Are the big miles offers gone?
 

Searching around, there doesn't seem to be an many generous offers as last year.

Planning to buy a new computer so would it make sense to wait towards the fall to see if some better offers come along?

Card issuers have changed focus from acquiring new accounts to retaining customers. There are still generous offers, but now they are tied to minimum spending of $5,000 to $10,000. How much do you expect to spend on the system?

Not to say they will never come back, but I think things have changed from a few years ago. I agree with mia about the companies changing their strategy a bit and going after the bigger spender. However I have found that this is a great time to grab some cards that I never looked at before.

I've never had much experience with Hilton or Hyatt so I never looked into their cards. It had been about 4 months since my last pulls so the scores were good. Last month I grabbed the 60k Amex Hilton(no annual fee, $750 spend), 50k Citi Hilton(no annual fee, $1500 spend) and the Chase Hyatt(2 nights, $75 fee waived 1st year). These aren't the sexiest offers in the world, but I'm sure I can put the bonuses to some very good use. Plus 2 of them have no annual fee so I can hold onto them and show the CC companies that I am not just a churner.

Not to get philisophical, but slow periods in life are a nice time to look around and experience new things!

I racked up a lot of miles and points just over the last year or two -- Chase Sapphire Preferred, Amex Platinum, Citi AAdvantage, Mileage Plus Explorer.

Computer would be between $1500-2000 probably. But I could some trips I have planned on it too.

Actually, the third has a negative "net" annual fee, in that the $75 fee for subsequent years on the Chase Hyatt is offset but additional free night certs. Unless you're never near a Hyatt (given their lower "footprint" than many other hotel programs), I would think you'd have a hard time not getting more than $75 value from a free night certificate.

Or did you mean that one? The Citi Hilton is not worth keeping, it's the one worth churning! :) The Amex Hilton is the Hilton card worth keeping and actually using.

seems to be mostly targeted ones for high offers.
even though Amex just had the 75k offer for 10k spend, which is pretty good, though high spending. In my case its about 1.5m of bills...

Generous offers and lower spend...

Have you done the ThankYou premier 50k for spending 2.5k in 3 months yet?
How about the United MileagePlus explorer 50k + $50 for first spend?
What about the Ritz Carlton card for 70k Ritz/Marriott points, $200/year in airline incidentals, and Lounge Club membership?

Hmm, looks like the ThankYou Premier is down to 30k points.

United MileagePlus -- I got this card within the past year with the 50k so this wouldn't be an option.

Ritz Carlton, I'll have to study but in general I don't stay at the big chain hotels.

Have you looked over the list in post 1 of the following thread (in the MilesBuzz! forum, not here in Credit Cards)? It's constantly updated with the best card signup offers that people post on FT.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...er-thread.html

Here's one big offer around right now, if you can swallow the big annual fee (that's unwaivable), and if you learn how to use Avois points effectively (ie, not on BA flights themselves because of the insanely high YQ!):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...d-150-fee.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18785261-post522.html :D

Thanks for pointing that out sdsearch!

Yes Citi Premier and Chase Ink both have decent rewards. Hopefully someone will step up with a good 75,000-100,000 reward and then you'll see others follow. Until then I'll just be watching and waiting. I'm not going to chase the small fish, it isn't worth the credit pulls. :rolleyes:

^ I have the same approach. Watch for bigger fishes. I like Chase Freedom and AMEX HH for regular purchases.

IMHO, things are better mileage bonus wise then they have been since the days when you could churn UAL and AA cards every couple of months.

Chase has been very, very generous to me recently. 100K on Saph Pref, three INK Bolds at 50K each (one with no spend requirement), UAL Explorer at 50K and several more.

The miles are coming in faster than I can use 'em. (Note to self--gotta fly F more! :D Use more miles! @:-)).

The glass is not only half full, it is refilling itself.

Ummm... hasn't this expired? :confused:

Hi!
how long ago was this? Was it a targeted offer?