Be on the lookout for good credit card point bonus offers and take advantage of them. Many credit card companies offer big point bonuses when you meet certain minimum spend requirements in a given amount of time. In addition, within many of these offers, the annual fee is waived the first year. Recently, Rob and I got credit cards that yielded us 245,000 miles and points!
If you apply for these cards, make sure you know the deadline as to when you need to spend the minimum by and do it! Even if this means foregoing another card that you may like to use. You want to do everything you can to get that bonus. After all, isn’t that one of the main reasons you applied for the card?
Different banks offer different point bonuses and different point programs. For example, certain Chase credit cards offer Ultimate Reward bonuses and the ability to earn Ultimate Rewards Points. While Citibank typically offers the ability to earn Thank You Rewards or AAdvantage rewards. In my opinion, it is easier to get approved for credit cards from different banks than it is to get approved for more than one credit card from the same bank. So you may want the Chase Sapphire, Chase Freedom, Chase Hyatt, Chase Marriott, etc, all with different bonuses and all with different features but you may need to wait to be approved if you have already applied for a Chase credit card.
Although at times I have found it to be somewhat subjective, a bank such as Chase, may approve you for one card every 6 months. I personally at times have gotten around this by calling them on the phone and moving some of my credit from one of my existing Chase credit cards to the new one that I am applying for. Chase is more apt to approve your application if they are not extending you additional credit but rather just transferring some of your existing credit to a new line. The two numbers, that I am aware of, to call to reallocate your Chase credit are 888-609-7805 and 888-270-2127. You can read more about this trick here. With Chase however, be aware of the 5/24 rule that states that if you have gotten five new credit cards within the past 24-months, you will not be approved for a new credit card application.
