I love credit cards so much!

[calypso726]

Woah- thank you for your rundown!! Have you thought about annually applying for a new Citi AA so you don't have eat the AF, or just not worth the hassle for your goals?

I keep the one and then apply for a new one or two every couple of years that gets cancelled.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I keep the one and then apply for a new one or two every couple of years that gets cancelled.

(BTW, your list is freaking impressive. I absolutely love it!)

 

[wendow]

Idk about coding as travel but they are LMT is the cheapest. Log-in to see Disneyland on LMT.

ETA: an hour? omg so frustrating! Yes, they hide them behind their "paywall" (c'mon everyone gets a free membership somewhere so that's not much of a paywall, until you can't find Disneyland tickets and then the darn thing seems impenetrable!)

I log in and still cannot find them. I can find a page where they want you to enter dates but nothing comes up no matter what dates I put in...Ya, an hour!! I'm frustrated and completely willing to pay more at this point Just don't know who else codes as travel (like ares travel).

 

[wendow]

(BTW, your list is freaking impressive. I absolutely love it!)

Agree! My 'arsenal' of cards looks so incredibly dinky compared to @calypso726

 

[Lain]

I log in and still cannot find them. I can find a page where they want you to enter dates but nothing comes up no matter what dates I put in...Ya, an hour!! I'm frustrated and completely willing to pay more at this point Just don't know who else codes as travel (like ares travel).

Log in. Then search under the Activities tab with Anaheim, CA and your dates inputted.

 

[wendow]

Log in. Then search under the Activities tab with Anaheim, CA and your dates inputted.

Yay! That worked!! I have no idea why they were not coming up earlier. Ok, if my dates are not 100% set, is that ok? We are probably going Memorial Day weekend but may have to move the trip to July.

 

[mefordis]

calypso - thank you so much for sharing the lengthy explanation of your cards! I am using at a guideline for myself, though It makes me even more convinced I need to get that Marriott card.

Does it affect your credit score to close accounts after 1-2 years of having opened them?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Yay! That worked!! I have no idea why they were not coming up earlier. Ok, if my dates are not 100% set, is that ok? We are probably going Memorial Day weekend but may have to move the trip to July.

All the tix expire same time (12/2018 right now I think, but double check) What it seems, is that if your dates are soon, they send them quicker.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

arclay AA - every year before my AF is due they have sent me an offer to earn 15,000 bonus AA miles for spending $500 a month for 3 months. If they do that again this year. I will keep the card another year. If not, I'll cancel it.

Citi AA Plat - 10% back on redeemed miles from award tickets up to 100,000 miles. I blow through 100,000 AA miles or more every year so getting 10,000 back is worth the fee to me.

I also have both these cards. Have had the AA card a couple years, planning on canceling soon so I can reapply. Barclay AA is recent for me, I'll keep it a bit. Both cards offer the same benefits, same 10% miles back. Is there a reason to keep both?

 

[Lain]

Yay! That worked!! I have no idea why they were not coming up earlier. Ok, if my dates are not 100% set, is that ok? We are probably going Memorial Day weekend but may have to move the trip to July.

I think it’s fine. They’ll email you an eticket PDF that you can print out and take straight to the turnstiles. Our ticket didn’t have the trip dates that I inputted printed on it, but it did have an expiration date (our trip was over Thanksgiving, the ticket had to be used by the end of this year). I’d be a little nervous booking too far in advance of our trip only because of the expiration date on the tickets. Although, I suppose if you book tickets for May, they should be good until the end of 2018; almost certainly still good for July 2018.

 

[calypso726]

So I'll share an opposing viewpoint to Calypso. (Not that she's wrong at all, just different).

I do not pay any annual fees the second year. I've downgraded or cancelled 22 cards since I started hitting this heavily in Sept 2014 and never paid the annual fee the 2nd year around. I haven't been without a minimum spend to work on for over 3 years though so all my spend goes to the next bonus. I wait 11-13 months depending on the issuer and rules and I cancel or downgrade. Even the cards that give you something on the Anniversary haven't survived for me because what they offer isn't worth it to me. Just an alternative viewpoint, haha!

That is what I love about this thread. We all have different viewpoints, priorities and reasons for travel hacking the way we do and we all share. I think that helps others figure out what will work best for them. If memory serves, you tend value cash back more than I do, like the Schwab being able to get you 1.25 in cash on your MR points. Which would be pretty awesome if I was a cash back sorta girl. I rarely pick up a card with the goal of cash back. I tend to value what the points can do for me that exceeds the cash value of said points. I also value experiences. The more, the better. So something like the IHG card that gives me the free anniversary night will play right into that for me. I am not going to let the benefit go unused. Therefore, I am forced to find an experience that allows me to use that benefit. For some, that might seem a hassle and stressful. For me, it plays into my sense of adventure and fun. I would not be going to DC hoping to see the cherry blossoms next year if I did not have that card.

(BTW, your list is freaking impressive. I absolutely love it!)

Thank you. Those are just the AF cards since @mefordis asked about sharing a list of AF cards. I have some no fee cards that are critical to my points earning like the Chase Freedom, CFU and Amex Everyday card.

Agree! My 'arsenal' of cards looks so incredibly dinky compared to @calypso726

If I just look at the AFs and add, I wind up going and wondering if I've lost my mind. Then I stop and think back over the previous year's trips and experiences and remember I couldn't have done those without these cards and their AFs. So then I'm thinking, it's all good

calypso - thank you so much for sharing the lengthy explanation of your cards! I am using at a guideline for myself, though It makes me even more convinced I need to get that Marriott card.

Does it affect your credit score to close accounts after 1-2 years of having opened them?

You're welcome. DH and I each have our own Marriott cards, IHG cards and Club Carlson cards. This allows us 2 nights since with both have the card. We also make sure that our card anniversary is in the same month so we can use them at the same time.

Not really. Mine stays in the 800s. It fluctuates from 805 - 845 at any given moment.

 

[calypso726]

I also have both these cards. Have had the AA card a couple years, planning on canceling soon so I can reapply. Barclay AA is recent for me, I'll keep it a bit. Both cards offer the same benefits, same 10% miles back. Is there a reason to keep both?

No. The only reason I've kept the Barclay one is because every year right before my card anniversary and AF hit they send me a bonus offer to earn 15,000 AA miles for spending $500 per month for 3 consecutive months. If I get the offer again this year, I'll keep it another year. If I don't, it's on the chopping block and I'll apply for a new one in about a year. I did just pick up the Barclay AA business card. I couldn't pass up 40,000 AA miles after first purchase and the AF waived the first year.

 

[amalone1013]

You need to check the fees though, and what cards they accept. My property management company accepts Visa and MasterCard, but not Amex; and they charge a 2.9% fee, which is more than Plastiq’s 2.5%.

I'll definitely check into that before I'd do anything. This was pretty early searching. Never would have thought about it a year ago, but now I'll probably ask the places we're considering just out of curiosity.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

No. The only reason I've kept the Barclay one is because every year right before my card anniversary and AF hit they send me a bonus offer to earn 15,000 AA miles for spending $500 per month for 3 consecutive months. If I get the offer again this year, I'll keep it another year. If I don't, it's on the chopping block and I'll apply for a new one in about a year. I did just pick up the Barclay AA business card. I couldn't pass up 40,000 AA miles after first purchase and the AF waived the first year.

I picked the Barclay AA personal when it was 1 purchase + AF for 65k miles which I thought was a good deal.
Will cancel Citi AA soon and hope for an offer similar to your for Barclay. Need to get some cashback cards first to help with cruise cost. Debating Barclay Arrival Plus vs BoA Premium rewards. I think BoA is higher now but I don't know much about it

 

[Lain]

I think it’s fine. They’ll email you an eticket PDF that you can print out and take straight to the turnstiles. Our ticket didn’t have the trip dates that I inputted printed on it, but it did have an expiration date (our trip was over Thanksgiving, the ticket had to be used by the end of this year). I’d be a little nervous booking too far in advance of our trip only because of the expiration date on the tickets. Although, I suppose if you book tickets for May, they should be good until the end of 2018; almost certainly still good for July 2018.

@wendow, I just checked the ticket I purchased last month and it actually would’ve expired on January 13, 2019 or 13 days after first use, whichever occurs first. Somehow I remembered differently.

 

[calypso726]

I picked the Barclay AA personal when it was 1 purchase + AF for 65k miles which I thought was a good deal.
Will cancel Citi AA soon and hope for an offer similar to your for Barclay. Need to get some cashback cards first to help with cruise cost. Debating Barclay Arrival Plus vs BoA Premium rewards. I think BoA is higher now but I don't know much about it

I picked up the BoA Premium a couple of months ago. Between taking my family to Victoria and Albert's for my brother and niece's birthdays and a few other purchases it was easy to make the spend and get $500 off dinner. The points showed up to be redeemed right away. I was able to transfer them to my BoA checking account and use that money to pay my credit card bill. I could have also taken them as a statement credit but I liked the trasnfer to checking account better.

 

[gottalovepluto]

For those planning Amex to Schwab, there was a recent report of someone's brokerage and checking account being shut down 2 months after opening. This is rare, haven't seen DPs on this before but something to be aware of. OP says Schwab stated their Equifax was the reason (of note: mid-high 700s they say and "clean" also maybe of note they had no investments). I mention it here because in the comments it is also mentioned Schwab is Chex sensitive and shut another person's account down due to their Chex Report. I believe this is an important data point for anyone else who bank bonuses hard (I do and know some here are at least dipping their toes in) to keep in the back of our heads. https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/7ieb3a/comment/dqye01a

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

If memory serves, you tend value cash back more than I do, like the Schwab being able to get you 1.25 in cash on your MR points. Which would be pretty awesome if I was a cash back sorta girl. I rarely pick up a card with the goal of cash back. I tend to value what the points can do for me that exceeds the cash value of said points. I also value experiences.

Interestingly enough I do this for travel as well. BUT I ended up with $10,000 worth of Southwest points and an estimated $12,000 worth of various hotel points so I had to shift focus because even with our usual 4 vacations a year, it was going to take us 4-5 years to use them all up LOL! So I decided to refocus on cash for a little while to accelerate the early retirement plan.

 

[calypso726]

Interestingly enough I do this for travel as well. BUT I ended up with $10,000 worth of Southwest points and an estimated $12,000 worth of various hotel points so I had to shift focus because even with our usual 4 vacations a year, it was going to take us 4-5 years to use them all up LOL! So I decided to refocus on cash for a little while to accelerate the early retirement plan.

Whoa! That's a nice haul!!! I'm always focused on the points and miles side of things since I feel we go through them at a very fast clip and I want to replenish them. Mostly due to the fact we exclusively redeem for first and/or business. Shorter flights in economy we will pay for OOP with the Amex Plat. Right now we are sitting at a little over 3.9 million points and miles across airlines, hotels and variable points and should have another 140k coming in soon between the new Schwab and AA biz cards. I feel like if I can keep a good stash across a number of programs then I have more options. When planning 2 years out things can change unexpectedly, like airline program devaluations, limited or no availability of saver awards and I want to be able to go in another direction if I need to.

I am so looking forward to early retirement too. Then I won't have to plan two years out and can be flexible. Every time one of the bloggers announces a mistake fare, or fare war among airlines I groan over thew fact that we can't take advantage of it. It will be nice to be able to take off on a whim down the road.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Whoa! That's a nice haul!!! I'm always focused on the points and miles side of things since I feel we go through them at a very fast clip and I want to replenish them. Mostly due to the fact we exclusively redeem for first and/or business. Shorter flights in economy we will pay for OOP with the Amex Plat. Right now we are sitting at a little over 3.9 million points and miles across airlines, hotels and variable points and should have another 140k coming in soon between the new Schwab and AA biz cards. I feel like if I can keep a good stash across a number of programs then I have more options. When planning 2 years out things can change unexpectedly, like airline program devaluations, limited or no availability of saver awards and I want to be able to go in another direction if I need to.

I am so looking forward to early retirement too. Then I won't have to plan two years out and can be flexible. Every time one of the bloggers announces a mistake fare, or fare war among airlines I groan over thew fact that we can't take advantage of it. It will be nice to be able to take off on a whim down the road.

Devaluations scare me too especially when sitting on a huge stash. We ended up concentrated in Southwest and Marriott because it was just so easy to earn those points and those were the programs I used when I traveled for business. We almost have a million Marriott points...

Another strange thing I'll point out for some of the folks here is we consider those points part of our Emergency Fund. If we needed to I could cash out to Target gift cards (at about 50-60% of the value) and we could support our groceries and necessity items (or sell online and actually get cash). I don't recommend actually redeeming in that manner but when people are planning what points to concentrate on it's not a bad idea to understand what other options there are to convert and how those points could help in an emergency situation.