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Earlier this month, my husband and I each applied for a new credit card. We have some big expenses coming up that we will need to pay soon, and we’ve already saved up the cash.
The expenses we have coming up include:
- New car downpayment (most dealers let you put a few thousand on a credit card with no fees)
- All-inclusive resort weekend
- Cruise vacation in early 2022
Whenever I have a big expense, I try to open a credit card that will give us bonus miles and points for free travel. The big sign-up bonuses are really the easiest way to accumulate a large amount of miles and points at one time.
I applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card with a 100k bonus points (see this post).. My husband applied for the Chase United Quest Card with 80k-100k bonus miles (see this post). Update: Public offer has expired. See the latest best credit card deals here.
Wishing, and Hoping, and Thinking and Praying
Unfortunately, neither of our applications were instantly approved. They both went into pending status.
For newbies, this can be disconcerting news. Most normal people would give up and move on. But not us miles and points hobbyists! We persevere.
My husband and I are both under 5/24, so that wasn’t a factor. I decided to wait it out for a few days and see what happens.
I checked my online Chase account a few days later and saw that my new credit card was now listed under my accounts. Approved!
My husband received an electronic notice that he was denied. The reason was that Chase already gave him the maximum amount of credit limit for his income (he has a few other Chase cards already).
I was just going to let it go and try for a different credit card from another bank at a later date. But still, I persevered. I asked my husband to call the Chase reconsideration line.
He spoke with a banker who asked him some questions. He asked if my husband would mind lowering the credit limit on another card to make room for this new card. He agreed. I thought he was going to get approved over the phone, but he still wasn’t.
About a week later, his new credit card showed up in his online account. Finally, approved!
Our Plans for the Miles and Points
We have big plans for these United miles and Chase Ultimate Rewards points. In 2022, we plan to travel to France and Switzerland. These points will help us get free flights so that we can reduce the expense of this ambitious trip.
There’s also a chance we will travel to Russia in 2023. Those flights won’t be cheap either, so any points we don’t spend for 2022 will go towards a 2023 trip.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW VARIOUS CREDIT CARDS AND AVAILABLE SIGN-UP BONUSES
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Are you saying the cruise will be part of your spend, or a use for the bonus points? If spend, do you worry you might need to later cancel for some reason? Would they try a claw-back if you cancelled either trip and got a refund.
@Carl WV The cruise will be part of the spend, the second half of the spend required to get the bigger bonus of an extra 20k points on the United Quest Card. We don’t have to pay for this cruise until the late fall, so I’m hoping that cruising will be more steady by then and we don’t have to cancel. Not sure they would claw-back immediately if we had to cancel…but I’ve never been in that position.
Congratulations on both approvals! That is awesome!!! I want to apply for the sapphire preferred for obvious reasons but we need to wait another month or two before we are over 48 months since receiving the card bonus. I sure hope this bonus is still around by then!
Btw is there a way to check on the exact date you earned the chase bonus? The 48 month rule wasn’t a thing back then so I didn’t make a note of it. I only know when I applied for the card. Thanks!
@Tammie Hopefully these offers will stick around for awhile so you can get in on the higher bonus. I suggest calling Chase and asking about the date of your last bonus. Good luck! 🙂