re: Credit Card Rewards and Points Discussion

Delta Skymiles Amex has an offer until 7/6. Worth it for
$195 annual fee? Looks like it to me.

60k bonus miles and 10,000 MQMs after spending $2,000 in your first 3 months

$100 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase with your new Card within your first 3 months.

OMPANION CERTIFICATE
Enjoy a Domestic Main Cabin round-trip Companion Certificate each year upon renewal of your Card.*

EARN UP TO 13 MILES ON DELTA PURCHASES
Get up to 13 miles per dollar spent directly with Delta on your Card – that’s 2 miles with your Card and up to an additional 11 miles depending on your Medallion status.4

EARN 1 MILE
Receive one mile on every eligible dollar spent on purchases.

FIRST CHECKED BAG FREE

PRIORITY BOARDING

NO FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEES

DISCOUNTED DELTA SKY CLUB® ACCESS

quote:

---

Sure, go for it. I keep repeating myself but if you are going to go for a credit card, there are WAYY better options out there than Delta. If you don't have Chase Sap/Freedom/Ink/SW/Hyatt/IHG in that order, there is no reason for anyone to be going for any other cards quite honestly. Wish we could just sticky this somewhere.

---

I have Chase Freedom and Sapphire. The Delta one is attractive to me strictly for the miles bonus. I fly Delta a ton for work and already have status so many of the card's perks don't matter much. Looking closer, it looks like the Gold Delta Amex may suit me better. Bonus is 50,000 miles and annual fee is waived for year one so I could cancel after this year and essentially get 50,000 miles for free.

I'll look into the other cards you suggest as well.

Eh, Ii wouldn't call 50,000 free miles crap, but understand there may be better offers.

It looks like the 100k AMEX Plat offer ended (at least for now). The 50k AMEX gold looks like a better offer than the Delta Gold though.

quote:

---

If you don't have Chase Sap/Freedom/Ink/SW/Hyatt/IHG in that order, there is no reason for anyone to be going for any other cards quite honestly.

---

Ok, so I don't have any of these cards. (I have a handful of other cards I've accumulated over the years.) I'd like to get into the credit card points game, but I'm not quite sure where to start.

My family and I don't travel much except for the occasional vacation, and that's what I'd like to accumulate and use points on.

What would you do if you were in my situation? What cards would you get and in what order? Which ones would you hold on to and which would you cancel before the annual fee kicks in?

Teach me wise one. I am but a ball of clay for you to mold.

quote:

---

SLafourche07

---

Typically I suggest people to get Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you can spend the required $4k in 3 months, thats a quick 59K points of one of the most valuable points currency out there. If you have never had a credit card before, then start with Chase Freedom. If you decide to go for CSP mentioned above, then you could go for the freedom as well and get another 17.5K points on the same hard pull (chase will combine into 1 if you apply for 2 on the same day).

Ofcourse, credit card recs depend highly upon your aim then your spending pattern. You said you don't travel a lot. Would you like to? Or would you rather just some cash back? If you chose the latter, than these recs will change.

Most important questions:

Where do you want to go? Domestic/international/Beach/city

How do you want to travel?
First/biz/economy

How many are you trying to fly on points?
Couple/family

Where do you want to stay?
Hotels/air bnb/condos etc

You can travel close to free but you have to have a strategy. I have trips I start planning over a year in advance and also accumulate points with cards that help me subsidize random trips.

quote:

---

You said you don't travel a lot. Would you like to?

---

Yes. I'd like to be able to save up points and take a nice yearly vacation and maybe a couple short getaways.

quote:

---

Where do you want to go? Domestic/international/Beach/city

---

All of the above. We don't have a specific destination in mind yet, but NY, DC, Carribean, and Europe are all on the list.

quote:

---

How do you want to travel?
First/biz/economy

---

Just depends. Most likely economy, but I wouldn't mind upgrading sometimes.

quote:

---

How many are you trying to fly on points?
Couple/family

---

We have a 1 year old, so most vacations would probably be just the wife and I for the next few years (except Disney World).

quote:

---

Where do you want to stay?
Hotels/air bnb/condos etc

---

The majority would be hotels.


I appreciate all of the insight so far.

quote:

---

primary rental car insurance

---

What exactly is this?

And my points for the CSP bonus just hit my account. Applying for freedom today.

What VABuckeye said. With Primary you don't have to touch your personal insurance. Just file a claim with CC company. Most other cards will offer secondary. This means, whatever your insurance doesn't cover, they will (including deductible). With primary, your personal insurance doesn't get dinged.

Did you try for the Chase Ink+ yet? If no, consider going for Ink+ for another 65k first. One of the harder cards to get down the line and one of the most powerful UR earning tool. Its a business card so if you need help filling out app, let us know.

Yes. If by "double rewards" you mean, both of y'all earning the sign up bonus, then yes. Both are eligible. Husband/Wife combo can be leveraged further by doing this: You sign up for say CSP (hopefully using someone's referral). In a few weeks, Chase will send you your own referral link and you can then refer your wife with that link. She earns the usual 59K and you get a kickback of another 10K for a total of 69K from 1 sign up.

How is it calculated?

50K sign up bonus
4K (at least) earned on spend to meet sign up bonus
5K to add authorized user
10K for referral kick back

Total = 69K

Obviously, when you go for the card, you will not get the 10K referral bonus. That'll go to the person who's link you used. So between Husband and wife it is possible to earn a total of 128K points through CSP alone. This is enough to do a 2x RT to Europe/South America/Hawaii and a ton of other things and still have points leftover.