I suspect this question has been asked before, but I can't find it, so I apologize if I'm treading well-worn ground. I'm looking to do an app-o-rama shortly for me, but we need to finish up some minimum spending on the Citi AA cards we recently got for my wife first (I expect this to take about a month more). That wasn't going to be a problem, except now I'm hearing today that the two-free-nights Chase Hyatt signup bonus might be disappearing. If that's true, that's no good - those two nights were an important step towards my goal of this App-o-rama, namely finishing up getting enough points for business class to and hotels in Japan for next year. The minimum spend on the Hyatt card is minimal (relatively), but I'll also be applying for the AA cards for me this time, and I want the ticker on that to start only after we've finished it off on my wife's. So, all that to say, does the timer start when I apply for the card, when I'm approved (I expect to be approved right away, but you never know), or when I activate the card? If it's the last of these, how long do I have to activate the card?

The clock starts as soon as the account exists, which is before you physically receive it.

I don't worry about it myself as I can just use the card until I meet the spend.

In my case it was the date the application/inquiry was made. Not sure how it works if you're not instantly approved, since it is somewhat difficult to judge the actual date they approved you. To be safe I would use your application date as the starting point and if there are "extra" days built in consider yourself lucky.

I don't think that will happen.

I suspect they may decide to make it a 50K point bonus or tweak the offer, but I'm not expecting any drastic changes.

The minimum spending requirements usually start from when your were approved for the card.

I have always been told the approval date. If you have trouble or need the extra couple days, you can often call the credit card company and they can give you the couple days.

When in doubt, buy a Visa GC

It starts when the application is approved. Waiting to activate it only wastes part of your time allowance to reach the spend threshold.