same with me, but it was approved like 2 days later.

10/2/2016 6:05:33 PM

Did your approval come by email or mail?

10/3/2016 2:42:01 PM

are you talking about the card or pre-check?

my card approval was instant online, the email came that evening, and i got my cards 2 days later. i think it helps that i'm not a card churner, saw something today that people are being denied who open too many rewards cards.

10/3/2016 3:21:39 PM

It's the 5/24 rule. They did that rule to indirectly target them.

[Edited on October 3, 2016 at 3:55 PM. Reason : s]

10/3/2016 3:54:43 PM

Yeah its like they only released this crazy reward special to clean up the people left behind after other companies released good cards like amex blue

10/3/2016 5:20:15 PM

Except the CSR and the Amex Blue are marketed towards two very different types of customers. CSR is geared towards transactors who travel and maximize Chase points. The Amex Blue is a cash back card geared toward grocery stores and gas. The 6% cash back is only up to $300 in a year anyway.

10/3/2016 5:27:06 PM

The preferred cared is up to 600 + 300 signup bonus + 150 bonus on first 1000= 1050-95 annual fee= 955 in actual free cash instead of points. It may be less than CSR but that was my point. If you were at 4, and didn't see CSR coming, why would you turn down 955 in free money?

10/3/2016 5:36:33 PM

The Amex Blue Cash Preferred card? I see a $150 signup bonus.

Then there's up to $200 cash back via 5% on $4,000 on travel purchases in the first 6 months.

That's $350 total and isn't a great deal considering most cards give you the bonus up front then still give you the points from earnings up to the spend amount to quality for the intial sign-up bonus.

Also points >>>>> cash.

Maybe I'm not seeing the the extra bonus you're talking about?

10/3/2016 5:58:14 PM

Quote :

"Maybe I'm not seeing the the extra bonus you're talking about?"

Ok I googled and it seems the offer varied by location and time.

Quote :

"Then there's up to $200 cash back via 5% on $4,000 on travel purchases in the first 6 months. "

The main appeal of the card is the 6% cashback up to 6,000 everyday purchases. For churners, this is 600 in free money.

Quote :

"Also points >>>>> cash. "

What am I missing? Why would you want points over equivalent cash? Maybe I've just had shitty points rewards but from my experience using points for airfare, discount fares are not available and i end up paying several times more in points than I would pay for the same flight as a discount fare from some travel site. Even with no blackout dates or any airline choice, the points are always based on the regular fare directly from the airline.

I'm not an expert but I don't see why you would rather take 1,000 dollars worth of points than taking 1,000 dollars of cash that could be spent on anything and if you spent it on flights, you could buy two discounted 1,000 dollar flights for 500 each instead of paying 1,000 equivlant in points.

What am i missing?

10/3/2016 6:37:21 PM

Quote :

"What am I missing?"

Quote :

"Maybe I've just had shitty points rewards "

Answered your own question.

10/3/2016 7:41:22 PM

Can you give me an example of a point redemption worth more than equivalent cash? Everything I've ever seen says that points are worth 1.5 cents which would make 100k worth 1500 dollars of travel. I'm trying to figure out what kind of travel you could do for 1500 that would be so much more valuable than spending 1500 cash at a discount travel site. I've never seen it.

I'm not saying points are bad because free points are better than nothing but I'm just not seeing the argument that points are better than cash.

[Edited on October 3, 2016 at 7:50 PM. Reason : k]

[Edited on October 3, 2016 at 7:51 PM. Reason : even then. CSR points are better than any offer i've seen but i'd much rather it be 1500 cash bonus]

10/3/2016 7:49:13 PM

I think on international travel it's better. They do tend to scale up based on the length and level of the travel it seems.

My recent flight from Hawaii in first class it was much cheaper on points. I paid approx. 80000 points for a $1400 one way flight, and 50k of that was sign up bonus.

Also, you'll basically never get the kind of mammoth reward for such a cheap spend. I'm getting 100k points for $3k spend. That's a pretty insane initial return and definitely makes it worth while. You're never going to find anything that gives you 50% cash back.

I think I'd rather have cash back once I've gotten the bonus cleared if it's an every day spending situation.

[Edited on October 3, 2016 at 9:11 PM. Reason : sdfsfd]

10/3/2016 9:06:46 PM

Well yeah, 100k points is better than 900 dollars but only because its equivalent to 1500 dollars. I'm trying to figure out if neodata meant what you are saying or if he actually meant points are better than cash. He seems to be an expert on this stuff so maybe he knows something secret that we don't.

I just did a quick search and found HNL to JFK first class for 804 on delta which happens to be the value of 80400 points. Maybe you bought the ticket last minute but as someone who travels a lot, researching fares, I've never seen a situation where the points are advantageous to cash in terms of redemption.

10/3/2016 9:27:55 PM

Yeah, I did Kona to Lexington KY which is running 1000-1400 depending on airline. I think it was actually a little more a month ago when I booked it because it was labor day weekend.

I'd be curious to know if he actually meant points are better than cash or if he simply meant it's better to use them vs cashing them out. If you go statement credit or cash back they're usually valued at 1 cent per point vs getting 1.5 cent of value when redeemed for travel.

10/3/2016 10:44:58 PM

Quote :

"I just did a quick search and found HNL to JFK first class for 804 on delta which happens to be the value of 80400 points."

Ok, therein lies the problem. You're either looking at some faux points like capital one or some sort of points for cash redemption where 1 point === 1 cent vs other programs where you actually transfer the points. Here are some of my real life data points for comparison.

Hyatt - 30,000 pts - $1100 hotel room (paris)
Hyatt - 5,000 pts - $100 hotel room (cary)
Delta - 25,000 pts - $500 flight (domestic, coach, last minute)
Flying Blue - 30,000 pts - $3,100 flight (coach, one way)
United - 60,000 pts - $1,200 flight (coach, round trip with free stopover)
Delta - 160,000 pts - $7,000 flight (biz class international)
British Airways - 4,500 pts - $120 flight (coach, partner airline)

As you can see I'm always getting at least 2 cents per point. Granted, other programs like Hilton, Club Carlson, and IHG have points valued much less, the big transferable programs (Chase, Citi, AMEX), will always allow for redemptions over 1 cent.

10/4/2016 12:07:19 AM

^Not sure I can give a better explanation than that

But yeah the general idea is points (usually I talk about Chase points) are worth 1.5-2.0 cents

The points guy says Chase points are worth 2.1 cents per point right now:

http://thepointsguy.com/2016/08/august-2016-monthly-valuations/

Quote :

"Ok, therein lies the problem. You're either looking at some faux points like capital one "

Exactly. As you see in that link Capital One points are worth 1 cent per point.

Points are always better than cash if only because I can directly cash out 100k points for $1000 dollars. I'd never do that but you have the option if you want (as statement credit or transfer back to your checking account).

My examples are similar to what ^ posted. Our last United flights were 70k points with Economy Saver for 2 ~$650 tickets. That's 1.86 cents per point. Marriott I've gotten ~1.8-1.9 before.

So if you take your average redemption rate times your point per $1 spent it's effectively the cash you're earning. So I usually redeem at 1.8 cents per point (conservative) so my Freedom card effectively gives me a 9% cash return (until I hit my 2500 point/month max) and my CSR card gives me 5.4% cash return.

Quote :

"I'd be curious to know if he actually meant points are better than cash or if he simply meant it's better to use them vs cashing them out."

I meant it's always better to have points. If you want to redeem them for 1:1 cash then fine but you can always get a better redemption through travel.

[Edited on October 4, 2016 at 12:04 PM. Reason : s]

10/4/2016 11:50:15 AM

Quote :

"Points are always better than cash if only because I can directly cash out 100k points for $1000 dollars"

and if you *really* want cash you can always sell your points to someone like Bruce for more than that.

Quote :

"So I usually redeem at 1.8 cents per point (conservative) so my Freedom card effectively gives me a 9% cash [equivalent valued travel rewards] return (until I hit my 2500 point/month max) and my CSR card gives me 5.4% cash [equivalent valued travel rewards] return."

Well, that's not exactly cash is it?

[Edited on October 4, 2016 at 12:17 PM. Reason : there i fixed it]

10/4/2016 11:57:36 AM

Yeah Bruce will give you way more than 1:1 for points.

And yeah not technically cash but if you redeem your points for 1.8 cents on the point then kinda. Haha.

10/4/2016 12:08:41 PM

the chase trips i've priced were basically a wash, sure they give you better than 1:1 booking online through them but the prices are all higher.

have i just been unlucky or am i missing part of the strategy?

10/4/2016 1:30:41 PM

thanks. I see clearly now points are much better if you are short on time and travel at airline rate. I'm basing all of this off of traveling at discount rates so I'm trying to figure out what the comparison is there. it's a lot more fuzzy that way... everyone keeps posting airline and hotel rate prices which are usually absurdly higher than I normally pay.


so as a point person do you only apply for cards with point rewards? what is the point to cash ratio you use to evaluate what is better? 2cents=1 point?

the Amex bonus comparison example is premier rewards gold vs blue preferred Cash

900 cash vs 35k points (750? cash equivalent)

I did this analysis and took the cash card to not leave 150 on the table AND to be able to get better value flights at discount prices. they may say the flight is 900 and 35k points but if I find the same flight for 600 on a discount site I have saved even more money.

knowing that you only get so many cards, is there a bonus threshold you are looking for? csr is obviously a slam dunk but what requirements are you looking for when deciding wether or not a card is worth your application?

[Edited on October 4, 2016 at 1:59 PM. Reason : blockbuster]

10/4/2016 1:49:10 PM

Quote :

"the chase trips i've priced were basically a wash, sure they give you better than 1:1 booking online through them but the prices are all higher. have i just been unlucky or am i missing part of the strategy?"

Every time I book a flight via United, Chase, Kayak, a deal site, my companies booking software (Concur), etc I compare prices. They're usually always the same. Chase uses the same booking prices that United has and Kayak. If a ticket is more expensive via Chase I won't buy it but I rarely if ever see that. The prices almost always match. There's usually no special magic on a deal site that you can't strategically get via the same airline's website. The deal site just identifies it for you. You can usually go put in the same codes via the airline's site and get the same deal.

^I'm not sure what you mean by "discount". An airline segment is an airline segment. Those cheap ticket sites will provide you with the best prices by segment, leg, airline, etc but you're not getting a United segment for cheaper than I'm getting a United segment from their website.

For example I'm looking at booking flights round trip to San Francisco from Denver. I found $166 via the United site. I also looked on Kayak and various other deal websites. There's no "discount" pricing where it's cheaper than $166 anywhere (I'm also flying United only).

Those sites will give you hacker fees (trips with multiple airlines) but you're not getting any type of discount but maybe others ITT know better than I.

--With hotels I know there are certain last minute deals where hotels offer cheap rooms. When I'm traveling though it's always for a certain date and I'm booking at a preferred hotel (Marriott or SPG).

[Edited on October 4, 2016 at 2:31 PM. Reason : s]

10/4/2016 2:16:51 PM

the airline prices have been similar, but i've seen hotel rooms $100/night more

10/4/2016 3:08:06 PM

Hotels are a little fuzzier for me as far as discount sites go. Typically I search for SPG or Marriott properties that are 4 stars or more for vacations on their respective sites.

I do check occasionally on those hotel sites for deals but I've never really seen anything lower than what I already see on the hotel sites. Maybe that's because of the filtering I'm doing. I'm not sure.

Also I use corporate codes like crazy and those discounts are always way better than anything else.

--haha I just hit the $4k spend in 27 days on the CSR.

[Edited on October 4, 2016 at 5:38 PM. Reason : s]

10/4/2016 5:11:34 PM

Quote :

"the chase trips i've priced were basically a wash, sure they give you better than 1:1 booking online through them but the prices are all higher. "

Are you talking about booking online through the chase travel portal?
I'm talking about transferring points from chase to united, hyatt, etc, and then booking through that respective website, not Chase's

Quote :

"so as a point person do you only apply for cards with point rewards? what is the point to cash ratio you use to evaluate what is better? 2cents=1 point?"

It's all over the place. I have points valued at .4 cents each and I have points valued at over 2 cents each. I'll also apply for cards that don't give you transferable points if the bonus is high enough.

Quote :

"900 cash vs 35k points (750? cash equivalent)"

I'm not sure how you got 900 cash (yearly cash back?) but a sign up bonus of that size is always quality.

Quote :

"what requirements are you looking for when deciding wether or not a card is worth your application"

There was a pretty good guide published recently which of course I can't find. You'll want to apply for any chase cards first since they've cracked down. After that I usually apply for cards with big bonuses or cards I know I can apply for again and again. Alternatively you could plan a trip and then work backwards to see what kind of points you'll need for hotels and flights.

10/4/2016 6:23:18 PM

well fuck, time to cancel my chase accounts
http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/spot/306150/

10/5/2016 8:45:25 AM

So on the chase sapphire reserve, can the $300 travel credit go to hotel bookings?

What else can it be applied to

[Edited on October 6, 2016 at 7:39 PM. Reason : ]

10/6/2016 7:35:48 PM

^ yes. Hotels, airfares, most travel gift cards, tolls, Uber, rental cars, airport parking fees...

10/6/2016 11:01:04 PM

I read on a thread on SlickDeals that someone sent a rent check via RadPad (using Android Pay) and it was processed as Travel. If this is the case, RadPad charges 2.99% fee for credit cards, but the 3% cash back on Travel would make it an even break (for those trying to hit the 4K spending limit faster). If you consider the 3% back can be redeemed at atleast 1.5%, then you actually can come out ahead.

I'm thinking of trying it out, but would rather not use my $300 travel credit on rent

[Edited on October 7, 2016 at 8:18 AM. Reason : ]

10/7/2016 8:18:06 AM

Quote :

"for those trying to hit the 4K spending limit faster"

Visa Gift Cards --> Money Orders --> Deposit into your bank account
[Edited on October 7, 2016 at 9:33 AM. Reason : ^^^^ ]

10/7/2016 9:32:19 AM

I feel like if anyone is worried about spending $300 on travel or spending $4k in 3 months maybe this isn't the right card for them (unless of course you're just using it as a churner).

So the 50% bonus thing is super nice on travel. My $167 San Francisco flights are only 11,080 points. This is a scenario where it's way better to book directly through Chase. If I had gone through United (via transferring my points) it would have been 25k points (12.5k each each segment).

10/7/2016 10:31:52 AM

Why would anyone have trouble spending $300 on a gift card from the airline/hotel of their choice?

10/7/2016 10:50:00 AM

I have no problem hitting the 4K limit or the $300 on travel. Mainly I was referring to being able to hit it quicker, to get the points quicker for an upcoming trip.

Visa Gift Cards and Money Orders both carry fees. RadPad carries no fees (when you factor in the 3x points).

10/7/2016 12:00:30 PM

Quote :

"Visa Gift Cards and Money Orders both carry fees"

Not necessarily. Topcashback is advertising 1.25% on all GCM purchases of VGC which covers any fees one may incur with payout taking 9 weeks from TCB. My orders through TCB were actually tracking at 2% the last couple times. The Chase Sapphire Reserve may be the best non targeted offer I've seen with regards to what you get and the absolute minimal amount of effort you have to do to get it. It's honestly a giveaway.

[Edited on October 7, 2016 at 12:30 PM. Reason : ..]

10/7/2016 12:24:11 PM

I'm wondering how much $$$ Bruce will give you for 100k Chase points.

10/7/2016 1:34:23 PM

Transferring UR to an account that isn't in your name is now Chase suicide

10/7/2016 3:36:27 PM

Quote :

"RadPad carries no fees (when you factor in the 3x points)."

Except the 1% you're not earning after losing your 3% to the fee, assuming/hoping it actually does classify as travel.

VGC+money order fees are just a hair over 1%, so it's a wash either way. Benefit of VGCs are you can satisfy with spend immediately, not $600 here and $300 there etc.

Quote :

"Not necessarily. Topcashback is advertising 1.25% on all GCM purchases of VGC which covers any fees one may incur with payout taking 9 weeks from TCB. My orders through TCB were actually tracking at 2% the last couple times."

Very cool...didn't know about them.



[Edited on October 7, 2016 at 3:51 PM. Reason : ^ Even buying airline tickets for someone else? I wonder if he's changed his methods...]

10/7/2016 3:51:32 PM

Quote :

"Transferring UR to an account that isn't in your name is now Chase suicide"

I sold him some a few months ago for about 1.5c/pt. It's a total pain in the ass now though since you have to jump through hoops

10/7/2016 3:59:54 PM

Last time he did it for me he just logged into my Delta account (I setup a temp. UN and PW) and he just bought reward tickets. Once the tickets were emailed to him I changed the PW and UN again. No I didn't have a CC attached to my Delta account.

10/7/2016 4:02:56 PM

Ditto.

Just checked into hyatt andaz peninsula papagayo resort. This place is niiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
Also got a free suite upgrade with diamond status along with breakfast and a bunch of other stuff.

10/7/2016 4:54:30 PM

At the PP lounge in ATL and having an early beer before my flight to tokyo - can definitely confirm that guests are allowed in free - guy i'm with had to show his boarding pass to prove he was on the same flight as me but that was all

10/8/2016 10:22:36 AM

I'm hoping I have enough time to make use of my PP pass in Atlanta today. It's only a one hour layover though. I'm for sure hanging out there when I get into Phoenix since the I'm arriving well before I can check into my hotel. Seems like a good place to watch some football.

10/9/2016 9:15:35 AM

Just got an email w/ a $150 offer for Chase Freedom (and 1.5% cashback). I was planning on downgrading my Sapphire Preffered to the Freedom - if I open up the freedom for the bonus, that would count as a new card, and I would be completely cancelling the CSP, thereby taking a hit on my credit (age of accounts), right?

10/11/2016 4:39:23 PM

Yes

10/11/2016 7:58:26 PM

But I WONT take the hit if I just downgrade, right? I know that's the case with AmEx (even cancelling Amex cards, for some reason the only thing that counts is your oldest open card)

10/12/2016 2:05:02 AM

How long have you had it? The hit should be minimal assuming it's not one of your oldest. Just remember to transfer the credit limit to your new card.

10/12/2016 8:07:58 AM

~3 years

10/12/2016 11:55:40 AM

Quote :

"I read on a thread on SlickDeals that someone sent a rent check via RadPad (using Android Pay) and it was processed as Travel"

so much for that idea...

Quote :

"We wanted to let you know that effective Thursday, October 13, 2016, we will no longer be processing and paying rent payments As a current RadPad rent payer, RadPad will no longer be making rent payments for you. Effective immediately, you will need to find an alternative for making your rent payments. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. On Monday, October 31, 2016, your RadPad payment account, which includes your payment information, landlord's information, and rent payment history will be permanently deleted. Thank you very much for allowing us to pay your rent. Sincerely, Team RadPad"

10/12/2016 6:41:41 PM

Well that sucks. I haven't gotten the email yet, but that really stinks to see.

10/13/2016 11:02:54 AM

Got a letter in the mail today from CSR. I thought it was a denial but it was a fraud prevention letter saying that someone tried to apply for the card in my name (it was me). I called and they said i made a typo in the phone number, confirmed my identity, then said I was approved!

10/13/2016 7:38:43 PM

How long till my 100k points hit after meeting the spend? Next statement date?

10/13/2016 10:48:46 PM