So, after about 100 days between CITI AA Biz apps, just got my 2nd one approved for 75k/$5k/5 months - no 24 month lang terms. I traded a united club pass I was never going to use for a mailer code on reddit. I closed my other one yesterday. Anyhow, thanks for more points CITI!

Does anyone know when the Chase SW visa sign up bonus hits; is it immediately when you hit min. spend, or the end of the cycle that you hit the min. spend in?

I'm currently at $999.50 on a $1000 min. spend, but I DO NOT want those bonus points hitting this year. (Combining with bus card next year for companion pass)
My 1st cycle just closed a few days ago, so 2nd cycle closes 1/15.

Should I wait until 1/1 to use it again, or will they not hit until this cycle closes?

End of the billing cycle. Usually that day.

100% sure?

I ask cause I want to start using it heavily, since this one also has the spend $12k in a year and get 20k bonus points.

But if those points hit as soon as I hit $1000k (which will be my next purchase), I'll screw myself on getting companion pass next year.

It's how it worked for me. Granted, I thought the minimum spend was 3k not 1k, so I hit the threshold about 2 weeks earlier than I wanted, so I didn't get the CP, but the points hit my account on the day of statement closing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9h4yc0/applying_for_southwest_cards_cp_late_in_the_year/

I got a mailer for 100k MR points on the AMEX Platinum card.

Any reason not to take it? If I cancel early do I have to pay the $550 annual fee?

Any tips appreciated.

The annual fee will hit on your first billing statement, so there's no getting out of the first fee.

I got the Platinum last month because of the 100k MR offer. I'm happy with the card so far and have taken full advantage of many credits the card offers (airline, Saks, Uber). It's hard to not get more value from the card than you pay in the first year.

You might want to hurry. As I understand it, the airline credits run calendar year. You may still be able to score some gift cards with 2018s $200 airline credits and then get a brand new $200 credit in 2019.

gvine07 said:

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I got a mailer for 100k MR points on the AMEX Platinum card.

Any reason not to take it? If I cancel early do I have to pay the $550 annual fee?

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That's a nice card - 100k is a good offer. I'd take it. You have to pay the fee your first statement, but the bonus heavily outweighs that high AF cost alone (not counting the other perks/benefits you can get). After a year of use, you can wait until the next AF posts, then you can call up and cancel/downgrade the card and you'll get the next AF waived.

Or they might make you a retention bonus to stay another year (if you are interested - YMMV).

Or you might use the benefits enough after a year to decide to hold onto it longer.

so - I had a chase united card and used it for free flights for my family of 6 several times - Calgary twice, Denver, Phoenix, Orlando.. find the super saver option and it works great! Generally find 25,000 points round trip for 1 ticket.

someone convinced me to get a Chase Sapphire card and the 55,000 bonus points - so I did it and now use it entirely.. up to 130,000 points now.

PROBLEM - it looks like it takes a LOT more miles to get a ticket on Sapphire (35,000) than the Chase United card

anyone else notice this? I"m pretty upset and may switch back to Chase United, or find another card and get the bonus for signing up..

also - feels like it's harder than ever to get nonstop supersavers

anyone else experience this?

The aspect that makes the sapphire so valuable is the fact you can transfer their points to so many other programs. Using UR points through their portal is usually only sorta ok, but putting them directly into the account you want and redeeming at those better rates is the ideal.

Bulldog73 said:

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The aspect that makes the sapphire so valuable is the fact you can transfer their points to so many other programs. Using UR points through their portal is usually only sorta ok, but putting them directly into the account you want and redeeming at those better rates is the ideal.

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Interesting What do you mean by putting them directly into the account you want

Are you saying I can put all of my points into my United airlines points?

Yes. You can send your UR points to many different airline and hotel accounts, including United specifically. As you stated earlier, you'll be get better redemptions through the airline durectly, but always make sure they have award availability before transferring the points because you can't transfer them back.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/redeeming-chase-ultimate-rewards-maximum-value/

About to go through this process. Any secret sauce to get the annual fee waived?

Slowed down on churring this year. I'm finally back under 5/24 and looking for my next card to pay property taxes in January. What's the best sign up bonus out there?

We primarily spend on Chase cards and find the most value out of UR with SW, Hyatt, and leveraging the 1.5 through the portal on random resorts or European hotels. We have been able to leverage our Amex points for flights to Europe on Delta and flying AA metal via BA Avios but they're more difficult to find value than URs.

Located in DFW. Fly AA for work and personal, I have lowly gold status.

I was looking at the Hyatt card but would love to get more URs. I tried applying for the CIP a couple years ago but was denied. My wife was approved for the SW Biz so I could try through her but she's over 5/24.

Current Inventory:

My cards: CSR (opened Sep 2017), FU, Freedom (2), Amex Plat, Amex Blue Cash, and a bunch of downgraded / no annual fees from AA, Citi, Barclay, etc.

Wife: Amex Plat, SW Personal and Biz (got the CP in Jan 2018), downgraded CSP to plain jane Sapphire.

DonaldFDraper said:

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About to go through this process. Any secret sauce to get the annual fee waived?

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These links have some good info.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/1812751-american-express-retention-offers-7.html

https://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2017/05/how-likely-is-american-express-to-offer-a-retention-bonusfee-waiver.html

DonaldFDraper said:

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Slowed down on churring this year. I'm finally back under 5/24 and looking for my next card to pay property taxes in January. What's the best sign up bonus out there?

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Given you like UR points, and are under 5/24, I'd go Chase biz cards. You would stay under 5/24 while getting some of those as well.

You can get CITI AA biz cards every 95 days if you wanted - you'll have to get mailers that bypass the standard 1 bonus/24 months rule. This one also wouldn't add to your 5/24 total.

Thanks. I'll try again for a Chase Biz. I'll start researching but any opinion on which currently has the best sign up bonus?

DonaldFDraper said:

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Thanks. I'll try again for a Chase Biz. I'll start researching but any opinion on which currently has the best sign up bonus?

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Unfortunately the one you got rejected for, lol. Not sure about your situation, but there are tutorials on how to properly fill out, and get appproved pretty easily on credit biz cards.

CIP is 80k bonus with 5k min spend over 3 months. You can self-refer after the first one to your spouse for an extra 20k referral bonus as well. So it is 80k for the first one, then 100k for each one after that.

Cyprian said:

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DonaldFDraper said:

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Slowed down on churring this year. I'm finally back under 5/24 and looking for my next card to pay property taxes in January. What's the best sign up bonus out there?

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Given you like UR points, and are under 5/24, I'd go Chase biz cards. You would stay under 5/24 while getting some of those as well.

You can get CITI AA biz cards every 95 days if you wanted - you'll have to get mailers that bypass the standard 1 bonus/24 months rule. This one also wouldn't add to your 5/24 total.

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Is there somewhere or something you can't do to sign up for these mailers?

I have a chase United and a chase Sapphire

Can I get a chase Biz card also, even though I don't have a business? I can spend 5k in 3 months easily

Cyprian said:

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DonaldFDraper said:

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Thanks. I'll try again for a Chase Biz. I'll start researching but any opinion on which currently has the best sign up bonus?

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Unfortunately the one you got rejected for, lol. Not sure about your situation, but there are tutorials on how to properly fill out, and get appproved pretty easily on credit biz cards.

CIP is 80k bonus with 5k min spend over 3 months. You can self-refer after the first one to your spouse for an extra 20k referral bonus as well. So it is 80k for the first one, then 100k for each one after that.

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So CIP doesn't count toward 5/24?

It's highly discouraged, if not illegal, but you could have sold something on EBay or Amazon before. Or consulted a neighbor about your industry, or even set up a WiFi router for a twenty. Don't lie, but think of business opportunities.

It does not count towards 5/24, but they do look at 5/24. If you're over, you won't be approved 99% of the time.

irish pete ag06 said:

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Is there somewhere or something you can't do to sign up for these mailers?

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I traded for one with a poster on reddit. I have access to amex lounges and priority pass - so I traded a united club pass i had gotten for it, which I have little use for. People trade some for various things for them tho. On generating new mailers - you'd have to create new AAdvantage account(s) with your mailing address. I have heard of people creating accounts for their kids and pets, which is hilarious, but I digress.... 3-4 months later you should get some mailers. Make sure you specific you are a business for those types of mailers. You can get mailers for personal cards as well, but they towards your 5/24 count (if you care). They come with a code that you use, (or trade it off to someone else who can use it).

nosoupforyou said:

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I have a chase United and a chase Sapphire

Can I get a chase Biz card also, even though I don't have a business? I can spend 5k in 3 months easily

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I have rental property - so I just use that. Have you ever sold something on eBay? Or something along those lines, and you could qualify. You don't need much of any revenue - they'll use your income and credit history as a basis for approval anyways.

Bulldog73 said:

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It does not count towards 5/24, but they do look at 5/24. If you're over, you won't be approved 99% of the time.

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Well put. If you are over 5/24, good luck getting approved by Chase for much of anything! You can pile on biz cards from CITI, AMEX. Barclays, and Chase itself while you are under 5/24, and since they don't report those biz accounts to your personal credit score (as long as the accounts are in good standing), they also don't add to your 5/24 count. I am at 3/24 right now thanks to that approach.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/world-of-hyatt-credit-card-sign-up-bonus-decreasing-in-january/

Good to know. I guess I should get busy on that.

DonaldFDraper said:

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https://thepointsguy.com/news/world-of-hyatt-credit-card-sign-up-bonus-decreasing-in-january/

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That sucks on the timing for me, that card looks sweet, but will have to pass for now. I have got a Lufthansa redemption in mind and I'm chasing United miles for it.

Also, when I started low key churning a few years back, I always made me and my wife each other's authorized user. But I've read that it counts towards 5/24, so I should probably stop doing that I reckon. Anyone know for sure If that counts?

Applied for the CIP. Fingers crossed.

I'll have to MS a little but will likely go for the Hyatt card as well. In the past, I have "pre-paid" my annual home/auto insurance online despite it already being paid in full for the year. The company just cuts me a paper check for the over payment. Nice way to wash some money. Haha.

I got the bonus on the Hyatt card with my wife last year. Referred myself to it this year and am currently working towards the bonus on my end. After I get it I plan to transfer her points to my account (which is currently free to do unlike southwest).

Should give me around 110k on my Hyatt account when I'm done. The Hyatt points can go a really long way in some places (not Vegas though, never use those points for a room in Vegas)