Time to go on a mini App-O-Rama?

Time to go on a mini App-O-Rama?

The credit card offer that started the recent trend of big signup miles/points bonus is back. Garyand others have blogged about it. Yes, I am talking about the 100K British Airways miles bonus Chase Visa card. If you did not grab this card when it was offered in 2009, now is the time to get it.

Even without the signup bonus, this is a good Visa card as I have discussed in an earlier post. In that post I also discussed the best cards in every category of spending. I don’t have many of the better cards. So, I was thinking of applying for a lot of them in one night. The logic is that the most recent inquiries won’t show up when the card issuers pull up the credit report. This should lead to a higher chance of acceptance. The disadvantage is that I would not be able to apply for credit cards for some time.

The cards that seem most lucrative right now are as follows:

1. British Airways Chase Visa Signature: 100K signup bonus, 1.25 miles per $, companion pass for $30K yearly spending, No foreign transaction fee. $95 annual fee.

2. Chase Continental Visa: 50K miles signup bonus, No annual fee first year.

3. Hilton Amex: 62500 points signup bonus. One of the best hotel affinity cards. No Annual Fee.

4. American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card: 25K points signup bonus. Other benefits. No Annual fee first year

5. Barclays US Airways card: 35-55K miles signup bonus. No annual fee first year.

6. Hyatt Visa: 2 free nights signup bonus.

7. Fidelity American express: 2% cashback or 2 Aeroplan miles per $. No signup bonus

8. American Express Platinum Card: 50K signup bonus.

9. Travelocity American Express (Barclays) : Equivalent of $150 travel credit on Travelocity. Upto 10% cashback on travel purchases.

10. Citi AAdvantage Visa: 75K miles signup bonus. Can potentially apply for three at the same time for 225K.

Am I missing any card which has an offer for its highest signup bonus? Let me know.

To plan for the App-O-Rama, you may follow the following steps:

1. First, pull up your credit reports from all three bureaus to see the recent credit inquiries in each. You can get it free once a year at annualcreditreport.com.

2. Next, get an estimate of the credit bureaus that will be pulled by the various card issuers at Creditboards creditpulls database.

3. Plan the cards that you will apply based on the inquiries you have in your report.

4. A point to remember: 1, 2 and 6 are issued by Chase; 5 and 9 are issued by Barclays. Since they are issued by the same bank, it is better to choose one of the two in these pairs

5. Also, refrain from applying for too many cards from the same issuer in a short period of time. Chase normally does not accept 2 applications in 60 days though I have been approved for 2 cards which were spaced out by 45 days.

 

Points and miles devalue with time. However, card bonuses currently are once in a lifetime affair. So, do not apply for a card if you do not think you will use the miles/points up in the near future. So, plan carefully and reap the benefits. Best of Luck.

Note: If you do not have any travel rewards card, there are other cards you can apply for. I would be taking that up in another post. In the meantime, if you want any help shoot me an email at only [dot]the[dot]nomad [at] gmail [dot] com.

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