Updated 8/10/2015: New cards added and existing cards updated.
Grant’s Credit Cards
Keeping track of your credit card numbers, expiration dates, customer service numbers, sign up bonuses, annual fees, and more is important. If you want to keep track of all your credit cards, feel free to download and use my Credit Card Organizer Template.xlsx file.
Chase:
- Hyatt Hotel – opened in November 2012, paid $75 annual fee for free night certificate
- IHG Hotel – opened in November 2013, paid $49 annual fee for free night certificate
- Freedom – converted from Sapphire (Basic) in December 2013 (post)
- Ink Bold Visa Business – opened in March 2014 (post), paid $95 annual fee and received 10,000 bonus Chase Ultimate Reward Point retention offer (post)
- Ink Plus Visa Business – opened in September 2014 (post)
- Ritz-Carlton – opened in December 2014 (post)
- British Airways – opened in March 2015 (post)
- Amazon – opened in January 2012, closed in November 2012
- British Airways – opened in April 2012, closed in November 2012
- Ink Bold MasterCard Business – opened in April 2012, paid $95 annual fee twice and received $95 statement credit retention offers twice, closed in September 2014
- United Airlines – opened in May 2012, paid $95 annual fee and received 10,000 bonus United Airlines miles retention offer, closed in May 2014
- Marriott Premier – opened in August 2012, paid $89 annual fee twice and received free night certificate twice, closed in March 2015
- Sapphire Preferred – opened in August 2012, downgraded to Chase Sapphire (Basic) in August 2013
- Southwest Airlines Premier – opened in August 2013, paid $99 annual fee and received 3,000 bonus Southwest Airlines miles retention offer, closed in March 2015
- Sapphire Basic – converted from Chase Sapphire Preferred in August 2013, converted to Chase Freedom in December 2013
- Southwest Airlines Plus – opened in June 2014 , closed in July 2015
- United Airlines – opened in September 2014, closed in August 2015
Citi:
- Forward – opened in April 2012
- Hilton HHonors Reserve – opened in February 2013, paid $95 annual fee twice and received free weekend night certificate twice
- American Airlines (MC) – opened in June 2013 (post), paid $95 annual fee and received 3,000 bonus American Airlines miles retention offer
- Double Cash #1 – converted from Citi Dividend World Elite in February 2015 (post)
- Prestige – opened in Citi Branch in April 2015 (post)
- Premier – opened in April 2015 (post)
- Double Cash #2 – converted from Citi American Airlines Executive in July 2015 (post)
- American Airlines Business – opened in July 2015 (post)
- ThankYou Premier – opened in February 2012, closed in February 2013
- American Airlines (AMEX) – opened in November 2012, converted to Citi Dividend World Elite (MC) in December 2013
- Dividend World Elite – converted from Citi American Airlines (AMEX) in December 2013, converted to Citi Double Cash in February 2015
- American Airlines Executive #1 – opened in March 2014, closed in April 2015
- American Airlines Executive #2 – opened in June 2014, converted to Citi Double Cash in July 2015
American Express:
- Mercedes Benz / Personal Platinum – opened in November 2013 (post)
- Old Blue Cash – opened in September 2014 (post)
- Blue Cash Everyday – downgraded from AMEX Blue Cash Preferred in July 2015
- Everyday – opened in July 2015 (post)
- Delta SkyMiles Gold – opened in September 2011, closed in August 2012
- Blue Cash Everyday – opened in May 2012, upgraded to AMEX Blue Cash Preferred in May 2013
- Starwood Preferred Guest Personal – opened in May 2012, paid $65 annual fee, closed in April 2014
- Delta SkyMiles Gold Business – opened in July 2012, closed in November 2012
- Starwood Preferred Guest Business – opened in July 2012, closed in December 2012
- Premier Rewards Gold Business – opened in November 2012, closed in December 2012
- Hilton HHonors – opened in November 2012, upgraded to AMEX Hilton HHonors Surpass in November 2013
- Hilton HHonors Surpass – upgraded from AMEX Hilton HHonors in November 2013, closed in November 2014
- Premier Rewards Gold – opened in June 2014, closed in May 2015
- Blue Cash Preferred – upgraded from AMEX Blue Cash Everyday in May 2013 (post), downgraded to AMEX Blue Cash Everyday in July 2015
Bank of America:
- Virgin Atlantic – opened in March 2015 (post)
- Better Balance Rewards – converted from Bank of America Alaska Airlines in May 2015 (post)
- Alaska Airlines – opened in July 2015 (post)
- Spirit Airlines – opened in July 2015 (post)
- BankAmeriCard – opened in August 2012, closed in December 2012
- Hawaiian Airlines – opened in December 2012, closed in November 2013
- Virgin Atlantic – opened in December 2012, closed in November 2013
- Alaska Airlines – opened in November 2013, closed in November 2014
- Alaska Airlines Business – opened in March 2014, closed in March 2015
- Alaska Airlines Platinum – opened in June 2014, closed in March 2015
- Alaska Airlines – opened in March 2015, converted to Bank of America Better Balance Rewards in May 2015, $75 annual fee refunded
US Bank:
- Club Carlson Personal – opened in November 2013 (post)
- FlexPerks Visa – opened in March 2014, took 2 weeks to approve card (post)
- Club Carlson Business – opened in July 2014, required a bank visit for approval (post)
- FlexPerks AMEX – opened in March 2015 (post)
- Cash Plus – opened in July 2015 (post)
Other Credit Cards:
- PayPal Extras MasterCard – opened in June 2012 (post)
- Discover It – opened in March 2014 (post)
- Ebates Cash Back Card – opened in July 2015 (post)
If you need help planning your next App-O-Rama or finding the perfect credit card for your wallet, please fill out my Credit Card Questionnaire.
Pingback: Grant’s 17 Open Credit Cards | Travel with Grant
Chase: I have United & Hyatt – will probably do Sapphire, SW, or the RC card next AOR
Citi: AA Visa, AA MC, Hilton HHonors Reserve, and regular HH Visa – what should I get next?
American Express: Costco & HH Surpass – will get AMEX with 30K SPG bonus points
Capital One: Venture, have had this card in one version or another since 2002. No foreign transaction fees but lousy exchange rate.
US Bank: Club Carlson Rewards Visa Signature card – would like to get the better version, the Premier card next.
Barclay’s: Have the US Airways MC – what should I get next?
My last AOR was in January.
No bank of america cards? I like the Alaska Airlines 30K points after approval plus a companion ticket.
Chase, wait for the 50k SWA card bonus to come back, maybe go for an Ink card.
Citi hmm, you have all the cards I have, so no more recommendations from me.
AMEX, I like the Blue Cash Preferred for the 6% cash back at grocery stores, bu the SPG card is probably better to get at this moment.
Cap One, there is a new card that came out called the Quicksilver card, I havent done much research on that card.
Barclays, you could go for the 40k Arrival Card or wait for a better sign up bonus on the Lufthansa card. Barclays hates me so I dont have any cards from them.
BoA hates me … so, I will have the wife apply for the Alaska Airlines card.
Don’t have a business to get the Ink card, so will go maybe for the Sapphire one. If I can get the 140K points RC card, maybe that’s a better option.
Will take a break from the Citi applications until the next churn and then will do another AA card … by then I will have more than 18 months lull between AA applications.
That sounds like a good strategy. It’s good you can have your wife apply for the BOA AS card. I have both my parents apply for cards, it works out pretty well most of the time.
All your cards are brand new… Does your average age of credit not hurt your score? You mind me asking your score?
You are right Jacob. When I check on Credit Karma, it says my avg age of accounts is 1 yr 3 months which constitutes an ‘F’ rating.
My oldest open account says 6 years, which is probably a card my mom added me as an authorized user.
How would I know how much I have spent on my american express gold card for the 15k bonus points when I spent 30k per calendar year?
Probably the easiest way would be to call American Express and have them tell you how much you spent in 2013. If you want to do it yourself, you can look at month by month or look at your yearly summary to see all your charges for 2013.
In the last month I got approved for the Sapphire Preferred, Citi AAdvantage world Mastercard, and Barclays Us Air Card. I also applied for the Ink Bold but haven’t found out about approval yet. I was wondering if I could apply for more cards now or should I hold off for a while? My credit score is 780.
I would wait a few months before applying for any new cards.
When you close your cards, do they automatically move the credit around or you have to ask specifically? Also got turned down for ink bold after recon: reason not enough sales, I had $3500 sales. I read that ppl didn’t call recon & after few days they got auto approved. Maybe I should try that strategy. I also have quicksilver card which gives 1.5% cash back in all purchases..
I’m surprised you got shut down. I know people who have less income and still got approved. They might have looked at your personal credit score and denied you for that. If you have good credit, I would call back again and see if the will re-reconsider your application. I always ask them to move credit around before closing the card. Some will and some won’t let you.
Grant — in your experience, what are the potential negative implications of having so many cards open? We aren’t planning to buy a new house anytime soon, but would you recommend not opening so many cards if you are going to buy a house soon?
what’s the best statement closing date you recommend Grant?
I try to get all my statements to close at the same time each month so I know to pay all my bills around that time. With that said, I really like the first of the month since I get my miles/points “as soon as possible”, but I don’t think there is a best day.
Grant — For some reason I was declined for the Ink Bold card when I applied online (which is strange because my credit score is around 775 or so). I got a letter in the mail saying my “Business was too new” and something about “too many apps within a short period of time” This was about a month or so ago… Do you think it would make a difference if I called and applied over the phone? I don’t want to put too many hard hits on my credit score, especially if I am going to get declined! Any tips you have about increasing odds of getting approved would be most appreciated!
When you don’t get automatically approved, you should call the reconsideration number and speak with a credit analyst. They usually have the power to overturn what the computer says. If you don’t call, you are more likely to get declined. This is just my personal experience.
this maybe old but if everyone knew about this please ignore my comments. I just called Citi Bank to move some revolving credit from my Citi Dividend (> 12k credit) to my Citi Premier (~8k credit). I was told they no longer doing that and it’s a new policy. I talk with the account manager for over 20 mins since I been with Citi-bank more than 12 yrs and i have the Dividend Card since I join Citi-BAnk and Premier card for 5 yrs if they can do a favor which they turn me down flat. Unless i’m doing it wrong please correct me. thank you.
Thanks for the data point KDY. I’ve only tried to move credit around when applying for a new credit card. I wonder if the reconsideration department is the only department that can move credit lines around. You can try sending a secure message to Citi online and see if they can help you.
thanks, i’ll try that.
Hi Grant
Your credit card questionnaire is down/removed , was hoping for some shared wisdom for new cc’s.
I’m new to the hobby (actually returning to it); did this in the late ’80s when AT&T universal first came out…churned AAA traveller checks to earn multiple international first class flights in just a couple of months. (I’m willing to do unnatural things for a good oppty).
My spending is non-typical ; approx $40k per year at Marr, using their cc, which pays out at 10:1 (due to cc bonuses for Marr spend plus preferred platinum status)..currently going to MR points.
Id like to get your input without publishing all my spend patterns on the blog. Do you still offer the questionnaire? Thanks in advance
I was unaware that the credit card questionnaire was down. I’ll try to get it back up tomorrow morning but you can always email me directly as well. Have a good night.
Good morning Chris, here is the link to the credit card questionnaire: http://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/credit-cards/which-credit-card-should-i-get/
Grant,
How do you maintain your Citi Cards… as their online system is too bad as you cannot Have multiple Cards under same Login.. don’t you think it Is a pain?
I have 8 Citi credit cards and use 3 different logins. The Citi AA Business and Citi Hilton HHonors cards each have their own login, everything else is in my main Citi online account. It is a total pain!