Tag Archives: Chase Bank

Master Collection of all of My Reconsideration and Retention Calls

Which Credit Card

Master Collection of all of My Reconsideration and Retention Calls

As an experienced miles and points collector, I can’t stress enough how important it is to be approved for new credit cards (and their huge sign up bonuses) and to keep the best travel credit cards while paying the least amount of annual fees.  Some credit card companies will offer statement credits, either to fully or partially offset the annual fee, just by calling and asking.  Other times, they will offer a “spending challenge” where you will have to spend $X in Y months to get a statement credit or bonus miles/points.  Here are some of my recent conversations concerting reconsideration calls (calls to be approved for new credit cards) and retention calls (calls to minimize or eliminate the annual fee).

For simplicity, green represents good calls (such as being approved or receiving a favorable retention bonus) and red represents bad calls (such as not being approved or not receiving a retention bonus).

Reconsideration Calls (and one Reconsideration Bank Visit):

  • 7/14/14 – US Bank Club Carlson Business Credit Card bank visit (link).  
  • Account approved after a few days.
  • 6/12/14 – Citi American Airlines Executive World MasterCard (link).  
  • Account approved over the phone.
  • 6/12/14 – Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card (link).
  • Account approved over the phone.

Retention Calls:

  • 8/6/14 – Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card (link).
  • Received a category 1-4 free night certificate after spending $1,000 in 3 months.
  • 8/6/14 – Chase Southwest Airlines Premier Credit Card (link).
  • Received 3,000 Southwest Airlines Rapid Reward Points.
  • 7/29/14 – Dad’s Citi American Airlines Platinum MasterCard (link).
  • Received a $95 statement credit.

To read the entire page, please click here.

Don’t Close your Credit Card! Downgrade or Convert to these Credit Cards

Which Credit Card

Downgrade or Convert to these Credit Cards

This post is a combination of my recommendations and the recommendations from readers.  Thank you for contributing to this post.  The big question is, why should you downgrade or convert a credit card instead of closing it outright?

Pros of downgrading or converting a credit card:

  • Downgrading/converting your credit card lengthens the average age of your credit card accounts and improves your credit score (learn more about your credit score here).
  • Downgrading/converting your credit card keeps your credit utilization ratio lower, which is good for your credit score (see link above).
  • Downgrading/converting your credit card keeps your miles/points from expiring or being forfeited back to the credit card company.
  • Downgrading/converting your credit card results in no hard pull of your credit report.
  • Downgrading/converting your credit card is sometimes easier than outright applying.
  • Downgrading/converting your credit card makes it possible to get the same credit card multiple times (like 2 Chase Freedom or Bank of America Better Balance Reward cards).
  • Downgrading/converting your credit card may result in a sign up bonus on the new card (sometimes not, see cons below).

Cons of downgrading or converting a credit card:

  • Downgrading/converting your credit card may result in not get a sign up bonus for the new credit card.
  • Downgrading/converting your credit card may take a long time for the conversion process (Citi takes 60+ days).
  • Downgrading/converting your credit card may cause you to have “too much available credit” and may make it harder to be approved for future credit cards (mostly Barclays, but you can do recon calls to reverse their decision).
  • Downgrading/converting your credit card may interfere with the “churnability” of the credit card.

To read the full article, please click here.  Gotta go watch the Little League World Series now.

Random News: Ads Coming to TWG, Free Paper from Staples, Expiring Hotels.com Credits, Chase Marriott Retention Offer Letter, Uber Airport Rides, British Airways Avios Award Cancellations, and New AMEX Offers

960x250 TWG Logo

Random News: Ads Coming to TWG, Free Paper from Staples, Expiring Hotels.com Credits, Chase Marriott Retention Offer Letter, Uber Airport Rides, British Airways Avios Award Cancellations, and New AMEX Offers

Good evening everyone, let’s get to today’s random news…

First off, as I slowly transition under the Prior2Boarding / BoardingArea umbrella, you will probably notice some changes, like the Prior2Boarding banner showing up at the top of my blog.  I will remain self-hosted, so all my page URLs will stay the same.

Prior2Boarding Logo

I have some bad news for those of you who hate ads (probably all of you).  I have partnered with BoardingArea to show their ads on my blog.  You will see them in the coming days on the right hand side of my blog and toward the bottom of the blog.  If you use an ad blocking software/plugin, I won’t be mad.  I actually use Chrome’s Adblock Plus myself.  If the ads are really annoying, distracting, or obstructing content, please let me know ASAP and I will fix them.  Thank you for understanding.

Now to the good stuff…

Like clockwork, Staples has another ream of paper that is free after rebate and coupon.  These reams go for about $2 at garage sales, so stock up!

Staples Paper Rebate 8-17-2014

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TWG is Flying to Cabo this Weekend on Southwest Airlines

SWA MEX

TWG is Flying to Cabo this Weekend on Southwest Airlines

Buenos noches amigas! (No need for Google translate) Good evening friends, I am taking a really early or really late spring break trip to Cabo this weekend.  As far as I know, Southwest only flies non-stop to Cabo from Orange County, CA (SNA) and Denver (DEN).  I got a good deal on my flight and it only cost 11,400 SWA miles and $85.48 in taxes/fees (Mexico apparently has much higher taxes than the US).

SWA to SJD Route Map

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Chase Marriott Rewards and Chase Southwest Airlines Premier Credit Card Retention Successes

Chase Logo

Chase Marriott Rewards and Chase Southwest Airlines Premier Credit Card Retention Successes

It’s that time of the year… annual fees start charging, free night certificates start appearing, and bonus points start posting.  Earlier this week, I received the following email from Chase / Marriott about my free night certificate valid at any Marriott hotel category 1-5.  The one thing I don’t like about the Marriott free night certificates is that they are only valid for 6 months from the date they are issued.  If you cannot use them by then, call Chase and they will usually extend the certificate for another 6 months.

Since my free night certificate posted to my Marriott account before the annual fee posted to my Chase Marriott, I was planning on closing the credit card and keeping the free night… for free.

Marriott Free Night Certificate Email

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