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In May 2017, I got a Chase sapphire preferred. I got the 50K bonus in august. This means I'm not eligible for a new bonus if I get the Reserve until August 2019, correct?
My ultimate goal is to transfer my points to Singapore Airlines to be able to fly round trip in one of those new first class cabins.
My annual fee for the Preferred is coming up in May again this year. Looking back on my purchases, I don't spend enough on food/travel for the 2x bonus on the Preferred to be worth it over the 1.5x on everything that I would get with the Freedom Unlimited. If I product switch to the Freedom Unlimited and apply for the Freedom, what happens to the unlimited rewards points? I am not planning on redeeming my rewards points (I.e transferring to Singapore Airlines) until at least 2019 when I get 50,000 bonus points for the Reserve.
Can I keep accumulating UR with the Freedom Unlimited and Freedom and then once I get the Reserve in 2019, transfer all those points to Singapore Airlines?
My ultimate goal is to transfer my points to Singapore Airlines to be able to fly round trip in one of those new first class cabins.
My annual fee for the Preferred is coming up in May again this year. Looking back on my purchases, I don't spend enough on food/travel for the 2x bonus on the Preferred to be worth it over the 1.5x on everything that I would get with the Freedom Unlimited. If I product switch to the Freedom Unlimited and apply for the Freedom, what happens to the unlimited rewards points? I am not planning on redeeming my rewards points (I.e transferring to Singapore Airlines) until at least 2019 when I get 50,000 bonus points for the Reserve.
Can I keep accumulating UR with the Freedom Unlimited and Freedom and then once I get the Reserve in 2019, transfer all those points to Singapore Airlines?
I have $487 in rewards on my main card (Capital One 1.5%). Going to use it for my trip to Seattle in spring.
50k? Shit, sign up for the Ink biz card.
As for Chase, just transfer the points to the airline early, or to another Chase card, as noted earlier.
CSP is probably a bad card by today's standards. Seemed great when I got it but I will be downgrading it this coming year.
Wow! I had $330 saved back mid November but then I went on vacation and used them for that.
I've been saving my rewards up since about a month prior to Thanksgiving of last year. I decided to start using it to also pay large bills which boosted it. It should pay for half my airline fees.
Using cash rewards to pay for airlines is a poor return. You should be using mile points to pay for airlines.
I don't have an airlines rewards card :(
edit: because to clarify, when I have to travel work always pays for it unless it's personal
Same here. I used it for overseas expenses when l travel but also to pay my rent.
1) If you travel for work, you should be racking up miles regardless (by flying)
2) You don't need to pay for your flights to earn miles (just get a card for your fav airline).
3) Alternatively, get a card that transfers points 1:1 (or better) to airlines. You'll get a better value that way vs redeeming for cash.
Bonus) If you don't have a fav airline (or hell, even if you do), sign up for the AA Aviator card at Barclays and call it a day. 60k miles for a $95 annual fee and a single purchase. That's quite the signup bonus.
I was wondering where this thread was! Amasing credit card points for travel has become one of my major hobbies. Churning like I do has required quite a bit of research but places like doctorofcredit.com and reddit churning have been so much help. In just over a month I am flying business class to Tokyo then business class to Bangkok and flying home from Tokyo in ANA First Class Suite, all free on points along with all hotels for 2 weeks free as well. I can't even burn the points as fast as I earn them. Currently sitting on over 2 million points between my wife and I. (800,000 being Chase UR)
Even if the cash rewards is with Chase Reserve? The extra 50% bonus in rewards value feels so nice and basically justifies the extra 150$ fee after just one flight
That isn't considered cash rewards. You are still using points at a bonus rate. Obviously points used for business and first class get you more value, but I love finding sales a cheap economy flights and using UR via the Reserve bonus.
Yes.
Assume 100,000 points on Chase. That is a $1,500 value when booked via the Chase portal assuming you have the Reseve. That's also 100,000 miles when transferred to an airline.
Let's use Tokyo Game Show as an example. For SFO to Narita, the week of TGS 2018, I can book an award flight (RT) for:
Economy - 35,000
Business - 80,000
First - 110,000
Now, that includes SFO -> LAX in econ on the Biz and First tickets, but it's Biz and First over water, and that's with all of sixty seconds of searching. With more searching I could probably find a better award rate.
To get that "value" from cash, you'd have to assume that you could book the RT for no more than the following on Chase's website"
Economy - $525 (35,000 points would get you $525 in "value" with the 50% redemption bonus)
Biz - $1,200
First - $1,650
If you're spending any more than that, you've just devalued your points. And while an econ RT for ~$500 isn't impossible, landing Intl Biz or First for those prices isn't happening unless there is a fare mistake.
This isn't exactly a fair comparison considering you are using one of the best values in premium cabins out there (UR to Virgin Atlantic flying ANA for such low miles is an absolute insane transfer rate). I am using that method in just over a month. Most UR transfers to premium cabin are 1.5 to 2 times more miles. For example the next cheapest UR transfer to Tokyo is flying united business class for 140,000. Obviously, premium cabins are almost always going to get you more value due to their extremely inflated cost (my one way first class ticket from Tokyo to Chicago costs $15,000....who actually would pay for that besides the top 0.1 percent?) It all depends on how much you plan to travel. If you want more free trips, using the CSR 1.5 bonus is great. If you want to experience premium cabins that you would never actually spend your real money on for one big special trip, then sure transfering miles to airlines is a good option.
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it defaults to the last card you used, but you can swipe left/right to cycle
Well shit. With that logic I don't need to keep my Reserve. Are there hotels that have such a generous transfer program as airlines?
Not every card allows 1:1 transfer (one of the perks of the Reserve).
Reserve is still good for earning, but not the best method of redemption if you're going for high value rewards.
Minx makes some good points. For me, if I can get a domestic flight cheap, I'll just pay for it, and bank my rewards for biz/first travel.
If I transfer to an airline early, I'm worried the Singapore airline points will expire before I have a chance to use them. I believe Singapore Airlines points expire in 3 years.
My plan is:
1) In may 2018, downgrade the Preferred to a Freedom. I can avoid the annual fee on the Preferred this way.
2) apply for a Freedom Unlimited. Get the bonus points.
3) Continue to accumulate Ultimate Rewards. This is the step I'm not sure about. What happens to the Ultimate Rewards points I've already accumulated from the Sapphire Preferred?
4) August 2019, get the chase sapphire Reserve. At this point, I will have been 24 months removed from the bonus on the Preferred. Get the 50K bonus.
5) Continue to accumulate Ultimate Rewards.
6) when I have enough points for the Singapore Airlines flight, transfer to my Singapore Airlines program.
Is that possible and logical? I guess the other option is to get the Chase Ink business Preferred card and get the 80K bonus points? But I'm really paranoid Chase will find out I don't have a business and delete all my existing points or something.
For #3, apply for your Freedom Unlimited first, transfer the points to it, then downgrade the CSP to the Freedom, maybe?
For #4, be sure you will still get the bonus, 2019 won't be long enough I think. IIRC, you have to wait 24 months before being eligible. I think this went into effect at that time when they decided that folks can only have one Sapphire. Might wanna double check though.
Oh does the Freedom not do 1:1? I can't justify buying biz/first class. My internal logic is that if I can get those for cheap with rewards, I can get economy for even cheaper
Nope. It'll earn, but can't transfer out of Chase UR.
You need the SP, SR, or Ink Biz (all w/annual fees) to transfer to partners.
For cheaper fees a Visa Gift Card from Walmart (greendot bank issued) into a money order at Walmart deposited into your bank account. A more complicated process.
Or you could simply purchase some gift cards and use them as cash after minimum spend is met. Prepay car insurance, cable bill etc for 6 months. Many ways to meet minimum spend.
Rent is organic spend but those would certainly work too. First suggestion is common MS tactic I want to get into and I plan to do some experimenting to figure out which places would sell me a money order using a Visa Gift Card as payment. This is one I probably wouldn't recommend to newbs or someone with no intention of MSing because it can get complicated, as you said
Your second method works too. But not for everyone cause some may not have the capital or liquidity to pre-pay bills. But I plan to prepay Netflix for the year and utilities too if I can't find someone to liquidate my VGC in my area.
Also, speaking of jumping through hoops, could also open a bank account that allows credit card funding and grab a bank bonus or two while at it.
Canadian here. I used my credit card reward points to fully pay off my Switch at launch, so I splurged a bit to get the pro controller, extra set of joycons, 3 BOTW amiibos and a BOTW Collector's Edition. That was a fun delivery day in the mail.
If you can be fiscally responsible by not overspending, focusing your spending on a credit card can be very beneficial. Not to mention building your credit.
If you can be fiscally responsible by not overspending, focusing your spending on a credit card can be very beneficial. Not to mention building your credit.
Anyone use the OpenSky card?
I'm thinking of getting that one and something else to help bump up my overall credit.
I want to hop on this credit card venture but I need to rebuild my credit score before I qualify for any rewards.
I'm thinking of getting that one and something else to help bump up my overall credit.
I want to hop on this credit card venture but I need to rebuild my credit score before I qualify for any rewards.
You could get a secured card. But a great card for folks looking to build credit is the Capital One Quicksilver One. That's what I used to rebuild a couple years ago. 1.5% cash back on all purchases, no foreign transaction fee, and a $39 annual fee. It's easy to get, so look into it. Then after a year or two of your score increasing, product change it to the Quicksilver (which has no annual fee).
Dammit, anyone have the Amazon Prime Visa Rewards card?
I lost my freaking card and hand to get a replacement. Chase said everything will transfer over just fine--including the Rewards cash I have--but how will my Amazon account recognize that? I want it to display my rewards cash balance at checkout like it does now. Will this be automatic?
Thanks guys!
I lost my freaking card and hand to get a replacement. Chase said everything will transfer over just fine--including the Rewards cash I have--but how will my Amazon account recognize that? I want it to display my rewards cash balance at checkout like it does now. Will this be automatic?
Thanks guys!
I have that card but never had to replace it.
I'm pretty sure once you add the new card you should be able to see the rewards balance on Amazon. You should remove the old card from your account.
Anyone have the Bank of America Premium Rewards card? Got one on the way. 3.5x travel and dining; 2.625x everything else. $500 sign up bonus ($3000 over 90 days).
Because you won't be getting 5% back on that much of the bill. Better to just use it as a statement credit.
Let's say I want a 65" Samsung 4K television that costs me $1300. Let's also say I have $1500 in rewards on my Amazon card.
If I use my rewards to pay for the TV, fine. But, the better strategy would be to charge it straight credit with my Amazon card. Get the $65 in cash back rewards from my 5% back Amazon card, and if I'm still wanting to use my rewards for the purchase, just do it as a statement credit instead.
1). Use $1300 out of $1500 total rewards to purchase TV. No cash back. Net rewards balance is now $200.
2). Pay for the TV outright with Amazon card. Get 5% cash back on the purchase ($65). Use statement credit to pay. Net rewards balance is now $265.
tl:dr - always get the points/cashback instead of using rewards for purchases outright. Just go for a statement credit after the charge posts and get all your points/cashback.
You'll be fine, when you get the new card you just add it to your Amazon account and everything just works. Hell, maybe your account might even update for you.
But yea, stop using it on purchases. Just use the rewards to pay your bill.
To be clear, He had to spend 1400$ to get that...
But yea, the card is nice for the 6 months out of the year where no other card gives you 5%
What is "statement credit?" Is that using the rewards points to pay down the balance?