I love credit cards so much!

[hsmamato2]

Through 4/5 it says. I'm very tempted. Only thing I don't get is why keep it after a year. There's a $95 annual fee and it looks like unlike Marriott no free night. Am I missing something?

I have kept mine for years as earning points and using for WDW trips has more than paid for it every year (and more) and you can only get the card bonus once per lifetime..... so keep that in mind when deciding. (it's great to stay onsite for $25 bucks a night year after year) Now that transferring in and out is so easy,I'm going to recalculate what I need for upcoming use......it used to be SPG was it for points, but the merger made everything easier......

 

[hsmamato2]

IDk..... my favorite way to hit spend is buy grocery store gc's from my local store to use as needed....since most of my money is spent on groceries anyway it's perfect! I just bought 5 this week alone....(my grocery bill will seem 'free' when I'm using those gc's in a few weeks!) to me it's just prepaying for what I already buy.....

 

[wendow]

Through 4/5 it says. I'm very tempted. Only thing I don't get is why keep it after a year. There's a $95 annual fee and it looks like unlike Marriott no free night. Am I missing something?

I am tempted to get it but also can't figure out why I would keep it. I would not put enough spend on this card to build points in any valuable way to justify a $95 AF.

 

[amalone1013]

Does AMEX do any bonus matching? We just signed my Father in law up for the SPG card on the 5th...

 

[mhartman09]

Does AMEX do any bonus matching? We just signed my Father in law up for the SPG card on the 5th...

I'm seeing mixed reports on matching this offer over on reddit. Several people are posting they have been successful with getting the match after calling. A few people said they were denied, but they intend to call again later.

 

[peel]

Thanks to my sick cat, Marvin, I've spent enough on my 2 SW cards to get the CP next month. Woohoo! With those minimum spends covered, I'm overwhelmed with the options available and which cards to get next. There are too many great offers, and not enough money to meet minimum spends unless I start MSing. The real issue is that we don't have any destinations in mind. I think we're going to try for Japan in 2018, but nothing is set in stone. I have read a TON of information about churning in the past few months, but I still feel completely clueless most of the time.

Only DH has the CSR, so I'm going to go to a branch in the next couple of weeks to apply for my own. That will put me at 5/24 if they count AU cards. I know if I get rejected I can call and have them ignore the AU slots, but I'm hoping to get instant approval so I don't have to talk to anyone.
This new SPG card is extremely tempting. DH got a targeted 80K Marriott mailer, and that's been sitting on my desk. That would fill his 5th Chase slot. So I was thinking I'd have him go for that and then the SPG.
But, I think we should get one or two of the AA cards too. We don't have any other airline cards besides SW. Which airline miles are most flexible? AA and United, I'm guessing? I've seen that United miles have been devalued recently, so maybe stay away from them?

 

[peel]

I haven't gotten through all the pages and can't keep what I have read straight. I was trying to do the Southwest Premier and Southwest Plus strategy to work easier towards the Companion Pass. I applied for the SWPlus and got a message that said they need to look more into it and look for mail in 30 days. When I tried to apply for the SW Premier it wouldn't give me the application, it just said they had my info. Was I supposed to wait for an approval for the Plus before applying for the Premier? Is the "wait for mail in 30 days" response common or a sign I will be denied?

Were you trying to do both apps in one day? If so, I think you need to use 2 different browsers or go incognito for the 2nd app.
The general consensus I've seen is if you get a pending notice you shouldn't bother applying for another card until you call recon and get approved for the first.

 

[mhartman09]

Thanks to my sick cat, Marvin, I've spent enough on my 2 SW cards to get the CP next month. Woohoo! With those minimum spends covered, I'm overwhelmed with the options available and which cards to get next. There are too many great offers, and not enough money to meet minimum spends unless I start MSing. The real issue is that we don't have any destinations in mind. I think we're going to try for Japan in 2018, but nothing is set in stone. I have read a TON of information about churning in the past few months, but I still feel completely clueless most of the time.

Only DH has the CSR, so I'm going to go to a branch in the next couple of weeks to apply for my own. That will put me at 5/24 if they count AU cards. I know if I get rejected I can call and have them ignore the AU slots, but I'm hoping to get instant approval so I don't have to talk to anyone.
This new SPG card is extremely tempting. DH got a targeted 80K Marriott mailer, and that's been sitting on my desk. That would fill his 5th Chase slot. So I was thinking I'd have him go for that and then the SPG.
But, I think we should get one or two of the AA cards too. We don't have any other airline cards besides SW. Which airline miles are most flexible? AA and United, I'm guessing? I've seen that United miles have been devalued recently, so maybe stay away from them?

Yay for getting CP!! My DH got his CSR recently, so I'm trying to wait until we meet his minimum spend before I get another card. I'm definitely eyeing the SPG offer. We currently only have DW trips planned over the next 12-18 months, so that would help with at least one of those trips. I'm already at 5/24, so last night I went ahead and picked up a Disney Visa. Not planning to use it to book any packages, but I thought the $200 gc back after $500 spend was a good deal that would help us add to money for our trips. Probably won't use the card much after that, except maybe for when we are actually on trips there.

 

[Albort]

Does AMEX do any bonus matching? We just signed my Father in law up for the SPG card on the 5th...

http://www.doctorofcredit.com/recen...ress-spg-card-heres-get-matched-35000-points/ <-- heres a full read about it.

may take a few attempts. Also some time. Reminds me of the 70k for Ink+, i got denied like 3 times before they finally gave me the match.

 

[peel]

Yay for getting CP!!

Thanks! The irony is my cat needs daily care that I don't want to pawn off on someone else while we use the CP to travel. The best laid plans...

 

[amalone1013]

Thanks for the links/threads. I'll probably make it DF's job tonight to call in and pretend to be his dad...

I'm seeing mixed reports on matching this offer over on reddit. Several people are posting they have been successful with getting the match after calling. A few people said they were denied, but they intend to call again later.

http://www.doctorofcredit.com/recen...ress-spg-card-heres-get-matched-35000-points/ <-- heres a full read about it.

may take a few attempts. Also some time. Reminds me of the 70k for Ink+, i got denied like 3 times before they finally gave me the match.

 

[wendow]

Does Chase still give 5k points for each AU added to the Preferred? I am not finding it on their site. Thinking about adding my teen.

 

[LynnTH]

So, question about the SPG card. I got this for DH last time they had the 35,000 points. I was put on a AU (as I do most of the spending). Could I get the card this time and put DH as AU and still get the points?

 

[Aanna]

Does Chase still give 5k points for each AU added to the Preferred? I am not finding it on their site. Thinking about adding my teen.

A few months ago they only gave the 5k for the *first AU.

 

[calypso726]

Okay any gurus? Seems from what I can find, the points needed for my trip to Hawaii are above the "saver" level so I can't pull off the Korean to Delta swap. The best I can find is 360,000 for the 4 of us via Alaskan I think. Which is a lot more then I wanted to spend on tickets. Does anyone have any tips? We want to travel from Detroit to Maui. And our dates are 12/23-12/31 (yes, I know....but I'm a teacher). It seems the points needed are the same if we do the trip from Detroit or the west coast. So it's not helping us any to get to say LAX cheap and then use points. Unless I don't know all the methods one can use.

HELP! We really wanted to go away this Christmas....but I don't want to use ALL our points to do it....

Remind us what type of points you are using.

Through 4/5 it says. I'm very tempted. Only thing I don't get is why keep it after a year. There's a $95 annual fee and it looks like unlike Marriott no free night. Am I missing something?

This is a keeper card for me. The points transfer to over 30 airlines and most of them 1:1. For every 20,000 SPG points you transfer to an airline you get 5,000 bonus points.

Thanks to my sick cat, Marvin, I've spent enough on my 2 SW cards to get the CP next month. Woohoo! With those minimum spends covered, I'm overwhelmed with the options available and which cards to get next. There are too many great offers, and not enough money to meet minimum spends unless I start MSing. The real issue is that we don't have any destinations in mind. I think we're going to try for Japan in 2018, but nothing is set in stone. I have read a TON of information about churning in the past few months, but I still feel completely clueless most of the time.

Only DH has the CSR, so I'm going to go to a branch in the next couple of weeks to apply for my own. That will put me at 5/24 if they count AU cards. I know if I get rejected I can call and have them ignore the AU slots, but I'm hoping to get instant approval so I don't have to talk to anyone.
This new SPG card is extremely tempting. DH got a targeted 80K Marriott mailer, and that's been sitting on my desk. That would fill his 5th Chase slot. So I was thinking I'd have him go for that and then the SPG.
But, I think we should get one or two of the AA cards too. We don't have any other airline cards besides SW. Which airline miles are most flexible? AA and United, I'm guessing? I've seen that United miles have been devalued recently, so maybe stay away from them?

The best airlines card strictly depends on your home airport. We are in south Florida and Miami Int'l is an American Airlines hub. Therefore, we have AA credit cards, use the AA dining network to earn more AA miles and also use the AA shopping portal for online purchases. Someone in Atlanta would want to focus on Delta since their hub is in Atlanta.

 

[peel]

The best airlines card strictly depends on your home airport. We are in south Florida and Miami Int'l is an American Airlines hub. Therefore, we have AA credit cards, use the AA dining network to earn more AA miles and also use the AA shopping portal for online purchases. Someone in Atlanta would want to focus on Delta since their hub is in Atlanta.

My home airport is Hartford, so we aren't a hub for anything. But for international flights we go out of JFK, so we have plenty of options there. That's why I think in my case I should focus more on potential point values.

 

[mistyinca]

I'm going to post this here even though I don't know if it's truly the right place. So I just learned that my Chase Disney Visa (which I never use because I get much better deals on my other rewards cards) gets you into a lounge at Epcot where they have free coke machine. Trying to find ways to save money in the park. Anyway has anyone used this feature, and are you able to fill, say, a souvenir cup?
Thanks.

 

[calypso726]

My home airport is Hartford, so we aren't a hub for anything. But for international flights we go out of JFK, so we have plenty of options there. That's why I think in my case I should focus more on potential point values.

JFK is a hub for both American Airlines and Delta. Between the two I'd choose AA for several reasons. Delta's Sky miles are often referred to as Sky Pesos meaning their value is not very high. Delta won't publish their award chart anymore so you never can tell what an award will cost. You can't churn Delta credit cards as they are issued by Amex and the bonus is once per lifetime. Delta is part of the Sky team alliance which is the smallest of the three so there are less partner airlines to choose from.

AA is part of the One World alliance which is the second largest so there is a greater selection for partner awards. You can get AA credit cards through Citibank and Barclays and they are churnable. AA does publish their award chart and does have saver awards available if you plan accordingly. Every single one of my flights using AA miles have always been booked in saver. I'm literally sitting at the airport right now and am traveling in an AA saver ticket

 

[calypso726]

I'm going to post this here even though I don't know if it's truly the right place. So I just learned that my Chase Disney Visa (which I never use because I get much better deals on my other rewards cards) gets you into a lounge at Epcot where they have free coke machine. Trying to find ways to save money in the park. Anyway has anyone used this feature, and are you able to fill, say, a souvenir cup?
Thanks.

I've always been able to go in with any Chase card. I have the Disney Visa but never use it. Last year we used our CSR card to go in. I think you could do a refill but am not 100% sure. You'll need to go early as the line gets long and so does the wait as the day goes on.

 

[Aanna]

My home airport is Hartford, so we aren't a hub for anything. But for international flights we go out of JFK, so we have plenty of options there. That's why I think in my case I should focus more on potential point values.

That's exactly my situation, though I prefer Newark over JFK since being stuck in Terminal 4 with no lounges I could get into.

One side effect of this thread is that I am now allergic to waiting at gates (especially dreary, overcrowded, NYC gates). I had never been in an airport lounge before I started reading this thread, and now I don't know what I'd do without them!!