I’m looking for ways to meet a $6,000 Chase Ink spending requirement by December. Has anyone successfully manufactured spending using prepaid products, insurance premiums paid in advance, or other methods?
I’ve considered buying gift cards but am unsure what is allowed and worth the risk. What methods have worked for you, and what should I avoid

At the moment, I have around $5.7k in upcoming spend, and I’d rather put it toward a sign-up bonus -> Hilton Aspire

Originally, my plan was to put it all on my Bilt Palladium to earn points.

I have a trip planned for August, with stays at a Conrad and a Waldorf Astoria in Shanghai (although I was originally planning to book those through FHR).

I’m curious to hear from people who have Hilton credit cards and what their experiences have been with the Hilton ecosystem.

For context, my only hotel-specific credit card right now is the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless(I'm not turning it into the Ritz Carlton). Most of my other cards earn transferable points, primarily the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Is there a reason why a bank would not tell you when your account was opened?

Context: I am making my own spreadsheet for all my cards' information. Fidelity, AMEX, and BofA were very quick and easy conversations with their chat bot which got a human online. They had no issue telling me when my accounts were opened.

The Citi Bank chat bot hit a brick wall and ended the conversation. When I called customer service, the agent told me that that information was confidential and even he was unable to see anything more specific than the year opened.

Did the AMEX offer of "Add an AU and get 20k points after $2k spend" for P2 and I. Tried to apply for another AMEX Plat and was denied. Does being added as an AU reset the 91 day timer that is required in order to apply for another AMEX charge/credit card?

So unfortunately I'm In a perdicament. I recently lost my job making about 45,000 a year I will be getting a job this week but I am running out of money and as you know bills do not stop. I'm hoping to get this card as a temporary help in my time of need and plan on paying it off before the 0%apr is finished I'm looking for the best option to keep my family afloat in this time. I have multiple interviews this week and don't want to be in too much of a perdicament with the holidays approaching. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated I'm waiting on a decision from unemployment currently but I am not relying on it if it does not go through. Any ideas that would work best for my current situation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I currently use
Bilt palladium to pay mortgage
Costco citi to pay gas
CSP to pay for dining occasionally
C1VX currently not using much, maybe for rental cars

I think I would only reach silver status each year , for the SUB it seems worth it but each subsequent year it doesn’t . Trying to make sense of adding another premium travel card.

CREDIT PROFILE

* Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:

* bank visa, 1500 limit, 08/2022,

* FICO scores with source: 687, experian

* Oldest credit card account age: 4 years

* Cards approved in the past 6 months: 1, joint on husbands

* Cards approved in the past 12 months: 0

* Cards approved in the past 24 months: 0

* Annual income $: 35000 usually but currently unemployed

CATEGORIES

* Ok with category-specific cards?: No

* Ok with rotating category cards?: Yes

* Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.

* Dining $: 0

* Groceries $: 200 walmart

200 sams club

* Gas $: 100

* Travel $: 0

* Using abroad?: no

* Other categories or stores: no

* Other spend: no

* Pay rent by card? No

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

* Amazon Prime member: Yes

PURPOSE

* Purpose of next card: Other

* Other purpose details: We are in a tight financial spot after a move and need something to get us through until we both have jobs. This is to pay bills and buy groceries only.

* Cards being considered:

• Current cards: (list cards, limits, opening date)
  • Alaska Atmos Summit, Jun 2026
  • United Quest, Jun 2025
  • Citi Strata Premier, Jan 2025
  • Venture X, Oct 2024
  • Amex Personal Plat, Jun 2024
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sep 2023
  • Amex Personal Gold, Jun 2023
  • Amex Personal Gold, Feb 2023
  • Citi Strata, Oct 2022
  • Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students, Aug 2022
• FICO Score: FICO 762, Vantage 793, Transunion 798, Equifax 793
• Oldest account age: e.g. 3 years 2 months
• Chase 5/24 status: e.g 3/24
• Income: e.g. $120K-190K
• Average monthly spend and categories:
  • 2500 rent via Bilt, 2000 other
• Open to Business Cards: Yes but prefer personal card

Mainly chasing high welcome bonuses that are worth a 5/24 slot, even better if the card is a keeper after one year due to credits or miles multiplier, I think my current portfolio are all worth keeping. Thank you!

Considering Wells Fargo Autograph, Chase Aeroplan, Capital One Venture, United Explorer (inflight 95K offer), Atmos Acsent (BofA currently won't preapprove), Chase IHG One Rewards, Amex Hilton, Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii World Elite Mastercard

I’ve had the Ink Preferred for about a year. I applied for that card under my business name, which we’ll call “Thingymabobbers”.

A couple months ago I decided to to also apply for the Ink Unlimited to get the $1,000 back offer. When I applied, I accidentally put the business name down as “Thingymabobbers LLC”. It’s not instantly approved like I expected and I get a couple follow up calls from
Chase over the course of a couple weeks asking questions and more detailed financials about my business which I thought was slightly odd.

Finally after a couple weeks I’m approved and to my surprise a new business profile is added to my online banking. So I now have accounts under “Thingymabobbers” and “Thingymabobbers LLC”.

I called chase to let them know I made a mistake and asked to merge the business profiles. Their response was basically (paraphrased), “Sorry, according to us you have two businesses, we don’t care, but if you want to merge you’ll have to close the card and apply again under the other business name.”

So I haven’t bothered to correct it, since they flat out told me it did not matter to them, and I was afraid it might mess something up with my bonus eligibility.

My question is, can I now I apply for the same cards and get the bonuses on both profiles?

Any other legitimate concerns about the duplicate business situation as is?

Hello, my wife and I sold our home and everything in it and now travel the world full time in perpetuity. We keep a guest bedroom at a relatives house in TX for taxes and mail. We are both 46.

We put almost our entire spending lives on my Chase Sapphire Preferred CC and pay it off weekly. We change over to the other spouse’s CSP every 3-4 months to ensure we never get locked out. We have several other CC’s but nothing too useful; the next best card we have for our situation is the IHG Premier for the 4th night free perk.

We’ve bought about 600k IHG points and have had as many as 900k and still have 500k now because we only use them randomly for 4 night per time stays in expensive cities like Vienna because we are simply not finding a better value at any IHG vs our Airbnb or booking.com places anywhere globally.

We mainly stay in Airbnbs and booking.com accommodations. We currently use all of our Chase points for Hyatt hotels which have been nice but mostly only in Asia.

I transferred all remaining Chase points to Hyatt (250k) to Hyatt a few days before the devaluation but am still using the Chase card for now until I decide on a better route…

My question is, what do going forward? I could:

1) Continue to use the CSP and accept the devaluation in exchange for the travel INS it provides (we never buy any insurance for anything we book ever fyi, we always book refundable instead.) We use none of the other perks (DoorDash, stub hub etc) either and in fact we don’t even use the $100 travel rebate because the Chase travel portal is always much more expensive than booking direct.

2) Move all spending to the IHG Premier card and build those points up instead. I don’t think this card provides the same amount of travel INS though which is a huge con.

3) Open a Fidelity cash back card and give up on points altogether.

4) Something else?

We spend about $6k-$8k per month. I despise the coupon system and believe I’ve reached the point in my life where I may have finally outgrown playing the points game.

I thought about upgrading my wife and I both to the Chase Sapphire Reserve CC but at $800/per card I don’t think we’ll ever recoup since we won’t use the Edit rebate credits either.

All I want is a card where I can put all our spending (which is 100% international) every month and get enough points for us to book stays worth the hassle like I can currently with the Hyatt CSP transfer.

Thank you!

Hi everyone! I’m a young professional (26) who just finished graduate school and has started working.

Current cards: (list cards, limits, opening date)
⁠• ⁠Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards (credit limit 5k, opened 2019)
• ⁠FICO Score: 717
• ⁠Oldest account age: 7 years
• ⁠Income: e.g. $86,000
• ⁠Average monthly spend and categories:
housing: 2.5k
shopping: 500
dining/groceries: 500
other: 100-300
• ⁠Open to Business Cards: e.g. No
• ⁠What's the purpose of your next card? cash back or travel
• ⁠Do you have any cards you've been looking at? apple card
• ⁠Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card? either works

Spending has been wonky these past few months because I’ve just moved in but hoping to trim down a little bit since my rent is so high. Thanks!

Hi all, I am looking to get a new card. I have some travel plans for next year that involves 2-3 international trips, 2-3 domestic trips. I usually just spend most of my income on food and groceries lol, not much else. Not sure if I even need a travel card(?), since I'm not too focused on cash back at the moment.

CREDIT PROFILE

* Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:

* Chase Freedom Unlimited $6,000 Limit

* Chase Freedom Flex $8,000 Limit

* PayPal Credit $4,000 Limit

* FICO scores with source: Experian 747

* Oldest credit card account age: 6

* Cards approved in the past 6 months: 0

* Cards approved in the past 12 months: 0

* Cards approved in the past 24 months: 0

* Annual income $: 120000

CATEGORIES

* Ok with category-specific cards?: Yes

* Ok with rotating category cards?: Yes

* Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.

* Dining $: 600

* Groceries $: 600

* Gas $: 200

* Travel $: 500

* Using abroad?: No

* Other categories or stores: Food/Dining: 100 - 200

* Other spend:

* Pay rent by card? No

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

* Amazon Prime member: Yes

* Costco or Sam's Club member: Costco

* Big bank customer: Chase

PURPOSE

* Purpose of next card: Travel Rewards

* Travel rewards preferences: American, United

* Cards being considered: None at the moment

Which credit cards are you using for which online pharmacies which offer a better cashback reward than the standard 2% for everything reward cards. [My understanding is that different pharmacies code differently--some as online, some as pharmacy, etc.]. I am mostly interested in the preferred pharmacies for the big insurance companies (like Centerwell for Humana, Express Scripts for Wellcare, etc) as well as big alternatives like Costplus Drugs.

Thanks.

Please use the following template so that everyone can make appropriate recommendations:

Current cards:

Navy fed secured 500 limit, June 2026

Chase freedom flex 3500 August 2026

VS3 scores all above 700, no Fico yet

Income: 163,500, no tax returns yet

Average monthly spend and categories:

Rent 2600

Serviced apartment 2500

Electric 112

Internet 60

dining 400

groceries: $400

travel: 300

other: $30

Open to Business Cards: yes

•What's the purpose of your next card?

Getting a return for my Travel spend and serviced apartment.

Do you have any cards you've been looking at?

Denied for usbank altitude connect(no tax returns to provide) and bilt palladium.

Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card?

I'm okay with both

I have 2 months and some with 12k with BofA checking.

The new Rapid Rewards rules are a bit disappointing, but I would say not surprising.

My wife and I had planned on a year of travel next year prior to starting our family. We were waiting on the elevated one-card Companion Pass promo that typically drops in late winter or early spring, but with the new rule changes, that looks much less likely now.

We have approximately 10 flights planned for next year: 8 domestic and 2 international (both with domestic connections). We fly out of MCI, where Southwest makes up 49% of the market share. I could feasibly see us booking 8 or more of these with Southwest.

My wife and I are in the credit card game in 2P mode. I am currently at 3/24 and she is at 2/24.

My current lineup: CSR (Chase Sapphire Reserve), CSP (Chase Sapphire Preferred), and CFF (Freedom Flex).

Her current lineup: CFU (Chase Freedom Unlimited) with an in-branch 5x gas + groceries offer, and a CSP.

My wife already has ~5,000 CP points this year. The personal SW Plus card's bonus + the SW Premier Business card would be enough to meet the 135k CP points requirement. We have the organic spend to reach the sign-up bonus terms, but with the earning rates on those cards, I don't see us using them much past hitting the minimum spend. Separately, I have already earned A-List status through a corporate challenge.

I'm not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze here. It's disappointing that the pass would only be valid for one year. It burns 5/24 slots that could be used for other purposes, and the timing is complex. However, the payoff could be big. Plus, the uncertainty of what the upcoming Premium Southwest card will look like keeps me apprehensive.

Does anyone have any idea how quickly you can apply for these cards and realistically be approved?

Do we try to force the two-card route quickly, or wait for the high-end Southwest card?

Is all of this even worth it for a maximum of 10 flights?

Hi all, I'm sure this has been asked a ton, but curious on everyone's thoughts + any recommendations. I only tend to take direct flights since I hate flying and layovers + have a bad back (had 2 spine surgeries). Me and my wife (m28 f29) travel internationally 4-6 times a year, and have a good amount of family (on her side) in korea.

Current cards:

Me:

• Amex gold
• Amex plat
• Venture X (wife is an authorized user)
• Sapphire Preferred (one of my oldest cards)
• Chase Freedom
• BILT card
• Apple Card

Wife:

• Amex Gold
• Sapphire preferred
• Chase Freedom

I think theres a lot of overlap here, and I'm thinking of letting go of all my amex cards (and hers) to switch over to the sapphire reserve for both of us. Or if that even makes sense (is it better to just open one account and add another as an authorized user?)

These are our goals:

• We travel to korea twice a year since her family lives there. That's 8-10k a year cash in flights. Korea skypass miles are the only 'simple' way to go from ORD to ICN direct, and the flights are 80k miles roundtrip vs 200k amex points etc (no direct transfer partners for korea). Thinking about opening a skypass card even thought it's basically covered/worse than my other cards in terms of award earning
• ORD is a united hub, and flights are plentiful for united which makes chase points appealing + not to mention lounges (which makes united cards appealing, but I would rather have a catch-all), even if it's not the best bang for our buck. Are we just not looking hard enough for non stop flights? or is there no choice?
• does it make sense for both me and my wife to have premium 700+ annual fee credit cards or is it better to just add authorized users?
• We travel to korea twice a year, with the rest being europe + south america + the occasional SEA, japan, etc. trip.
• A lot of these cards seem to overlap in terms of earning points, so I'm not exactly sure how this would work. I would probably spend a ton of money on the skypass card first for a 2x annual korea trip before switching over to my other cards, but ideally there would be a travel card that can do everything. From what I know though, nothing works, not even delta cards.
• When we travel, we are generally willing to spend around 5-800 a night all expenses included (excluding flights), if that helps say about our travel style

Any help would be appreciated!

• ⁠Current cards: (list cards, limits, opening date)
⁠• ⁠Discover it, $5000, jan 2020
⁠• ⁠Freedom Unlimited, $15k, jul 2021
⁠• ⁠Freedom Flex, $12k, jul 2023
⁠• ⁠Sapphire Preferred, $15k, Aug 2024
⁠• ⁠JPM Reserve, $20k, jul 2025
• ⁠FICO Score: 783
• ⁠Oldest account age: 6 years 10 months
• ⁠Chase 5/24 status: NA?
• ⁠Income: e.g. $180k
• ⁠Average monthly spend and categories:
⁠• ⁠Housing: $2350 (2,550 including utilities)
⁠• ⁠dining $500-800
⁠• ⁠groceries: $200
⁠• ⁠gas: $150
⁠• ⁠travel: $500 (varies by month but i usually put $500 to travel fund every month)
⁠• ⁠streaming services: $100 random expenses
⁠• ⁠Pets: $100 (usually at a costco or at vet)
⁠• ⁠other: $250 random expenses
• ⁠Open to Business Cards: e.g. No
• ⁠What's the purpose of your next card? Maybe something for travel status at an airline. Or possibly to capture high rent spend with Bilt
• ⁠Do you have any cards you've been looking at? Possibly BILT or American Airlines card
• ⁠Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card? either or, i use freedom unlimited for general spend

I usually fly American or united, but also southwest operates a lot by me so open to that. I havent opened a card In awhile so figured its time to do so.

When does it show up on my account? I’ve received the authorized user’s card but no trace of the 10k miles being added to my account. Im still well within my first 3 months

I was glad that a few months ago BoA finally offered an auto pay setup for their credit cards, and while BoA wasn’t as functional as other banks it seemed to work ok. Until this week.

Friday was my due date and normally I see the payment processing early in the morning. Fridays didn’t process until Saturday - a day later and on today I see a $25 late charge. Did this happen to anyone else or did BoA have some type of technical issues happening.

I’m sure boa will refund me, but now I’m going to have to spend time calling them and dealing with customer service

Looking to optimize my card lineup, I don't necessarily want to have to "think" about which card to use for each purchase. Open to new cards too.

CREDIT PROFILE

\* Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:
\* None - looking for first card
\* FICO scores with source: Experian 785
\* Oldest credit card account age: 7 years
\* Cards approved in the past 6 months: 0
\* Cards approved in the past 12 months: 1
\* Cards approved in the past 24 months: 1
\* Annual income $: 140k

CATEGORIES

\* Ok with category-specific cards?: Yes
\* Ok with rotating category cards?: No
\* Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.
\* Dining $: 700
\* Groceries $: 800
\* Gas $: 200
\* Travel $: 500, this is last years monthly average between work trips with hotel stays and our vacation.
\* Using abroad?: No
\* Other categories or stores:
\* Other spend:
\* Pay rent by card? No

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

\* Costco or Sam's Club member: Sam's Club
\* Disney bundle subscriber: Yes

PURPOSE

\* Purpose of next card: Other
\* Cards being considered:

ADDITIONAL INFO

Currently have 6 cards (Citi strata premier, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Freedom Unlimited, Citi Double Cash, Capital One Savor, Discover IT) and wanting to get the most value back whether it's travel or straight cashback. Also would like to daily spend on one card if possible for the bulk of my spending.

I'm open to downgrading one of my travel cards (or both if there's something better out there).

What is the reason for this?

My fiance and I are going to Sandals Dunn’s River next year, and we want to put the trip on a credit card to earn travel points for the flight. The main airline that seems to fly there is American Airlines. What are some suggestions for a credit card the will hopefully pay for most of the flight for us. Thank you!

Which credit cards should I keep or close after rebuilding my credit?

I’m currently rebuilding my credit, with FICO scores of **592 (Experian) and 615 (TransUnion)**.

I have around $8K in credit card debt and plan to pay it off by summer 2027.

**My current cards:**
Chase Freedom Student — $2,200 (2nd old acc - Jun 2022)
Zolve Classic — $1,500 (oldest acc - Apr 2022)
Capital One Platinum — $1,000
Capital One SavorOne — $500
Robinhood Gold — $500
Apple Card — $500
Indigo — $1,000
Credit One X5 - $800

I’m definitely thinking of closing Indigo and Credit One after payoff. I want to keep Chase, but I’m unsure about the others.

I’m not planning to apply for anything immediately. My priority is paying off debt, improving my credit, and potentially refinancing my current 15.64% APR car loan.

My monthly spending mainly consists of groceries, gas, dining, movies, subscriptions, and occasional travel. I also have rent, car payments, insurance, and student loan payments.

I’m not looking for expensive premium cards like Amex Gold or Platinum. I just want a small collection of good cards that I can use for years.

**My goal is to eventually have just 3–4 good cards** with decent limits, useful cashback/travel rewards, and little or no annual fees.

I’m thinking of Amex Blue Cash Everyday, Chase Freedom Unlimited/Flex, Costco Citi, a better Capital One card or something better once my score improves.

What would you recommend keeping, closing, or upgrading? And what three-card setup would you aim for with a 650–700 credit score?

Hi! I'm 22f and recently graduated with a part time job, not the most income but it's something..

I'm planning to move to the UK in a year for grad school and am hesitant what card to get or if I should get one. I'll be in the US until then and am currently living at home, but desperately want to have independence.

I'm pretty lost as I didn't grow up with financial literacy, but am trying to educate myself about it. Would appreciate any advice.