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Hey there, you’re reading an outdated post that’s been removed! The updated series from April 2015 can be found here.
This is the tenth post in a monthlong series. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flier miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
I just got a letter in the mail yesterday from Citi offering 10x AAdvantage miles on purchases at amazon.com through Sept. 30, and 3x on a wide range of purchases from different kinds of targeted merchants – clothing, electronics, department stores, office supply stores. However each offer is limited to 2,500 bonus miles, so while they’re nice, they’re capped. This appears to be carefully targeted as there’s a registration with an enclosed lengthy code that is necessary. I’ll definitely clear the Amazon offer (rebate 17% at my valuation of AA miles), and perhaps the other too (5%), or at least use that card when shopping anyway at those specific places, since I’m just about done clearing signup bonuses, and don’t have another application planned right away. Don’t throw away any envelopes from Citi that look like junk mail.
I want yours. I got 3x at supermarkets, drugstores, gas, and restaurants through 9/30, also capped at 2,500 extra.
>First, I prioritize sign up bonus clearing over category bonuses.
I don’t use always use this approach, and I don’t think that method works for folks who will meet their min spend requirements before their next app-o-rama. The goal is to maximize point accumulation on *all* spending during the 90 days in between churns. You can’t always maximize by first going through the cards with min spend bonuses, especially if you happen to incur expenses in the early part of the 90 day period that could have been spent on bonus categories. For example, let’s say you completed an app-o-rama yesterday and have $5k in min spend to do in the next 90 days. Then, tomorrow, let’s say your first expense happens to be $500 on AA and you have a Citi AA card from last year with the above Citi 10x limited time offer mentioned in the comment above. If you spend $2500 normally per month, then it’s best to put to put the $500 AA expense on the Citi card even if that card doesn’t have a sign up bonus, and even if you have new cards with signup bonuses effectively earning more than 10x.
This might sound like a contorted example but in my experience, the norm is that most people meet their spend requirements, then have several weeks of unbonused spend before their next app-o-rama. So, when you have spend early in the 90 days that could be applied to bonuses, you have to estimate if you can afford to apply that to spend promos/category bonuses on old cards and still be able to make your min spend requirements.
Good point. If you know your spending will more than cover all the cards’ min spending requirements easily then you should be focused on nailing category bonuses along the way as long as that won’t take you off course to meet all spending requirements.