The monthly chart a the bottom of the image below doesn’t have all the earned Chase points yet from the last few months, but should be good enough.
Even taking a slight breather mid-year in 2023 while I waited to begin my DW’s Southwest Companion pass journey in the Fall, and my only sign-up bonus card since last October being the sorta OK 2nd Amex Blue Business Plus card, we still racked up a bunch of points. (I’ll be hitting the SUB on that 2nd BBPlus pretty soon for a cool 50K Amex MR.)
Also, you might notice that my current points values are pretty darn close to the total Bonus value even after taking multiple trips last year!
Using the Amex Gold for groceries and dining (4x points) and the Chase Ink Cash for many other things (5x by using gift cards bought at Staples) really keeps the points flowing in.
So, if you need inspiration: It is almost 2 years in to my decision to hit the points game hard. I’ve found that it doesn’t really take too much work once you get a system down to keep the ball rolling. And, an added bonus from up the thread: even playing this game I have hit Perfect FICO Score Nirvana™.
For the record: I am still counting the points in my totals for 3 placeholder trips I have booked in May, July & Sept (a wedding in NC!) since they are all cancel-able. Also, I am counting the 3 remaining Marriott free night certificates at their 50K face value even though they could be used for less than that. (The Dolphin booking I have made with them all were 48-49K.)
Reporting here to say that I tested something on my Sapphire Preferred this week. I’m pretty sure I did this last year too. You can get an annual $50 hotel credit when you book with cash through their travel portal. I booked a room in early March and didn’t see the credit. I realized that it didn’t start until April 1, for me.
I booked another room. Saw the credit hit. Cancelled that room and kept my March booking. I am about 90% certain that they don’t talk to each other and the credit will stay on the account even without the booking.
Posted this over in the referrals thread, so pardon me for duplication but seems worthy of adding here too for those not following that one.
Heads up to any who might be thinking of getting one or is reaching their 24 month window since earning the last sign up bonus (SUB).
Increased bonus offer for both Disney Visa cards!
Playing the 2 Player game with referrals, that’s $1,000 in Disney Rewards and statement credits.
Nice if you have a trip in your future and not playing the bigger points game.
For anyone who has their referral links in the spreadsheet, might be worth checking if yours needs to be updated there to see this new bonus.
(I received my latest link via email, but you can use the Chase Catch-All site to generate a new one too.)
Question - my last SUB for the Disney Premier Visa is dated on my 4/1/22 statement as being awarded 3/30/22. The payment for this statement was due 4/26/22. Am I currently good to cancel and reapply to get the new bonus, or should I wait until like May 1? Do we think the boosted bonus will be around that long?
Somewhat related other question - I was going to hit the credit card application/points game hard this year after starting to a little bit last year (and successfully getting my companion pass in Feb!). But in the last few months I’ve been debating whether I might want to buy a house in the next year-ish. So I haven’t actually done any new credit cards cause I immediately got paranoid about mortgage applications, etc. How far in advance do I need to be application free, and is there a number of cards or amount of available credit that’s too much?
Based on those dates, you should be good to go! I usually waited a little extra to be sure some weird Chase date math didn’t trip me up.
But I also, probably stupidly had a few where I closed the card and applied within a day, so I guess I was a bit inconsistent.
These days, I’d probably feel better myself waiting until May 1st. I’d be super surprised if the elevated offer didn’t last a few months, they just sent out the email to DW and I today. I looked in the email terms fine print for any reference of an end date and did not see anything.
I can’t speak to the number of cards open when it comes to a mortgage check, but I think it is likely more about credit utilization than number of cards.
I think a rule of thumb for newly opened cards is probably don’t open any within 90 days before application check so you’d have some time for any FICO dips to iron out and pop back up. Also 90 days after from what I read. I suppose a high number of inquiries in the last year might lead the mortgage broker to ask you some questions, but I don’t suspect you have enough for that.
In any case, I think the worst case scenario is they ask what the purpose of the card was for. Simple answer will remedy that - “business expenses, trying to keep track of them separately” or “travel expenses, needed a card with good benefits” seem logical answers to me.
Tomorrow I should be banking enough points to my SW Rapid Rewards account to be eligible for a companion pass. That’s what the Chase app says anyway, lol. So a few questions:
Will I automatically get the companion pass status once the proper # of points are added to my RR acct?
How will I actually book the companion pass flight?
Do I have to book my flight and the companion pass flight ticket at the same time?
If I use one of my upgrades that come with my SW business card is it upgrade to business anytime and does my companion pass ticket automatically upgrade or do I need to use an upgrade on that ticket as well?
And this is the least important, but curious, does my companion pass earn any RR points for the flight?
TIA
Yes. It can take a few days to populate, but it’ll do it automatically
You’ll have to set up/designate your companion first on your account. After you book your flight, go in to see the details of it and there will be an “add companion” option
Meaning make the flight selections at the same time, or be on the same flight? The latter yes, the former no. You can add a companion at any point, but I believe if the flight is sold out you can’t add one so there is that risk if you wait too long
Do you mean the upgraded boarding? That isn’t to business select, it’s to group A1-A15. And no, it doesn’t upgrade your companion pass ticket. I wouldn’t bother though and would just save the seat.
There’s an active Southwest code SAVE25NOW out there for 25% off points bookings from today through September 30th.
Some blackout dates listed - see quote below.
But, some weirdness: I tried the code for a travel date of 7/26 and the system threw an error as if it were a blackout date so YMMV.
Book a Southwest® flight on Southwest.com or swabiz.com using your Rapid Rewards® points from April 12 through April 15, 2024 (the “Booking Period”) and receive 25 percent off when you fly between April 12-September 30, 2024 with travel blacked out May 23, May 24, May 27, July 7, July 14, July 21, and July 28, 2024
They added a couple to my account last year and my DW’s this year (I had already closed my cards.) Good for 20% off for bookings made within 14 days of travel. (You can book multiple people at once and the single code applies the discount to all on the trip.
I never found a use for them since I always booked well in advance of trips etc, so my expired ones are still showing on my account:
Great tip! But no SW card. We tend to only fly them once, sometimes twice, a year so I haven’t put in the effort for a CP. I’ve concentrated on putting spend into my transferable currencies instead for two big international trips. Of course, the past two years our travel group has chosen to use SW on our annual domestic trip. If this becomes a trend I may have to go for it.
This is what I have noticed with flights (at least with Delta)…the advice of waiting to book because it will be cheaper as you get closer to the date hasn’t been true. I just keep seeing ticket prices rise.
For our flights in September, I booked them several months ago. Now, we are less than 5 months out, and prices are quite a bit higher. Glad we didn’t wait to book.
We booked our flights for next January just last week, and already the price of the flights has gone up, so glad we went ahead. Ironically, there are almost NO seats sold…so they are raising prices, I am guessing, due to rising costs.
One of the points / travel podcasts last year talked about how the airlines figured out a few years ago that when they discounted flights right before travel date, they lost money on the transaction.
But, if they increased them they made more money on fewer seats since the business travelers tend to pay on the company account, have to travel, and in general don’t care how much it costs.
had a few where I closed the card and applied within a day, so I guess I was a bit inconsistent.
Thank you!