newbieflyer1

i did that for my wife for recent cards
she answers verification questions and informs agent that i would like to talk

jjmiller69

This is the way I do it too.

UniqueDragon

I have to admit, this is one of the few occassions where having a foreign name actually offers some advantage in this country (US).
My wife prefers not to make this kind of calls at work and is too busy at home to be bothered (she does love the miles accumulated). All I have to put up with is to be called "Mr. my wife's last name".
What a heck. I will trade that for tens of thousands of miles each time EVERYDAY!

awardticket

Don't they see the gender on the app, if your are applying for a cc? How can they be so stupid!

punjabi2

I could be wrong, but I dont recall filling gender while doing my wife's aor.

mmax1

I do this from time to time. Wife has gender netural name (name used on application, legal name is feminine). Usually works fine, but last wekk had trouble with Barclays. Got transfered to account security, where of course I was able to verify all info. They called and left a message with my wife saying there was an issue.

So, if the name is not obviously female, you can have success, but not guaranteed.

floyd777

Hey thank you so much for your help. I sent you a PM

floyd777

Great news guys - I was approved for all the above cards except for the Freedom card for which the decision is still pending and I will call them tomorrow!!

The Virgin Atlantic and Bank Of Hawaii card gave me the decision pending but when I called them they each said the application was already approved - so that's great.

I have Citi Identity Monitor and I saw 3 inquiries to my file - all of them to Experian.

I now have a quick question. After having applied for all this - is it too greedy of me to think of also applying for the Citi Hilton 50K for $1500 in 6 months spend now? Or is it too late and I should wait for next time I do the applications?

I am only asking because I think I can meet that spend since it's 6 months and I didn't know of this card when I was preparing for this set of applications.

PainCorp

If you want HHonors points (or DisHHonors as some have taken to calling them) I think I found an even better offer.

Amex has a 50k MR points on it's Premiere Gold card for $1k in 3 months. Those transfer 1:1 to Hawaiian which then transfers 1:2 to Hilton. Potentially getting you 100k HHonors points for $1k in spend.

I haven't done this, so I can't vouch for the two transfers working, but if it does, it beats any Hilton offer out there. Neither one is a bad deal though.

But to answer your question, I would do apply for one of them, you didn't have to reason with recon at all, so I think you should be able to squeeze in at least one more.

floyd777

Thanks for the response.

I already have an active Amex PR Gold Card (I signed up about 2 years back and will be coming up on a renewal in a few months) so I don't think I am eligible for that offer.

I am tempted to apply for the Citi HHonors but looking at the link I have for the 50K, the offer is not stated on the application page. I went through 10's of pages on the HHonors thread but not sure if I am confident that I will get those 50K after the spend (not only the bonus but even the spend required is not listed)

PainCorp

I used the link there, and they have confirmed the bonus to me.

Where we're going, we don't need roads/landing pages!

JakeW

Newb here, but have been lurking for a while. Just want to say thanks to everyone who contributes here, I am now addicted to points before I've even got off the ground!

Here's my challenge:

My mother-in-law wants to do 7 nights in Maui in Kaanapali for 6 adults or nearby (Lahaina or similar) for her 50th birthday. We’d stay from Feb. 11th to Feb. 18th 2014 (ish). The challenge is that only 3 of the 6 adults can churn, the others don’t have a credit score, or theirs is less than 650. The other challenge is there’s a total of $4,000 per month spending power between the 3 adults who can churn.

My wife and I can spend $2,000 per month, and her mother can also do $2,000 per month. We’d like to do 7 nights for free (or close to free), including a rental car on points. We’ve already got enough Alaska pts. to cover flights, and use companion passes for everyone. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far, but I think it’s far from the best option:

My wife and I have the following cards
- CSP – Just hit minimum spend, have 43,000 UR pts.
- SPG AMEX – Will hit minimum in March, will have 30,000 SPG pts.

Here’s my tentative plan:

Car Rental
- Mom signs up for CSP, puts $10k over the course of the year. 50,000 UR pts. is a minivan rental for a week through UR site.

Hotel 1 – Westin Maui Resort – 16,000 pts. per night, per room – 3 Nights + $180 per night
- I refer mom and wife for an extra 10,000 SPG pts.
- They earn 30,000 each (25k bonus plus $5k spend), putting a total of 100,000 SPG pts.
- At 16,000 pts. per room, (plus $89 per extra adult per night), we could get 2 rooms for 3 nights.

Hotel 2 – Maui Hyatt Resort – Free Night Certificates – 3 Nights + $??? per night
- Mom, wife and I sign up for Chase Hyatt card. Use free night certificates for 2 nights at Hyatt.
- QUESTION: Can I use my two free nights to book two rooms, instead of two consecutive nights?
- QUESTION: What is the charge per “extra adult” for these award nights? SPG states $89 per adult per night. Can’t find if Hyatt states this anywhere in their T&C

Hotel 3 – Marriott or some junk? I don’t know.

Phew. So there you have it. I’ve got my flame suit on, but any help is very much appreciated. I need to start this churn in the next few weeks, so I’m hoping for some clarification on the best way to make this vacation happen for as little out of pocket as possible.

Thanks All!

-Jake

PainCorp

So you are all just going to get the CSP and Amex SPG? Anything else?

JakeW

And 3 Chase Hyatt credit cards. I'm open to any more suggestions

PainCorp

I guess you can't transfer points into HA then out again, once they come in from a transfer they are stuck. Someone said you can transfer into VS and then transfer to HHonors, gaining the same bonus, though. I'll have to look into this and possibly re-plan.

Additionally: Might try my luck adding another US Air card for 35/40k miles depending on how I feel. Can't beat a first spend bonus like that!