I just got an email from AMEX that I can "Enjoy complimentary guest access to the Centurion Lounge through 1/31/2024".

I know they're shutting that down this month so this is nice. Maybe they got some customer pushback about the restrictions????

I rarely use this since 99% of my travel is just me, but we do have our annual Christmas trip to the Caribbean so this will be nice.

which amex?

Not marriott I'm guessing.

62strat said:

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which amex?

Not marriott I'm guessing.

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It's one of my Business Platinum cards.

Southwest Companion Pass + 30,000 Miles Promotion!

https://www.referyourchasecard.com/226f/MDYU2REW3M

I typically only fly American but couldn't pass this up. Is anyone else going to sign up for this?

HowdyAgs03 said:

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Southwest Companion Pass + 30,000 Miles Promotion!

https://www.referyourchasecard.com/226f/MDYU2REW3M

I typically only fly American but couldn't pass this up. Is anyone else going to sign up for this?

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Just remember you have to hit the $4k spend limit before the comp pass becomes available. Then fine print - Please allow up to 8 weeks for your Companion Pass to post to your Rapid Rewards account.
so, worse case, that is only 7 months of the pass.

Not that this isn't a good deal, but what sounds like a full year of the comp pass isn't really true.

Also, this card is usually 50-60k points for sign up.. sometimes with fee waived.
So unless you get 5-6 comp. pass flights out of it, it's about equal to a normal sign up.

62strat said:

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HowdyAgs03 said:

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Southwest Companion Pass + 30,000 Miles Promotion!

https://www.referyourchasecard.com/226f/MDYU2REW3M

I typically only fly American but couldn't pass this up. Is anyone else going to sign up for this?

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Just remember you have to hit the $4k spend limit before the comp pass becomes available. Then fine print - Please allow up to 8 weeks for your Companion Pass to post to your Rapid Rewards account.
so, worse case, that is only 7 months of the pass.

Not that this isn't a good deal, but what sounds like a full year of the comp pass isn't really true.

Also, this card is usually 50-60k points for sign up.. sometimes with fee waived.
So unless you get 5-6 comp. pass flights out of it, it's about equal to a normal sign up.

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All good points. I'm going to put my season ticket renewal on this card as soon as I get the full card #. In my experience, it doesn't take 2 months for a sign-up bonus to post to your account but we'll see.

The restriction is waived if you spend 75k+ per year on the card. I noticed a big drop off already in the crowd thanks to the new restriction. Can't say i don't appreciate the new rule. The lines for Centurion Lounge had gotten ridiculous.

turf guy ag said:

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The restriction is waved if you spend 75k+ per year on the card. I noticed a big drop off already in the crowd thanks to the new restriction. Can't say i don't appreciate the new rule. The lines for Centurion Lounge had gotten ridiculous.

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I don't think I've hit the limit. That's why this is odd.

I have 3 chase business ink preferred cards from several years ago. Anybody have thoughts on best way to close two of them without triggering any additional scrutiny? I'm also over 4 years since my last sapphire bonus so I will probably downgrade that card and do that again this year. Will all that activity cause concern?

I have maybe 150k pts left spread among my 4 chase cards at the moment. I would probably transfer them all to the one CIP I plan to keep. I guess my two concerns are that they will close the wrong CIP or that they'll lock me out altogether for churning if they even do that.

JobSecurity said:

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I have 3 chase business ink preferred cards from several years ago. Anybody have thoughts on best way to close two of them without triggering any additional scrutiny?

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I do all of my account closing through the secure messaging in your online acct. Takes just a few seconds to write the message, and don't have to deal with a phone call.

In your acct, click on the 3 lines top left - secure message - new message then in pull down choose I have a question about one of my accounts - then choose the card last 4 digits in pull down, then choose account inquiry.
Then click send us a message.

I keep it brief - "I would like to close my account ending in xxxx. Thank you"

I've done this many times, I think only one time I got a phone call later that day asking about it, and basically the guy gave me a hint that I should wait until I get my free night (marriott), then close it. They will waive the fee if you close it within I think 30 days, so you pay no fee but keep the free night since it transfers to marriott.

I want to cancel my SW card and get a AMEX gold.

Any advice on canceling a card? I have two others.

suburban cowboy said:

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I want to cancel my SW card and get a AMEX gold.

Any advice on canceling a card? I have two others.

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What advice do you need? Just call and say you want to cancel lol. Maybe theyll give you a retention bonus to stay.

I've never cancelled a credit card before.

Unsure if it's a big deal or not in terms of credit score.

Ask to move the credit on that card to a different chase card if you have one.

Even closed cards stay on your report for a long time (10 years I think?) so it shouldn't hurt you in terms of credit age too much. Could be wrong about that.

Was pretty easy to close my Chase SW card last year.

Check www.cardmatch.com to see if you have any targeted offers for the AMEX Gold. Otherwise find someone who can do a referral link, those sometimes have better bonuses or at a minimum you help someone else get some points.

Thanks! I have the Chase Amazon card so that super helpful.

PMs are open to any AMEX gold card holders with referral options.

suburban cowboy said:

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Thanks! I have the Chase Amazon card so that super helpful.

PMs are open to any AMEX gold card holders with referral options.

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I sent you one, it says your offer would be 60k for 4k spend.

Love my gold card. I spend too much at HEB and eating out so that 5x adds up pretty quick.

Booked a one way flight from Vienna to Houston yesterday for 15k points transferred from amex to flying blue with a 25% transfer bonus

suburban cowboy said:

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I've never cancelled a credit card before.

Unsure if it's a big deal or not in terms of credit score.

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Ive been credit card churning for 10 years or so. Ive probably opened and closed around 35+ cards in that timeframe. My credit score has hovered around 810-820 the entire time.

I wouldnt worry too much about the impact to your credit score. If you close a card, your credit score might get dinged a few points, but then goes back up once you open up a new card and have more available credit to you. Churn away!

You can always downgrade to the free version of the card if you dont want to impact your credit score, but I would rather be done with a card and cancel it. I dont want to keep track of a bunch of cards after Im done using them.

Same experience here. I've churned for about 7 years now, maybe 10 cards between wife and me.
Both credit scores have never dipped below 800. I still have a single 15+ year old card through USAA that has one ~$30 recurring charge a month to keep my history active.

If you are canceling a card from a company that you have other cards with, def. move the credit to another card.

At this point my single chase card is $35k and single amex card is $35k, so my debt to credit ratio is never above about 10%

FYI chase marriott is a good sign up right now

75k points with $3k spend (which is already a bit higher than normal), plus 50k bonus if you stay 6 paid nights from now until 1/31/24.
125k total if you hit both.

Yearly fee $95.

Or the free card has a similar deal, but 50k/50k, for total of 100k. I've never seen a free card never have that type of bonus opportunity.

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/marriott-bonvoy

Any great "free for the first year" cards right now?

Counterpoint said:

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Any great "free for the first year" cards right now?

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Most cards with an annual fee will let you cancel before the fee is due, with the exception of AMEX cards. Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95 annual fee) is typically recommended for most beginners who want to use their card for travel. Citi Double Cash is 2% cashback and no annual fee.

ea1060 said:

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Counterpoint said:

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Any great "free for the first year" cards right now?

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Most cards with an annual fee will let you cancel before the fee is due,

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When you sign up for a card, the fee is posted on your first statement. What are you talking about?

Maybe you mean in subsequent years, you can cancel before the fee posts, or even shortly after and get it refunded to you, but to get a sign up bonus, you aren't singing up, getting the bonus, then cancelling without paying the first fee.

62strat said:

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ea1060 said:

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Counterpoint said:

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Any great "free for the first year" cards right now?

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Most cards with an annual fee will let you cancel before the fee is due,

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When you sign up for a card, the fee is posted on your first statement. What are you talking about?

Maybe you mean in subsequent years, you can cancel before the fee posts, or even shortly after and get it refunded to you, but to get a sign up bonus, you aren't singing up, getting the bonus, then cancelling without paying the first fee.

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You are right, I was mistaken about the Chase Sapphire Preferred, they charge annual fee on first statement. But there are other cards that waive annual fee for first year, and you can earn/spend bonus then cancel before the fee hits. I just did this with the AAdvantage card.

According to the articles below, AMEX Delta Gold, and United Explorer among others also waive fee for the first year.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/best-travel-credit-cards-with-first-years-annual-fee-waived

https://thepointsguy.com/news/best-credit-cards-waived-annual-fees-first-year/

ea1060 said:

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62strat said:

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ea1060 said:

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Counterpoint said:

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Any great "free for the first year" cards right now?

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Most cards with an annual fee will let you cancel before the fee is due,

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When you sign up for a card, the fee is posted on your first statement. What are you talking about?

Maybe you mean in subsequent years, you can cancel before the fee posts, or even shortly after and get it refunded to you, but to get a sign up bonus, you aren't singing up, getting the bonus, then cancelling without paying the first fee.

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But there are other cards that waive annual fee for first year, and you can earn/spend bonus then cancel before the fee hits.

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Correct, that is what the person above was asking.

62strat said:

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ea1060 said:

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62strat said:

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ea1060 said:

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Counterpoint said:

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Any great "free for the first year" cards right now?

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Most cards with an annual fee will let you cancel before the fee is due,

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When you sign up for a card, the fee is posted on your first statement. What are you talking about?

Maybe you mean in subsequent years, you can cancel before the fee posts, or even shortly after and get it refunded to you, but to get a sign up bonus, you aren't singing up, getting the bonus, then cancelling without paying the first fee.

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But there are other cards that waive annual fee for first year, and you can earn/spend bonus then cancel before the fee hits.

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Correct, that is what the person above was asking.

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Right, and you said these cards didnt exist.

ea1060 said:

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62strat said:

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ea1060 said:

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62strat said:

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ea1060 said:

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Counterpoint said:

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Any great "free for the first year" cards right now?

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Most cards with an annual fee will let you cancel before the fee is due,

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When you sign up for a card, the fee is posted on your first statement. What are you talking about?

Maybe you mean in subsequent years, you can cancel before the fee posts, or even shortly after and get it refunded to you, but to get a sign up bonus, you aren't singing up, getting the bonus, then cancelling without paying the first fee.

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But there are other cards that waive annual fee for first year, and you can earn/spend bonus then cancel before the fee hits.

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Correct, that is what the person above was asking.

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Right, and you said these cards didnt exist.

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There isn't a card that exists that has an annual fee that you can sign up for, cancel before fee hits and still get a sign up bonus, which is what you alluded to.

There periodically exists a card(s) that has the first annual fee waived, which is what the person was asking about.

The question; 'first year free cards available right now' and you said 'most cards with an annual fee will let you cancel before the fee is due'.
That is inaccurate and not helpful to the person asking.

We done?

Didn't mean to start trouble, I was just curious!

Username does fit!

62strat said:

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FYI chase marriott is a good sign up right now

75k points with $3k spend (which is already a bit higher than normal), plus 50k bonus if you stay 6 paid nights from now until 1/31/24.
125k total if you hit both.

Yearly fee $95.

Or the free card has a similar deal, but 50k/50k, for total of 100k. I've never seen a free card never have that type of bonus opportunity.

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/marriott-bonvoy

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I got approved for this card on August 3rd. I spent 8 nights in a Marriott hotel from Aug 4 to Aug 12, but did not have the card yet, so didn't charge the room to the card. Do the 6 nights need to be charged to the Bonvoy card in order to meet the 50k bonus?

El Chupacabra said:

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62strat said:

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FYI chase marriott is a good sign up right now

75k points with $3k spend (which is already a bit higher than normal), plus 50k bonus if you stay 6 paid nights from now until 1/31/24.
125k total if you hit both.

Yearly fee $95.

Or the free card has a similar deal, but 50k/50k, for total of 100k. I've never seen a free card never have that type of bonus opportunity.

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/marriott-bonvoy

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I got approved for this card on August 3rd. I spent 8 nights in a Marriott hotel from Aug 4 to Aug 12, but did not have the card yet, so didn't charge the room to the card. Do the 6 nights need to be charged to the Bonvoy card in order to meet the 50k bonus?

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No, but you need to book directly with Marriott under your eligible Marriott Bonvoy account number and Stays booked using points, cash and points or free-night certificates do not qualify as eligible stays

62strat said:

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El Chupacabra said:

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62strat said:

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FYI chase marriott is a good sign up right now

75k points with $3k spend (which is already a bit higher than normal), plus 50k bonus if you stay 6 paid nights from now until 1/31/24.
125k total if you hit both.

Yearly fee $95.

Or the free card has a similar deal, but 50k/50k, for total of 100k. I've never seen a free card never have that type of bonus opportunity.

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/marriott-bonvoy

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I got approved for this card on August 3rd. I spent 8 nights in a Marriott hotel from Aug 4 to Aug 12, but did not have the card yet, so didn't charge the room to the card. Do the 6 nights need to be charged to the Bonvoy card in order to meet the 50k bonus?

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No, but you need to book directly with Marriott under your eligible Marriott Bonvoy account number and Stays booked using points, cash and points or free-night certificates do not qualify as eligible stays

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Cool. I booked on the marriott site w/Bonvoy account number...I'm guessing maybe after the first billing cycle the promotional points will hit.

El Chupacabra said:

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62strat said:

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El Chupacabra said:

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62strat said:

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FYI chase marriott is a good sign up right now

75k points with $3k spend (which is already a bit higher than normal), plus 50k bonus if you stay 6 paid nights from now until 1/31/24.
125k total if you hit both.

Yearly fee $95.

Or the free card has a similar deal, but 50k/50k, for total of 100k. I've never seen a free card never have that type of bonus opportunity.

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/marriott-bonvoy

---

I got approved for this card on August 3rd. I spent 8 nights in a Marriott hotel from Aug 4 to Aug 12, but did not have the card yet, so didn't charge the room to the card. Do the 6 nights need to be charged to the Bonvoy card in order to meet the 50k bonus?

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No, but you need to book directly with Marriott under your eligible Marriott Bonvoy account number and Stays booked using points, cash and points or free-night certificates do not qualify as eligible stays

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Cool. I booked on the marriott site w/Bonvoy account number...I'm guessing maybe after the first billing cycle the promotional points will hit.

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Not sure in this situation, but you may have to get the spend bonus first?

I guess time will tell.

Interesting..

From the chase website
https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/united?CELL=6PJ4
explorer card sign up is 60k. Free for first year.

I logged into united and there was a chase offer banner, I clicked it, it goes here
https://www.theexplorercard.com/
chase offer is 65k, free for first year.

The quest is 10k points higher as well on the explorer website.

Why would there be 2 different offers? oh well, no brainer, going for the 65k, and something to consider in the future.

I last received this card's bonus in 11/2021, so it's time. Also got the club 120k bonus back last summer. That will be 245k points in 25 months, not a bad deal.


Just hit submit, and got immediate approval! First thing is first; make this card the default for amazon payments so I can capture all the xmas spend lol.

Shameless referral plug if you are swayed by my post to sign up.


https://www.referyourchasecard.com/215n/NHFDJIF3RE

I just got a card I think is a bit underrated in the churning game if you are interested in going to vegas every year and staying at Caesars properties.

I just applied and was accepted for the Wyndham rewards earner business card. People online claim this card is notoriously hard to get b/c most people have to mail in a photocopy of the front AND back of their drivers license, social security card and a copy of their utility bill to verify their identity, but I have a previously relationship with Barclays and I was approved instantly.

I don't really own a business but I sell random stuff on ebay every now and then so I applied my company as a sole proprietor, selling used goods retail and said $500 revenue (not profit) annually. I was instantly approved for $10k.

The card has a $95 annual fee but gets me wyndham diamond status and 45k points if I hit $3k spend in 3 months. The diamond status is perpetual as long as you have the card, and every anniversary year you pay the annual fee they will give you 15k points which makes it a keeper for me. (not to mention its 8x hotel points at gas stations which is a notoriously hard category for credit hacking)

What makes this card amazing if you like to stay at Caesars properties it that the Wyndham diamond status matches to Caesars Diamond and you can transfer wyndham points over to caesars. Having diamond at Caesars means no resort fees which are often more than the room rate itself. I am currently booked for a trip this spring where the room is $30 but the resort fees would have been $50 had I not had this status. Diamond also gives you $100 annual dinning credit at any restaurant on Caesars properties. And while you are there you can just bill any purchases to your room and use the wyndham points you transferred to pay off the bill.

Diamond status also gets you free nights at Atlantis in the Bahamas, but you will have to still pay resort fees so its more of a discount than a true free perk.

If you like to visit vegas at least once a year, this card is a no brainer in my opinion. Even if you don't like staying at caesars properties, you can get value just dining at the restaurants.