Spring Credit Card Application Party

It is that time again for a roundup of the credit cards I plan to apply for in the next few days. It has been over three months since the last credit card application party I threw for myself. It really is not a party it is more of a night that I set aside to find the best cards that give me the most benefits or rewards in the upcoming spending season.

I plan on canceling a Chase Marriott Card that renews with an annual fee and a Starwood Preferred Guest from American Express that also has an annual fee the second year once these apps go through. I have had the Chase Sapphire Card before as a Visa. I am hoping to get that card as a MasterCard this time since it has been a few years and get the bonus offering.

I have decided to apply for two Barclayscards since they seem to have some of the best offerings right now for immediate gratification of points or miles. One card which is a US Airways card I found with no annual fee gives me 35,000 AAdvantage miles basically before the merger is completed and they get rid of US Airways branded cards. American Airlines will most likely discontinue their relationship with Barclayscard then move the US Airways customers over to a new card with Citi. It could go either way though and both of the banks lose out. They have a longer relationship with Citi so it is best you act on this now. I need all the American AAdvantage miles I can get.

CitiBusiness card was straightforward when I was approved it was instant and said my card will be in the mail within two weeks. This card is a card I have previously held and churned now but I believe I had the Visa version of it. This will be the MasterCard version and will give me 30,000 AAdvantage miles after I spend $1,000 on anything. I am hoping to use this card to just book rental car travel such as Hertz, Avis, or Budget because it pays 2x on these purchases.

I did not get instantly approved for the 2nd Barclayscard I applied for which was the US Airways Card for these Dividend miles I was hoping to convert to AAdvantage miles. The link is here where it is no annual fee saving $65 and getting you 35,000 miles if awarded the card.

Barclay stepped up it’s game with the Arrival World MasterCard and it’s new and improved sign-up bonus of 40,000 miles or $400 cash back in statement credits. The 40,000 miles can be used for a “cash back statement credit” which will equal $200 since you get 0.5 in “non travel” statement credits. This is a lot better than the previous sign-up bonus which was 20,000 miles or $200 in statement credits. The NFL Barclays card has 40,000 bonus or a $400 statement credit but the spend requirement is $2,500 instead of $1,000 with Arrival card. Another good thing about this Arrival card is that you get TWO times on any purchase which is double what most credit cards payout. I decided on the Arrival card and applied for it and got instantly approved. It was soothing to see the tropical palm tree and the welcoming beach in my approval screen.

The final card that I applied for is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Mastercard that has a bonus of 40,000 points which converts to miles on a 1:1 basis. This also converts over to $500 in travel through their site or $400 in cash credited to your card or your bank account with Chase. This card has no annual fee the first year with this promotional offer but they did not automatically approve me.

So far I am only two cards approved automatically and that is the Citi Business AAdvantage Visa Card and the Barclayscard Arrival World MasterCard.

There are two other cards I really wanted with this APP party I am having with myself. One is the American Express card to replace my Starwood card but there are no really good AMEX offers out right now because the Delta Skymiles card I really do not need Delta miles and you have such a threshold to spend on it before you get to the 40,000. The AMEX Business Gold card offer that was on CreditCards.com site match did not come up for me for some reason even when I did not enter my social security number so I did not apply for that card since I could not find one that had the 50,000 points. Maybe next time on these?

The Club Carlson Card is yet another card that I was dreaming about. Just because you get 80,000 points and a automatic gold status. It is a bit cheaper with the business card since you only have to spend $65 instead of $85 on the annual fee with their premium version. The gold version is $50 annual fee but you do not get as many bonus points or tiered rewards back from hotel spends. US Bank is the card issuer for Club Carlson’s hotel travel card and I do hope to apply for this in my next card application spree.

Hopefully my credit will be ok after this. I plan to call Chase and Barclay’s US reconsideration lines tomorrow and see if I can still get the US Airways and the Chase Sappire cards approved. I think I can get the Sapphire card approved if I cancel the Marriott Visa card I currently have with Chase. That is what I will recommend to the phone rep when I call in.