Too many cards?
 

I applied for the CO and BA cards in April and May. If I were to apply for the AA Visa and Amex 75k cards, is there a good chance that I will be rejected? Any experiences?

No, CO and BA are issued by Chase and the AA cards are issued by Citi. As long as you have decent credit (750 or more would be ideal, but lower scores have been approved) you should be fine.

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RF

Thx, I might just give it a shot

I just got the Citi AAdvantage cards this week. Apply for both the personal Visa AND the personal Amex at the same time (using a second internet browser, so the cookies don't get confused). You'll get 2 cards, 75K x 2 = 150K miles, and best of all...it will only count as ONE credit inquiry if done at the same time (ie, on the same day).

If the Citi biz Amex card deal is still there, you can come back in 61 days and apply for that card, and get another 75K miles. But if you apply for all three at once, you'll get denied on some of them for not being a first time user.

Yup, i just signed up for the co and ba cards recently so I had to find things to buy to meet the requirement. Darn, never thought it would be so hard trying to spend money lol..

I'm not sure I'll have enough things to spend $5,500 on in the next few months. I read that some folks are buying gift cards and some are buying coins. The coins buying might have been caught up. I don't need GC's and I'm not sure if the coins will work. Any other idea as to how to spend to meet the min required?

This is one of the reasons I suggest that folks do a thorough examination of their budgets. It's not just because budgets are a good, general financial idea; it's because it's amazing how much in your budget you may be able to run through a credit card without incurring service or "convenience" charges. I was stunned when I analyzed my budget and figured out I could easily put $3500 to $4000 per month on credit cards, pay the balance every month, and avoid incurring service charges.

Figure there are two major expenses you can't put on a card or that you will incur a heavy service charge for doing so: mortgage/rent payments and car payments. There is another category that is questionable: tax/utility/insurance bills. Nearly everything else can be run through a card.

So figure your post-tax income, subtract these expenses, and you'll have the amount you can run through a card each month. Keep in mind that some tax/utility/insurance bills may be payable by credit card without incurring a service charge. For instance, nearly every telephone and cell phone utility will allow you to pay by credit card without incurring a fee. In addition, many doctors' offices take credit cards. Obviously, gas/car repair/grocery expenses easily are run through a card. Fast food restaurants take credit cards.

One other thing that helps if you can count on people giving you money is to serve as the "banker" for a table of folks at a restaurant or for a group going on a trip. In other words, you leverage their expenses onto your card to help meet your spending requirements. There are two problems with this approach. First, people have to give you the money; second, you've got to have the discipline to use the money to pay off your credit card bill. Cash in hand can be a tempting sight.

In the end, you have to be realistic about your prospects. If you don't have the money to hit spending requirements, don't go into debt to do it. Many card offers do require hefty spending, but some don't. The recently expired BA Continental OnePass card offer gave 50K miles after the first purchase. There aren't many of these offers to be sure, but that's more the reason to keep your eye on the threads here.

In other words, you'll have to learn where and when you can take your shots.

Good advice.

In my case whenever my car insurance came due I just call the agent and ask if I can put it on my credit card and it has never been a problem (no extra fees or anything). That might vary with companies. I do the same with my security system (it gets billed quarterly).

Some companies, such as home contractors, often try to add a 3% fee to your bill if you use a credit card but that can also be negotiated (I told my roofing company I wouldn't pay that and the guy relented.)

I do think some here are a bit too obsessed with the miles and getting first class tickets and end up messing up their credit, finances or get into trouble with credit card companies.

Have you applied for cards other than the AA cards this year?
I got the CO MC Onepass on Feb7, Venture VISA on March11, BA Visa in April11, AMEX Hilton and CITI Hilton on May21. Now thinking of applying for the 50k CHASE Sapphire preferred (more than 60 days from last CHASE app), then apply for two AA cards at the end of July. However, I'm worried about getting CITI denial due to too many apps.

Wilder,

My problem isn't that I can't afford to spend the money, it's that I don't have anything I need to spend the money on right now. I've spent 4k this past month, mostly on hotel and eating out the last month while in hawaii. But i'm struggling to find things that I want to buy. I guess I can look into booking a long range fishing trip for next year or something.

I think that's the message I was trying to get across. While you're trying to figure out something to spend the money on, you're already spending money everyday. Your everyday expenses may very well be more than enough to meet most spending requirements.

Although answering your question, I wasn't necessarily solely addressing your situation. A lot of folks who may not make as much as you may be missing opportunities to direct their everyday spending through their credit cards to meet bonus offer spending requirements. If they read this thread, it may occur to them that they may want to reevaluate their spending habits (cash vs. credit) in order to add to the number of offers they pursue.

My own personal bias is to make sure that I don't go into debt while running expenses through my card--I figure the interest payments I then have to make will eat into my discretionary travel budget for those items that credit card bonus offers don't cover!

Let me add one data point. I did just such an analysis of my spending to come up with the amounts I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, but because certain payments are made on a less frequent basis, such as my insurance payments, I hadn't yet checked whether my own insurers might take credit card payments. Tonight, I found out that I can add another $4000 yearly to my credit card spending for my automobile and disability insurance payments without incurring service charges.

I've written my last check for those bills. . .

Totally agree IW. I can see how someone can put themself in a very tough situation while trying to get some free miles. Again, it's all about self discipline.

haha you certainly have total control of your finances. I found that you could pay the insurance premium for the house and car using the credit card. I thought that we could also pay the real estate taxes with the credit card as well, which is true, but they charge a 2-3% fee on top of the taxes, that was the deal breaker for me.

Yep. No reason to pay service charges unless perhaps paying a particular bill might help get you over a spending threshold of some sort. Even there, you've got to weigh whether paying the 2-3% makes sense given some of the techniques, such as coin buying, that would meet the same goal at no additional cost to you.

Besides the coin buying, what are other techniques people use?
I'm wondering if anyone's had the bank reject their coins and how often that happens. It would stink to have a ton of coins waiting to be used.