Evening y'all! I applied last week to have the existing credit line on my one credit card raised and it came through today! I'm hoping this means that I will look like a sure thing when filling out Chase apps...I got sick last week and that 100K CIP bonus in-branch didn't come through, so I haven't applied for that yet. I may just be lazy and stick with an online app rather than try and chase down a BRM. Actually, bringing up the online vs. BRM choice got me into an argument with my husband today over dinner, which leads me to a kind of personal question for anyone who's willing to answer...
My husband is deathly afraid of me dipping a toe into this churning world. He thinks it's really risky and is scared it will ruin the great financial progress we've made this year eliminating the last of our IRS and car debt. He knows this is irrational, since I'm objectively pretty dang good with money, so he's willing to let me try it out. However, I don't feel great about having to hide the details from him to avoid stressing him out. Actually, advance planning of any kind stresses him out - he got antsy today when I asked him if he'd like to meet Kylo Ren whenever we take our next trip to DHS :/
Has anyone else been in a similar situation with a spouse who is reluctant to start churning? Did you just keep the details from them? Sacrifice award travel for the sake of your relationship? Kidnap them from work and say "we're going to Disneyworld on awards points right now whether you like it for not!!!" ?
Argh, help. *headdesk*
I can at least see where your husband is coming from and I can understand the concern. My husband had to come up from a bad credit position, and has been reluctant to embrace this as a hardcore hobby, even though we already use CC's to travel hack a bit but we're not in the same league as some folks here. I'm trying to get there though so we can have a super duper anniversary trip next year on our very less than super duper budget
I laugh when folks post on here about their SO's thinking it's illegal or credit ruining because the same exact words have come out of his mouth! Because the credit "rules" change over time it's hard to change your thinking if you don't keep up. I would tell him about the guy who opened 60 cards in the last 4 or 5 years (I think that's you
@SouthFayetteFan ) and he'd think he's lying because no one could get that many cards in a year with all the inquires, even in 2 player mode. Because decades ago if you had more than 3 ish inquries on your CR in a year you'd look like a risk because you're seeking so much credit so quickly. But times change, several card issuers aren't as inquiry sensitive because there's just so much credit being thrown out there and so many things that can give an inquiry they seem to have lightened up. Trying to get him to understand that has been trying to push a mule up a mountain.
But I see light at the end of the tunnel. For me I think it's been 2 things.
1. We've been discussing it for a few months now. I just keep involving him in my strategies and explaining how it fits in with our normal budget if we just change this to that, etc etc.
But I don't get into the nitty gritty details of how it happens, just what it would mean to him, like switching to a different credit card for gas and here's why. In fact, although I swear I mentioned it, I apparently never explained the 5/24 rule to him. So I mentioned it this weekend when we were discussing him getting the Marriott Biz card and it was like eye opening news, so as I explained it he's like "So you're just about already there then!" and I'm like "Yes, that's why we have to be strategic about cards that get opened and when" and wanting to add "like that AmEx card you randomly opened in Jan! WTH man?!" It's part of why I have left him out of opening cards so far, so as he sees what it's doing to me (or really for me) credit wise he'll warm up to it when it comes to his turn.
2. This is what I think really turned the tide for him. After doing the above for a few months I mentioned a Chase bank bonus. It required Direct Deposit to get the bonus which at this point in time is only doable on his paycheck. So I discussed it with him and $500 of free money that seemed simple got him on board. He opened the accounts, hit all the requirements, and the first part of the bonus hit within 3 or 4 weeks. So he got a tangible result to something pretty quickly. Until then, points and even cash back is kinda nebulous and doesn't have the same feel as cold hard cash hitting your bank account. Especially when I'm saving up stuff to use next year. Sometimes you need that immediacy to really make it feel worth it.
I just realized that pretty much after that he's been way more on board with this whole thing. To the point where he asked this weekend if he was supposed to be opening the Marriott Biz card to get more nights for our Marriott status we discussed the other week
From the guy that thought all this was illegal and only has a "business" right now, he was willing to open a business card if we needed it. And even though we were driving I whipped out my phone to check the offer to see if was still open just in case he said to go for it
Until now we've evaluated everything as a keeper card and haven't actually churned anything because if it wasn't worth keeping it wasn't worth applying for. I have seen the error of our ways and I'm trying to get hubby there too: that not everything has to be a keeper now. We've got about 20 year of credit history now, as long as we're not dropping our oldest cards, we can afford to be a little fast and loose with cancelling things. I think as long as 1 player understands all the ins and outs, player 2 can be slowly brought up to speed as it's appropriate.
I was on my phone so I'm hoping it was just mobile display issue because I didn't think that change was happening until later this year. Getting those 15 nights in 2019 isn't going to help me 
