Nobody, I've already used up my referrals for the year on CSP. It's just a frequent ethical question I consider
Gotchya. If you're helping someone get started in the CC game, i think a referral bonus is deserved. If they already know what they're doing, then i think it's up to them on if they want to pay $95 for 10k pts or throw you a bone for free. But I wouldn't feel right not explaining to them all their options. 10k pts isn't worth the risk of them thinking you pulled a fast one on them
just did my first manufactured spending. $115 GC to surpass $300 in grocery/drugstores on the Hyatt $30 back on $300 in Feb offer. Fingers crossed.
Didn't even think the Prime card had a referral benefit but in hindsight that was stupid, I'm sure they all do.
Yeah I buy a shitload of stuff on Amazon so I had been thinking about getting it for a while, but seeing the 5% back at Whole Foods sent me over the edge. I don't buy a ton there, mostly hot/salad bar and the occasional nice cut of meat but when I do it's like... "More like whole PAYCHECK!" am i right guys
Yeah I feel the Amazon thing. I spend a bunch there but not quite enough to make the 5% back make it better than UR points for me. If I could combine it with a grocery store I spent more than 200 bucks a year at id be all over it
The Amazon card doesn't do it for me because I get 7.5% off all year by buying stupid gift cards with rotating categories all the damn time
Looking for some advice from the CC fam. Been carrying CC debt for about ten years (college, little break from school for a couple years, then law school). Finally working and making good money since October, just got married and wife works but makes less. She's got pristine credit, mine obviously is probably far worse. This month I'll be paying off the last card remaining. We're getting a new joint checking (Citi Gold) and looking to consolidate into using a single high-benefits card. Our current cards: - Southwest Premiers (Chase) - each account is separate - Amazon (Chase) - Discover (1k line so I'll probably just leave this open and never use it) - Wells Fargo credit (won't be using since we're switching from Wells checking to Citi anyway and it really has no benefits) - Slate (Chase), also not looking to keep using Probably want to keep Southwest (we fly it a lot and would just book SWA flights and Rapid Rewards shopping purchrase on it), Amazon (we abuse both Amazon.com and Whole Foods), and that's it. Looking for a high benefits card for literally everything else. Looking at the old standbys like Amex and Chase Sapphire but open to other suggestions and to hear about others' preferences and experiences with any other cards. If anyone has tips or best practices for the wife and I combining accounts/closing accounts/etc. that maximize our combined credit score, etc. Not sure of the best order to do things in. Also looking for any tips on churning and similar strategies for a novice, been out of this game for far too long
The Sapphire Reserve is probably the best bet. You'd earn Southwest points with it at a higher rate (you don't need the Southwest card if you have the Reserve), and also get 3x points on restaurants. Simple enough
since i have preferred, if i send out a referral is it preferred only, or can i get the referral points and they sign up for reserve?
Hoping we'd be able to qualify for that as opposed to the Sapphire Preferred. Thoughts on those vis-a-vis Amex?
when doing something like this, do you have to specifically designate a single airline or are they general purpose and you can just transfer buckets of points to your southwest account?
You can transfer any amount of points to any of the partners whenever you feel like it. Transferring UR to United points has been gold for me
You'll get Ultimate Rewards (UR) points and then you can buy flights through the chase portal or transfer them 1:1 to southwest
Amex is harder to use and their bonuses aren't as good and their points aren't as flexible. Chase is much better unless you have a specific redemption in mind
thanks man. are there any typical Amex redemptions that you know of that people like? I'd imagine there's a comparison chart online somewhere between it and the Chase but I'm lazy
The one I was just talking about is ANA. I moved my 50,000 signup bonus to ANA for a round trip flight to Tokyo. Outside of that, Amex's Membership Rewards (MR) are much less flexible unless you want first class flying. There are branded AMEX cards (Hilton, SPG, etc...) that are valuable but less flexible
the big benefit of Amex is 5x points on flights+hotels and best lounge access. Uber credit and travel credit help knock down the yearly fee. unless you're going to travel a fuckload the Reserve is best, even if you do travel a lot its still kind of a toss up (and thats why Reserve tends to be the best for all comers card)
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/battle-of-the-premium-travel-rewards-cards/ good article to break down in detail why the Reserve gets considered the #1 basically everywhere
many thanks Yeah, we definitely like to travel and plan on taking around one week-long international trip a year probably. But not anything more than that...our jobs are too hard to get away from. Something more general purpose probably makes the most sense. Airport lounges have limited appeal to me anyway.
going to be booking a flight for June. is it better to use the UR portal from Chase, or to transfer points to another airline (even if you're not a card-member or anything for a specific airline)?
Whichever's cheaper, of course. See how much it is on UR. See how many points the airline is asking for. Pick the lower one
think after I move i'll start the churn game to get on your level hah if you or someone else wants to do a basic write up i'll edit it into the OP (I'd be curious your total plan because it seems to have lots of moving parts with variable benefit cards + gift card purchases etc)
CMH to SEA flight will have to depart Thursday 06/07 (or i guess really late Wed 06/06) and return anytime between Friday 06/15 - Sunday 06/17 (as long as its not like 2300) if i get them now, i could get a flight for like 46000 points. points wont kick in until march.
also, is there any way to tell what the bonus was you signed up for, how much you've spent toward that goal, and when it'll go into effect? with the CSP
I would think that most people follow this guideline when spending for the most part: https://thepointsguy.com/2017/10/chase-quartet/
You should be able to do better than that domestically but I'd have to check and see what airlines run that route that are UR partners.
Not what you signed up for but it's probably $4,000/50,000 Look at your transactions and take ito the annual fee
the points guy app recommends I use the SPG card over the Reserve now basically everywhere other than restaurants
UR is 1.5 cpp, SPG is 2.5-3.0. It makes sense if you have those two. But if you have Freedom Unlimited, that's 2.25 and much more flexible or Doublecash that's 2% in actually money SPG can be a daily card but it has competitors