Churning Round 2
 

Hi all,

I'm happy that I got to know this site back in February. I went through my first churn and came out with an amazing amount of miles thanks to many of you. I'm thinking it might be time for another churn soon though I don't want to get too greedy.

Cards I have so far and bonuses received:

United Mileage Explorer: 50k
Continental One Pass: 55k
Delta Amex: 30k
AA Citi: 30k

I'm not sure what my goal is at the moment, eventually I'd like enough miles for a RTW ticket and at least enough miles for several domestic round trips.

Right now my balances are:
United: 177k
American: 50k
Delta: 33k

My FICO score is 733.

Here are the cards I was planning on applying for:

Sapphire Preferred 40k ($3000 spend)
British 100k (well really 50K) - first purchase
US Airways Card 40k - first purchase
AA Citi Business 50k - $3k spend
Delta Amex Business 30k - $500 or 750 spend

1. Would you say I have a pretty good chance to be accepted for all (or at least most of these cards)?

2. I was planning on combining the Continental and United cards since they're pretty much the same thing - should I do this after I apply for all the cards? Would this have an impact on my score in some way?

Thanks!

I feel the delta card is not worth it. 30k is pretty low.
you may want to look at the ink bold also. and the alaska airlines companion voucher is pretty nice.

You'll probably have a hard time getting the BA and CSP cards. Assuming you got the MP and OP cards in February, that would be four chase cards in 4 months...not impossible, but rather difficult.

I don't know that I'd do the Delta Amex card, though. I'd hold off and see if Amex offers a 30K SPG offer this summer. If they do, that'd be one to jump on.

All these offers seem pretty low to me, but that seems to be the way things are heading now.

I agree the BA and CSP are probably trouble with both being personal cards. Why not try the Ink Bold you have a better chance with this being a business card. You can explain on reconsideration that you need to keep business expenses seperate.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions!

I'd love to apply for the Ink Bold but to me a spend of $10k for 50,000 is just not worth it. With their old $5k offer I would have probably done it.

I'm aware that the Delta offer especially is very low but I figured I might as well apply for it since I didn't see any other AMEX business cards that were better.

What if I combined my United and Continental accounts with Chase and thus had only one personal card with them? Would that make it easier for me to apply for the CSP?

why not wait until your delta is up next feb then apply for the business..and cancel the personal..that way u extend the benefits...

better to cancel your continental card after you apply for another chase card..that way if you have to call reconsideration then you can offer to cancel the continental then...

i'm pretty sure that the ink is 25k upon first purchase and another 25k after 10k spending...if your willing to get the 30k delta card u might as well get the 25k ink instead and not deal with min spending

If you go with more chase cards you may need to call their reconsideration line and spread your current credit limit out over the new and old cards so there is no increase in your overall credit limit.

I'm not familiar with the Alaska Air cards although a trip to Alaska sounds intriguing! Right now I'm definitely thinking of applying for at least one card from every card service:

Chase: probably the British Airways one
Barclays: US Airways one (should I wait for the GrandSlam promo?)
Citi: Either the 2x TYou points ones or just the AA business one
Bank of America: ?
Amex: ? Maybe the Delta but it might not be worth it...

I've seen chase be a little goofy with too many cards out. Also, if there have been too many hard hits on your account. They denied me once, but I just had to call in to request reconsideration and it worked fine.

Bear in mind, you dont have to use it to go to Alaska....they have partners that include Cathay pacific, Air France, DELTA, and now Emirates!

I'm pretty sure you can't actually redeem on Emirates yet, but I'm looking forward to when that happens.

Also, Alaska's main hub is actually SEA.

What's the best Alaska deal right now? I tried searching for it but nothing came up in this forum.

I was approved for the BA Chase Card today after moving around some lines of credit. I think I'm done with Chase for the year.

I want to apply for a BoA card and a Citi card as well but not sure which ones to apply for? I'm thinking of holding off on Amex now just in case the SPG deal comes back this summer.

go for the Virgin Atlantic ones and the CITI Hilton HHonors card....both will net you 150K HHonors pts.

Thanks but it looks like the Virgin Atlantic Offer is dead now. :(