My Current Relationship With Chase (And Other Banks)

This one is going to be a mildly depressing post.
(Translation: you might punch your screen)

At the midway point of 2018, the following is my current situation with major banks. In short, this is (so far) the worst year I’ve ever had from a credit card bonus standpoint.

Chase:
Obviously, these are the guys for newbies to start with. As soon as you hit 5 or more credit cards from anywhere in a 24-month period…Chase is really, really not going to be your friend. So, at this point, I basically just get the leftover cards that are immune from that limitation. Not a ton there. Well, at least my last 3 months have been decent. I got 85,000 IHG points (because their new card product is still immune) and yesterday I was approved for the new Hyatt card (also currently immune). Make sure you read the terms for the latter (especially the first paragraph on the Offer Details page). If Chase wasn’t already a pain, multiple readers have had their accounts closed for various reasons – big spending, opening/closing too many cards, etc.  Chase is tough.

Bank Of America:
These guys were closer to a sure thing than anything I’ve ever experienced. For a long time, the door was WIDE OPEN for me there. Not anymore. Like everyone else I talk to, I’m now limited to 4 Bank Of America personal cards per 24 months. So I haven’t had one for a while. The Business card side has been ok.

Barclays:
I haven’t been approved for a Barclays card yet in 2018. Not much happening for me there.

American Express:
They’ve also been known to shut down multiple readers. My last approval there…well…it wasn’t exactly a pleasant story. I’m not really applying for much there. This sounds like a pattern. A dumb one.

Citibank/US Bank/Others:
Scattered success. Nothing that exceptional.

 

Well, I warned you.

(This post = the MileNerd equivalent of watching an injured puppy limp sadly into the kitchen to his water bowl)

Have a great weekend, nerds!

 

Free July 4th Ride In DC

My daily plan to avoid thinking about Washington DC has a 100% rate of failure.

But today that’s because of a free $15 Lyft ride (even for existing users).

If you live in DC, grab the code at 5:00 on July 4th here and apply it to your account quickly.

Nice Hotel For 50 Bucks

In all the years I’ve been dong this, I don’t think I’ve mentioned Hotwire once. There are just never any deals there worth mentioning. But a few of my grouchiest readers (who typically don’t like anything) reached out with positive words about this one. A 4 or 5-star hotel in NYC, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, LA, Austin, DC, or Orlando for $49 is definitely worth a post. This is for travel through July 8th. You won’t know the name of the hotel ahead of time, but readers have been happy with the results of this gamble (so far).

Easy Wyndham Points

Get 1,500 LaQuinta/Wyndham points for linking a Visa card, using the card, and replying to a text message. It doesn’t get much easier than that. In fact, this is the current list of easiest things to do in the world:

  1. Take candy from a baby.
  2. Be better with money than Johnny Depp.
  3. Find a dishonest blog.
  4. Go on a bad date with Bill Cosby.
  5. Get 1,500 points from this promo.

Passport Photos

Thanks to reader John for sharing this one. It will most likely be the smallest deal of the month, but I admire the creativity and frugality. Can’t say I’d ever heard of this method before.  Getting eight passport photos for 9 cents is pretty impressive (as ultra small-scale deals go).