the most recent reported balance is used-thats why you will have a different score each month

I just got an email promotion for a shortcut to the companion pass for opening one card and $1000 spend in three months with a 40k bonus. Both my wife and I opened two cards with the $2k spend each. The only upside I guess is we will have 80k more points between us.

No way, really? Remember I was wavering on opening my 2 cards since I'm in the middle of applying for a mortgage.

So I opened them both, on the 3rd, last week and was instantly accepted. I go to check on if the promotion ended and they are now BOTH at a mere 40k. Called up chase right away and they confirmed I still have the 60k promo, but that I have exactly 3 months from opening to reach the 2k spend. I haven't even received the cards yet! That means I have the smallest possible freakin window of January 1st-3rd to meet the 2k spend on each...

So you're saying they're offering a card right now that you spend 1k and get not only 40k bonus points but a companion pass to boot?

Yeah it is an email promo that wouldn't apply to me now anyway, but claims to be special.

For your three month limit, secure message them and ask for the date you need to hit the spend in order to bonus. I did it for each card individually based on the advice I got here and it was mid January and was more than exactly three months. Tons of people in the reddit thread said the same. Good luck.

Thanks. Yeah, the lady on the phone straight up said January 3rd when I asked her. Maybe the secure message will work better and she was going going by the book

Cap1 is good for limit increases, but you have to keep requesting them online every 6 months. I started out with a $300 limit in April of 2014 and it is now up to $14k.

Re: credit building, it is best to have at least 3 credit cards reporting, and ideally 5, for purposes of building up your FICO. If you don't want to use them, that's perfectly ok, but get some cards with no annual fee and sock drawer them. Pull them out every few months and buy a 50c Amazon gift card or pack of gum or whatever to keep them active.

OR, if you trust yourself not to abuse credit by spending money you don't have, go HAM and collect bonuses and cash back, it's free money. You can make several thousand a year with very minimal effort, and far more than that if you really work at it.

Do you live in CA? I saw an article about this from DOC or Frequent Miler and it said that it was targeted to CA residents only.

"The only upside I guess is we will have 80k more points between us."

What do you mean about the only upside being 80k points? Being able to qualify for a CP that easily is freaking awesome...

If you can use the pass (and are under 5/24 with Chase), this is the best credit card signup bonus out there. So much value.

He means they signed up for 2x60 offers to get the same thing, so the upside for him is at least he'll have 80k more points than this 40k + status offer. But he still has to do the spending and get the timing right.

Gotcha. That makes more sense.

Yes exactly. TBH, i know I'm lucky to be able to do it the way I am. It's not super logical but my initial negative reaction is in part that it is attainable so much simpler now and that takes a bit of the shine away from the super-scheme.

And yes, California.

Update: Did a lot of reading on the myfico forums and took a shot at the Discover It card, as it seems to be easy to get. Got approved for $4k CL. Ship the 5% on amazon for the rest of the year.

Definitely seems like a good option for anyone with meh scores. They pulled experian FYI.

Will get a secured loan going soon.

Probably is 10% on Amazon since first year cashback is supposed to be doubled. Chat with a rep and ask

I got an offer for a $150 bonus for opening up a BoA checking account. It says it's only available if you received an offer letter in the mail so just a heads up if you see a letter like that don't throw it away, it's a good deal. If you do get the offer I would recommend the NON-interest account, because the only way to avoid paying $25/month on the interest bearing account is to maintain a $10k balance, which is lol even if you have the cash to park. I don't churn/bonus whore a lot because I don't want to burn my relationship with banks but fee structures like that are why I'll never care if BoA black lists me.

I have a Citi Visa Hilton card that just emailed me that they are severing their relationship and my account will turn into an AmEx account in 2018. If I want a Hilton AmEx I'll sign up for it so I can get that bonus too. The only thing I use the card for anyway is when I stay at a Hilton property because it gives me double Hilton points or somesuch. There's no reason why I shouldn't just close the account now right?

The Frequent Miler wrote a nice article about whether to cancel or not:

http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.co...0%28Instant%29

I just cancelled mine, as I'd rather have a chance at a new signup bonus with a "new" Amex product, rather than have the chance at a smaller upgrade or AU bonus.

Citi cancelled my hilton card by themselves for no use a year ago. Whoops.

Thanks! That article was about amex to amex conversion but the next day he did an article on the citi to amex conversion.

http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.co...ex-conversion/

I guess I'm going to cancel mine and sign up for the Amex Surpass, I think it is. Whichever one has the 125k Hilton points bonus going on right now.

Oops. That's what you get when you don't look to closely at the article. Haha. The 125k bonus is the highest point total it's ever been (I think when I got the Surpass it was a 100k bonus). I definitely like Hilton and am hoping that the Ascend and others are counted as "new products" by Amex so that I can get the new bonuses in 2018.

Signed up for the 125k Surpass bonus and the card is on the way. At first I had a hard time because it would only show me a 75k bonus offer, even clicking TPG's link, who claims it's exclusive to his site. Finally it went to the right page, I don't know why, and here we go. Waiting to cancel the Citi card until all my points from them have posted.

Just got the Jet Blue Barclay card w/60k bonus. I've never actually flown Jet Blue, but I hear it's solid, and the points bonus seems like a pretty good deal.

Yes it's a good bonus and a nice card if your in or near a jet blue hub. They often have deals so if your arrangements are flexible, even better.

If not, grab the Barclays AA card with no spend required in six months, that's a good one too.

Wrapped up United 60k and now on Chase Ink for 80K UR even though I was previously scared to do a business card. Realized that I did plausibly have a business as I did freelance work in 2015 and, if asked, would have said I "plan on" starting that up again.

After the online app I got the "we'll let you know within 30 days" notice, then may have gotten a missed call from them, then a letter telling me to call them. On the call I expected a potential grilling about being a "business", but they were just verifying that it was really me applying. Got approved right away on the call.

After this I'll see if Chase lets me apply for another biz card (sometimes works, sometimes doesn't apparently), if not then maybe another bank's biz card, and if not that then continue on with Chase personal as I should still be under 5/24.

Spending another 4 nights in Cancun this week at an all inclusive compliments of two Hyatt card bonuses. We did 7 nights here earlier this year. Total cost: 25k southwest points (used a companion pass or it would be 50k) + $160 in airport fees + $50 in transfer. Best deal ever

Looks great, well done

Always inspirational to see the trips that others get to take thanks to churning!