$1,720 + 267k Point Credit Card Application Spree
After I spent the last few weeks planning for my application spree, I’ve made most of my decisions and I’m finally ready to get started.
It’s back to my turn for the applications since our last $1,800 application spree was under my husband’s name.
I mentioned that I’m making a transition from focusing only on cash sign ups to working on including lots of hotel bonuses for some upcoming travel we have planned.
As I redeemed our previous Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard $440+ sign up bonuses for the maximum value, I’ve found that we can really stretch some of our sign up bonuses even further by redeeming them for travel. Now that all five of us can ski as a family, we’re planning lots of long weekend trips and a spring break ski trip. You’ll see those new goals reflected in my application spree below as I’m working to maximize sign up bonuses and scoring free nights at hotels.
If you like the straight cash back, here are the details from our previous application sprees which focus primarily on cash bonuses.
Credit Card Application List
- Citi ThankYou® Premier Card $500+ rewards. I really struggled with my Citi picks this time around. I settled on the Premier card since it has the highest overall bonus with the potential for 50,000 points.
- Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card. $200 rewards. My second pick for Citi is the preferred card with 20,000 points. I’m not clear if you can pick up the premier card and the preferred card at the same time, but I’m going to give it a shot. If I’m not eligible, then I’ll have the Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Visa Signature® Card application on my back up list. In addition, this will be a day two application, with the new 1 card per 24 hour rule Citi has.
- Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express $250+ rewards. I already have the personal version of this card, Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, so I’m planning to pick up the Starwood business card for some planned business purchases to get the 25,000 points. I love the Starwood cards; I can redeem only the Starwood points I need for hotels stays, and then redeem the rest of the points on Amazon.com (My last redemption was 14,000 Starpoints for $150 on Amazon.)
- American Express SimplyCash Business card $250+ rewards. As we ramp up our business purchases, Amex came out with the sign up bonus on this card at the perfect time. I’m an authorized user on this card already, so I’m going to have that access removed to get my own version of this card.
- BarclayCard Rewards Mastercard $100 cash back. Barclaycard is one of my new favorites in my application sprees. 10,000 points for an easy $100 bonus.
- U.S. Bank FlexPerks® Business Travel Rewards Visa® Card. $200 statement credit. I’m planning to test my new experiment with US Bank that works really well with Chase. Since I already have the personal FlexPerks card and a business card, I’m going to try to pick up another business card in another one of our business names for 20,000 points, worth a $200 statement credit or $400 airline value. Wish me luck!
- The Choice Privileges® Visa® Card 32,000 points. The 32,000 bonus points redeem for 4 nights (more or less depending on how you redeem them). One of the ski hills in Michigan we go to only has a Comfort Inn, but I’m still not sure if it’s really worth using an application on. I may switch it out at the last minute to pick up the Barnes & Noble MasterCard® instead.
- IHG Rewards (Priority Club) Visa. 80,000 points. It’s unclear if you’ll really get 80k points since the landing page is vague, but I’m going to give it a shot. I already have more ink/sapphire cards than I care to admit, so I’m focusing my Chase applications on some of the highest hotel point giveaways. The points on this card will get me 4-6 nights based on the upcoming trips we have planned.
- Marriott Rewards. 70,000 points. The other Chase card I’m going to target is the Marriott to scoop up the free nights (2-10 free nights depending on the category of the hotel) We should be able to pick up about 5 free nights with this offer.
- Club Carlson Visa Card. 85,000 points. The offer states up to 9 free nights with this offer from US Bank.
- BOA Cash Rewards. $100 bonus cash reward. This was a quick easy addition to the last round my husband did, so it’s staying on the list for my application spree.
- BOA Rewards MasterCard. $120 cash back. Just like the other Bank of America card, these were easy to add to the list.
- Discover it. 5% cash back. There’s no sign up bonus, but I want to be able to grab another Discover card for the quarterly bonuses.
- Wells Fargo 5% Cash Back Credit Card. 5% cash back. Another card without a bonus, but it’s my replacement for my American Express 6% Blue Cash Preferred card after hitting the annual rewards maximum.
I ended up a little light on business cards with some issuers, so when I’m done, I may throw in a few more depending on how fast the approvals come in. I’m also keeping my eye on the British Airways Avios card. It sounds like the 100k bonus has resurfaced (but is only working off and on) again. Based on how the approvals go with the other hotel cards on my list, if it’s active during my spree, I may try to get this one instead of the Marriott card.
Overall Value
The total for all of the sign up bonuses is: $1720 + 267,000 points. The points will more than cover the 10+ upcoming hotels nights we have planned for some long weekends and Spring Break!
More on Credit Card Application Sprees
- How to Collect Multiple Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses
- How to Prioritize and Maximize Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses
- How Much Do Credit Inquiries Really Matter?
- Avoid Joint Credit Cards to Double Your Sign Up Bonuses
- Convert Credit Cards Instead of Paying Annual Fees
- Credit Card Application Spree Q & A
- $825 Beginner Credit Card Application Spree
- Beginner Credit Card Application Spree Q & A
Hello!! Do you have an article on tips before starting your credit card application spree? Do you need to pay off all your balances then wait for how long before applying? Thank you!
Hi Mona,
Here are some beginner articles that would be helpful to read through:
How to Get Started with Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses
$825 Beginner Credit Card Application Spree
Also, to answer your specific question, I wouldn’t attempt to collect sign up bonuses if you are carrying balances on your cards (unless it is for some sort of arbitrage).
What do you do with the credit cards that have annual fees. Do you cancel the account after the first year?
Caravelo,
I convert many of them to no fee cards. Here’s more: Convert Credit Cards Instead of Paying Annual Fees.
1) the Citi TYPremier card is only 37500 points, not 50k. You must pay the 125.00 fee the second year before they give you the extra 30K points. 2) BoA will do 2 credit hard pulls for 2 cards, no matter what they tell you. I learned the hard way. It’s not worth it for only $220.00 CB. I would rather save the credit pull for a more lucrative acct. 3)Ditto for the Flexperks business card. Have you already received the consumer version of this card? At least it gives up to $300.00 credit as of today as it ties in to the Olympics. 4) WF card the same ditto. the 5% is only for 6 months and another wasted pull. And I am not sure of the cap on the 5%. other then that, great!!
Hi Barry!
Great to hear from you. Thanks for the feedback and helping me flush this out a little further. Here’s my thoughts:
1) You are right, good catch on the Citi TYPremier. I calculated the bottom line on the points for that offer, and even after you subtract the annual fee, I still think it’s the best offer I can do with Citi right now.
2) You really made me think hard about the BofA. The bonuses are less than my threshold for the bonus I like to get on an app spree. I threw them in at the end, but your comments are making me rethink what I want from BofA. I’m seriously considering swapping out those two cards to pick up the BofA Alaska Airlines card and the BofA Virgin Atlantic card. The Virgin miles will convert nicely to Hilton points but I have no idea what I’d do with the Alaska miles. Either way, thanks for making me stop and try to find some better BofA offers and not waste them on these two!
3) For the Flexperks, yes, I already have the consumer version which I picked up during the last Olympics. In part, I’m just trying to be a guinea pig on this one to test a theory I have with US Bank for readers.
4)No cap on the 5%. So the WF card is possibly the most lucrative bonus on my list if you factor in unlimited trips to my grocery store to rack up unlimited cash back on gift cards.
Thanks again for all your thoughts. I really appreciate it. Now, I’m off to figure out how I can maximize the replacement BofA cards on my list!!
thanks!! I do have the Citi premier and rec’d the 20Points, and now am waiting for Jan to use again to get the 30K points. I also felt it was worth it. But you have to keep great records. I don’t have any relationship with WFargo and the app states you have to go to a bank in person. Also found out the cashback is unlimited. Not sure if I want to sit thru a spiel from a WFargo banker trying to sell me everything. I am also thinking of the Flexperks with the Olympic tie in. Could be up to 300.00 cashback. Thanks for replying!!
I think I remember you posting a card that has a 5% cash back for a category of your choice. Do you know which that was? and is there a category for school tuition?
Thanks
Jennifer