$30 a month includes unlimited typical transactions (cheques, debits, ABMs) as well as a few other goodies like cheques and a S.D. box. It is waived with a $5000 minimum balance......my math says this is a bargain for me, because I would have to earn something like 8% interest on that $5000 to make up for the value I get for keeping that $5000 in the bank.

anyone have try to churn MBNA Best western? did you get the activation bonus?

US/CA cards
 

Has anyone held both USA and Canada credit cards at the same time tied to the same loyalty account? Just want to check the experience and see if there's any program that does not allow such combination?

Specifically, the AMEX SPG, Mastercard IHG/Alaska and Visa Aeroplan/Avios have both US and Canadian issuers.

I applied for 2 of those a few months apart last year and got the bonus both times, IIRC once at 20K and again at 40K. But it's kind of lame to the point of not being worth the credit hit and in hindsight I'm not sure I should have bothered. Two signups and barely enough points for three nights.

I've held the Marriott, Alaska and Aeroplan CCs simultaneously in US and Canada with no issues.

I believe that RBC and Chase Avios cards will not credit to an Avios account not domiciled in the respective country, but I think that's the only program where you may have an issue.

that's so true, now so many Best western hotel is 32K/36K points now :rolleyes: problem is in Canada there's no other Hotel CC available besides SPG and Marriott (both of them suppose to be no churn:(), so I will just keep applied Best western card every 6 month:D

I currently hold the SPG Amex in Cda and the US. Used my girlfriend's FL address for my US card.

SPG (and Marriott card)can both be churned...

FWIW, I churned both SPG and Aeroplan US/Canada CCs in the past.

First; the US Amex SPG while having a MBNA SPG (RIP), then a Cdn Amex SPG.

Also, a US Aeroplan CC (RIP) and a CIBC Aeroplan.

Yeah, our churn team has SPG, Marriott and Alaska cards on both sides of the border, with no problems. Same loyalty account receives points from Canadian and US cards. The joys of Double Dippin'!

OK thanks good to know. I'll be moving to US soon so looking at credit card options.

The other question is, where to set the address for the loyalty program. Are US addresses more frequently targeted for promotions?

Yes you can
 

Second the double dipping!

Used the SPG card on both sides of the border.

Is there a Canadian credit card that is FYF and doesn't reverse the annual fee (for the 2nd year) after it's been posted? :confused:

Thanks

I'd be surprised to see one that does. Every time I've tried, I've been refused and have cancelled the card.

I meant one that doesn't refund you the annual fee even when you ask to cancel the card.

:confused:

Why wouldn't you want them to refund you?

I meant ... one that doesn't want to refund you.

And he's asking why would you want that? Or in case you're not understanding his answer:

ALL canadian cards will refuse to refund

NONE will refund

Does that answer your question?

(I'm just translating what he said, not vouching for the truth of the statement)

AMEX gold, but that's if you took the retention offer and then transferred points afterwards to other accounts where they cannot be brought back.

In this case, he is soooo wrong.

.

Thanks for your answer. :)

But is there a card that will not refund in normal conditions? (I'm not talking about gimmicks to get more points or anything...)

They should all do that if you're within the grace period, which I believe is typically 30 days.

Hello,

My credit score is 730+, last cc application (BMO AirMiles World Elite) was at the end of January. I am in Ontario. I would like to apply for a couple of Cards and would like some opinions.

1. The American Express® AIR MILES®* Platinum Credit Card w/ 2,000 AIR MILES bonus. I presently have two Amex cards: Starwood and plain AirMiles card (had this for 10+ years). Will Amex approve me for the 3rd card? Would I be able to self refer to this card, and if not, what is the best sign up additional money I can get? I do not believe I can change my plain AirMiles card to AIR MILES®* Platinum and get a sign up bonus.
2. Chase Marriott Rewards® Premier Visa® Card. I've got this card in November 2014, cancelled in October 2015. I should be able to get 50K sign up bonus now (minus free night certificate), correct? I've read about Chase being strict with accepting applications with >5 credit pulls in the past 5 years; not sure if it is for US or applies to Canada as well.

Do Amex and Chase do credit pulls from different bureaus? Any preference to which card I should apply first?

Thanks!

You can only have a maximum of 2 personal credit cards and I think the platinum airmiles is a credit and not a charge card, you'll have to drop your SPG in order to apply for the Air Miles Platinum :) You're better off with one of the charge cards (Gold, Platinum)

Thanks for the reminder of credit vs charge cards :) I will keep SPG for now and will worry about Amex Air Miles later on.

I cancelled Business Gold in January, had it since February 2015 - is it too early to reapply?

I am mildly interested in Platinum charge card with 75K sign up bonus since many of the airports where I will be do not have a Priority Pass lounge. How does car rental get charged when booked via portal for $200 credit - when the car is booked or when it is dropped off? It looks like to me it is charged when it is booked.

The general rule is to wait about 3 months after cancelling, before reapplying for an Amex card. That said I've reapplied for the Biz Gold Rewards card within a week after cancelling without issues. However, I may have been lucky, as there were others in the past (look in the older 2013/2014 Amex Canada threads) who have reported that a newly cancelled account was re-opened when applying too soon, such as within a month after cancelling.

I don't know if this is the right forum so please move mods if appropriate.

I have a refundable flight that I charged to my SPG Amex a couple of months ago. I need to refund it and book a new one. Can I just book the new one, incurring the charge (and earning the SPG points) and then cancel hte other one to offset the new charge?

I wouldn only do this once as I don't want to raise any red flags with Amex, but if i can do this legitimately I could get a nice new bunch of SPG points.

Probably belongs in SPG thread :P
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...press-123.html

but I don't see why not
although, how is it different than cancel first + re-book?

You'll miss the original SPG points from original booking refund, but gain new SPG points on new booking

It's not really a SPG-card issue. Could be any card, really. On the refund to they put my account into a -ve SPG transfer balance? They can't exactly claw back points from my SPG account. I was wondering if I get the points twice, really. Sounds too good to be true, which leads me to believe it isn't.

Let me put it that way
-Statement 1:

• 1 flight, $5000

Puchases-returns on statement, $5000 -> 5000 points earned.
-Statement 2:

• 1 flight, $5000
• 1 flight refund, -$5000

Purchases-returns on statement, $0 -> 0 points earned.

No matter how you do it. If you return a purchase of X dollars, you will get X points deducted from your new purchases.
It can help fast track to make a refundable large purchase but you won't get free points for an item later returned/refunded.

D-uh...makes sense now. Thanks for the illustration.

... unless you never use the card again. But then, they might charge you for the negative balance.

Both TD and CIBC are offering 50k Aeroplan points on the Privilege versions of their cards. $399 annual fees on both, so definitely not cheap. But I like the card for zone 2 boarding. When it comes up for renewal I don't know if I'll keep it. Probably threaten to cancel (legitimately) and if they don't play ball get the competing product (hopefully it still offers 50k points).

I've got credits back from Aeroplan redemptions to cards that were cancelled in the meantime. I've got cheques back (Amex/TD) and a transfer to another card (TD). Only in one case did TD (no surprise) claw back the points from my AP account.

This is fantastic :D

Yes, but I wish RBC would join the party with their Privilege card. $399 for 50k avion (transferred to AA) is more valuable to me).

Chase Marriott Visa is notorious for this, the two companies will point the finger at each other saying you have to call the other company. Once the fee is posted, you're SOL. You do get a Cat 5 cert at renewal though, so it's not too bad. Some have attempted to game the system by cancelling as soon as the cert posts (and hopefully before the annual fee) but YMMV on that one.

AP is certainly worth more than AA when sold on the grey market ^

If you're asking whether the credit card issuer is willing to cancel the account and waive the fee...

then the Chase Marriott Visa is the only Canadian card I've ever held where they've resisted waiving the annual fee after the fee posted. And for Chase Marriott, upon issuing their annual fee, they would have already sent instructions to Marriott to credit me with a free night. Between those two companies, their systems aren't built to "undo" that kind of instruction automatically. So I don't blame them for being hardline about it.

But, no, I've never had a problem cancelling any other card, and having the annual fee waived.

Hi, does anyone have a screenshot that has the FYF offer for
CIBC Aerogold Visa Card for Business (FYF till Apr 30th, 2016, 25,000 Aeroplan)?

I got approved, and now the first statement came and I was charged $180 for the AF. I called to have it reversed, but they said they never had the promotion (of course the website now doesn't show the FYF info). I forgot to save a screenshot of the page!

Thank you!