dajoip

Is there a 2015 version of this thread?

[There is now. Thanks for the reminder. Your Mod. team]

869

Was looking for it yesterday after I decided to pick up 50k US air miles. Obviously didn't find a 2015 version but that definitely didn't stop me from cranking out apps!

robertw477

In my opinion the things that matter most.

Utilization- I know this because I have some cycles due to business reasons that I have to clear to zero before new apps because the balances show even when I am paying in full.

Utilization in total and per any single cards

Paying On Time
Total credit available

Also large lines with different banks often spawn other large lines. All scores are not equal. Somebody here might have a higher score than me right now but I can still get more cards with larger lines than they can. That is why the score is misleading.

Inquires also matter--but this depends. If everything above looks good and you have some aged credit than applying every few months is doable and possible. I don't always do that myself but I have a lot of products and I need to select cards that I can get the bonus on. If you have a lot of recent INQs and not a lot of aged cards this will hurt you.

There is no exact formula but utilization, paying on time are the most major factors, then inquires/age.

JEStarr

I've applied for a bunch of cards in the last 18 months. A good portion of those points will be used on my upcoming honeymoon, and a bunch were used on a trip to Paris last year.

I'm going on my Honeymoon in October, and exploring the idea of doing a credit card round now, and one more before then. I know I could be aggresive and try to do a round now, end of April, and then one in August/September.

I'm looking to the board for some good advice.

We are trying to go to Thailand for the Honeymoon. The points stash will be mostly wiped out by flying UA (Partner Airlines) One Way Biz, and AA (One World) the other way.

I'd ideally like to get some of the hotel cost down, and supplement our points for this trip.

Here’s our point stash:
Current Balances
Ultimate Rewards: 31,337 +60,000= 91,337
Membership Rewards: 55,000
American Airlines: 65,626+50,000=115,626
United Miles: 55,000
Starwood Preferred Guest: 21,049
Barclays Card: 48,888

Initial thoughts would be to have my fiance apply for a United Card to boost our current mileage surplus to help with award travel. Also to do the Capital One Venture card to use for some of the hotel cost one night. I could also look into the Hyatt, or Hilton card. Although I'm not 100% sure that I'd stay at one of their properties on the trip.

Thanks in advance!

flyertalker00156

For sure I would apply for the Hyatt card since this gives you two free night up to cat 4

dajoip

I'm looking to do an AOR on Monday for the first time in almost a year (decided to calm down a bit and let everything settle). No real specific goals, except the WN CP.

Here are my choices, let me know if I've missed anything obvious. I intentionally left off the Barclays US Airways MC - I'd love to get it, but I want the CP more, and both Chase and Barclays pull TU in MI, so I don't want to risk 3 straight TU inquiries to start off (assuming Chase doesn't combine into a single pull). Plus, I have over 700k AA miles, so it's not the biggest loss, especially with the $89 AF.

My most recent scores are 772 for TU and 758 for Exp (AMEX, Citi, and BoA pull Exp in MI). TIA!

(1) Southwest Personal - 50k
(2) Southwest Business - 50k
(3) American Express Business Gold - 75k
(4) Citi Executive - 50k
(5) BoA Alaska - 25k + $100

yukon50

Why not just stay at a $20 local place and forgo the hotel CC's?

thebill0322

I would first look at where you plan to stay for hotels. The make decisions.

Hyatt 2 nights (or 4 nights with both of you) are for any Hyatt in the world not just category 1-4... Can not really beat the value of that at a very nice hotel on your honeymoon (Used mine in Hawaii). Just make sure your not blowing it on a category that's low as then its a waste. Only can ever get these once... 1 chase sapphire is worth 3 nights + at a sub category 4 hotel. Better than using free night certs.

Doesn't Thailand have some amazing Hilton properties that you could churn few cards each for? I am not as familiar with the country. Maybe each get the card that does free nights on weekends and pay with points during the week?

curiousGal

Hi all,

My last AoR was on Oct 24th. So planning to do another round next week. Below are what I already have:
- Ink Bold - closed last month
- Ink plus
- SPG
- Fide Amex
- Citi AA plat and Exec
- Amex BCP, BCE and OBC
- Barclays US airways
- Cap 1 venture
- SW personal premier - got 50k this year. Aiming for CP.

What I plan to apply for
- Southwest premier biz
- Barclays arrival plus - disney trip coming up.

Questions:
1. Applied for SW business card 3 months ago but was turned down. So closed Ink Bold early last month that had 30k CL. Now I have only Ink plus with 7k CL. What are my chances to get SW biz card again?
2. Any other cards that I apply other than SW and A+? I don't have any hotel cards? Citi Hilton? Hyatt?
3. So far 7 hard inquiries and CS > 760. Any issues to watch out?

Thanks!

AC439

As for #2 - I'm not in the majority, but I think the Hyatt card is only really worth it if attempting to stay in a very expensive city (or resort type place) that has a great Hyatt property. I used mine for Vienna, stayed at Park Hyatt Vienna - but if I have affordable options, I'm less inclined to stay at fancy hotels.

What about the BoA Alaska cards? I don't have any, but thinking about starting to churn some...

s0me0nesmind1

I hate to ask - but can someone explain a little more as to what AOR is?

I mean, what is the overall goal? Just get initial bonuses and quit? It seems like a lot of people are signing up for annual fee cards, what is the end result of signing up for those annual fee cards? Cancelling them when the annual fee is due?

I know some of these cards aren't too bad with the annual Fee (EX: Southwest gives 6k miles, which is close to the equivalency of the $100 annual fee anyways). So do you just keep these open? It's not necessarily opening all of the cards that hurts your credit, but cancelling all of them that hurts your overall average opened account I'm guessing?

Advice is appreciated on the overall goal here, I have a Southwest 50k miles (W/ $100 annual fee waived for the first year), 50k US Airways, and 70k Marriott Applications sitting right next to me that I'm itching to apply to!

michaelagray71

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum and to collecting points/miles. I have collected some points up to now but not that many. I am hoping to get some advice on how to approach getting the most out of our current cards and which may be the best ones to pair for the added bonuses.

We generally travel to Europe and domestically, so we are looking at the southwest companion pass for domestic travel. Plus as many miles possible for either first class round trip or several coach tickets. The southwest pass is the easiest to figure out, however for the international flights it can get confusing with all the possible transfers and which give the highest value. We don't have many cards now so I am hoping to get it right the first time. Our current cards and mile are as follows.


Me
Chase Sapphire - 60000
Delta FF - 51100
United FF - 13798
Delta miles for upcoming trip 15000 ea. approx

Her
Chase Freedom - 3900
Delta FF - 11000
United FF - 13798

Current Offers me
amex delta gold - 35000
amex everyday - 25000
chase freedom - 10000

Her
amex delta gold - 35000
amex prg - 50000



For the the southwest pass one of us would apply for the 50k personal and business then transfer points from UR through Hilton(?) to complete the requirements.

This is were it gets confusing. My questions are should we pursue with the Delta miles or go with another airline and or transfer partners such as Alaska Air/British Airways or a Barclaycard and transfers.

My plan was for me to get the amex delta miles/points and the chase points while the wife gets the southwest cards for companion pass.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give the most accurate information possible. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

pinkblanket

Business class to Europe cost one way per person:
1) 57.5k United miles on United, or 70k United miles on Star Alliance
2) 62.5k Delta miles on any Skyteam

So after your upcoming trip, you will have approx. 60k UR, 14k United, and 66k Delta. That will get you enough for one person to go to/from Europe one way with United/Lufthansa/other Star Alliance and to go to/from Europe one way with Delta/Skyteam airlines. I think your next step is to check the award flight availability (for two people) if you haven't done so to see if this is going to work.

I think you can pursue Delta and United so that your wife can go with you on those same flights. That would be the easiest.

pinkblanket

I concur on the importance of utilization. I had a 100+ point drop because I maxed out my credit card to 90+% (for business purchases). I took advantage of the grace period to the fullest and I let high balance showing on my statements. I always pay off my balances before the due date and yet my score dropped big time.

As I start to pay off my balances, my score recovered by 25 points and I am hoping to see it to go back to the previous number.

I don't see any impact on business credit card utilization though. Throughout the year, I got close to 100% utilization a few times on my Amex business and surpassed credit limit a couple times. I did not see any drop in my FICO during those few instances.

tjguitar85

Closed accounts stay on your report for 10 years, so it does not have a meaningful affect on your AAoA. It will increase your utilization (by lowering your overall limits) unless you re-allocate limits prior to cancellation. (Chase lets you). I'm with you though - I'll probably keep the Southwest card open as long as it's bonus offsets the fee- I had one in 2011 and I feel like the bonus was not offsetting it - are Rapid rewards points actually worth more now than then vs $$ spent on flights?