Credit card bonus whoring

[Seth]

Just got a Marriott Card with 50,000 points which is like two Courtyard stays. Cost me nothing, and I got a $15,000 limit. Little surprising so low on the credit limit since my credit is over well over 700 (and have 0 debt). I am assuming its a marketing trick where they offer me more points down the road for an increased credit limit. I expected something north of $20K but since I am never using the card it does not matter. I like my other card where I get airline miles.

Thanks Druff, never would have thought of this opportunity. Now I have two free hotel rooms for simply having good credit and not being a fucking loser. Good call on this thread.

[Dan Druff]

Just got a Marriott Card with 50,000 points which is like two Courtyard stays. Cost me nothing, and I got a $15,000 limit. Little surprising so low on the credit limit since my credit is over well over 700 (and have 0 debt). I am assuming its a marketing trick where they offer me more points down the road for an increased credit limit. I expected something north of $20K but since I am never using the card it does not matter. I like my other card where I get airline miles.

Thanks Druff, never would have thought of this opportunity. Now I have two free hotel rooms for simply having good credit and not being a fucking loser. Good call on this thread.

Post the offer here please.

[Seth]

http://www.marriott.com/rewards/earn...ard-rewards.mi

•50,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening
•1 free night stay after account approval (Category 1-4 hotels)
•Unlimited Point Accumulation
•5 points for every $1 spent at over 3,800 Marriott locations
•2 points for every $1 spent on airline tickets purchased directly with the airline, and at car rental agencies & restaurants
•1 point for every $1 spent on purchases anywhere else
•15 credits toward Elite status every year after account anniversary
•Earn 1 Elite credit for every $3,000 spent
•1 free night stay every year after account anniversary (Category 1-5 hotels)
•Pay no foreign transaction fees and enjoy global acceptance with Chip and Signature Technology
•Introductory Annual Fee of $0 the first year, then $85

[Dan Druff]

Okay thanks. I might sign up for that.

Here is a good one for Hilton, who now owns the Waldorf Astoria brand. If you've ever been curious about the Waldorf hotels, but don't want to throw down the big money to stay there, this credit card allows you to get two free weekend nights at nearly any Hilton property, including the Waldorf! Some of these hotels run you like $800/night normally.

You need to spend $2500 on it in the first 4 months.

https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/cr...s-reserve-card

There is a $95 annual fee which is NOT waived.

You have 12 months to use your certificate.

[Dan Druff]

Another good "travel credits" card.

Barclaycard Arrival Plus Mastercard

http://www.barclaycardarrival.com/ar...&cellNumber=24

Spend $3000 in 90 days, get "40,000 miles", which is basically code for $400 off ANY travel expenditure you make in the future.

No annual fee the first year, then $99 after that.

Instant approvals for those with good credit.

[Dan Druff]

BTW Marriott points are said to be worth about 0.5 cents each, so this 50,000 points isn't all that wonderful.

http://thepointsguy.com/2014/05/what...uation-series/

[Dan Druff]

Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select: http://www.aa.com/pubcontent/en_US/d.../BP-PLATHV.jsp

50,000 miles for spending $3,000 in 3 months

This is a personal card, NOT a business card.

Beware that if you opened another personal AAdvantage card in the past 12-24 months, you may or may not be eligible for the 50,000 miles. Make sure to call customer care AFTER receiving the card to make sure you will really get the miles (do this before spending the $3k). If you opened any personal AAdvantage card in the past 12 months, you probably aren't eligible for the miles on this one.

[Dan Druff]

Just got clarification on that Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage card.

Apparently the rule these days is 12 months.

So if it's been 12 or more months since you OPENED your last AAdvantage card, you can get the bonus.

But it's good to call in after you get the card to make sure that it's really attached to your account.

[Dan Druff]

Well, I just booked various flights and hotels with the rewards credit cards I've been posting, and it worked perfectly.

Zero out of pocket.

[Goodpoop]

I know this is an old thread but I'm just getting into the bonus whoring. I've found that if you do not have the expenses to meet some of the minimums you can manufacture spending. The best way seems to be buying Visa Gift Cards that have a pin. You can use these to buy Money Orders to pay the cards back. Has anyone else done this? Yes, I know there is a cost for VGC but if you keep the average price down to less then a penny per point it's worth it.

Example: Amex has if you spend $250 at Best Buy they credit you $25. I have 3 Amex cards so I will buy $750 Best Buy Cards and get $75 statement credit.

I know $75 dollars isn't worth much but I will roll that over to buy 15 $500 VGC to satisfy the $7500 on the AA card that gets you 75,000miles plus the $7500 total of 82500 miles for the cost of ~$75. 100K miles is a 1st class international ticket. Hyatt offers 2 free nights any where if you spend $1000 in 3 months. Just need a few more hotel nights and Europe will be free.

[MumblesBadly]

Check out his story. This guy makes Druff look like a blind squirrel when it comes to CC bonus whoring.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-i...ampaign=buffer

[Dan Druff]

Check out his story. This guy makes Druff look like a blind squirrel when it comes to CC bonus whoring.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-i...ampaign=buffer

Interesting article, and yes, this is basically what I do.

I don't believe this guy's numbers, however. He claims that he took $195,000 worth of trips while spending $14,000. First off, I believe he is playing fast and loose with the "retail value" of his trips to make himself feel better. For example, occasionally an airline will charge outrageous money for a first class seat -- something you wouldn't pay unless you were ridiculously rich. So let's say they are charging $10,000 for a seat actually normally costing $3,000. If you get that same seat for free (via bonus whoring), it doesn't mean you just saved $10,000. It means you just saved $3,000, because there's no way you would have actually paid $10k for that seat, nor was it actually worth that on most other comparable flights or itineraries.

Second, he did this over a period of 6 years. So that makes his accomplishments a bit less exciting, as the trips were spread over a long period of time.

Third, I believe he is just inflating numbers to sound cool in the article.

I can tell you the big hurdle in credit card bonus whoring: You run out of worthwhile offers. I've almost hit that wall myself, and I haven't reaped anywhere NEAR $195,000 in benefits.

There are only a finite number of cards with lucrative signup bonuses, whether travel or cash. Once you've used those up, you have to either wait for new offers, or wait for enough time to pass (usually 18-24 months) from the time you redeemed your last offer on that particular card.

In fact, I try not to overdo getting too many hotel bonuses at once, because they sometimes expire after a year, and I won't be traveling enough to use them all. For example, I got the Hilton and IHG credit cards for their bonuses, but held off on the Marriott one.

But soon enough I will have used up everything, and will only occasionally be able to bonus whore when I find a new product that I haven't signed up for yet. And keep in mind that I have the ability to sign up for BOTH personal and business cards.

My personal threshold is $250. That is, if the bonus isn't worth $250 or more, I don't bother, because it's to much hassle. The only exception is if it's a credit card which has features I would otherwise use. For example, I got a card which gives 3% at gas stations, which also came with a $100 bonus. If it were just the $100 bonus, I wouldn't have bothered.

Anyway, this guy is exaggerating his results, but he is otherwise correct with most of his advice.

I found that credit card bonus whoring doesn't hurt your credit score much. I was ready to take the hit anyway, but it turned out that my FICO score stayed fairly constant.

[Goodpoop]

Check out his story. This guy makes Druff look like a blind squirrel when it comes to CC bonus whoring.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-i...ampaign=buffer

Interesting article, and yes, this is basically what I do.

I don't believe this guy's numbers, however. He claims that he took $195,000 worth of trips while spending $14,000. First off, I believe he is playing fast and loose with the "retail value" of his trips to make himself feel better. For example, occasionally an airline will charge outrageous money for a first class seat -- something you wouldn't pay unless you were ridiculously rich. So let's say they are charging $10,000 for a seat actually normally costing $3,000. If you get that same seat for free (via bonus whoring), it doesn't mean you just saved $10,000. It means you just saved $3,000, because there's no way you would have actually paid $10k for that seat, nor was it actually worth that on most other comparable flights or itineraries.

Second, he did this over a period of 6 years. So that makes his accomplishments a bit less exciting, as the trips were spread over a long period of time.

Third, I believe he is just inflating numbers to sound cool in the article.

I can tell you the big hurdle in credit card bonus whoring: You run out of worthwhile offers. I've almost hit that wall myself, and I haven't reaped anywhere NEAR $195,000 in benefits.

There are only a finite number of cards with lucrative signup bonuses, whether travel or cash. Once you've used those up, you have to either wait for new offers, or wait for enough time to pass (usually 18-24 months) from the time you redeemed your last offer on that particular card.

In fact, I try not to overdo getting too many hotel bonuses at once, because they sometimes expire after a year, and I won't be traveling enough to use them all. For example, I got the Hilton and IHG credit cards for their bonuses, but held off on the Marriott one.

But soon enough I will have used up everything, and will only occasionally be able to bonus whore when I find a new product that I haven't signed up for yet. And keep in mind that I have the ability to sign up for BOTH personal and business cards.

My personal threshold is $250. That is, if the bonus isn't worth $250 or more, I don't bother, because it's to much hassle. The only exception is if it's a credit card which has features I would otherwise use. For example, I got a card which gives 3% at gas stations, which also came with a $100 bonus. If it were just the $100 bonus, I wouldn't have bothered.

Anyway, this guy is exaggerating his results, but he is otherwise correct with most of his advice.

I found that credit card bonus whoring doesn't hurt your credit score much. I was ready to take the hit anyway, but it turned out that my FICO score stayed fairly constant.

So far in the last month I've gotten 2 free nights at Hyatt, 35,000 miles on Delta and 80,000 at Hilton. Total cost of about $32.

[IAmProfessionalTalk]

Opening new credit card accounts is much more of a hassle for victims of identity theft. Someone broke into my car last year downtown Vegas and later used information from stolen W2-Gs to apply for store cards all around town. Thankfully he was unsuccessful due to me immediately freezing my report with all the credit agencies. Now applying for any legitimate new account takes far more effort. No instant approval and must send in lots of documentation. I'm pretty sure some banks won't even take the added risk of flagged reports.

[MumblesBadly]

Anyway, this guy is exaggerating his results,...

Very possibly. Based on my experience, if he's South Asian Indian, I'd put even money odds that he inflated the money saved based on something like full retail price of the tickets. (But I'm not prejudiced! Honest!)

There are only a finite number of cards with lucrative signup bonuses, whether travel or cash.

You do realize that a googolplex (10^10^100) is a finite number, right? So, perhaps you meant "limited number".

[Dan Druff]

Here is proof that my FICO score is not taking that much of a beating from this.

Not a great score, but still fairly good considering the massive bonus whoring I've been doing.

[sonatine]

im not sure how bonus whoring would affect fico scores at all.

fico is strictly math, if your whoring doesnt show up as revolving credit or a particularly high balance being carried*, i dont see how it would ever get factored in. in fact i was just reading about how fico used to be trivially gamed by taking out credit card loans then insta-repaying them.


*obviously im not privy to the exact formulae for fico but the foundations are well defined.

[Dan Druff]

There is what I believe to be a myth about FICO that opening lots of credit cards hurts your FICO score, especially if most of them sit without a balance. Also, closing those accounts after a relatively short time (like 1 year) is also said to massively hurt your score.

This has definitely taken my score from like 815 to this 774, but that's a hit I'm willing to take for the thousands in benefits I have reaped from this.

I say it's a myth because I believe that the effect from these cards is real, but nowhere near as bad as people claim.

For example, when I bought my last car, the dealer agreed to let me charge $10,000 of it on credit cards for no additional fee. So I signed up for various bonus cards and got about $2,000 back from the bonuses, which I cleared instantly and easily through this car purchase.

[sonatine]

I totally hadnt considered the 'opening tons of new cards' factor, which I think can be a huge hit for people who dont have other cards with substantial 'thick folder' credit histories on them. But yeah honestly, if youre not buying a house any time soon, I definitely see where you're getting tons of equity vis a vis bonus clearing.

[Dan Druff]

British Airways Visa Card

$2000 needed to spend in 3 months, then you get 50,000 British Airways "Avios" miles, which can be redeemed pretty well at American Airlines (especially on flights less than 650 miles in the US, where you get HUGE value).

Annual fee of $95 (not waived first year)

https://creditcards.chase.com/credit...edit-card.aspx