I can’t believe we are almost ready to roll out our next series of credit card applications again. It seems like just last week I was collecting the last of my bounty from our June “Big Winner”. As a matter of fact, it was just a week ago that our Virgin Atlantic miles transferred into Katy’s Hilton account.
Following my own suggestions from an earlier post I have reviewed my past closed credit cards, that have been closed long enough, if I sign up again, the applications will be recorded as new applications and we should receive our sign up bonuses again as new applicants. The only one I can think of at present is the Chase Marriott card offering 50,000 points for me. Katy will be getting the Chase United Mileage Explorer card for her personal Chase card. Our Chase Business cards will be the INK Plus card for me with its 50K Ultimate Rewards points sign up. Katy will be getting the newer version of the INK Bold card that pays 5 points per dollar at Office Supply stores. I found out the hard way after a purchase at the Office Depot in Traverse City Michigan she had the older version as it only earned one point per dollar. (It Pays to Keep Good Records).
From Citi on the business side I will be applying for a CitiBusiness AA card. I got the two browser trick in June for the personal Amex and personal Visa and as per the reader comments in the FlyerTalk thread I should be OK for the business version as it is at least 65 days since the personal apps. Katy still has some time to go with the Citi AA cards. I think she has five of them at present at it looks like her latest new one was applied for in 2011. We got no hurry with that as we’ve got a nice pile of AA miles. None of the Citi Thank You Points cards are of interest to us at present. We are flush with TY points and I don’t see a worthwhile offer in their lineup right now. We are also waiting on the Citi Hilton Reserve card as we both have Hilton gold status until spring of 2013. One of us will get it in probably March and then the next one a year later so we can continue with the benefits of Hilton Gold. We also have the possibility of extending Hilton Gold with the Hilton Surpass card from American Express so between those two cards and two of us alternating we should have Hilton Gold for many years to come.
Katy needs one more shot at Hilton points so we’ll get her a Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian airlines card this time and transfer those to Hilton. I just complete the whole string of Bank of America and bank of Hawaii and Virgin Atlantic cards so will give them a rest this time.
Katy will be applying for the new 50K Limited Time Offer for the Amex Gold Business Card with no first year fee and $5K spend in the first three months. I already hold the card so I’m out. K2O gave me a great recommendation for a cash back card that pays back 6% on groceries as a cash back. You can send her a PM in Flyertalk and she will gladly refer you. We are currently working the 5 pts from office spend with Ink cards and value that higher than the 6% cash back. If another monster Amex offer shows between now and the 22th when we plan on applying, I’ll have room for business and personal and Katy for a personal card only. We have not been targeted for any monster offers.
Recent conversations have indicated that they are toughening up at Barclays if you have an existing card. As we are without US Airways cards, we’ll each try to pick up a new personal one at least.
At this moment it looks like ten applications total for the two of us. Of course that is at this moment and can change with pending developments shared by readers or a monster offer showing up (I doubt it).
As always, Your credit it one of your most important assets.
Plan on a temporary drop of five points in your credit score per application and keep that score over 700 at all times.
Also remember that many of these cards have a minimum spend to earn the sign up bonus. Be sure to count up the required minimum spend if applying for multiple cards. There is no sense in going “hog wild” if you can’t meet the minimums. (Amazon payments and Venmo are your friends here for part of the problem).
Go slow, go easy and have a plan. As always, if you’d like some help with figuring out what cards to apply for yourself, drop me a line at rick@frugaltravelguy.com
Deal of the Day
For today’s Deal of the Day American Airlines AAdvantage® has provided 2500 AAdvantage® miles for the best deals, fares, promotions, anything related to American Airlines, their oneworld partners or AAdvantage® partners. Add it to the comments section of this post or this afternoon’s Deal of the Day post (with your first name, last initial, and home airport) to be eligible to win.
