Blackeyes24

New to the points game this year and didn't start out as strategically as I should have. Instead of picking where I wanted to go and applying for cards accordingly, I applied for cards when they had the best bonuses. Since March I've gotten the Sapphire Preferred (3/14), Ink Plus (8/14), Ink Bold (10/17), Marriot Rewards(8/14), Southwest Plus (11/14), Southwest Premier (12/14), US Air Barclays (8/14), Delta Amex business (8/14, and the Club Carlson US Bank (12/14)(but they approved me for the lower bonus).

Now I'm actually planning the trip and realizing my mistake. I'm going to Italy in May and working on figuring out my hotels using only points (Cash is not an option). I originally thought I would stay at the Radisson Blu in Rome. Because I got approved for the lower CC card I don't have enough points. I can overcome that easily enough, but now that I am reading the reviews for the hotel, I'm not sure I should try. I find that review are often VERY over critical by my standards but still there are quite a few bad reviews for the hotel.

My other option would be to apply for the Amtrak Guest Rewards card from Chase. If you are an Amtrak card holder you are allowed to transfer points to Choice Hotels at a rate of 1:3. The spending bonus on the card would give me enough points for my three nights in Rome at the Comfort Hotel Bolivar.

I had been planning on taking a break from applying from Chase because I've gotten so many this year. I know I'm at my maximum credit with them because I had to move around my limits on my other cards to get approved for the Southwest Premier, which I needed to get the companion pass. Am I crazy to try applying with them yet again to get this card? Should I just stick with the original plan to stay at the Radisson Blu?

Lumpylump76

Didn't get instant approval on Ink Plus, but automatically proved 3 days later with no recon call.

Happy

Did not get instant approval on Ink Plus but got the approval the next day without any contact initiated by them or by me. This was during the 60K offer back in last May when many folks were being grilled by recon reps. Did the application from Canada together with a Marriott Personal card which I did call recon and moved CL. Rep told me the SOLE reason I did not get instant approval of the Marriott personal card was due to the total CL was close to 60K. (I closed a CSP and released 10K in April but that obviously was not soon enough). Very nice lady who told me I would not see Marriott card online until Marriott verified back the membership number. She said she would call to inform me if the card was issued. She did leave a message on my home phone that I found when we returned home from Canada.

Chase took 5K from Freedom to make the Ink Plus a 10K card at its discretion. Both Ink Plus and Marriott popped up online 2 days after applications but the letter informed me the reallocation 5K from Freedom was dated one day after the application. With that additional 5K from Ink Plus now I am back to the "danger zone". Not sure what to do next as current cards I do want to keep for a while.

Adam1222

Your credit is not a "game". 9 new cards in a year is a lot.

There are plenty of hotels in Rome. You should be able to find one without a new credit card.

TxTrav

+1

Brugge

Very simple, look over your cards and find some that have more CL than you need them to have. Them SM Chase to lower those CLs. See if you can get your total Chase CL down to around $30K. Then you will start getting instant approvals again, and they will most likely give you $15K on new apps. Which means that after meeting min spnd you will need to SM Chase again to lower the CL on the new cards.

The only two Chase cards I do any significant spend on are the $1500 per quarter on the Freedom, and almost all of my travel and dining on the CSP.

Most of my other Chase cards I have either just for the sign up bonus {Marriott) or the benefits (free top level IHG night at renewal for a mere $49). I spend a few hundred $s on all of my open Chase cards every month just to keep Chase happy and encourage them to give me more cards. Even on cards like the IHG where the points aren't going to add up to enough to be useful.

For the same reason I keep every new card open for at least the first year. Especially now that we can get a new sign up bonus every 2 years I want Chase to consider me to be a profit maker for them.

I'm keeping $10K on my CSP to cover me for emergencies when traveling. My other cards are down to $3K to $5K each, which is actually way higher than I need on them.

End result of the above: recent instant approval for a second British Air 50K miles card, with a CL of $18K.

Thunderroad

It seems to me that you're in better shape than you give yourself credit for. As you may know, your Chase Ultimate Rewards points (Sapphire, Ink, Bold) can be converted to Marriott at a 1:1 ratio. You also have your Marriott sign-up. So you probably have access to about 200,000 or more Marriott points. Or you can convert your UR points to Intercontinental or Hyatt (though I believe Hyatt just has one Italian property, in Milan).

Now, if this isn't enough or if you're using your UR points for conversion for plane travel, I guess you could take a shot at the Intercontinental or Hyatt- linked credit cards from Chase. The latter is an especially sweet deal, in that with some initial spending you get two free nights at any Hyatt in the world, including what I hear is the wonderful Hyatt Milan...if in fact you're going there, and if in fact there's still availability by the time the credits come through.

Yet another option, if you can spend fast enough to accrue the bonuses, is to try is to sign up for the best current American Airlines-affiliated cards, which have the advantage for you of being Citi rather than Chase cards. Plus, with the merger your US miles will soon be combined with AA. I mention all this because you can use your AA miles for some nice hotels in many cities. Here's the relevant link to using AA miles for that option:

https://www.useaamiles.com/carhotel/...andhotelawards

Happy trails!

CDKing

I was recently told on another forum that i was an amateur for only having 8 new cards. Then again i only have 1 year 3 month credit history.

Adam1222

There's a difference between having 8 cards and getting 9 cards in a year. I have 18 cards. The oldest was issued in 1999 when I was in high school and is a Gap card, and the next in 2001 at college freshman orientation. But since I might want to buy a house, I am closing newer accounts.
I doubt your credit history is as new as you think. Have you ever had a bill prior to October 2014? If your credit history is indeed that young, you are hurting yourself.
There are tons of ways of getting good cheap hotels without opening credit cards.

CDKing

Nope. I screwed my credit years ago. I waited until my last collection account fell off before I applied. Completely clean slate and all the bills were in my GFs name, prior to that all the bills were in a roommates name.

Adam1222

Sorry I confused your post with the OPs.
Perhaps your story should be mandatory reading on certain websites that sell credit cards.

tassojunior

On most VISA and MC premium cards aren't you still required to have at least a $5K CL?

GrnLantern

Yup, most of mine are required to be $5k minimum. I have far too many Chase cards, and I'm quite pleased with them, to bother with getting under some mystical $30k total CL limit to enable auto-approvals.

Also, I'm averse to caring (myself) for auto-approvals because I rarely get them thanks to my weird billing address situation. I use a PO Box, and it seems to always thwart my auto-approvals because it's the primary listed address on my credit reports, but apps require physical during application, so it doesn't match and raises a review flag.

I'm fine with this, and I'm also fine with calling in to recon and explaining what I want (so that they don't do what *they* think I want / or what they want). In the end, I enjoy the buffer the extra CL's on my Chase cards give me, especially if/when I forget to prepay and thus end the statement cycle with a balance (a buffer helps you stay below 10% credit utilization).

Not saying your strategies aren't good... They're great for you, and probably great for many others.

RNE

This!

RNE, advising against falling for the credit line voodoo promulgated in this thread.

Brugge

NO, not at all. The Executive World Elite MC requires a minimum of $5K to keep it open. My HH Signature Card currently has a total CL of $1K. Which is more than I need, since I never use it. I just keep it open since there is no AF, and it helps my AoA.

I repeat, when I had a high CL with Chase, I always had to call Recon for approval, and often I had to move credit from another card to get approved for the new app. Often even then only getting a CL of $5K.

Others have reported Chase moving CL from a open card to a new app without consulting them, sometimes not a card whose CL the OP wanted to have reduced.

Since I lowered my CL with Chase, I'm always instantly approved, and my recent instant approval for another British Air card has a CL of $18K without moving anything.

I'm fine with letting the greedy credit line hogs do their Recon calls that require special manager inspection and approval. I understand their minds are made up, and they aren't about to be confused with the facts.

I prefer instant approvals without anyone looking into my accounts to possibly find something they don't like. Along with high immediate CLs on new cards that make it easy to meet the full min spnd quickly while still maintaining a low credit utilization rating. After which I lower the CL to whatever level I feel I might actually ever need.