skunker

See, churner.

This card is getting hyped like the Chase Hyatt card, CSP, and the Citi AA Exec before that, which also had a 100k signup bonus and was churned beyond belief. How many AAdvantage accounts were shutdown because of the shenanigans associated with that card?

The lounge access is Priority Pass, which is given out with most CC these days, so that's not a unique feature.

Do worry, a few months from now the next "best card ever" will be out and everyone will move on.

ctownflyer

He added the banners for the card to an indirect affiliate site (cc.com)
Those indirect links can't be used for anything other than a banner.

The only direct affiliate links I've seen are from TPG (owned by BankRate, which also owns cc.com).
Surprisingly, MMS doesn't have direct links yet.

FallenPlat

Alright, thanks, then I'm not missing anything.

That necessarily means that "hyping" a card with a 100,000 point sign-up bonus (and only a $150 net fee) makes a lot of sense for a lot of people.

But at this point the card still doesn't really work for me, unfortunately. Everyone's different, I guess.

(Also, I have to admit that I was wondering about who out there currently has live Chase links.)

TheBOSman

Dumb question: is it possible that, vis a vis the Tweet from Chase announcing the card with the direct link, that TPG/Bankrate/CC.com will be the "exclusive" affiliate source? Perhaps, giving up some of the commission in exchange for the tweet and other such references? I'm trying to think of the large CC blogs/websites (not limited to the travel sphere, so include NerdWallet et al here) to check if they have direct links or not (doesn't appear NW does but I could be wrong on my interpretation of their link formatting).

mikex163

You are really not up to par with the current status of credit cards offers.
The CSR cannot be churned, at least not in the traditional sense. You have to wait 24 months before getting a new bonus. And to get that bonus you can't have had more than 5 cards in the last 2 years. Not exactly churning material (I wish it was, I wouldn't mind getting one every 6 months!).

I don't see how the Hyatt CC is over-hyped. For $1000 spend you get 2 nights at almost every Hyatt out there. I got two nights at the Park Hyatt NYC that were selling at $1200 each (no, I would not have stayed there if it wasn't for the certificates, but I was going to NYC anyway, and would have spent $200 or so per night at least). Even if I had used at an hotel that cost $100 per night, it would have given me a 20% return. Not too shabby.

What do I care if other cards offer PP as well? I care that my main card (the CSP), now has a "better version" (CSR) that offers better rewards. But, overall, I don't give a damn about lounge access, unless in a long layover, which I try to avoid anyway, so the marginal value of PP access is close to zero for me, I'm keeping the CSR for the extra earnings on travel/dining vs. $55 increase in annual fee; having PP access and better travel insurance (6h until it kicks in instead of 12) is just a bonus. Like me, there are many others; some value PP access some don't.

And yes, I'm a churner as much as I can (not as much lately, unfortunately, almost half of those 20 cards were Citi's non-AF Hilton, which was a card that truly could be churned, 2 cards every 65 days, not one card every 2 years like the CSR). If that was an attempt at an insult, I think you won't find many folks here at FT that will be insulted by being called churners.

mikex163

Also, I don't know how you got the idea the PP access with guest "is given out with most CC these days". Even without guest access, there's a handful of cards that do so. With guest, I can only think of the Citi Prestige.

skunker

I think you are missing the point of my posts. I said the people that are excited about the card are churners, you are a churner and are excited by it.

Go to /r/churning for a megathread about the card and detailed wiki.

All the cards that I mentioned were (and still somewhat are) darlings of the blogger community at some point. Of course the Hyatt CC isn't hyped much now, but when it came out it was pumped constantly, same with the 100k Citi Exec and CSP.

The point is that just because a card becomes the blog darling du jour doesn't necessarily mean its a good card.

And, finally, the AMEX platinum offers these benefits

mikex163

What was the part that I can't get the bonus that you didn't get?
Getting a card without a bonus is not churning, no matter how you put it - OK, you get $150 back in the first year of membership (and is potentially churnable every couple of years - upgrade to CSR, downgrade next year, upgrade again in 2018), but that's not exactly a big offer to get very excited.

If you take the time to go to the thread that I mentioned there's plenty of folks like me: can't get the card if 5/24, but will upgrade because of what it offers. Some people just because of the $150 in the first year, a bunch because it makes sense to pay the $55 over the CSP.

And just because you don't think it's a good card doesn't make it a bad card.
For a lot of people is a fantastic card (for me it's the best, replacing the CSP which was for me the best until now), with 100k bonus (at least $1500!) it's a terrific card. Overall I think it's quite a stretch to say that is not a good card, but to each his own.

And the Amex Platinum doesn't offer PP with guest access, guests pay $27 (https://rewards.americanexpress.com/...umprioritypass). Even if it did, it would be a third card offering that, far from being ""given out with most CC these days".

josephstern

There's something I didn't realize - AAdvantage accounts were shut? Not just Citi accounts?

skunker

I'm glad you are happy with your decision, but that doesn't take away from what mentioned: the miles and points bloggers love the card. Churners also like the card. Lucky falls into the first category, you fall into the later. He has his reason, you have yours.


I never said it wasn't a good card. I'm just pointing out that people should be suspicious of why it is the current darling. I think everyone here knows why.

I just said PP is given out with most credit cards, which is a fact. The level of PP is so variable amongst them. You may be right about it being the only one with free guest entry, I don't know. I have had PP for about 10 years through credit cards and have never used it. Not once. So, that feature of CSR is worthless to me.

skunker

From my understanding, yes.

What I read was people would open multiple accounts, 5 or 6, and then put something on the card to meet the minimum spend ($10k?). They would get the 100k miles, return or refund the purchase, and close the account to avoid the annual fee. In some cases they then sold the miles to brokers.

Head over to the AA forum and read the fraud thread.

josephstern

I honestly can't find a thread that addresses this. Can you post a link?

skunker

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...arter-etc.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...t-closure.html
"2 or 3 citi accounts over these 2 years. and yes, i bought some refundable aa tickets and refunded them. May be 2 over 2 years. Miles were never deducted. I kept 1 account open and kept using it and new miles kept posting. second account was closed by me."

I posted this a couple years ago in the first thread: http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.ph...9694#msg769694

There was also reports on slickdeals and fatwallet, both of which saw heavy traffic about that card.

**I'm not saying any blogger promoted this activity, just that they promoted the card.**

EDIT: it looks like Lucky did promote applying multiple times: http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...rd-100k-bonus/

FallenPlat

To be clear, Citi was 100% ok with multiple applications. This was quite deliberate policy (albeit quasi-insane). The dedicated thread here was kind of fascinating: would the aerialists make it to the other side or would they fall to their deaths?

I think Ben only applied twice -- a real piker by comparison.

Citi was clearly not ok with the other stuff discussed above.

mikex163

That's simply not true.
Out of the dozens and dozens (hundreds most likely) of CCs that are out there in the U.S., there are only a few that offer any level of PP privileges (CSR, Citi Prestige, Amex Plat, Amex Surpass, Amex Centurion; I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind).
At that level of privileges that CSR offers, I know of only another one (Citi Prestige), but I'm sure that some obscure premium cards out there that also have it.