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Huge $5,325+ Credit Card Application Spree

Posted By Madison On In Credit Cards | Comments Disabled

It’s finally time for a credit card application spree! I’m really excited about this one because of the huge [1] sign [2] up [3] bonuses [4] that came out recently. It’s not very often that the timing of one of my application sprees lines up so perfectly with oversized bonuses on multiple cards!

Credit Card Application Spree

I take advantage of multiple credit card sign up bonuses to earn a bunch of extra money. Sometimes I have some additional goals; one of those is getting reimbursed for TSA precheck. On our last trip, my husband and kids got to eat a leisurely breakfast and cruise through the TSA line with TSA precheck for children [5]. I had to shovel down my breakfast and wait in the regular line. Time to fix that and get a card with TSA precheck!

In addition, this is the first spree that I’m navigating with the Chase 5/24 rule [6] in mind.

Don’t forget this strategy isn’t for everyone and it has to be done very carefully!

Credit Card Application List

  1. Chase Sapphire Reserve. $1,500+ bonus. 100,000 Point Sign Up Bonus [1] to redeem for $1,735 towards travel. I’m sitting above 5/24 right now, so I’m going to see if I can get a preapproved for this card using an exception [6].
  2. Chase Sapphire Preferred. $500+ bonus. 50,000 Point Sign Up Bonus [7] worth $500 – $625. If I can get approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, I’m planning to pick up this one also.
  3. Citi Prestige. $1,000+ bonus. 40,000 points [3] plus $500 in travel credits. This has been the most valuable card my husband picked up in our last application spree. It’s also a good time to get the card to maximize two years worth of credits on one annual fee.
  4. American Express Platinum Business. $1,100+ bonus. The 100,000 Point Sign Up Bonus [2] came out at the perfect time! Maximizing this bonus will net us over $1,100.
  5. Barclaycard Arrival Plus. $525+ bonus. The 50,000 mile Sign Up Bonus [4] is higher than the standard bonus of 40,000 miles for a limited time. I had this card previously, but made the mistake of downgrading instead of canceling, which made me ineligible for a second bonus. I fixed that by canceling last fall, but my application was too close. Now it’s been over a year, so I’m making this one a priority again!
  6. Chase Marriott Premier Business (Alternate). 80,000 points. The Marriott 80,000 Point Sign Up Bonus [8] is my alternate card to target if I can’t get the Sapphire cards with an exception. I may also look into the Ritz Carlton card as a backup.
  7. BOA Travel Rewards Business. $200 bonus. The offer, which is normally $100 is doubled right now for $200. I already have the Cash Rewards for Business, so my target card is the Travel Rewards for Business. This card also includes 0% intro rate on purchases.
  8. Citi Business AA. 50,000 miles. For my Citi 8th day application, I’m planning to pick up the business version of this card since I already have the personal version.

Overall Value

The total for all of the sign up bonuses is: $4,825 bonuses + at least $500 worth of miles for flights = $5,325+. The actual value of this application spree will be much higher, but I’m trying to calculate the minimum we’d be able to redeem all the points for!

This may be one of the biggest application sprees I’ve ever been able to put together with so few cards. The timing was just perfect on four of the cards right now! However, many of these cards have very steep annual fees. I’ve done the math and factored in the fees for each one and the value is there, but it’s still making my heart skip a few beats faster!

Credit Card Application Links

All of the links I used for the application spree are now listed in our credit card directory [9].

Credit Card Application Rules

You’ll notice I’m targeting only a handful of very large bonuses on the personal cards. I’m shifting a few more applications to business cards to minimize the number of new personal accounts while maximizing bonuses. I think this strategy may come in handy as we see how the new Chase rules play out over time.

I also picked these cards to follow the American Express rule of one signup bonus per lifetime on each. This rule now applies to both business and personal cards. Another new rule is the Citi rule that they won’t allow a bonus if you’ve opened or closed a card in the same brand in the last 24 months.

Previous Application Sprees

Here are some of my previous application sprees if you are looking to target different cards: $4,500 [10] $4,420 [11], $3,000 [12], $2,075 [13], $1,525 [14], $750 [15], $1,720 [16], $1,800 [17], $2,000 [18] and $2,325 [19].

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