I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

I'm back with more questions

1. I'd really like to get a Target Red Card but don't want it to count against the Chase 5/24 rule. What if I do a Red Card Debit card instead of credit? Does the debit card count against 5/24. I shop at Target a lot and the 5% off would be nice.

2. I have two Chase cards that I want to cancel this year. The first is my SW Premier card, my AF was just charged on 1/1. If I cancel before the end of the month will that be refunded? Is that frowned upon, should I just suck it up and pay the AF since I got the 6000 bonus points for this year? I would like to cancel it this year because I want to try for a CP in 2019 again. I also want to cancel my CSP card before it renews in April. I have no need for the card as I have a CSR, I opened it last April. Should I spread out the time between cancelling the SW card and the CSP?

I don't plan to have anymore card applications until 2019.

Your SW Premier has been opened over a year so no worries cancelling. AND they can't take back your bonus points nor will they really be worried about that so I'd cancel now and avoid paying the AF. Not that it really matters but I would wait to cancel your CSP until right before that AF posts, just to space them out. It doesn't really take any effort to do that and makes sense to me.

EDIT: I'm stupid - @Albort is right - don't cancel your CSP...product change it!! haha, sorry for bad advice, it's still early on a Sunday, lol.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I sure have enjoyed tweeting for 1,000 points each Sunday!!!

I wish I had jumped on that bandwagon earlier!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Any heard what Marriott will do now that football season is over?

I sure have enjoyed tweeting for 1,000 points each Sunday!!!

Confirmed via twitter that Marriott bonus points will not continue into playoffs. Bummer - but kinda what we all expected I think.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So whats the scoop on Marriott/SPG credit card changes for this year? DH and I are both at 4/24. We both have SPG Amex personal and business + we both have the Marriott personal card. I'm tempted to apply for Marriott Business for both of us just for the sign up bonus. I'm not a fan of my Marriott personal card simply because its difficult to find a use for the free night - not sure the $85 fee is justified past the first year, so we'll probably cancel that one.

The Hyatt card is also on my radar but not ready to pull the trigger yet.

Even though I'm under 5/24 for personal cards, I do have two Chase Business cards (Ink, SW) and DH has the Ink. Even though I'm under 5/24, Chase can certainly see my business cards if they want to check. I've always wondered about this . . .

Oh - and I want to cancel both DH's and my IHG cards and reapply later to get the sign-up bonus again and to align our anniversary dates.

So, in summary, I'm considering Marriott Business, IHG, Hyatt (maybe).

Trying to make my plan for 2018! Thoughts?

Everything with Marriott is somewhat speculative at this point. I don't know of a lot of DPs of people getting approved for 3 Chase business cards - so if you decide to go for it will be interesting to see if they approve you. I also agree on the $85 fee for a Cat1-5 night with the Marriott card, it just doesn't really fit our travel plans well so the times I've had that card I always cancel after the free night posts and avoid paying the AF. Obviously others travel strategy may work well with it but for me its a dud.

 

[calypso726]

So whats the scoop on Marriott/SPG credit card changes for this year? DH and I are both at 4/24. We both have SPG Amex personal and business + we both have the Marriott personal card. I'm tempted to apply for Marriott Business for both of us just for the sign up bonus. I'm not a fan of my Marriott personal card simply because its difficult to find a use for the free night - not sure the $85 fee is justified past the first year, so we'll probably cancel that one.

The Hyatt card is also on my radar but not ready to pull the trigger yet.

Even though I'm under 5/24 for personal cards, I do have two Chase Business cards (Ink, SW) and DH has the Ink. Even though I'm under 5/24, Chase can certainly see my business cards if they want to check. I've always wondered about this . . .

Oh - and I want to cancel both DH's and my IHG cards and reapply later to get the sign-up bonus again and to align our anniversary dates.

So, in summary, I'm considering Marriott Business, IHG, Hyatt (maybe).

Trying to make my plan for 2018! Thoughts?

Everything with Marriott is somewhat speculative at this point. I don't know of a lot of DPs of people getting approved for 3 Chase business cards - so if you decide to go for it will be interesting to see if they approve you. I also agree on the $85 fee for a Cat1-5 night with the Marriott card, it just doesn't really fit our travel plans well so the times I've had that card I always cancel after the free night posts and avoid paying the AF. Obviously others travel strategy may work well with it but for me its a dud.

Chiming in since DH and I each have the Marriott card and have always used the free anniversary nights easily. We have only ever used the free nights at one of the 3 Marriott Villages properties near WDW, which are all Disney good neighbor hotels and all are cat 4 or 5. The free nights always work well for us for last minute trips when there are no DVC rooms available or we just want to conserve on our points. We've never been blocked out. I will state that every other time I have looked for a cat 1-5 property for anything outside of WDW I have never found anything that works for us and the location we might be visiting. Our very frequent visits to WDW, availability of the cat 4 and 5 hotels near WDW and the fact that DH and I will forever be LOL/24 make the AF justifiable for us. Since this is a Disney message board I thought I'd point that out for those who could also make use of the card and free nights the way we do.

 

[Louie7080]

Just to reiterate - it's very important to know exactly which AMEX cards you opened (the names of each) and the dates you were approved for all 5 cards. That information may render the Chase "quadfecta" moot to you as you may not be eligible for any of them. Also without that information our advice will be based on some guesses and may not actually be your best course of action.

Thanks for the reply regarding the 5 cards I opened. Would you be able to tell me when I can start opening other Chase credit cards? Unfortunately I opened up 2 Gold Delta Skymiles cards - both have the same name but had different sign-up offers. The first was opened in Oct 2016 (cancelled it about a year later) and the second in Feb 2017. I opened up a Disney Visa in Nov 2016 (and switched it to the no fee version a year later - didn't apply, a person on the phone just did it in about 2 seconds), I opened up a Target Red Card on Oct 2016 and lastly an United MileagePlus Explorer card in Feb 2017. My husband doesn't like to open up cards for the rewards and he doesn't like to go to Disney so he doesn't really want to help out with this but I will try to get him to open up a SouthWest card. To make it possible for someone like me to get the 110,000 points to get the companion pass, I would also have to get the card. Do you think I could get the card given the 5 cards I opened up late in 2016 to early 2017? I kind of want to apply for the SPG card too - Amex would probably issue that to me, correct (if my credit is good enough)? But don't know if I should given that you can't get the 35,000 sign-up points right now. I think someone just went through debating getting that one, so I will try to search for that and see what was written on that. Thanks for any advice!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thanks for the reply regarding the 5 cards I opened. Would you be able to tell me when I can start opening other Chase credit cards? Unfortunately I opened up 2 Gold Delta Skymiles cards - both have the same name but had different sign-up offers. The first was opened in Oct 2016 (cancelled it about a year later) and the second in Feb 2017. I opened up a Disney Visa in Nov 2016 (and switched it to the no fee version a year later - didn't apply, a person on the phone just did it in about 2 seconds), I opened up a Target Red Card on Oct 2016 and lastly an United MileagePlus Explorer card in Feb 2017. My husband doesn't like to open up cards for the rewards and he doesn't like to go to Disney so he doesn't really want to help out with this but I will try to get him to open up a SouthWest card. To make it possible for someone like me to get the 110,000 points to get the companion pass, I would also have to get the card. Do you think I could get the card given the 5 cards I opened up late in 2016 to early 2017? I kind of want to apply for the SPG card too - Amex would probably issue that to me, correct (if my credit is good enough)? But don't know if I should given that you can't get the 35,000 sign-up points right now. I think someone just went through debating getting that one, so I will try to search for that and see what was written on that. Thanks for any advice!

So here's the list of cards I see for you:
10/16 - Delta Gold
10/16 - Target RedCard
11/16 - Disney Visa
2/17 - United MileagePlus
2/17 - Delta Gold

Are you sure that one of those Delta cards isn't a business card? It's possible you earned the bonus twice if the second didn't have the "AMEX lifetime language" but typically with AMEX if you've earned the bonus twice one was a business card. I only ask because if one is a business card that would slightly change what I'm about to say.

SO, You are technically 5/24 BUT you could potentially apply for 1 Chase Card and call into the application reconsideration department and try to get them to exclude your Target Redcard from the count since it is a store card. Datapoints (DPs) are mixed on whether you will actually be successful with that. IF you were successful with that 1 card AND it was a Chase business card you could then try for a 2nd business card doing the same thing, calling in to get them to disregard Target. I can't even venture a guess as to your odds of success for getting 1 or 2 Chase cards.

Otherwise your options are:

• Convince your husband to get involved - you have a world of options then!
• Wait until October - you'll be under 5/24 then. In the interim you could target AMEX business cards (SPG has a biz card, Delta does too if you didn't already get it - see earlier question). You're going to have 3 cards come off in Oct/Nov and you could potentially turn those 3 slots into as many 6 Chase cards by using various loopholes...I know that sounds crazy but it is possible. EDIT: I forget your other 2 cards would fall off in Feb 2019 so you actually could potentially get 8 Chase cards spread out over 18-24 months from Oct 2018 and beyond. Not that I'm necessarily recommending that but in Oct. 2018 you basically have EVERYTHING Available to you.
• Forget about Chase and move on to other card issuers. This is certainly a viable option depending on your goals. BUT you will say goodbye to a SW CP then.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Thanks for the reply regarding the 5 cards I opened. Would you be able to tell me when I can start opening other Chase credit cards? Unfortunately I opened up 2 Gold Delta Skymiles cards - both have the same name but had different sign-up offers. The first was opened in Oct 2016 (cancelled it about a year later) and the second in Feb 2017. I opened up a Disney Visa in Nov 2016 (and switched it to the no fee version a year later - didn't apply, a person on the phone just did it in about 2 seconds), I opened up a Target Red Card on Oct 2016 and lastly an United MileagePlus Explorer card in Feb 2017. My husband doesn't like to open up cards for the rewards and he doesn't like to go to Disney so he doesn't really want to help out with this but I will try to get him to open up a SouthWest card. To make it possible for someone like me to get the 110,000 points to get the companion pass, I would also have to get the card. Do you think I could get the card given the 5 cards I opened up late in 2016 to early 2017? I kind of want to apply for the SPG card too - Amex would probably issue that to me, correct (if my credit is good enough)? But don't know if I should given that you can't get the 35,000 sign-up points right now. I think someone just went through debating getting that one, so I will try to search for that and see what was written on that. Thanks for any advice!

It looks like 10/18 Delta Gold Skymiles falls off. Also 10/18 target falls off (if it is cc, not debit...debit wouldn't matter). Nov 2018 Disney visa falls off. Feb 2019 other delta falls off. Feb 2019 united falls off.


You'd need 2 diff SW cards (premier/plus/biz) to get the CP quickly.

Is your target a debit or credit. That is the most impt thing here. If it is debit, you are 4/24. Then you could double dip SW Prem/SW Plus. If it is a credit card, you are out of luck until 10/2018 with chase.

ETA: I see SFF and I were typing at the same time. ha! Looks like that target may matter either way. bummer.

 

[Alexle2007]

Thanks for the reply regarding the 5 cards I opened. Would you be able to tell me when I can start opening other Chase credit cards? Unfortunately I opened up 2 Gold Delta Skymiles cards - both have the same name but had different sign-up offers. The first was opened in Oct 2016 (cancelled it about a year later) and the second in Feb 2017. I opened up a Disney Visa in Nov 2016 (and switched it to the no fee version a year later - didn't apply, a person on the phone just did it in about 2 seconds), I opened up a Target Red Card on Oct 2016 and lastly an United MileagePlus Explorer card in Feb 2017. My husband doesn't like to open up cards for the rewards and he doesn't like to go to Disney so he doesn't really want to help out with this but I will try to get him to open up a SouthWest card. To make it possible for someone like me to get the 110,000 points to get the companion pass, I would also have to get the card. Do you think I could get the card given the 5 cards I opened up late in 2016 to early 2017? I kind of want to apply for the SPG card too - Amex would probably issue that to me, correct (if my credit is good enough)? But don't know if I should given that you can't get the 35,000 sign-up points right now. I think someone just went through debating getting that one, so I will try to search for that and see what was written on that. Thanks for any advice!

The Southwest Visas would need to be issued to one person since the 110k points need to be on a single RR account. So your DH (or you) would need to apply for Plus and Premier, Plus and Biz or the Premier and Biz for the bonuses. If you are going for CP, the earlier in the year you can get the 110k, the better since that will give you longer to use it. Since you get the year it is earned Plus one. So CP earned now would be good through 12/31/19.

 

[pillow]

Chiming in since DH and I each have the Marriott card and have always used the free anniversary nights easily. We have only ever used the free nights at one of the 3 Marriott Villages properties near WDW, which are all Disney good neighbor hotels and all are cat 4 or 5. The free nights always work well for us for last minute trips when there are no DVC rooms available or we just want to conserve on our points. We've never been blocked out. I will state that every other time I have looked for a cat 1-5 property for anything outside of WDW I have never found anything that works for us and the location we might be visiting. Our very frequent visits to WDW, availability of the cat 4 and 5 hotels near WDW and the fact that DH and I will forever be LOL/24 make the AF justifiable for us. Since this is a Disney message board I thought I'd point that out for those who could also make use of the card and free nights the way we do.

One other POSSIBLE justification for keeping the card would be the new "Chase offers." I've only used 2 of those (Lowe's and Whole Foods), and savings aren't enough to justify the $85 fee. Would be nice to see more of those offers in 2018. So few Marriotts in the 1-5 category. Makes it difficult.

 

[WVMomof3]

One other POSSIBLE justification for keeping the card would be the new "Chase offers." I've only used 2 of those (Lowe's and Whole Foods), and savings aren't enough to justify the $85 fee. Would be nice to see more of those offers in 2018. So few Marriotts in the 1-5 category. Makes it difficult.

Can you tell me where these Chase offers are? I looked last time people talked of it and I could not find anywhere. On the Chase site? On the Marriott site?

 

[pillow]

Can you tell me where these Chase offers are? I looked last time people talked of it and I could not find anywhere. On the Chase site? On the Marriott site?

https://chase.visaoffers.com/marriott/

 

[Louie7080]

The Southwest Visas would need to be issued to one person since the 110k points need to be on a single RR account. So your DH (or you) would need to apply for Plus and Premier, Plus and Biz or the Premier and Biz for the bonuses. If you are going for CP, the earlier in the year you can get the 110k, the better since that will give you longer to use it. Since you get the year it is earned Plus one. So CP earned now would be good through 12/31/19.

ok! I must be mixing up the things I've been reading about husbands and wives getting the same card. So I have to convince my husband to open up 2 SW cards. Thanks!

 

[SBWB48]

I 'think' you can keep your points from expiring by buying some little thing through the southwest shopping portal. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

You are correct. You can keep SW points active by either making a purchase through the portal OR through the RR dining program. Dining might be even easier as long as you remember to sign up and link your RR/credit card on the dining site.

 

[Sun_soakin]

Anyone willing to venture a guess at when the SW sign-up bonus will go up (50k or 60k)? I’m going to have DH open two cards this year and I’d like to get them soon, but should really hold off for a better bonus.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

ok! I must be mixing up the things I've been reading about husbands and wives getting the same card. So I have to convince my husband to open up 2 SW cards. Thanks!

Yes - the way to earn a Companion Pass is for ONE person to earn 110,000 Companion Pass eligible Rapid Rewards points in one calendar year. The easiest way to do this is for ONE person to sign up for 2 different SW credit cards. (And the hardest way is to do it flying, lol - that's a lot of "air-time").

 

[mefordis]

No Marriott Rewards NFL question on Twitter? The one time I remember to check?

Edit: "Thank you for participating in our NFL Trivia Sundays. 12/31/17 was our last day as we will not continue the promotion into the playoffs."

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Anyone willing to venture a guess at when the SW sign-up bonus will go up (50k or 60k)? I’m going to have DH open two cards this year and I’d like to get them soon, but should really hold off for a better bonus.

There are currently links out there for 50k for both Plus and Premier (just not referral links). Business is still at 60k.

Hard to say if personal will go back up to 60k and if so, when...hope this info helps.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

No Marriott Rewards NFL question on Twitter?

Nope - they have tweeted it ended last week with the regular season.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

It looks like 10/18 Delta Gold Skymiles falls off. Also 10/18 target falls off (if it is cc, not debit...debit wouldn't matter). Nov 2018 Disney visa falls off. Feb 2019 other delta falls off. Feb 2019 united falls off.


You'd need 2 diff SW cards (premier/plus/biz) to get the CP quickly.

Is your target a debit or credit. That is the most impt thing here. If it is debit, you are 4/24. Then you could double dip SW Prem/SW Plus. If it is a credit card, you are out of luck until 10/2018 with chase.

ETA: I see SFF and I were typing at the same time. ha! Looks like that target may matter either way. bummer.

I think the Target debit or credit is also a valid question. If one of the Delta is a Biz and the Target is a debit it changes the whole thing, lol!

@Louie7080 - the easiest way to get good info here would be to signup for Experians free monitoring service and look at your most recent report and tell us how many "new accounts" were opened between Feb '16 and now.