It's called "churning". Lots of people do it, on varying levels. Not really a downside to it, assuming 1. You don't plan to buy a house in the next 6-12 months 2. You don't exceed your normal spending levels in order to meet minimum spending levels required for the signup bonus 3. You can stay on top of paying your credit card bills and don't have any late payments (set up autopay on every account) 4. You can pay off your balance in full each month Having a large number of credit applications will hurt your credit score short term, but long term your credit score will be much higher (assuming you don't miss any payments). And I would recommend mixing in some no-annual fee cards (Chase Freedom/Freedom Unlimited, Capital One Quicksilver, Discover It), which you won't need to cancel. Continually canceling all your cards will have you somewhat spinning your wheels, with respect to your credit score.
comparing yacht week to a cruise is like comparing watching NatGeo to wrestling a lion but cruises can be fun. but not to "explore" a place. I think it's basically just a slightly more expensive all-inclusive where you have a ton of activities and shows. I'd rather do a cruise than an all inclusive in Mexico
As people said above, its called churning, but It's become harder to do as CC companies have caught on. Some cards like Amex only allow one bonus per card per lifetime. Others have limits to how often you can get the signup bonus. Basically its easy to do if you sign up for a shit ton of cards in the beginning, but as you run out of new cards to sign up for, its slows down quite a bit.
The first batch of cards had a nice little box packaging with all the brochures & benefits etc. Now, it's just a UPS envelope with a mailer that points you to go online to learn about the benefits.
I think it varied. I got mine the first week and it was just a mailer while I read others online who applied after me got the package.
Our original cards came in a plain envelope a couple months back. Two weeks ago we had some fraudulent charges on the card, so they overnighted new ones. They came in the nice box with all the info, brochures, etc... I really need to cancel my Preferred, but I already have a Freedom. So I guess a downgrade isn't an option. Am I missing anything else?
You can have multiple Freedoms (via the downgrade route) in case you maximize the 5x categories. If not, you can downgrade to Freedom Unlimited.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2236787 new amazon prime card. if you are already an amazon cardholder + prime member, you're auto upgraded. 5% back on amazon purchases
I have an amazon store card, but the one that's only 5% on amazon purchases. The benefits of the csr are better than the new card(3% travel and dining vs 2%), so I'll keep using my csr everywhere else.
I have it as my prime auto payment option. It automatically adds points to use easily. I don't use it for other stuff because my Fidelity Visa is 2% regardless of category but for just Amazon purchases it's nice.
I just bought a ton of Amazon gift cards on my 5x Freedom. 7.5% off through travel without adding another card
I'm sure this has been answered previously but once you hit the spending threshold for the reserve, are the points combined with your preferred points? Right now, it is two separate line items but I haven't hit he minimum spending just quite yet. Thanks in advance.
Anyone tried applying for the CSR in a chase branch since the bonus was cut online? Want to take the wife this week to get one.
I don't know how many of you have the Starwood Amex but I just called and was gonna cancel mine but they gave me 7k points so I held on
Need to cancel mine too, but I think I've still got a few months before the AF would post to my account
It's not surprising, but if you go to thepointsguy.com, he's removed a lot of the material that used to highlight the CSR. Obviously you can still get it afaik, and he still says you can get it in a branch, but its no longer his most recommended card, soley because he cannot get any referral links/bonus anymore.
that's how all of these travel blogs do it, but it's disingenuous if the CSR is no longer the top card only because the way you apply/obtain it doesn't benefit him. correct me if i'm wrong here... someone, but the card itself didn't change - the signup bonus is still there, you just have to apply in person at a chase bank.
Eh, it's harder for people if you have to get to a chase branch and that's only for like 2 more months
There haven't been any referral links for bloggers (or general public) for the CSR while the card had a 100K bonus - they should be coming soon & you can expect everybody pump it up as much as they pumped CSP all these years.
Chase doesn't even have a branch in about half the states in the country. Rating a card whose biggest benefits are essentially inaccessible for a significant portion of his readers as his #1 card would be silly.
Hey guys I just got an American Express Blue Cash Preferred. I'm pretty stoked about 6% on groceries and 3% on gas. Anyone else have this card?
It was my first credit card I got after I graduated. Big step up from my credit union, no rewards Visa I had throughout college. I don't use it for anything besides the bonus categories these days but I still netted $350 last year after the AF.
Make sure to link your card with Amex offers. The statement credits can be worth more than the cash back.
http://www.amexoffers.com 1. Link your card or cards to an account 2. sign up for offers you want. 3. Get statement credits when you use offers. Can do same offer on every card, if you want.
Just got approved for the Citi AA Platinum (50K miles for 3k spend using the link without any 24 month language) & Barclaycard Aviator AA card (40K miles after 1 purchase).. Not too shabby. Here's hoping that both the bonuses post for me as I already have those cards.