I love credit cards so much!

[mefordis]

@Lain and @calypso726 my head is spinning now! Thank you so much for your in depth replies!!

Okay, I'll try to give you more info and I must say those Delta lie flat beds sound great! I have two kids, 8 and 13 and I would love to do this long flight in style with them, plus my husband. I know there has got to be a way to do this with 1 1/2 years to plan. I would prefer flying out of EWR but I think flights are more expensive, so I'd do the extra drive to save a few thousand dollars to make the points doable for 1st class. I can fly anywhere in Hawaii. I will island hop on the small aircraft.

My most recent card was opened 4 months ago - the Bank of America card. I should not have opened that because I never use it and it's only cash back.

Here are my credit cards:

- AMEX ED Preferred - 32,850 miles (I use this card daily)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred- 13,593 (I use this daily)
- Chase United - I don't use this card very much anymore. I keep it just in case, Newark being a United hub (20 mins away from home). I have 19,131 UAL miles

Credit scores are high 700 for my husband, 812 for me. We don't own a business so I don't think I could take out a business card.

Cards I use rarely and wish I could close but my credit score would get dinged, I hear.

- Amex travel card - (it has a blue airplane on it) - this card was such a waste. I don't use it.
- Chase Disney - never use
- Bank of America Mastercard - Don't use.

 

[mefordis]

You could, but you'd almost certainly pay a fee. Like I've mentioned elsewhere, Plastiq will accept a credit card payment for any bill you owe, including a mortgage, and send a check out for you (scheduled monthly if you'd like) for a 2.5% fee. Plastiq occasionally runs promos with a lower fee. You can dissect whether the fee is "worth it" many different ways, but your mortgage is something you have to pay anyway, and usually in cash. Paying in cash doesn't get you anything. So is the credit card fee that Plastiq tacks on worth however many points you'll earn? Then you'll have to consider how much those points are worth for whatever you plan on using them for.

Thanks for the info! I think I'd pay about $80 in Plastiq fees for one mortgage payment (3245. Mortgage + taxes + insurance). That would gain me 3245 points per month.

3245 x 12 months = 38,940 points/miles if 1 to 1.
$80 x 12 months = $960 paid out each year. So, not worth it.

Thanks again for the info!

 

[Lain]

Thanks for the info! I think I'd pay about $80 in Plastiq fees for one mortgage payment (3245. Mortgage + taxes + insurance). That would gain me 3245 points per month.

3245 x 12 months = 38,940 points/miles if 1 to 1.
$80 x 12 months = $960 paid out each year. So, not worth it.

Thanks again for the info!

I'm kind of with you on this. I've used Plastiq to help meet minimum spend requirements for the signup bonuses -- so I know they're reputable -- but it's not worth it to me on a recurring basis.

 

[jujubiee4]

I had an event this week too with my Freedom. I just got it last September and have only used it for Costco through the end of the year and then gas stations this past quarter. A random $5 online unspecified charge showed up. I disputed it through the online system and then someone ended up calling me. I verified that I still had the physical card. She said that Chase is hacked a lot because the first numbers of their accounts are the same and then people randomly try other number combinations. I don't know if that is true or not, but seeing as I have five chase cards now and my husband has three it doesn't make me feel any better. That explanation seems a little strange! Chase handled it appropriately, but didn't seem too overly concerned. I guess it verifies my daily checking on the app of our accounts and what is going on.

Yeah they were so nonchalant about it like it happens all the time. Grrr. I dont really use those cards that much
but will still step up any charges. Sounds like it does happen frequently with Chase.

 

[jujubiee4]

Have you looked into flying Hawaiian Airlines from JFK to HNL?: https://thepointsguy.com/2017/02/hawaiian-a330-first-review/ This is my preferred airline to Hawaii.

As TPG mentioned in the article, Amex Membership Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest points transfer to HawaiianMiles.

You can get hefty signup bonuses for Amex credit and charge cards through incognito offers (see: https://www.uscreditcardguide.com/a-new-method-to-get-amex-best-offers-the-chinese-website-method/). Amex just raised their public offer on the Platinum card to 60k MR, but as you can see an incognito offer could get you 75k MR, or you could hold out in hopes of being targeted for or finding a link to a 100k MR offer. The Premier Rewards Gold could get you as much as another 50k MR. Then you can make your way down the list of Amex cards for their signup bonuses. With Amex, signup bonuses are almost always once per lifetime, so pick your signup offers very carefully and watch those minimum spend requirements. Both the Platinum and PRG card come with hefty annual fees, but you can offset some of that with airline fee credits. The Platinum card offers $200 and the PRG offers $100 in statement credits each calendar year for incidental fees incurred with your select airline. Choose Hawaiian because you can buy $100 Hawaiian Airlines gift certificates to trigger the fee credit (buy them $100 per transaction; anything more won't qualify), which you can use towards your flights. Unfortunately, Hawaiian accepts only 4 gift certificates per booking.

Amex MR points typically transfer to HawaiianMiles at 1:1, plus a fee, but it seems about once a year, Amex offers a transfer bonus of 25%. So if you can rack up those MR points and hold out for the transfer bonus, you can transfer your MR to HawaiianMiles at 1:1.25 (see, e.g., https://thepointsguy.com/2016/06/membership-rewards-to-hawaiian-25-percent-bonus/)

And currently, Amex is offering the SPG personal credit card for 35k SPG (highest offer) until April 5 (see: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/card/starwood-preferred-guest/).

If you decide to fly Hawaiian, you should definitely get the Barclaycard Hawaiian Airlines MasterCard. You can get as much as 50k HawaiianMiles for a relatively low $1,000/90 days minimum spend. The standard offer is 35k HawaiianMiles, but you can make a dummy booking on the Hawaiian Airlines website to get the 50k offer (see: http://milecards.com/1588428286/50000-mile-hawaiian-bonus-mastercard/). I also received a targeted mailer for the 50k HawaiianMiles bonus from Barclaycard recently, probably because I purchased Hawaiian Airlines gift certificates. Other benefits include a one-time 50% off a companion discount for roundtrip coach travel between the Mainland and Hawaii and a $100 discount off a companion roundtrip coach ticket every anniversary, and a complimentary checked bag for the cardholder on tickets purchased with this card.

The real benefit, I think, of having the Hawaiian Airlines MasterCard is the card gets linked to your HawaiianMiles account and anyone can then transfer miles to the cardholder's account. This makes pooling HawaiianMiles from several people very easy! So if you have family who are flying Hawaiian and earning miles, or who are also signing up for credit card bonuses, they can all transfer those points to you towards this special trip.

I may be missing some details, but this is about as best I can do right now at 7 on a weekend morning. If you have any questions, post away. Good luck!

Do you have the Hawaiian Card? We are going to Hawaii next year and im trying to plan how to get there
without paying I don't want to use my UR points. Have about 70k in membership rewards, This will be
from Lax or San Diego to HNL or Maui. Should i just do the transfer to british avios for the 25k miles each
rountrip. My problem is I really only want to fly Hawaiian or Virgin if possible. That 50k from the Hawaiian
card that is good for one round trip right? I hesitate opening it because after that it would be useless for me.
I wonder how soon you could use the companion ticket...that would help.

Any suggestions? thanks

 

[jujubiee4]

@mefordis As a pp mentioned Alaska and Virgin America will be merging and I have read that the VA planes will be changed and the first class seats will not be as nice as they are now. Nonetheless if you want to use you UR and MR points for Alaska Air then you'd transfer to BA as they are partners and UR and MR both transfer to BA. The rate with MR is 1.25:1 so if you see a a transfer bonus for MR-BA then go for it. We did this when there was a 40% transfer bonus and came out ahead on MR:BA. You'd search on Alaska's website for lowest award space which means partner award space. You'd have to call BA to book.

You can also use BA to book on American Airlines as they are also partners. You'd search American for saver award space and call BA to book.

Another option is to transfer UR to Korean to fly Delta and MR to Delta as well. The booking process requires some hurdles and you'd have to find low level Delta awards which isn't always easy.

I did a quick search on Delta for flights this July from JFK-OGG and found first class lie flat seats in the $2,449 range. If you stick to booking the easy way straight on Delta then you'd be using 200K miles anyhow for each flight but your flights would cost less than $4500 each. So you'd need 400K MR to transfer to Delta and you'd use your UR points to pay for one of the flights. Pick up a CSR so your UR points are worth 1.5 instead of 1.25, make the bonus so you have an additional 50K UR points plus the $300 travel credit. Paying with UR points for your Delta flight at $2449 would cost you just over 163,000 UR points. If you don't have that many points pay with what you have and the remainder with the CSR which will trigger your $300 travel credit. Get the CSR first if you are not over 5/24. Then pick up a few more MR cards with a high bonus. In your situation and trying to get 4 people up front, and not much time to do it (summer 2018), I'd forgo the headache of UR to Korean and I'd go straight via Delta using UR to pay for one or more tickets and MR transfer to Delta to book award flights. If you let the thread know how many UR and MR you currently have, how many new credit cards and AU accounts you've opened in the last 24 months and whether or not you are comfortable applying for a business card we'd probably be able to come up with a god strategy for you.

How often do you the MR bonus offers? I Have been watching a few months and haven't seen any.
Are they targeted

 

[jujubiee4]

This is really good also for Disney with miles/points.

https://www.mousehacking.com/


**hope it is ok to put*

 

[AmyAnne]

I think I might have messed up the spending for the bonus for the Chase United card. I did most of the minimum spend when I first got the card (which was early January) but had about $600 left. March was super-busy and I just realized that the April statement is closing today. I just prepaid $650 on our gas/electric bill but obviously that won't post today. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens with the bonus but kicking myself for not getting that done sooner . . .

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I think I might have messed up the spending for the bonus for the Chase United card. I did most of the minimum spend when I first got the card (which was early January) but had about $600 left. March was super-busy and I just realized that the April statement is closing today. I just prepaid $650 on our gas/electric bill but obviously that won't post today. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens with the bonus but kicking myself for not getting that done sooner . . .

your time to meet the minimum spend has nothing to do with statement cycle. It is 90 days from the date your card was approved (per their wording) and in practice often 100-110 days from your approval date. If you want to know the actual day you have to meet the spend by I'd just call and ask.

 

[peel]

DH was instantly approved for SPG last night. He was offended that they only gave him a 5K limit after the insane limits Chase keeps extending to us both.
I wish I could get my own but without MSing we wouldn't be able to meet both minimum spends simultaneously, and I want him to go for one of the Inks in the next couple of months before Amex reports the SPG.

 

[wendow]

I wish I could get my own but without MSing we wouldn't be able to meet both minimum spends simultaneously, and I want him to go for one of the Inks in the next couple of months before Amex reports the SPG.

This is us too. We cannot do two min spends at the same time, and it really even takes us close to the full 3 mos to get our spend done as we do no MS'ing at all. I feel like it is taking us forever to churn cards.

The SPG is our next card too. WHat do mean that it takes Amex a couple of months to report? I am eyeing the Ink+ also.

 

[peel]

This is us too. We cannot do two min spends at the same time, and it really even takes us close to the full 3 mos to get our spend done as we do no MS'ing at all. I feel like it is taking us forever to churn cards.

The SPG is our next card too. WHat do mean that it takes Amex a couple of months to report? I am eyeing the Ink+ also.

There is some lag time between getting an Amex approval and having it show up on your credit report. The SPG card put DH at 5/24, but I'm hoping that he can pick up one of the Inks before Amex reports SPG because until then Chase will still see him as 4/24.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I think I might have messed up the spending for the bonus for the Chase United card. I did most of the minimum spend when I first got the card (which was early January) but had about $600 left. March was super-busy and I just realized that the April statement is closing today. I just prepaid $650 on our gas/electric bill but obviously that won't post today. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens with the bonus but kicking myself for not getting that done sooner . . .

I sent a SM and Chase told me the exact date I had until to reach my minimum spend. There may be hope yet because they tack on an extra week or two for you to get the card. They messaged me back within 24 hours when I inquired for my CSR. (I got it end of Jan, had 3 months to meet the min spend, but I found out I technically had until mid May to hit the spend.)

 

[calypso726]

@Lain and @calypso726 my head is spinning now! Thank you so much for your in depth replies!!

Okay, I'll try to give you more info and I must say those Delta lie flat beds sound great! I have two kids, 8 and 13 and I would love to do this long flight in style with them, plus my husband. I know there has got to be a way to do this with 1 1/2 years to plan. I would prefer flying out of EWR but I think flights are more expensive, so I'd do the extra drive to save a few thousand dollars to make the points doable for 1st class. I can fly anywhere in Hawaii. I will island hop on the small aircraft.

My most recent card was opened 4 months ago - the Bank of America card. I should not have opened that because I never use it and it's only cash back.

Here are my credit cards:

- AMEX ED Preferred - 32,850 miles (I use this card daily)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred- 13,593 (I use this daily)
- Chase United - I don't use this card very much anymore. I keep it just in case, Newark being a United hub (20 mins away from home). I have 19,131 UAL miles

Credit scores are high 700 for my husband, 812 for me. We don't own a business so I don't think I could take out a business card.

Cards I use rarely and wish I could close but my credit score would get dinged, I hear.

- Amex travel card - (it has a blue airplane on it) - this card was such a waste. I don't use it.
- Chase Disney - never use
- Bank of America Mastercard - Don't use.

Oh boy, so this would need to be an aggressive strategy. Of the cards you listed, how many were obtained in the last 24 months?

 

[calypso726]

How often do you the MR bonus offers? I Have been watching a few months and haven't seen any.
Are they targeted

I see bonus transfers pop up a few times a year. No, not targeted. The bloggers will write about when one pops up so I keep an eye on it that way,

 

[mefordis]

Oh boy, so this would need to be an aggressive strategy. Of the cards you listed, how many were obtained in the last 24 months?

I believe two of them.

 

[BruinEd03]

I believe two of them.

Also,what's your monthly spend like? E.g., do you spend a lot on restaurants? travel? Do you have cable/cell phone bills? How much min. spend can you hit? E.g. can you hit $4000 in 3 months?

My guess is that you'll have to use a combination of sign-up bonuses. Keep in mind that you and your spouse each have the capability to have 5/24 (but keep in mind adding authorized user will count as one of the 5/24 for that person. I would look at www.doctorofcredit.com as they have a list of current sign-up bonuses, and annual fees.

Some chase cards to consider and what they are good for:

Personal:

Sapphire Reserve (50k signup bonus, $450 annual fee) - Travel and Restaurants (3x each) - downside is it's expensive, but you can also get $300 / year credit towards any travel cost. However, if you purchase your $9000 plane tickets on this, you will get 27,000 points. Additional charge to add authorized user (might not be worth it to do so for your case). $300 annual credit for travel.

Freedom (15k signup bonus, no annual fee) - A good staple to have given that it has 5x rotating categories ($1500 max spend/quarter). This quarter it will be on Groceries. Might be one that you and your spouse each have to make sure you max out.

Freedom Unlimited (15k signup bonus, no annual fee) - 1.5 points per spend on anything. Good for your everyday items.

Sapphire Preferred (50k signup bonus, $95 annual fee) - If one of you has the Sapphire Preferred already, the other spouse can still apply in that person's name. Otherwise, it is generally redundant to Sapphire Reserve (less earnings) and definitely redundant given that you already have one. If you do apply to this, then consider downgrading your current preferred to the Freedom or Freedom unlimited (given that the freedom/freedom unlimited has a relatively small signup bonus)

Other:

If there is a specific airline you know you want to fly in, you may also want to get a cc for that airline.

Business:

You can still get these cards if you have any business. (e.g., selling on eBay. What you put in the form is up to you. Again, you might want to review other websites)

Ink Cash (30k signup bonus, no annual fee) - From what I've heard, it's easy to get approved even if you have a nominal eBay business. This is good for 5x points on office supplies (great when you have to buy gift cards for gas), Internet, cable, phone bills.

Ink Preferred Business (80k signup bonus, $95 annual fee) - The real benefit is the signup bonus, but it is more difficult to get approved. 3x points on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, and on advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines. Also, it has worse points on most of the commonly used categories (e.g., Internet, cable, and phone services), but much better if you have social media or search engine spend. Also useful if you ship a lot of packages.

Recommendations for cards to obtain:

If you eat out a lot or travel a lot, then definitely get the Chase Sapphire Reserve at least once. I believe the breakeven point for it v. Sapphire Preferred is around $3000 - 4000 per year (but check doctor of credit for the breakdown).

I would also get the Chase Sapphire Preferred for the other spouse (and downgrade the other one to a freedom or freedom unlimited - this will not affect 5/24, but you won't get the signup bonus, and either keep it if you didn't apply for the CSR, or downgrade that one to a freedom/freedom unlimited, too). I would also get the Ink Cash.

Then I would also get a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited (whichever you did not downgrade to).

This should get you at least 50k + 30k +15k = 95k signup bonuses (Assuming one of CSR and CSP, and Ink Cash instead of Ink Preferred). More if you add CSR. It also increases the ability to earn points. However, you are still facing an uphill battle with 300k remaining. The maximum amount you would have to spend is $200,000 over that time period (1.5 points for Freedom Unlimited). However, if you are diligent on spending with CC's that maximize your earning potential, you can probably get away with $100,000 spend over that time period.

 

[calypso726]

I believe two of them.

Ok so you could get 2 or 3 of the Chase cards to beef up the UR points to help pay for one of the flights. In your shoes, I would do the following. Both you and your husband each apply for a CSR card after you each make the spend you will add 108,000 UR points to your existing balance. If you can't swing the $8000 in 3 months for both cards at once then you apply for one, make the spend get the bonus and then have your DH apply for his. Next, each of you apply for the Chase Freedom which is only a $1000 spend in 3 months for 15,000 each. However, the rotating 5x bonus categories will allow you to accumulate your points faster. This strategy will take care of paying for one of the flights. You'd have your DH transfer all his CSP and Freedom UR points into his CSR account and you'd do the same with yours. Then have him transfer all UR points from that account into your CSR account. Now they'd be worth 1.5 instead of 1.25. If you decide to keep one of the CSR cards instead canceling then product change the CSP to a Freedom Unlimited which give you 1.5 on all spending with no cap. If you're not going to keep the CSR long term then product change that one after a year to the CFU. Apply for the Chase cards before applying for anything else.

Getting the points to fly on Delta would require a few credit card sign up bonuses and using their shopping portal. Getting 400,000 won't be easy. It would take a few of the premium cards when they are offering a high bonus like the Platinum cards at 100,000 if are able to find that bonus offer and the SPG card is $5,000 in 6 months. It's do-able but will take a lot of spend 10,000 in 3 months on the plat cards. High annual fees that aren't waived the first year. The plat cards come with a $200 airline credit so you could get 2 $100 Delta gift cards and use that with the 2 $300 travel credits from the CSR and that would be $1,000 toward purchase of one ticket. If you were comfortable applying for a business card I'd say go for the Amex Plat biz card since it will give you 50% of your points back when you pay with points for first and business class. I'm not sure I'd even go this route simply due to the number of high fee cards that don't often offer a high enough bonus to make it worth it. I've gone after both the personal and business plat cards but only at 100,000 MR offer.

In the meantime use the Chase UR shopping portal when shopping online. If you decide to go after the Delta lie flat seats then use Delta's shopping portal. Register on the Delta sky miles dining network to earn some extra miles.

All options considered I'd say the easiest course is earning enough UR points with the new cc applications to transfer to BA and fly AA or AS. If you have your points in place a year out from travel then you may be able to find enough award space on saver miles with AA.

 

[Kbmas0n]

Is it likely my husband would be approved if he applied for a SW business, a SW personal AND an Ink Cash over the course of a few months? He owns his own business, and is 1/24 for CC. Excellent credit.

Also, how long do credit card offers usually stay good for? I'm afraid the SW business card will drop from 60k.

And sorry for all of the questions!

 

[mefordis]

Wow, thanks so much BruinED and Calypso! You detail exactly how to do it! I very much appreciate it. As for spending habits, we put the following on the cards each month on average:

Restaurants - $1000
Misc purchases - $1800
Gas - $225
Groceries (please don't judge!) - $1600
Clothing - $250
Verizon $300


There is probably more but that is the minimum.