What would be your expected monthly spending amount? And can you pay it off in full every month? What are your goals? Cash back? Travel Rewards? Any hotels or airlines you like?
Chase Sapphire Preferred. 60k points, which equates to $750 on the Chase Travel portal. Tons of transfer partners. Hit me up if you opt for it and I’ll send you a referral.
I can reimburse my travel that I have to pay for through work as well as food and drinks while traveling. I travel pretty regularly for work as well. Can always pay it off.
After rebuilding my credit from a bad spot I recently got the Amex Gold card. The rewards seem very good for your average Joe. I don’t travel enough to continue putting all of my reward-earning into a single travel partner. Also going to use it as a tool to better manage my card spending by taking away more of that temptation to carry a balance. I have a Capital One QuickSilver One and Chase Southwest that served their purpose, but I’m basically going to retire now.
Side note - I saw someone say that having both Amex Gold and Platinum is a good move if you travel a lot. Gold for better every day earning to travel, and Platinum for superior benefits while you travel. Anyone with experience that can speak to this?
I haven't tried carrying both but it's objectively true that the gold has better earning on dining and groceries (outside of the SUB that a certain number of platinum carriers were given.) It's also true that platinum comes with the lounge collection that the gold doesn't, so that right there speaks to the kind of argument you're making ... it also has slightly better earning on airfare iirc and comes with additional credits useful in the travel context (airline & hotel)
I would recommend a basic cash back card with no annual fee as your first card. No need to for your first card to have an annual fee. Plus it'll help establish you with some credit history so you can get approved for the more fancier cards down the road. Discover It and Chase Freedom Flex/Unlimited would be great starter cards
Depends on where you fly IMO. Unless I’m flying out of MIA, I never seem to get a route with a Centurion Lounge. Couple that with how hard it is to maximize the Platinum’s credits each month, it seems more hassle than it’s worth. I’ve run through most credit cards at this point. Now I’m all about maximizing my cash back while minimizing fees. I’m an economy flyer (usually just pay to upgrade the seats to exit row) and prefer Airbnbs. Right now I run a Venture X, Freedom Flex, and Verizon Visa card. Verizon visa is sneaky good.
Not true. but I did fly economy to Tahiti. Plane was empty so we each had our own whole row to sleep.
I just hit 4 years out from opening the CSR and CSP. Anybody know if the modified double dip is still working?
last week in MIA was the first time I've chosen Admirals Club over Centurion Lounge. Went to the Centurion Lounge in Terminal D and it was completely packed and extremely loud, so I went over to the Admirals Club which is 4 times larger and had half the people. Food selection was better in the Centurion Lounge but since I'd just eaten lunch an hour or so before there was no reason for me to sit through that. Worst lounge experience I've seen except for the Lufthansa Business Lounge in Terminal Z in FRA, which routinely (pre-COVID anyway) had a line 20 deep waiting to get in.
Have you tried the Capital One lounge at DFW? Have a brief layover there in a couple of months and that will be the first time I've been to a lounge. Does this make me an adult?
Hilton Aspire people, does anyone know if I downgrade my card, do I keep my free weekend night rewards that I haven’t used yet? I currently have two of them that I need to use this year, but I’d like to downgrade to the no annual fee card and just want to be sure
I still value the "collection" beyond centurion tbh. That got me into the Virgin Atl lounge @ IAD and it was sick. And apparently Turkish is available at MIA?
How close? I believe that Amex completes a process to have Hilton then issue it, so should be in Hilton's court, not Amex's. Do you have the Cert number?
no but you it might make you an influencer Never been to that one as I don't have a Capital One card but report back please
These are the awards there were issued for the 2020 and 2021 card member anniversaries, expiring this year. My card renewal is next month, but I’m not trying to game the system to get the next award, just want to downgrade and not get hit with another annual fee
Once the free night hits your Hilton account, AMEX has no control over it, so canceling or downgrading your card will not affect it. And it's pretty common practice to let the free annual night (or annual points) to hit your account from whatever credit card and then downgrade said card. I believe AMEX gives you a grace period of 30 days after the statement close date that includes annual fee for you to downgrade (or cancel your card) and get an annual fee refund.
Man I love rewards cards. Visiting family in the OC in a few months and decided to finally take the kids to Disneyland. None of my existing cards can book those tickets, so quick research finds Citi Premier. I applied, got card, hit spend and received points all in a 45 day period. Called their travel service last night and booked tickets. ~$700 expense for a $95 annual fee
My wife is getting invisalign and holy shit that stuff is expensive. I already have the Chase Hyatt and Chase Saphire Preferred, so will likely be churning the Delta Skymiles Gold Amex this go around. Does anyone have a referral? Also, I'm open to other cards with a good initial spend bonus if anyone has recommendations.
Amex Platinum has 150k and Capital One Venture X has 100k. Amex Gold was just bumped to 90k, their highest ever I believe.
From last week. Not sure if still live. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ymmv-american-express-gold-90000-points/
If you decide to go with delta gold Apply for an American Express Card with this link. We can both get rewarded if you're approved! http://refer.amex.us/HARRIh6mlV?XLINK=MYCP
I tried. It was only going to give me 40,000 miles using the referral vs. 75,000 miles not using the referral.
is Marriott Bonvoy any good or is this just for dumbos? i've ignored it the last 2 times I stayed at a Marriott $300 egift card to apply to hotel reservation I'm workin on 75k points $95 annual fee
Bonvoy is going through devaluation, but it's also only $95. So... It's tricky but not impossible to stay somewhere for less than 40k per night, to add perspective. (I continue to enjoy the portfolio in spite of the lousy trending)
They're kinda bastards because a fairly common rate is 40k (rather than 50 I mean) and you can't save the remainder on one of those free night certs. And naturally lots of the more appealing properties are pretty much always more than 50k.
And their hotels are way overpriced for when you do pay. I’m close to to lifetime platinum and annoyed at them since the merger.
I used to work on Starwood projects at my firm at the time and had basically lived in a Sheraton for a good stretch on another. Used to be a huge fan of them before the merger.
I'm easy in that if I'm paying under 200 for autograph collection and frequently upgraded, I'm actually pretty happy.
For the southwest companion pass, it should upload into my wife’s account at the end of this month. however, with gas prices increasing we would like to book our flight to Vegas before prices increase too much. If my wife books her flight now, will she be able to add me later once the companion pass is awarded (assuming a seat is still available of course). Actual flight will be this summer.
Yes, you can add it later, as long as there is a seat available. You have to book her ticket and your companion ticket separately anyway, it doesn't happen in a single transaction, so doing it one minute later or one moth later does not matter. If you want to guarantee your spot, I recommend buying the 2nd ticket ahead of time, then getting a refund when the companion pass hits your wife's account. If you have the extra points to book two award flights, it makes it even easier. Otherwise, if you pay cash, just make sure to get a refundable ticket. I usually call in and have them handle the flip from an award ticket to a companion ticket, and they take care of it in 5 minutes.
Wife is under 5/24 but just got chase southwest personal card and business card. Can my wife get a chase sapphire preferred card even though she just got 2 chase/Sw reward cards? She’s never had the preferred or reserve cards before.