re: Credit Card Rewards and Points Discussion

Chase URs are good and relatively easy to accumulate. Read up on transfers of points from Chase and using the UR portal to see what all you can do with the points. Remember that using the Chase portal with a CSR will get you 1.5 and you can transfer in from other cards. If you are not looking for elaborate expensive trips you can probably do what you are talking about with 1-2 UR cards.


Also like others have said you probably do qualify for a business card.

I don't have guidance on the Companion Pass but I did see the personal cards are up to 50K

quote:

---

Do I "start a new business" and apply for business Southwest through that

---

yeah use your name as your business and your social as the tax id number. I did that for my ink preferred. Although its an actual side business that I do, its just not incorporated or anything.

quote:

---

You probably actually qualify for it. I don't mind passing on some advice that was given to me.

---

Any advice?

quote:

---

We got our first southwest card last year in January and the next in March. Both personal cards, not business. 50,000 bonus for each -> easily got the companion pass.

---

That's good info. How many cards did you have with Chase before you double dipped SW?

quote:

---

It's saved us a ton of money already, if you fly regularly you should do it.

---

Ya we've had SW cards in the past but that was when we hadn't abused Chase for probably 750k miles or so.

I already know everything there is to know about Southwest Companion Pass. I'm trying to avoid a denial.

Most people who hit cards like I do are over 5/24 so they can't even pull this off, but I keep my wife's activity a little slower.

quote:

---

How many cards did you have with Chase before you double dipped SW?

---

Only one. My wife had the ability to do it, I didn't. It has been incredible. Thousands of dollars saved from flying together and capitalizing on the card miles themselves (Wanna Get Away has been clutch).

I'm under 5/24 but I've seen reports of Chase credit reviews/shutdowns and I get spooked because of ms on current chase cards. Then when you read more its usually people with lol/24 and 50k ms.

My problem is I can hit the companion pass with no problem its the ability to use it and abuse it, thats the problem. take as many trips as you can before the boat anchors.....I mean kids arrive!

A few questions for someone looking to get into the credit card rewards game. I've skimmed through the thread and tried to search for some terms but not had much luck. If a question has been answered previously just let me know.

"Good" Fico score, not traveling very much at the moment but will be again in the future, for pleasure and possibly business. My current cards:

BOA Cash Rewards from 2013. Don't really use, just keeping it since it's my oldest card now.

AMEX Platinum since 2015. Got the 100k signup bonus, has been my primary card so I can accrue MR. Was traveling a lot for work at the time but not so much anymore, so thinking about getting rid of it. ANnual fee not due until October so I've got time on that.

Barclaycard AA Aviator since December 2017. Got it for the 60k signup bonus after first purchase. Wasn't aware of the 5/24 rule at the time, but probably would have done it anyway. That's a couple free flights for me for basically nothing.

Now onto questions/thoughts. I have lots of them but I'll try to keep it to a few for now:

- A while back I was tired of getting offers in the mail so I opted out at optoutprescreen.com. Yes, I know this was dumb now that I'm trying to get into the rewards game. I went back to the same website 2-3 weeks ago and opted back in. I've read elsewhere it can sometimes take weeks before you start receiving things again, and even now when I go check pre-qualified offers on cardmatch or chase website, I usually get a response saying no offers at this time, possibly because I've chosen to opt out. Any experience with how long it actually take to be opted in again?

- It seems the best route to take here is with accruing reward points with a bank/issuer(Amex, Chase, BOA, etc) instead of accruing airline miles/hotel points with brand specific cards, both in terms of flexibility and actual return on value, unless of course you only use 1 specific airline or hotel chain. Is that correct?

- I've been wanting to get another AMEX card for a while to get better MR accrual for non travel spending. Hoping the 30k offer for Everyday Preferred comes around again and I'll jump on it. Also waiting for another high signup bonus on the Gold card. Used to get offers pretty regularly for big signup bonuses before opting out, but didn't think to take advantage.

-Having said everything above, it seems the majority of people doing the rewards thing prefer Chase UR to AMEX MR. Why is that? I've seen the points guy values UR at 2.1cents/point vs 1.9 for MR. But to me it appears that would be offset by AMEX offering more cards with better signup bonuses, and better rewards earning potential. Or am I wrong in thinking that? I've seen a few mentions of it being much easier to actually redeem your UR than MR. Is that really true?

- Regarding the 5/24 rule, I've seen the list of cards that are exempt from this rule, and would like to get the Marriott business and IHG Rewards for the signup bonuses and perks. Right now I'm at 1/24. Would it be wiser to wait until after I'm at 5/24 to signup for these? Or does it not really make a difference?

- Kind of related to the above, due to the recent announcement that both will stop being offered soon to make way for new cards coming in, im pretty sure I want my next 2 cards to be the AMEX SPG and Chase Marriott Business, to take advantage of signup bonuses before they're gone for good. This would put me at 2(or 3?)/5, still giving me room to go after the Southwest companion pass, or add the Saphire Preferred or Everyday Preferred, or something else. Is there any reason for me not to pull the trigger on these 2 cards right now before they lower the signup bonuses and/or disappear completely?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Thanks for your response, especially the 5/24 clarification. That makes me reconsider things a bit. 3 more questions then I'm done for a while.

- Any more thoughts on UR vs MR? I understand it will probably just come down to a matter of personal preference. But with 5/24 it's possible I will be staring down a choice between Amex Gold or Everyday Preferred and one of the Saphire cards, and I just want to make sure I make a good decision since I'll be "stuck" with those cards for a while.

- I've read some predictions that Chase/Southwest will be scaling back the companion pass program offer to make it more difficult to obtain, whether it's increasing the minimum requirement, not allowing signup bonuses to count, etc. It makes sense when you cobsider all the major carriers have recently devalued their rewards programs. Any thoughts on this possibility? I'm trying to hold off on going for it for as long as possible, until I know I'll be traveling more. But I don't want to miss out on it either.

- Other than the chase 5/24 rule and only having 5 AMEX at one time, are there any other rules or "rules" that restrict your ability to get new cards? Like you can only be approved for x number of cards with y bank/issuer in z timeframe? I'm a little worried about that as I'm looking at getting at least 4 new cards in a relatively short amount of time.

Thanks again for your thoughts. Hopefully going forward I'll be able to contribute to this thread with answers and not just questions.

Well hell, I knew I should have seasoned up my wife's business card. They cited underutilizing current lines along with business too new. There was another interesting reason stating too much credit which is interesting because 1) I lowered her current business account by 5k, and 2) they may be referring to her personals, which I also tidied up.

I could get around two of those but not sure I could craft a response for underutilizing current lines. I have some ideas, unfortunately I'm not sure my wife is up for that recon challenge.

Alternatively, I could go for two personals after closing some lines on that end. Ugh