The Cards - App-O-Rama Part 2

Disclaimer: I receive a commission for the following link(s):  Barclays US Airways Card

Related Posts

Part 1 - App-O-Rama Intro

Part 3 - Credit Card Application Status
Part 4 - Avoiding annual fees

Part 5 - Affect on your credit score

Current Active Cards in My Name 

My wife (ie - singing up for her) has a bunch more, but that isn't relevant here.  Spouses are completely separate when it comes to credit cards and credit card bonuses.

Before any applications it's important to analyze the cards you have between yourself and your spouse to see if there are any glaring holes.  I haven't shown you all of our cards, but I can think of one.  Neither of us has a Chase Business card.  Chase business cards get you 5% cashback at office supply stores (staples, etc.), cable, phone and internet.  Therefore, this will definitely be one of the cards I apply for.

Once you have plugged every hole, you can start apply for cards based on sign up bonuses.

I use the following guidelines, but they are not set in stone:

• Every 6 months (see part 1), if they have a good bonus, I tend to apply for one card from each major credit card company: Chase, Amex and Citibank.  One business card and one personal card is ok too.
• I usually apply for one more card as well, but not necessarily.

New cards I will Apply For

Chase United - Currently 30,000, but I hope to be matched to the old 50,000 bonus offer.  We'll see how that goes

Chase Ink Bold - Currently 50,000, but I hope to be matched to the 60,000 bonus offer.  I chose the Ink Bold over the Ink Plus even though they have the same sign up offer because the Ink Bold is a charge card and Ink Plus is a credit card.  A charge card must be paid in full each month while you can carry a balance on a credit card.  This allows me to tell Chase when I apply to the credit card that I want this card because it allows me to carry a balance so that I can get both sign up bonuses.

Citibank AA Mastercard/Barclays US Airways - American Airlines and US Airways are set to merge this year and their miles will combine.  This is one of the last opportunites to double dip by getting both US airways and American airlines miles.

Barclays NFL - I can't decide between this one and the US Airways.  I am leaning toward the NFL because I like cold, hard cash.  Also, the US Airways card has an annual fee that isn't waived the first year.

PenFed - Penfed cards can be hard to get, but the rewards are good.  5% back on Airline purchases.

My Haul

If all goes right, here is what I can come away with:

• 115,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.  
• Can be redeemed for $1,150
• 80,000 points is free round trip to Israel (I always measure in terms of trips to Israel because that is my ultimate plan on how to use most of these points).
• 80,000 American Airlines/US Airways points or 40,000 AA and the NFL card
• 90,000 AA points get you to Israel. 
• $400 from the NFL card
• $200 from Penfed

Spending Requirements

Assuming I go for the NFL card and not the US Airways card, I will need to spend $15,000 in 3 months.  This would basically be impossible without Vanilla Reload cards and Bluebird, but not terribly difficult with them.  Learn more about Bluebird and Vanilla Reloads here.