What are the best ones to do if you very rarely fly? I'm mostly interested in cash back, but Amazon or any other shopping use would be fine.

For CB unless your spending is high its hard to get outsized value so you tend towards no annual fee cards, or bonus chasing.

Chase Amazon (5% amazon)
Standard 2%ers - Fido, Citi Double Cash, Spark (Freedom unlimited not as good for you if you don't travel)
Alliant 3%, USAA Limitless, JCB 3%
Everyday categories: Costco Anywhere, Amex ED / EDP, Sams Club
BoA Cash Rewards when good bonuses are offered
5% rotators (Freedom, IT)

Any of the cards we mention that aren't miles are fine too for the bonus as statement credit, but probably not to keep long term as they're not as good if you are not redeeming for travel - CSP, Merrill+, Arrival+, SW (for gcs)

I think in lieu of the Merrill+, I'm going to get a Spark, that would be useful to keep around as I don't have a 2% card anymore (I had one, but NASA FCU nerfed it.) I know it has an AF, but the bonus more than compensates for that and I can always close it and get a Double Cash or what have you later on if I'm out of other ideas.

I received a few PM's with referrals for the Chase cards, I'll be sure to use them! I expect to finalize my plan and do my apps early this week.

I have been approved for the Ink Preferred for 12k, had to steal some credit line from other Chase cards (Freedom, AARP) to get the SW Plus, got it approved for 4k. The Spark application went to 7-10 days, seems pretty common from what I've read, so not sweating it. They don't really recon so I'll just let them do their thing for now. I already have a 12k Quicksilver with them and no other Cap1 cards so I have a hard time imagining it being declined, we'll see.

Those 3 will put me at 4/24 since Ink doesn't report to personal (Cap1 does, unfortunately.) So I'll have a slot open in case the CSR bonus goes back in the coming months. Otherwise, I'll hold tight and re-eval in 6 to 9 months.


As an aside, I've not seen any discussion of this, but surely some here will have received the same email: Discover is retroactively crediting all the disallowed Apple Pay 10% purchases, and if you were under the double cash back promo, you'll get it doubled as well. I called in to see what I'll be getting back and they are paying it out fully. I'm getting back over $1,200. Pretty pumped! -- Edit 2: The email says it will be credited in 2 billing cycles, but once I called, the specialist told me it would show up within 72 hours, so it may be worth calling in just to expedite things a bit.

Very nice! App-O-Ramas are fun. It's a great feeling to get approved for multiple bonuses in one day!

if people were only a little less skeptical. Where I live, people would think they are doing some kind of fraud with an Apporama.

It's taken a long time to convince my friends and family that what I'm doing with new CCs, Bank Bonuses, and MS is perfectly legal (although sometimes breaks some TOS agreements )

When they see pictures from all the cool places I get to go they're a little more open to my ideas

So a couple years back I signed up for an airline's card mostly to rescue a ton of flyer miles that were expired, I've used up all those miles and now I'm stuck with a card that has like 90dollar a year fee and nothing too special benefits wise. Issue is the limit on it is pretty big, like 10K so I'm worried my credit will take a big hit if I cancel. I have another card I've had for a decade that has a slightly lower limit. I've never carried a balance on any card ever, how bad would it be to cancel my airline card? I want to buy a house in approx 2-3years, but definitely not in the next 18months. I do get free checked bags with the card but generally fly about twice a year and often in different airline so doesn't seem worth it.

in your specific case, with that little of history, i would think closing it would hurt somewhat quite a bit, only because you have two active accounts. Also, because it was a couple of years ago, it has decent age, your average age of credit would take quite a big hit if you were to close it. I'm no expert (but a vet at this point, i guess ), you could run a simulation to see how closing it would impact your score. do you know your score currently? creditkarma.com, creditsesame.com???

other variables come into play too, obviously. In short, how have you been managing your credit? a score and a little more backbone would help

I think the average age wouldn't be affected until that account drops off the credit report, which is still a long time after the card is canceled (7 years?). But the loss of available credit would take a hit and the only way to get that back up is to open new accounts, which would have a pretty significant impact on average age of accounts even in a few years when you're trying to buy your house. Not sure what the best option here is. Any path with significant pros is gonna have some cons with it as well and you'd need to look at your situation in a lot more detail if you really want the best answer. On the other hand, if the decision is close, none of your options would be significant mistakes (forgive the poker theory in OOT).

Wait, you're allowed to get sign-up bonuses from both CSP and CSR? In that case I'll sign up for CSP while still praying that CSR comes back with 100K.

Does anyone here have experience with getting bonuses for both? I just cleared the CSR bonus for 100k, and have had it for ~4 months. I don't think I'll be using it enough to justify the fee moving forward, so was going to downgrade it to the CSP.

But is it better just to cancel the CSR, and reapply for the CSP so I'm eligible for the bonus?

see if you can downgrade it to a no fee card

CSR and Ink Preferred are considered new products for now, so you can absolutely have both. (CSP/CSR or Ink Plus/Ink Preferred combo)

They probably won't let you do it backwards though unless you cancel CSR first

Absolutely the best play here. If there's no option for a fee-free card to downgrade to, you can always see if they have any retention or bonus offers to offset the annual fee. Really better not to close the account, since it will decrease your available credit by half.

What card is it?

Decided I'd go for Ink 80K, but then they start asking you about your small business, which I don't have.

So now I'm back to paralyzed with choice.

I have a targeted Amex 50K Premier Rewards Gold; am I better off just going for whatever crappy Platinum is publicly available, or jump on the Gold?

Or I can do CSP, if that will still let me do CSR in the near-future too. I should be under 5/24. Credit score according to Discover is like 820.

Obv I just need to pick something bc otherwise I go 3 months with nothing.

Yep, you need to get a minimum spend in the works.

50k gold is fine, 75k plat is fine, csp is good too. Just pick one and start spending

Regarding the Merrill+ and its $500 bonus, it is still available, but only by phone. https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/co...phone_50k_pts/

I may take a swing at it if I'm unable to get my Spark app approved. Still waiting for further info from them.

Nevermind! Approved for the Spark. I could go for the Merrill anyway but I think I'll exercise some self control, I don't want to have to do a bunch of MS.

Attending an IT expo in summer time, got a 6 night stay booked by company at Mandalay Bay. So I still have to make the payment on my card for the room then company pays back after. My mlife status is basic. I was debating putting room on my CSR, or maybe looking into the Hyatt, Mlife, or some other chase style card. Looks like room total is going to be $1100. Any ideas?

Yes, I have gotten both bonuses. I cancelled CSP and then got CSR when they had the large bonus I just applied for INK but it takes 30 days to process?

Can you rebook it?

I'm a sucker for 7% cashback on hotels.com, or you can rebook through amex FHR and get some property credit and stuff?

Otherwise the best way to optimize is to just open a new card and hit a minimum spend on it. Otherwise you're talking about a difference of 1-2k points (1x vs 2x vs 3x).

more like 2-3 days

Nope, I can not rebook. It is locked in. I do know Hyatt has the tier linking system with MGM. CSR gets 3x points on travel currently. It is just a matter do I put more points on the CSR, do I look for a Mlife MC to get mlife credits, or Hyatt card to get into their reward system.

Just trying to device which is better option to earn points on.

http://imgur.com/a/oXlPW