Responding to myself… I went ahead and applied for the Bilt card yesterday. I’m at 1/24 as I don’t really churn cards for SUBs.
Instant approval with a $30k limit. The thing that convinced me to get this card was the 2x rent day promo. We have a lot of unbonused spend on our cards that could benefit from this and that I could time to occur on the first of the month.
Given that their transfer partners have heavy overlap with Chase’s (Hyatt, Air Canada, etc), and also throw in Alaska… Bilt’s points are more valuable for our use cases than Chase’s are.
You can put “rent related” bills through their ACH system. Bilt will accept bills like gas, electric, water, phone, internet, TV, etc. I plan on putting our water bill through that system rather than rent. It is small potatoes but better than getting nothing on those payments.
The more interesting thing to me about this card is the multiplier on the first of each month. Regardless of what you charge, as long as it is on the first of the month, you’ll get double points. It’s up to 10k in spend each month. That breaks down as:
6x on dining
4x on travel
2x on everything else.
I have enough flexibility to time things like bill payments, property tax bills, charitable contributions, etc to hit on the first of the month. 2x on general spend on a no-AF card, with transfer partners very similar to Chase (Hyatt, etc) has strong appeal for me, even though I do not rent.
That’s nice. Looks like property tax is not on the list of “rent related” though. Phone and internet get 5x UR with CIC. The other bills are ~$2K/yr for me, not worth the effort .
While I don’t disagree with what you’re reading, I have only have one potential scam with Chase and it was 12 years ago. If you put security at a top tier, I don’t think Chase is any worse than Citi or Wells Fargo.
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I just had a home delivery of some food from Walmart. I paid with my Bank of America customized cash rewards card and it’s categorized as an online purchase so I got 5.25% cash-back.
I got a second unlimited cash rewards card from Bank of America with a $200 bonus and an offer of 0% APR for new purchases. I used it to pay estimated taxes and they paid the bonus promptly. This will be the first billing period. I paid about $25 above the minimum. Will be interesting to see if they try to charge interest.
My Navy Federal cashRewards card was just upgraded to 2% unlimited rewards. It is for existing holders: “This offer is non-transferable and is valid for the intended recipient only.” The regular card is 1.5% cash back.
My usual card is the Alliant 2.5% Visa. It requires $1000 in checking at 0.25%. I recently opened a Northwest 2% card in case the Alliant deal changes. Now I have another 2% card.
most folks have bailed on this site! But [Argyll] for what it’s worth, The Disc Miles gives 3% on everything. granted you have to wait the 12 months, it’s 1.5 % until the 12 months are done. They don’t care if you buy gift cards or anything. They double the rewards immediately after the 12 months are up. AND I am on my 3rd Miles card. Disc only allows you to have 2 Disc cards. I cancel after my double rewards, with a lame excuse. Then I wait 2 months and reapply. PLUS they always offer you a 100.00 credit if you add an AU. I do, my P2 or my son. She needs to make one charge on the card and the 100.00 is applied. I use this card for cats my 5% cards do not cover. Give it a shot! (if anybody still reads this forum)
Cancelling doesn’t have to affect the score at all if total utilization remains in the same range. Applying for a new card once a year doesn’t have a meaningful impact if you have a mature profile.
Unless you’re doing some heavy MS with Discover, a way more profitable solution for the average non-MS spender is to churn cards with high SUBs. Why settle for 3% when you can get 20%+?
thanks for the info. I’m doing heavy MS on this 3% card. I also do OBC, I have 3, and the ShopYourWay Citi (2)and Custom Cash cards,(2) plus the 5% cats on 2 family Disc cards. OBC is still 5% on G/G/D. BUT for the past 7 months, since Xmas, BJ’s Club does not charge a fee for 500.00 Master Card gift cards. You have to know which cards to buy since the have so many. So I buy 3 each week with the Disc card.$1500.00 every week =45.00 cash back in 1 year. They dont care. Also the Shop your Way card has an ongoing offer of 200.00 cash back s credit for 12 months, if you spend 2k monthly in groceries, they credit the 200.00 back as a credit to the acct. So far 4 months and 8 months to go. Only buy 4 VGC each month for 505.95 and not a word from Citi! But you need good liquidation methods. i have some Chase Biz cards with big SUB also.
I applied for and received two new cards this year. After that, I was declined for one and a CLI on another because of the new cards.
I used to repeatedly get the NFCU Flagship card which came with a $400 bonus (plus 2% rewards).
I have seven currently closed NFCU accounts (and two active). I did this over a 3 year period. They caught on after the fifth or sixth time and now decline applications.
I’d like to get it again as there is a $400 bonus for $3500 spending in 90 days, a free year of Amazon Prime, 3% rewards on travel and 2% everything else.
Navy’s Platinum Card has a no-fee 0.99% balance transfer offer.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’d be approved for either card, for having new recent credit, many closed cards, and near the maximum limits for credit from NFCU. There is an $80K maximum total limit and I have $60K on two cards.
Try other card issuers. Chase, Amex, USBank and Citi all have tons of cards with huge SUBs. You just need to know the rules, like Chase’s 5/24, before applying.
Also personally I don’t do the low APR on personal cards as I don’t want my report to show high utilization. This is better with business cards. I know a few have 0% APR on purchases (like USB Triple Cash), don’t know any with low APR on BTs.
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