Do you chase travel credit card signup bonuses?

[CaliKid]

I do not play it like a strategic game where I try to maximize the new cards, figure out which cards have the best deals for which purchases, etc.... Instead I haphazardly apply for new cards from time to time. With a high income and 800 score it's pretty easy so I get new cards when I want, cancel old ones, etc.... I typically do it when I see a come on deal or when I can stack deals together like getting the Chase Southwest personal and business card about January 1 and qualifying for a companion pass by March so have it for over 20 months. That's a good financial deal!

 

[Niuatoputapu]

We occasionally take advantage of opportunities. I just booked a United flight for my wife and United offered $250 off the fare and 50,000 miles if she applied for a card. So we did. Earlier in the month, I obtained a Southwest Visa for the bonus. Got a Barclay's Hawaiian Airline card two years ago for the bonus and will cancel it before the next fee. It was easy in the past to book vacation plans on the new cards to ensure we spent enough to earn the bonus. Now, Costco Travel offers 5% back if you book Costco travel on the Costco Visa and that's hard to beat. 5% cash is better than any mileage offers outside of the sign-up bonus. Will probably continue to grab the occasional bonus and cancel the card before annual fee time.

 

[googily]

Just last week I went for the Chase Sapphire Reserve and also the AmEx Hilton Surpass (130k Hilton points after spending $4k in four months, plus Gold status).

I'm in the process of getting my front yard redone, so I should be able to hit the bonus requirements without too much trouble. I also got the Cap One Savor card.

And now I will stop for a while. But some of this was also to get a new travel card to let Citi know I am not happy with the upcoming gutting of their card benefits.

One thing on the Reserve is that the annual fee is $450, but you get the first $300 spent on travel credited back to you. And I'm up for renewing PreChek this year, which the Reserve will also credit. That brings the fee down to $50 before I even do anything.

 

[sengsational]

No. I have better things to do with my life.

Exactly. That is, my sentiment was exactly like this, until this year when the "chase" became a game for me.


So far I've got four cards with signup bonus levels reaching $600 + $675 + $800 + $250. I had to pay $95 up-front annual fee on one. There are still more benefits, like free checked-bags and stuff like that. But DW and I both got free Global Entry fee paid...so a few hours fiddling with tracking spending on the cards can really pay off. And all of the spending would have happened anyway (booking a trip for this fall). It's weird though, going to book something that you can just pay when you get there, and I'm asking, oh, but "can I please pay early?" Your cancellation fees are unchanged, but you can use the spend to hit your 90 day spend. Kind of a game. It will probably run out of steam as the various companies refuse to honor the bonus if you've already cashed in on an earlier bonus, but fun while it lasted.

 

[Chuckanut]

Gal and I have been doing 2-3 matching cards/year for the last few years. We had a dual head mini-split installed for about $5500 and paid for it with matching Southwest cards that gave us about $1200 in Amazon gift cards. Matching Navy credit cards will give us about $1000 for expenditures we would have made on the rentals anyway. We used the heck out of several Chase Sapphire card iterations. I only get cards that are worth $500 or better in bonus and find doing 4-6 extra cards in Quicken is pretty easy if I have a few lumpy expenses. Normally stop using the card after the bonus spend is met and cancel before any annual fee hits.

Do you ever cancel any of these cards? What are the criteria?

 

[SecondCor521]

It will probably run out of steam as the various companies refuse to honor the bonus if you've already cashed in on an earlier bonus, but fun while it lasted.

That's what I used to think. I've been doing this for over 12 years and this year was one of the better ones. So you might be surprised at the durability.

 

[calmloki]

Do you ever cancel any of these cards? What are the criteria?

I keep my oldest no annual fee card and a few others that are fee free and have good and painless benefits: Fidelity 2% back on all, Costco executive Citi, a few others like two US Bank Merrill cards that give us free museum entrance first weekend of every month. Try and keep free cards that gave me higher limits because that makes my balance to total credit very low; like 2%, which is good for my credit rating. The gal is enamored of her Chase Sapphire Reserve and we do have it loaded up with points - we can move points from other Chase cards into the CSR wallet and make, for instance, the Freedom point/dollar worth about 1.5 points. I dropped my CSR because it didn't make me feel special to carry a metal card.

Normally early in the year I go through and cancel cards whose bonus has been earned and paid. Seems to drop my score 5-10 points/card dropped, but it comes back up in a few months. Quicken says we have 16 cards between us, figure I'll dump maybe 7 in early 2020

 

[Carpediem]

OP here with an update - applied for and was approved for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card yesterday giving us 60,000 bonus points after we meet the $4k spend in 3 months, which won't be a problem. Thank you all for the replies.

 

[W2R]

No. I have better things to do with my life.

+1

Also, I happen to despise the entire concept of credit, credit cards, bill collectors, and that entire industry. I know, I know; the population of the US is 327,200,000; of those there are 327,199,999 who love credit cards, and then there's me. I think it's inborn. For many years I refused to have any personal credit cards at all.

I'm working on broadening my outlook, though. A few years ago I got an Amazon Prime Visa. I hardly use it except at Amazon, and I pay it in full automatically every month. I love the rewards but still I am not tempted to get another credit card ever.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I actually don't have anything better to do with my time so I really enjoy credit card hacks and all the other little extra money making ideas I find on Reddit and Slickdeals like gift cards for ink recycling, bank bonuses and cash back portals.

I once made several thousand dollars on a Black Friday afternoon opening various accounts for us and helping our adult kids do the same for the sign up bonus money.

 

[googily]

And now I will stop for a while.

Yeah, well, I ended up adding the Chase checking and savings accounts for a $600 bonus, then upgraded my Amex Blue Everyday to the Preferred.

NOW I'm done. [emoji2]

 

[YoungSaver]

Yes, there are whole websites dedicated to this and manufactured spending. I rarely pay money for international flights anymore.

 

[sengsational]

Yes, there are whole websites dedicated to this and manufactured spending. I rarely pay money for international flights anymore.

I found out about doctorofcredit on this board, and participated inan interchange about manufactured spend, but didn't know where to look for details on that.

I've always just applied the bonus points to reduce the CC balance, but getting "free" air travel sounds great. I just did my first ever balance transfer...feels weird to purposefully pay the minimum payment on the zero APR card, but 15 months 0 APR on the Amex every day card.

 

[Bigdawg]

I've always just applied the bonus points to reduce the CC balance, but getting "free" air travel sounds great. I just did my first ever balance transfer...feels weird to purposefully pay the minimum payment on the zero APR card, but 15 months 0 APR on the Amex every day card.

I do this^

I get a zero % card for however much they will give me. Currently Cap One @30K for 15 months. I then spend the 30K over 14.5 months. When I spend 1K I also then put 1K into my money market paying 2.3%. Whatever my card balance reflects my MM reflects at least that amount, usually much more. Then, two weeks before the end of the promotion period I pay the card off in full. Obviously I make the minimum payments each month. I am about to start this process again. This time with a Southwest card for 12 months.