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Blinkman987 posted:If Visa Signature is meant to compete with mid-level Amex on a product level, it failed the first test. Delta Amex deposited bonus miles as soon as I hit my spending threshold. Southwest Visa Signature waits until the billing cycle, then 4-6 weeks. It's like, you get every piece of financial data on me instantly, can respond within minutes of any suspicious purchase like a Jack in the Box meal buy 40 miles from my home, and you have all the control of my financial future with a credit score-- but you need over a month to process and apply a few hundred dollars worth of airline miles? What do you think my scam to get HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS from a financial institution is, and how will one month delay stop it? I had the Chase SW card a couple years back and got 25,000 miles after my first purchase posted to the account. That's pretty lame if it takes 4-6 weeks now, but aren't they doing 50,000 point bonuses now? My rapid rewards account is empty and I've been thinking of churning that again later this year to reload on them.
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# ? Jan 10, 2015 04:07 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 03:50 |
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No one is going to not sign up for a card because the bonus miles take to the next billing cycle or longer to deposit. It's an inconvenience, but it's not what the two cards are competing on.
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# ? Jan 10, 2015 04:31 |
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hbf posted:Anything that is billed as "amazon". Amazon is a bookstore according to them. They don't see any sort of itemized purchase. The one exception is digital media (including kindle e-books ). Everything else including 3rd party merchants gets you 5%.
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# ? Jan 10, 2015 07:10 |
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If I open a card, use it for the sign-up bonus, then close it out (because gently caress fees), after a few months there won't be any net impact on my credit, right? The average age, utilization, etc will all be where they were because the card is closed?
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# ? Jan 11, 2015 22:43 |
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Richard M Nixon posted:If I open a card, use it for the sign-up bonus, then close it out (because gently caress fees), after a few months there won't be any net impact on my credit, right? The average age, utilization, etc will all be where they were because the card is closed? Credit applications generally cause hard inquires which cause your credit score to decrease.
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# ? Jan 12, 2015 04:41 |
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Just a heads up, in case this is useful for anyone: I applied for the Chase British Airways card and was more or less instantly approved (email notification). I wanted to get the card sooner than ~10-14 days as I wanted to use it to pay an impending tuition bill (which I have the cash for, but my uni doesn't charge CC fees so why not?), so I called up Cardmember Services, who put me through to Lending since I was just an SSN and a pending application to them. As I found out, typically it depends on the awards partner (in this case, British Airways) to generate the credit card number and everything, until then Customer Service just sees your application as "pending", even if it's in fact been approved. The CSR at Lending could see I'd been approved and told me about this, and advised me to call Cardmember Services in 48 hours to see about expediting the card to me (he said it's a max of 72 hours, was a good chance it'd be ready in 48). I think it's gonna work out in time and really hope it does; in my case getting to put this initial tuition bill on it is almost certainly going to be the difference between hitting the $30k spend to get a free Companion Pass or not. Not a credit card offer, but if anyone else is interested in Avios, via reddit I found out that Iberian is teaming up with The Economist to offer 12,000 Avios if you sign up for a year at $160. Speaking from experience, my previous Economist subscription was pretty nice; they are super chill about changing your address (even to another country), and the podcast version is narrated by Classy British People Content-wise they wear their neoliberal bias on their sleeve, but I just consider it good critical thinking skills practice, heh. Even if you're not using Avios now, 12,000 is enough for a decent shorter flight. BA's program has some disadvantages (getting hit with taxes/fees sometimes, sometimes a pain booking with partner airlines, not-great redemptions rates for longer hauls), but it's rated very highly for getting bang for your miles on shorter trips, and you can "top up" award flights with cash at a very competitive rate. Offer's good through the end of January. asur posted:No one is going to not sign up for a card because the bonus miles take to the next billing cycle or longer to deposit. It's an inconvenience, but it's not what the two cards are competing on. Well, you say that, but in my case there is a trip I'd like to take this summer and availability on AAdvantage is rapidly blacking out (already would have to fly Business for the return leg). It'd absolutely be the difference for me, I am probably going to wind up just paying for it out of pocket. I was briefly flirting with getting that $450 AAdvantage card with the 50k signup on $5k spend*, but I wouldn't use the benefits enough to make it worth it. *I got the AAdvantage card last year around this time, and just recently got the US Airways one in anticipation of being able to merge those points into American's programme. Should be noted that AA and I think US Airways each now have an 18 month wait between your last activation or cancellation of their cards before they'll accept a new application (doesn't apply with different types of card, my $95 annual fee one didn't exclude me from the $450 annual fee one). So in response to the poster asking about cancelling them ASAP, if you're trying to churn, I think it might be in your best interests to do so, although I can't speak for what it would do to your credit score vs waiting. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Jan 12, 2015 |
# ? Jan 12, 2015 05:22 |
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How fast and how high does credit shoot up once you have your cards drop from high utilization to <30%? I finally got a wrangle of my money and can pay off my credit card in the next few months. I'd like to get a cash back card instead of this terrible amex starter card I got when I was in college. Current score is 615ish due to defaulting on student loans back in the day but have since paid them all off.
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# ? Jan 12, 2015 15:36 |
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SaltLick posted:How fast and how high does credit shoot up once you have your cards drop from high utilization to <30%? I finally got a wrangle of my money and can pay off my credit card in the next few months. I'd like to get a cash back card instead of this terrible amex starter card I got when I was in college. Current score is 615ish due to defaulting on student loans back in the day but have since paid them all off. Utilization has no history. Only current utilization is included in your score. So as soon as your cc companies report that month's utilization, it will hit your score.
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# ? Jan 12, 2015 17:40 |
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Richard M Nixon posted:If I open a card, use it for the sign-up bonus, then close it out (because gently caress fees), after a few months there won't be any net impact on my credit, right? The average age, utilization, etc will all be where they were because the card is closed? It will affect your recent inquiries and average age of accounts. Opening the card will result in a hard inquiry which will drop your credit score a very small amount. This stays on your credit report for 2 years but doesn't affect your score after the first few months so I wouldn't worry about it. It will age and continue to affect your average age of accounts for 10 years until it drops off your credit report.
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# ? Jan 12, 2015 17:58 |
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Southwest is offering 50,000 miles plus a $100 credit statement, which basically cancels out the $99 yearly fee. I fly southwest a bit (28 legs last year) but honestly wouldn't use the card once I hit the $2000 spend for the miles. I would then want to close the card before the yearly fee hits again but I would need to make sure I don't lose any miles. Seems like a pretty good deal since 50k miles is basically enough for 4-5 round trips if you wait for the sales. I also want to get a citi double cash card though to replace the chase freedom I have. What do you guys think on the southwest visa?
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# ? Jan 12, 2015 18:24 |
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I have 4 credit cards (Visa, MC, AmEx, Discover) that I've had open for 10+ years each, all with perfect history and good utilization and high credit limits. I plan on keeping these open forever. I want to start opening airline and hotel cards, spending enough to get the initial bonus and then close them. How frequently should I apply for / open a new card? How long, after getting my initial bonus should I keep the card open?
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# ? Jan 12, 2015 20:29 |
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dexter6 posted:
From what I've gathered in the thread it's in your best interests to leave them open as long as possible so that it doesn't mess with your average account age as much. If they don't have fee's associated with them then it's probably advisable to just let them remain open as this will also increase your overall available credit and lower utilization. Not sure about the how often you should open one, I'm sure someone else more knowledgeable can chime in on that.
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# ? Jan 13, 2015 04:39 |
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100% Dundee posted:From what I've gathered in the thread it's in your best interests to leave them open as long as possible so that it doesn't mess with your average account age as much. If they don't have fee's associated with them then it's probably advisable to just let them remain open as this will also increase your overall available credit and lower utilization. I'm just parroting what I've read elsewhere, but 3-4 new cards per 3 months seems to be standard. I'm not sure how fast they're closing them though.
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# ? Jan 13, 2015 05:08 |
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The advice I've always seen is to keep them open as long as possible, so 11ish months, so that it's not completely obvious that you're churning bonuses. There's rumors that providers may blacklist or deny opening more accounts if you close the card right after you get the sign up bonus, though as far as I now it's unsubstantiated. As far as number of cards to apply and in what amount of time, I would just open cards whenever you complete the sign up bonus of the last card. The system is self limiting as if a specific provider think you are opening to many cards, then they'll just deny your application. At that point you can try calling and if that doesn't work either switch or just wait. I just want to make one thing clear. If you have a reason to care about your credit score, which would generally be that you plan on buying a house or car in the next year or so, then you should not be churning credit cards. There are a lot of factors that play into a credit score so it's hard to say definitively what will happen as circumstances are different fro everyone, but in general this activity leads to a lower score that is easily recoverable.
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# ? Jan 13, 2015 05:21 |
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If you have a Fidelity AmEx, check your email. I just got a promotion offer where you get 5% back on travel through the end of March.
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# ? Jan 13, 2015 17:30 |
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Kilty Monroe posted:If you have a Fidelity AmEx, check your email. I just got a promotion offer where you get 5% back on travel through the end of March. Capped at $25 (lol).
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# ? Jan 13, 2015 18:47 |
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THF13 posted:Frequently asked questions Newbie here, made up some numbers: Payment Amount Next Minimum Payment: $30.00 Last Statement Balance: $400.00 Current Balance: $600.00 When you say full statement balance, does that mean "Last Statement Balance" ? Paying the "Next Minimum Payment" is basically the "Should I keep a balance to build up credit" train of thought right?
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 12:34 |
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Revitalized posted:Newbie here, made up some numbers: Yes, if you the pay the Last Statement Balance before the due date you won't be charged interest.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 14:10 |
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asur posted:Yes, if you the pay the Last Statement Balance before the due date you won't be charged interest. Okay I understand now. Whoops, I think I messed up my first month.... (I paid a little less than the statement balance but more than the minimum) but at least I've got 0% APR for like six months. Time to make a statement balance payment! Thanks for the clarification.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 14:53 |
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Revitalized posted:Okay I understand now. Whoops, I think I messed up my first month.... (I paid a little less than the statement balance but more than the minimum) but at least I've got 0% APR for like six months. Time to make a statement balance payment! Thanks for the clarification. Normally when you pay less than the statement balance you no longer get a grace period, purchases start earning interest as soon as you make them. To reset the grace period you need to pay off the full amount owed. Depending on the credit card company it might get restored as soon as you make the payment or the next time your statement is generated. You still have a few months of 0% APR so I'm not sure how this affects you, I would call the support line on the back of your credit card and find out specifically if what if anything you need to do to make sure you have a grace period at the end of your 0% APR period.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 16:04 |
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I just got a notice from Discover that they are removing the minimum cash back redemption amount on my It card (previously it was $50). Since I don't spend a lot of money each month I used my Chase Freedom as my primary card (since it had the lowest redemption limit of all my cash-back cards) but now I think I'll switch back to my Discover as my main card.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 17:20 |
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THF13 posted:You might need to pay the total balance in this case. It'll be stated in your terms & conditions somewhere (that you may have to request from the issuer) but I think you need to pay off the statement balance in two consecutive months to get back to the grace period? Obviously keeping your balance as low as possible until then is best, but if the card is 0% APR I really wouldn't worry about it.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 17:33 |
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I have a question about whether to open up a new college card. I tried applying for the Double Cash card but was declined right off the bat since I only work part time during school. I've had a Wells Fargo college Visa card for about 2 years and figure I can get more rewards than just the simple 1% I'm getting right now. I haven't ordered a FICO score, but figure my credit is pretty decent after 2 years of never carrying a balance over 30% of my limit and always paying the balance in full at the end of the month. Right now my spending limit is at $2000. It seems the Discover It card would be my best option but I'm not sure I want to deal with Discover's varying acceptance by merchants. Is there a similar Visa or Mastercard that I would realistically be approved for?
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 07:18 |
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Mr.AARP posted:I have a question about whether to open up a new college card. I tried applying for the Double Cash card but was declined right off the bat since I only work part time during school. Why not just get the Discover and carry both cards?
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 07:41 |
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Ugh. I applied for the Chase British Airways card a week ago. It was approved by Chase within a few hours, BA still has yet to generate me a rewards account so they will actually issue me the card, and Chase apparently can't do anything to contact them or hurry it along. If I want to hit the $30k spend for the Companion Pass I need to get this first tuition payment on it, which I also need to get my student visa issued (electronically, thank god), and I leave in 15 days. Might give it until Wednesday morning (they said 48-72 hours a week ago), then call up Chase and cancel the application if nothing's happened yet.
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 15:53 |
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How does Amex calculate average account age? I've had an Amex since college in 2007 and still have that original card as well as a platinum card. Do I have 1 account with an age of 8 years? If I close the old college card will that decrease the age of my account?
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 16:15 |
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Can someone educate me on the whole AmEx Membership Rewards program? Does one dollar equal one point or what? I can't for the life of me figure out how to compare it to something like a simple "2% cash back." I've got an AmEx Blue that I'm thinking about starting to use as my primary card but I can't figure out if that's my best bet.
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 16:47 |
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Easychair Bootson posted:Can someone educate me on the whole AmEx Membership Rewards program? Does one dollar equal one point or what? I can't for the life of me figure out how to compare it to something like a simple "2% cash back." MR points are not good for cash; you only redeem them for cashback at 0.5 cents per point. Instead, MR points have their value when you transfer them (on a 1:1 basis) to airlines or hotel companies. If you are looking for cash back, get a Citi Double Cash or FIA 2% Amex. Depending on how you redeem MR points, they can end up being worth anywhere between 1.5 and 3.5 (or more) cents per point. People generally think MR points are one of the most valuable reward currencies out there because of this. Residency Evil posted:How does Amex calculate average account age? I've had an Amex since college in 2007 and still have that original card as well as a platinum card. Do I have 1 account with an age of 8 years? If I close the old college card will that decrease the age of my account? Amex is unique among issuers in that every account is (or can be if it isn't by default for some reason) backdated to the date of your first relationship with Amex. You have 2 accounts, each with an age of 8 years. If you close one, you will have one account with an age of 8 years. Opening up additional Amex cards is a great way to game the average age of account calculation if you were smart enough to open one early in your credit life, which it sounds like you were. Mr.AARP posted:I have a question about whether to open up a new college card. I tried applying for the Double Cash card but was declined right off the bat since I only work part time during school. You can try the FIA 2% Amex, but here's a pro tip: use your credit card less one month - i.e. keep the utilization for that month below about $550. Wait maybe 2 weeks after your statement cuts for it to report to the credit bureaus, then try again. Utilization above 30% is actually a red flag, so you want to avoid going above 30% utilization on your cards, especially if you're applying for more credit and even more especially if you only have one card. FIA 2% Amex: https://www.fidelity.com/cash-management/american-express-cards
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 17:10 |
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Residency Evil posted:How does Amex calculate average account age? I've had an Amex since college in 2007 and still have that original card as well as a platinum card. Do I have 1 account with an age of 8 years? If I close the old college card will that decrease the age of my account? You should have two accounts with the age of 8 years. Check your member since date on both cards, they should both have 07. If not just call them up and they can adjust your MSD, and the account age will update on your credit report too.
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 18:02 |
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Ugh. I applied for the Chase British Airways card a week ago. It was approved by Chase within a few hours, BA still has yet to generate me a rewards account so they will actually issue me the card, and Chase apparently can't do anything to contact them or hurry it along. If I want to hit the $30k spend for the Companion Pass I need to get this first tuition payment on it, which I also need to get my student visa issued (electronically, thank god), and I leave in 15 days. Might give it until Wednesday morning (they said 48-72 hours a week ago), then call up Chase and cancel the application if nothing's happened yet. Why don't you just create the account yourself, which should take 5 minutes tops, and then tell Chase what your number is? http://www.britishairways.com/travel/register-now/public/en_gb Thoguh fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Jan 19, 2015 |
# ? Jan 19, 2015 18:40 |
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Thoguh posted:Why don't you just create the account yourself, which should take 5 minutes tops, and then tell Chase what your number is? They're also in charge of the credit card number, it sounds like.
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 18:53 |
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Pompous Rhombus posted:They're also in charge of the credit card number, it sounds like. It took less than a week to recieve my Chase BA card with a previous Avios account.
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 22:12 |
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asur posted:It took less than a week to recieve my Chase BA card with a previous Avios account. I called up again this morning and got an unusually forthright CSR; she said the airline cards usually take the max allotted 2 weeks to get set up. Like you guys are saying, I think if I had created the BA account first and added it to my application it'd have been faster, but at this point it's probably the same to just wait it out. I also did some reading on the fine print for the Companion Pass and it's only good for travel originating in and returning to the US and only good for flights on BA, not partner airlines. That made an already iffy proposition (putting all my spends in one basket to hit the 30k) even less attractive, since I'll be based in Australia from next month and not being able to use partner airlines makes routing lovely for me, not to mention getting hit with all of BA's fees and surcharges for awards (you can sidestep a lot of them by using Avios on partner airlines). For all the bother, in my personal case I don't think I'd wind up coming out much ahead. I'm still gonna get the card and hit the spend (have a fair number of setting up expenses when I get there, plus it's time to replace my laptop), as well as do that Economist deal I linked, but it's not worth delaying my student visa any further over it.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 17:51 |
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Pompous Rhombus posted:I also did some reading on the fine print for the Companion Pass and it's only good for travel originating in and returning to the US and only good for flights on BA, not partner airlines. That made an already iffy proposition (putting all my spends in one basket to hit the 30k) even less attractive, since I'll be based in Australia from next month and not being able to use partner airlines makes routing lovely for me, not to mention getting hit with all of BA's fees and surcharges for awards (you can sidestep a lot of them by using Avios on partner airlines). For all the bother, in my personal case I don't think I'd wind up coming out much ahead.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 21:20 |
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Small White Dragon posted:Qantas is pretty stingy on award seats between the Australia and US if that's what you were planning to use it for, just FYI. Good to know, thanks! I'm on one in two weeks (through AA), booked it about ~8 months ago.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 21:56 |
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Ugh. I applied for the Chase British Airways card a week ago. It was approved by Chase within a few hours, BA still has yet to generate me a rewards account so they will actually issue me the card, and Chase apparently can't do anything to contact them or hurry it along. If I want to hit the $30k spend for the Companion Pass I need to get this first tuition payment on it, which I also need to get my student visa issued (electronically, thank god), and I leave in 15 days. Might give it until Wednesday morning (they said 48-72 hours a week ago), then call up Chase and cancel the application if nothing's happened yet. Make sure anyone that reads this learns the lesson - ALWAYS set up the third party rewards program membership before signing up for the associated credit card. It took a few weeks to get a Starwood rewards card when I applied for it without a preexisting Starwood account. It's always worth it to spend the five minutes setting up an account. I did this with the BA Chase card you're talking about in January and I had the card about a week later. Your case might have been a bit different because I was approved instantly (sounds like yours went through some kind of review?), but I have heard that BA can get a little finicky and they're more involved with the credit issuing process than most loyalty programs are.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 00:26 |
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Brian Fellows posted:Make sure anyone that reads this learns the lesson - ALWAYS set up the third party rewards program membership before signing up for the associated credit card. It took a few weeks to get a Starwood rewards card when I applied for it without a preexisting Starwood account. It's always worth it to spend the five minutes setting up an account. Oh, mine was instantly approved as well, but to the CSR's at Chase's regular credit card line it still appears to be pending. The folks at Lending can see that it's approved, but that they're still waiting on BA to get back to them.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 00:32 |
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...and of course, when I go to check one last time yesterday afternoon, it's been approved They were able to send it rush delivery (1-2 business days) for no extra charge. I also cancelled my Citi Platinum AAdvantage World Mastercard this morning, just before the first annual fee hit. Was surprised at how easy it was, took less than two minutes and fully automated.
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# ? Jan 22, 2015 14:50 |
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This may be common knowledge, but thought I'd put it in this thread just for other peoples information Barclays will not allow you to have > airline branded card open at once. I attempted to open a second US Airways card for the additional 50k miles, but they declined the app because I already "had sufficient credit" with them. I found a two-year-old blog post from someone saying that it was possible, but apparently, it's not.
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# ? Jan 22, 2015 20:42 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 03:50 |
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dexter6 posted:This may be common knowledge, but thought I'd put it in this thread just for other peoples information How long has it been since you opened the last one? I've noticed American and United have introduced an 18 month waiting period (since last opening OR closing of an account).
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# ? Jan 22, 2015 20:48 |