AlohaDaveKennedy

Actually I believe the higher the income, the higher the interest in this game, up to a point. It is all about the art of the deal.

QL_714

...and pushing the limits. No Pain No Gain!

rajuabju

I agree 100%

Sure, if I was a multi-millionaire, I wouldnt care about travel costs.

But the more I make right now, the more I want the miles and points to get me to great destinations, because while I'm at the destination, it still costs me lots of $. Otherwise, I'd just fly in F, and stay in a Suite, and not do any activities or high end dining etc...

mia

Without regard to what may be printed on the sticker affixed to an American Express card this is not accurate. You can activate online.

AlohaDaveKennedy

But AMEX will still wanna call back for a cozy chat?

Mile-a-holic

Well, that and your destinations change. I remember a colleague mentioning his credit card applications and tracking back in maybe the late 1990s early 2000? And I thought...seriously, for a $300-400 ticket? He was using for cross country tickets, and that's what I would have used them for - visiting family. A few years later..well, FT and I signed up for rewards on my single credit card and the 1000 miles/$1 on 800 Flowers.

It took me a few more years to get into churning , since I had the miles that I needed. But, now that I have the income to support more int'l travel (because, once I get there I want to have cash to enjoy it, I'm not the $25 a day scout type!).

But, I still won't bite on credit cards that only yield the equivalent of $300 or $400 in benefits. I save my pulls for bigger fish.

mia

Agreed, but for a different reason. If your income allows you to buy (for example) a pair of premium cabin airline tickets you are spoiled, and don't want to fly in economy the next trip. You do the math and realize that you cannot afford to regularly buy such tickets, and that the experience does not really justify the price. The search begins .

We have friends who do the other part of the math, conclude that they cannot generate sufficient miles, give up, and fly economy.

mia

Not in my experience, but I have been an American Express client since the Ford administration. They do sometimes call to "review" the benefits, but I cut the calls short.

Recent threads in the Membership Rewards forum suggest they are currently concerned about returned payments, high volume reimbursed business expenses, and high spending with a short history. If there is a common element it is that they want evidence of ability to pay (verifiable income or assets well in excess of spending), not merely a history of timely payments.

Nottafatslob

I got that Chat from our frieds at the pen factory when opening the account.
They asked about biz revenue both gross and net for the last 2 years and expected for this year. They also asked about nature and type of biz and how many employees. After having taken the same call with the SO I was pretty smooth the second time around.

TheBOSman

Might be different for me, I decided a couple of years back that I wanted to travel at an almost relentless pace. Since I am on pace for about 101,000 BIS miles this year, with a likely repeat next year, I can safely say I've done that. If I made $150k, I don't want children, I don't want a big house, I just want to see the world, over and over again. Spending 20% of my income on that wouldn't really change from now, I just don't make $150,000 a year right now . I was more throwing out a number with that, but as noted, if you make that much, the game is all but wide open for you, as you can take many more risks, and you can push through a huge amount of spend that few credit card bonuses can withstand. Maybe $400k is the point where I'd completely stop playing the game, and just pay for everything and not think twice. I'll always be cheap and want to get things for as little as possible .

AlohaDaveKennedy

US Bank also seems to be running analytics to try to predict debtor behavior. Once we get enough information we can all game the predictive analytics just like the credit reports.

NatasNJ

I learned while traveling on points/miles/free hotel stays, that the cost to stay at some places is INSANE to me.

For example. I stayed two nights at the Carmel Highlands Hyatt. Nice hotel. Amazing views. But overall not that nice. The room itself was a bit dated. The balcony had great views but the road below was LOUD which sucked. Now if you told me that room was $120/night then fine. Hell for $200 a night I would say it was pricey but possibly worth it. The room if I paid for it was $639/night + tax. ...! No way was it worth that much. Not even half that. No way!!!

So even if I had a ton of money I would not spend $639/night for that hotel. No way.
I just don't see the value there. Thank you Hyatt CC for $1200+ in free hotel rooms.

I am big into best value for the buck. Credit card bonuses allow me to fly for next to nothing, get a few free hotel nights on most trips (all on some), and allow me to spend the money on things that I don't mind spending it on such as food, excursions, etc...

Struggling though right now with spending requirements. I have a $3k, $5k & $1k all hit me in the past month. To try and get close on them I have already bought gift cards for groceries for Sept, Paid my cable & cell bills for several months out in advance, and I have not even touched the $5k CC yet. Ugh.... I bit off about as most as I can chew right now. I have some annual bills due in Jan that will allow me to hit that $5k spending but otherwise I am going to struggle to get all these.

Tempted to pay the $3.95 fee on my electric bill to use my credit card to pay for it.
Normally I refuse to pay .01 cent to use my credit card over another form of payment. But if I charge 2-3 months of my electric bill (~$1000) for the fee it won't be that bad. Still wasting $4 annoys me.

Paiteaw

I guess you gotta pay to play, eh? Not all the good things in life are free. Why bite off more than you can chew? The slow and patient route works also vs the fast greedy method.

dontippet

I'm in the same boat. I have to spend $16K in the next few months. If you haven't paid your property taxes yet, I recommend paying them with a CC. Sure, there is a charge, but it was well worth it for me.

DC777Fan

Does anyone have experience buying season tickets to sporting events and re-selling them? Playoff tickets, in particular, would be above face value sell-able.