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Heya credit nerds... I'm moving back to the U.S. here shortly and that's going to entail a fair bit of expenses. I figure I may as well get some fresh bonus points out of it. Currently have the Chase Amazon Prime that I use as my daily card (for US/online expenses.) Did the Citi AA card last year, paid a bunch of insurance and such with it, and those points now paid for my flight back to the U.S. 🎉 780 credit score, plenty of income. I'm thinking I'll go for the Chase Sapphire Preferred for the 50k on $4k spend. Then I'd like to do the Freedom and Freedom Unlimited (each are $150 back on $500 spend.) From there I was looking at some balance transfer card options... because why not get a 0% loan on that money for 15-20 months? Potentially I could then get the Discover It with the double cashback deal and use that for the rotating categories. Am I going too far with this? I don't really know if that's too much credit to apply for in short period of time. Any better ideas? I would mostly use the chase points for travel as my wife will be flying back a few times a year.
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Jul 17, 2018 21:19
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Chase has a 5/24 stipulation, meaning if you have 5 credit cards in 24 months you're auto rejected and it's hard (impossible?) to overturn. So keep that in mind hitting up the Chase cards. Might want to hit the Preferred/Reserve then go from there.
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Jul 17, 2018 21:55
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Hibajubwa posted:Heya credit nerds... I'm moving back to the U.S. here shortly and that's going to entail a fair bit of expenses. I figure I may as well get some fresh bonus points out of it. Chase is the best "generic" point system for travel. If you know for 100% that you are using them for travel, then you can look into some of the airline partner cards that a huge amount of miles as a sign up bonus. Because of the Chase 5/24 rule, you should do those cards first. If you don't have any new cards in a long time, then you can safely get around 2 a month for a few months before you are going to hit the "too many hard inquiries in a short amount of time" limit that some banks have where they automatically deny you. Don't do any balance transfer cards while you plan on churning. The extra hard inquiry and utilization will make it harder to get auto-approved.
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Jul 17, 2018 22:21
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I got the Discover It via Leon Trotsky 2012's referral link and they gave me a card with a $2000 limit??  this is maybe the first time that a credit card company gave me a credit line that's not like almost half of my annual income. discover must be the only company still operating on the decades-outdated "dont lend more than the borrower can reasonably repay" logic
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Jul 18, 2018 03:47
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Shear Modulus posted:I got the Discover It via Leon Trotsky 2012's referral link and they gave me a card with a $2000 limit??
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Jul 18, 2018 03:55
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Shear Modulus posted:I got the Discover It via Leon Trotsky 2012's referral link and they gave me a card with a $2000 limit?? I opened and LL Bean store credit card (my wife makes a lot of returns and it's free shipping on returns w the card or it was they changed it and now I don't know) and they gave me like 15000
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Jul 18, 2018 03:58
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Yeah I have like 10 credit cards and every one besides this Discover has a limit of at least 10k, some much more
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Jul 18, 2018 04:03
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Shear Modulus posted:discover must be the only company still operating on the decades-outdated "dont lend more than the borrower can reasonably repay" logic I dunno, they gave me a $4500 limit 6 months out of college, with 50k in student loan debt, when I was making approximately peanuts.
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Jul 18, 2018 04:05
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Discover was my first credit card I opened when I was in grad school with no job and a limit of $500. I think it's at $3500 now but I'm not sure I've done an increase request recently
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Jul 18, 2018 04:08
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I'm coming off unemployment. I have student loans, but just for community college: $1275 unsubsidized, $945 subsidized. I have one credit card: Chase Freedom, which was 110% maxed out ($2200 on a $2000 limit) until very recently, when I went back to work and paid it in full. I have no other debt (okay I've been charging some stuff to the credit card, but I can pay that off to zero it out again). The credit score thing built into the Chase app said, when my credit card was at $2200, that my credit score was 609. Then, on Mint, it refreshed its credit score when the Freedom card was at $0, and said my credit score was 748. So. What the hell? Is my credit really that good once I have a zero balance? I understand that credit utilization is a major factor, but are credit card companies gonna roll out the red carpet if I apply when I have that high score, or are they gonna go "lol dude you just paid that off after getting a big check, get hosed"
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Jul 18, 2018 05:57
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If your utilization over all your credit is >30%, your score will decrease. If it’s 100% or greater, it will drop like a stone and once you pay it off, it will go back up again. I believe the real FICO isn’t as concerned with single card utilization, but creditkarma and the FACO’s will change based on it. That said, if your credit is only one card, then yes, utilization on that one card can drop your score.
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Jul 18, 2018 12:48
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Shear Modulus posted:I got the Discover It via Leon Trotsky 2012's referral link and they gave me a card with a $2000 limit?? Weird. My first Discover IT got a $5,500 limit and my second got $7,000. Then, 3 months later they gave me a "complimentary" credit limit increase to $9,000. I have 4 chase cards and they are all around $3k. The $7k limit is my 2nd highest limit card. Capital One gave me a 10k limit almost a decade ago when I was in college. (Pro-Tip: Discover let's you have 2 of their cards. When the first year double cashback bonus ends on your Discover IT, just apply for a second Discover IT with a referral link the next month for another free year of 2x/10x Cashback + statement credit) Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Jul 18, 2018 |
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Jul 18, 2018 13:39
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Is Amazon unusually stingy with their limits? I got my first Amazon card right after college and the limit has never really been raised above $1500. I've had multiple credit cards with 50k+ limits since then.
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Jul 18, 2018 18:07
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Residency Evil posted:Is Amazon unusually stingy with their limits? I got my first Amazon card right after college and the limit has never really been raised above $1500. I've had multiple credit cards with 50k+ limits since then. Mine got issued with an 8k limit right from the start. I doubt it's Amazon setting the limit, but Chase.
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Jul 18, 2018 18:19
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Residency Evil posted:Is Amazon unusually stingy with their limits? I got my first Amazon card right after college and the limit has never really been raised above $1500. I've had multiple credit cards with 50k+ limits since then. You can call them and they're happy to shuffle limits around between cards. I had to do that when I applied for my Amazon Prime card since I already had a CSR and Freedom with high limits.
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Jul 18, 2018 18:42
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Residency Evil posted:Is Amazon unusually stingy with their limits? I got my first Amazon card right after college and the limit has never really been raised above $1500. I've had multiple credit cards with 50k+ limits since then. The best way to increase your limit with chase is to sign up for a different card, since they'll hard pull you either way. Might as well get a bonus out of it. e: if you're not in a situation Star War Sex Parrot describes. They are happy to shuffle credit limits without a hard pull.
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Jul 18, 2018 18:43
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Harry posted:Chase has a 5/24 stipulation, meaning if you have 5 credit cards in 24 months you're auto rejected and it's hard (impossible?) to overturn. So keep that in mind hitting up the Chase cards. Might want to hit the Preferred/Reserve then go from there. Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Chase is the best "generic" point system for travel. If you know for 100% that you are using them for travel, then you can look into some of the airline partner cards that a huge amount of miles as a sign up bonus. Thanks for the input guys. I haven't had an actual credit inquiry in about 4 years now (again, living abroad) other than credit reports to watch for fraud and ego-stroke about the dumb number. Looks like I'll grab the CSP as soon as we land/settle and then I'll dig more into airline partner cards to see if there's any other great offers around.
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Jul 18, 2018 20:59
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Just now, I got my credit card balance to $0.00. I made a creditkarma account, says my scores are 748/738. I applied for the Discover card. Rejected, says my score is 648. gently caress! edit: whatever, got a Sapphire Preferred card from Chase instead (my Freedom Unlimited just hit the timer where it actually has APR). I pulled a credit score from the actual Experian site, and they have all three of my scores as 100 points less than the third-party ones say it is. kingcobweb fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Jul 20, 2018 |
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Jul 20, 2018 05:36
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kingcobweb posted:Just now, I got my credit card balance to $0.00. I made a creditkarma account, says my scores are 748/738. I applied for the Discover card. Rejected, says my score is 648. gently caress! Your score doesn't update in real time, and different reporting agencies can have different methodologies and even views of what cards and balances you have.
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Jul 20, 2018 11:22
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baquerd posted:Your score doesn't update in real time, and different reporting agencies can have different methodologies and even views of what cards and balances you have. I looked at the credit reports; the information all agrees with one another. I (briefly) looked into the systems that different things are using, and my guess is it’s that VantageScore has a much different weight to paid-off collections accounts than FICO does. (I went to the ER with no insurance years ago, got a 10k bill I never paid, and settled up with the collections agency in 2016.)
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Jul 20, 2018 12:59
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I'm about to get a Chase Sapphire Reserve in advance of booking a vacation. Anybody have a referral link?
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Jul 20, 2018 16:38
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Thoguh posted:I'm about to get a Chase Sapphire Reserve in advance of booking a vacation. Anybody have a referral link? https://www.referyourchasecard.com/19/V8XLOR5FRY Thanks!
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Jul 20, 2018 16:51
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NP, no reason not to let somebody get some free points out of it.
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Jul 20, 2018 17:46
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Is there a good travel card out there that can transfer miles to both United and Alaska?
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Jul 20, 2018 19:01
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QVC Drinking Game posted:Is there a good travel card out there that can transfer miles to both United and Alaska? SPG would be the only card currently and the earning rate is getting slash by a third starting August. Marriott cards will be able to in August, but I believe the earning rates are worse.
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Jul 20, 2018 21:13
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Thanks, that's what it seemed like but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a good one. In that case is there a recommendation for a good card that transfers miles to Alaska, never mind United? Is the Alaska visa considered a good card or should I be looking for something better?
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Jul 20, 2018 21:33
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QVC Drinking Game posted:Thanks, that's what it seemed like but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a good one. In that case is there a recommendation for a good card that transfers miles to Alaska, never mind United? Is the Alaska visa considered a good card or should I be looking for something better? The Alaska Visa used to be the sickest card in the game, and gave you a great way to backdoor Emirates points, but it's since been slashed. TPG thinks it's still pretty good, especially with a decent signup. https://thepointsguy.com/guide/alaska-visa-signature-card-review/
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Jul 20, 2018 21:45
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I wouldn't say the Alaska visa is a great card, but after August it's the best card I know of for Alaska miles. The biggest problem with Alaska miles is that they're hard to earn and the program has devalued with no notice. The program has multiple sweet spots, but it takes a lot of spend to rack up points. 30k bonus is pretty low when you need 50k or 70k and personal + biz is harder to do with BoA. Love that one of the perks described by TPG is upgrades on the companion pass ticket. You only need to know a MVP that will share their limited upgrades, so easy to do .... asur fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Jul 20, 2018 |
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Jul 20, 2018 21:46
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Anyone happen to have a referral link for the Amex Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card?
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Jul 21, 2018 09:04
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asur posted:Anyone happen to have a referral link for the Amex Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card? http://refer.amex.us/GUSTABOHx3?XLINK=MYCP edit: anyone with Amex cards should keep up on Amex Offers. Many people have extra points at Amazon, Best Buy, Lowe's, Staples, etc. Just make sure to add them to all your cards possible--Amex will remove the offer once you add it to one card, but you can get around that by opening up multiple tabs beforehand. There are several articles written about it if you want more info. opposable thumbs.db fucked around with this message at 13:26 on Jul 21, 2018 |
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Jul 21, 2018 13:09
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Dumb question potentially: I have a United Explorer Chase card from way back. Am I automatically eligible for the TSA precheck credit or do I have to "do something" first? Meaning, are new card holders different from old card holders? Is there an opt in or something? Or do I just go and get my TSA paperwork??
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Jul 21, 2018 19:14
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Insane Totoro posted:Dumb question potentially: Did you get changed to the new card or do you have documentation stating the process? If you don't know, I'd call them up and ask if you're eligible and the process. Normally you just go pay for PreCheck or Global Entry and get the credit. On that note if the credit is for either then Global Entry is better as it gives PreCheck and other benefits.
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Jul 21, 2018 19:44
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They sent me a new card recently but it says "Mileageplus Explorer." Am I confused that the new card is simply "United Airlines Explorer" or am I just turned around? I am looking through my paper mail and see nothing about a conversion. Just a "hey here's your new card" letter.
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Jul 21, 2018 19:49
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Quick update from a few weeks back: called Chase's sapphire line and they said since I currently have the basic chase sapphire they could only do a product change to the CSP or CSR and thus I would not be eligible for the reward. Think I may have better luck in a branch? We may have my wife apply to see if she can get approved.
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Aug 2, 2018 17:46
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Just cancel the Sapphire outright and then sign up for a preferred the next day.
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Aug 2, 2018 18:43
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Product change the regular Sapphire to a freedom or freedom unlimited, then you can sign up for CSP/CSR.
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Aug 2, 2018 21:26
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apparently wells fargo has a new $0 annual fee card with a   $300 signup bonus and pretty good bonus point categories with 3% on travel and ""popular streaming services""the catch of course is that it requires you to also have a wells fargo checking account, savings account, investment account, HELOC, and two more checking accounts
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Aug 2, 2018 21:40
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Shear Modulus posted:apparently wells fargo has a new $0 annual fee card with a Good news, knowing WF, they probably already signed me up for all of those accounts.
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Aug 2, 2018 21:44
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TraderStav posted:Good news, knowing WF, they probably already signed me up for all of those accounts. God drat
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Aug 2, 2018 21:45
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TraderStav posted:Good news, knowing WF, they probably already signed me up for all of those accounts.  situation. Wells Fargo credit cards have always required you to have an existing banking relationship with them.
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Aug 2, 2018 21:49
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