Confused :(
 

I am kinda new to this community. I have now spent around a week here trying to learn stuff. I am travelling to India in October and wanted to get some miles. As of now I have just one Chase Freedom card (5% cash back on flights this quarter).
I wanted to know which is the best credit card miles deal for me. I thought about the Chase Sapphire but hitting $3000 in 3 months is kinda difficult for me. Any other suggestions. Should I hang around and wait for some deal.

Hi,

Welcome to FT.

There are quite a few really good threads on credit cards in this forum. There are loads of good deals - all located here.

A lot of credit cards pay the bonuses after your first purchase, or some have much smaller amounts. Some also are dependant on how much money you make, and all will be subject to credit history.

It will also depend on who you are planning to fly to India with? I'd look at which airline you will use for this trip, and also future trips when making the decision.

Good luck
Andrew

You really need to do the work and get reading. It's already convenient enough having all of the info on one site along with many, many peoples' experiences to boot. No substitute to having a read and a good old think, I'm afraid.

Do you mean you want to earn miles and redeem them for flights in October 2011? -OR- do you mean you will be earning miles by flying to India in October and you'd like to earn additional miles from other sources?

Good point. I naturally assumed the latter.

Andy

I'm afraid earning and then redeeming miles for a flight in October may prove difficult in such a short time frame. The award availability alone will make it difficult, but not impossible. Your best bet would be to apply for something like the Chase Sapphire that allows you to use your points toward purchased air fare. This would greatly increase your options.

And I +1 User Name's comment on research and reading. Pretty much everything you need to know is on this one site.

If you are looking to gain miles to use for the trip almost impossible as I know it unless you have some big bills to pay today. From what I know the companies take 6-8 to post many of the miles to your account after the credit card has been paid.

If you are looking to gain miles from your flight to India then it depends on the company your are flying with. I know citi/expedia will give you points for every mile that you fly for the flights that are booked on expedia using its card plus they will take $100 off the cost of the flight.

You need to provide more info for us to be able to help you as well.

Hmmmm...Isn't that CitiExpedia one of those cards with the virtual account feature?;)

What do you mean by virtual accounts?

Hey guys sorry for not being clear enough.

I initially was looking to get a good deal for my flight to India in October but I guess it is difficult within this time frame. Hence it will be a good idea for me to earn miles from this trip.

I prefer flying CO usually. I have a chase Freedom CC (5% on flights)

Is it a good strategy for me to get a Chase Sapphire card, get 50,000 and buy my ticket through it. Hopefully I can use that for future flights.

Again thanks for all your responses.

If you're flexible on your travel dates & you can make it through $1,500 in spend quickly (prepay insurance, buy gift cards, etc) then the Citi AAdvantage cards may work for you (the visa is 75k after $1500 in spend - read a lot before applying as you can apply for two at once).

The good news is you can transfer your freedom points to Sapphire and redeem for 1.25 cents per point. The bad news is 1.25 cents per point isn't great as a 2% cash back card is better. Also I belive you mentioned your uncertainty of hitting the $3k/91 days spend. If you can't hit the threshold then I definitely wouldn't recommend the card.

Pay as many things as possible with the Chase Sapphire card and buy some coins to supplement... and take other suggestions found below such as AMEX/MC gift cards, etc. There are ways to do it... don't be afraid of the 3k spend requirement, etc.

If you regularly fly on CO, you might look at one of their cards.

If you live in the US, one round trip to India will almost make you OnePass Silver, so some of the "Elite Only" benefits would apply to you also.

CO currently has a 50K bonus and that just off the first purchase. and also, don't forget that you will get 2 miles per dollar with CO.

Do you prefer fliying CO or do you fly CO regularly. What is the airline you use most frequently?

If it is CO, their card would be a great fit for you. People have applied for the 30k offer and been able to boost it to the 50k targeted offer. Because of their merger with UA I am unsure how many more CO branded credit cards will be released in the future. get one while you can.

I do not think you are booking far enough in advance to take advantage of award bookings. I would try to find the best deal and then see if that airline has a loyalty program.

Hey since I will buy my ticket on this, I can hit the 3k threshold.


I prefer flying CO but the AA offers look great.


Hmmm, I would prefer flying CO because its more convenient for me. I checked this offer but AA doesn't have flight available for my dates. Thanks for the info.

Deleted

Again thanks alot guys for your wonderful responses.

My current situation as of now is to try and earn maximum miles in this trip and may be use it towards future free trips. I figured that planning this just 4 months before my trip is too short. Also as of now my credit history is not that great.

So based on my current situation, I can do one of the 3 things:

1. Chase Sapphire, 50k joining bonus: I can attain the 3 month spening limit if I buy my ticket and prepay my insurance. I also get 2x rewards for travel.

2. CO card, 50k bonus: I heard people are getting bumped to 50k with this card. Spending limit is not an issue for me now. So should I go for the Sapphire card or CO card?


3. Try earning the 225k miles for CitiAA offer. But is this possible with my current credit (its below 700 + I have debts around $13,000).

Well, in that case if I were you, I would have planned my credit card applications more carefully and less aggressively since I wouldn't want any more dent to my credit due to rejection.

Keep in mind that both CO and Sapphire cards are issued by Chase, and Chase tends to NOT approve new applications when debts and lower credit score is in the picture. Debts really hurts. Citi tends to be less "strict" in terms of multiple accounts, but still you have to consider if your current credit history is good enough to get any new card approved. You may apply for one, two, or even three cards. But if all you can expect or get is rejection, what good would any new application get you? More dent and no bonus.

You should look into creditboards.com to get better advice when you are concerned about your credit, and see what/how you can work on your score.

Good luck!

I ran my credit report on Credit Karma and it shows my credit report as 726 (good by their rating). I dint expect it to be this high. Its 698 6 months back and had a lot of credit inquiries in that period.
Anyways I just paid of $3000 out of the $3600 debt I had on my Chase Freedom card. Would it be safe to apply for a credit card now.

Credit Karma does not give you a real FICO score. It does provide a estimate of what your score could be. I would be careful, I have seen people who had 100 pt differences btwn their FICO and Credit Karma.

Best bet is myfico.com to see your TransUnion and Equifax and to get free your annual credit report. Its the best of the not so great options you have.

If you want to know more you can check out this page Know Your Credit Score if you want more info about credit scores.

You were right. Fico showed my score as 674. Darn!!!