Questions and Answers

We are new to travel points when it comes to credit cards, so please bear with us!

I just applied (2 weeks ago), and was accepted, to the Chase Sapphire card with a second card for my wife.

After looking over the program, and noticing that the 100K bonus is set to end next week (1/12), my wife and I are trying to decide whether or not she should apply separately for another card….thus another 100K bonus. We understand that we would have to meet the 4K spending in the next 3 months, which really is 8k since it would be 2 separate cards (though we think we could do that without too many issues). We also would likely cancel at least one of these cards prior to the one year anniversary. We have awesome credit….like 825+….so not too worried out a huge impact on our score – and we always pay off our cards at the end of each month.

A bit of backstory: We are a family of 6 who travel extensively – though not extravagantly. Meaning – we camp a lot. In the last two years we have been to 30 states and 8 Canadian provinces – all by car. Though, this summer, we are flying to Seattle and driving north to BC and Alberta for 3 weeks.

So, the question is….why not do this? What are the downsides? Do they outweigh the potential pitfalls…whatever they may be?

Thanks, so much in advance! Also, this blog is awesome!

I’d do it in your shoes, provided you can maximize the fee credits/manage the double annual fees.

And there is no point really to canceling the cards before the anniversary. The AF is paid upfront so keep it for the full year. Chase usually allows you to make changes to the card for 30 days after the AF posts for a full refund. At that point I would change the card to the Freedom or Freedom Unlimited to boost your UR earnings for non-travel and dining categories.

My wife and I did it with the Reserve and Preferred cards and netted 320k points in a few months. Based on recommendations from here, we will downgrade the two Preferred cards and one Reserve cards to Freedom cards that do not carry and annual fee.