culdeus
Footballguy
There are so many options for groceries at 5x it almost makes sense to start doing some light MS activity and risk the shutdowns.
I'm still trickling through the chase cards on my P2, other than that things are pretty quiet.
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Do you hoard credit card points? (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter fantasycurse42
- Start date
I'm still trickling through the chase cards on my P2, other than that things are pretty quiet.
Instinctive
Footballguy
Anyone here ever use points at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun? Trying to decide if worth it. Or if one of their other MX properties (like the Andaz) and adding the all inclusive rate after doing points for the room is reasonable.
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culdeus
Footballguy
What are you trying to determine? Most of the time you should evaluate points/cost, you can use the more aggressive TPG values as a guide.
There are reasons where you would take a crappier redemption, but I'm not clear what your plan is.
Instinctive
Footballguy
My plan is mostly "is the place nice, or would you rather save the points and just pay for a different resort?" Will always have plenty of chances for good point value redemption. And if we ever get back to normal, my generation is super easy as well.
culdeus
Footballguy
I mean if you are dead set on doing a redemption, I'd probably look to travel review sites or the threads on travel.
My POV is there is a floor at which a redemption does not make sense as far as CPP goes and this is independent of how well reviewed or nice the hotel is. At some point you just pay cash, and use the cash to earn more bonuses, or more of that chains currency. Chains right now are being exceptionally generous on room spend, so you need to evaluate the earnings you are passing up vs. the spend you are doing. There are also point-back type programs on redemptions that need to be factored. Most of these will never happen again.
jm192
Footballguy
Chase is currently doing a 1.5x increase on point value for the Chase-Apple store. Hoping to get 2 iPhone 12's for my wife and I. 1333.33 in points. I've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000$ worth of Chase points. Was hoping to do a few trips this year, but thanks COVID. This will be a cool way to use the points instead.
Sam's Club Mastercard
5% on gas anywhere (on the first $6000 spent), 3% travel/dining, 1% everything else
Probably not the best in the world, but over the last four years I have averaged about $1000 cash back at the end of the year and paid not a dime in interest and no annual fee. I'll probably end up at $800 back this year as I haven't been using as much fuel for since working from home.
5% on gas anywhere (on the first $6000 spent), 3% travel/dining, 1% everything else
Probably not the best in the world, but over the last four years I have averaged about $1000 cash back at the end of the year and paid not a dime in interest and no annual fee. I'll probably end up at $800 back this year as I haven't been using as much fuel for since working from home.
culdeus
Footballguy
jm192
Footballguy
I'm not clear if you mean you used only 1444 chase points, or, $1444 worth of chase points (like, 144,400 UR points or 96,000 UR points at 1.5x or whatever)
jm192
Footballguy
Oh, sorry.
The phones were ~1,000 each. After taxes 2100$ something for 2.
With the 1.5x multiplyer it came out to 1440 something wroth of UR points--so yes to the 144,400.
The 1.5x for Apple stopped. But they keep throwing out other ways to redeem points.
culdeus
Footballguy
That's 1cpp still then. In point language. There's no reason to redeem UR below 1.5cpp. You could have bought 1500 in apple gift cards at grocers and gotten that done at 1.5cpp on pyb. Though I'm not 100% sure on the outright max per day/week redemption on pyb.
jm192
Footballguy
My understanding was I gave $1400 in points for 2100$ in phones. That seems like 1.5 cents per point to me, but whatever. I'm extremely happen to get the phones for 1400$ in cards.
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culdeus
Footballguy
The way this is being presented is very confusing. I'm reading it as 1cpp.
Here is DOC talking about it
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/redeem-chase-ultimate-rewards-for-apple-products-with-up-to-50-bonus-value-10-15-11-15/
I tried doing the modified double dip on the Chase Sapphire's when the Preferred had the increased bonus but got denied for the Reserve unfortunately. Was going to signup for the new BBVA card they had in December with 1K cashback for 4K spend but it was so popular they closed applications after only a few days.jm192 said:
The AMEX Platinum with 100K points for 5K spend over 6 months and 10x groceries for 6 months was too good for me to pass up as well. I'll be using one of the methods to use up the $200 travel credit and I can easily use the Saks & Uber credits plus now there is the new $30 Paypal credit for 6 months as well to offset the big annual fee.
We've almost finished off the $5K MSR for a United Biz card under my wife's name (was able to convince my in-laws to let us put a large vet bill on there to help hit the spend needed.) End of the year and the beginning are when I have lots of organic spending like Insurance, Xmas, etc. too. I was going to focus solely on cashback with COVID, but we found out my brother-in-law is going to be stationed in Hawaii once COVID dies down so trying to build up some frequent flyer miles too.
Next card I will likely be grabbing is a Chase Ink Unlimited (if they approve me) as I have property taxes coming up that need to be paid. Since they bumped the MSR needed on those, paying taxes is about the only way I can organically hit the 7,500 in 3 months needed. Between the Reddit churning page and websites like Dr of Credit I've dived in full bore and have saved quite a bit of money the past few months.
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
question for the savvy: do I apply for multiple cards the same day? I’m due for some new cards/bonuses.
Barclays sent my wife an offer, because she never uses her card. 3k spend for 60k points. Jumped on it. HI here we come.
Barclays sent my wife an offer, because she never uses her card. 3k spend for 60k points. Jumped on it. HI here we come.
gianmarco
Footballguy
I'm nowhere near as into the point churning as some of you here, but thought I'd point out a couple things I just learned about. We recently switched cell phone providers and was looking into a few things:
1). There are now cards that offer cell phone insurance if you pay your bill with the card. Here's a list of some of them. Most have a deductible of $25-50 and cover $600-800 per claim. The Chase Freedom Flex looks like a great option just for that as it's much cheaper than getting insurance on your own.
2) Unfortunately, Verizon doesn't let you use credit cards for autopay that gets you a significant monthly discount. However, there's a new Verizon Visa card that is solid to help lower the bill. It gets you 4% off groceries and gas, for example with no annual fee. If you are a Verizon customer, this is worth looking at. I'm going to drop my AMEX blue that I've used for groceries and use this now. The 2% difference is made up with no annual fee and there's no cap. The 2% off my Verizon bill is just extra.
If not, I would consider getting a card listed above just for phone insurance.
1). There are now cards that offer cell phone insurance if you pay your bill with the card. Here's a list of some of them. Most have a deductible of $25-50 and cover $600-800 per claim. The Chase Freedom Flex looks like a great option just for that as it's much cheaper than getting insurance on your own.
2) Unfortunately, Verizon doesn't let you use credit cards for autopay that gets you a significant monthly discount. However, there's a new Verizon Visa card that is solid to help lower the bill. It gets you 4% off groceries and gas, for example with no annual fee. If you are a Verizon customer, this is worth looking at. I'm going to drop my AMEX blue that I've used for groceries and use this now. The 2% difference is made up with no annual fee and there's no cap. The 2% off my Verizon bill is just extra.
If not, I would consider getting a card listed above just for phone insurance.
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Successfully approved for an Ink Unlimited, going to be paying a bunch of taxes to hit the 7,500 spend. Then can hopefully redeem using the Pay Yourself Back feature to increase the value of that $750 bonus.
Edit: Before I saw this thread and discovered churning never occurred to me to sign up for a business cc before.
Edit: Before I saw this thread and discovered churning never occurred to me to sign up for a business cc before.
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DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
it's free on the REI cc. only reason i have it. and i like the company.gianmarco said:
For the churners out there who love to get the bonuses on new cards... there's a way to keep making money on many of these cards long after the bonus dries up. It might not be much, $50-$100-$200 per year per card, but it's possible. If you have a lot of old cards still active, old but no/low balance cards with decent limits ($1000 to $10,000 to $25,000 limits) it can definitely be worth holding on to them instead of shutting them down as soon as you clear the bonus. Depends on what card/bank and what age/limit combo it is as to what it's worth and if it's doable.
I'm working out details if people are interested, and in a few months I might be able to share some more info.
I'm working out details if people are interested, and in a few months I might be able to share some more info.
jm192
Footballguy
Trying to generate a little buzz in this topic as it's one of my favorite hobbies haha.
Chase has a few cool things going on.
1. Bonus on Chase Apple portal. If you've got the CSR, your UR points are worth 1.5 cents/point on the Apple portal. CSP 1.25 cents per point.
2. Chase ink cards got a 5% category for Shipping/Home improvement up to 10,000$ until August 31st. If you've got any of the business cards, you can go to Chase.com/mybonus at enter your info to activate the bonus. Nice little win if you're planning home improvement projects this summer.
Chase has a few cool things going on.
1. Bonus on Chase Apple portal. If you've got the CSR, your UR points are worth 1.5 cents/point on the Apple portal. CSP 1.25 cents per point.
2. Chase ink cards got a 5% category for Shipping/Home improvement up to 10,000$ until August 31st. If you've got any of the business cards, you can go to Chase.com/mybonus at enter your info to activate the bonus. Nice little win if you're planning home improvement projects this summer.
Aerial Assault
Footballguy
I just read up on the thread and enjoyed it.
Anyone know if there is a way to accumulate miles on Delta other than a Sky Miles Amex? Amex went to total hell a few years ago as far as customer service and I haven't used them, or my Sky Miles card, ever since. It would be nice to rack up some miles for Delta flights, however.
Anyone know if there is a way to accumulate miles on Delta other than a Sky Miles Amex? Amex went to total hell a few years ago as far as customer service and I haven't used them, or my Sky Miles card, ever since. It would be nice to rack up some miles for Delta flights, however.
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culdeus
Footballguy
From the way I read the rules you can. I wish there was a way to know if you are eligible for the bonus before applying.
culdeus
Footballguy
Chase won't approve you for a card without being able to earn the bonus. The best approach is to PC your card to a freedom. Wait 30 days and apply.
whoknew
Footballguy
I have a bunch of Delta miles and they just seem kind of useless to me. Flights and upgrades are so miles expensive now. Have you had better luck?
Dez89
Footballguy
New to the thread. I'm not really interested in churning, just would like to have the best rewards on a consistent basis I suppose. I've had the Capital One Venture card for years, get 2x points/miles for every $1 spent on anything. It's 100 points/miles for a $1 redemption, so I guess that works out to 2% return (for a $59 annual fee). After reading through a thread some, I'm guessing that's not a really great deal.
Any recommendation on the best non-churning rewards program?
Any recommendation on the best non-churning rewards program?
Steeler
Footballguy
You asked about travel but this is what I do for groceries: Amex Blue Preferred offers 6% back at supermarkets (and some other benefits including 6% on streaming) for a max of $6000 then it drops to 1% (although it has a $95 annual fee). I also have a Discover Card and each quarter they offer 5% for different things and the first quarter usually includes supermarkets (max of $1500 spent for $75 cash back).
So in Jan, Feb, March we use the Discover Card for all groceries until we reach the limit, then switch to the Amex Blue Card for the rest of the year. Getting 5/6% back on something you are going to buy anyway is pretty nice.
culdeus
Footballguy
If you aren't interested in churning then tbh you should just be looking for straight cash back, to get the most out of churning you need to be acquiring a variety of currencies so you don't get bound up in any one specific one, as the cash back on straight spend on a typical reward card is usually less than straight cash.
To maximize cash back you will likely want to have category bonuses so the ideal setup is IMO a trio of:
Blue Cash Everyday (After one year as a Blue Cash Preffered)
Discover IT
Chase Freedom (After getting a CSR or CSP bonus on it)
culdeus
Footballguy
The landscape of churning is quite a bit harder now than it was at the beginning of the pandemic. More and more restrictions are in place, so you should be ready to get into a marathon, not a sprint.
Manufacturing spend is also much less easy now, promoting a lot of challenges to push forward with status matches and for other reasons.
It's still viable, but it's just not going to be tremendously lucrative until the credit profiles of the banks change.
Manufacturing spend is also much less easy now, promoting a lot of challenges to push forward with status matches and for other reasons.
It's still viable, but it's just not going to be tremendously lucrative until the credit profiles of the banks change.
ex-ghost
Footballguy
Very true. I'm spending on the AMEX platinum 10x groceries for the next month. Also took up AMEX on its offer of 10k MR/$2k spend for an additional few cards on my Gold (kids, wife). Building up MR points for trips in 2022. Also have upgraded/downgraded my Hilton cards over the years to build up a bank of points for stays here and there.
culdeus
Footballguy
You should nearly never take the AU offers from Amex. They result in a separate line item on their credit reports and increases the x/24 accounts. It is only useful in a situation where someone has poor credit and you need to manage it in that way. Even then that effect is fleeting and limited in application. 10kMR for the lack of flexibility is nowhere near worth it.
That is a problem because I don't want to lose my Sapphire card if I'm not going to get another. I already have both Freedom cards, so there's nothing to PC the Reserve to. I'd just have to close it.
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
My wife’s Barclays AA card, keeps sending her offers for bonuses. She never uses the card. We are in the middle of the 2nd bonus offer for her. 3rd including the original sign up offer extra 90k love it
I don’t use mine either, but they don’t send me these offers.
I don’t use mine either, but they don’t send me these offers.
-OZ-
Footballguy
These, plus Amazon 5% back, us Bank gives 5% on your choice (we chooseb utility bills), and there are many gas cards with 5% cash back.
culdeus
Footballguy
No, there is a non freedom chase card called the slate. I don't really understand the logic, are you trying to churn this or not?
ex-ghost
Footballguy
I wouldn't say churn. I want to get the 100k Sapphire Preferred bonus. So far in the past 4-5 years, I've gotten 100k for the Reserve, I think 60k for the Preferred, and 80k twice for the Ink Business Preferred. I've got about 500k Ultimate Rewards points left, having spent about 300k. My card profile is the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Business Cash, and an old Bank of America card that I just keep around because it has my longest credit history. My credit is around 800.
culdeus
Footballguy
ex-ghost
Footballguy
ex-ghost
Footballguy
From their website: Additional Card Members must be at least 13 years of age and never had a defaulted account with American Express.
culdeus
Footballguy
So if I PC my Reserve to the Slate, any idea how long I should wait before applying for the Preferred?
ex-ghost
Footballguy
culdeus
Footballguy
culdeus
Footballguy
ex-ghost
Footballguy
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