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@imaximous wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:Looking at my daughter getting this. Issue is that she isn't currently a US Bank customer. The print says you need to have an open account at least 5 business days before applying, so that wouldn't be difficult, but as checking isn't available in her area, she would have to get a card.
She just got the Paypal card, but that's her only new account in the last 12 months. But, if she gets a throwaway US Bank credit card, and then applies for the Altitude Reserve, is that going to be too many inqs? Alternatively, would making her an AU on one of my US Bank cards make her enough of a customer for the Altitude? (Guessing not, but...!)
How much time does she have to get the AR till her upcoming trip? If it's a few months away, then it shouldn't be a problem.
If it happens its two or three months, but the issue is she will been going from a very well paid tech worker to an almost unpaid grad student in another country, so obviously she would want to apply while still employed here! I didn't suggest the cash plus because of the FTF, so was thinking of one of the no AF cards as the "make me a customer" card.
Are the travel rewards unrestricted? I seem to remember some system where flights had to start (or end or both?) in the US
@longtimelurker wrote:
Are the travel rewards unrestricted? I seem to remember some system where flights had to start (or end or both?) in the US
I could be mistaken, but I think the restrictions you're thinking of may have been what triggers the airline credit on Bank of America Premium Rewards? As long as the charge codes as a travel category, it should be fine. My annual credit was used for paid Delta F upgrades, and I've used RTR for Delta flights booked directly with Delta, and the credit appeared immediately even though the charges took a few days to settle so I actually had a negative account balance for a few days. I thought I had a KLM example to report for you, but now that I look, that was actually Amex.
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
Are the travel rewards unrestricted? I seem to remember some system where flights had to start (or end or both?) in the USI could be mistaken, but I think the restrictions you're thinking of may have been what triggers the airline credit on Bank of America Premium Rewards? As long as the charge codes as a travel category, it should be fine. My annual credit was used for paid Delta F upgrades, and I've used RTR for Delta flights booked directly with Delta, and the credit appeared immediately even though the charges took a few days to settle so I actually had a negative account balance for a few days. I thought I had a KLM example to report for you, but now that I look, that was actually Amex.
Sorry, I meant travel redemptions. I assume the booking system is pretty standard but wanted to check!
@longtimelurker wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
Are the travel rewards unrestricted? I seem to remember some system where flights had to start (or end or both?) in the USI could be mistaken, but I think the restrictions you're thinking of may have been what triggers the airline credit on Bank of America Premium Rewards? As long as the charge codes as a travel category, it should be fine. My annual credit was used for paid Delta F upgrades, and I've used RTR for Delta flights booked directly with Delta, and the credit appeared immediately even though the charges took a few days to settle so I actually had a negative account balance for a few days. I thought I had a KLM example to report for you, but now that I look, that was actually Amex.
Sorry, I meant travel redemptions. I assume the booking system is pretty standard but wanted to check!
For redemptions using the USB travel portal, you can use the points for anything there. For Real-Time Rewards (RTR), there are some rules. The more restrictive ones are $500 minimum for hotels and $250 for car rentals. More importantly, for RTR to trigger, the purchase must be at a US merchant. For instance, if you have a hotel stay in a foreign country that meets the $500 minimum, you won't get the text message.
There's also no partial redemptions for RTR. You have to have enough points to cover the entire purchase or RTR won't trigger.
On the portal, you can use partial points if you don't have enough.
But, I'd still try to stay away from booking on the portal and redeem using RTR.
I can't say for sure on RTR, but at least in the travel portal international itineraries are widely available. (Also that's a nice round-trip price for J from Hong Kong to Dhaka via Kuala Lumpur!)
I don't think the number of inquiries is going to be a problem. I was approved for the Altitude Reserve last year with 3 new accounts in 6 months. I applied at my branch and was sent for a manual review (which seems to be normal business practice for this card). She contacted me later in the day with the approval for $5k. I called UW the next day and requested an increase to $10k and was approved within minutes.
At the time I had been a banking customer for over 18 years.