I love credit cards so much!

[calypso726]

I don't have any Chase cards except the freedom.... I have to decide by december 7th..

Keep in mind that Chase has that 5/24 automatic hard denial. This is for applicants of their UR earning cards and a few co-brand cards if the applicant has opened 5 or more credit cards from any bank over the last 24 months regardless of credit score.

The UR points from Freedom or Freedom a Unlimited can not be used to transfer to airline miles unless you first transfer them to a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Plus account.

I hope this helps.

 

[kawc1945]

Hi all, joining in the fun here. We've been trying to build up lots of points and miles over the past few years. Have been able to do lots of traveling with it so far. Question for the experts here though. If I already got the CSR and added DH as an authorized user, and now we may want to go ahead and apply for his own card, would they approve him? He wouldn't be denied because of the 5/24 rule, but we wondered if they would deny because he's already an authorized user and know we are only doing it for points.

Thanks! Looking forward to learning lots here!

 

[AmyAnne]

Question: Are there any shopping portals that I should go through to earn extra points on a Costco.com purchase? Planning to order some gift cards to maximize the Chase Freedom warehouse bonus category for this quarter.

 

[calypso726]

Hi all, joining in the fun here. We've been trying to build up lots of points and miles over the past few years. Have been able to do lots of traveling with it so far. Question for the experts here though. If I already got the CSR and added DH as an authorized user, and now we may want to go ahead and apply for his own card, would they approve him? He wouldn't be denied because of the 5/24 rule, but we wondered if they would deny because he's already an authorized user and know we are only doing it for points.

Thanks! Looking forward to learning lots here!

He should be able to get his own card too. AU may count towards the 5/24 and not get an automatic approval. When you call recon and explain about the AU card then the will take it out of the number in the last 24 months.

Question: Are there any shopping portals that I should go through to earn extra points on a Costco.com purchase? Planning to order some gift cards to maximize the Chase Freedom warehouse bonus category for this quarter.

Don't recall if Costco is in any of the shopping portals. BJ's is on the American Airlines shopping portal though.

 

[Ngwira]

Keep in mind that Chase has that 5/24 automatic hard denial. This is for applicants of their UR earning cards and a few co-brand cards if the applicant has opened 5 or more credit cards from any bank over the last 24 months regardless of credit score.

The UR points from Freedom or Freedom a Unlimited can not be used to transfer to airline miles unless you first transfer them to a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Plus account.

I hope this helps.

It does help. I will apply for the csr first...then the Amex prg. I really love Amex. I have a number of inquiries falling off in December and January so I should be fine. Thanks so much calypso.

 

[Alice Sr.]

hehe, better to have 2 ppl sign up for CSR than to add AU... 200k UR pts can get u to places...

Going to try to get Mr. signed up but that is an uphill battle, he is so old school I doubt he will go along but worth the try, thanks!

 

[Alice Sr.]

Is it possible to call and use your credit card for incidentals? I've heard of people doing that because it's a "gift" in some cases. Or maybe just pre-purchase a $500 (or more depending on how much they will spend!) Disney gift card and she can give you cash in return?

Thanks for the suggestion, I was going to give them cash for their home down payment fund but I could give them a Disney GC, it all comes out of their budget one way or another.

 

[Alice Sr.]

$4,500 IHG spend on IHG card will get you 22,500 IHG points. 20,000 IHG points = 4,000 United miles.

$4,500 IHG spend on CSR card will get you 13,500 UR points.
13,500 UR points = 13,500 United miles.

This really brings it home to me, I am kicking myself for apply for this card. I might call and see if they will somehow convert to the Ink+ (or Freedom).

Join the United Mileage Plus dining program. There is usually a bonus to join the program. Opt in for the emails as it will earn you more points per dine. Link your CSR card and any other cards you or a family member might use to pay for dining. Explore new restaurants and places to eat that are on the list in the area.

Register for the United mileage shopping portal. Anytime you do any shopping online, check the portal first to see if your store is listed. If so, you will earn anywhere from one or more extra miles per dollar for you shopping through the portal. These often take a while to post but they add up.

Also, check the Ultimate Rewards shopping portal for online shopping and compare online stores with the United one. Some days one store is offering more points from one portal over another.

Thank you for this I just registered for the Dining and added the portal to my favorites.

Check United's website for partner programs. Sometimes you will find a way to earn miles and points with another company's products and services if they partner with United. A few years ago I earned 4,000 miles for signing up to receive Netflix at a cost of $7.00.

Another excellent and timely suggestion. I was going to just transfer my sateline service to my new location (and no doubt pay for a month that I wouldn't be using while I was in the hotel) but I see they are partnering with Direct for new service so I will check that out!

Apply for the Ink+ business card. If you are still under 5/24 this is a great card to have! It will be an additional 60,000 UR points if you meet the bonus spend. It generates a ton of UR points if used strategically. Office supply store purchase earn 5 UR points per dollar. Office supply stores sell gift cards and those gift cards can make the majority of your purchases 5x or more per dollar. Example: I use my Ink+ card to purchase a $100 Macy's gift card at Staples or Office Depot and earn 500 UR points. Then I go through the United shopping portal or Chase UR shopping portal and see Macy's is at 9 miles/points per dollar. I make my purchases and pay with the gift card but just earned and additional 900 United miles. Granted is usually isn't that high but it is once in a while. Million Mile Secrets does have a tutorial on how to apply for a business card as a sole proprietor.

I love this and was not getting what the big deal was about office supplies, lol. Do you track your purchases on a spreadsheet? I doubt I would unless they are horrible about giving the correct credits. Also, besides checking out the United options I spent all morning checking out the sites you recommended in a previous post. My head is spinning a little bit but I am all in now. Thanks

 

[Alice Sr.]

Chase Freedom - We started with this card and it has a consistent 1.5pts/$ spent - 2 months we've accumulated 20,000 points

Chase Sapphire Preferred - My wife's card. When you meet the spend req of $4000 you get 50,000 points. Add an AU and get 5000 more. Total of 55,000 - but dont forget the fact that you had to SPEND to get the points. 55,000 + (worst case) 4000 = 59,000 points. We utilized our toll bill that snuck up on us (we pay quarterly for toll crossings) and that added up to 2400 points. So we had an actual 60,400 points there. (Weve spent more on this one and points are still rolling in)

Chase Ink+ Business - 60,000 after spending $5000. We utilized the bonuses to make sure we were getting max points - all $5k is at office supply stores and telecom bills. So in reality its 5000 x 5 points = 25,000. There is 85,000 points right there.

Chase Sapphire Reserve - 100,000 points after $4000 in spend. We just paid for our entire Christmas trip coming up - we had $6000 left for our VIP tour at Universal to pay. We met spend right there PLUS got the x3 bonus on it being travel. 118,000 points.

Total it up:
CF - 20,000
CSP - 60,400
CI+ - 85,000
CSR - 118,000
Total - 283,000 to just meet the spend. We utilized the bonuses (as much as we could) and that gave us even more points!

We have about 90k points pending on the same 4 cards now...so we're at our 375k mark! All from using these for everyday purchases and bills!!! But we're not done...our next trip (after this Christmas) is next October. So we have a LONG time to accumulate more and more and more and...points!

NOTE: Our balances on all cards is $0 at statement. We always PIF each CC before we utilize the next. We will even pay a balance on the road with our bank/chase apps for payments.

Going to try to get the Freedom and Ink+ asap. Do you have an idea of how much time you had in between applying for the cards you have? Hopefully Mr. will apply for CPR also. Thanks!

 

[calypso726]

This really brings it home to me, I am kicking myself for apply for this card. I might call and see if they will somehow convert to the Ink+ (or Freedom).

Thank you for this I just registered for the Dining and added the portal to my favorites.

Another excellent and timely suggestion. I was going to just transfer my sateline service to my new location (and no doubt pay for a month that I wouldn't be using while I was in the hotel) but I see they are partnering with Direct for new service so I will check that out!

I love this and was not getting what the big deal was about office supplies, lol. Do you track your purchases on a spreadsheet? I doubt I would unless they are horrible about giving the correct credits. Also, besides checking out the United options I spent all morning checking out the sites you recommended in a previous post. My head is spinning a little bit but I am all in now. Thanks

Glad, you found the suggestions helpful. Keep in mind if you change to the Ink+ you will miss out on the 60,000 bonus. I's sooner change it to a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited if they will let you.

Going to try to get the Freedom and Ink+ asap. Do you have an idea of how much time you had in between applying for the cards you have? Hopefully Mr. will apply for CPR also. Thanks!

Chase typically won't approve more than 2 cards within a 30 day period. I'd apply for the Ink+ first. Keep in mind if you cancel or product change your IHG card the points you already earned might be clawed back. It has been known to happen.

 

[Albort]

Chase typically won't approve more than 2 cards within a 30 day period. I'd apply for the Ink+ first. Keep in mind if you cancel or product change your IHG card the points you already earned might be clawed back. It has been known to happen.

i think business and personal are different though no? They never did a hard pull for my ink+, but did for my CSP...

 

[calypso726]

i think business and personal are different though no? They never did a hard pull for my ink+, but did for my CSP...

If you applied at the same time they would have combined the hard pulls to one. Data points show denials for more than 2 apps in 30 days when one of them is an Ink+. There are a few that have gotten past the rule upon calling recon and explaining that the Ink+ is a business card and shouldn't count and others have been denied. It's a YMMV situation.

 

[AmyAnne]

Don't recall if Costco is in any of the shopping portals. BJ's is on the American Airlines shopping portal though.

Thanks for the reply. I ended up ordering straight from the Costco website. I guess it would be sort of un-Costco-like to participate in those programs. The 5% bonus from Freedom is the first "general" discount I can recall for Costco. I have been trying to avoid stocking up on gift cards (to meet the minimum spend for the CSR) because the cards can get lost or stolen, but I am making an exception for Costco.

Also, just curious-- do you shop much at BJ's? I am planning to get a Sams membership before the end of the month (free through Amex) but have not thought about BJ's.

 

[calypso726]

Thanks for the reply. I ended up ordering straight from the Costco website. I guess it would be sort of un-Costco-like to participate in those programs. The 5% bonus from Freedom is the first "general" discount I can recall for Costco. I have been trying to avoid stocking up on gift cards (to meet the minimum spend for the CSR) because the cards can get lost or stolen, but I am making an exception for Costco.

Also, just curious-- do you shop much at BJ's? I am planning to get a Sams membership before the end of the month (free through Amex) but have not thought about BJ's.

Never shop at BJ's and don't have a membership either. I just recently found out that you can order online without a membership. That said, I will be joining BJ's today since I got an Amex offer that will negate the membership fee for the most part, just in case I need to stock up in store rather than online. I may wind up checking out what they have though.

 

[hsmamato2]

. AU may count towards the 5/24 and not get an automatic approval. When you call recon and explain about the AU card then the will take it out of the number in the last 24 months.

from my experience calling recon,and from what I'm reading at FT Au are counting towards 5/24.... I know you say they're not, but I'm reading multiple reports of them counting.... I'm personally just leaving it alone till my 2 extra AU's fall off as I have a goal I need to get to soon...

 

[AmyAnne]

Never shop at BJ's and don't have a membership either. I just recently found out that you can order online without a membership. That said, I will be joining BJ's today since I got an Amex offer that will negate the membership fee for the most part, just in case I need to stock up in store rather than online. I may wind up checking out what they have though.

Let us know if you find anything interesting at BJ's. It's interesting that some Amex offers are for Sams and some for BJ's. At some point I would like to get a business Amex because it seems that those get the best offers.

Another shopping question: any avenues for earning additional points for ordering from Zappos?

 

[calypso726]

Let us know if you find anything interesting at BJ's. It's interesting that some Amex offers are for Sams and some for BJ's. At some point I would like to get a business Amex because it seems that those get the best offers.

Another shopping question: any avenues for earning additional points for ordering from Zappos?

It was on my SPG business card that I had that offer. Also, had spend $150 at Lowes get $30 back so I went there and bought $150 in Disney gift cards. There was also a spend $100 at Office Depot and get $20 back so I bought a $100 Disney gift card from OD today. I don't recall seeing Zappos on any of the shopping portals I tend to use. However, when Freedom has 5x for grocery stores, I have bought Zappos gift cards from Publix to get the 5x points.

from my experience calling recon,and from what I'm reading at FT Au are counting towards 5/24.... I know you say they're not, but I'm reading multiple reports of them counting.... I'm personally just leaving it alone till my 2 extra AU's fall off as I have a goal I need to get to soon...

I have read some of those too. But I ahve also read numerous data points where the AU was taken out of the count on the recon call. Makes sense. If you close to the AU's falling off then why risk the hard pull if you don't need too. Now that August is behind us, I have 11 more months of waiting.

 

[WDWRook]

Wow, lot of detailed information on this travel rewards/hacking stuff. I'm brand new to the idea, new to travel rewards generally. Any tips specifically for Spirit or Delta Airlines? Those airlines are the only two that have nonstop flights from Detroit to Orlando, and for the foreseeable future we will be mostly flying to WDW for annual family trips. As new DVC members, we have lodging covered, but need to find ways to save on airfare. We have a Disney Chase Visa, and a Spirit Airlines card. My wife just applied for a new Spirit Card this last trip to get some bonus miles (unfortunate that we cannot transfer points to a spouse). I'm looking at the CSP/CSR/Freedom cards and your discussion on those. But, neither Delta or Spirit have direct transfer from UR. I also considered getting the Delta Amex card for the free checked bags. Too confusing. Wish Southwest had nonstop flights for us.

 

[calypso726]

Wow, lot of detailed information on this travel rewards/hacking stuff. I'm brand new to the idea, new to travel rewards generally. Any tips specifically for Spirit or Delta Airlines? Those airlines are the only two that have nonstop flights from Detroit to Orlando, and for the foreseeable future we will be mostly flying to WDW for annual family trips. As new DVC members, we have lodging covered, but need to find ways to save on airfare. We have a Disney Chase Visa, and a Spirit Airlines card. My wife just applied for a new Spirit Card this last trip to get some bonus miles (unfortunate that we cannot transfer points to a spouse). I'm looking at the CSP/CSR/Freedom cards and your discussion on those. But, neither Delta or Spirit have direct transfer from UR. I also considered getting the Delta Amex card for the free checked bags. Too confusing. Wish Southwest had nonstop flights for us.

You'd have to transfer the Chase Ultimate Reward points to Korean Air in order to book a partner flight on Delta. Korean Air is part of the Sky team alliance and Delta is also part of the Sky team alliance. I transfer Chase UR points to British Airways in order to fly on American Airlines since they are partners but American Airlines is not available as a direct transfer with Chase UR points.

Other options to earn miles to fly Delta would be the Delta co-brand Amex credit cards. There is also the American Express Everyday Preferred card which earn Membership Rewards which transfer directly to Delta. The card earns 3x at supermarkets and 2x for gas. If you use the card 30 times in a billing cycle you will also get a 50% bonus on your points. There is a no fee version as well. Then there is the Starwood Preferred Guest card and the points transfer to over 30 airlines including Delta. For every 20K miles you transfer you get a 5K bonus.

Delta and Spirit both have shopping portals and dining programs. So that is another way to pick up extra miles.

 

[WDWRook]

Thanks for the tip. Hoping to get free airfare for an Oct 2017 WDW trip. We will have around 20,000 spirit miles, but Spirit doesn't offer many Oct low miles fares this year, and none for a Sun-Fri trip, so I'm no counting on them to do so next year. If I transfer to Korean Air, I can book direct on Delta at the same point rates? Can I combined that strategy with skymiles? If I also had the Skymiles visa, but use UR via Korean Air, would I still get the free ch caked bags as a Delta Amex holder?