Few weeks ago, my husband’s uncle (the one who is barely older than us) contacted me for some credit card advice. He is now into this hobby big time. For realz.
In fact, the other day, his poor wife complained to me that I have created a monster who is constantly getting new credit cards. I told her she should talk to my husband so they can commiserate with each other.
I absolutely forbade this guy to even look into manufactured spending. Well, “strongly suggested” is the correct term. He has a full-time job, a side business, an elderly mother, 4 kids and all kinds of other stuff going on. Oh, and a wife who happens to be my friend…for now. No no no!
Yo, Cheapblackdad!
Anyway, he emailed me and asked about some options. My suggestion was to sign up for Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards (personal and business) credit cards. They love to travel and could definitely put the points to good use. Plus, one family member would be flying free, what’s not to like?
Right now, the affiliate offer on both is down to 25K points, but there are working links in Flyertalk thread. See my Best credit card deals for family for more details on this offer as well as link to a post on Companion pass.
He already got Chase Sapphire Preferred earlier in the year, otherwise, that would be my top pick. For a limited time, the offer on CSP is increased to 55K points. It’s a tremendous deal, but only if you can get approved. See the linked page for more info on that card as well as restrictions.
So, after my suggestion, he went ahead and applied for both Southwest products. Business version was approved, but personal app went into pending status. He asked me if he should call reconsideration and my advice was to just wait it out. As impatient as I am, I don’t like to rock the boat. My credit history is, how shall I put it…very colorful. Well, after two weeks I got an email from him:
“Leana,
Well, what do you know… I waited for two weeks, and finally got impatient. So I printed out my credit reports and got together the other pertinent info and had in mind my reasons for wanting the card (other than the 50,000 point sign-up bonus, of course), and called the manned application status line. I was ready to call the reconsideration line when they confirmed that the app was denied. And what do they tell me?
They have no record of an application for the personal card! I told them that I received an email, and they checked again, and no app. So, after I hung up, I went online with my phone (I was out at the time) and after filling out the online app, I was instantly approved! Wow! So, we’re that much closer to the Companion Pass! Thanks for your insight and encouragement.”
I honestly don’t know what happened here. Perhaps, Chase thought it was a duplicate application. But the lesson here is this: Don’t assume your application was denied if you don’t hear anything back from credit card company. It’s completely possible that it was somehow lost in the system. Follow up with a call, and you just might end up with a Companion pass.
Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Click here to view various credit cards and available sign-up bonuses
Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
[…] back I wrote about my husband’s uncle applying for two Southwest cards in order to get a Companion Pass. Everything was set and on track. Well, just last week he called me with the bad news. Apparently, […]