (and vice versa).
See https://viewfromthewing.boardingare...r-marriott-and-starwood-credit-card-approval/
Given the choice between Chase Marriott and Amex SPG cards, the math makes the choice clearer: 2<3. There are currently 2 Chase Marriott cards (the Marriott Premier Plus and the Marriott Biz), compared with 3 Amex SPG cards (the SPG Personal, SPG Biz, and SPG Lux).
The bonuses are richer on the Amex SPG-side too. If you go through all 3 Amex SPG cards, at their current offers, that’s a combined 275k Marriott points from the welcome bonuses alone. The
SPG Biz currently has a 100k Marriott points after $5k/3 months MSR offer, first year annual fee waived (offer expires 10/31/18); the
SPG Personal has a 75k Marriott points after $3k/3 months MSR offer, first year annual fee waived; and the
SPG Luxury has a 100k Marriott points public offer (125k Marriott points targeted offer) after $5k/3 months spend, $450 AF not waived.
Keep in mind the SPG Personal is supposed to be discontinued sometime in early 2019, when the Starriott brands completely merge and Chase gets the consumer and premium consumer cards, and Amex gets the super premium consumer and small business cards. If you go for the Chase Marriott cards first, you disqualify yourself from the Amex SPG cards and won't be able to hit the SPG Personal card and bonus before it's discontinued. While some people suggest waiting for the SPG Personal to raise its offer (because 75k Marriott is equivalent to the old 25k Starpoints offer), there’s no telling how much longer the SPG Personal card will still be around. But maybe Amex will make one final push to attract signups with a higher offer for the SPG Personal before discontinuing the card?
The Chase Marriott cards are both offering 75k Marriott points right now with a $3k/3 months MSR, AFs not waived. (Compare with Amex SPG Personal and Biz cards that waive the first year AF.) That’s just 150k Marriott points combined.
Getting one of the Amex SPG cards has no preclusive effect on getting another SPG card under the post-8/26 rules. But it will disqualify you from getting a Chase Marriott card for about 2 years. Remember, Amex welcome offers are generally once per lifetime, so you won’t be coming back to churn those cards again. Getting the SPG Personal and Luxury will add cards to your */24 count, but they’d make you ineligible for the Chase Marriott cards for 25-27 months (24 months after bonus received) anyway. And in about 2 years, these cards will drop off, and assuming you're under 5/24, you can see about going for the Chase Marriott card(s) then. Note that by then, Chase will probably have discontinued the Marriott Biz because the small business card product is supposed to belong to Amex. But perhaps Chase will raise the Marriott Premier Plus back up to 100k Marriott points at some point?
) and Sylvia was super nice, it was weird, best call I've ever had. She asked why and I explained the AF, better rewards cards blah blah. She went over a travel card I could get, but I was unsure if it would have been a new app or a PC but it was basically the CFU but with no foreign transaction fees. I turned it down. She canceled the card and did say the AF should be gone since it's cancelled and that if it's not to call back. I double checked because when I got my statement email last week there was nothing due but when I called this morning the AF had hit.
You'll be fine!
