Over the last year, I’ve written about or otherwise discussed cards I intend to cancel or downgrade (see The white-hot ultra premium credit card market is making me melt (on Nick’s mind) or the podcast episode Discarding our card collections | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep342 | 1-23-26). In truth, we currently have too many credit cards in my household, and we need to work on paring down our collection. But that’s not to say that we don’t add cards when they make sense. On the contrary, I’ve recently opened several new credit cards, so I wanted to share some of my recent applications and results.
Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
Current bonus info (click the card name to go to our dedicated card page for more info):
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $651 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 80K points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer 80K points after $5K spend within first 3 months your account is open$299 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Earning rate: 4X Southwest ✦ 2X hotels ✦ 2x gas and restaurants ✦ 2X rideshare ✦ 1X on all other purchases. Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: If you earn 135,000 points in one calendar year, you'll get a companion pass good for the rest of that calendar year and all of the next year ✦ Earn 2,500 TQPs for each $5K in purchases Noteworthy perks: 9000 bonus points each year upon card renewal ✦ 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year ✦ First bag free for cardholder and up to 8 companions traveling on the same reservation ✦ Complimentary Instacart+ for 3 months (must activate by 12/31/27) ✦ $10 monthly Instacart credit ✦ Global Entry, Nexus or TSA Pre✔ Fee Credit ✦ Group 5 boarding ✦ Preferred seat selection at booking (if available) ✦ Extra legroom upgrades up to 48 hours pre-departure (if available) |
I think I earned my first Southwest Companion Pass in 2014. Believe it or not, until recently, I had never had a Southwest credit card in my own name. At first, I didn’t need one (since I earned my first Southwest Companion Pass or two via Rapid Rewards Shopping in the days when I did a lot of product resale). Then, my wife earned a Companion Pass by getting a Southwest business credit card and a Southwest consumer credit card and earning both welcome bonuses early in a year (see our Southwest Companion Pass Complete Guide for more on that strategy). Later, she earned a subsequent pass or two via referrals, and I might have earned it once via SWABIZ referrals.
However, we have only had a single Companion Pass at a time. Since we have two kids, it would be really convenient to have two Companion Passes. One son is my wife’s Companion already, so we would make our other son my Companion and our family would effectively pay half price on Southwest Airlines.
The main reason I have been out of the game on a Southwest Companion Pass is that I’ve been over 5/24 more often than not. I dropped below for a moment in 2023, at which time I prioritized picking up a World of Hyatt credit card so that I could pick up elite nights through spend to supplement progress toward Hyatt Globalist status.
When that Hyatt card dropped off my 5/24 count in December 2025, I knew that I had to pick up a Southwest credit card. Unfortunately, an elevated bonus had just ended in November. However, I didn’t anticipate remaining under 5/24 for long, so I didn’t want to wait around for another elevated offer. Instead, I applied for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business credit card in December.
Approval was not instant; I received a call from the Chase fraud prevention team to verify that I had applied for the card. Once I confirmed the details, the application was approved. The limit I was given was lower than I’d expected, but I didn’t intend to use this card very heavily (and I actually received a limit that matched how much I said I would spend on the card monthly when filling out the application).
I met the new cardmember bonus spending requirement relatively quickly. Between the card bonus, the points earned from the minimum spending requirement, the additional 10,000 qualifying points that cardholders receive toward the companion pass every year, the 7,500 qualifying points I’m getting from the Southwest Debit card (which stack with the credit card qualifying points), and a flight I took earlier this year, I currently sit at a total of around 104,000 Companion Pass Qualifying points. I made a couple of referrals under the new consumer card intro bonus offer, so I expect to earn the Companion Pass whenever those referrals post. Unfortunately, Chase referrals tend to take 1-2 statement periods to post, so I don’t know whether I’ll see those with my March statement or my April statement. The good news is that we don’t have much travel planned until April, anyway.
I think I will probably look to downgrade this card to the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card after a year. I’m somewhat on the fence. Here’s why: My wife has the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card, so if we were all on a single booking, we could rely on that card for extra legroom seating 48 hours prior to departure. However, I think that my wife and I will need to make separate bookings in order to add both companions. A reader reports that it used to be possible to book under a single PNR and both parents could add their companions, but now the system apparently no longer allows for that. The pain point there is that if I book separately, my companion and I wouldn’t benefit from my wife’s seating benefits. If we want extra legroom seating 48 hours prior to departure, I’m going to need to keep the Performance business (since I won’t be under 5/24 to get the Priority card for the foreseeable future). We’ll see how much we use that benefit this year.
Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card
Current bonus info (click the card name to go to our dedicated card page for more info):
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $1544 1st Yr Value Estimate$300 travel credit valued at $285, $300 StubHub credit ($150 Jan-Jun and again Jul-Dec) valued at $75, $500 Chase The Edit credit (2x per calendar year) valued at $125, $300 Chase Dining credit for dining at Sapphire Reserve Tables restaurants ($150 Jan-Jun and again Jul-Dec) valued at $75 Click to learn about first year value estimates 125K Points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer 125K after $6K spend in the first 3 months. $795 Annual Fee FM Mini Review: Good all-around card for frequent traveler. Best when paired with no annual fee Chase Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited & Chase Ink Cash cards. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 8X Chase Travel℠ ✦ 4X flights and hotels booked direct ✦ 3X Dining ✦ 5X Lyft (through September 2027) Base: 1X (1.5%) Flights: 4X (6%) Portal Flights: 8X (12%) Hotels: 4X (6%) Portal Hotels: 8X (12%) Dine: 3X (4.5%) Card Info: Visa Infinite issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: After spending $75,000 each calendar year, get the following benefits: IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite Status ✦ Southwest Airlines A-List Status ✦ $500 Southwest Airlines credit when booked through Chase Travel ✦ $250 credit to The Shops at Chase Noteworthy perks: $300 Annual Travel Credit ✦ Transfer points to airline & hotel partners ✦ Up to $500 The Edit credit annually ($250 twice per calendar year) ✦ Up to $300 Dining credit through Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables ($150 January to June and again July to December) ✦ Complimentary AppleTV+ and Apple Music through 6/22/27 ✦ Up to $300 in StubHub credits ($150 January to June and again July to December) ✦ Points worth up to 2 cents each towards qualified bookings through Chase Travel ✦ Primary auto rental coverage ✦ Priority Pass Select lounge access ✦ Access Sapphire Lounges for yourself and 2 guests for free ✦ Access select Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges when flying Star Alliance ✦ Up to $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS Application Fee Statement Credit ✦ Free DoorDash DashPass through 2027 ✦ Two promos of $10 off each month on non-restaurant orders from DoorDash ✦ $5 off restaurant order each month from DoorDash ✦ $10 monthly Lyft credit See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide |
Since Chase business cards do not add to one’s 5/24 count, I was still under 5/24 in January. Chase application rules indicate it is possible to get approved for 2 cards within 30 days. I intended to apply for the Bilt Palladium card before the end of January, but since that card would put me over 5/24, I wanted to get one more Chase card first.
I considered a number of different cards, but ultimately landed on the Chase Sapphire Reserve as the best bang for my buck in terms of first-year value as compared to spending requirements. Greg and I have both repeatedly said that the Sapphire Reserve card is hard to recommend ever since its refresh in 2025. I still feel that way; this isn’t a card that I frequently recommend to others. However, I knew that I would make easy use of the coupons for at least the first year and that I’d make good use of the intro bonus points (most likely by transferring to Hyatt). And with the additional 15,000 points my wife would earn for referring me from her Sapphire Reserve card, this card seemed like the best deal overall.
I used the $300 travel credit within days of receiving the physical card when I put award taxes on the card to trigger some of the card’s travel protections. I am confident that we’ll use enough benefits to make this easy enough to be well worthwhile for the first year.
I should note that, like with the Southwest business card, my application was not instantly approved. Instead, I received a call from the fraud prevention department after applying. I missed the call, but returned it later. That call was very simple; I simply verified some personal information and confirmed that I had applied. My application was then approved over the phone, with a higher limit than I had expected.
Bilt Palladium card
Current bonus info (click the card name to go to our dedicated card page for more info):
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $630 1st Yr Value Estimate$300 Bilt Cash valued at $150, $200 Bilt Cash valued at $100, $400 Bilt Travel hotel credit ($200 per six months) valued at $100 Click to learn about first year value estimates 50K points + $300 Bilt Cash Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 50K Bilt points + Gold elite status after $4K non-housing spend in the first 3 months, plus $300 Bilt Cash when you apply & are approved$495 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Earning rate: 2X points + 4% Bilt Cash on everyday purchases if you choose Bilt Cash rather than housing-only rewards ✦ 0.5X-1.25X points on rent & mortgage payments (if Housing-Only Earnings selected) ✦ 1X points on rent & mortgage payments when redeeming Bilt Cash (if Bilt Cash earning option selected) Base: 2X (3.1%) Card Info: Mastercard World Legend issued by Column NA. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Transfer points to airline and hotel partners ✦ $200 Bilt Cash annually ✦ Up to $400 in Bilt Travel hotel credits ($200 per six months, two-night stay required) ✦ Earn miles on rent or mortgage payments ✦ Priority Pass (lounges only) |
While Bilt has taken much-deserved heat for the many unforced errors regarding the transition to Bilt Card 2.0, the cards still have a lot of potential once the dust eventually settles.
My wife was a Bilt 1.0 cardholder. I intended to have her transition to the Bilt Obsidian card, making that our grocery card. I intended to get the Palladium card for myself since I earn a lot of points through Rakuten and would like to have Bilt Gold status.
However, I applied for the Palladium card a day after opening the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, and I was not approved for the Bilt Palladium. That sent me back to square one on my planning, since I really wanted a Palladium card in our household.
As a result, my wife decided to transition to the Palladium card. She was given a nice credit limit increase with the new card despite already having a pretty good limit on her Bilt card 1.0. She selected the Palladium card successfully several days before the end of January, but she didn’t receive her physical Bilt card until the end of last week (almost a week after the new card launch). Still, she was able to use the card in Google Pay on launch day. We didn’t use the card much right away, so we didn’t run into the problems that some folks did. So far, the card has been relatively smooth sailing. She enabled the points accelerator with $200 of her Bilt Cash and we’ve got a monthly bill of $2K+ that will go on autopay on the 1st of every month to get the 1,000 Rent Day bonus points on the 1st of the month on top of earning 3X with the points accelerator, meaning that we should earn more than 5,000 points per month with low effort.
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Current bonus info (click the card name to go to our dedicated card page for more info):
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $1074 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates $750 cash back* ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer $750 (*awarded as 75,000 points) after $6k spend in the first 3 months.No Annual Fee Recent better offer: $900 (*awarded as 90,000 points) after $6k spend in the first 3 months. (Expired 11/13/25) FM Mini Review: Great welcome offer for a no annual fee card. Good option for earning 1.5X everywhere. Good companion card to Ink Business Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 1.5X on all business purchases ✦ 5X Lyft through September 2027 Base: 1.5X (2.25%) Card Info: Visa Signature Business issued by Chase. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Complimentary Instacart+ for 3 months (must activate by 12/31/27) ✦ $20 monthly Instacart credit See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide |
I next applied for a Chase Ink Business Unlimited card as something of a science experiment.
The Sapphire Reserve card should have put me at 5 new accounts opened within the past 24 months, which will prevent me from getting additional Chase cards unless and until I fall under 5/24 again.
However, it takes some amount of time before a new account is added to your credit report (this varies from bank to bank). I wondered whether I might be able to get approved if I applied before the Sapphire Reserve card was added to my credit reports.
Applying for the Chase Ink Business Preferred card would have made more sense from an intro bonus standpoint. However, I thought that I might be bumping up against maximum exposure with Chase, given the relatively low limit I received on my Southwest Performance Business credit card and the overall credit I’d been extended, particularly when including my new Sapphire Reserve card. I thought that the Ink Business Unlimited might make for an easier approval in the circumstances. I’ve actually never had one of the no-fee Chase Ink cards since I’ve been over 5/24 more often than not for years.
It was no surprise that my application was not immediately approved. A day or two after applying, I received the fraud prevention call. I answered and verified myself, but the application went for further review. A day later, I received a notice that my application was declined due to concerns that someone was trying to steal my identity. I called the number on the notice and was prompted to redo verification. I did that, but I received the same notice a second time. I haven’t called again yet. I may yet give this one more try and proactively explain that I’m happy to move credit limit from another existing card, but I probably won’t push this very hard since it was mostly an experiment.
Barclays JetBlue Plus Mastercard
Current bonus info (click the card name to go to our dedicated card page for more info):
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $858 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 75K Points Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 75K points after $1K in spend in the first 90 days and payment of annual fee. A 5 digit promo code is needed; 00000 should work$99 Annual Fee Note that the landing page might prompt you to enter a mobile phone number to continue the application, but you can click "no thanks" to continue the application on your desktop device. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 60K points after $1K in spend in the first 90 days and payment of annual fee, with 20K additional points after spending $6,000 in the first year (expired 11/3/25) FM Mini Review: Frequent JetBlue travelers should seriously consider this card for its terrific perks. The combination of the 10% rebate on awards and the annual 5,000 point bonus make this card a keeper. Earning rate: 2X restaurants and grocery ✦ 6X JetBlue ✦ 1X everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Earn 1 tile for every $1,000 in purchases. Noteworthy perks: Free checked bag ✦ 5000 bonus points every anniversary ✦ 10% point rebate on awards ✦ $100 statement credit w/ purchase of travel package ✦ 50% savings on in-flight purchases |
Last year, my family completed the JetBlue 25 for 25 promotion, earning more than 1.3 million TrueBlue points (in total among the four of us) and Mosaic 1 status for 25 years. I recently wrote about my efforts to bump myself up to Mosaic 2 status this year. I needed the credit card to bridge the gap toward status.
I also intended to get this card for the 10% rebate on award redemptions. Since we had 1.3 million+ points, that benefit seemed potentially very valuable for us.
We recently reported an elevated 75,000-point offer on this card, and I realized that I had an imminent redemption in mind for 5 passengers on JetBlue. I applied for the card under the 75K offer and was instantly approved (interestingly, I was prompted to scan a QR code and upload a scan of my driver’s license during the application process, which hasn’t happened to me with past credit card applications). I now have 5 Barclays cards (including the Aviator Silver, which will transition to Citi in a couple of months). The JetBlue Plus card was approved with a much higher limit than my other Barclays cards.
The card terms indicate that the card must be open for 7 days before redemptions are eligible for the 10% rebate. However, I noticed that my JetBlue TrueBlue account reflected my cardholder status within 2-3 days of approval, so I went ahead and made an award redemption. That travel won’t happen for a couple of months, but I’ll be sure to report on whether or not I get the 10% rebate once I know.
Venmo Credit Card
Current bonus info (click the card name to go to our dedicated card page for more info):
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $0 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates None Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler NoneNo Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Earning rate: 3% on your eligible top spend category ✦ 2% on your second top category ✦ 1% everywhere else ✦ Eligible cateories include Dining & Nightlift, Travel, Bills & Utilities, Health & Beauty, Grocery / Warehouse Stores, Gas, Transportation, Entertainment Base: 1% Card Info: Visa issued by Synchrony. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. |
The Venmo Credit Card might seem like an oddball choice for me, given the lack of a public welcome offer.
I was targeted for a bonus offer of $100 after spending $500 in the first 3 months, but that’s not why I wanted the card. I have been wanting this card for its 3% back on a top spend category each month.
For the past few years, the US Bank Altitude Reserve has been our go-to card for warehouse store purchases, since that card earns 3X with mobile wallet (like tapping your phone to pay). My wife frequently goes grocery shopping at a warehouse club store, so that has worked out well.
However, I‘m probably going to downgrade my Altitude Reserve card, so I wanted a new option for warehouse club spend. One of the Venmo card’s 3%-eligible categories is grocery, and it includes warehouse club stores. I therefore wanted this card as our default warehouse club card.
Unfortunately, every time I try to apply for this card, I get a message indicating that it looks like I have my credit report frozen and to unfreeze it and try again in a few days. I haven’t sought out a phone number to call a human being, but I might see if I can do that since I haven’t even successfully submitted an application, despite several attempts.
Caesars Rewards Prestige card
Current bonus info (click the card name to go to our dedicated card page for more info):
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $105 1st Yr Value Estimate$50 slot play valued at $25, $100 dining credit at Caesars Rewards destinations valued at $50 Click to learn about first year value estimates 20K Reward Credits + 2.5K Tier Credits Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler Earn 20K Reward Credits and 2.5K Tier Credits after $1K spend outside of a Caesars Rewards destination within the first 90 days of account opening.$149 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: The anniversary free night, $50 slot play, $100 dining credit, Platinum status and ability to earn Diamond status with $50k spend make this a very interesting card for those who frequent Caesars Rewards locations Earning rate: 7 points per $1 at Caesars Rewards locations ✦ 2 points per $1 on dining, travel and entertainment ✦ 1 point per $1 on all other purchases ✦ 1 point per $1 on cash advances Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Comenity. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 2.5K Tier Credits after $5K spend in calendar year ✦ 2.5K Tier Credits after $10K spend in calendar year ✦ 15K Tier Credits after $50K spend in calendar year (i.e. Diamond status) Noteworthy perks: $50 slot play at Caesars Rewards destinations ✦ $100 dining credit at Caesars Rewards destinations ✦ 1 complimentary hotel night (anniversary bonus) at Caesars Rewards destinations (up to $300) ✦ Platinum status upgrade when using card within first 90 days of approval ✦ 2,500 Tier Credits when making a purchase outside of Caesars Rewards destinations within first 90 days of approval |
On a bit of a whim, I decided to apply for the Caesars Rewards Prestige card. This card isn’t terribly interesting on the surface, with a welcome bonus of 20,000 Rewards credits (worth $200) and 2,500 tier credits after meeting the minimum spending requirements.
However, this card could be worth considering for spending toward Caesars elite status. A few months ago, I wrote about the idea of spending on this card for Diamond status for the complimentary Atlantis Bahamas stay. I actually concluded that it didn’t make sense to spend big on the card, but I’m actually thinking about doing it, anyway.
As it turns out, I think I will be in Las Vegas for a few days this summer, so I should be able to use the $100 Caesars dining credit that comes with this card and the $50 free slot play. And with tax time here and some other large purchases coming up, I might be able to easily meet the spend for Diamond status. If I did complete $50K spend on this card, I’d end up with 22,500 total tier credits. That would put me just 2,500 tier credits short of Diamond Plus status. I’m somewhat interested in seeing how easily I could meet that while in Las Vegas in order to be able to get the complimentary Atlantis Bahamas stay without any resort fee (during select months — read more in this post). I’m also interested in Diamond Plus status for future status match opportunities since there have been some matches that required that higher level of status.
If plans do come together as I expect, I think I’ll be in Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker, which is hosted at Caesars properties. Rewards credits can not be redeemed for good value toward entry to WSOP events, but I’m curious to see if I can find a way to effectively turn my rewards credits into a buy-in to a smaller event. The Main Event is a bucket list item for me, but I expect that to be a far-off retirement-era bucket list item. This year, I’ll be eyeing one of the much smaller buy-in events as I’ve always wanted to play an in-person event with a huge field.
All of this is a half-baked idea at best, but I figured I’d throw my hat in the ring for the card. My application wasn’t instantly approved, but I’ve read that it is somewhat common for Comenity Bank to send a physical mailer to verify identity, so I’ll keep my eye out for that, and we’ll see where this one goes. For what it’s worth, I had a pre-approval pop-up for either Caesars card when logging in to my Caesars Rewards account, so I feel like I’ve got a pretty good shot here.
Bottom line
Having recently given a lot of air time to the the cards I intend to close, I thought it fair to share which cards I’ve actually been opening. To be clear, this post is not meant to be a list of recommendations for cards to open. On the contrary, these cards are not among the first I would recommend for someone looking for a new card or two. However, writing this post reminds me that we all come at this hobby with different goals, and sometimes choosing cards is more situational (as opposed to being motivated solely by the intro bonus).
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Have the rules for the Sapphire changed again, or have you really never had one?
And JetBlue? I would have thought that if there were one family that didn’t need JetBlue miles it would be the Reyes!
Ha! We don’t need the miles, but I’ll take the 10% back on redeeming the 1.3mil miles!
Never had a CSR. Had a CSP a decade ago, but haven’t had that for many years.
If you don’t want to bother with the ink cash office supply gift card trick, why not just get the PayPal debit card for your Costco spend? Their grocery category includes warehouse clubs, and you get 5% back on your monthly chosen category.
“Approval was not instant; I received a call from the Chase fraud prevention team to verify that I had applied for the card.” I’ve had that experience on multiple Chase applications, despite having multiple cards already.
Nick–you had me at “I was not approved for the Bilt Palladium”. What was that about? Was that part of the Bilt meltdown in the early days and did you follow up with them? I’ve been sent to reconsideration many times (with over 30 credit cards, that is more of the norm lately), but I’ve never been flat out rejected for a card I wanted, and I’m guessing that is true with you as well.
My understanding is that they don’t have any recon. No idea – rejection mentioned lack of real estate loan information and too many cards with balances. I had a handful of card statements close with relatively small balances, but having been approved for the CSR a day earlier (with a $20K+ limit, and it’s far from my only Chase card), I didn’t think it was anything that would cause an issue. Certainly under 10% until. I rolled my eyes audibly and figured I’d just try again after 45 days.
Im confused, when you say “warehouse club spend”, are you referring to things like Costco? To me that’s the perfect use case for the Ink Cash 5x office supply store/visa gift card trick. Earning 5x Chase points seems much better than 3% cash back, but maybe you’re already capped at the 25k/year spend at office supply stores? Can’t think of any other reason why you wouldnt do that
We don’t have Costco where we live, so it’s a different warehouse club for in-store spend.
I do still have a Costco membership and I order online, but I’m spending more than $200 when I’m ordering online, so VGCs are not useful for me for that.
Buying gift cards and using them for in-person spend is a good strategy for people willing to track the cards. We aren’t. I have negative interest in having to track a stack of VGCs (which is to say that I am actively disinterested in that strategy). And I know that there is no way on earth that P2 is going to do that — cards would get mixed together in her purse and we would endlessly be balance checking cards and getting locked out of balance checking because the balance check site doesn’t like when you balance check too many at a time, etc. Again, that’s not to say that it’s a bad strategy if it works for you, it is just more complication that we want. Add on top of that the fact that the closest Staples is 70 miles each way and we can’t always make a 140-mile round trip when those are on sale and it just isn’t a strategy that fits for us.
ah that makes sense. yeah my P2 was hesitant for it but I basically go to staples, pick up the gift cards, put them in her wallet in the right spot, so she has to do minimal thinking, just pulls from the stack i put in there for her
Why do you need a 3x card when you can get a 5x UR card with the Onk Cadh and Staples for Debit cards for all purchases that don’t need a credit card’s protections?
See my comments above. To your point about earning 5x “on all purchases that don’t need a credit card’s protections”, you’re missing a lot of things. I bought a mattress online the other day — couldn’t use $200 GCs on that. Also ordered a bunch of bedding that was more than $200. Neither of those things were from a warehouse store (they were from Tuft & Needle because of an offer for 90% back via C1 Shopping), but my point is that there are a multitude of purchases in the world that can’t be paid in $200 chunks. Beyond that, see my comment above about why we don’t go that route for groceries and that type of thing.
Wow, you really blew past 5/24 for some seemingly mediocre cards. I guess if you’re gonna go past 5/24 better to blow past it asap and get back under in 2 years. Still, it’s interesting how different people have totally different priorities.
I did an AS biz, grabbed a CIU just before the ink train derailed late last year, got an Aspire NLL just in time to cancel my previous one, and just recently the Marriott, shit, boundless? I don’t know, the one with 5 free night certs. Happy with the return on spend, and thankfully no coupon books. I’m now at 4/24, but not seeing a whole lot of great biz cards for the next one.
Ink train is done, CSP/CSR are now once-in-a-lifetime, so why would anyone be bothering with 5/24? That’s a beginner type of metric.
For me, 5/24 only matters for Companion Pass. My husband earned CP in January so we are good until January 2028.
So long as I am below 5/24 when its my turn to apply for a credit card to earn CP, then I don’t really care until then. I will spend the rest of 2026 and most of 2027 above 5/24, but am shooting to be back below 5/24 by September/October 2027 so that I can apply for a Southwest card if the big SUB is offered in the fall. But, a lot can change in the next two years, and who knows whether CP will still be possible without A List status in 2028. But CP is a big benefit for us as STL is a Southwest hub, and so Southwest is our positioning airline and domestic airline.
lol “why would anyone be bothering with 5/24” well maybe Nick should have since he didnt even get the Biz Unlimited until now!
I’ve written before about how, in my opinion, many people wildly overvalue being/staying/getting under 5/24. The only reason I did was to get the Companion Pass. Otherwise, I have the Chase cards I want — and the ability to maybe get a couple of 75K bonuses isn’t worth sacrificing the constant barrage of good offers on the market IMO. As a blogger, I sit in a unique place in the ability to sometimes get a Companion Pass via referrals, but I needed to have a Southwest card to be able to do that. So, for me, having a Southwest card was both a near-term and long-term play that had more future value than just the welcome offer now. If not for the desire to have that avenue, I probably wouldn’t have found it worth continuing to forsake other card bonuses.
No argument that these cards had relatively mediocre bonuses, but the only one I got strictly for the bonus was the CSR, and that only because I wanted to get another card while under 5/24 and it was the best overall first year deal for me. Otherwise, this round was about cards I want for more specific reasons — the Southwest card for CP, the Palladium for easy Bilt Gold / 3x on unbonused spend (of which we have quite a bit every year), the JetBlue card to effectively increase the buying power of the 25 for 25 points and make a play toward status, the Venmo card for 3% warehouse clubs, and the Caesars card for some fun experiments.
Good news for you: we are a dual Companion Pass family and routinely book a single parent reservation, then each add a companion. Only my husband has a top-tier Southwest card and his benefit lets us choose extra legroom seats for all four of us. It does get annoying to do three separate check ins but that’s a small price to pay for half price travel as a family.
Have you done that since January 27th? I understand it was a recent change that made this no longer possible (the reader who wrote me about it had also routinely done it as you describe before).