I want to add a card for end-of-year spending. Right now I have the Chase Sapphire Reserved, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, and Ink Business Cash. I downgraded to the Cash from the Ink Preferred and the Freedom from the CSP. I have a little over 300k UR points. I have one spot left on 5/24. I can probably generate $5k in normal spending in the next three months. My thinking is to get a card that would get me started with a transfer partner for UR that I could eventually use for a trip (I had been planning to take a Eurotrip with the girlfriend in August, but instead she broke up with me and used the UR points I had set her up with to go to Greece for a friend's wedding). So I'm looking a card for an airline or hotel that will create synergy with my UR points. I don't travel much right now, just once or twice a year for pleasure, so I don't have any favorite airline or hotel. I'm completely open to the best value in terms of bonus, transfer of UR and quality of rewards program to use the points. Any suggestions? I was thinking it might be better to focus on a hotel chain than airline so as not to limit myself to one set of flight schedules.
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Credit Cards (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter RC94
- Start date
Rodrigo Duterte
Footballguy
Posted this in the wrong thread last night, too much beer. Please just see the bolded if you don't want to go through my gripe about the joke of a mileage program that is Chase/United.
holy mother of god is united milage plus a nightmare. and obviously united sucks in general. spent no less than 4 hours trying to redeem some miles the other day, to no avail. call center disconnected me three different times, after long holds and I could not have been nicer to them. and no it was not bad cel coverage. the third one was a supervisor. that was a first. tried everything, and I mean everything, and in the end even chase bank was conferencing in their call center to try to fix things. their entire structure is set up to make as many roadblocks as possible so that their customers will finally throw in the towel and just spend the cash instead. if i listed it all here it would take me an hour.
if they spent the same amount of energy and time simply serving customers as opposed to screwing them i am sure it would pay off in the long run, but no, somewhere they decided to make it their mission to grind out every cent and see how much they could make off of every last customer for as much as possible. it's like a game with them. horrible business practices. unethical.
will never step foot or pay another buck to them no matter what.
my other cc had an alaska air miles program (i just never use it). so i called them right after this mess and i got more done in 5 minutes with a great rep in seattle, imagine that, than i got the entire morning with chase/united. rang once, and a human answered ready to help and able at that. and guess what? they put your milage plus number right on the card so i wasn't forced to have to do 14,053 backflips, emails and security checks to get someone to talk or try and help me. it was joyous. no holding or music or transferring, it was hard to believe.
anyway, i don't like doing research and ya'll know much more than i so I would love a rec on the best cc miles plan to enroll in. haven't read the thread btw.
i will stick with alaska air for now, but seeing this thread made me curious if there is another one to consider. what i care about most at this point is the best customer service, ease of use, without all the blackout dates, jumping through hoops, or other fine print bs. not worth it to me at an advanced age and so forth.
thanks.
holy mother of god is united milage plus a nightmare. and obviously united sucks in general. spent no less than 4 hours trying to redeem some miles the other day, to no avail. call center disconnected me three different times, after long holds and I could not have been nicer to them. and no it was not bad cel coverage. the third one was a supervisor. that was a first. tried everything, and I mean everything, and in the end even chase bank was conferencing in their call center to try to fix things. their entire structure is set up to make as many roadblocks as possible so that their customers will finally throw in the towel and just spend the cash instead. if i listed it all here it would take me an hour.
if they spent the same amount of energy and time simply serving customers as opposed to screwing them i am sure it would pay off in the long run, but no, somewhere they decided to make it their mission to grind out every cent and see how much they could make off of every last customer for as much as possible. it's like a game with them. horrible business practices. unethical.
will never step foot or pay another buck to them no matter what.
my other cc had an alaska air miles program (i just never use it). so i called them right after this mess and i got more done in 5 minutes with a great rep in seattle, imagine that, than i got the entire morning with chase/united. rang once, and a human answered ready to help and able at that. and guess what? they put your milage plus number right on the card so i wasn't forced to have to do 14,053 backflips, emails and security checks to get someone to talk or try and help me. it was joyous. no holding or music or transferring, it was hard to believe.
anyway, i don't like doing research and ya'll know much more than i so I would love a rec on the best cc miles plan to enroll in. haven't read the thread btw.
i will stick with alaska air for now, but seeing this thread made me curious if there is another one to consider. what i care about most at this point is the best customer service, ease of use, without all the blackout dates, jumping through hoops, or other fine print bs. not worth it to me at an advanced age and so forth.
thanks.
culdeus
Footballguy
Sand
Footballguy
Ultimate rewards - Chase reserve, preferred, freedom, etc. Between that portal and watching for travel deals you can score some great free flights, etc. Since it isn't tied to any airline it gives a bit more freedom.
Brony
Footballguy
Coming up on Day 60 on the plan above and will hit the MSR this week. Is the above timeline still hold for me? Should next card by Chase Ink Preferred, or do I go back to the AA train? (5K in 3 mos will be tight but doable with Christmas.) If I stay with AA Biz, do I need to get an EIN for 2nd card?
culdeus
Footballguy
CIP is an easy card to bank churn on. You can do a PNC account, get a bank bonus of $300 while getting 2k of spend knocked down. Chase also DGAF about buying and churning gift cards either, like at all.
With Citi they do care about bank bonuses only on biz cards so you have to watch out for that, but you can still do the gift card route in a pinch.
Just plan out the spending and don't get a card you can't meet the spend on. Worst case you can venmo the CIP a little bit which is pretty low fee all things considered.
It's important to keep that 95 day clock running on Citi, but the CIP is the single most important card to get for anyone at anytime right now. If you are truly uncomfortable with bank account funding or even light manufactured spending then push off the Citi.
Brony
Footballguy
If I can translate, I think you are saying that Chase Ink Preferred would be the one to get if I can either (1) spend $5K in 3 mos with natural spend or (2) spend around 3 to 4K and make up the rest with using the card for gift cards or new bank account funding.
If I do go forward with the Chase Ink, I assume I don't need to wait on the 95 days for the Citi, but I should reduce the credit limit on that before I apply for CIP. correct?
massraider
Footballguy
Chase is the best for a reason. Airline miles programs have a habit of screwing their members often, devaluing their points. With Chase, you can slide your points where it matters.
The absolute best deal is Southwest companion pass. Are you near a Southwest hub, and do you travel with the Mrs/significant other?
Random
Footballguy
culdeus
Footballguy
If you go in branch.
Edit to add this might take two trips if the branch doesn't have the right staffing level. You might need to make an appointment.
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Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
I am looking at paying about $3000 upfront for something if I could get a really good cc deal. Anyone with the best deals around for something like that? I guess that I would want a low interest rate or possibly transfer over to a 0% if the transfer fee were low.
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Redwes25
Footballguy
You want to keep a balance? I wouldn’t recommend that and would use other forms of credit if you have it (eg HELOC).
Some cards have initial 0 percent apr so could do those if no other options but I don’t pay attention to those. Would check website nerdwallet or doctorofcredit to see what is out there.
If no balance would get either chase sapphire preferred or sapphire reserved. You can only get one of them and I think fees are worth benefits but if the headline number on reserve scares you get the preferred.
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culdeus
Footballguy
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
I guess I don’t exactly WANT to keep a balance, but I would if it were at 0%. This is for a school trip where it looks like there is about a $150 discount for paying upfront vs paying them in installments.
culdeus
Footballguy
Answer for this in virtually all situations is Chase Ink Preferred. There is a $95 fee but this is offset by the massive bonus and you can manufacture the rest of the spend easily.
Redwes25
Footballguy
culdeus
Footballguy
Redwes25
Footballguy
Changes to Citi Prestige card coming with a nerf to the 4th night free benefit (link below). Wonder what signup bonus will be when they re-release it.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citi-prestige-changes-495-annual-fee-4th-night-free-restriction-5x-on-dining-air-more/
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citi-prestige-changes-495-annual-fee-4th-night-free-restriction-5x-on-dining-air-more/
culdeus
Footballguy
This change is really bad:
When redeeming points for air travel you’ll no longer receive a 25% bonus (meaning points are only worth 1¢ instead of 1.25¢ when redeeming through Citi’s travel portal)
So now you will be forced to use transfer partners to get a value redemption. Often times the Citi Travel portal has been a good place to dump TYP.
The nerf of the 4th night free is also a huge hit. There were those, like any perk, that used the #### out of it. Weekly sometimes. For personal biz travel, etc. etc.
I went ahead and did the Premier this year and I'm pretty pleased now that I went that way. For now at least that's still at 1.25x on their portal so I have a chance to use them before introducing that card to the sock drawer until I can PC it to something more useful.
I would write that card off as a daily driver at this point. Don't really see any reason to pull it out over CSR. They are clearly going for confusion on the dining, but 5TYP < 3UR and 5TYP < 4MR. Premier has that odd gas=travel loophole
Redwes25
Footballguy
Agree the 1.25 to 1.00 is a bad change as well. I have CitiGold and if it keeps the discounted fee for it I will keep it. If I am going up to 495 fee I think I am out.
Charlie Harper
Footballguy
Question on MSR. Double dipped the CSR/CSP.
When does the 3 months end....is it 3 months from the night I got approved for the cards or when I actually received/activated the cards?
When does the 3 months end....is it 3 months from the night I got approved for the cards or when I actually received/activated the cards?
culdeus
Footballguy
Approval date. Chase is normally 105 days to account for shipment and processing. I wouldn't chance it though given how easy it is to hit MSR on chase.
Charlie Harper
Footballguy
Thanks. Already halfway through 8k. I was just wondering how early I have to do Christmas shopping.
culdeus
Footballguy
culdeus
Footballguy
yes
I would sign up for credit karma rather than freeze/unfreeze if you have never actually had something go bad with your credit.
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
Is this still the case? Does it matter what store I buy the GC at or what type of GC?
Gotta finish out my spend on my Chase Southwest Business and just applied for my Chase Southwest Plus personal account. Could be tight if I don't manufacture spend.
Looking to lock up my 110,000 points for this year and get my CP for this year and next, but don't want to screw it up in the process.
culdeus
Footballguy
![[scooter]](/data/avatars/m/22/22287.jpg?1659477690){kind=avatar}
[scooter]
Footballguy
If it is an older card, then your best bet is to just leave it in a drawer and only use it for one purchase a year (to keep it active). If it has an annual fee, then call the card company to see if they can convert it to a feeless version of the same card.
If you cancel a newer card with a low credit limit, then your score might only drop 5 points for a few months.
RC94
Footballguy
Thanks! It's my oldest card, which is part of the problem because the rewards program is out of date and sucks at this point. I have another old card, but this would definitely change my average age of accounts. I doubt it will change the total available credit because I will be replacing it with a new card with a better rewards program and will be using the new card instead of the old one. I will check out creditkarma's credit simulator.
RC94
Footballguy
That's one thing I was considering (no annual fee). It has about $10k credit so I'm not sure if having that extra credit line will be bad over time, especially if I'm adding a new card with a similar credit line.
[scooter]
Footballguy
Leave the card in a drawer. Do not convert it into a different version of the card (it could affect the age of the account). If you want to get a different card with the same company, just sign up for it. They don't care.
boots11234
Footballguy
Best card for straight cash back? Saw the Citi 2% back. Any better than this one?
pollardsvision
Footballguy
Yes, that and the Fidelity Visa are the two main 2% for everything cards (the Fidelity might be a better option if you shop at Costco and don't care to get the Costco Visa).
I'm not a churner or bonus chaser, and like to keep it simple with straight cash back. So, I'm a big fan of the 2% card along with both the Discover It and Chase Freedom trio. With both of the 5% rotators, there's a good chance of a useful category each quarter. Right now, it's grocery stores (Discover) and gas stations/drug stores (Freedom). Next quarter, Discover is going to Gas stations, so hopefully the Freedom has a good one.
brun
Footballguy
I have a card like that. When I started using cards with better rewards, I just set up auto-payments with the old card for a couple of things (e.g. Netflix) as well as an auto-payment of the card monthly balance via the bank. The card stays active for credit rating purposes and I don't think about how or when to use it.
culdeus
Footballguy
Aaoa is calculated on a single credit line. The card act says they can't give you a new credit line without your specific approval.
Tecumseh
Footballguy
Discover is 1% cash back BUT they match all of your cash back for all spending for the first year, effectively making it 2%, plus they have revolving 5% categories. I have a referral code if you go this route.
Random
Footballguy
Whats left if you're over 5/24 and had most Amex cards already? We've picked off a few of the amex cards recently that came out without the lifetime language, but would like to get more AA miles for a trip to Japan next summer. Is it possible to still purchase AA mailer codes? No idea why, but I've never been sent a mailer.
culdeus
Footballguy
Random
Footballguy
You must be invited to visit this community.
Buy, sell, or share your codes, mailers, certificates, airline gift cards, etc. Please send a message to be accepted, MUST be an active participant from /r/churning or an established redditor (no new or alt accounts allowed). Please allow up to 72 hours for review of requests, usually same day review on weekdays.
I hate reddit. WTF is the secret handshake for getting anything out of that site? I'm not established there, so anything I post gets nuked.
Can I just pay you double for getting a code for me?
Buy, sell, or share your codes, mailers, certificates, airline gift cards, etc. Please send a message to be accepted, MUST be an active participant from /r/churning or an established redditor (no new or alt accounts allowed). Please allow up to 72 hours for review of requests, usually same day review on weekdays.
I hate reddit. WTF is the secret handshake for getting anything out of that site? I'm not established there, so anything I post gets nuked.
Can I just pay you double for getting a code for me?
culdeus
Footballguy
Random
Footballguy
ghostguy123
Footballguy
Any cards out there with 24+ months of 0% introductory rate? No annual fees. I dont particularly care about the rewards part, though obviously that would just be a bonus.
Basically just looking for the longest period of 0% interest with maybe a 10k limit or so.
Basically just looking for the longest period of 0% interest with maybe a 10k limit or so.
Johnny Bing
Footballguy
Citi Simplicity is 21 months 0% interest. I think that’s the best no interest offer on a credit card right now.
ghostguy123
Footballguy
21 months for balance transfers, and since there is a 5% balance transfer fee that is a hell no.
It's 12 months zero interest for purchases.
Tecumseh
Footballguy
Best I see is HSBC gold. 18 months at 0% on purchases and balance transfers. $4 balance transfer fee.
