if you're not using the other features beyond the 2x points, and you have a no-fee card with 2x points, i wouldn't use it after the initial bonus assuming cancelling it won't hurt your credit score (i.e. you're not carrying a balance where it would throw off your credit utilization)

it's true that your points are worth more booking through chase, but in my experience chase often doesn't have the lowest rates for airfare or hotels compared to what i can find on google so it's often been a wash for me

(the chase saphire reserve is 3x points though, you could switch the card to reserve but it's only worth doing that if you travel enough to get the $300 reimbursement)

[Edited on January 31, 2018 at 9:25 AM. Reason : .]

1/31/2018 9:24:27 AM

yeah that's what i figured. just wasn't sure if there was something i was missing with other benefits there. thanks

1/31/2018 11:36:36 AM

After months of suspicion and research, I finally decided I wanted to get a Chase Reserve. I've never previously had a rewards credit card of any kind.

Even after I overcame my deep-seated anti-credit-card bias, I had to deal with my even more suspicious fiancee. Had to put together a PowerPoint with break-even analysis and all that.

The timing almost couldn't be better. No sooner do I get the card than I find out I have to book travel to LA for Jeopardy, plus it's time to buy honeymoon airfare, plus the wedding caterer deposit is due and what do you know, that's dining and absurdly expensive.

I don't think the fiancee is really going to be sold until we're on an airplane for free, but so far I am very pleased with this decision.

1/31/2018 12:25:23 PM

^...my fiance and i got the sapphire preferred (not reserve, but i'm sure this still applies) to plan for our honeymoon. i got it first, and then she signed up for it through my reference which gave me some extra points. and then we both achieved the sign up bonuses so we doubled our points there. i think once the first year is up and we'd be paying the annual fee one of us will close that account and we'll probably keep one card open. so that presents a bit of a pain or hassle i guess, but it seems like an easy way to double up on the sign up bonus.

1/31/2018 4:24:17 PM

Quote :

" I had to deal with my even more suspicious fiancee. Had to put together a PowerPoint with break-even analysis and all that."

God damn. Do you also have to ask permission to post on tww?

2/2/2018 5:37:00 PM

Moved my Starwood points to Marriott to snag 5 nights in Aruba. 180,000 pts for a ~$3000 stay

Went to cancel my Citi AA and they said they'd give me 7500 for 1K spend and then I'd still have time to cancel the card if I really wanted to do so.

Also got approved for the new amex Hilton biz. Plan on signing up for their new fancy Hilton card next quarter.

[Edited on February 2, 2018 at 5:42 PM. Reason : ]

2/2/2018 5:40:08 PM

what reason did you give for cancel?

2/3/2018 3:38:04 AM

Quote :

"God damn. Do you also have to ask permission to post on tww?"

yea dude...bail on that immediately

2/3/2018 6:07:21 PM

^^ Just told them I don't really use the card anymore and the annual fee was coming up soon.

2/3/2018 9:14:44 PM

Quote :

"God damn. Do you also have to ask permission to post on tww?"

No. Didn't have to "ask permission" for me to get a card, either, but I wanted it to be a joint effort. Both parties spending through it means more points.

Aside from which, I would hope she would consult me on major decisions with the potential to impact our finances or credit scores. Possibly you folks don't consider acquiring a credit card to be a major decision. Both of us do.

2/3/2018 10:38:48 PM

^it's good you have those conversations imo

2/4/2018 11:18:51 PM

Certainly

2/5/2018 9:32:49 AM

Quote :

"you folks don't consider acquiring a credit card to be a major decision"

Ding Ding Ding

2/5/2018 10:43:21 AM

i think they are ragging on him because of the powerpoint and break-even analysis joke (i assume it was a joke?)

we were hardcore no debt, cash for everything so we also had to talk about it. it's only been recently we've started to be okay with some debt to leverage our assets for other investments. i know it's not debt if you are immediately paying off the credit card(s), but there is still something psychological about it.

2/5/2018 10:51:09 AM

Quote :

"i think they are ragging on him because of the powerpoint and break-even analysis joke (i assume it was a joke?)"

Yes and no. I did make those, but I didn't really "have" to. A while back I mentioned that I was thinking about getting the card, and she was clearly dubious. There were a few courses of action open at that point. Surrender was stupid and weak; unilateral action was just stupid; and engaging in an open-ended back-and-forth just seemed unpleasant. So I opted to launch a pre-emptive PowerPoint strike in which I anticipated and neutralized all of her objections. You can think it's lame; I don't give a shit. It made her laugh and got me what I wanted with no resistance.

[Edited on February 5, 2018 at 4:23 PM. Reason : ]

2/5/2018 4:23:01 PM

Got another BOA Alaska, because, why not
IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card
AMEX American Express Hilton Aspire

Going to use the IHG for the 4th night free in Madrid and getting a 5th night free at a Marriott in Barcelona

5/4/2018 8:44:36 PM

Curious what your credit scores are and how they are affected by you playing the “ring around the rosey” game with switching for incentives.

5/4/2018 8:56:54 PM

I feel like that gets asked every few pages

Maybe a minor reduction due to all the inquiries...mine is excellent.

5/4/2018 9:30:38 PM

I've been pretty chill over the last year and we're buying soon so I'm laying off the activity. In the last year mine has fluctuated between 761 (June 17') and 814 (Jan 18'). It's currently sitting at 804.

In the last year I haven't:

1. Opened or closed any credit lines
2. Had a revolving balance
3. Had any credit inquiries
4. Missed any payments (never missed a payment)
5. Pretty much done anything other than pay credit cards off in full

The only variance in my credit behavior is some months I'll go on more work travel than others and my balance/credit ratio will go up. I'll still pay off all my cards in full at the end of each month but some months I'll only pay $3k on my cards and others I'll pay $10k.

In the past when I've churned ( ) I haven't noticed anything more than what I'm seeing here so I really have no idea why I'm getting +/- 53 point fluctuations.

When I click on the "Your Score Factors" in my Chase and Wells Fargo credit reporting I get the following:

Length of time accounts have been established - I got my first credit card in 2009.

Proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high - I have a 60 month loan on a 2014 Subaru with $3,200 left (of $23k) at 0.9%.

Too many accounts with balances - Ok? I currently have 10 credit cards 6 of which I've used in the last month (but paid in full).

That doesn't seem to tell me much at all. At this point literally the only factor making my credit go up and down is my spend each month.

5/6/2018 1:40:42 AM

Transunion and Equifax coincidentally both at 807
Fluctuated between 788 and 811 the past 11 months

[Edited on May 7, 2018 at 7:20 PM. Reason : ]

5/7/2018 7:18:56 PM

is there any reason to not buy a car with a rewards card that i'm not thinking of?
(it would obviously be payed right off)

6/8/2018 11:40:17 AM

Most places restrict how much you can put on a card to 3-5k but in general as long as you are going to pay it off immediately then it’s a great idea

6/8/2018 12:49:10 PM

lol payed?

6/8/2018 1:07:30 PM

Huh? Why is this even a question?

6/8/2018 1:26:41 PM

well it seems so obvious that i'd expect everyone to do it but i don't know of anyone that does it which makes me assume i'm missing something

6/8/2018 2:21:17 PM

nobody does it because car sellers aren't typically dumb enough to accept credit card payments

6/8/2018 2:23:09 PM

what about convenience checks

6/8/2018 2:25:51 PM

You don't get rewards for using those.

Google "manufactured spend" to see the hoops people jump through to get CC rewards. It's not as easy as using those dumb checks.

6/8/2018 4:03:50 PM

I bought a porsche cayenne with a credit card. I got a lot of delta miles doing it.

6/10/2018 10:04:54 AM

Years ago (like 2010), I bought my Corvette Z06 off of eBay and put it on my credit card (and did it from a tent in Kyrgyzstan, haha). Unfortunately I wasn't savvy at all on getting rewards for my spending back then...it was just a convenience thing.

____________
I just closed my Marriott card after scoring 80,000 Marriott points, and got an IHG Rewards card that will give me 80,000 IHG points for spending just $2k. I also already have some IHG points from spending a couple of weeks in a Holiday Inn Express last time I was doing USMC Reserves stuff. I'm thinking about taking a trip to Vegas and redeeming them for a stay at the Intercontinental.
____________

Also, my Chase Sapphire Reserve card waives the $450 annual fee due to my being military (which makes keeping it a SUPER no-brainer, as it gives $300 annual credit for travel expenses--if nothing else, I can actually rent an airplane for a couple of hours to use it --but the only way I wouldn't use it on hotels and rental cars is if I have so many reward points that I just use those instead.)

At any rate, I learned tonight that my interest rate on that card is 4%. I've been thinking about buying another motorcycle and a sailboat...I prob can't scheme any way to put used ones on the CC unless I can find what I want at a good price at a dealer, but the bike I want (XSR900) is tough to find used, and I can find a new, leftover 2017 for not much more money than a used one would cost. At 4%, I might just pay the minimum payment on it for a long time. I can't get a secured loan that cheap, and it's not really worth paying cash at that rate.

7/5/2018 1:25:23 AM

Downgraded my amex hilton and a few weeks later was once again given an upgrade offer.
I'll probably get the new hyatt too.

7/7/2018 3:06:06 PM

How in the world do you have 4% on your Chase Sapphire Reserve?!?! That would be a game changer for me. I think mine's at like 17% or something

7/7/2018 5:56:30 PM

military benefit offered by chase. there might be more to it--like, I have no idea whether they offer that to every military member, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get that deal otherwise.

7/7/2018 7:30:09 PM

Chase is closing my old Chase Sapphire card that i no longer use.

I'm still using my Sapphire Reserve card as my daily spender, but I cashed the bulk of my rewards points for a trip to Banff.

I'm thinking about possibly downgrading that one to the free version and putting it away, but I can't really find one that's better for me overall.

7/12/2018 12:07:56 PM

^ is that 2% back? I use Fidelity's 2% card as my daily spender (outside of blue cash for groceries + gas)

7/12/2018 3:54:51 PM

Who has the best balance transfer offers?

7/17/2018 3:24:55 PM

Trying to decide between the new Marriott/SPG loyalty program vs. Hilton Honors. 8/1 the merger goes through and I've heard mixed reviews of both, so not sure which is the better option. FWIW, I don't have status with either of them, but I'd be willing to partner up with whichever one is going to give me the best perks/upgrades.

7/18/2018 7:24:16 PM

I've used both extensively. I find it much easier to earn hilton points, of course the hiltons cost a lot more as well. The spg availability was/is much less, but that should change b/c of the merger. I've gotten status with both in the past and I've received upgrades off and on, but nothing amazing enough for me to favor one brand over the other. Their apps and availability are both good overall. If you have any trip(s) in mind in the future it may be best to see what the two chains have to offer for said location(s) and then make your decision based on that.

7/19/2018 11:25:19 PM

^Thanks. Seems like a Honda/Toyota type of situation where they're way more similar than different. I do like the AMEX Aspire card for Hilton since it comes with automatic Diamond, but I think I'll go with the SPG/Marriott merger and CC, based on the guaranteed late checkouts alone (Hilton never guarantees them- even for Diamond). Don't really care about free breakfasts or suites, and I generally prefer Marriott/SPG properties over Hilton ones (W/St Regis/Ritz/etc).

7/24/2018 1:03:30 PM

Quote :

"Don't really care about free breakfasts or suites"

The 5th night free perk is nice if you don't already have status
You also get 100k pts, and an annual free night, in addition to the hotel + airline credits which offset the annual fee

7/25/2018 1:19:17 PM

How have you guys leveraged points internationally for hotels? Heading to Europe in a month and have loads of Chase, Amex, and Southwest points (don't think I have any 'free night' certs or anything similar on a hotel card)...also don't have much status currently outside of Marriott.

7/25/2018 1:32:12 PM

What cities?
Made sense to pay out of pocket in Manchester, Munich, Brussels, Ghent, and Belfast
Used points to book hotels for Rejavick, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris

7/25/2018 1:43:29 PM

Quote :

"The 5th night free perk is nice if you don't already have status You also get 100k pts, and an annual free night, in addition to the hotel + airline credits which offset the annual fee "

Correct. Essentially, I'll buy my way into status with the CC, and the $450 annual fee pretty much pays for itself. The biggest thing I've hemmed and hawed over is the Marriott/SPG gold vs. Hilton diamond. Gold isn't all that great compared to diamond, but I think I could manage get to Platinum with Marriott/SPG, which is definitely worth it.

7/25/2018 1:53:31 PM

If any of yall are applying for the Chase Ink Preferred (business card) send me a PM and I can send you a referral link and we can split the referral bonus. It's a sign up bonus of 80k UR (spend $5k in 90 days) and the referral is 20k.

7/25/2018 3:29:23 PM

^^^ Rome, primarily.

7/25/2018 4:11:56 PM

Hyatt is the best transfer partner, but it doesn't look like there are any in Rome.
AMEX has hotel transfer partners but the valuation is shit.
Depending on what chase cards you have, pay with points could be worth it if you can get 1.5 cents per point

7/25/2018 4:32:22 PM

Looking forward to the new SPG card coming out.

Heading to Azores -> Lisbon -> Madrid -> Barcelona next week
Only cost a little over $300 to get to Azores
Used 20K British Airways miles for 2 Business Class tickets to Madrid
Was able to snag 9 nights in Madrid and Barcelona worth ~$3,000 for about 300K Marriott + IHG points
The 4th and 5th night free thing worked out nicely.
Used 60K Lufthansa miles for 2 Coach tickets for the flight back.

8/19/2018 4:37:50 PM

Been using the Chase Sapphire Preferred as the daily spender for awhile (not really deep in the points game), but looking to maybe grab a new Amex Gold. We don't spend a lot on travel but we do on food. By my calculations we'd have earned almost 95k points with the amex this year vs 55k on the Chase.

Question: If had both is it better to use one for all spending or split the spending based on the best rewards by category. My total points value would be higher, but lower on each card, and maybe not as usable when its time to cash in rewards.

10/24/2018 2:00:44 PM

I guess it might depend on how you're planning on spending points...eg two plane tickets to Japan or smaller purchases. When I spend points it's usually on smaller stuff (car rental, hotel etc) , so I use a few different cards to max points/cash back.

Current cards:
Amex Blue Cash Preferred- 6% grocery (carry)
Chase Ink Business Cash- 5% on utilities/phone/cable/tv (not carried)
Amazon - 5% on amazon/whole foods (not carried)
Fidelity Rewards - 2% on everything else (carry)

Only hole I have is food/restaurant cash back...missing my Citi Freedom card which did 5% on that.

[Edited on October 24, 2018 at 3:04 PM. Reason : Any interesting cards out there now that don't count towards the 5/24 rule? https://thepointsguy.com/guide/ultimate-guide-chase-5-24-rule/]

[Edited on October 24, 2018 at 3:04 PM. Reason : ]

[Edited on October 24, 2018 at 3:06 PM. Reason : also is there anything new in the manufactured spend world?]

10/24/2018 3:03:23 PM

The Amex Gold does 4% on grocery and restaurants, plus

- 20% back as a statement credit, up to $100, on dining purchases for the first three months
- $120 annual dining credit (up to $10/mo) in statement credits when used with participating partners. Grubhub and Seamless count, so I could probably manage that.

Chase only does 2% on restaurants.

On the downside, the amex has a $250 yearly fee. You'd have to max out the dining credit and the $100 airline credit to offset most of that.

Right now I generally use points for smaller purchases, but would like to start saving up for some travel.

[Edited on October 24, 2018 at 3:34 PM. Reason : ahem amazon.]

10/24/2018 3:32:59 PM