LNJSomers

I got approved for an SPG business card earlier this month, but just heard about upcoming changes for the Alaska Air CC and would like to apply for that this month to fund a trip to Europe. Has anyone had any experience with whether a recent business app would impact a personal app with BOA? (For additional context, the SPG business card was the only app I've had in the past 12 months or so.)

PineappleFart

Amex business apps will show up as a hard inquiry, but not as a new account even if you're approved. You'll be fine.

milemission

What is the upcoming changes for the Alaska Air Card?

pantherpaw

I've read that the signup bonus will increase to 30k in May and instead of getting the miles instantly you'll have to spend $1k in 3 months to get them

travlngeng

So I've just recently got into this hobby and hit it pretty hard the last 7 months. It all started with the targeted 100k Plat offer and just kept going as I completed a minimum spend for each new card.

My current wallet with age and fees:

- Wells Fargo Visa (2011, no fee, no real rewards)
- Barclay Upromise Mastercard (2013, no fee, 10% CB on online purchases)
- Capital One VentureOne (2014, no fee, 1.25 on everything)
- Fidelity 2% Amex (2014, no fee, 2% CB on everything)

- Chase Freedom (9/2015, no fee, rotating 5%)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred (9/2015, $95 fee, 2x travel)
- American Express Plat (9/2015, $495 fee, 1x everything)
- Citi Aadvantage World (12/2015, $95 fee, 1x everything, 2x AA)
- Chase United Explorer (12/2015, $95 fee, 1x everything, 2x United)
- Amex PRG (1/2016, $195 fee, 3x groceries, 2x gas and restaurants, 1x everything)
- Starwood SPG (3/2016, $95 fee, bonus on Starwood stays, 1x everything)
- Citi Hilton (3/2016, no fee, 3x groceries and gas, 2x everything)

- Pending - Chase Hyatt ($75 fee, 2x on restaurants and airfare, 1x everything)

So I'm wanting feedback on where I should go from here. I don't live in a hub city. Delta, American, Southwest, United all fly out of my airport. My goal is as much free travel/rewards/return on my spending that I can get. I also don't want to keep going for signup bonuses after June-ish this year. I don't have any plans on buying a house or car in the next two years, but probably 2018 or so that may change.

This is my current plan:

- Keep CSP + Freedom combo. I got rid of my Southwest Visa this week and plan to cancel the United card later this year so UR is my only reliable way to earn SW and United miles.
- Keep Amex Plat and pair with one of the Everyday cards to get the grocery bonus spending to keep earning MR. I don't travel enough to have status with hotels or rental car companies, so the $295 ($495 minus airline credit) is worth it at this point for me even though the Plat has terrible everyday earning.
- Keep all no fee cards from 2014 and older. These are the only things anchoring my credit history right now. Plus, other than the CapOne and WF card, they're pretty good cash back cards.

I've been eyeing the new Amex Hilton offers. I'm tempted, but I'm nervous with how hard I've hit new cards the last 7 months that I'm pushing my luck way too much. I also don't want to compromise getting the Amex Everyday card since I think I'll need it to continue to earn MRs.

I guess my questions to FlyerTalk are - what are your long term earning strategies after sign up bonuses (no MS please...too much of a chicken and not enough time)? Is my plan not a good one? Which would you go for - Amex Hilton or Amex Everyday? I apologize for the rambling of this post. The pending Hyatt card just has me a little nervous about all of my open cards and high credit amount and I'm looking for my exit strategy, eventually.

runb4fun

1. Toss is Ink Cash on the mix. It'll go great with CSP and Freedom.

2. Hyatt card seems to take a while to get approved. I wouldn't worry too much.

3. Downgrade Explorer to the no AF version. You keep it just for 25% bonus on MPX app.

4. Why do you not have IHG card? That is possibly the best hotel card you could get.

5. Just from the sound of it I would get rid of Amex Plat. I'm not sure if it is worth to you. I suggest replacing it with Citi Prestige. If you apply it at bank, you get AF @ $350 and since there is $250 airline credit...the AF is effectively $100.

6. I've gotten far many cards and amex still gives me cards. I don't see why you wouldn't get Everyday.

travlngeng

1. Not sure I can get Ink Cash. I don't make any side money, at all. The only thing I do make is I have a roommate and he pays me rent, but I've asked on here before and was cautioned that Chase won't view this as a "business".

3. Didn't know there was a no AF United Card. I don't use the MPX app much though so not sure if there really is any benefit. It's a pretty low CL anyway so it wouldn't hurt my utilization ratio to close it. That said, I'll definitely keep that in mind if I change my mind.

4. Never really stay in IHG hotels. I stay in Hyatts, Starwoods, Hiltons sometimes, and then more privately owned places. I may adjust my hotel strategy, and I looked at the IHG properties, but not sure I'll get enough use out of those points. Will look into again though.

5. I feel like having the Delta option with MR was better than the current transfer partners with TY points. That said, the Prestige has intrigued me, and the main reason I went with MR over TY was because I got that 100k Plat offer. It just made sense at the time to build up that balance while I could. I'll look into the Prestige again.

Thanks so much for your comments on this. I definitely have some things to think about!

runb4fun

1. Whoever told u that is wrong. There was a dude who put rent collection type of thing as Biz and got approved. Another guy put $0 as net revenue and got approved, another with $100. You can BS your app by saying reselling stuff like on amazon or whatever. I don't have a legitimate biz and I've the card. The important thing is to NOT call recon once you submit the app. You may want to read the Chase Ink thread.

3. MPX is how you convert your airline credit from Amex Plat, Amex PRG to Amazon and other GC. MPX app is also a convenient way of double dipping. I believe PRG still generates 3x on MPX.

4. The card has $49 AF and you can get around $500 value just from annual free night. The IHG "points break" is also something you might want to look at...some hotels get put on 5k for limited time.

5. That's fine but unless you're getting huge benefits from Plat specific perks (spg gold, hilton gold, Amex lounge) then Prestige is generally a better deal IMO. You should remember that even though you have Prestige, you'll probably never put expense on the card since it only earns you 1x. The earning rate on AF-free Everyday is better than that on Platinum

Oh and you do want to get Everyday (the no AF version will suffice). If you have the card, you can store your MR even after you cancel PRG and Plat. Furthermore, you would still be able to transfer points to partners. I'm not sure you know of this but I thought I would just throw it out their FYI.

garykung

Allow me to throw some new twist:

I will close CSP as well.

1. Paying AF is moot when you have no actual purpose.

2. UR earned from Freedom (Unlimited) can be transferred as well (only when you have a Chasr UR AF card).

3. CSP can be churned if you are qualified.

AMEX Platinum is all about benefits, not reward earning. Unless you can justify paying $450 ($495 is the AF for affiliated cards) for the benefit, there is no point wasting the money.

In other word, you have to either travel or make major purchases.

No comment except for WF. Unless you have a card older than this one, you must make sure that this card stays active.

Given your history and no urge in travel, there is no need pushing too far.

joer1212

How much damage would be done to my credit score if I did an app-o-rama more frequently than once every 90 days?

The reason I ask is because I'd like to do another AOR, since I have already met the minimum spend on my credit cards from my previous one (about a month ago). I have a few major purchases coming up that will easily add up to a few thousand dollars. I'd rather charge these purchases on new cards that offer bonus miles, rather than 'waste' these purchases on my existing cards. These purchases are time-sensitive, so I can't wait another 60 days to do another AOR.

garykung

Not much.

Given previous HPs, I doubt that your second AOR can make it through easily.

meecal

I agree with garykung that you may have a hard time getting approvals just one month out from an AOR. How many cards did you apply for in the AOR a month ago? If it was only two or three, and your credit score is excellent, you might stand a chance at successfully pulling off another AOR in short order. If you applied for say, four or five cards in the last AOR it's likely you'll get some denials going for another AOR a month later.

Of course it depends a bit on which card(s) you go for in the next AOR as some banks are less generous with approvals than others.

That's my two cents.

joer1212

I applied for 3 cards (1 Alaska Air Visa Signature, 1 Alaska Air Visa Signature Business, and 1 Chase Sapphire Preferred), and was approved for all 3.
Also, my credit score, as of last month, was 783.

I'm actually not looking to do a full app-o-rama. I'd just like to apply for 1 more good credit card that has a decent sign up bonus. I messed up on my previous AOR in that I should have included this extra card in it. But, I didn't think I could meet the minimum spend at the time.

Speaking of which: Why would I be denied a card if I apply less than 90 days from my last AOR? I was approved for 3 cards in one day. The banks didn't make a fuss over that, and BOA and Chase were certainly aware that I had made multiple applications. So, why would 1 more application now affect me? Why is it different than if I had applied for 4 cards in one day instead of 3 in my last AOR?
Is it because, if I apply before 90 days, would the ding on my credit score be so large that it would drop me into a lower credit status (though, I don't understand why it would be different than applying for 4 cards all at once )?

Side note: I'm on the fence regarding the validity of App-o-ramas now. Are they even necessary anymore? The whole point of an AOR was that applying for several cards in one day would count as 1 hard inquiry on your credit report, but is this still true in 2016? Wouldn't it be better to simply apply for, say, 8 cards throughout the year, when good offers pop up, instead of concentrating 8 cards in 2 AOR's (some of which may be mediocre cards due to bad timing)?

garykung

The idea of AOR is, per your word:

In short - the AOR is a passive information control.

Now, all HPs and the new account entries should have hit your reports.

The creditor will consider your new app in addition to 3 HPs (and more) and 3 new accounts less than 90 days, which allows the creditor to deny the app on the basis of "TOO MANY NEW ACCOUNTS" or "TOO MANY INQUIRIES".

HPs do not always hit credit report instantly. On that basis, creditors don't know the tricks you pull.

It has nothing to do with credit score. The HPs can only do so much to credit score.

Yes only if you plan correctly. In your case, it is ill-implemented.

Absolutely wrong. In most of the case, 1 app = 1 HP. It is about taking advantage before bad things hits the fan.

Good luck getting all approved in both instances.

A true AOR, in this case, will be applying all 8 cards in 1 day.

joer1212

Thanks for the info.

If I apply for only 1 card before 90 days, and my application is rejected, does it automatically reset the clock (I have to wait another 90 days before applying again)?