Good morning everyone. Last December, I applied for the JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Credit Card which offered 140,000 Ritz Carlton Points (Ritz Carlton and Marriott points can be used interchangeably). During the approval process, the system created a new Ritz Carlton account number for me. After meeting the minimum spend requirement, I had an old Marriott account with 28,985 points and a new Ritz Carlton account with 150,000+ points.
Warning: if you are just starting out with rewards-earning credit cards, please do not apply for several credit cards at the same time. You are responsible for your credit history and credit scores. You have been warned…
Good evening everyone. Last month, I wrote July 2015: My 8 Credit Card App-O-Rama Game Plan and I shared my plans/reasoning for applying for the below 8 credit cards.
After listening to your feedback and suggestions, I decided to make some changes to my App-O-Rama plan. The table below shows the 7 credits that I ended up applying for. Here are my reasons for not applying for a few of the credit cards:
Good evening everyone, I just got home and checked my mailbox. Inside, there was a letter from Chase with details about upcoming changes to the Chase Ink Bold Business Charge Card, effective August 31, 2015. Here is the summary of both changes:
In summary, if you pay your balance in full every month and do not go over your stated credit access line, then these changes do not affect you. This looks like Chase’s attempt to slowly transform the Chase Ink Bold into a Chase Ink Plus, which makes sense since only the Chase Ink Plus and Chase Ink Cash business cards are currently available for new applications.
Good morning everyone. A few weeks ago, I did an 8 card App-O-Rama. One of my top credit cards to apply for was the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card. I previously opened a Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card back in August 2012 which I then downgraded to the Chase Sapphire (Basic) Credit Card in August 2013 which I then converted to the Chase Freedom Credit Card in November 2013. Since I received the sign up bonus back in August 2012, I waited the necessary 24 months to reapply.
When I first received the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card, the sign up bonus was 40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. The current sign up bonus is 40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $4,000 in 3 months. Long story short, I was low on Chase Ultimate Rewards Points (aren’t we all?) and I had waited long enough to reapply, so I was ready to apply for my second Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card.
Side note: Doctor of Credit and a few other blogs and forums are reporting that Chase has really cracked down on approving applications for people that have more than 5 credit inquiries total during the last 2 years. I (foolishly) ignored those warnings and insisted that my previous 3 years with Chase, 16 total approved Chase credit cards (8 currently open), and reconsideration call skills would be enough to get approved for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t enough. Continue reading
Good morning everyone, as of 8am PT 7/23/2015, the Gift Card Mall activation website is down and is not allowing any Visa Gift Cards to be activated. I purchased a few $200 VGCs last week from Staples.com and was trying to activate the gift cards online last night. I got the below error message that says “We cannot process your request at this time. Please try again or call 1-877-426-2551.” After calling the below number (open from 8am-12am CT), the nice rep confirmed that their activation website has been down for a few days and that she could activate them all over the phone.
