So I'm hoping the Southwest offer will come back around this fall, as my current city (Cincinnati) doesn't offer SW flights, but I am moving to SF next winter so this would be awesome to take advantage of the CP for two full years (2014-15).

I just set up amazon payments and am considering doing the bluebird/vanilla thing for rent and bills, but it appears to only be worth it if you have a card earning 5X points at Office Max or something (versus the fees and hassle/time).

Also, I'm pretty new to the card churning game, but my one real question is how does opening up all these cards actually affect your credit? I used to hear that it was a hit to your credit to even APPLY for a card, so I can't imagine having 10-20 cards (inactive or otherwise) would be a great idea. If there's a relevant link/thread on one of the FF/MMS boards you can direct me to, I'd be happy to read the answer there.

7/3/2013 4:59:48 PM

Read through the thread...the impact is minimal. I have like 20 and an ~800 score.

Also here is what you're asking for: http://millionmilesecrets.com/2013/03/05/churning-credit-score/

Which Southwest offer are you referring to? They're still offering the 50k mile bonus. Check the links here: http://millionmilesecrets.com/credit-cards/airline-credit-cards/


[Edited on July 3, 2013 at 5:12 PM. Reason : also read the his article about the CP. Many important details...]

7/3/2013 5:08:58 PM

I've read a ton about the 50k southwest card (unless there's something new I'm missing). I want to apply for it in Oct/Nov and not hit the 4k spend (+6k points) until Jan 1 so I can take advantage of the two full years of the CP.

thanks for the info!!

[Edited on July 3, 2013 at 5:20 PM. Reason : .]

7/3/2013 5:20:04 PM

Damn straight!

Smart, planning ahead like that. I have a CP til the end of this year, but I'll try to get another two southwest cards in nov/dec as well.

I actually just used my SW comp pass today for the first time along with a bunch of hilton pts. Selling pts is nice but I much prefer actually using them.

As far as credit scores go, I have > 20 open cards and creditkarma says I'm at 767

[Edited on July 3, 2013 at 6:27 PM. Reason : ]

7/3/2013 6:25:59 PM

Was using the CP as painless as its made out to be? I've never even flown southwest (that I can remember) but I've heard good things about the airline in general (I'm 95% a delta girl and we very much have a love-hate relationship)

7/3/2013 8:29:22 PM

Is there a point to closing cards as you get more, or is that just to avoid membership fees after a first year free?

7/4/2013 12:32:53 AM

^^ Yeah, just had to click a link once I booked my ticket, and didn't even have to show the actual pass at the gate.
To avoid membership fees and eventually you'll essentially max out as I have unfortunately.

[Edited on July 4, 2013 at 9:53 AM. Reason : ]

7/4/2013 9:53:14 AM

Max out what?

7/4/2013 9:57:30 AM

My last churn was a complete and utter failure. I may have to try bumpage b/c of my inquiries, or I may just need to start closing my cards a little sooner. I have 6 open Chase cards, 5 citi, 5 amex, 2 barclay, 1 us bank, 1 boa, 1 boh, 1 ge, and 1 capital one.

7/4/2013 10:08:40 AM

Has anyone ever tried to get a credit increase from Barclays? hard/easy?

7/4/2013 7:36:45 PM

Why bother. Fuck Barclay. Stringy bastards.

7/4/2013 8:33:05 PM

Anybody here want to buy some HHonors points? They can be transfered to a wide range of airline miles. Don't have many - 33,000

7/7/2013 11:27:14 AM

Their airline xfer rate was pretty abysmal iirc.
If you can't sell them I'd get the other hilton cards so you can at least have a usable amount.
The spend rate on these are usually relatively low.
Before the trip I'm on now, I had 200K (320k if I xferred all my Hawaiian miles)

7/7/2013 11:41:41 AM

I probably won't be using any hilton pts for a year, but I suppose 30K would bump me to the next axon level. I'll give you a lowball offer of $60 if you really want to get rid of them that much.

7/7/2013 12:14:31 PM

I like your advice on just building HHpoints - I'll try that.

how did you get to 200k?

7/7/2013 1:29:06 PM

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/05/15/hilton-honors-credit-card/

7/7/2013 2:41:21 PM

Quote :

"My last churn was a complete and utter failure. I may have to try bumpage b/c of my inquiries, or I may just need to start closing my cards a little sooner. I have 6 open Chase cards, 5 citi, 5 amex, 2 barclay, 1 us bank, 1 boa, 1 boh, 1 ge, and 1 capital one."

You're at/near the max, at least on your Citi, AmEx, and Chase cards. You'll need to close some in order to get approved.

7/8/2013 7:47:04 AM

Just started looking at credit card offers and I already feel like I could easily get addicted.

Did the 1k spend for 50k PRG Amex points last month and I just signed up for the Delta Gold Amex simply for the free checked bags since I fly Delta most of the time. And there's 30k points after $500 spend in 3 months too.

Should I keep this PRG card for a year until the fee hits or cancel once I get the points in my account?

7/8/2013 2:13:23 PM

Won't you lose your amex pts once you cancel?

7/8/2013 2:45:13 PM

oh my bad. I meant after I use them or transfer to a mileage program.

Is there an Amex credit card that lets you transfer and use the same tier of membership points as the gold card?

7/8/2013 2:59:18 PM

Any truth to this?

Quote :

"be careful applying for 2 many chase cards. Got a buddy who got 3 out of 5 of his chase personal cards closed all of a sudden. When asked, the reason given was " you have been applying for too many cards and you are a credit risk) his hyatt, SP, and united cards were gone with points from SP taken."

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/98514/

7/9/2013 5:14:39 PM

Yeah but you have to fly on SW...

7/9/2013 5:52:22 PM

No clue how chase could just go in and take points away from his SP account.

7/9/2013 6:11:39 PM

probably suspected he was misusing the account to get points.

7/9/2013 6:40:56 PM

Yeah, UR points are Chase's to do with whatever they want. Companies can't just take points out of other companies accounts on a whim.

7/9/2013 6:43:15 PM

Anyone have any credit card recommendations for sign up bonuses?

I'm basically looking for points/miles I can sell, or transfer to other point/mile systems I can sell, but if the offer is juicy I'm up for whatever.

Recently I've done (and still have open, among others):
AMEX Business Gold 50k
Chase Sapphire 40k
Citi American Airlines Visa 50k
Citi American Airlines Mastercard 30k
Marriott 50k Visa
Hyatt 2 nights Visa

I'm definitely going to do a Chase Ink Bold, but can't decide on another. Looking for at least two more to apply for on the same day.

I want to wait on Southwest until the end of the year, when they'll hopefully have 50k cards again (I know they do now too), so I can make a run at the companion pass and max out the time I'll have it.

Any ideas?

7/15/2013 8:35:29 PM

If you didn't like the 5K spend on the cards I suggested you can try to accumulate delta miles. They aren't worth a ton, but spend requirements are usually quite low.
There's also the united card if you haven't done that yet.

7/15/2013 9:23:46 PM

Yeah the Starwood cards don't seem worth it to me...10k sign up bonus, with 15k more after a $5k spend. So you spend $5k for ~$375 if my numbers are right. I realize I'll run out of the juicy stuff at some point, but that seems not enough juice for the squeeze at this point.

Thanks for the advice on the Delta/United points. I'll do some reading into that.

7/15/2013 9:48:47 PM

Yeah, I started out mostly concerned with ROI, but after a while I just focused on higher dollar figure.

7/16/2013 1:06:01 AM

How often do you guys apply for cards?

7/16/2013 8:01:14 AM

Every three months

7/16/2013 9:30:04 AM

I've seen this card pop up in "best deal" lists lately. Honestly don't think I've ever stayed at a Club Carlson property but 85k points and the free 2nd night on bonus redemptions is pretty solid.

http://www.clubcarlsonvisa.com/credit/visaPremierCard.do

7/16/2013 10:18:52 AM

Yeah, I may start moving that way myself.

http://www.doitforthepoints.com/2013/02/exit-hilton-and-enter-club-carlson.html

7/16/2013 10:53:46 AM

Do any of you use a website to manage your points?

7/16/2013 3:06:39 PM

Nah, there one popular site, but they didn't have southwest (my first non cash back card) so I didn't bother. I just have a spreadsheet, although I sold off a lot of points recently b/c I thought 500K+ pts sitting around was just stupid.

7/16/2013 3:29:24 PM

Quote :

"I've seen this card pop up in "best deal" lists lately."

Where are some other good lists? I've only been using MMS's lists.

7/16/2013 3:49:28 PM

oh I was reading stuff on thepointsguy.com and he mentioned he used the card for some stays so I just googled the card and saw it in a number of blogs/reviews from Dec 2012 to April 2013

7/16/2013 4:09:27 PM

Well hot damn. My chase ink bold I applied for during small business week almost a month ago just arrived.

7/17/2013 5:12:16 PM

That's one you were denied for right? Applied again?

When were you actually approved for it? You didn't lose a month of spending did you?

7/17/2013 9:32:11 PM

No no yes no

7/18/2013 1:08:31 AM

Top lazy to edit. Spending requirements started.a week ago 60 k pts

7/18/2013 1:10:10 AM

^What will you use your UR points for?

7/18/2013 10:41:29 PM

I'll sell them off to the highest bigger

7/18/2013 10:51:48 PM

Have you done that in the past without repercussions from Chase?

7/19/2013 9:25:07 PM

Feds today announced that starting Dec.1 they will tax credit card rewards as a capital gain

7/19/2013 9:35:10 PM

^^ I have

7/19/2013 10:19:04 PM

Ditto

7/20/2013 1:41:35 AM

Has anyone been asked for 4506-t

7/20/2013 8:57:02 AM

No

7/20/2013 10:40:35 AM

^^^^^Do you have a link to a story or something from the IRS?

7/20/2013 11:54:38 AM