Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for March 2013.

Hawaii: 10 Days and 3 Islands for $100 a Day

by Harlan 2 Comments

a person's feet on a beach

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card was my first premium credit card.

Before that, my credit history was full of collections, defaults, and charge-offs. My credit score was in the low 500s.

In early 2012, I resolved to finally get my credit under control. I used my tax return (in conjunction with my full-time job at the time) to pay down my credit cards to $0. I started making big payments at the end of January.

By late February, my credit score shot up to 702! Pretty amazing – but was I ready to apply for a premium card?

My relationship helped

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Another Lost Amex Bonus

by Harlan 2 Comments

Giiiive me the pointssss

Giiiive me the pointssss

Ugh, American Express just looooves to screw me out of bonuses. I recently got the Premier Rewards Gold card which comes now with a nice bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points after only $1,000 of spend in the first three months. BUT! It’s not available if you already have a Green, Gold, or Platinum card. And I have the Platinum Card. It was right there in the terms and conditions the entire time. I guess that’s what I get for doing an app-o-rama while half drunk – OK, really drunk – on tequila. This isn’t the first time I’ve been screwed out of a bonus. Here’s why: I never actually applied for the Platinum Card. That’s right. I called to upgrade my Gold Delta card to a Platinum Delta card. Guess what came in the mail? Yep. And there was no signup bonus attached to it.

The accidental Platinum Card

The accidental Platinum Card

I bitched and bitched, called and emailed, and bitched some more to the point where I’m sure I’m on some sort of blacklist with Amex. I kept the card in the end because I had a big trip coming up with two friends and thought the free lounge access would be nice. Plus I wanted the airline credits and Global Entry… eventually. Basically, I wanted the card, but didn’t want it then. But I kept it as I’d already taken the ding on my credit report. I also still have the Gold Delta card. Go figure. You’d think that they’d offer MORE of a bonus for getting another card when you already have the Platinum Card, not less (or nothing!). I’m sorta hoping they give me the bonus for the Premier Rewards Gold card anyway. What’s the likelihood of that happening? Yes, I should’ve read the T&C more closely before I got all trigger-happy. But this is the second Amex bonus I’ve lost. It especially burns knowing that the Platinum Card recently had a 100,000 MR bonus. I’m sorta thinking of just canceling both cards for a year and starting all over from scratch. I don’t want a business version of either card, nor do I want to pay those hefty annual fees with no bonus to offset it. And of course Amex won’t match a public offer or award some goodwill points.

Fuck-Amex

Good thing I’ve had MUCH better luck with Chase. Totally open to thoughts/opinions on this. Just burns me so bad to lose out on 150,000 MR points between these two cards. That’s R/T biz class to Australia! I’ll end this one the way it began: UGH.

My First App-O-Rama 2.22.13

by Harlan 8 Comments

On the evening of February 22, 2013, I had a little too much tequila and decided to do an app-o-rama. Not the best idea ever, as I caused myself to miss out on yet ANOTHER Amex bonus by not paying close enough attention to the T&C. I think I was little nervous about applying for three cards in one night.

I would’ve applied for four, but I’m sorta between jobs/projects right now and didn’t want to push it with the minimum spend requirements. Here’s what I ended up getting:

british-airways-visa

Chase British Airways Visa Signature® Card

  • 50,000 Avios after spending $1,000 within three months
  • 25,000 more Avios after spending $10,000 in the first year
  • 25,000 MORE Avios after spending $20,000 in the first year

Why I got it:

  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Smart Chip Technology
  • Great earning structure: 2.5 Avios/dollar on BA and 1.25 on everything else. Pretty fantastic.
  • Avios are GREAT for short-haul trips under 650 miles – only 4,500 Avios each way in economy. But for short flights of ~2 hours, I couldn’t care less about class of service. This is great for visiting Montreal, Toronto, Boston, and other cities in the near-Northeast region. And it’s only 7,5000 Avios to Chicago (I love Chicago).  They’re also great for repositioning for mileage runs (I haven’t done one… yet.) This post from Extra Pack of Peanuts has a lot of great info about the Avios program.

AAdvantage Citi card

Citi Select® / AAdvantage® American Express® card

  • 50,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $3,000 within four months
  • 2 Admirals Club lounge passes
  • $150 Statement Credit on American Airlines

Why I got it: 

  • To build up my AAdvantage balance
  • I am thinking of switching the bulk of my flying from Delta to American
  • 1 free checked bag, priority boarding, and get 10% of miles redeemed back (up to 10,000 miles per year)
  • $85 annual fee is waived for the first year (so why not)

premier-rewards-gold amex

And the sore spot. The American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card

I got in didn’t get in on this offer:

50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $1,000 within three months

Why I wanted it:

To build up my Membership Rewards balance

It has the best earning structure of all the MR cards (three points/dollar on airfare (four if booked thru Amex Travel), two at gas stations (moot point for NYC) and grocery stores (which could encourage me to not spend so much eating out!), and one point everywhere else.

I went ahead and put $1,000 of spend on it the first day JUST TO SEE if it would trigger the bonus or not. I’m not eligible for it because I already have the Platinum Card, but whatever. Anyone know how good Amex is about blocking bonuses for this reason? It’s entirely my fault – I should’ve read the T&C more closely. I blame first app-o-rama jitters and too much tequila.

I also really wanted to pick up the Ink Plus card from Chase while I was at it, but alas. The $5,000 spend within three months was a little bit much. Plus, I’ve got a lot of spending to put on the new British Airways card to unlock the full 100,000 Avios.

So that’s it. My first app-o-rama. I was instantly approved online for all three with nice credit lines on each, which made me feel really confident about my credit health. My travel goals for this round of apps are Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Dublin, Seattle, Alaska, and eventually, Australia. I’d also LOVE to fit in Vienna/Prague sometime this summer. 🙂

Chase Sapphire Preferred 7% Annual Points Dividend Posted

by Harlan 1 Comment

Screen Shot 2013-03-01 at 3.45.05 PM

I LOVE this card. Chase consistently knocks it out of the park with their Ultimate Rewards program. I’m saving up 150,000 points to redeem a dream trip to Australia and Tokyo this winter (Australia’s summer). This little perk of the Sapphire Preferred card is worth more for travel than the annual fee of $95 (assuming each point is redeemed for over .02 which I always do). Definitely a keeper. I almost feel bad about having to route most of my spend onto the British Airways Visa. But it’s still a Chase product. Well played, Chase. Well played.