Good morning everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading about my credit card decisions surrounding keeping, closing, or converting my credit cards after the annual fees post. Check out my thoughts on my Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Ink Plus Business credit cards; and my American Express Hilton Ascend and SPG Business credit cards. As a reminder, here are all the credit cards and their annual fees. In today’s post, I am going to cover both the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card and Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card. Are they worth keeping, should I close them, or should I convert them to another credit card?
- Chase Sapphire Reserve – $450 (posted 4/1)
- Chase Ink Plus Business – $95 (posted 4/1)
- American Express Hilton Ascend – $95 (posted 4/3)
- American Express SPG Business – $95 (posted 4/6)
- Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business – $75 (posted 4/2)
- Citi AT&T Access More – $95 (posted 4/4)
- US Bank FlexPerks Gold – $85 (posted 4/3)
- Wells Fargo Propel World – $175 (posted 3/31)
Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card
The $75 annual fee just posted on my Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card. I’ve had several Alaska Airlines credit cards over the years, so the pattern has always been: sign up for the credit card, meet the minimum spending requirements, receive the sign up bonus, redeem the Alaska Airlines Companion Ticket, then close the credit card when the annual fee posts. I see no reason why I should break the pattern now. The only reason to wait to close the credit card when the annual fee posts (instead of closing the credit card sooner) is to receive another Alaska Airlines Companion Ticket (good for another flight).
I wasn’t sure when the Alaska Airlines Companion Ticket would post to my Alaska Airlines account, so I logged into my account and checked. Surprisingly, the Alaska Airlines Companion Ticket discount code was already in my account with an expiration date of March 11, 2019. I am not sure where that date came from, but now I don’t have to wait any longer before closing this credit card.
Decision: Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card will be closed. I plan on applying for another Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card during my upcoming credit card App-O-Rama. Bank of America business credit cards are not affected by the new 2/3/4 Rule.
Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card
I have 3 Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards, one of which was originally a Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card with the $650 AT&T phone credit. The other 2 credit cards were converted from Citi Forward -> Citi Thank You Preferred -> Citi AT&T Access -> Citi AT&T Access More; and Citi Prestige -> Citi AT&T Access -> Citi AT&T Access More. If you are interested, you can read about the process of converting Citi credit cards to Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards. I am not sure which Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card had their annual fee post in March, but it doesn’t really matter. I made sure to spend $10,000 on this credit card over the year so that I would receive 10,000 bonus Citi Thank You Points when the annual fee posted. I called Citi to see if they could waive the $95 annual fee since I have a few Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards, but the rep said they could not waive the fee on this credit card. Bummer.
Decision: Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card is a keeper, as long as Citi Thank You Points still have good transfer partners.
Do you agree with my decision to close the Bank of American Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card and keep the Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card? Would you have done the same thing? If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
BOA has become extremely strict about approving their Alaska Business cards. They now request documentation of your business revenue and the business’s financial standing. If you don’t have the documentation to get approved for another business card and you value the companion credit at $75, I would not close the Alaska card.
I already closed my previous Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card. I tried to apply for another card yesterday and got a pending decision. I’ll see what Bank of America does.
I want to apply AS Biz card too but don’t have stable biz. Pls share your result.
As long as you are honest on your application, you don’t need to have a ton of business income to get approved.
When you cancel the card do you get the annual fee refunded even though you get to keep the companion fare?
Hi Steve, yes, but the timing is important. The Alaska Airlines companion fare code will load to your Alaska Airlines account usually 2-4 weeks after the annual fee is billed. You need to wait for the companion fare code to post to your Alaska Airlines account before you close your Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card. You usually have about 30 days to do that after the annual fee is billed.
If I had to choose between getting the companion fare code and avoiding the $75 fee, I’d avoid the fee. Given the state of things this year, I’m not sure we’ll be able to use the companion fare code. We never even found a good use of last year’s.
I’m in the same boat as you. I haven’t used the companion fare I received last year, but it looks like Alaska Airlines extended the expiration date through 12/31/20.
Hey ,
Alaska Bussiness CC , is telling me if I close my account . I have 90 days to use my miles or they will claw back / will Lose them . Do you know if it’s true ? It . doesn’t make sense
That doesn’t make sense. Once the miles are in your Alaska Airlines account, they are yours to keep and the expiration date is based on the Alaska Airline frequent flyer program. See what the expiration date is if your miles. Then you can close your credit card.