[Tail Gunner]

(09-06-2018 08:05 PM)Tail Gunner Wrote:  

(09-06-2018 06:29 PM)PrettyBoyAJ Wrote:  

What Credit Cards do you guys recommend for Travel/Perk Hacking.

Heres the 3 Credit Cards I have already completed offers with.

1. Chase Sapphire
2. Capital One Venture
3. Chase Marriott Premier Plus Reward

I'm looking to apply for a fourth one since I've already did the minimum spend and gotten the perks for both cards.

That is a timely question, because I have a $6,000 purchase coming up that I can charge to a credit card. I already have the following travel cards:

1. Chase Sapphire
2. Capital One Venture
3. Mileage Plus Explorer
4. Barclaycard Arrival+

The problem is that I hate hotels and, as a result, I always stay at an AirBNB. I suppose that it might be worth having a hotel card for long trips where I wish to stay overnight (for free) at a hotel near the airport on the first leg. I may take a look at the SPG luxury card. I see that beginning February 1, most of the SPG all-suite properties will require 85,000 points, instead of just 60,000 points.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/starwood-...rd-review/

Whatever you do, stay away from the Citi/American Airlines credit cards. Their service was so bad that I actually cancelled their card before I had gotten my free bonus points. They warned me that cancelling the card may prohibit me from obtaining a card in the future. I replied: "Why on Earth would I ever want to do business with a company like you again?" Possibly the worst customer service that I ever encountered.

As I mentioned above, I must make a large purchase and I may as well pick up a decent credit card other than the ones that I already have (which I mentioned above). I am looking at the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, which offers 80,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from the account opening. The points are worth about $1,000.

It also offers no foreign transaction fees, a $95 annual fee, and -- like the Sapphire Preferred Card -- the points are worth 25% more if you redeem them for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Apparently, if you pool your points with your Sapphire Reserve card points, the total bonus increases to 50%. It is only available to small business owners, but fortunately I qualify.

I need to make the purchase (about $9,000) within the next week or two. Anyone currently see a better credit card offer at that spending level? I am not really interested in hotel points unless the value is spectacular (I much prefer AirBNB when traveling).

https://www.businessinsider.com/top-cred...ber-2018-9

[PrettyBoyAJ]

(10-06-2018 03:21 PM)Jetset Wrote:  

American Express has revised their U.S. Gold Card.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/amex-gold-current-offer/

It's no longer 2x U.S. supermarkets, 2x U.S. restaurants, 1x gas, $195/year.

It's now 4x U.S. supermarkets, 4x U.S. restaurants, $250/year.

This comes with a $100 airline fee credit and a $10/mo dining credit valid at GrubHub/Seamless and a few chains.

The restaurant bonus is meaningless if you already have CSR and travel internationally, but that supermarket bonus alone may make it profitable for some people.

The card seems pretty good. Especially a Rose Gold metal card. I have a thing for metal cards. I don't like plastic. My issue however is the 250$ annual fee which is not waived the first year. On top of that I probably spend 400-500 on food/groceries a month. If the 250$ was waived first year I'd definitely consider it.

Great find though.

I'm still on the hunt for the next card though.

By far I think the best card is Chase Sapphire. The value is just so well and its fee is waived first year. By far my favorite.

[BallsDeep]

AMEX removed the club lounge access from their SPG business card in August.

Any way to get free lounge now in Starwood and Marriott without being a platinum?

[PrettyBoyAJ]

Anyone come across any new cards in the past month? I'm thinking of getting Hilton American Express card. They're giving away 125k hotel points (Around 4-5 free nights) with 3k spent in first 3 months.

[Cattle Rustler]

(10-10-2018 01:57 PM)BallsDeep Wrote:  

AMEX removed the club lounge access from their SPG business card in August.

Any way to get free lounge now in Starwood and Marriott without being a platinum?

Damn, SPG is almost worthless now. Add this in, the Mariott merger, and the points devaluation (Oh, I mean "overhaul").

[Jetset]

(10-06-2018 03:21 PM)Jetset Wrote:  

American Express has revised their U.S. Gold Card.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/amex-gold-current-offer/

It's no longer 2x U.S. supermarkets, 2x U.S. restaurants, 1x gas, $195/year.

It's now 4x U.S. supermarkets, 4x U.S. restaurants, $250/year.

This comes with a $100 airline fee credit and a $10/mo dining credit valid at GrubHub/Seamless and a few chains.

The restaurant bonus is meaningless if you already have CSR and travel internationally, but that supermarket bonus alone may make it profitable for some people.

I gotta update this a little: I didn't think about this at the time, but am now using the Gold to buy third-party gift cards at the grocery store, and thereby also getting 4x on a lot of my everyday spending, like Home Depot. It's a nice supplement to buying third-party gift cards on the quarterly rotating 5% Chase Freedom bonus. I'm running that into the ground.

I also recently learned about the Charles Schwab American Express Platinum, an alternative to the regular personal Platinum which has the same benefits and also allows you to cash out AmEx's MR points at 1.25 cents/pt. This isn't quite as good as finding the right deal with an airline transfer partner, but it's better than any other cash-out options.

https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/inv...edit_cards

[Drazen]

I have no idea why, but I was targeted to get comped American Airlines Platinum Pro status until May for some reason. I've flown them once in the last 2 years.

[Drazen]

Southwest (via Chase) is doing a promo if you spend like $4k you get the companion fare for the rest of the year on new accounts. May have to wait a while to get, I'm pretty sure a ton of people are hopping on this.

[Hypno]

(12-03-2018 04:26 PM)Jetset Wrote:  

I also recently learned about the Charles Schwab American Express Platinum, an alternative to the regular personal Platinum which has the same benefits and also allows you to cash out AmEx's MR points at 1.25 cents/pt.

Fidelity has a Visa that cashes out at 2.0 cents / point as along as you have Fidelity account. But you can set up a brokerage account with bill pay, write checks, etc.

[Jetset]

For those holding out to be targeted for the 100k bonus points offer on the U.S. AmEx Platinum, there are reports that they've expanded the CardMatch targeting to include far more people this month, so it's worth checking out:

https://www.creditcards.com/cardmatch/

Also, the Ebates cashback portal now has an option for new accounts to pay in AmEx MRs instead of cash on a 1MR=1% basis. MRs are easily worth 1.5 cents if you use them judiciously. You can't do it through an existing account, but just have to create an account using a different email using the right portal:

https://www.ebates.com/american-express

There is also a no-fee Ebates credit card, which will automatically juice any Ebates purchase with an extra 3% cashback. Reports are that this is converting to an extra 3x MRs deposited into your AmEx account as you'd expect.

https://www.ebates.com/credit-card.htm

[PrettyBoyAJ]

I’m still waiting to get that 100k AMEX offer.

Anyone had any luck or is there any new CCs?