It had been almost eight (8) months since we last applied for credit cards and we were well past due. With trips getting planned for next year I needed to pad and build up our balances … but more importantly I needed to diversify our accounts. Free hotel nights, like Rick are the one thing Sara and I always are a little low on. We’ve got healthy balances with SPG and Club Carlson (thanks to the recent promo), and a little in Priority Club but not much elsewhere. It was time to add some diversity with Hilton and Marriott.
I pulled our reports, and checked our scores. Scores in the 780′s and our last inquiries were Feb 17th. For this I signed both of us up for a free trial to scoresense.com and then cancelled a few days later. Based on past experience I knew that our inquiries were going to go like this (keep in mind, we’re in Georgia)
- Chase was going to Equifax
- Bank of America to Experian
- Citi to Experian
- Amex to Experian
- Barclays to TransUnion
- Amex Hilton – 50k Hilton points, silver status, no annual fee – 100k points total – value: $600 (100k points @ .6 cents / point)
- Howie – Not instantly approved, checked online 5 minutes later and was approved. Amex moved 5k of credit automatically from my SPG card to this one.
- Sara – Instant Approval
- Chase Marriott – 50k Marriott points, 1 Free night, $75 statement credit, no annual fee first year – 100k points + 2 nights + $150 cash – value = $1,450 (100k @ 1 cent / point, 2x free nights @ $150/night, $150 cash)
- Howie – Instant Approval
- Sara – Instant Approval
- Alaska Bank of America – 25k + 15k after big spend (we’ll stop after 25k) – 50k points total – value $900 (1.8 cents / point)
- Howie – Instant Approval
- Sara – Instant Approval
- Barclays US Air – 40k on first purchase - 80k miles total – value $1,440 (1.8 cents / point)
- Howie – Instant Approval
- Sara – Instant Approval
- Citi Hilton Reserve – Hilton Gold Status + 2 Free Weekend nights = value $1,200 (Free night @ $250/night + Gold Status)
- Howie – Delayed Approval after moving 5k of credit from another card
- Sara – Delayed Approval after moving 5k of credit from another card (funny story about this one … Sara hate’s calling up customer service, but she had to for this. I told her it would be only 5 minutes … she said more like 20. I said if it was 20 minutes I’d give her $20. Long story short … total call time: 19:58. She didn’t hold me to the $20)
Deal of the Day
For today’s Deal of the Day TopCashback is donating $50 cash (to be deposited to your TopCashback.com account) for the best overall travel deal submitted. A great mileage run, mistake fare, partner promo, new card sign-up offer, or the special twist you figured out on a deal today. Add it to the comments section of this post (along with your First Name, Last Initial, and Airport Code) or this afternoon’s Deal of the Day post by TOMORROW at 11:59pm EDT to be eligible to win. That gives you two days to win!
Pingback: Flying to Istanbul Just for the Miles… Is It Crazy? | Frugal Travel Guy