topic Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years in Credit Card Applications

App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 22:00:32 GMT

This could be huge thread for those who have a SUPER Clean Slate.

When 2 or 3 cards are used together - Is there a clear cut winner in the CB/Miles game??

A 3 Card Suite that provides excellent coverage for the years to come is the goal.

I am assisting putting together a cohesive plan that maximizes either; CB Rewards or Miles (not both)

NOTE: NO AMEX (she hates them) NO DELTA (she hates them)

INCOME: $43K (retirement) + Dividends

SCORES: 802/806/811

Patient has no apps in over 5 years, probably closer to 8, I will confirm

Existing CC: PIF monthly ( AZEO deployed) + (never asked for a CLI - All CLI's =Auto)

DSC 0/23K

Kohls 0/2500

Vent 200/7500

QS1 0/4800

Plat 0/2000

MM 0/6000 (Mercury MC)

Last 12 Mos: (No Installment Loans Currently) No RE Loan - Property Paid Off.

Auto Paid

SL's Paid

Evaluating Options:

Chase -vs- US Bank -vs- ???

Opening Bonus

Large saving Deposit Bonus

Direct Deposit Available

Sub Meeting Events:

2 Trips planned - NC & AZ

Home Improvement - Flooring/Paint - (preparing owned RE for Sale)

Evaluating CHASE: When they were offering CHk/Sav/CC - Subs=~$1200

Time is on her side, no rush, but travel plans are being contemplated.

SO... Lets hope for Great Big Subs and Huge Opening Bonuses in the next few weeks/months

Anybody who has worked out the math on some of these offerings would be a great resource.

I get lost in the details of the Miles game and transferring of miles for more value.... I am a simple CB guy.

So any expert MyFico help would be greatly appreciated!!! If you made it this far.... Thanks for reading!!!

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

coldfusion — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 12:42:30 GMT

No AMEX/no Delta makes things easier for you - no need to assess MR vs Chase UR.

As a starting point for discussion the Chase trifecta has been the prototypical 3-card combination to maximize point earnings and redemptions.

Things have shifted a bit since the Freedom has been replaced by the Freedom Flex but the underlying principle still applies, unstructured spend goes on a Freedom Unlimited, structured spend goes on whichever card yields the best return, and redemption for travel is via the Chase portal via the CSR/CSP. The TBD component is if you would place enough spend in the rotating 5% categories of a Freedom Flex to offset the higher earnings for unstructured spend on the Freedom Unlimited or even if holding both a Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex would be justified. You'll probably want to look up past rotating categories for the Freedom and do the math to see what path may be the best fit.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 15:16:29 GMT

Fantastic!! Thats an excellent starting point, and just what I was hoping for.

So the 3 are: Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited, CSR/CSP -

She will still have some DSC rotating 5%'s to use as needed and within allowed limits.

Does a Marriot card factor in well?

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

SouthJamaica — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 15:21:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
This could be huge thread for those who have a SUPER Clean Slate.

When 2 or 3 cards are used together - Is there a clear cut winner in the CB/Miles game??
A 3 Card Suite that provides excellent coverage for the years to come is the goal.

I am assisting putting together a cohesive plan that maximizes either; CB Rewards or Miles (not both)
NOTE: NO AMEX (she hates them) NO DELTA (she hates them)
INCOME: $43K (retirement) + Dividends
SCORES: 802/806/811
Patient has no apps in over 5 years, probably closer to 8, I will confirm
Existing CC: PIF monthly ( AZEO deployed) + (never asked for a CLI - All CLI's =Auto)

DSC 0/23K
Kohls 0/2500
Vent 200/7500
QS1 0/4800
Plat 0/2000
MM 0/6000 (Mercury MC)

Last 12 Mos: (No Installment Loans Currently) No RE Loan - Property Paid Off.
Auto Paid
SL's Paid

Evaluating Options:
Chase -vs- US Bank -vs- ???
Opening Bonus
Large saving Deposit Bonus
Direct Deposit Available

Sub Meeting Events:
2 Trips planned - NC & AZ
Home Improvement - Flooring/Paint - (preparing owned RE for Sale)

Evaluating CHASE: When they were offering CHk/Sav/CC - Subs=~$1200

Time is on her side, no rush, but travel plans are being contemplated.

SO... Lets hope for Great Big Subs and Huge Opening Bonuses in the next few weeks/months

Anybody who has worked out the math on some of these offerings would be a great resource.
I get lost in the details of the Miles game and transferring of miles for more value.... I am a simple CB guy.

So any expert MyFico help would be greatly appreciated!!! If you made it this far.... Thanks for reading!!!

Since she has no travel cards and is planning trips, and has a great credit record, the obvious choice from my perspective would be to go with Chase CSP, followed by Chase Freedom Unlimited. A second obvious choice would be Citi Premier followed by Citi Double Cash, making sure the DC TYP's go into the Premier TYP account.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

SouthJamaica — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 15:23:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Fantastic!! Thats an excellent starting point, and just what I was hoping for.

So the 3 are: Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited, CSR/CSP -

She will still have some DSC rotating 5%'s to use as needed and within allowed limits.

Does a Marriot card factor in well?

I wouldn't bother with a Marriott card. That would just dilute the value of her spend.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

coldfusion — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 17:20:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Fantastic!! Thats an excellent starting point, and just what I was hoping for.

So the 3 are: Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited, CSR/CSP -

She will still have some DSC rotating 5%'s to use as needed and within allowed limits.

Does a Marriot card factor in well?

As SouthJamaica said, generally no because UR points are a flexible currency that can be used with a number of travel partners whereas Marriott points are not.

You can run the math and see if you would get greater value from accumulating Marriott points directly but that's usually not optimal.

Also keep in mind that you and your spouse could enter 2-player mode and transfer UR between each other. This presents a number of different potential options including both of you picking up a CSP at some point and pooling the points - right now there's a 80K UR SUB for $4K spend over 3 months. Also keep in mind that you can be the primary on a card while also an AU on your spouse' identical card.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 20:24:38 GMT

This helps a great deal! Thank you guys for the assist! @coldfusion @SouthJamaica

I will start a Bonus survey and see what I can find.

I have seen bonus amounts for the Amex-HH at the following levels,

100K Via cold sign up AMEX

120K via Experian Link

150K via email (targeted) to me ---- ( I always peruse the HH cards when I log into AE) seems that activity has earned a targeted xtra Bonus.

While I am not considering AE - the range in Bonus amounts is noteworthy.

I am wondering if this same variation in Bonus Amounts is also present in Chase offerings?

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

coldfusion — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 20:28:37 GMT

Not usually but it's always a good practice to sniff around just in case.

There is an elevated 80,000 UR bonus ongoing right now for the CSP that supposedly will be offered until early November with the normal $4K spend requirement.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

Meanmchine — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 03:44:43 GMT

Has the patient checked for preapprovals

While Chase has the trifecta and is great for mid to long term planning, a Discover 5% cash back first year coupled with a 100% cash back match after 12 months makes this a very interesting option for the short term. Couple that with virtually unlimited BT and 0% offers, I would add this card to the wallet

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

SouthJamaica — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 21:21:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
This helps a great deal! Thank you guys for the assist! @coldfusion @SouthJamaica

I will start a Bonus survey and see what I can find.

I have seen bonus amounts for the Amex-HH at the following levels,

100K Via cold sign up AMEX
120K via Experian Link
150K via email (targeted) to me ---- ( I always peruse the HH cards when I log into AE) seems that activity has earned a targeted xtra Bonus.

While I am not considering AE - the range in Bonus amounts is noteworthy.
I am wondering if this same variation in Bonus Amounts is also present in Chase offerings?

You can't evaluate signup bonuses in a vacuum, you need to know what value you can derive from them. This varies wildly, and it even varies from person to person based upon what kind of travel he or she takes.

I'm basically a budget traveler, and have found that Marriott points are worth about 4/10 of a cent, and Hilton points are worth about 1/3 of a cent, to me. Meanwhile, Hyatt points are worth about a penny, and JetBlue points are worth about 1.5 cents, to me.

The Citi TYP's are each worth 1.25 cents if you use their travel portal (which is no more expensive than Expedia etc), and Chase UR's are worth 1.25 cents or 1.5 cents depending on which card(s) you have, but they can be worth even more when you exchange with travel partners. So part of the analysis is to go over the list of travel partners from each ecosystem (UR or TYP) and see which are more likely candidates for you.

Update 9/28/20: Based on a test I just conducted, the TrueBlue points have been devalued to 1.2 cents.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 05:11:25 GMT

@Meanmchine wrote:
Has the patient checked for preapprovals

Nope, not yet... The patient is still a bit stunned to learn about; #1 - Amount of Account Opening + CC Spending Bonus potential & #2 - Vastly underestimated the potential spending Rewards and multiplier factors.

I think the approach on this one will be right thru the front door of the local branch. (her call) I would advise a prequal precheck to avoid the possible - "No soup for you" in person. But she is squeaky clean and I am not so much..

While Chase has the trifecta and is great for mid to long term planning, a Discover 5% cash back first year coupled with a 100% cash back match after 12 months makes this a very interesting option for the short term. Couple that with virtually unlimited BT and 0% offers, I would add this card to the wallet

I am totally with you on the 2nd DSC IT CB - That 1st year is a Gem!

I did it. Now I have 2.

She has one big one (23K) so I am not sure I can sell doubling up just to pick their pocket and end up like me.

She might be a bit too conservative to play that card

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 05:18:31 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
This helps a great deal! Thank you guys for the assist! @coldfusion @SouthJamaica

I will start a Bonus survey and see what I can find.

I have seen bonus amounts for the Amex-HH at the following levels,

100K Via cold sign up AMEX
120K via Experian Link
150K via email (targeted) to me ---- ( I always peruse the HH cards when I log into AE) seems that activity has earned a targeted xtra Bonus.

While I am not considering AE - the range in Bonus amounts is noteworthy.
I am wondering if this same variation in Bonus Amounts is also present in Chase offerings?

You can't evaluate signup bonuses in a vacuum, you need to know what value you can derive from them. This varies wildly, and it even varies from person to person based upon what kind of travel he or she takes.

I'm basically a budget traveler, and have found that Marriott points are worth about 4/10 of a cent, and Hilton points are worth about 1/3 of a cent, to me. Meanwhile, Hyatt points are worth about a penny, and JetBlue points are worth about 1.5 cents, to me.

The Citi TYP's are each worth 1.25 cents if you use their travel portal (which is no more expensive than Expedia etc), and Chase UR's are worth 1.25 cents or 1.5 cents depending on which card(s) you have, but they can be worth even more when you exchange with travel partners. So part of the analysis is to go over the list of travel partners from each ecosystem (UR or TYP) and see which are more likely candidates for you.

This is Excellent Intel! Yeap, now the whole non CB world is starting to make sense to me.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 13:59:48 GMT

Although upon a quick look it seems CITI travel partners and hotels are a bit lacking.

I think further investigation of the Citi situation is called for, JetBlue seems to be a good option, but thats all I see so far.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 18:16:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

@Meanmchine wrote:
Has the patient checked for preapprovals

Nope, not yet... The patient is still a bit stunned to learn about; #1 - Amount of Account Opening + CC Spending Bonus potential & #2 - Vastly underestimated the potential spending Rewards and multiplier factors.

I think the approach on this one will be right thru the front door of the local branch. (her call) I would advise a prequal precheck to avoid the possible - "No soup for you" in person. But she is squeaky clean and I am not so much..

While Chase has the trifecta and is great for mid to long term planning, a Discover 5% cash back first year coupled with a 100% cash back match after 12 months makes this a very interesting option for the short term. Couple that with virtually unlimited BT and 0% offers, I would add this card to the wallet

The patient has completed Pre-Colonoscopy via Chase

4 Pre Quals - CSR, CSP, CFlex, CFUnlimited - So... thats looking like its gonna work out well if thats the route selected.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

SouthJamaica — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 21:19:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Although upon a quick look it seems CITI travel partners and hotels are a bit lacking.

I think further investigation of the Citi situation is called for, JetBlue seems to be a good option, but thats all I see so far.

Interesting that you say that because JetBlue is my favorite airline. With their 1.5 cent value to me, JetBlue points are 'the coin of the realm' to me

Update 9/28/20: I think they may have been devalued and are now only worth 1.2 cents.

Re: App Strategy - 0/6, 0/12, 0/24, 0 for 5+ years

SouthJamaica — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 21:18:43 GMT

I would like to update my posts on the JetBlue points, as I think things have changed with them. I used to be able to get 1.5 cents value consistently. Based on a test I just performed, they've been devalued to 1.2 cents.

Bummer.