Contemplating My Next Credit Card Applications
It’s been about three months since my last round of credit card applications, so I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to get next.
I most recently applied for the Citi Hilton Reserve and the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Business cards. I’ve already used the two weekend night certificates from the Citi Hilton Reserve card to book two nights at the Conrad Hong Kong for my trip there later this year, and the 50,000 bonus miles from the Chase card have already posted to my United account. I’m also well on my way to hitting the $10,000 annual spend requirement for the anniversary weekend night for the Citi Hilton Reserve card.
For my next round of credit card applications, I know I’ll be applying for at least one of the US Bank Club Carlson cards as I’d love to use the points for a stay in Helsinki later this year. One of the best features of the card is getting a free night for any award redemption, so I can essentially get two award nights for the price of one, which is perfect for my two day trip. I’m a little bit nervous, though, as US Bank is notorious for denying people’s credit card applications for too many recent inquiries, and even if I do get approved, I don’t know if the points will post in time for me to make my redemption. Nonetheless, this will be on my list of cards, but I need to figure out if I’m just going to apply for the personal version or if I’ll try to double up and get the business version as well.
Beyond the US Bank Club Carlson card, I don’t really know what to do. If I apply for both the personal and business versions of the card, then I’m committing myself to $5,000 of spend within the first three months, which is completely doable, but I probably don’t want to sign myself up for tons more spend.
I’ve considered applying for another Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, as the Alaska Airlines award chart is now much friendlier to most since there are one-way redemptions on most carriers for half the price of a roundtrip. But one of the best parts to the Alaska miles used to be that they had access to partner awards prior to 331 days in advance, so it was a hidden weapon to snag Qantas First Class seats before people with American Airlines miles could get to them, but they’ve eliminated that possibility, so it’s not quite as interesting any more. Alaska is one of the few partners of Emirates, though, and I could save up the miles to redeem for another trip in Emirates First Class. Another shower in the sky could be fun, and the Emirates First Class Lounge in Dubai is one of the most ridiculous places I’ve ever been.
I could also try to get another Citi American Airlines card or another Barclays US Airways card, as I should be ready to churn those right around the time of my next round of applications. And this might be my last good chance to get another Barclays US Airways card if the merger goes through and Barclays stops issuing US Airways cards. Or I could try to pick up another hotel card like the Chase Priority Club or Chase Hyatt.
Thoughts?
According to the FT thread, Citi AA churning is pretty much dead. Just fyi
I know that the churn after 9 days thing is dead, but I think the 12+ month churn is still alive and kicking (which is what mine would be). As a data point, I have a friend who was able to get two new personal cards–after having gotten the two personal cards for 75k each over a year ago–using the double browser trick earlier this month.
Whoa, cool. Question about your friend who did the double browser trick. Did he/she get personal Citi AA cards at the same time? Or was one AA and the other was HHonors?
I thought that the double browser was widely reported as dead.
They were two AA cards at the same time. She ended up getting an error for the second application, but she called in and verified the bonus on both cards. I also have a friend who somehow managed to get three Citi AA cards at the same time, but I think it’s definitely a case of YMMV for trying to get multiple Citi AA cards at the same time now.