New Cards?

[Hanoi IG]

My wife and I were just away for 7 weeks and while traveling got 3 new cards: Avianca for each and Amtrak Rewards for me.

In the mail are offers for many more. Any opinions on these: Citi Premiere 30K points for $3000/3 months; United 50K for $2000/3 months; Barclay 50K AFTER $3000/3 Months; American Airlines 40K for $3000/3 months plus 10K more for $5000 total in 12 months.

Here's the thing: We have CSR so get 3X on travel spend, AMEX Platinum so 5X on airfares. Also both cards have deals on travel spend with points.

We are mainly committed to Star Alliance and have about 200K miles on SQ and about 700K Life Miles plus will get 60K each more when we buy anything w/new Avianca cards.

We rarely fly domestic just back from long trip to Asia JFK-NAR and HND-JFK on ANA First award, plus nearly all of the other flights were also award. I guess I'm rambling but my idea is NO to UA and AA, possibly yes to Barclays and Citi if those points are useful. My concern is that to make minimum spend for some cards I will cannibalize my UR points with Chase. We have a balance due on our Viking cruise but if I paid some w/new cards could make min spend.

I guess $3000 on CSR gets me 9000 UR but on a new card could get 30K or more. Help!

 

[MickiSue]

It seems to me that you need to be able to analyze your needs in the area of miles/points.

Which are you most likely to use? Which cards, either ones you currently have or are considering acquiring, will most efficiently get you those miles/points most easily over time, and over the short haul?

There is no problem with acquiring a bunch of cards, earning the bonus and sock drawering some of them, and cancelling before the renewal fee hits. BUT. You have to remember to complete the spend for the bonus in time. It's not the responsibility of the CC carrier to ensure that you do it, it's yours, so have systems in place to make sure that you do. And, if you mess up, well, that's your own fault, right?

You also need to have systems in place to ensure that you cancel cards you no longer need/want. Unless you don't care about the annual fee as much as you do care about having a minuscule ratio of balance to available credit.

No one in this forum can do that analysis for you. You are the one who knows your needs and your wants, and you are the one who knows your capacity for keeping track of large numbers of CCs. It's not as simple as applying and moving forward. You need to have a plan that you are both willing and capable of enacting, or you'll just have a bunch of high priced plastic, that gets higher and higher priced by the year.

 

[Hanoi IG]

It seems to me that you need to be able to analyze your needs in the area of miles/points.

Which are you most likely to use? Which cards, either ones you currently have or are considering acquiring, will most efficiently get you those miles/points most easily over time, and over the short haul?

There is no problem with acquiring a bunch of cards, earning the bonus and sock drawering some of them, and cancelling before the renewal fee hits. BUT. You have to remember to complete the spend for the bonus in time. It's not the responsibility of the CC carrier to ensure that you do it, it's yours, so have systems in place to make sure that you do. And, if you mess up, well, that's your own fault, right?

You also need to have systems in place to ensure that you cancel cards you no longer need/want. Unless you don't care about the annual fee as much as you do care about having a minuscule ratio of balance to available credit.

No one in this forum can do that analysis for you. You are the one who knows your needs and your wants, and you are the one who knows your capacity for keeping track of large numbers of CCs. It's not as simple as applying and moving forward. You need to have a plan that you are both willing and capable of enacting, or you'll just have a bunch of high priced plastic, that gets higher and higher priced by the year.

OK What I meant was are CitiPoints or Barclays points worth having as opposed to Chase UR. If I spend $3000 with Chase I get 9000 but if I lay that amount off on a new card I will get 30K(Citi) or 50K(Barclays) so on paper that's better. I don't have any CitiCards now except a Hilton which I will cancel since my AMEX Hilton is more useful and/or valuable.

I get it that it's what works for me and I already have decided against UA or AA since I would probably never fly AA and UA only so I can put the miles on SQ. Thanks for the input.

 

[knick1959]

OK What I meant was are CitiPoints or Barclays points worth having as opposed to Chase UR. If I spend $3000 with Chase I get 9000 but if I lay that amount off on a new card I will get 30K(Citi) or 50K(Barclays) so on paper that's better. I don't have any CitiCards now except a Hilton which I will cancel since my AMEX Hilton is more useful and/or valuable.

I've never been a collector of Thank You points (the Premiere card) but many here are. I personally question the value and risk (noting previous issues with Citi and creative spending habits). I'll let others defend them, but I haven't found myself interested.

Barclay's points are simply cash back towards travel. So, 50k is $500 (plus 5% kickback when you do use them) to offset travel expenses. You have to put the travel changes on THIS CARD, but following their rules, you can get $500 in charges removed.

Don't write off the United card too quickly. That's 50k that can be combined with your UR points to show for Star Alliance awards ... via the United web site of course, but that would work for me. Perhaps not you, but I wanted to point that out.

 

[Hanoi IG]

Thanks. Maybe I am getting caught up in crazy excitement, having only done this for a year or two. Problem with United besides the crummy planes and service is you can't book SQ awards using United miles. I'm better off maybe booking w/Chase at 1.5 cents or putting the miles to SQ. I'm thinking that with CSR and AMEX Platypus that's enough diversity and flexibility.

 

[Hanoi IG]

So what I did was take the Citi Thank you cards with intent to cancel before the annual fee(waived 1st year) kicks in. Thinking if wife and I have 2 cards same should cancel one after bonus. Is this good strategy? Don't need 2 mileage or hotel cards as can use one for same purpose.

 

[MickiSue]

The point I was making is that asking people if a card is worth it FOR YOU is the wrong question. The right one might be: Do you have this card, and if so, why is it valuable for you? If the reasons jibe with yours, then you know.

 

[Hanoi IG]

The point I was making is that asking people if a card is worth it FOR YOU is the wrong question. The right one might be: Do you have this card, and if so, why is it valuable for you? If the reasons jibe with yours, then you know.

OK Got it. I'm pretty new to this game. Figuring out now about getting card for me and wife, then cancel one after bonus or maybe both if not that useful and has fee. I kind of was asking about Citi and Barclay's. I can transfer Citi TY to SQ so figure I'll do that and cancel the cards one at a time before the fee. Barclay's I didn't go for though I guess $$$ back can be useful.

 

[dr0832]

Eventually you'll want to get every card. It probably just depends on whats your next planned trip. It doesn't make sense to just sign up for random cards with nothing in mind in terms of how to use the miles and points. The cash cards are always good.

 

[Hanoi IG]

Right! I never think about cash but it is actually better since it always spends. Not sexy like points/miles but I have to remember it.

 

[dr0832]

A good business card, if you have some business income, for cash back is the capital one spark that gives you $500 cash bonus and gives you 2X cash back on everything. I think the spend is $5000. The only problem is Capital one pulls from 3 credit bureaus so may or may not make sense depending your credit score.

 

[Hanoi IG]

I'm retired. No business so I don't even bother with those cards. Nearly all of our spending is for travel except for cable and mobile phone which take credit cards so I'm kind of limited. Got 6% AMEX Blue Preferred for groceries but thanks anyway. I get a lot of help from the pros online.

 

[dr0832]

Sell a couple things on ebay and then you got a business. The so called pro's will push whichever card makes them the most money at any given time.

 

[Hanoi IG]

Ah. I see there are levels of the game. I don't go on ebay and at least for me, the effort is not worth it. We are retired and just want to enjoy life. We are old and have been fortunate enough to accumulate enough that money is not a huge object, though paying less or nothing is always appealing. From what I've seen of MS its kind of like working so that's clearly not for us. Our credit ratings are both over 800 and we live in a tiny condo with all expenses easily covered by our Social Security so all other income is just disposable.

I haven't yet learned how to get a bunch of free hotel rooms but I have had Platinum status with Accor for a long time so I get vouchers and always a much better rate than most people get. I also have temporary Hilton Diamond which got us a few perks but never an upgrade. Also Hilton award nights are so expensive that I haven't been willing to burn the points. A $200 room often costs 80K points so at half cent each that's high(though still free).

Our theory of hotels is: If there's a Sofitel we stay there except for SIN and BKK since my wife has always loved two other hotels in those cities. If not, now I look for a Hilton option though we will bump down to gold soon. Otherwise, we look for some great place like La Mamounia in Marrakech or Cirigan Palace in Istanbul. Not sure what to do in the US as we are attending an opera premiere in Minneapolis in March so I booked a Hilton option that is flexible.

I know you can book with AX or Chase points might be something to investigate. Not sure if you get points at a chain hotel but maybe doesn't matter. Rambling but thanks for the assistance.