I love credit cards so much!

[Albort]

Right now dh has no Chase cards in his name. He is an AU on my CSP (open in 2016) and my Chase United Explorer (just opened). How long do I have to wait to apply for the Chase United Explorer for dh? Is there a wait time, like a month or two months I think? Because he is an AU on my United Explorer card? Sorry, I am slow to learn! All of this is so confusing no wonder not many people do it! So, in the interest in collecting as many United points as possible for airline travel, do I:

Apply for the Chase Explorer card for a 40k bonus (dh)
Apply for the CSR in 2 months (January) for a 40k bonus (dh)

Good strategy? Thanks so much!

i recall people removing AU off the main account, then calling messaging the 3 credit bureaus to have the account removed from the credit report, ill have to dig that up later though. might be something you could consider doing. Like what @Lain said, you should try that tip to see if you get anything higher than the 40k on the United Explorer.(there might be a reply before im posting this, if it is sorry, i am late to the party! :] ). I recall historically, this cards highest was 70k. CSR is 55k(50K after 4kspendings + 5k for adding AU)

Any thoughts on the Hilton Honors CC? Looks like you can earn up to 125k points as a sign on. 6x on gas, groceries and restaurants sounds good to me. Hiltons and doubletrees in all places we travel, or would like to... I'm thinking about jumping on it. Any reason I shouldn't?
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/...232&BUID=CCG&PSKU=HSP&CRTV=HSPSCP&CID=4671701

its a good card if you stay at hilton. hilton points arent worth but i can see if working well if you do stay at a hilton quite often. i just remember looking for a hilton in Japan and it was like 50-70k a night. The diamond status was nice, we used someone else's diamond card and got a suite upgrade without doing anything. I personally would rather do a SPG first :]

When I spoke to the fraud specialist this morning he said my card must have skimmed because they were using it in-person. No idea really where that could have happened since I don’t use it to pay for gas and I think that is the typical place. But whatever, besides not having my CSR to pay for breakfast this morning or lunch tomorrow, it will be ok. Luckily, I couldn’t sleep and was up at 3 am to see the email and freeze the account. The new card should arrive tomorrow or Tues and then all will be right with the world again.

they could have stolen your card number, put it on a magnetic stripe card and swiped at the gas station. Gas Station doesnt require the chip yet so my guess is thats where they could use it. nothing to worry about. at least its the banks money that is lost and not yours. :]

Haven't received my Marriott points. Is this hit or miss?

yeah, im not getting them either. still 1 hour to go. i think if you did post something you can ask for them later. last week, i got the notification late but the points arrived pretty quickly. this week, i posted around 10:30PST, and nothing yet.

 

[wendow]

Nice! I should do that. It doesn’t make the old card void?

I requested the replacement a couple of months ago in anticipation of cancelling my CSR once I use the travel credit in December. My dh has continued using his old card just fine.

 

[wendow]

Any thoughts on the Hilton Honors CC? Looks like you can earn up to 125k points as a sign on. 6x on gas, groceries and restaurants sounds good to me. Hiltons and doubletrees in all places we travel, or would like to... I'm thinking about jumping on it. Any reason I shouldn't?
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/...232&BUID=CCG&PSKU=HSP&CRTV=HSPSCP&CID=4671701

My only hesitation is the same as @Albort. Hilton points are not worth much so 6x on gas, groceries and restaurants is not nearly as valuable as it sounds.

I'd also make sure you have all the Chase cards you want before you start using up your 5/24 slots on non-Chase cards. If you do stay Hilton a lot, then certainly this card could be one you want at some point. Only you can decide if it is worth getting while you are still under 5/24 (can't remember where you are with the 5/24 but thinking you are under still).

 

[Lain]

Right now dh has no Chase cards in his name. He is an AU on my CSP (open in 2016) and my Chase United Explorer (just opened). How long do I have to wait to apply for the Chase United Explorer for dh? Is there a wait time, like a month or two months I think? Because he is an AU on my United Explorer card? Sorry, I am slow to learn! All of this is so confusing no wonder not many people do it!

You’re still learning, which is why I’ve been encouraging you to follow along with this thread, ask questions, read the points and miles blogs, and figure out the rules of this game so you don’t make any costly mistakes. We can only help you if you’re on this thread, telling us what you’re trying to do, and asking questions.

So, in the interest in collecting as many United points as possible for airline travel, do I:

Apply for the Chase Explorer card for a 40k bonus (dh)
Apply for the CSR in 2 months (January) for a 40k bonus (dh)

Good strategy? Thanks so much!

As I posted upthread, do not have your husband apply for the United MileagePlus Explorer (MPE) card unless he’s targeted or can get targeted for the higher 60k United miles offer. With the limitations that the credit card companies place on their products, you generally don’t want to waste an application on a card that doesn’t give you the best reward. Why would you have your husband waste a 5/24 slot with Chase for 40k miles when I told you he could get 60k miles?

His two AU Cards likely put him at 2/24 with Chase, at least on first impression. Sure if these two slots become an issue that pushes your husband over 5/24, you can have your husband call recon and ask that Chase disregard the two cards because they’re your cards and he doesn’t use them — but how willing is he going to be to take the time to do that?

You say you want United miles. United is a transfer partner of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards (UR) program with a 1 UR point to 1 United mile transfer ratio. (SPG is also a transfer partner. This is why I suggested you familiarize yourself with the different card programs.) So having your husband apply for the CSR or CSP with 50k UR, which can be transferred to 50k United miles, already gives you a bigger bonus than the standard MPE offer of 40k miles. You’ve mentioned possibly having your husband apply for the CSR, but you should really consider double dipping the CSR with the CSP together, since each card earns a 50k UR signup bonus (for a total of 100k UR) if you can meet the combined $8k spending requirement in 3 months. As I’ve already explained to you, Chase implemented new rules in August that limits a customer to one Sapphire Card at a time, and only one signup bonus for all Sapphire cards within 24 months. Double dipping, or applying for the CSR and CSP on the same day, is currently the only way you can get both cards and both signup bonuses. I wrote pretty long explanations about this on a Friday in response to @3 DD love princesses. Please click back and read up on this. I recall also suggesting a while back for you to look into applying for the Chase Ink Business Preferred (CIP) because that gives you a 80k UR signup bonus. Then referring your husband for the CIP so you can earn a 20k UR referral bonus and he can earn another 80k UR for your household. (Speaking of which, if/when your husband applies for the CSP, hopefully along with the CSR, he should apply using your referral link so you get a referral bonus too.)

Once you and your husband have accumulated enough UR points, your husband can transfer all his UR points to you (or vice versa), and you can use your combined stash of UR points to transfer to your United account (or his, vice versa — whoever is going to be doing the booking). You’ll want to do the transferring on the UR side because UR points transfers can be moved freely to anyone in the same household. Transferring United miles in the MileagePlus program is expensive and can cost you as much as the points are worth themselves.

Assuming Chase sees your husband as 2/24 because of his 2 AU cards, you might want to consider the following course of action for him: Next, apply him for the CSR and CSP together for 50k UR each. That’ll put him at 4/24. Meanwhile, you should apply for the CIP for the 80k UR bonus. These three cards will combine for a massive spending requirement: $4k each on the CSR and CSP, $5k on the CIP, each spending requirement must be met in 3 months. So you may want to space out your husband’s CSR+CSP and your CIP. When you’re ready, generate a referral link from your CIP account for your husband to apply from for his own CIP. The CIP is a business card, and you have to be under 5/24 to be approved for it, but it won’t count against any additional 5/24 slots. So your husband will still be 4/24 after getting the CIP. If you want, you can use your husband’s last slot to apply for the United MPE if you still want the miles, although the 60k miles offer may be gone by then. Higher offers come and go, and there’s talk that Chase and United are renegotiating their contract, so who knows if there will be something better around the corner.

I don’t know your family’s particular spending patterns, but the above strategy could easily take up the next six months. I know you have travel plans for next year, but we’ve told you several times that it can take a year to get the needed points in place, and another year out to book award travel and stays. Take your time!

 

[Lain]

Wow, that is good to know! So, we would be charged the $450 say in December (if card is opened in November) but our $205 EZPass, for example, would be credited in the same month? Or gas, or other travel related charge? I thought you had to wait until the card anniversary before the $300 travel is deducted. Thanks!!

Also, I thought they put a stop to the double dipping, so I would only get one $300 travel credit next November (assuming I opened it in November). But if the credit comes right away, it makes sense that you CAN double dip! Thanks!

You will get charged the $450 AF on your first statement, but the $300 Travel credit is a benefit of the card and is available as soon as the card is opened. It’s a rolling credit in the sense that whenever you charge something that codes as “travel” (EZPass would probably qualify; gas stations do not), your CSR account automatically credits that amount back to you up to $300 per cardmember year. The travel credits usually post within a few days of the underlying travel charge posting.

Then, whether you’ve exhausted the first year’s travel credit or not, the $300 travel credit resets on your cardmember anniversary (use it or lose it), so another $300 credit is available to you after your first year. Of course, another $450 AF is also posted to your account after your first year. The trick is to use up the second $300 travel credit within 30 days of your second year AF posting, and then canceling or product changing the CSR within 30 days of the AF posting, then you’ll be able to get the AF refunded.

 

[Alexle2007]

Haven't received my Marriott points. Is this hit or miss?

My points have posted now.

 

[mefordis]

I can't like this post enough! I copied it into my computer notes and this will be my strategy. My dh is going to think I'm insane, but hopefully he'll trust me with this. He's making the money, and I want to figure out how best to manage spending it with the right credit cards.

Thank you!!!! You are so patient!

You’re still learning, which is why I’ve been encouraging you to follow along with this thread, ask questions, read the points and miles blogs, and figure out the rules of this game so you don’t make any costly mistakes. We can only help you if you’re on this thread, telling us what you’re trying to do, and asking questions.



As I posted upthread, do not have your husband apply for the United MileagePlus Explorer (MPE) card unless he’s targeted or can get targeted for the higher 60k United miles offer. With the limitations that the credit card companies place on their products, you generally don’t want to waste an application on a card that doesn’t give you the best reward. Why would you have your husband waste a 5/24 slot with Chase for 40k miles when I told you he could get 60k miles?

His two AU Cards likely put him at 2/24 with Chase, at least on first impression. Sure if these two slots become an issue that pushes your husband over 5/24, you can have your husband call recon and ask that Chase disregard the two cards because they’re your cards and he doesn’t use them — but how willing is he going to be to take the time to do that?

You say you want United miles. United is a transfer partner of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards (UR) program with a 1 UR point to 1 United mile transfer ratio. (SPG is also a transfer partner. This is why I suggested you familiarize yourself with the different card programs.) So having your husband apply for the CSR or CSP with 50k UR, which can be transferred to 50k United miles, already gives you a bigger bonus than the standard MPE offer of 40k miles. You’ve mentioned possibly having your husband apply for the CSR, but you should really consider double dipping the CSR with the CSP together, since each card earns a 50k UR signup bonus (for a total of 100k UR) if you can meet the combined $8k spending requirement in 3 months. As I’ve already explained to you, Chase implemented new rules in August that limits a customer to one Sapphire Card at a time, and only one signup bonus for all Sapphire cards within 24 months. Double dipping, or applying for the CSR and CSP on the same day, is currently the only way you can get both cards and both signup bonuses. I wrote pretty long explanations about this on a Friday in response to @3 DD love princesses. Please click back and read up on this. I recall also suggesting a while back for you to look into applying for the Chase Ink Business Preferred (CIP) because that gives you a 80k UR signup bonus. Then referring your husband for the CIP so you can earn a 20k UR referral bonus and he can earn another 80k UR for your household. (Speaking of which, if/when your husband applies for the CSP, hopefully along with the CSR, he should apply using your referral link so you get a referral bonus too.)

Once you and your husband have accumulated enough UR points, your husband can transfer all his UR points to you (or vice versa), and you can use your combined stash of UR points to transfer to your United account (or his, vice versa — whoever is going to be doing the booking). You’ll want to do the transferring on the UR side because UR points transfers can be moved freely to anyone in the same household. Transferring United miles in the MileagePlus program is expensive and can cost you as much as the points are worth themselves.

Assuming Chase sees your husband as 2/24 because of his 2 AU cards, you might want to consider the following course of action for him: Next, apply him for the CSR and CSP together for 50k UR each. That’ll put him at 4/24. Meanwhile, you should apply for the CIP for the 80k UR bonus. These three cards will combine for a massive spending requirement: $4k each on the CSR and CSP, $5k on the CIP, each spending requirement must be met in 3 months. So you may want to space out your husband’s CSR+CSP and your CIP. When you’re ready, generate a referral link from your CIP account for your husband to apply from for his own CIP. The CIP is a business card, and you have to be under 5/24 to be approved for it, but it won’t count against any additional 5/24 slots. So your husband will still be 4/24 after getting the CIP. If you want, you can use your husband’s last slot to apply for the United MPE if you still want the miles, although the 60k miles offer may be gone by then. Higher offers come and go, and there’s talk that Chase and United are renegotiating their contract, so who knows if there will be something better around the corner.

I don’t know your family’s particular spending patterns, but the above strategy could easily take up the next six months. I know you have travel plans for next year, but we’ve told you several times that it can take a year to get the needed points in place, and another year out to book award travel and stays. Take your time!

 

[Albort]

My points have posted now.

i am without points still.

 

[havaneselover]

i am without points still.

Same here never mind, mine just posted.

 

[Lain]

I can't like this post enough! I copied it into my computer notes and this will be my strategy. My dh is going to think I'm insane, but hopefully he'll trust me with this. He's making the money, and I want to figure out how best to manage spending it with the right credit cards.

Thank you!!!! You are so patient!

As long as my post was, it’s just some ideas and an outline. There’s a lot of little details and rules that I glossed over or forgot to mention. There are also ways to help meet big minimum spending requirements. As well as ways of maximizing the points and miles you earn on your cards. Please, please, please, before you make any big moves like an application, post here and double check with us first. We’re all glad to help. I really hate seeing our members get less than the best deal or make costly mistakes. And follow along with this thread, you’ll pick up a lot just by reading and osmosis. And if there’s something you read and have questions about, ask!

You mentioned wanting to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred 1:1 for United miles, but you can also redeem UR points through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal to book the Disneyland Hotel. UR points are usually worth 1 point = 1 cent, but they are worth 1.5 cents when using a CSR to book through the UR portal. So if a room at the Disneyland Hotel costs $500/night, it’ll cost 33,333 UR points/night or the equivalent of $333.33. Just another way to use your points.

 

[kayteekt]

Thanks @wendow and @Albort, I made a Hilton honors acct and went in to see what how their points run. They do seem VERY inflated.

 

[calypso726]

Oh I love it when timing comes together just right! For those who may remember, I picked up a British Airways card last May when they were offering 100,000 Avios for $20,000 in spend. The BA card also offers a travel together ticket when you spend $30,000 in a calendar year. We had insurance money that had just come in (after nearly 2 years of fighting with the insurance company) from a leak that affected both the kitchen and bathroom. I figured that a travel together ticket to Europe would be a nice way to compensate for the 2 year headache with the insurance company and ignoring the damage until the check was in hand. The travel together ticket is good for 2 years after you hit the $30K. I put about $28,000 on the card for the remodel and other organic spending and held back $2,000 until we got closer to the end of the year so I could stretch the 2 years as long as possible. I didn't want to risk anything with closing statement dates and the end of the year, so my plan was to do the rest by November before my statement closes.

Naturally, I'm not thrilled about spending that much and getting 1x but hey, I need it for the travel together ticket. Lo and behold, AA shopping portal and United shopping portal decide to offer 4000 miles and 5000 miles respectively for $1200 and $1500 in shopping portal spending by November 19th. As luck would have it, I'd bought some winter gear for the Iceland trip later this month that posted right when the bonus period started through AA so I was off to a good start. I picked up the remainder to hit the bonus with discounted Disney gift cards through BJs and paid with my BA card. Did the same through the United shopping portal for the rest of the BA spend which left me needing another $500 to hit the United bonus. Freedom and Walmart gift cards for 5x to the rescue so I can purchase more discounted Disney GCs at Sam's. YAY! Between DVC dues and the China ABD, I need all the Disney GCs anyhow and am happy to get them discounted and/or count towards hitting some shopping portal bonuses and shoring up the spend on the BA travel together ticket.

That's been the exciting and fun part of my weekend in travel hacking. The not so fun part has been researching exactly how I'm getting to Bora Bora in 2020. Ugh, that's been a headache. Happily though we were upgraded from our DVC studio at Beach Club this weekend to concierge for no reason. I was under the weather and didn't feel like hitting the parks so we actually got to enjoy the Club Lounge and found medication for the Bora Bora headache in the form of a nice Riesling. Once again, great timing for an upgrade. Hope everyone else had a good travel hacking weekend.

 

[Lain]

Not quite as exciting as @calypso726 ’s story, but I’ve got a lemons into lemonade story too.

I preordered the iPhone X while on our trip to Disneyland and got release day delivery. I would’ve liked to put this $1250 purchase toward the SPG Biz minimum spend but I delayed applying for that until almost the very last day and I still don’t have the card in hand. Well, I did receive my new phone on Friday, but noticed a speck of dust under the back camera lens. This is NOT ok. Now, I have (get?) to return my phone to the Apple Store, and plan to charge the replacement on the SPG Biz when I get it. So it all works out in the end!

 

[Happy_2_B]

Any thoughts on the Hilton Honors CC

It's a great offer, but we are waiting until AmEx rolls out all of the co-branded CCs in January to pull the trigger. It's a risk, but having played this game for almost a decade, in my experience there are going to be some amazing 'roll out' offers like there were on CSR (or the original Sapphire, or the CSP) when they came out. If you are 5/24 with Chase, at that point it really doesn't matter what you go for next unless your ability to make minimum spends is limited- in which case there will probably be better offers. My guess is that Citi will increase the AA offers once the AmEx Hilton cards come out to 'counter' AmEx so they get their fair share of the pie.

 

[Happy_2_B]

4k for each card! Whoa!

Be creative. We have done a lot of different things to make the minimum spends. I have traded in a couple of cars and played the dealerships against each other until one agreed to allow me to put all of the difference on multiple cards (making 3 minimum spends at the same time). We are currently selling one of our homes, and once that is sold we will do another round of 3 cards each since we are planning to put in a pool in our Florida home. We will 'pick and choose' the cards with the largest minimum spends that we are eligible for- and use those cards to pay for the pool- and make 6 minimum spends at the same time. On a smaller scale- we use CCs for everything- even a 69 cent soda at Circle K or whatever. As long as a place of business doesn't have a minimum spending requirement for using a CC, we will use it. Every point matters. In this game, it is easy to 'put on blinders' and do whatever everyone else is doing. We don't play the game that way. If you think outside the box- and seize opportunities as they present themselves- you can amass a lot of points/miles very quickly.

 

[mefordis]

As long as my post was, it’s just some ideas and an outline. There’s a lot of little details and rules that I glossed over or forgot to mention. There are also ways to help meet big minimum spending requirements. As well as ways of maximizing the points and miles you earn on your cards. Please, please, please, before you make any big moves like an application, post here and double check with us first. We’re all glad to help. I really hate seeing our members get less than the best deal or make costly mistakes. And follow along with this thread, you’ll pick up a lot just by reading and osmosis. And if there’s something you read and have questions about, ask!

You mentioned wanting to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred 1:1 for United miles, but you can also redeem UR points through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal to book the Disneyland Hotel. UR points are usually worth 1 point = 1 cent, but they are worth 1.5 cents when using a CSR to book through the UR portal. So if a room at the Disneyland Hotel costs $500/night, it’ll cost 33,333 UR points/night or the equivalent of $333.33. Just another way to use your points.

Wow, thanks so much! It's great to know I can use the URs to book Disneyland hotel! My strategy is to apply for the CSR and CSP at the same time under my husband's name, but not until December 1. By then I'll have most of my 2k spending done on the United Explorer card I just got (well, still waiting for it to come).

 

[mefordis]

Be creative. We have done a lot of different things to make the minimum spends. I have traded in a couple of cars and played the dealerships against each other until one agreed to allow me to put all of the difference on multiple cards (making 3 minimum spends at the same time). We are currently selling one of our homes, and once that is sold we will do another round of 3 cards each since we are planning to put in a pool in our Florida home. We will 'pick and choose' the cards with the largest minimum spends that we are eligible for- and use those cards to pay for the pool- and make 6 minimum spends at the same time. On a smaller scale- we use CCs for everything- even a 69 cent soda at Circle K or whatever. As long as a place of business doesn't have a minimum spending requirement for using a CC, we will use it. Every point matters. In this game, it is easy to 'put on blinders' and do whatever everyone else is doing. We don't play the game that way. If you think outside the box- and seize opportunities as they present themselves- you can amass a lot of points/miles very quickly.

I just hired a landscaper to do some outdoor work which totaled 18k and he wanted cash for it. How could I have gotten points from that transaction? Talked him into a Visa gift card maybe? Not sure he would have gone for that. I had to literally pay him in greenbacks. I could have gotten a different landscaper to do the job who took credit cards, but he would have been slightly more pricey and not as easy to communicate with.

 

[havaneselover]

I just hired a landscaper to do some outdoor work which totaled 18k and he wanted cash for it. How could I have gotten points from that transaction? Talked him into a Visa gift card maybe? Not sure he would have gone for that. I had to literally pay him in greenbacks. I could have gotten a different landscaper to do the job who took credit cards, but he would have been slightly more pricey and not as easy to communicate with.

Yikes. Sounds like he doesn't like paying taxes.

 

[Happy_2_B]

I could have gotten a different landscaper to do the job who took credit cards, but he would have been slightly more pricey and not as easy to communicate with.

IMHO on an 18k landscaping job you would have easily found at least one- if not 3 or 4- landscaping companies that would take a card and matched your lowest bid. We had a lot of 'big ticket' landscaping done at our Sedona, AZ house and never had an issue. We also almost always went with an Hispanic company whether we could easily communicate with them or not. We do know some Spanish which helped- but in our experience the companies we used all worked very hard and the jobs came out exactly the way we wanted them to. I never- and yes, that means NEVER, buy anything with cash when serious money is involved. You can ALWAYS find at least one (and usually more than one) service provider that will happily take a card to ensure he/she keeps his/her employees busy. In the past 6 months- if I had to guess- we have spent close to 50k on a Hawaii vacation, home upgrades, etc, etc, etc. In total- I would guess we spent less than $500.00 in cash during this time period (and most of that was tips for our butler, concierge, and room steward on the cruise- and tips for other random stuff during our last vacation). The take away from this is that EVERY POINT MATTERS.

 

[Lain]

I just hired a landscaper to do some outdoor work which totaled 18k and he wanted cash for it. How could I have gotten points from that transaction? Talked him into a Visa gift card maybe? Not sure he would have gone for that. I had to literally pay him in greenbacks. I could have gotten a different landscaper to do the job who took credit cards, but he would have been slightly more pricey and not as easy to communicate with.

This makes me want to cry! You could’ve divided that expense on 3, 4, 5, or even 6 cards and easily hit several minimum spending requirements for all the cards’ bonuses at once.

Some vendors don’t want to take credit cards because they don’t want to eat the fee, but they should still accept check or money orders that won’t incur them a fee, or PayPal or Venmo where the customer pays the fee. The only reason why your landscaper insists on cash only is to do this job under the table and hide his earnings from the IRS. I would have gotten a different landscaper, and hope you still can.