topic Re: Best (non Chase) Travel Card? in Credit Cards

Best (non Chase) Travel Card?

Dennis885 — Sat, 23 Dec 2023 22:19:08 GMT

I'd like to plan a vacation mid 2024 and figure opening a travel card soon will give me plenty of time to meet and bonus requirements.

My first choice would be Southwest or Chase Saphhire. Even though my scores are all near 800, I did burn Chase in the past with a settled for less account which has since fallen off my report. From what I've read, it's not even worth applying as they'll blacklist me unless I pay the past written off amount, which I'm not interested in doing.

What non Chase travel cards does everyone recommend? A welcome bonus would be nice and I'm ok with a small annual fee.

Re: Best (non Chase) Travel Card?

NoMoreE46 — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 00:35:48 GMT

Are you looking for hotels, airlines or both?

Re: Best (non Chase) Travel Card?

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 00:48:15 GMT

@NoMoreE46 wrote:
Are you looking for hotels, airlines or both?

Yes, as with almost all "best" questions with credit cards, there is no one set answer. @NoMoreE46 question is important. In addition include:

a) Home airport if interested in airlines/any preferred hotel chain (sometimes an airline/hotel specific card might be best)

b) Domestic or international (e.g. foreign transaction fees)

c) What type of travel are you looking for, luxury or standard? This distinguishes between travel cards that are really glorified (or non-glorified) cash-back cards, which works for standard travel, or cards with the ability to transfer to partners, which is pretty necessary if you want to 1st class long-haul international flights for example (where the standard price is too high for cashback to be useful)

Re: Best (non Chase) Travel Card?

Horseshoez — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 02:28:46 GMT

@Dennis885 wrote:
I'd like to plan a vacation mid 2024 and figure opening a travel card soon will give me plenty of time to meet and bonus requirements.

My first choice would be Southwest or Chase Saphhire. Even though my scores are all near 800, I did burn Chase in the past with a settled for less account which has since fallen off my report. From what I've read, it's not even worth applying as they'll blacklist me unless I pay the past written off amount, which I'm not interested in doing.

What non Chase travel cards does everyone recommend? A welcome bonus would be nice and I'm ok with a small annual fee.

Chase seems to have softened their stance on those of us who've been "forever blacklisted"; as I've written about many times here, I burned Chase for north of ten-grand back in my 2015 Chapter 13; a year ago this week they approved me for a Sapphire Preferred with a limit of $11,700 and last summer they approved me for a Freedom Unlimited card with a $23,600 limit.

Give them a try, you might be surprised.

Re: Best (non Chase) Travel Card?

SouthJamaica — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 05:31:20 GMT

@Dennis885 wrote:
I'd like to plan a vacation mid 2024 and figure opening a travel card soon will give me plenty of time to meet and bonus requirements.

My first choice would be Southwest or Chase Saphhire. Even though my scores are all near 800, I did burn Chase in the past with a settled for less account which has since fallen off my report. From what I've read, it's not even worth applying as they'll blacklist me unless I pay the past written off amount, which I'm not interested in doing.

What non Chase travel cards does everyone recommend? A welcome bonus would be nice and I'm ok with a small annual fee.

I like the Citi Premier card.

Re: Best (non Chase) Travel Card?

Dennis885 — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 02:14:53 GMT

Thanks for the replies.

I'm mostly interested in using the cards bonuses/rewards towards airfare as I prefer to rent a house/condo over hotels.

Home airport would be Philadelphia (and vicinity). What I liked about Southwest is they fly out of PHL and include bags.

I'm also interested in Avelo (flies out of Wilmington). They partner with Capital One who would surely approve me, but I do not believe I can use Capital One points towards the baggage fees when booking thru Capital One, which add up fast for 4 people.

If I apply for Chase (or Southwest) will they deny me before doing a hard pull? My main concern is getting a hard pull and having it on my record for no reason, if I have no shot in the first place.

Re: Best (non Chase) Travel Card?

Dennis885 — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 02:15:47 GMT

Forgot to mention, domestic flights.

Re: Best (non Chase) Travel Card?

4sigma — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 23:56:16 GMT

Many card companies will inform you upfront that if you're denied, then no HP. So maybe check Chase/Southwest on that?

Some non-Chase low/no AF ideas (I have these cards):

* BofA/AlaskaAir Visa--3x travel points at $95 AF, don't know if SUB exists; includes annual companion fare ticket for $95 if I recall

* CitiCard/Costco Visa--3x travel points at $0 AF (still need to pay annual Costco membership fee), but no SUB

* Wells Fargo/BILT MC--2x travel points at $0 AF, but no SUB, yet can quickly build points via rent at 1x and no fees; and double pts on all non-rent charges on 1st day of every month

Or maybe AmEx Delta Gold? It has 2x travel at $99 AF and currently offers 40k SUB. I don't have this specific card but a different one from AmEx Delta card that I use routinely for airfare and pts accumulation

Re: Best (non Chase) Travel Card?

xenon3030 — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 19:08:51 GMT

If by chance Chase Southwest/CSP/CSR did not work out, you might consider other cards like Citi Premier or US Bank AR. Both have good SUB with reasonable effective AF.