If you follow miles and points blogs, you will notice that almost on a weekly basis there is someone out there proclaiming the death of the hobby. More often than not, people are referring to all the recent restrictions put in place by banks. How dare they not want to subsidize our flights in Singapore suites, right? I’m being sarcastic, of course. As I’ve said many times, banks are in it to make a profit, period. It’s up to us to find a way to beat them at their own game.
It was only a matter of time till the big guys caught up to the shenanigans in the ever mushrooming miles and points community. There is now the infamous Chase 5/24 rule, not yet infamous Barclays 6/24 rule (or is it some other number?) and so on. In addition, Amex has recently added a bonus qualification tool meant to determine if you are likely to abuse them based on your prior history.
I got an email from one of my readers and here is a quote: “I’ve just about run out of cards that I’m eligible for, and I’m now giving serious consideration to getting under 5/24.”
Putting things in perspective
Let me cut to the chase. If you’ve been around miles and points hobby for a decade or more, your options right now are probably quite limited. This is the spot I find myself in. But am I at a point where I ran out of cards to apply for? Not yet, not even close.
It certainly helps that my husband and I apply for cards in two-player mode, but I think even those who are single can find something as long as they set reasonable goals. If you are able to apply for business cards, many of them (including those issued by Chase) do not go on your personal report. But in this post I want to focus primarily on personal cards.
These are the offers I got this year (so far):
1)Wells Fargo Propel World (in my husband’s name): worth $500, factoring in $100 airline incidentals credit.
2)PNC Traveler Premier card: worth $300 in travel rebates.
3) Amex Premier Rewards Gold (in my husband’s name): 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which to me are worth at least $550.
4) Amex Everyday card (in my husband’s name): 25,000 MR points, worth at least $275.
5) Amex Hilton Honors card: 75,000 Hilton points, worth to me around $230.
6) Wells Fargo Cash Wise card: $200 bonus.
7) Citi Thank You Premier card (X2): worth at least $1,200 when redeeming points towards cash. I actually redeemed them for $1,500 credit towards a cruise, but let’s ignore that. Update: it appears that it’s no longer possible to cash out the points at a penny each. It was definitely possible few months ago, but perhaps it was a fluke.
I used to aim for $400 in value per card, but recently lowered the number to $200, as long as minimum spending requirements are $1,000 or less. I also pay more attention to offers from obscure banks. Beggars can’t be choosers.
As I wrote in this post, if all goes well, I should soon be getting a 50,000 Avios windfall, plus another $300 offer on PNC Traveler credit card. Our credit scores? In “excellent” range.
I value Avios at around 0.8 cents, so the total haul would represent $3,750 in profit, give or take. And it’s not even the end of the year! Note that I’m not using some crazy valuations of 2 cents per point/mile here.
With this kind of profit, who needs Chase?!
Think about it. You can hold out for Southwest cards so you can get the Companion Pass and skip all the other bonuses in the meantime. Or you can go after decent offers and buy your own Southwest tickets with CASH. I know, I know, it’s painful to think about, but by giving up sign-up bonuses right now, you are leaving real money on the table.
Plus, remember, the rules may change by the time you finally qualify for that glorious Chase card. There may be a 5/48 rule in place. Then what? Also, there is no guarantee of approval. And that coveted Companion Pass may not even come to fruition if bonus points are not considered a qualifying activity at that time.
Loading up on NON 5/24 Chase cards while you still can
Update: it appears that all Chase cards are now subject to 5/24 restriction.
This, in my opinion, is a smart strategy. Chase exec went on record recently saying that they eventually plan to apply 5/24 rule to all of their cards. I have no reason to doubt that statement, which is why I recently applied for Chase British Airways Signature Visa. Eventually, I plan to get it in my husband’s name as well, due to my newly hatched Hawaii trip plan.
The reader I quoted earlier has also asked me what the best non-5/24 Chase cards are at the moment. This will depend on the individual, and his/her goals. But in general, I would rate the cards in this order, assuming you are accumulating points speculatively:
1)World of Hyatt card
Why: the bonus of 60k points is extremely strong, at least in my opinion. Considering the fact that Category 1 Hyatt properties cost only 5k points, you can get a ton of value. Some nice Hyatt resorts cost 15k points per night, which means the bonus would cover a 4-night stay.
2) Chase British Airways Visa Signature card
Avios currency is very quirky, but I was able to get a ton of value out of my points over the years. And no, you don’t have to redeem miles on British Airways operated flights.
The best deals for US residents are flights to Hawaii from the West Coast, and certain Caribbean/Central America routes from Miami. I redeemed just 4,500 Avios+$14 on a ticket from Melbourne to Sydney, where the paid fare was $90. BA program doesn’t charge close-in booking fees and lets you pull points with household members.
3) IHG Rewards Premier card
IHG program can be a nightmare to deal with, but 100k points are nothing to sneeze at. I highly recommend it to those who are thinking about visiting French Polynesia in the next few years.
This is the currency you may want to hoard because IHG has resorts on Bora Bora, Moorea and the main island of Tahiti. They are not cheap (run between 50k-70k points per night), but this is a very expensive area of the world.
IHG program is great for road trips in US because unlike Hyatt, you can find their properties literally everywhere. If you redeem points on four consecutive nights, the last one will be free.
You qualify for bonus on all the cards as long as you haven’t received a welcome offer in the last 24 months. You also have to cancel your existing card in order to get approved. One notable exception is IHG Rewards Premier product because having the old version ($49 annual fee) open will not disqualify you.
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p style=”text-align: center;”>Bottom line
There are many reasons to put this hobby on hold, so to speak. Applying for mortgage in the next few years is certainly one of them.
If you feel like switching cards constantly is causing too much stress in your life, then sure, take a break. Come back in a year or two, ready to apply for that coveted Chase offer.
But if you are doing it because you think you will come out ahead somehow, it’s very unlikely. The math simply doesn’t support this theory.
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.
I got PPT booked via NRT with 4 days stop over in Tokyo to take the kids to Disney. Then NRT-PPT on Air Tahiti Nui to connect to IPC for a weeklong stay on Easter Island and back to PPT for like 4-5 days I guess in Moorea. Then I got my sister out with the kids to go from PPT to SCL via IPC on weekly LAN flight which only runs on Tuesdays.They can hang out in Chile for awhile and SCL to NYC is pretty easy with Aadvantage. Now the last part – to get myself out of PPT on Sat and French Bee is certainly an option to consider. Air Tahiti Nui and Hawaiian are tough luck for now on points. Thanks again for a tip!
Whoa! And I thought my trips were complicated. 🙂
That one is pretty easy as all the bookings are AAdvantage one way bookings, no tricks, no Excursionist, no boomerangs, just straight forward. Thanks
Leana, you are not doing Citi AA cards are you? That is probably the most prolific churn in history to chase. Cheers.
@Boris I’ve heard of people buying codes on Reddit to get access to targeted links with no lifetime language. It’s not something I’m interested in pursuing, but if I get a mailer myself, then sure! As far as I know, all current offers have “24 months” language, and I will be eligible in January 2019. At that point, I will absolutely apply.
Hey, no need to buy anything. Just create новый АА Account на имя мамы ( папы) или родственника со своим US адресом, show little or no activity on that AA account and you should start getting them in 3-4 months.Поменяй имя в майлеровском линке(когда получишь) с маминого ( папиного) на своё and it works like a charm. I had been doing 1 new card every 33 days in 2017 and starting in 2018 switched to 1/65, so I am on my # 12 now and my sister is not far behind. Easy match to 75K by sending SM. By the way there is always someone on reddit giving them away for free or selling for $5-10. You are not going to get any under your name since Citi ( AA ) mails them out only to new accounts with little or no activity. I got some extra laying around home, let me know if you need them, I get like 4 mailers every months. Cheers
@Boris First of all, thank you for the offer. Spasibo, comrade! 🙂 Now that is some level of sophistication. Only Citi would allow something like that to continue. Thank goodness for Citi, right?
I don’t really feel comfortable with creating new accounts and changing names on offers, though I’m not passing judgement. I’m hoping to apply for Delta Card next, and by January I should qualify for Citi AA bonus anyway. Somehow, I always get what I need for trips. Well, there was that one flight to Bora Bora that I paid for with cash, but I don’t like to talk about it, LOL
Nothing to be ashamed of, Bora Bora is a tough one. I am struggling to get myself out of PPT next summer even in Y. Good luck with the blog!
@Boris – how does that work? DId you have to out in a different birth date and/or phone number? I tried making a 2nd account and it said it already had one for me.
@Boris Nancy had the same issue with finding Air Tahiti Nui economy availability out of PPT. It’s weird because there was a ton of availability when I booked last year. Alas, past returns don’t guarantee future results when it comes to miles.
You probably already know about it, but there is new service for PPT-SFO route via low-cost carrier French Bee https://us.frenchbee.com/en
Reviews are a bit mixed, but prices can be dirt cheap, as low as $220 one-way, including taxes. Seats are narrow, according to my research, it’s basically Spirit Airlines of the South Pacific. But it’s an option nonetheless.
Thank you very much Leana. I knew about the service but being miles and points person it did not occur to me to check them out and I guess ITA Matrix is not picking them up because revenue fares were about $1,600/one way in Y cheapest I checked for my dates on Air Tahiti Nui. I will check the pricing for the Bee out. Thanks again. Let me know if you change your mind regarding the AA churn
@Boris Will do! And good luck with French Bee, but do read reviews so you know what you are getting into. I would risk it for the way back, maybe not to PPT.
How did you guess? Just saw Doctor of Credit post that chase Sapphire cards will have the 5/48 rule now!! I really didn’t think they’d do it. Glad I haven’t been planning for 5/24. Agree to go for other cards.
@Lynn Haha! I saw that. Total coincidence. Besides, I was referring to being able to get approved in the first place. The new “48 months” rule on Sapphire cards refers to bonus eligibility. Darn it, this hobby is getting more confusing by the minute. One needs a PhD in miles and Points to keep up with all the changes. I’ll try to put a post together in a near future, summarizing the current rules.
@Jennifer Oy, this is a tough one! I guess it depends on when he will be under 5/24 again if he applies for this Capital One offer. I would be tempted to go for it, since $600 is nothing to sneeze at. Sure, 60k UR points are worth more, but not that much more. You are correct, the more inquiries you collect, the less chance you have with Capital One. Chase will still be there, I’m sure. It’s up to you.
@Tammie Yeah, we definitely try to mention that Capital One is pretty tough on approvals. Nancy has recently written about it in her post on Savor card https://milesforfamily.com/2018/08/17/500-cash-bonus-revamped-capital-one-savor-card/ I always try to mention it as well.
Doctor of Credit blog is actually pretty good about covering various bank quirks, can’t comment on others. To be honest, I usually skip the posts on sign-up bonuses because I either already saw the info, or a bank rep has emailed me about it. Most Capital One cards do pay us commission, but the bonuses are worth it regardless. Getting approved is another story, but as I often say, you won’t know unless you try. I’ve known people who get tons of new cards each year, yet they still managed to get approved. And yes, targeted offers seem to bypass restrictions, so I may give it a shot next time I get a letter form Capital One.
Our mission it to always put reader first, regardless of commission. Whether we are succeeding is up to folks to decide.
Thanks for your comment!
I completely agree. Just last week I received an offer in the mail for a Capital One Venture card where the sign-up bonus is $600 in travel expenses after spending $3k in 3 months! Yes, please! I’ve been doing this game for about 11 years and never had a Cap One card before. I will be shortly though…
Scott, that’s a great offer! Capital One hates us, so I stopped trying. I too get those targeted offers in the mail, but the result is the same. I may try again at some point, but I hate to get three inquiries and nothing to show for them.
Hey do you know why so few bloggers talk about CapitalOne’s restrictive approval standards? Is it just not as lucrative for them or something? Even Doctor of Credit is usually on top of stuff like this, but I couldn’t find hardly any online discussions about it (I have since noticed this does not apply to your blog)…even when a website was promoting the card…so I thought I might be alright in my case…
I just got denied for their Venture Rewards card. Reason cited: too many new accounts in 24 months. I’m at 4/24, high credit score, only one other CapitalOne card opened over 3 years ago, high income. I thought I would easily get approved. When I called in (NOTE: there is NO reconsideration line to call only regular customer service! UGH), nobody (I talked with a rep and a supervisor) could tell me what the rule was as to how many were “too” many new cards. They couldn’t tell me anything other than what was stated in my rejection letter. I thought it was weird that they kept telling me to contact TransUnion about the exact reason for my denial since obviously the credit bureaus don’t make those decisions for CapitalOne. I ended up canceling my other capitalone card (I was planning on it anyway).
Also since being denied, I have googled the denial language and it looks like I am definitely NOT the only one who has been denied for this exact same reason and others have had the same experience when calling CapitalOne for clarification or reconsideration.
Interesting data point however…my husband was in the same boat as I (# new cards, etc) and he had a pre-approval letter for this card (60K bonus with 3k spend) and he was approved instantly online so maybe that’s the best way to go with CapitalOne unless you never open any cards ever (which was where I was 3 years ago when I was approved before)!
Sorry for the long comment, but I wanted to get my experience out in internet land so others could be more aware! 🙂
My husband got the 60,000 Capital One offer in the mail last week. We could sure use that for our Europe trip to cover our AirBnb, airport parking, train fares, etc. I guess I was thinking if he got the offer in the mail, he’d have a good shot at approval. But now these experiences are making me doubt it. He’s almost under 5/24, so we were kind of thinking he could get a Chase card and then apply for the Capital One card. I guess there’s a good possibility though of him getting denied the Capital One if he gets a Chase card first. Decisions, decisions….
I know that logic tells me I shouldn’t worry about 5/24 because of all of the other lucrative opportunities I miss, but I want the Chase cards! We’re so close.
I got this mailer too. Debating whether to burn a 5/24 slot for it.
@Learning ‘n Churning For $600 I certainly would!