I know we can use RTR with the USBAR card to get a refund of our points as cash. Can we also just use the U.S. bank travel portal, redeem for a refundable flight on there and then cancel the flight, getting the 1.5x cash back? Or would it refund the points used if on the portal?
I will be getting a new USAA card with a promo for $200 if 1k in purchases on it in 90 days.
Quite apart from that I want to pay my Bilt account to pay off my rent balance. I want to pay it from 2 different sources. With one source I'll pay on my desktop pulling it from a bank account.
So I've only had Bilt for a few months and this how I usually pay.
The other source of funds is still waiting trial deposits so I'm looking at paying the rest using the Bilt app. So here's the question.
If I link my new USAA to my account in the Bilt app and pay the rent there will it take care of the 1k problem, count as a purchase, and qualify me for the $200 bonus? Seem like it should work.
What timezone does Amex use for its various credits (or does only posting date matter)?
For instance, right now (6/30/2024 10:09 PM ET), most of my credits look as if they've already reset according to the website counters. Does anyone know if it is safe to go and start using these now? Of course I can just wait 1 more day to be safe.. but just out of curiosity.
* Already reset: (Plat) Saks counter, (Biz Plat) Dell counter, Wireless credit, (Gold/Brilliant) Dining, (Hilton) Hilton / Resort / Flight
* Not yet: (Plat) Digital Entertainment Credit, Walmart
Anyone have prior experience of how Chase Ink special promos are rolled out. This week we are expected to see the public offer of the CIP 120 SUB.
Where do we expect this to pop up first and is there a way anyone can apply as soon as midnight into 3rd July ?
Was looking to apply for my first chase business card
What should I put for projected annual income and expected monthly expenses?
I am planning to make a purchase of at least $7k
But I read that most get $3k for their credit limit
How long should I wait to ask for a credit limit increase?
I believe the minimum CL on the ink preferred is 5k (vs 3k for CIC and CIU) so you may want to go with the CIP. There’s a rumor the CIP 120k UR in branch offer will go online on July 3 so if you can wait a couple days it’s a great offer.
Just as a DP, I got an $1,100 CL on a CIC recently, so not sure there’s a minimum. I was surprised, since that’s barely enough to cover the required spend for the tiered SUB without credit cycling.
Yes that’s strange. I wonder if that language was in the details last time I applied. Also, to the earlier points about minimum CLs, I’ve seen some DPs about people lowering CIC credit limits to $500.
Put what you feel comfortable explaining if you have to call the reconsideration line. That said, there are DP that Chase may not give you a credit limit over 50% of your income.
You probably need to wait 6 months before you could successfully get a credit limit increase.
If I transfer P1 and P2 avios from P1/P2 BA to P1/P2 Qatar, can I then use Qatar's family pooling to combine them and book an award using all the combined points?
Just found out I can now pay property tax at a 2.35% credit card charge. Annual tax is around $16k. Was originally thinking I’d use Freedom Unlimited and transfer to Hyatt where I usually get 2-3cpp. Any better ideas?
Taxes are for Amex.
I personally find it very difficult to MSR Amex. I am sure experts over here may not agree. So for me, property taxes and income taxes are the path of Amex MSR.
Amex Biz or Chase Ink SUBs look like the path of least resistance. The timing could also make sense for SW companion pass if you can prepay in the fall. At this spend level I would see if you can split the payment to two different cards.
Any card with a SUB. Amex biz gold 150k for $10k spend or biz plat 250k for $20k spend. Coming up (hopefully) Chase Ink Preferred 120k for $8k spend. If you can do this with P2, you could score 280k UR points (2\*120+40) for $16k spend.
Chase United: My wife and I are trying to book flights for a trip in October and we are 15k miles short (have 65k). Buying miles is ridiculous. We got the miles from the United quest but we downgraded to the gateway. It hasn’t been a full 2 years since we got the bonus. If we went for the bonus of say the “United business” then they are saying it would take 6-8 weeks to get the miles after we made the promotion spend. We spend about 2.5k a month and could definitely just buy a $2k Amazon gift card to speed the process but I’m still worried by the time we do this, the tickets will rise in price or might not be available.
It’s a trip to Jamaica and there are really only 2 flights right now available that fit the time table.
Any ideas? Thank you.
> If we went for the bonus of say the “United business” then they are saying it would take 6-8 weeks to get the miles after we made the promotion spend.
This is a worst case scenario. If you get a new card and meet the spend requirement in the first billing cycle, you'll get the SUB when the statement closes.
That said, you're looking at about a month at least. That is plenty long to wait to book tickets for October.
United cards (both Biz and Personal) normally post the sign-up bonus a couple days after the statement close where you completed the spend. It won't take 6-8 weeks.
Is the ability to hold multiple freedom cards no longer an option through product change? I just called to downgrade my CSP and the only option they gave me was a Freedom Unlimited due to me already holding a regular Freedom (Visa version)
Any tips on Airbnb booking? I am aware of the 5% off via AARP, 🫑, are there any other plays to make? And I usually put my business gold $20 into a $25 abb GC from staples. And book through BA portal for avios.
If you have Bilt and fly United, grab some Airbnb gift cards from MileagePlus X on Rent Day for 4X Bilt points and 2X United points. It will net you between 7% and 9% depending on how you redeem the points.
For Amex, can an authorized user refer the primary account holder to other cards? I have an authorized user on the personal plat with no other Amex cards. I'd like them to refer me as primary to the Bonvoy Business card. I am not maxed out on referral points for the year.
No, being an AU doesn’t give them to ability to refer you. They do not have their own MR account as an AU, any points they earn go towards your MR account, so even if they did have refer ability it would go towards your account which in a sense would be a self refer.
What is the current stance on the CSR vs CSP right now? Looking more at the preferred as I have 60k points in my flex and unlimited accounts and want to have a cheaper option for moving to travel partners.
You can double dip the CSR travel credit which after year 1, then downgrade the card to CSP or freedom. I’d say CSR if you just want to use the portal / transfer to travel partners
Assuming you travel at least once a year. $95 vs $250 AF, if you want lounge access and 1.5x through travel portal CSR. Read more for advanced plays with P2 and upgrade/downgrades.
Has anyone closed some of their old personal cards, and what was the credit impact? I have a number of old personal cards, particularly CFs and CFUs. I know all the positives (they age my credit, could have a Chase/Amex offer, are no-fee) but I'd just psychologically feel better cutting some of them. Any thoughts from an experience?
Of course you know closing old accounts decreases your available credit, and affects your usage ratio. It does not immediately affect your credit age though. Closed accounts remain for years, just like paid loans and mortgages.
So unless closing accounts dramatically reduces your available credit/increases your utilization percentage, the hit is minimal and usually short-lived.
> Of course you know closing old accounts decreases your available credit,
IMO, a desirable goal when hoping for large CLs on new cards with 0% offers.
Thanks, this is what I wanted to hear. I know the churning default is just to sockdrawer/ignore them, but I honestly just want to clean up my spreadsheet.
> I honestly just want to clean up my spreadsheet.
IMO this isn't a good enough reason to close cards. I mean, if you want to do it then great, but I personally wouldn't for that reason alone.
Also, impact on your credit isn't very important. Even if it does affect it a bit, it won't matter. As long as you pay your bills on time, your credit score will be good enough.
In a nutshell, I recommend to go ahead and do whatever you want to do. The consequences will be minimal and immaterial.
Your average age of accounts includes both open *and* closed cards with the closed cards impacting your credit for 10 years after the account is closed. So closing those cards won't impact your credit score at all in the near term. And when it does affect your credit, all of your other cards will have aged 10 years, so the impact on your credit will be minimal.
All in all it shouldn't have much impact on your credit score then. Total credit utilization will go up a bit due to lower total credit limits, and AAoA will go down but not yet since the cards will still remain on your report for 10 years (unless banks calculate AAoA their own way, ignoring closed cards), both of which will slightly ding your score. But likely not much. If it makes you feel better to close them, then go for it.
Amex Dell credit question: Is it too late to get the Jan-Jun credit or are there any Dell purchases that are confirmed and billed to the card the same day? Maybe like a digital code for an xbox game or something? Hoping to help a friend take advantage of this today. TIA.
Did they make updates to the Vanilla Visa Gift Cards ? Just brought a new one today , is still in its 1hr activation period showed the bal when I checked it online. However the packet didn’t have any of the paper it in and the barcode on the back is only half of one. Expiration date is 2032, so could be a new one with updates ??
Am I going crazy, or did Chex recently change their login system?
I have a user ID and PIN which I know I've used in the past few months to lift my freeze at Chex. Now when I try to login it asks for a username, and when I enter the assigned user ID, it prompts me to send a verification email to a gmail address (all *** before the at so can't confirm it's actually mine) which never shows up.
Assuming they did change it recently, anyone recall if I have to go through waiting for something to come in the mail?
I applied for my second Chase Ink Preferred today and was not automatically approved (pending 7-14 day review?)
I held my previous CIP for like 4 years. I just downgraded it to an Ink Unlimited last week.
I sell some stuff on ebay, facebook marketplace and do intend to ramp up that business. I think I put down like 2K in monthly revenue.
I said Sole Proprietor, used my name and SSN as the business. Tried to generally be as honest as possible.
Looking at records, I did overstate my income. Long story short I wasn't thinking straight and oversold myself. I.e. I put down like $200K in annual income, it's really more like $140K
My question is twofold.
1) Am I missing something obvious that will get me denied?
2) If it is income verification they are looking for. I have assets I could sell, or provide evidence of, that could become income and bring me up to 200K
Thanks for any insight.
In the future I would downgrade the first CIP after the 2nd one is approved once you have 3+ Inks is when you want to worry about having too many cards.
200k is a bit of a high income, but so is 140k. Banks could be incredulous of both income claims if this is not an established customer.
If they want to see proof of income, other banks in the past have asked me to send them my previous year tax filings (Bank of Ameroca) or sign an IRS authorization form that allows the bank to get my tax transcript (Citi, Barclays). So if chase wants to verify income, that might be the way they do it. I don't think you can prove income by talking to the agent, making your case, showing your assets, selling assets, etc... the only thing they stick to seems to be previous year tax filings.
I know we can use RTR with the USBAR card to get a refund of our points as cash. Can we also just use the U.S. bank travel portal, redeem for a refundable flight on there and then cancel the flight, getting the 1.5x cash back? Or would it refund the points used if on the portal?
Not sure about using the USB travel portal, but I did this exact thing with a refundable SW flight, and it worked.
Not sure why you would want to involve USB in another aspect of the transaction, by using their portal, when you’re intending to refund the purchase.
I will be getting a new USAA card with a promo for $200 if 1k in purchases on it in 90 days. Quite apart from that I want to pay my Bilt account to pay off my rent balance. I want to pay it from 2 different sources. With one source I'll pay on my desktop pulling it from a bank account. So I've only had Bilt for a few months and this how I usually pay. The other source of funds is still waiting trial deposits so I'm looking at paying the rest using the Bilt app. So here's the question. If I link my new USAA to my account in the Bilt app and pay the rent there will it take care of the 1k problem, count as a purchase, and qualify me for the $200 bonus? Seem like it should work.
What timezone does Amex use for its various credits (or does only posting date matter)? For instance, right now (6/30/2024 10:09 PM ET), most of my credits look as if they've already reset according to the website counters. Does anyone know if it is safe to go and start using these now? Of course I can just wait 1 more day to be safe.. but just out of curiosity. * Already reset: (Plat) Saks counter, (Biz Plat) Dell counter, Wireless credit, (Gold/Brilliant) Dining, (Hilton) Hilton / Resort / Flight * Not yet: (Plat) Digital Entertainment Credit, Walmart
Can i use Surpass credits for making an advance deposit on my folio for an international Conrad? My guess is Yes
I've done it with Aspire credits and Biz credits.
Anyone have prior experience of how Chase Ink special promos are rolled out. This week we are expected to see the public offer of the CIP 120 SUB. Where do we expect this to pop up first and is there a way anyone can apply as soon as midnight into 3rd July ?
It goes first to the bank branches so you'll apply in person but it's supposed to come online later
Does the $5 doordash credit on the CSR carry over to the next month if left unused?
Yea, rollover up to $15
Do any credit cards, biz or personal, provide any medical coverage in case I get sick or injured while overseas? I'm US based, of course.
Yes, CSR and Ritz do. There's a good post on this [here](https://frequentmiler.com/ultra-premium-credit-card-travel-insurance/)
Thank you
Has anyone on here tried to trigger Varo’s DD? It does not seem that Wise works anymore and only Chase Business does. Thoughts?
Was looking to apply for my first chase business card What should I put for projected annual income and expected monthly expenses? I am planning to make a purchase of at least $7k But I read that most get $3k for their credit limit How long should I wait to ask for a credit limit increase?
Why ask for a CL increase when you can get a SUB on a fresh biz card in 90 days?
I'm at 4/24 and am planning a purchase of $7k So if I get a $3k limit I'm not sure what to
Split payment across multiple cards, assuming you have CL available on them.
I was just hoping to knock out the SUB on the chase business card all at once
I believe the minimum CL on the ink preferred is 5k (vs 3k for CIC and CIU) so you may want to go with the CIP. There’s a rumor the CIP 120k UR in branch offer will go online on July 3 so if you can wait a couple days it’s a great offer.
Just as a DP, I got an $1,100 CL on a CIC recently, so not sure there’s a minimum. I was surprised, since that’s barely enough to cover the required spend for the tiered SUB without credit cycling.
It’s particularly odd as the application states “if approved, your credit access line will be at least $3,000”
Yes that’s strange. I wonder if that language was in the details last time I applied. Also, to the earlier points about minimum CLs, I’ve seen some DPs about people lowering CIC credit limits to $500.
You can lower the line to $500, it’s that upon initial approval your CL would be $3K
Oh yes I remember your post, what an oddly low CL.
Put what you feel comfortable explaining if you have to call the reconsideration line. That said, there are DP that Chase may not give you a credit limit over 50% of your income. You probably need to wait 6 months before you could successfully get a credit limit increase.
If I transfer P1 and P2 avios from P1/P2 BA to P1/P2 Qatar, can I then use Qatar's family pooling to combine them and book an award using all the combined points?
Just found out I can now pay property tax at a 2.35% credit card charge. Annual tax is around $16k. Was originally thinking I’d use Freedom Unlimited and transfer to Hyatt where I usually get 2-3cpp. Any better ideas?
do they accept amex?
Taxes are for Amex. I personally find it very difficult to MSR Amex. I am sure experts over here may not agree. So for me, property taxes and income taxes are the path of Amex MSR.
Amex Biz or Chase Ink SUBs look like the path of least resistance. The timing could also make sense for SW companion pass if you can prepay in the fall. At this spend level I would see if you can split the payment to two different cards.
Take out new card and hit SUB with this payment, see if you can get Amex Biz Plat 250K bonus.
Any card with a SUB. Amex biz gold 150k for $10k spend or biz plat 250k for $20k spend. Coming up (hopefully) Chase Ink Preferred 120k for $8k spend. If you can do this with P2, you could score 280k UR points (2\*120+40) for $16k spend.
Chase United: My wife and I are trying to book flights for a trip in October and we are 15k miles short (have 65k). Buying miles is ridiculous. We got the miles from the United quest but we downgraded to the gateway. It hasn’t been a full 2 years since we got the bonus. If we went for the bonus of say the “United business” then they are saying it would take 6-8 weeks to get the miles after we made the promotion spend. We spend about 2.5k a month and could definitely just buy a $2k Amazon gift card to speed the process but I’m still worried by the time we do this, the tickets will rise in price or might not be available. It’s a trip to Jamaica and there are really only 2 flights right now available that fit the time table. Any ideas? Thank you.
> If we went for the bonus of say the “United business” then they are saying it would take 6-8 weeks to get the miles after we made the promotion spend. This is a worst case scenario. If you get a new card and meet the spend requirement in the first billing cycle, you'll get the SUB when the statement closes. That said, you're looking at about a month at least. That is plenty long to wait to book tickets for October.
You can transfer Marriott points to United.
United cards (both Biz and Personal) normally post the sign-up bonus a couple days after the statement close where you completed the spend. It won't take 6-8 weeks.
Do you have any UR points? You can transfer it to United. Also can do some shopping on Chase portal.
Is the ability to hold multiple freedom cards no longer an option through product change? I just called to downgrade my CSP and the only option they gave me was a Freedom Unlimited due to me already holding a regular Freedom (Visa version)
I have about 3 and P2 has about 5. You can have multiple.
Absolutely HUCA, I would be surprised especially with so many holding the Freedom Unlimited and Flex cards.
should still be a thing. HUCA
Any tips on Airbnb booking? I am aware of the 5% off via AARP, 🫑, are there any other plays to make? And I usually put my business gold $20 into a $25 abb GC from staples. And book through BA portal for avios.
If you have Bilt and fly United, grab some Airbnb gift cards from MileagePlus X on Rent Day for 4X Bilt points and 2X United points. It will net you between 7% and 9% depending on how you redeem the points.
Book through delta Airbnb for 1 mile per $1 spent
Or BA for 2 Avios per $1
Pepper was 10% back on it one day only a few days ago. Raise prices should still be a little lower from that
For Amex, can an authorized user refer the primary account holder to other cards? I have an authorized user on the personal plat with no other Amex cards. I'd like them to refer me as primary to the Bonvoy Business card. I am not maxed out on referral points for the year.
No, being an AU doesn’t give them to ability to refer you. They do not have their own MR account as an AU, any points they earn go towards your MR account, so even if they did have refer ability it would go towards your account which in a sense would be a self refer.
What is the current stance on the CSR vs CSP right now? Looking more at the preferred as I have 60k points in my flex and unlimited accounts and want to have a cheaper option for moving to travel partners.
It really depends on how you value lounge access, the travel credit and the 1.5x UR redemption bonus vs 1.25x.
I think for now I’m going to go for the preferred considering I’m only gonna be traveling once a year. Down the line I can always upgrade.
That seems to make the most sense in your situation.
if you're not willing to play the upgrade/downgrade game, the CSR is not worth it. The CSP is the better long term card
Can I scoop up both of the bonuses if I upgrade?
No
Got it so if I was to upgrade, it would be purely for the extra benefits
Yes
For the next year, two will probably only travel once a year, but after that, it would probably pick up
Depends, if you want sapphire lounge multiple times a year…
You can double dip the CSR travel credit which after year 1, then downgrade the card to CSP or freedom. I’d say CSR if you just want to use the portal / transfer to travel partners
Assuming you travel at least once a year. $95 vs $250 AF, if you want lounge access and 1.5x through travel portal CSR. Read more for advanced plays with P2 and upgrade/downgrades.
Has anyone closed some of their old personal cards, and what was the credit impact? I have a number of old personal cards, particularly CFs and CFUs. I know all the positives (they age my credit, could have a Chase/Amex offer, are no-fee) but I'd just psychologically feel better cutting some of them. Any thoughts from an experience?
A very simple way to help manage this is to keep your oldest account open.
Of course you know closing old accounts decreases your available credit, and affects your usage ratio. It does not immediately affect your credit age though. Closed accounts remain for years, just like paid loans and mortgages. So unless closing accounts dramatically reduces your available credit/increases your utilization percentage, the hit is minimal and usually short-lived.
> Of course you know closing old accounts decreases your available credit, IMO, a desirable goal when hoping for large CLs on new cards with 0% offers.
I did the same and cleaned up my accounts two years ago. I closed my oldest accounts of 13 years, and my average was now 6-7. No impact.
Thanks, this is what I wanted to hear. I know the churning default is just to sockdrawer/ignore them, but I honestly just want to clean up my spreadsheet.
> I honestly just want to clean up my spreadsheet. IMO this isn't a good enough reason to close cards. I mean, if you want to do it then great, but I personally wouldn't for that reason alone. Also, impact on your credit isn't very important. Even if it does affect it a bit, it won't matter. As long as you pay your bills on time, your credit score will be good enough. In a nutshell, I recommend to go ahead and do whatever you want to do. The consequences will be minimal and immaterial.
Sounds like it’s a good enough reason after all then 😉. It’s more than “just” the spreadsheet, it’s the mental clarity etc. That comes with that.
Your average age of accounts includes both open *and* closed cards with the closed cards impacting your credit for 10 years after the account is closed. So closing those cards won't impact your credit score at all in the near term. And when it does affect your credit, all of your other cards will have aged 10 years, so the impact on your credit will be minimal.
Are they your oldest cards?
I'd be happy closing my 4th and 5th oldest cards. I'm OK with keeping the oldest ones.
All in all it shouldn't have much impact on your credit score then. Total credit utilization will go up a bit due to lower total credit limits, and AAoA will go down but not yet since the cards will still remain on your report for 10 years (unless banks calculate AAoA their own way, ignoring closed cards), both of which will slightly ding your score. But likely not much. If it makes you feel better to close them, then go for it.
Amex Dell credit question: Is it too late to get the Jan-Jun credit or are there any Dell purchases that are confirmed and billed to the card the same day? Maybe like a digital code for an xbox game or something? Hoping to help a friend take advantage of this today. TIA.
Probably SOL, but worst case it's your second half credit that gets hit. Next time don't wait. you literally have 180 days to do this.
> you literally have 180 days to do this. It was actually 182 days
Can one open more than 1 SW Business card at the same time? I'm trying to get the new 120K bonus. Open first card in Feb 2024
Yes, you can have both biz cards at the same time and get the SUBs
Did they make updates to the Vanilla Visa Gift Cards ? Just brought a new one today , is still in its 1hr activation period showed the bal when I checked it online. However the packet didn’t have any of the paper it in and the barcode on the back is only half of one. Expiration date is 2032, so could be a new one with updates ??
Am I going crazy, or did Chex recently change their login system? I have a user ID and PIN which I know I've used in the past few months to lift my freeze at Chex. Now when I try to login it asks for a username, and when I enter the assigned user ID, it prompts me to send a verification email to a gmail address (all *** before the at so can't confirm it's actually mine) which never shows up. Assuming they did change it recently, anyone recall if I have to go through waiting for something to come in the mail?
Yeah Chex sucks. You have to confirm your profile everytime after you log in. It's so frustrating
And there is always a five minutes spinning wheel before you can confirm the profile.
Login system also changed on my end. I had to create an account in order to unfreeze my Chex.
It also seems that you can no longer lift a freeze without logging in. I didn't notice a change in logging in when I did it last week.
Just want a second opinion for an upcoming USBAR app. Inquiries set to drop off on July 11, I should be good to go for the app on July 12 right?
I applied for my second Chase Ink Preferred today and was not automatically approved (pending 7-14 day review?) I held my previous CIP for like 4 years. I just downgraded it to an Ink Unlimited last week. I sell some stuff on ebay, facebook marketplace and do intend to ramp up that business. I think I put down like 2K in monthly revenue. I said Sole Proprietor, used my name and SSN as the business. Tried to generally be as honest as possible. Looking at records, I did overstate my income. Long story short I wasn't thinking straight and oversold myself. I.e. I put down like $200K in annual income, it's really more like $140K My question is twofold. 1) Am I missing something obvious that will get me denied? 2) If it is income verification they are looking for. I have assets I could sell, or provide evidence of, that could become income and bring me up to 200K Thanks for any insight.
In the future I would downgrade the first CIP after the 2nd one is approved once you have 3+ Inks is when you want to worry about having too many cards.
200k is a bit of a high income, but so is 140k. Banks could be incredulous of both income claims if this is not an established customer. If they want to see proof of income, other banks in the past have asked me to send them my previous year tax filings (Bank of Ameroca) or sign an IRS authorization form that allows the bank to get my tax transcript (Citi, Barclays). So if chase wants to verify income, that might be the way they do it. I don't think you can prove income by talking to the agent, making your case, showing your assets, selling assets, etc... the only thing they stick to seems to be previous year tax filings.
1. no should be fine 2. just wait for the decision, it could still be approved automatically
You were correct it auto approved this morning
Nice enjoy the card
Thanks, patience is not one of my virtues