I agree with @Mrandmrsthomas0618 's take & questions - if you are looking to play the larger game, the Disney Visa is not anywhere near the top of the list for cards to get.
Even if it were - the benefits of it are just basic OK: special photo Op in EP, 10% discounts for food/merch etc. But, you can get similar discounts buying discounted gift cards etc if you work it, so not a great advantage. But, I do keep my free Disney Visa cards open.
If you are not planning to play the points game, then doesn’t hurt to go for a Disney Visa bonus.
If so, try to use a referral from spouse/partner/family/friend (or a Liner if you don’t otherwise have a referral link to use. We have a spreadsheet and forum thread.)
The quick version of the best way to play that card is 2-player mode with spouse/friend:
P1 person gets a Disney Visa and spends to earn Bonus.
P2 uses P1’s referral link to get their own card: Earns Referral for P1 and Bonus.
Usually the best play with a new card is to get the Premier card, which has a higher bonus and earns double points - even though it has an annual fee, the earnings outweigh it in year 1. Then, when the annual fee hits in year 2 you ask Chase to downgrade it to the no annual fee card and just hold it for the perks. (They’ll refund the annual fee.)
You can churn that tactic every 24 months from earning the bonus (not opening the card.) But again: if playing the larger points game, those cards and bonuses are not worth it vs many other opportunities.
If playing the larger points game you usually want to shoot for transferable points first (Chase UR, Amex MR, etc) which offer the most value. But, I’ve jumped ship on that a few times when going for SW points and Companion Pass, as well as hitting Hilton (amazing Conrad Orlando stay), and Marriott bonuses to get a points & certificates stay at Swan (great location!)
So I’m thinking of closing my Ink business card, in case I want to re-apply in a few years for a new SUB. I don’t use the card for purchases. Is that a good reason to close the account?
First, though, I need to redeem my points on that card. It seems like I can’t transfer the points to a Chase personal account (like Freedom or Sapphire Preferred). And it also seems like I can’t transfer the points to my United Mileage Plus account. Is that right?
If I can’t transfer, I’ll probably just take the cash.
Totally fine to close that card, no issues I can think of.
I don’t recall if I mentioned this back in thread already, but recently Chase changed the referral rules for biz cards: they will only give the referral for new biz card customers. So, I’ve been thinking of closing my DW’s Ink Unlimited so she has zero Inks, then I can send her a referral in a few months when we’re ready to go for a new one.
So, probably good to just be aware that might be a tactic to keep referrals coming in.
Sorry to be clueless here, but I am way behind on this thread. Has there been any discussion of an increase in the Southwest RR Credit Card annual fee? I just opened my mail, and I got a notice that Chase is increasing my annual fee from $149 to $229!
If there is a conversation about this, can you point me to it?
I am also very confused about which card benefits are going away as of 12/31/25? When I sign into my Chase account to look at the card benefits, both the Upgraded Boarding benefit and the Annual Travel Credit say “Through 12/31/25”? I usually rely on the upgraded boardings and travel credit to cover my annual fees.
I have not booked under the new system/rules yet, and need to start thinking about booking flights for our next trip, so I am a little nervous about what I should and should not do, given that I have the SW card.
I think I may have mentioned the increases at some point, but didn’t go into much analysis.
Frequent Miler did I think when it was first announced.
When it comes to changes, anything listed on the card site as ending in Dec 2025 will still be available until then, but yep, a lot of the valuable perks were axed. I’m trying to use my $75 Priority credit right now.
I’d say the value of the cards now shifts to the free bags and various seat selection with the cards, along with the still meh annual points. I chose the Priority this year because I figure being able to choose Preferred at booking is the best bet since we’re typically LI to Miami or Orlando, which run at 100% most of the time. I can’t see there being many of those seats left 48 hours out, which is when the cheaper cards allow selection.
Thanks @JJT . So, if I understand correctly, the $75 annual flight credit is going away as well as the 4 upgraded boardings?
So, the new value to us, like you said, would be preferred seat selection at booking as well as the free checked bags.
I am one of those people who rebook constantly as I see prices drop. I am guessing that each time I would rebook now, I would have to re-select new preferred seats, and the selection will be meh? Am I correct on this? Also, expiring travel credits… But I did see your post re: a potential hack for this earlier in the thread.
Booking with points is really going to be the preferred method unless you are buying Choice Preferred with 100% refundability to avoid expiring travel credits.
I haven’t gone back to that FB thread to see if the positive data points on the travel credit hack continued to come in, I need to go and find that again!
I’m also wondering how quickly Preferred seats drop back into inventory when you cancel - I’m wondering if I wanted to rebook at a lower price if I could do a quick cancel, rebook, grab same seats. One of these days I’ll have to try it out with some test points bookings.
FWIW: Going back into the 10xTravel FB group I cannot find that post again.
I know the date it was posted and I know I hit Like on it - but it isn’t showing up in their feed or my FB activity log. Don’t know if that means this post was deleted or is just a stoopid Facebook issue. (Worst search algorithm ever.)
My husband told me this morning he will have $5K/month reimbursable business spend during 2026. The payment method cannot be changed once it is set in early January. $60K is a heck of a lot of cc earnings
His current cards: Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Freedom, World of Hyatt (kept for FNC), Southwest something or another that will be canceled; Amex Gold, Amex Business Gold, Hilton Surpass; Capital One Venture X
He does not want to apply for Chase business cards because of past poor customer service.
We use our points/miles for business class flights (transcon and international), for economy flights, and for hotel stays (Hyatt via Chase UR and Hilton).
I had planned on us both getting Hilton Aspires soon (and then doing the charge $15K on Surpass–upgrade that to Aspire so we’d have 4 Aspire FNC at a time–downgrade to Surpass–repeat dance).
Should he put the business charges on the current Surpass? Or is there a better option for either a new card or an existing card?
My first thought was your Surpass & Aspire plan. And don’t forget that after you spend the $15k on the Surpass, you can keep going, upgrade it to Aspire right before $30k and get that $30k FNC on the upgraded Aspire.
So I didn’t realize the situation with the Ink cards and that two do them with no annual fee are offering 90k bonuses right now. My understanding is that there is no negative impact on your 5/24, no restrictions on frequency of SUBs and when paired with a Sapphire or Ink Preferred, they become great little additions. Am I missing anything or should I be applying for them yesterday?
If you don’t have any Inks you definitely should be adding them to your plans.
They don’t enforce the 24 month rules on those cards and for a few years there people were grabbing multiple of each card - although I did not do that at all. I’ve gotten one of each so far (and avoid the one Ink that is all cash back and not transferable points.)
Over the last year or so reports are Chase is tightening its belt with biz cards, so people are saying it is getting harder to hold more than 3 of them. Right now I only have the Ink Cash and Unlimited and I’m still waiting to hear back about my Southwest Biz card application - and I have a feeling I’m going to get a thumbs down and will have to recon since it is taking awhile.
Anyway, the Unlimited is a good consistent 1.5x card, but the Cash is great if you buy Visa or MC gift cards at Staples/Office Max when no fees for 5x. Then you can use those GCs to pay your usual bills, Costco, etc that don’t normally earn increased bonus.
Note they did change the referral rules for biz cards now: As of a month or three ago, they only give referrals for “new” customers so a little planning will be useful later when you already have Ink cards.
So, for example if you are playing the 2 player game with a spouse and they already have an Ink: no referral bonus for you.
My DW only has an Unlim right now, so I think next round I’m going to have her close it and then wait awhile for her to use my referral.
As I understand it the limitation only refers to business cards that earn Ultimate Rewards - and not cobranded cards so you should be in the clear as new business customers for that first Inks.
But I did see your post re: a potential hack for this earlier in the thread.
