It’s official: The banks are losing their minds … with some of the best welcome bonuses we’ve ever seen, all at once. The guys start the show by debating whether the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s record-tying 100,000-point bonus is the GOAT before digging into a slew of other new offers that can quickly replenish your stash of points. Plus, they look into some bad news at CLEAR and wonder if the TSA PreCheck line is about to get busier. And Gunnar unveils the new sign-up bonus on his (completely made up) airline credit card … Heads up: We talk about credit card offers that may no longer be available as you listen to or watch this episode of the podcast.
It’s official: The banks are losing their minds … with some of the best welcome bonuses we’ve ever seen, all at once. The guys start the show by debating whether the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s record-tying 100,000-point bonus is the GOAT before digging into a slew of other new offers that can quickly replenish your stash of points. Plus, they look into some bad news at CLEAR and wonder if the TSA PreCheck line is about to get busier. And Gunnar unveils the new sign-up bonus on his (completely made up) airline credit card …
Heads up: We talk about credit card offers that may no longer be available as you listen to or watch this episode of the podcast.
Head to https://cozyearth.com and use code THRIFTY for up to 20% off!
Watch us on YouTube!
Join the conversation! Sign up for the free Thrifty Traveler Podcast Slack community today.
00:00 - A word from our friends at Cozy Earth!
00:58 - A quick recap of our live show!
03:18 - Lauren welcomes us back from Sevilla, Spain
03:43 - Chase Sapphire Preferred: The best sign-up bonus … ever?
10:43 - CLEAR prices are up & PreCheck lines may get longer
15:38 - A word from our sponsor: Cozy Earth!
16:38 - A slew of new credit card bonus offers
23:36 - What’s with all these huge offers at once?
30:28 - And what’s going on with Amex’s “As High As” offers?
32:23 - Showing off our new Shorty Award!
33:38 - A listener asks: Getting around Chase’s 5/24 rule & reconsideration
36:43 - What we do after opening a new credit card
Produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas
Video editing by Kyle Thomas
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
I think one of those top 10 feelings is coming home from a long trip and sleeping in your own bed again. We love staying in nice hotels and vacation rentals when we're traveling the world, but when you get back home, that's when you remember what comfortable actually feels like, especially when you have Cozy Earth waiting for you when you get there.
I've been using Cozy Earth bamboo sheets and pajamas lately, and the biggest thing is just how soft and breathable everything is. The sheets actually stay cool through the night, which is crucial for someone like me who's a hot sleeper, and the pajamas are lightweight and really comfy, so I'm never waking up halfway through the night too hot or too cold.
But when it comes to travel, we love ourselves an upgrade, whether it's a first class seat or a hotel suite, but this one is one of those upgrades I didn't know I needed until I tried it. If you wanna try for yourself, Cozy Earth has a 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty, so there's really no risk in trying.
Head to cozyearth.com and use code THRIFTY for up to 20% off, 'cause home isn't just where you live, it's how you feel. Comfort lives here. Cozy Earth. Yo, welcome to the show. I'm Gunner, that's Kyle. We have a very fun show for you today because we need to talk about this incredible new Chase Sapphire Preferred signup bonus offer and, uh, just generally the fact that the banks seem to be all losing their minds, offering some of the best credit card signup bonuses that we've ever seen, perhaps.
Um, it's maybe the best, uh, month that I've... can ever remember to sign up for a credit card. So we're gonna go through all of it. We're talking a lot of cards. But first, Kyle, we are fresh off the recording of the first ever Thrifty Traveler podcast live show at the Parkway Theater here in Minneapolis last Friday, so, uh, I need to find something out from you.
How do you think it went?
I, I mean, I'll put it this way. There was a moment when I was laughing so hard on stage, I was crying and had to push my mic away because I was worried that it was picking up my snorts, which I don't know if that makes for good audio or not. We'll have to... That's a Sylvia question, I think.
If you were in the building at The Parkway on Friday, uh, you know what story Kyle is referring to. For the rest of you, I cannot wait for you to hear it. Um, that, that story caused some consternation. My mom is really not happy that I told that story on stage. Uh, she let me know that several, several times.
I may have tarnished the family name, uh, with what I said there, but, uh, it was a super, super fun show. The crowd was so into it and energetic, and it- we had such a fun time.
Well, and, and the fact that there were almost 300 people there, not just from Minnesota or driving up from Iowa, but from Memphis, Boston, and Buffalo, LA, uh, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, and somebody who flew from the Netherlands just to see our show and then flew back the following day is incredible.
Yeah, I was, I was like, "Are you here for the World Cup or, like, what?" You know, he's like, "No, just here to see the show." It's like, this is amazing. Um, thank you all so much for coming. We are releasing that episode early next week, both on YouTube and wherever you get your audio podcasts, but our production team did such an incredible job taping it.
I really think you should carve out some time for the YouTube. It's gonna be a really, really fun product to see. Okay, today on the show, we're talking about the CSP. We're talking about changes at PreCheck and Clear, and breaking down a slew of awesome credit card sign-up bonus offers that deserve your attention, but also raise the question, have the banks completely lost their marbles?
All that and more.
Hi, Kyle, Gunnar, and team. We're doing a tour of southern Spain, and I'm coming to you from sunny Sevilla. Welcome back to The Thrifty Traveler podcast
Okay, welcoming us back to the show this week was Lauren from her balcony in Sevilla, Spain, a really great vantage point to explore that city from, it looked like. Thank you so much for sending in your video, Lauren. Uh, it's time for Something Hot and Something Cold, a look at the good and the bad news out there for travelers from this past week, and we can't do a travel credit cards episode without starting with what I think we'd both agree is the hottest offer out there.
So fresh off the announcement of a major update to the $95 annual fee Chase Sapphire Preferred, the still $95 annual fee Chase Sapphire Preferred- Very important detail ... uh, Chase announced a new 100,000 bonus point sign-up offer after you spend $5,000 in your first three months of holding the card. This ties the record for the highest ever bonus on this card, and is especially wild considering, again, $95 annual fee.
That comes with new benefits like a $100 hotel credit and $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or Nexus credit. Kyle, simply, is this the best travel card offer ever?
Without question. It- I don't even think it is a question. I think this is number one, cut and dry, with a bullet, the best travel credit card offer that we've ever seen.
There's a downside here in that, you know, for new applicants for this card, effective immediately, those 100,000 points don't become 100,000 World of Hyatt points anymore. It would turn to 75,000 World of Hyatt points because Chase reduced the transfer ratio for new Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders.
For longtime folks who've had this card for years or even decades, you've got until October 1st before that transfer ratio gets reduced. Putting that aside, again, this is without question the single best bonus of all time. To have this many benefits on that card where just by booking a hotel stay through Chase using that $100 hotel credit, you're coming out ahead on the annual fee before you start talking about 100,000 point record-tying bonus is absolutely incredible.
It is not close. This is number one.
Yeah. And, uh, it- just because of those new benefits, it puts that old offer to shame. And, you know, for, uh, globalists, cover your ears, but there are other transfer partners from Chase, uh, you can transfer to, uh, places that are not Hyatt. Uh, but this is so amazing. I mean, I was thinking about this in terms of if you just simply, which I don't recommend you do, cashed out your 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards for $1,000, just thinking about it like that, you're paying a $95 annual fee for $1,000 of statement credits or $1,000 of travel at the Chase Travel Portal.
It is... It's just kind of a stunning value proposition for anybody who wants to sign up for a new card right now.
When we broke down this new card l- last week, we wondered aloud whether there would be a, a big welcome bonus in tandem with everything going live effective Monday, June 15th, and I think we all expected that there would be.
It would be kind of strange if they didn't. But to see them go again at 100,000 points just again proves the point that we made before, which is that this card is the buck 50 Costco hot dog of travel rewards cards. This is so absurdly valuable that anybody who can get it really should think about it with the very, very important caveat that, as always, credit cards are incredibly serious business.
100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points is amazing. I would never say no to that, but you do have to spend $5,000 within the first three months of account opening in order to get that. And if you can't do that responsibly, you just gotta move on and wait until you can.
Yep. Never go into debt for points and miles.
It's not worth it no matter what. But if you are in a good place and you wanna sign up for a card, who is actually eligible for this bonus, Kyle?
This is the, the wrinkle where I think, on the one hand, uh, we're not totally sure yet. We're still trying to gauge exactly how Chase has, has wor- reworked its eligibility rules, but I think without question, it's going to be harder than it has been in the past.
So for many, many years, Chase has had a couple of very important rules, specifically for its, uh, Sapphire collection of cards, the Preferred and the top tier Reserve. One is that you couldn't hold both at the same time, and two, you couldn't earn a bonus within the same 48-month span. You had to wait at least four years between earning bonuses on either or the same of these cards, which meant that for a lot of people, they have earned two if not more sign-up bonuses on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card because you could open the card, earn the welcome bonus, wait that four years Downgrade it to, say, the Chase Freedom Flex or the Chase Freedom, Freedom Unlimited card, and then open a new Chase Sapphire Preferred card again.
And it seems like that really is either, A, not as easy as it was before, or B, just not possible, because Chase has instead pivoted to more of a once per lifetime rule on earning a bonus on each of the Sapphire cards. What is a lifetime? That's what we don't know yet. So the, the, the big silver lining here is that Chase now has a pop-up feature, much like Amex has had for many years now, where before you actually submit your application and, and proceed with a hard credit inquiry, Chase will tell you, "Hey, you're not eligible for the welcome bonus on this card.
Do you still want to proceed?" Which means it's absolutely risk-free to check, and I think everybody, including people who still have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card in their wallet that's active, it'd be really smart to check. You would need... You would certainly need to get rid of that Chase Sapphire Preferred card, again, downgrade it in order to see whether you're eligible for this bonus.
But I mean, 100,000 points in one fell swoop, that is worth some extra effort to, to try to determine. And then let us know, I think, because we're still trying to figure out exactly how generous or not so generous and restrictive Chase is gonna be with actually handing out this card and this bonus this time around.
Awesome. Good info. Um, any insights into how long this offer's gonna stick around? I, I don't recommend people would wait. Uh, I wouldn't sit on your hands here. If you want this, this bonus, you should go after it, but any insights?
First and most importantly, Chase isn't saying But past is always prologue with these things.
The last time we saw Chase roll out 100,000 point bonus was roughly this time last year. It was last spring, and that lasted for a month, maybe six weeks. I would say six weeks is probably the upper end of how long this goes on. So I would be shocked if we get into August and this is still around. Again, this is just so insanely valuable, so incredibly lucrative, I don't, I really don't think Chase can afford to let this last all the way through the summer.
I think we're gonna get towards the end of July, if not sooner, is my guess, and this will be, uh, kind of a last call if it's not gone already.
Okay. Good to know. Um, if you wanna learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred card update, we talked mostly about the bonus in this episode, including the negative side of things as it relates to World of Hyatt, uh, go listen to the bonus episode from last week that we did all about this card.
We broke it all down for you there. Ready for something cold? If we have to. If we have to. Um, a lot of this good news in travel rewards credit cards that we're discussing today, uh, might have some bad news ramifications for people navigating TSA security lines. Uh, first thing, the cost of Clear Plus, the TSA pre-screening tool, is about to go up.
A lot of travelers got emails last week informing them that Clear Plus will go up to $219 from $209. Uh, Clear seemingly does this every year, or at least recently has. Um, but credit cards that offer Clear credits have increased their credits correspondingly over the last few years too. So people who, like me, who only have Clear because their card covers it continue to have it
covered, and they don't have to think about how much Clear actually costs.
I actually really hope and expect that there's not a single soul listening to this podcast that pays $209 out of pocket for Clear and would soon be paying $219. I mean, it's literally like death, taxes, annual Clear subscription fee increase. This is the fourth time in the last four years that they've done this.
Um, will the card companies just continue to match? Is there a reason that they wouldn't?
I, uh, I think it would set a s- a really strange precedent if Amex just decided to hold the line and said, "You know what? That Clear credit on your Amex Platinum card or on your Hilton Aspire card, that's only $209, so you have to pay the additional 10."
It's not like that's a big deal. I think I would personally still gladly do it and pay $10 for Clear instead of $219, but I- it would just be a really strange choice.
I wonder, I, I have to think that Clear is going to the banks already and being like, "Can we make sure that this continues to get matched?"
Because I'm sure Clear, uh, if you give some people $10 or take $10 from some people, that's gonna be enough for them to be like, "I'm done with Clear, actually. Touchless ID TSA PreCheck is all I need now." Um, okay, another security line story and something cold here. Uh, our friend, once podcast guest host and the video editor of this show, Kyle Thomas, the one we call Cool Kyle around the office, uh, he pitched us this theory that I think is unfortunately ironclad.
Um, he said because of the popularity of this Chase Sapphire Preferred card, its $120 PreCheck credit, he thinks that PreCheck lines are about to get a lot longer. So here's what we know just by the numbers. PreCheck had about 20 million members in 2024. It's likely a lot more now. A lot more people are joining travel rewards credit cards and using these credits to jump in to PreCheck as well.
Um, Chase has about 60 million cardholders total, and according to our own data from our credit card benefits tracker, about half of travel rewards cardholders are, have a Chase Sapphire Preferred in their wallet. So it's not perfect data, but we do know that there are probably gonna be several million people joining the ranks of TSA PreCheck.
Even if all those people already, if, if many of those people already have PreCheck, I think we can expect that a lot more people are about to join the program, and Kyle's argument is that this is probably gonna lead to longer lines. Do you think he's right?
Yeah, I, I think without question. Now, is it gonna lead to longer lines at every single airport?
No, because n- you know, the, the entire population of the United States that has or will soon have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card isn't gonna jump at this in unison, right? There are certainly a good chunk of current Sapphire Preferred card holders who already have Pre-Check, and there's also probably a good chunk of them who either already have the card or are going to get it that just won't bother with this because they don't, you know, maybe don't even really see or understand what this is and this benefit, and they don't travel e- enough to feel like it's worth the hassle of signing up.
But all of that aside, this will b- lead to, without question, the single largest influx of new TSA PreCheck applications or Global Entry, which also gets you TSA PreCheck, that we've ever seen. I... You know, being at 20 million users in 2024, uh, we're gonna be north of 30 million really, really quick, and that doesn't mean it's, like, gonna all be 10 million people signing up, uh, you know, this week as this new credit went live, but there is going to be a lot of people, and there's just no way to staff for that on the TSA's end, especially after the long, brutal shutdowns that we've seen within just the last, like, nine months.
It's... They're gonna have staffing problems. There's going to be more people. There are going to be some serious bottlenecks, so I would... E- everybody's gonna need to prepare for the worst heading to the airport in, you know, the months to come. And if there's no lines, great, but there are definitely going to be some longer lines in the months, weeks, years ahead.
Yeah, absolutely. All right, that's enough something cold. Let's get into a discussion broadly about all of these awesome credit card sign-up bonuses, but first we're gonna take a quick break. I think one of those top 10 feelings is coming home from a long trip and sleeping in your own bed again. We love staying at nice hotels and vacation rentals when we're traveling the world, but when you get back home, that's when you remember what comfortable actually feels like, especially when you have Cozy Earth waiting for you when you get there.
I've been using Cozy Earth bamboo sheets and pajamas lately, and the biggest thing is just how soft and breathable everything is. The sheets actually stay cool through the night, which is crucial for someone like me who's a hot sleeper, and the pajamas are lightweight and really comfy, so I'm never waking up halfway through the night too hot or too cold.
But when it comes to travel, we love ourselves an upgrade, whether it's a first class seat or a hotel suite, but this one is one of those upgrades I didn't know I needed until I tried it If you wanna try for yourself, Cozy Earth has a 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty, so there's really no risk in trying.
Head to cozyearth.com and use code THRIFTY for up to 20% off, 'cause home isn't just where you live, it's how you feel. Comfort lives here, Cozy Earth. Back to the show. Okay, it's time for the Extra Mile, where we dig a little deeper on an important travel topic, and this week we're looking over a slew of new limited time credit card signup offers and talking about what it all means.
So first, as you said, Kyle, I wanted to reiterate that credit cards are serious business. Don't open cards willy-nilly. Don't go into debt for points and miles. None of this is ever worth it. But if you are ready for a new credit card, it is truly an amazing time to be applying for one. Um, if you wanna pick up a card, support Thrifty Traveler and the show by signing up through the links on our websites.
So besides this Chase Sapphire Preferred offer, the best credit card offer that we've ever seen, here's just a short list of some other limited time credit card offers that I have my eye on right now. Um, I'm not gonna go through the minimum spend requirements on all of these, just for the sake of my voice and my breath.
Uh, all of these have at least a few thousand dollars in the first few months. Um, I won't dig into them all, but we have all the details on our website under the Best Credit Card Offers section. So I will start with the Delta SkyMiles American Express credit cards. You can get up to 125,000 bonus SkyMiles on the highest level Reserve card and 90,000 bonus miles on the lowest level, uh, annual fee Gold card.
Um, their business card also has 125,000 miles on there, too. Before we move on from those, uh, what do you think about this new second checked bag benefit? I don't think we've gone over this on the pod.
I don't remember what we talked about before we hit record. I don't remember what we talked about after we hit record on this.
Uh, I think it's smart to add a second free checked bag, given the fact that the cost of a first and second bag is up pretty significantly. W- how many people are actually checking two bags? Certainly some, probably not a lot of card holders. How many are going to check bags and therefore have more perceived value from these cards because they're getting that second bag that would otherwise cost, I think, $50?
A lot more. Delta's cargo holds are going to be a lot fuller in the weeks and months to come, put it that way.
Yeah, I'm gonna check my ski boots individually just 'cause I can. Um, all right, let's move on to the next ones. The Citi AA Advantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard, my least favorite named credit card, but with some of the most valuable miles out there.
You can earn 80,000 AA miles on this $99 annual fee card that has no annual fee in the first year. Southwest and Chase also have Rapid Rewards credit card bonuses right now. You can earn 90,000 Southwest miles on the top tier priority card and 80,000 on the lowest plus card. Hilton Honors and their American Express cards are out with bonuses.
You can earn up to 175,000 Hilton points on the top tier Aspire. The lowest level Hilton Amex is 100,000. And the Chase Ink Business credit cards, uh, you can earn $1,000 or 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards with either the Chase Ink Business Cash or the Chase Ink Business Unlimited cards. Both of those have $0 annual fees.
And I'll talk about these other ones as well. There's also bonus offers on the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Capital One Venture business cards. We're seeing limited time offers on the IHG cards, a cash back bonus on the Capital One Savor card, and, stay with me, elevated bonuses on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, the Bonvoy Bevy, the Bonvoy Business, the Bonvoy Boundless, the Bonvoy Bountiful, and the Bonvoy Bold cards too.
I really hate you for reading out all of those
names. Almost as much as I hate Marriott for choosing those names.
Table's covered in my spit.
You, you, do you need to take a break? Do you need a water or, like, a Popsicle or something?
No, 'cause I have one more card offer I need to show you, Kyle. Um, the GunAir Select Rewards Elite World Traveler Preferred Unobtainium card is out with a new bonus where you can earn 10 GunAir bucks, each redeemable for one onboard alcoholic beverage purchase on GunAir operated flights.
Uh, that is, of course, after you spend $4,000 In the next month at participating Twin Cities Buffalo Wild Wings locations. Um, the card, as you know, gets you access to Gun Air Lounges. Uh, we're having some permitting, some liquidity issues, but we're hoping to open our first lounge spring 2031. Uh, we're not sure which airport it's gonna be yet.
Uh, Gun Air Lounges come with one mandatory free guest. You actually have to bring someone in. Um, even if you're traveling alone, you gotta pick a rando from the concourse to bring them into Gun Air Lounges. You get reciprocal benefits at the other, uh, Vanilla Alliance lounges worldwide as well. Uh, the annual fee is just a $100 donation to my daughter's 529 account.
Um, and it's just a one-time thing, just in the first year, because we will certainly be acquired or fold up shop by the end of the first year. Are you interested in the Gun Air, let me say it again, Select Rewards Elite World Traveler Preferred Unobtainium Card?
No. Damn. How many, how many work hours did you put into laying out that non-existent credit card for your nonexistent airline?
I, I don't know, countless. Uh, you think about these things all the time. If I started an airline, if I started a credit card, these are, these are the things that I'm always constantly working through.
I'm actually a little bit scared that someone at Amex is listening to this, and it, it just like, oh, you know, you could have a minimum spend only at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Maybe we should try that. Like, guys, no.
Okay. Um, assuming that you're already in on the Gun Air card, if, if you're, uh, if, if your, uh, Social Security number's still the same, I'll just apply for you. Thank you. Um, which one of these other card offers are you most intrigued by?
You know, I, I just looked at my Delta Sky Miles account, and I am 272 Sky Miles flush right now.
I, I cannot keep Sky Miles in my account because unlike most people who do some version of what we do, I really value Sky Miles, and I use them constantly. So the idea of getting up to 125,000 more, I know I could put those to really good use. So that is maybe not quite number one, but it's a very close number two to one of, uh, the Cha- Chase Ink business no annual fee cards.
We see them roll out these 100 thou- or $1,000, which you can turn into 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards if you have another card, as I do, that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards. I, I, I have to jump on that. I, it's been, it's been on my list forever, and I, the timing just hasn't worked in the past to get approved for it.
I know I can this time. I'm gonna go for it.
Yeah. I think the, those are both really good options that, that, uh, American Airlines card, 80,000 American Airlines miles are so valuable. That's a business class flight to Japan that and then some. Uh, you know, it's, if you can find the availability, but, uh, AA miles continue to be some of the most valuable and, and that sign-up bonus, especially with that annual fee waived in the first year, is really, really awesome.
So I'd recommend people take a look at that, too. Um, but lots of good card offers out there for people who are ready to jump on them. What's going on here? Why are the banks doing this? Why all at the same time?
There's, there's such a disconnect between- Like the, the broader economy and concerns about travel demand slowing down and global war.
And yet these banks and airlines and hotel chains are just throwing everything at the wall, which means one of two things, and I, I honestly don't know the answer yet. I don't th- I don't know that anybody does. One is that they are struggling to acquire new customers because of everything I just mentioned, including the global warfare part.
And the one thing that moves the needle most is to lure people in with an eye-popping bonus. Y- this is what we saw, you know, really going back, looking back at the pandemic, every bank in the country, every airline in the country, every hotel chain basically shut down this whole process of going through these bigger occasional welcome bonuses.
And then in 2021, everybody went crazy as people wanted to travel again, and they knew that there was an audience out there that, you know, Chase could get their fingers into, or Amex could, you know, lure more people into the system. And it's really slowed down, but this feels a lot like that. So I wonder if that's it, just that it's getting harder to get people to care about travel than it has been for most of the last few years, and this is how you really move the needle.
The other possibility is that the people who are, you know, most likely to apply for these cards, the, the people who are going to be most lucrative for the banks just have been, you know, unaffected by the changes in the economy and still want to travel, and they know that they can get those people to apply for these cards.
So I don't know. It might be a combination of the two. I, it might be neither of them. I am often wrong about these things.
Is the, is the timing, the fact that so many of these bonuses just launched between May 1st and, like, June 15th, is it just by chance, you think? Uh, uh, surely these things have been in the works for a long time at these banks.
They're not just kinda flash sales, if you will. Uh, or, or do you think there's something to the fact that all of them are happening at the same time?
Uh, there might be. I, there is a competitive element here where, you know, it's not a perfect circle, but there's a Venn diagram between the customers Chase wants and the people that Amex wants and the people that Marriott wants, and go down the list.
We're also, I think we should point out, coming just out of a record-setting bonus on the Chase Sapphire Reserve. So to go from 150,000 point bonus on Chase's top tier card straight into the day that that offer ended, another record-tying bonus and the best offer of all time, we think, on the Chase Sapphire Preferred There's a long runway here of working on this.
I, uh, certainly banks and airlines work on this and plan out their schedule, you know, a year plus in advance. But I do think that there is also an element of, you know, responding to the dynamics. Or if nothing else, if things start to look worse, you say, "Hey, you know what? That big bonus that we were planning for this spring or early summer, we're not gonna do that this year.
It's just looking too risky right now." I don't know. It's, we're going back to my number two favorite meme of all time of the husky floating in outer space, and it just says, "I don't know what I'm doing." I don't know. Chase, come on the pod.
Chase, come tell us. I mean- Jamie
Dimon, tell us what's up.
Is, is... So Chase in particular has had these two really, really high offers lately.
Do you think this is, like, a response to the, that Chase Sapphire Reserve relaunch that they did last year? That was last year, right?
It was last year.
Okay. Uh, I was hoping it was last year. It feels fresh. Um, and it just didn't go over well. I believe on this show you said it, it went over like a wet fart or something like that.
I've said that a lot about a lot of things. I don't know if I said that about that in particular.
Uh, do you think that these kinda new, simpler bonus offers where they're just giving you all the points and the Chase Sapphire Preferred kinda refresh was just a very simple, "Here are two new easy credits, and, and we'll take one thing away from you with that Hyatt transfer ratio"?
I mean, uh, uh, is this a reaction to how poorly that first time went?
We don't know.
Yeah.
Chase isn't gonna fess up to this. Um, I think it has to be because to go from 150,000 points on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, basically just shy of a year into that card relaunching, which definitely didn't go the way that the bank wanted it to, there's no question in my mind about that.
People were not happy about that card. A lot of people canceled. It didn't drive the applications that I bet Chase was expecting, and they reworked a handful of benefits. And then, you know, this year went back to the biggest, uh, welcome bonus that we've ever seen on that card into the ludicrously valuable, at $95 a year, Chase Sapphire Preferred with another record-tying 100,000 point bonus.
And by the way, all of these business cards, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business, as well as the, the free, the no annual fee Chase Ink cards, that is so much. And that to me says- They're, they're real- it really is a two-horse race for the biggest banks that really drive the most business.
There is Chase and there is American Express, and my hunch is that American Express, against all odds, has become so popular with new, you know, first or second credit card millennials, even Gen Z, with the Amex Gold and the Amex Platinum card that Chase lost a lot of steam. And by doing these things, especially with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, it is a way to m- try to make up for lost time, to, again, like we talked about last week, get as many people into that top of the funnel with their cheapest...
Well, not cheapest, but cheaper, most popular travel card with a insane welcome bonus and all of these new benefits that drastically outweigh the annual fee. And then it starts that process of trying to pull them deeper, of maybe open that Chase Sapphire Reserve a couple years from now or, you know, get a mortgage, get an auto loan, open a checking and savings account, all of the things that Chase can do, and they're just trying to get as many people into that ecosystem as possible after a year that really just wasn't what they wanted.
That's my guess.
Yeah, that makes sense. Uh, you brought up Amex. Let's, let's drift over into Amex land. You talked about the new kinda sign-up rules for the Chase cards, um, and kinda the, the old 48-month rule, uh, being gone now, and tell me about these Amex sign-up bonuses and these as high as offers that we've been seeing.
These are confusing to a lot of people.
We've seen this start... We've seen this roll out over the course of the last year or so, give or take a couple of months, where, you know, really the, the standard limited time offer, earn 100,000 points, earn 75,000 points, whatever it is, and we see those jump up as part of like a push to get new cardholders.
Amex has shifted to as high as offers, which really is personalization. It is trying to find the point at which somebody will c- click apply at that number based upon the data that they have about somebody, which is why you need to actually, you know, if you're trying to open the Amex Gold or the Amex Platinum now, it's not just you can go out and find a referral link or open it incognito and see 175,000 points on the Amex Platinum card.
You start the application process, enter your information, and then Amex tells you what welcome bonus they're going to give you, which I guess on one hand eliminates some of the guesswork and some of the extra homework to try to find the best offer, but that's the bad part, is that there aren't all of these new avenues that you can go down to try to get that 175,000 point offer.
You get what you get. And, you know, that's a little bit troubling. It was even more troubling when we saw earlier this year American Express expand this to Delta, and we assumed that that would mean that the classic four to five times a year earn up to 100,000 SkyMiles or 125,000 SkyMiles as we just saw.
We guessed that those days would be over as a result of these new as high as offers using personalization and data in order to determine what to offer somebody to get them to apply. And it's a welcome surprise that we saw, uh, Delta and Amex roll out these new, you know, set in stone welcome offers for, you know, really their entire suite of cards.
Yeah. Okay, before we help a listener, I wanna do a little navel-gazing. Uh, if you are new here, I wanted to, uh, present to you this trophy, this trophy that we won. We won a Shorty Award in the other podcast genre. Uh, we're so excited to win the award. We were very honored to be named a finalist in the first place, but, uh, winning has been really, really cool to see.
We gotta thank our listeners who all jumped in and voted for us out there too, and just all the enthusiasm that we had for the show is what, you know, made us, uh, do a little bit of award consideration in the first place. But what are your thoughts on the trophy itself, Kyle?
Quite heavy.
Yeah.
Uh, if you're watching on YouTube you see it's just a large black whale's tail.
Heavier than I expected. They sent us a chamois cloth to keep it clean from fingerprints or your kiss marks- ... when you raise it to the ceiling- That's right ... and kiss it like it's the Stanley Cup. Yep. You're doing it again. Okay. Uh, it's, it's cool. You know, we, we rightfully so put ourselves down a lot on this show.
That's going to continue, but we sh- we should be really proud. You should be proud of this. I know I am.
Yeah. It's, it's really, really cool. We're, uh, we're very excited to, uh, be honored like this, and, um, let's move on and, and help Keith, our listener. Keith, hopefully you voted for us for the Shorty Award. If you didn't, we're still gonna answer your question anyway, though.
Um, Keith says, "Hello to my favorite podcasters. Is there any way to get around Chase's stringent rule for new credit cards? Does a call to the reconsideration desk help? As someone who's deep in the points world, I'm usually at about five cards in the past two years, but with the CSR big bonus ending soon and the CSP changes making this card more enticing, I thought this would be a good time to ask this question.
Thanks, Keith." Kyle, anything for Keith?
This is a big question with a lot of possible answers. So Keith is talking about Chase's notorious 5/24 rule, which means if you've opened five or more credit cards from any bank, not just Chase, they will typically reject you. I think the most interesting wrinkle of this here is that, like American Express, Chase is also clearly leaning much towards personalization, looking more at somebody's credit history to determine whether to give them a new credit card that they apply for or not, which means that over time, if it's not already happening, the 5/24 rule may be more of a guideline than a hard r- than the hard rule that it's been in the past And at the same time, Chase has, again, you know, started using this, this pop-up structure where basically, so far as I know, any time you apply for a new Chase credit card, if they won't give you a welcome bonus, they will let you know before you actually finish and submit the application.
All of which is to say, Keith, I really think you should take a flyer on it because you don't know. The, the, the answer from Chase may be different than it would have been just a year or two ago. I don't think it's worth calling a reconsideration line if you get rejected in every case, unless if you know that the reason why you, or you believe that the reason why you got rejected for an application is because you're over 5/24, and one of those credit cards that is, that you have opened within the last 24 months is actually an authorized user account.
Because those are the situations in which we know, based on data points and our own experience, where Chase will be willing to say, "Oh, okay, yeah, we'll overlook that one. So, you know, in our eyes, you're not actually at 5/24, you're at 4," which could allow you to push that application through successfully.
That's a good point. Um, that, and you do that through reconsideration, right? The- Chase isn't, their, their systems aren't catching that automatically. That's what you do when you call the reconsideration line to ask again.
Yep. We have a, I, we have a good guide to this whole process on our site. We'll link it in the show notes.
Uh, give it a shot. But I think the biggest thing here is you should just try for an application either way on whichever card ma- is gonna make the most sense to you, and there are really more than ever to pick from in the Chase den right now.
Perfect. Okay. I hope that helps Keith. If you'd like us to answer your questions on the podcast or if you have any feedback for us, hit us up at podcast@thriftytraveler.com.
We might feature your question on next week's show. We're gonna close the show as always with on the spot, and this week I get to put Kyle on the spot, and it's a two-parter. I'm taking some liberties. Um, first, I asked you if you were intrigued by any credit card sign-up bonus offers. Are you actually gonna apply for anything in this kinda fun month of credit card sign-up bonus offers?
Yeah.
Yeah? Absolutely. Yeah. One of those Chase Ink cards, I, I think I have to. No annual fee, 100,000 points. I, I would normally just go for the, probably the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but, uh, my, my hunch is that Chase will not give me another bonus on that card, even though it's been, you know, now eight years since I last earned it.
Um, but, uh, yeah, one of those Chase Ink, uh, b- business no annual fee cards for sure.
Eight years should be considered a lifetime in, uh, points and miles. It feels like a lifetime in points and miles.
Eight months feels like a lifetime.
Um, my second part of this, we had... One of the shows we got, like, the most feedback on in our catalog was the things we do immediately after we book flights.
What are some of the things you do immediately after opening a card?
Wait for it in the mail. Uh, I add it to our credit card benefit tracker, that new tool, uh, that we kind of revamped to bring online and move away from spreadsheets. That's probably step one. Uh, activate any new benefits just as soon as I can.
With some cards it's, it's easier than others. With some cards it's more important than others. I mean, basically opening any single American Express credit card right now, there's probably, like, between four and 12 things that you need to do to actually enroll and activate new benefits, whether it's for something like Resy or airline fees with the Amex Platinum card or Uber and an Uber One membership.
All of those things, if I don't do it right away, it's probably just not gonna happen.
Yeah. Some of the other things I do, th- that's a good list. I go to s- to some of my auto-pay bills and things like that, you know, Emory's daycare and my city and water bill and things like that, and I switch my card into those.
Um, that's something that I always make sure that I do too. And, uh, I forgot the last thing. Probably wasn't important. I guess we'll just never know. Uh, thank you so much for listening to the Thrifty Traveler podcast. Rate us five stars on your podcast platform of choice and like and subscribe to the show on YouTube.
Send this episode to someone you know who needs a vacation. If you have feedback for us, send me a note at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We would love to hear from you there. Kyle, tell us about the team.
This episode was produced by your favorite host, who you can find at your nearest Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area Buffalo Wild Wings, Gunnar Olsen.
It was produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas and edited by Kyle Thomas. Our theme music is by Benjamin Tissot. See you next week.
See ya.