Amex blue cash does 6% grocery and 3% gas - https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-credit-cards/nerdwallets-best-cash-back-credit-cards/

If you live near a Costco you can use their card for 4% off their already lowest in town prices

Penfed has a couple 5% gas cards

If you like BP they also have a 5% card (but points expire after a year)

6/12/2016 3:31:18 PM

just got the amex blue preferred with 6% on groceries up to 6,000 per year. the goal is to finish it out with giftcards to amazon if i don't meat the 6,000.

6/12/2016 6:07:42 PM

I think we are going to do the Amex Blue, I just wish there was a way to transfer those points to United to combine with the Chase Saphire Preferred card

6/12/2016 6:54:21 PM

Quote :

"does the amex gold get you into centurion lounges? i don't have to fly often, but when I do its typically throuth DFW and SFO so that would be a plus. EDIT: no, only platinum cards. $195 fee and they don't even give you access? lame. "

Waived the first year...

6/13/2016 12:42:34 AM

yeah, that's why i posted:

Quote :

"but a $195 annual fee after the first year."

that is double the fee of most reward cards

6/13/2016 7:30:42 AM

Oops, my bad.

Yeah, you're essentially better off getting one of the really nice $400 annual fee cards that come with big yearly airline credits.

6/13/2016 8:55:29 AM

[Edited on June 13, 2016 at 9:03 PM. Reason : nm..."Discover It" card not that good]

6/13/2016 9:02:29 PM

Chase just announced they are extending the 5% cash back on the Freedom (not Unlimited) card through the end of the year! I spend a ton of money at Sams Club, so this is huge news for me.

It doesn't apply to gas, so I just make sure when i'm in the store I buy a Sams Club gift card to use at the gas pump.

[Edited on June 16, 2016 at 8:57 AM. Reason : ]

6/16/2016 8:57:02 AM

Does it still max out at $1500?

Just got my two free Hilton nights. Thinking of using them while I still have Diamond status.

Booked a trip to Amsterdam with a stopover in Iceland with miles.

Also booked a trip to Costa Rica on miles + a $500/night suite for $100 night + 7500 chase pts.

6/18/2016 6:12:52 PM

Donate some of those points to save TWW

6/18/2016 10:03:07 PM

^Yes it's still $1,500 per quarter. So in July and October the Sams Club spending starts over again.

6/19/2016 10:09:40 AM

^^^how did you get that hotel deal?

6/19/2016 7:50:32 PM

Quote :

"Also booked a trip to Costa Rica on miles + a $500/night suite for $100 night + 7500 chase pts."

Which hotel? We're booking our trip in February for Costa Rica for 70k United (2 tickets) then staying a few nights in a hotel. Haven't decided yet. The rest of the trip is a festival, b&bs or camping.

6/19/2016 7:57:05 PM

Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort - flying into Liberia via Houston on Southwest and out on United.

^^ It's their standard pts + cash offer plus one of my suite upgrades applied.

6/19/2016 9:50:53 PM

Out of all the Diamond perks I think their customer support line may be my favorite.

6/20/2016 10:55:04 PM

Can you buy back Diamond status with Hilton? I think with Marriott you can buy back Platinum for like 40k points which is often worth it.

6/20/2016 11:04:22 PM

You'd need to spend $40,000 or get 120,000 base points.
I get a free night at $10,000 (in addition to the 2 I just received) then I'll probably stop there
It's not nearly as valuable as Hyatt since you aren't given guaranteed suite upgrades to use on 4 stays.
However, I think since I obtained status this year I'll have it throughout all of next year which is nice.

6/20/2016 11:31:45 PM

Gotcha. Yeah I may not hit platinum this year (from nights) so I'm planning on buying it back for 40k points. It's worth it for me because they hold rooms for platinum, lounge, suite upgrades, etc.

6/21/2016 11:43:27 AM

Latest CHURN

Approved

AMEX Delta Plat
AMEX Mercedes Benz Plat (we'll see if I actually get both sign up bonuses)
BOA Alaska Air

Pending

US Bank Flexperks (recon line was no help)

Denied

Barclay Choice Hotels (it's a shit card anyway)

[Edited on June 22, 2016 at 10:14 PM. Reason : ]

6/22/2016 10:14:24 PM

So I'm confused which cards did you churn (cancel)?

I've been traveling for 3 weeks in a row so I'll hit $3k on United fairly quickly for the new 70k signup bonus.

6/22/2016 10:19:39 PM

Hah.

I'm slowly running out of cards thx to Chase's new 5/24 rule and amex once per lifetime rule.
I can get the citi AA card again in 6 months and still eyeing barclay jet blue but really nothing else out there for next cycle.
I suppose I'll probably get a 5th Alaskan card and maybe just focus on getting to $10k spend for the extra hilton night by end of year.

6/22/2016 10:25:02 PM

Nice Churn David0603!

6/22/2016 10:25:03 PM

I'm trying to get with the lingo and started using the term "my next churn card" with some C level executives and it really confused them. When I switched to being a "churner" they understood. I think we're making progress here people.

6/22/2016 10:30:02 PM

So you're saying if I have a AMEX card I can't apply for another ever again?
And chase denied me on my 3rd app. I got the southwest and Marriott then they said no on southwest business

6/23/2016 3:12:23 AM

No.

You can apply for Amex card. But you can only get a specific bonus once. If the new bonus is higher, you will get the difference.

6/23/2016 11:05:57 AM

I honestly don't understand why the BOA Alaska Air card is so hard to get. I was approved for the AMEX SPG and Capital One Venture cards (both pretty decent rewards cards and require a high credit score), but I've been turned down twice. Sucks, because they fly everywhere I like going on the West Coast

6/24/2016 1:13:03 AM

Weird, have gotten 1 biz boa Alaska and 3 personal

6/26/2016 12:48:59 PM

i got the MB amex plat a few weeks ago, just completed the $3000 spend so waiting for the 75k MR to post

big fan of this card, already used priority pass 3x (actually main reason i signed up for the card, was about to pay for priority pass anyway so looked for other options)

didn't have time to hit the centurion lounge in SFO last weekend (went to the new-ish delta skyclub instead) but will be departing MIA in august so might go there then

6/27/2016 1:23:34 PM

citi -> flying blue = $3704.77 flight for $235 + 25,000 pts

7/4/2016 11:25:20 PM

Quote :

"You can apply for Amex card. But you can only get a specific bonus once. If the new bonus is higher, you will get the difference."

So apparently this is not true. You can only get a bonus once. End of story.

7/6/2016 6:04:52 AM

Got the flexperks yesterday, so 4/5, not too shabby...

7/6/2016 11:54:45 PM

^^^if you're going to keep posting all your scores, you're gonna need to tell us explicitly how so I don't have to ask every time. Surely that is a normal redemption

7/8/2016 3:57:58 AM

It's a normal redemption.

7/8/2016 9:40:40 AM

Fuck, I love diamond status. They can basically bypass any restriction the online system imposes on their side, and if they can't they call the hotel directly to make shit happen. Hawaii booked for January. 5 free nights at $500+ a night and one booked on points for 25K.

7/24/2016 12:12:38 PM

Has anyone had good luck negotiating with retention specialists to waive the annual fee or provide miles in exchange of renewing the card? The Citi AA card doesn't really seem to come with any type of renewal bonus and I don't travel often, but the waived baggage fee would be nice for a December flight. The renewal month is November so I'm trying to decide what to do.

7/25/2016 11:43:14 AM

They are slammed on the phones with the Costco conversion, and have been aggressively telling people that retention offers are off the table indefinitely. Probably be a few weeks before any retention offers come back. There are also 3 different AA cards, I assume you are referencing the platinum citi AA card, but they have been known to comp year 2. I'd try back in August.

7/26/2016 4:03:19 PM

I've gotten year 2 comped but that was a while back. I rarely bother with retention offers since I'd rather cancel the card and have the clock restart (for some companies) so I can get the card again in 18-24 months.

7/29/2016 12:46:07 PM

Good info, thanks...I'll wait it out. I checked and they actually waived the first year for me so I'm not sure how successful I'll be with the second year but two checked bags < $95 annual fee so I may just cancel if they can't do anything for me.

7/29/2016 3:18:42 PM

Quote :

" so I can get the card again in 18-24 months."

Is it about getting approved for the card or receiving the bonus again?

I figure/hope it's the latter

7/29/2016 4:28:03 PM

the sign up bonus

7/30/2016 7:18:42 PM

Good u had me worried about my next companion pass for a minute

7/30/2016 10:53:20 PM

http://gizmodo.com/hacker-builds-a-qr-code-generator-that-lets-him-into-fa-1784884083

8/5/2016 2:53:28 PM

Used my 2 club carlson ecerts in iceland to save 350 eu a night.
Every hotel there is expensive as balls for some reason.

8/7/2016 3:00:23 PM

Chase Sapphire Reserve announced. 100k point signup bonus plus 3x points on dining and travel and a $300 travel credit per year

8/15/2016 11:32:19 PM

$450 annual fee

8/16/2016 9:36:16 AM

I have the CSP and F cards as my regular go to. I really considering applying for the CSR, and if accepted, roll over my UR points to the CSR (assuming this is possible), and downgrading the CSP to a FU. That'd give me a bit of a trifecta- CSR, F, FU.

The $450 AF is what scares me a bit. The $300 very flexible travel credit is awesome. The airport lounge access is nice, but I haven't heard for sure if there's a free guest or if the guest has to pay (which would be a buzz kill) The CSR is also going to be a Visa Infinite card, which comes with a $100 discount when purchasing 2 domestic coach airfares (through their portal) and a $100 Global Entry Application Fee Credit. So you can more than make up the AF, but that still means that once a year i'm gong to have a $450 bill to pay.

8/16/2016 11:24:31 AM

Any word on if the 5/24 rule applies?

8/16/2016 7:05:07 PM

So on Reddit there was someone that found the application page (which was live) and posted it. A bunch of people were able to go in and apply for the card early before the page was taken down. Many of them said they were approved even though they were over the 5/24 limit. It's unknown though if this is because the page went live before it was fully ready, or if it was something not being enforced.

8/16/2016 8:10:49 PM

I'm at 8/24 and my wife (who I apply for cards on her behalf) is 6/24. Debating on if I should wait for some datapoints to see if 5/24 is enforced or apply early hoping I'm one of the few early ones that got in before they shut it down.

$450 is a lot but the $300 is per calendar year, yeah? $600 + global entry + 100k signup make this a no-brainer at least for a year.

8/16/2016 8:24:53 PM

Yeah. This card is going to be the tits, especially if you get it before year end.

8/16/2016 10:18:34 PM