@Anonymous wrote:
Do you get the $300 travel credit upon approval or do you have to wait a year?
Also I do a lot of travel for business and I get reimbursed from my job. I spend anywhere between $2500-$3500 a month in travel with my job. If I were to book a travel expense for work would the credit deduct from that expense automatically? I ask because I have to submit my statement with the receipts and GL codes. Anyone deal with this before?
I didn’t get the card yet but I am going to apply in November. My Ex is 711 and income $80k. I have 3 baddies - 1 from 2012, 1 from October 2016 and 1 from August 2016. Util is anywhere between 2% and 5%. My only chase card is the FU which I got on September 25th of this year. I have 5 HPs (2 auto, 2 loan shopping, and 1 credit card. I have SL debt but always pay on time. I pay my Chase card weekly. My score should go up next posting as I got one card down from 67% to 20% so that should help.
Op, wasCB14 hit the nail on the head with that explanation, that's exactly how the CSR handles the travel credit. It's pretty fast to be applied (Believe within 2-3 days on mine following a flight purchase) and is done without your interference. If you're not submitting receipts for travel and business expenses, but rather they want to see the credit card statement, then without a doubt the credit's as listed will be very easy to see.
I think you have a good opportunity for approval for the card, and you already have a current relationship with Chase. As you stated, waiting until November helps be sure your current card received in late Sept. ages a good month so you aren't applying too hard / too fast. It's a great card and well worth acquiring based on your stated use.
You didn't mention if you're usually flying one airline or staying in one hotel, but if you're spending $30-35k a year on work-reimbursed travel and can't add in personal expenses on the statements, I'd certainly consider either the American Express Platinum (personal or business), an airline card, or a hotel card. For the Amex cards, you'd earn 5x MRs through Amex Travel for flights and hotels - with the personal you'd also get 5x on airfare booked directly with airlines. (With business you also get 35% of your points back when you pay for airfare with MRs, but that could create an issue as you stated that they don't want you to make any non-business purchases.) For that kind of spend, putting your spend on something like a Freedom Unlimited wouldn't be very beneficial to you but the thousands of dollars in points you could use for free leisure travel each year would easily offset the AF, and it could also make your business travel a little more comfortable.
I would definitely second the recommendation for the Amex Plat. I think the CSR is better for personal use though, so if you could were to get both, you could use that for yourself and the plat for business travel (more comprehensive coverage).
[2/2019]
Sorry to hijack the CSR thread with more Amex talk, but a really good strategy might be to get both the personal and business Amex Platinum cards. Charge your business expenses to the personal version for 5x booked directly with the airlines, then redeem them with the business version to get 35% of your points back. Amex doesn't care what charges you're making on each card.
Does OP have a specific airline that you usually fly with? That could make a difference too.