emilyk

I applied for a Chase Freedom and approved instantly May 19 2011 $3k limit.

Other Cards:
BofA Visa Platinum 8 yrs $1500 limit (poor college student)

Bills paid on time but missed 1 payment 7 years ago but fee was reversed.

There's so much information yet I'm trying to gather as many points as I can for a trip mid November to South Korea to visit my grandparents.

I prefer to fly Continental or United out of SFO. I've read Amex Gold or Platinum rewards would be transferable to CO up unitl Sept 30th. 50k-100k points after referencing promo codes. Would I make the Sept 30 deadline by buying coins, receiving the points and transferring to a Chase Continental card (which I'll have to apply for immediately).

I see two different advertisements for the CO card up to 30K with $50 credit or up to 40k. When I click on the ads here on FT it takes me directly to Chase United MilePlus card. Whats up with that? I would like to apply for the CO card, get the points, then apply for the United card for another bonus down the line before they convert the points. Kinda like double dipping. =P

I thought about going for the Sapphire preferred but like other FT said, its most likely that this offer will be around so I dont mind waiting.

Is it likely that I'll qualify for the Chase Co card and Amex Gold or Platinum within meeting the MR deadline? AA doesnt have a straight flight to Seoul. Any alternatives would be greatly appreciated.

lin821

Be advised Chase tends to NOT issue that many new accounts within a short period of time to any "poor college student."

Seeing you just got a Chase Freedom with low credit limit ($3K). If I were you, I would think very hard and carefully the next Chase card I'd apply. CO/UA/Sapphire are all Chase cards. There's also a big chance that you'd be approved, if ever, for a card with much lower bonuses (due to your short credit history/score).

Don't forget to factor in to get a card that you can for sure meet the spending requirement in time.

Good luck!

pgary

Currently there are 207,000 free Continental/United Airlines miles available from five credit card offers. I list these on my website below on the What's New page at 7/1/11.

Happy

This 207,000 figure is very misleading - because NO ONE could get all the bonuses. You should know better to point out that Chase does enforce the policy of One bonus per affinity card.

Yes, we all know there are instances that people get 2nd or 3rd bonus from the same affinity card, sometimes with tricks. However by and large, you get only one bonus with Chase which would be glad to issue you as many cards as it deems you qualify, but you will get only ONE bonus on UA, or ONE bonus on CO, despite you may be issued 2 of such cards.

Oh, Chase would definitely send you a letter at statement close date to inform you WHY you see a big fat 0 on your statement as your bonus.

I find it odd that you use this misleading figure to plug your site.

lwildernorva

Your post contains somewhat confusing information--you describe yourself as a "poor college student," yet you discuss a payment you missed seven years ago. Of course, you could be a late 20s student on the 10-year plan through college but you could have been a poor college student sometime ago who missed a payment but now has been really good with your credit. If you've read enough threads here, you surely must realize that although CC issuers are liberal with credit right now, they're not likely to give it away if you can't prove you're creditworthy.

On the assumption that you're in your mid to late 20s and have a decent but not great credit score, I can only make the following recommendations. Although the CO award chart suggests you could make a coach-class roundtrip from SFO to South Korea for 65,000 miles, there are no award tickets available for this award level in November or December 2011. The only availability is for tickets that require 130,000 award miles. Figure that's your target.

Can you make it? There was a 50K Chase/CO card a couple of months ago, but that deal's done and not likely coming back given CO's limited life. As you've noted, there are 30K and 40K offers that are probably as good as you'll see from CO before your trip. The best part of this card for you is that getting the miles depends only upon a first purchase so if funds are tight, you're getting the miles for a minimal spend.

On the other hand, Chase is pretty tight on multiple applications in short periods of time, and I suspect would be more so given the financial position you've described. If you get the CO card in the next few days and Chase/United shortly come out with a card with a much bigger bonus, as has been rumored, then you're likely not getting another card from Chase for several months. I'm thinking Chase/United will at least try to match Citi/AA at 75K minimum and may try to match Chase/BA at 100K--levels that would get you much closer to your goal, but these cards have had a much higher spending requirement and so likely would any new Chase/United card. You have to determine whether you can afford that requirement.

Let's assume 75K rather than 100K. That leaves you 55K short of your goal. If, if you can qualify for an Amex card, you might get in on an offer that would provide you with 50K Membership Rewards points. If you can meet the minimum spending requirement and have the points posted, you might have 51 or 52K points available to you before CO withdraws from the Amex program at the end of September.

That might leave you needing to buy 3000 miles from CO at $35 per 1000 miles to reach 130,000 miles.

And, by then, the target for award availability will probably have moved again, and those tickets currently available for November/December will be gone, and you'll have to look at later windows to redeem your miles.

Get realistic. Figure out a budget, both for your overall finances and for the amounts you can run through a credit card. Understand that although there are a lot of stories here about folks who pile up a ton of miles, most times that happens with folks who have a really good and longstanding credit history. Adjust your expectations--don't believe you can just start your plans now and be on a plane to Seoul in November.

But, if you keep reading the threads here carefully and make realistic plans, it is possible that you could be on that plane early next year or next summer.

jcee

If Chase only gave you a 3K credit line on your Chase Freedom, I highly doubt you will be approved for Amex Gold or Platinum or Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

It doesn't sound like your credit history is established enough for playing with it. I would recommend choosing 1 card that you will keep for a long time. (No or low annual fee)

pgary

Yes, Chase is tight about issuing multiple cards. But not so tight about issuing cards for different programs. For example, I got the Sapphire card while still holding the Continental card. The trick might be to space out applications over 30 or 60 days apart. There is still time to do this. It also might be to call the reconsideration number (888-270-2127 or 888-245-0625) after you are denied a card to see if you can close a card or change credit limits to get another. I would start with the Sapphire Preferred card and the Amex card, then try for the Continental card. They might even be liberal about the Chase Freedom card, as it is very different from the others.

Thanks for your reply. I think I will put this type of warning on my 7/1/11 post on my What's New page.

embarkab

First timer post--love FT!

Neither Chase Continental OnePass Plus or Chase Sapphire Preferred alone will give you the 65K bonus miles on United. The BA Chase card will give you 50K bonus miles enough for the round trip flight to South Korea on Japan Airlines but you need purchases totaling $2500 in 3 months, and with a $95 annual fee. One main drawback are the taxes on Japan Airlines; North America to Asia (Far East in BA award table), taxes are around $450, and adding the annual fee on the credit card--it's around half the ticket price in economy. Also you need to be flexible with your schedule for award bookings. Bottom line: it seems like too much trouble for one reward round-trip in a short amount of time.

I have to agree with lwildernorva, getting a new reward credit card now is for next year trip planning. You may need to get one additional rewards credit card to get enough bonus points. This is probably not the the venue for financial planning but evaluate your credit card expenses before incurring credit card debt for the glory of collecting airlines points or miles.

I was in Seoul in May 2011--my first time and loved it! It's is a wonderful country with very friendly people and tasty food. I don't speak Korea but a lot of people understood English. I think I paid under $700 from one of the posting in the mileage run deals thread. Expect to pay around the same in October and early November hopefully it will be cheaper.

Hope this helps.

AlohaDaveKennedy

Warning - looked more like a challenge to me.

metallim

really? that's funny, then i must be a nobody, cuz i got all of them (i applied for the ua instead of the freedom). as well as lots of people i know on the forums. if you took a minute to look at gary's site you would see he was not pushing 5 co cards, rather 5 different cards that all transfer into co. so it seems the only thing "misleading" here is your ignorant reply.

now, in truth, it seems like the op has very little credit history and is a newbie and so for practical reasons won't get themselves approved for all the cards; but it's DEFINITELY possible.