Updated 8/2/18 at 2pm PT: The current highest Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card offer is 100,000 IHG points after spending $3,000 in 3 months + $50 statement credit after first purchase. Read this post for more info.
Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. I wanted to give a special thank you to the members of the Front Range Travel Hackers meetup group in Denver. I had a great time speaking with you guys on Saturday afternoon. I have a few other posts about Denver, but today, I wanted to talk about my mini July App-O-Rama. Last Wednesday, I applied for 2 new credit cards: the American Express Hilton Honors Business Credit Card and the Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card. Let’s talk about the first card now.
After you click on the ad, you will see the personal American Express Hilton Honors Credit Card. To apply for the American Express Hilton Honors Business Credit Card, click the Business Card link at the top of the page and click the Apply Now button. Fill out the application and hope for an instant approval.
Unfortunately, I got a pending decision. I was expecting that and decided to wait for a call or letter from American Express. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait too long…
About 3 hours later, I got a call from the American Express business credit card department. The rep said that American Express could not approve me for a new credit card because I already had 4 credit cards and had no more open credit card slots (you can have up to 4 credit cards and unlimited charge cards with American Express). Before the rep finished his sentence, I said that I could close one of my older credit cards to open up a credit card slot. He said that was exactly what he was going to recommend, so I told him to close my American Express Blue Cash Everyday Credit Card (I had $8 in cash back rewards that I gave up) and he was able to approve me for the American Express Hilton Honors Business Credit Card. He said he would expedite the delivery of the card and sent it via UPS Next Day Air. Shortly after the call, I received this email. Looks like American Express needs to update their template for business credit cards because it shows the American Express Green Business Credit Card logo and mentions American Express OPEN, which is actually CLOSED! Anyway, I was glad the approval process was pretty easy. The rep didn’t ask me any questions about my business or verify any of my information other than the billing/mailing address.
Updated 8/2/18 at 2pm PT: The current highest Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card offer is 100,000 IHG points after spending $3,000 in 3 months + $50 statement credit after first purchase. Read this post for more info.
After submitting my application for the American Express Hilton Honors Business Credit Card, I decided to go for the Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card. Right now, you can get the Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card with 80,000 IHG Points and a $50 statement credit, unfortunately the $89 annual fee not waived (thanks Doc). This offer was originally only available when you did a dummy IHG booking, but now the direct link to the offer is available. If you sign up through an affiliate link or a referral link, the $50 statement credit is not offered, so the $50 statement credit offer is currently the best available offer.
The $50 statement credit posts after your first purchase and the 80,000 IHG Points post after you spend $2,000 within the first 3 months. This credit card comes with an annual free night certificate worth up to 40,000 IHG Points. And if you redeem IHG Points for stays of 4 nights or longer, you get the points back for the 4th night. I currently have the Chase IHG Rewards Select Credit Card which offers a free night certificate at any IHG hotel (I believe the uncapped free night certificate is going away in the next year or so). I’m hoping to stack the free night certificates and use them for back to back hotel stays. I’m not sure what will happen if I use points for a 1-3 night stay. Will I get the 10% rebate that comes with the Chase IHG Rewards Select Credit Card? Time will tell.
After I submitted my application, Chase asked if I wanted to change the annual income I stated on the application. I put my current salary on the application, so I did not want to change my answer. I clicked the Submit button and hoped for an instant approval.
Unfortunately, I got another pending decision. Darn! I decided to play it cool again and wait for a call or letter from Chase. Luckily, I only had to wait a few days to find out that I was approved.
2 days later, I was using the Chase mobile app to check my Chase credit card balances and I spotted a new credit card at the bottom. After further investigation, it turned out to be my new Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card. I had been approved with a $2,000 credit limit, but never received any email from Chase regarding the approval. A $2,000 credit limit is pretty small, but I don’t expect to put much spend on this credit card after meeting the minimum spend requirement. So when in doubt, log into your Chase account (via the website or app) and see if you were silently approved for a new Chase credit card.
If you have any questions about either credit card, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Do you have any concerns about the recent reports of Chase closing newly opened and longstanding accounts after getting a new Chase card based on having too many new accounts (non-Chase accounts) in your recent credit history? I would like to apply for the IHG card, but I’ve been churning cards from other issuers pretty heavily (over 24 new cards in the past 24 months).
I got a Chase Marriott Rewards Biz CC a few months ago without problem, I think my Chase account is fine. I have a few new accounts at other banks, but not a ton of new CCs. Everyone has to take into account their own risk tolerance.
Same thing happened to my mom with her Chase Hyatt as did your IHG, prompt to change income, answered no, pending decision, card showed up on her online account, but she got a 9k limit.
I don’t know why Chase asks that question about income. It’s strange. PS I’m standing in a Chase Branch right now :)
Always enjoy the new post. Congrats! Two new cards were in the wallet!! About the new IHG card, can I get the sign up bonus if having the old card on hand?
Yes, I believe you can have the old and new IHG CC.
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Hi Grant — Thanks for the great post. It’s always interesting to see what others are up to in their credit card applications. You call this an app-o-rama, but my understanding is that app-o-rama’s (whereby you apply for multiple cards on the same day) no longer benefit the applicant, since the credit score companies no longer combine multiple hard inquiries made on the same day, into one. Is that not true? — or are there other benefits still to applying for multiple cards on the same day? Thanks!
Credit card companies will still combine inquiries if they are made on the same day. Credit card companies and credit reporting agencies now report inquiries much faster, so the days of getting 6-8 credit cards at one time before the other credit card companies knew what you were doing are over. Some think App-O-Ramas are dead, but I still like to apply for new credit cards every 3-4 months.
So if I understand correctly, if I apply for 4 cards on the same day, I should only end up with 1 hard inquiry dinging my credit, but it’s likely that the fourth card I apply for, will know that I applied for the other 3 earlier in the day. Is that sort of how it works?
The credit inquiries will only combine if you apply through the same credit card company. Don’t try to apply for 4 credit cards from the same credit card company on the same day. If you apply for 4 credit cards from 4 different credit card companies, your odds should be higher.
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