Start with Chase and then diversify once you’ve hit 5/24 and are no longer eligible for additional Chase cards.
A sound strategy over 12-24 months might be:
Chase Sapphire cards
Chase ink business cards (don’t count toward 5/24)
Other business and/or charge cards from Amex, Citi, BoA that also don’t count toward 5/24
Any final Chase personal cards to round out your 5/24 (ie Freedom, hotel and/or airline branded cards)
Once you’ve hit 5 personal cards and are no longer eligible for additional Chase products:
Amex (Charge cards, co-branded cards) and Citi cards (ie TY Premier, AA cards)
Other cards as desired based on whichever transferable currencies or points/miles you’d like to reload on
Alternatively, if you want to stay under 5/24 so you can keep hitting chase ink bonuses (if you value Chase or just want to stick to one currency), just find the 3 or 4 personal cards you want most, and hover 4/24.
Just opened a Chase Sapphire for the 80K bonus. Needed a miles card as I realized I travel more these days, and am taking several flights this upcoming summer.
This is great advice thank you! So for these cc’s, does it raise a red flag that I’m trying to open 4/5 cc’s in a 12-24 mo period? Any advice on how to spread them? Or just apply for them all at once lol
You can do a double dip with the sapphire cards to start (I won’t post it here — just do some googling) or just pick one if you don’t want to bother with the hassle. General rule of thumb is 1-2 months between new card apps. Don’t apply all at once.
It’ll give you sufficient time to hit sign up bonuses and will avoid rejections for having too many new applications in a short span.
Where possible, use referral links from friends or family (people who have the cards already) so that they get rewarded as well. And then once you get the cards, make sure you also refer friends, family, coworkers, etc so that you both get bonuses.
As you’re starting to build credit, don’t forget to Freeze all 3 bureaus and only thaw them as needed
And with Chase remember that you can peanut butter available credit across multiple cards. So when you get that 2nd/3rd/4th card and they say (e.g.) “we don’t want to extended any more credit than $10k” - you can ask them to apply $5k on Sapphire, $3k on Cashback card, $2k on Amazon rewards”. When you close a Chase card, always tell them which remaining card to merge its available credit to.
Only that Chase won’t approve you after 5/24. But your credit score with go up, so the opposite of a red flag. Flip your cc like you’re flipping 4xe’s!
Sorry if this has been asked but where do the hackr’s recommend checking flight fares? Price alerts ?
Planning a family trip for 4 (2 adults, 2 small children) to the Caribbean and could use the help! We have Amex points and can sign up for different airline rewards if it helps. We don’t seem to fly enough to stick to one carrier usually.
Does anyone have any suggestions on maximizing american airlines points/other points that can be used on AA? Planning a trip for next May which gives lots of time for opening a credit card for sign on bonuses, etc, if it makes sense.
Citi & Barclays both have AA bonuses going right now for new cards opened with reasonable spending requirements: The Barclays one you may have to tell them you are a sole proprietor. Keep in mind Citi Premier has an 80,000 point bonus that can be transferred to AA and Chase Sapphire Reserve has a 70,000 point sign up bonus though that is a ~ $595 annual fee.
The good news is that they have CC with both Citi and Barclays so plenty ways to get miles.
Right now the Barclays Aviator Biz card is offering 80k with the first year free while the Citi Platinum Select is offering 75K first year free.(I think this one’s expiring soon) Both all time highs iinm.
If your doing the Barclays, you can also double dip with the personal aviator(this one requires just one purchase to hit the SUB) using the same credit pull as long as you apply on the same day
All the suggestions above are good re: what AA cards are offering what nowadays.
However as a very long time AA’er, before I signed up for anything, I would first take a look at where you’re trying to go, how flexible you’ll be, what the typical paid fares will be, and what award availability realistically looks like.
Signing up for 3 new cards and getting a quick 200k miles is great, but it’s going to be of little use if you’re trying to take the family to Rome or Maui in business class from Saturday to Saturday and AA wants 180k per person, each way.
Im looking at a round trip to Bonaire in May of next year. Its about a $500 ticket. Looks to be 50k points, so the sign up bonuses would cover it, although i dont know that its the best use of them. The trip im looking at has a set date, so flexibility isnt a thing.
If anyone likes to cruise… cruisecompete(DOT)com is an absolute must.
Taking a 9 night on Celebrity Beyond which is their brand new Edge class ship. Infinite Veranda (large balcony)
If I booked directly with Celebrity it was $6739 with $300 OBC (onboard credit) including all drinks, tips, wifi.
So about 6 travel agents got back with their “best deal” most were in the $63XX range with 600-700 OBC. Clearly better.
However 2 came back with a ridiculous deal - I imagine they are partnered with a large vacation travel company and buy room blocks.
$52XX with $500 OBC. So I saved $1500 and got an additional $200 OBC with everything else included, so will use this for specialty dining upgrades or something.
I have used the site for 10+ years and have saved a lot of money on every cruise I’ve booked.
