/r/churning on reddit has so much content on there for credit card hacking that it’s difficult to find any new info anywhere.
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25% more on travel. Works nicely on airfare.
Hyatt can be a good sweet spot for transfers. I am a big fan of transferring to British Air to take American Air flights (look at the redemptions but non stop flights are really good). AMEX will have 40% bonus transfers to BA on the regular- I have seen chase offer 30% bonus points on the transfer as well.
Thank you for this. I am still going through this Flowchart.
Capital One Venture X card seems pretty nice. $395 annual fee.
Benefits:
- Earn 100,000 bonus miles ($1000 worth) once you spend $10,000 on purchases within the first 6 months from account opening
- Up to $300 Capital One Travel credit
- 10,000 miles anniversary bonus
Up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck - Unlimited free access to Capital One Lounges
- Complimentary Priority Pass™ membership
Rewards:
- Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- Earn unlimited 5X miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
Doesn’t this look too good?
How good is access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass™ membership?
I would love to have access to them. The rewards look pretty decent too. I feel like I’m sold on this card. Is there a better one?
Venture X is a solid card. There aren’t many Capital One lounges yet but they’re trying to compete with the Amex centurion lounges… Priority pass is available on a few other cards. Lounge access is nice but usually you want it to align with whatever airline you travel a lot on. And some of these lounges aren’t in the terminal you’r flying out of. So if you fly Delta a lot getting a card with Delta lounge access can be nice.
The Venture Card is designed to go toe to toe with the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve. All have great perks designed for big spenders. If you make sure to use those perks they pay for the annual fee.
We did this last year with just cashback cards (though everything was discussed)
Any THers want to copy/merge from the long-running private discussion on this?
Maybe @trism will share his Priority Pass spreadsheet
Reminds me, I need to check my 2021 cashback total…
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Some good advice on that thread… mainly the Alliant cash back for 2.5%, Discover miles effectively 3% back in year 1 and some of the others for category bonuses.
In my personal opinion the most non-biased site that aggregates this data along with bank account bonus is www.doctorofcredit.com
Useful info / datapoints in the comments on each thread that is user generated, similar to LH. If they have a recommendation, they lay out the reasons & same if they recommend against.
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Agreed. Bank account and brokerage bonuses on there can be nice money makers. Move some money around and pick up hundreds or occasionally thousands of dollars.
I got this card on release day and see myself keeping it long term as long as the benefits stay the same. It pays for itself ($300 travel credit + $100 in points every year). Easy to redeem points to cover travel purchases (I’ve had shipping charges even be classified as travel for point redemption). There’s also a limited time $200 vacation rental credit your first year. Lowest credit limit they seem to give out is 20k. Really a no brainer card as long as you see yourself using the travel credits.
Capital One lounges are only in Texas at the moment. Priority Pass is so-so. It’s offered on most travel oriented cards but it seems their lounge offerings have been getting cut back as time goes on.
I’m happy with my amex gold. Got my bonus points and I purchase groceries with it for 4x points back. Just waiting for an airline transfer bonus to happen again. Will take the family to Europe with the points. Should be able to every year or other year. I use the Uber and dining perk every month to recoup my annual fee. No travel cards yet. Don’t travel enough and don’t have a preferred airline.
Depends on card issuer. AMEX cut all the Priority Pass restaurant benefits whereas Chase Priority Pass still has PP benefits at certain restaurants.
I remember Amazon payments
You were able to send money to each other unlimited! With no fee cc to cc
Who remembers 
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I thought the points were only applicable to the first-year anniversary. Are you sure you’ll receive this after the first year?
Capital One lounges are only in Texas at the moment. Priority Pass is so-so. It’s offered on most travel oriented cards but it seems their lounge offerings have been getting cut back as time goes on.
Thanks for this. Well, I am going through some financial things at the moment. I think I should get this card in 6-7 months. Hopefully, they would still have some of these bonuses by then.
Looks like it. The card landing page lists “Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary.” The only thing that is limited to the first year is the $200 vacation rental credit.
I consider the chance to use a Priority Pass lounge to be a lucky accident.
Priority Pass is great if there’s a lounge in your home or other frequently-used airport, in the terminal/concourse where you normally depart (I normally won’t take trains, buses, miles of moving walkways, etc. to use a lounge before or in between flights).
2021 Summary:
Total Departures: 79
17 from San Diego**
16 from Columbus (Ohio)
13 from Dallas (DFW)
11 from Chicago (ORD)
10 from Phoenix
5 from Charlotte
3 from Sioux Falls
1 from Charleston
1 from Dubuque
1 from St. Louis
1 from Anchorage
I had to cancel my last trip of the year. That would have added another San Diego, two Philadelphias and one Zurich departure. That may have added some viable opportunities).
Times Priority Pass was an option: 0 **
(there was both a Priority Pass lounge in my departure terminal/concourse AND I had enough time to use it. In most cases I used a convenient lounge in another network.)
This was a somewhat lighter travel year than normal, but even with more trips and a more diverse collection of airports, I rarely use my PP more than 2-3 times a year.
** The Airspace Lounge in San Diego recently joined the PP network. I already have two other ways to use that one (Amex Platinum, which also includes a $10 food and beverage credit per person per visit, and an Admirals Club membership).
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Best place to start is the Churning subReddit. Tons of resources and daily conversations about various points cards, cash back cards, and ‘which should I get’ scenarios.
Wife and I started churning cards for bonus points in 2019, with a focus on traveling freely and more luxuriously than we would be able to if we traveled with cash alone. Focused on Chase and Hyatt as the redemptions are much better and the Chase Ultimate Rewards are very flexible and valuable. Currently globalist and save around 13-15k in travel each year on the trips we take to all inclusive resorts and chique luxury spots in bigger cities. We had Southwest Companion pass due to us living near a hub and prefer non-stop flights over biz/first class if they include a stopover (longer travel time).
We each have 6-7 cards…about half have AF and half don’t. Never keep balance obviously, and both have credit scores of 830ish, high 700’s before we started this game.
Chase Sapphire Reserve is my primary, my wife has the Preferred as hers. Its fun if a significant other involved so you can refer to each other as well.
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I have Amex platinum the perks outweigh the fee for us but everyone is different. YMMV but for the first year with the welcome offer you can’t loose.
Clear $179 a year
TSA Pre or global entry around $100
Audible $15
Walmart + $10
$200 airline credit
$200 hotel credit
And of course the best access to lounges around the world.
Also no one has better customer service it is really exemplary.
If anyone is interested I can send a referral link that will give you 150K for spending $6K in 6 months. It is impossible to not make out for at least a year with this deal. PM me if you want a link.
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You forgot the Uber eats credits
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The line was loooong….