tgmalino

Good Afternoon All,

I am brand new to flyer talk and newer to the travel/miles game. I have a purchase for approximately $3500 in January and want to get opinions on which Credit card(s) would provide the most bonus points/the best deal. I have 2 chase cards from the last 9 months (BA and Chase Saphire Preferred), so I would like to avoid another chase application. I also have an AA Visa card.

I am willing to apply for 1 or 2 cards to hit the minimum spending levels, however I most likely will use my Saphire Preferred for most purchases after that.

I value CO, AA, BA miles the most, however I have never applied for an American Express or Hotel card before.

I would greatly appreciate all advice. Thank you in advance!!

cornellfOo

You could still try for the Ink Bold business card, but if you're wanting to stay away from Chase, you're going to have a tough time getting CO/UA points.

Looks like you prefer OW so why not go for the SPG 30k bonus? SPG transfers 20k:25k ratio to both AA and BA. The $3500 purchase will make the 5k spend in 6mo requirement a breeze.

You could also try for Amex PR Gold. MR points are pretty highly valued and have plenty of partners.

dagaetch

Is your purchase going to fall into an extra earning category? For example, the Chase Freedom card in January will give 5% bonus on Amazon.com purchases (and gas stations), Ink Bold gives 5% on office supply stores, etc. Worth checking into what card would give you the most return for the specific purchase, not just the minimum spend.

biggestbopper

If you can make a reasonable case for having a business (not very hard) then I would look at the Chase Ink Bold which has a 50K bonus for $5K spend--and, apparently there are some no spend offers coming in the mail, although I (grrrr) have not gotten one yet. No real reason to avoid Chase with the number of cards you have now.

Or, take a look at the Amex SPG card personal which offers 25-30K very valuable SPG points as a bonus for applying and meeting spend requirements. These offers are variable by the day so you may need to research a bit.

SPG points can convert to AA miles at 1 to 1.25 which is pretty good.

birdseye

I also vote for an SPG Amex. You can transfer the points to AA if you want (20,000 SPG points = 25,000 AA miles), use them for hotels, or both. It is always good to have SPG points in reserve to top off your AA account as needed (although it takes up to a week to transfer), and the earning rate is a little better than your AA Visa.

The Ink Bold card would also be excellent, except you wanted to avoid a Chase application.

The PRG Amex is a great card, but MR points won't transfer to AA or UA (unless you transfer to SPG first at a terrible transfer rate).

TheNoobTraveler

Another vote for the SPG card from me.

tgmalino

Thank you for the help so far... In response to ... my responses.

It will not be in an extra earning category to qualify for Chase Freedom or Discover Card promotions.

I have now learned that AMEX is not accepted for payment, so I cannot do the SPG or AMEX programs.

Any further help? What is the feeling about early January promotions? I could most likely wait until January 5th-10th to apply if so.

Also... I am not opposed to trying to Collect Aeroplan miles. I live near DFW so OW is good, but I definitely have some Star Alliance destinations on my hopes to travel list.

dagaetch

No one knows with any certainty about early January promotions, but I'm holding out hope that with the United/Continental merger there will be a new United card promo.

I'd go with either the Chase Freedom or the Ink Bold, I know you said you were worried about another Chase app but I think it would be fine, and that gives you the most bang for your buck if you can't do the SPG card. With your preferred card the bonus can be transferred to CO/UA.

cornellfOo

If SPG, PR, and Ink Bold are not possible, you might have to start looking at individual airline cards or "other" cards like the Cap One venture. You're going to have a hard time combining these miles for trips in the future, though.

You could go for the current 50k +lounge pass + $150 statement credit on the AA card or the 40k (+ 10k if you meet spend threshhold) US Barclay's card. One benefit of the US card is that it pulls from transunion, so it won't hit the same agency as the Chase cards (Experian).

birdseye

If Amex and Chase are out, that leaves Citi, Capital One, and Barclays.

For Citi, maybe the AA business Visa, Hilton Honors Visa, or one of the Thank You points cards.

For Capital One, the Venture Card is a possibility, but it doesn't have a good sign up bonus right now.

For Barclays, the US Airways Card or Choice Hotel Card.

Of those, I would vote for the AA business Visa, Hilton Honors Visa, or the US Airways Card (40,000 miles for spending $1, 5,000 mile discount on awards, can book any Star Alliance flight).

tgmalino

Thanks again for your help. Can I ask what the US Airways 40 + 10k bonus offer is? What is the threshold? Also... has there been a better US Airways offer in the past?

For the Hilton card... do their offers vary greatly or is a fairly standard offer?

birdseye

Here is a link to the thread on the US Airways card. I'm not aware of a better offer, if anyone knows of one, please share.

Here is a link to the thread on the Hilton Visa 50,000 point offer (there is also a 40,000 point offer floating around that is the standard one).

I briefly checked the offers in those threads, they appear to me be active. I used the US Airways link in September and it worked for me, 40,000 miles for first purchase, 10,000 miles for a balance transfer (which I didn't do), and 10,000 miles annually when the fee comes due.