Results from my most recent credit card churn

Yes it’s that time of the quarter again. With the wind at my back and a fire in my belly, I was ready for another credit card churn. Here was my list of applications and the results:

Starwood Amex Business – APPROVED (Phone)

10,000 SPG points after first purchase

15,000 points after $5,000 spend in 6 months

$0 annual fee first year ($65 after)

Why I signed up

I signed up for this card to add to the ever-growing SPG balance from my personal card and my girlfriend’s two SPG cards. These points are very valuable as hotel points, with even very nice hotels often costing just 7,000 or 10,000 points per night. They’re also valuable because they transfer to a number of airline miles at a 1:1 ratio, including our favorite program, British Airways. When you transfer 20,000 points to an airline, SPG adds another 5,000 points, so you get 25,000 miles from 20,000 SPG points.

Approval process

I didn’t get an immediate decision on this one, but the landing page after I submitted the application had a number for me to call. Normally I’ve found this means I have to provide some additional information just to prove I really am me. That turned out to be true here, and it only took about 5 minutes on the phone to get an approval on this one.

Chase British Airways – APPROVED (Phone)

25,000 Avios after $2,000 spend in 3 months

25,000 Avios after $10,000 spend in 1 year

25,000 Avios after $20,000 spend in 1 year

$95 annual fee

Why I signed up

This is kind of the mother lode of cards for the traveling we do. DC to Chicago is 9,000 Avios roundtrip, so this card alone, if the signup bonus is achieved, yields 13 roundtrips. Not bad. I had already gotten this card in the 50,000-point version earlier in the year, but I waited until after I closed it and it fell off my Chase login to apply again. It’s very possible I don’t get the signup bonus, since I’ve already had this card and I wasn’t able to find in the blogosphere a definite time period you need to wait to get a Chase signup bonus again. We’ll see.

Approval process

Between my business and personal cards, I already have a ton of credit with Chase, and wasn’t expecting this one to go through instantly. I did get a “pending” so I called into Chase’s reconsideration line (888-245-0625) and asked if there was some information I could provide to get approved. The agent told me I had enough credit with Chase and they weren’t ready to offer more, but I could move the credit line from an existing card I had in order to be approved for this one. Well, this was about as perfect timing as I could’ve asked for since my Southwest annual fee was coming up and I was planning on closing it. They made the swap, no problem.

Barclaycard US Airways – APPROVED (Instant)

35,000 miles after first purchase

$0 annual fee first year ($89 after)

Why I signed up

This is actually my third US Airways card. And not just third of all time. Literally third currently open. I’m not entirely sure why Barclaycard lets me do this, but I will mostly certainly take a free 35,000 US Air miles. On their own they’re great. I can use them to fly any Star Alliance airline and US Airways agents tend to be pretty loose with the routings they’ll allow. But now that they’re merging with American Airlines, I’m just going to sit on them until they magically become AAdvantage miles. Barclaycard also often has a bonus after a few months where they’ll have you spend at least $750 in three consecutive months and get an additional 15,000 miles.

Bank of America Alaska Airlines – APPROVED (Phone)

25,000 miles after approval

$75 annual fee

$100 statement credit after $1,000 spend in 3 months

Why I signed up

Good thing I wrote this post, because it reminded me that I have to get that $100 statement credit! Anyway, the offer on this card essentially is getting paid $25 to receive 25,000 miles. I accept. I’d accept that in pretty much any mileage currency, but Alaska miles are especially valuable. Why? Alaska partners with both American and Delta, meaning that I can use these miles to fly on either airline, or on Alaska itself.

This is my second Alaska card with BoA. I opened my last one about a year ago, and have since closed it. BoA, like Barclaycard, is known for letting you churn cards like this.

Approval process

This was a difficult one. I actually got declined for this one, so I called the BoA reconsideration line (866-530-9829). I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the rep, who asked me all kinds of questions about my income and work and reasons for getting the card despite not using my Hawaiian Airlines card I had with them. She also asked about all the inquiries I had on my credit score. I told her I do not use the Hawaiian card anymore because I do not fly Hawaiian, and that I was trying to build up credit since I left college so that I could show that I’m creditworthy. She put me on hold for about 10 minutes and finally came back and said she could approve me.

Citi ThankYou Preferred – DECLINED

10,000 points after $1,500 spend in 3 months

20,000 points after another $3,000 spend in the following 6 months

No annual fee

Why I signed up

I really like ThankYou points, Citi’s proprietary points currency. They act like cash usable on travel, gift cards, or merchandise, and they’re pretty easy to use. More importantly, however, they’re really easy to earn and they’re valuable. With my Citi Forward for College Students (my version is no longer available for new applicants) I earn 5 ThankYou points for dollar spent at restaurants, which includes bars. As a 20-something, those two categories make up most of my disposable income. Normally ThankYou points are worth 1 cent apiece, but because I also have the ThankYou Premier card, all my ThankYou points, even ones not earned on the Premier, are worth 1.25 cents apiece towards airfare. So basically anytime I use that card I’m earning 6.25 cents back. I would’ve been more than happy to add another 30,000 points from this Preferred card.

I also love cards without annual fees because I can keep them open forever. Lenders like credit card companies look at the age of your oldest account as well as the average age of all of your accounts. Having old cards therefore is a great thing for your credit score.

Approval process

I was declined for this right off the bat when I applied. I called into Citi’s reconsideration line (800-695-5171), which historically has been incredibly unhelpful but more recently has been reported to be able to reverse decisions. An analyst took my information then handed me to a manager to explain why I wasn’t approved. He said I was actually a great candidate for a card but had too many recent inquiries. He also gave me some fantastic insight into how Citi scrutinizes card applicants. He said next year, in 2014, I would probably be approved for the card and that was because my inquiries were in 2013 and they would not be considered in 2014. I’ll be honest, that makes no sense to me from an analytical perspective, but I’ll take it!