keep in mind unlike credit card bonuses these are taxable

Yup got a 1099 for my checking/savings bonus from Chase.

its really easy money

think i had 1099s that totaled 1800 - 2300 last year i forget

I've done a few of them as well but I don't know if it's worth it.

I've also had a LOT of stuff in the last 1-2 months go wrong or incorrectly and I've had to followup multiple times to get what I was supposed to.

1) Ebags expired $139.60 of my rewards for no reason
2) Dell cancelled an order that I used $58 worth of rewards on (rest CC). Refunded the CC, did not refund the rewards
3) A holiday inn billed my credit card $90 after using a free night. This is the amount they were supposed to bill IHG for free night reimbursement, but billed me instead.
4) Westin billed me $309/nt instead of the booked $180/nt. Looks like they billed me for the suite I was upgraded to rather than the room I booked.
5) Two separate hertz reservations did not earn the bonus UA miles they were supposed to based on status and coupon used
6) US Bank bonus not posted
7) Santander bonus not posted

I've been getting a handful of 1099s over the past few days. Love that I made so much over the year from bank account bonuses/promos/interest, but hate having to pay taxes on them. Definitely makes me want to focus more on CC bonuses and MS that aren't taxable.

My worst 1099 this year was from a focus group company for $650.
My last study of the year they withheld my payment until I filled out a W4. Really annoying bc I had just spent 2.5hrs in a study for $150. Filling out that W4 costs me more in taxes than I made from that focus group

I got United card offer with 70K bonus miles. They're supposedly valued at 1.5 cents. Is this deal better than CSR (or P or whatever)? $95 annual fee, don't think it's waived the first year.

if you look up a flight while logged into your united account, then click the link for the credit card app on that page, you get the same 70k offer + a $50 statement credit with 1st purchase

eta im terrible at explaining things, heres a link if you dont understand what i was getting at https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/co...t_credit_0_af/

but to answer your question the CSR is far better than the United card, 100k points, $450 AF but you actually make $150 in travel credit since they do travel credit jan-dec so you should be able to hit the $300 credit twice assuming you cancel the card after 1 year. I believe you can only get this deal for a few more weeks and it must be in a chase branch

the CSP 50k offer vs MPE 70k results may vary. If you eat out a lot and travel the CSP would be the card imo as its 2x points for those catagories while MPE is only 2x for spending on United. It also depends how you use your URS, those can be valued between 1-4 cents i think depending on if you cash in for statement credit (low end) or something like a 5 star resort or 1st class/business class travel (higher value redemption)

Got the same offer. The one thing holding me back is that it says the miles are good as long as your credit card account is open. I've already got ~70k United miles and probably won't use 140k this year, so I'd have to pay the AF at least twice to keep the signup bonus

Also since I got denied for the Citi AA 60k I've gotten 2 more solicitations for it in the mail. Wtf

Not how it works. They mean they will grant you the bonus as long as you meet the requirements and your account is still open.

Once the miles are deposited in your United account you can close the card without issue.

SPG personal and biz are back up to 35k. If anyone is thinking of applying for the personal and would like to use my referral hit me up with your email address.

Fak. Just cleared both of them in Jan.

worth calling and asking to be matched. seems like a 50/50 shot, check DoC

Hadn't thought about that. Good idea, I'll give it a shot. On the plus side I just redeemed 270k Marriott points for a SW companion pass, 120k points and a one week stay. Already have 3 flights booked this year that I'm going to try and get the companion pass used to get a point refund. Also thinking I will probably upgrade the Marriott reward to a level 8 hotel to use in Hawaii for another 90k points but not 100% sure yet.

will give u guys some facts and tell me what you think the likelihood of my wife and I getting approved for CSreserve, will go in branch and set up an appt first. Facts pulled from CreditKarma TU/Equifax:

me:
score: 799/800
Accounts open: 67/69
inquiries: 11/11

other than that, I have recently closed chase accounts, Hyatt and Uexplorer, within the last ~8 months, also closed a CSP ~1.5 years ago, maybe two years. I still own Freedom, SW, and business SW, where spend has been fair on the SW cards, at least some activity post signup bonus, in the thousands. No real established banking history with them except a checking account opened and closed for a bonus ~20 months ago.

Wife:
782/787
open: 58/58
inquiries: 8/6

she has had a work paycheck DD going into a chase checking account for ~6 years. It always gets transferred out and utilized better, however. The last few weeks I have been stashing some there to look good. Her open/close history is similar to mine, she has somewhat recently closed CSP, UE, and Hyatt. She still owns Freedom(used rarely as of late) and Amazon through them.

will make an appointment regardless. would you guys suggest making separate appointments or going in together and attempting to open two different credit lines? Regardless, I will attend my wife's scheduled appointment.

just got approved for the AmEx SPG card - how quickly do the first 25k points hit your account after you reach the initial spend requirement?

Well after two months, got my 100K UR for the CSR card. Now just a matter of what to redeem those points for. I have been reading this thread for ideas. Seems you can transfer them for flights, hotels, or other things. I know about the 1.5x credit if used towards travel. Always looking for good recommendations how you spent your UR points.

In branch pre-approvals for the CSR are dead as of about a month ago. If you're over 5/24 you're not getting it.

Took mine less than a few days to hit, didn't even have to wait for the statement to close.

I personally like hyatt.

Double post..

Yeah, pre-approvals went away 1/20, probably until the in-branch bonus is lowered, or maybe forever.

You're probably looking at it backwards - decide where you want to go, or a few places, and see what would be the best use of your points.

There's a ton of permutations on how to use the points. To optimize really depends on award availability and expense of each portion. For example, the last two years have seen some absolutely incredible flight deals (<$500RT to EU, <$600RT to Asia, etc) if you're flexible, so it might not make sense to transfer to united in your situation. But if your trip is domestic, it might make sense to get a 12.5k mile saver award rather than pay $300 for the flight, etc.

You sure CSR has to be in branch? Looks like application is online - am I missing a feature of the bonus by applying there?

(Also, I should basically 100% do this like ASAP within the next week assuming I need no other credit checks in the near future?)

Quick note of encouragement for people with CC or other debt to pay, who have looked at simulators that say "you will gain XX points if you pay $X of this debt" and been disappointed. For me this has spiked dramatically (much more than I thought the simulators said) even after paying off just some 0% or other low % CC balances.