Grrrrr. I hate it when this happens. Lisa has two US Air cards. Her credit score before the last round was great. She did not have that many credit inquires on her report. All the other cards, with some calls to either move lines around or close other cards, resulted in approvals. No such joy from Barclays for my Lisa!

At first she did the call to Barclays reconsideration line the day after the application (numbers at the bottom of THIS page). She was told no way no how. There was no budging on closing the oldest US Air card to open this new card that really would be a card she would use much more than the old US Air one. Nope – No way! She could have said OK and called back for rep two but went for a reconsideration letter in the mail instead (it almost always works).

She wrote a letter requesting a further review. She stressed how she had never ever missed or been late on a payment EVER, as well as her outstanding credit score and long standing accounts with other banks like Chase. The letter comes back with the same response as the phone rep – too short a credit history with Barclays to open another account. Grrrr…

This is so frustrating as I really wanted the 40,000 point current Barclaycard Arrival World Master Card (I am also stunned, btw, that it is still available) and this would have been perfect to have and one we would really use on a regular basis so my wife could buy positioning flights for me before a mileage run (don’t feel bad about that as we spend all our points in a communal way and I make sure she always flies in 1st class )!

The other issue is this was one of the few cards she had not yet had at some point. Sure there are others she can go for on the next round, but just getting points to get points is not as fun as getting points for a specific goal in mind. Plus, just points for points sake cards tend to “collect point dust” and I just hate that. I like to earn and burn as, unlike a fine wine, your points do not get better with age.

Ah well. I rue the day when I get a NO. I am sure it is on the way at some point. But as we all know, a single NO does not stop one from continuing on in the fun points game we all play! – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information

Success! 80,000 Priority Club points (not my link btw) have posted to a new and shiny Platinum Account! I was not sure from Lisa’s last churn if she would get these points but it has been YEARS since Lisa was a Priority Club card holder (canceled back in 2009) and for the most part, if you have had a Chase card of “that” type, you will NOT be able to get a new card bonus again. The exception is when Chase comes out with a “NEW” type of that same card, then, most time, you can go for that again and get the points. Also, most times, if there is both a VISA & MC of the same card you can often get the bonus for each flavor if you have not had both (I have seen best results when closing the old one before attempting this).

Is there, say like the 365+ day you have to wait with AMEX cards or the 6-18 month range from Citi that you must wait with Chase? I do not know and would love reader feedback to find out some more real world experience.

As an additional update, we are still waiting to hear back in the mail for the reconsideration letter for the Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard. I have high hopes that rather than a letter the card will just show up (thus approved) in the mail. It now makes running to the mailbox each day a little more fun anyway!

Another bit of warning and a GRRRRRRRRRRRR moment for me. Until last month I held 2 Alaska cards and got the bonus for each. When the fee came for card #1  I called to have the credit line from the old card moved to the new card and close the old one (why pay the fee). I was ASSURED that there would be NO hard credit pull for this credit line move. And then, BANG, I see a hard credit pull on my report. I could fight this one and it will push my next churn off by a few weeks or more but for now I have so much spending to do on other cards that I will just learn from this and let it go. I will have to rethink doing this again with any Bank of America cards (has this ever happen to you from these guys)? – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information

It has been more than 91+ days since Lisa’s last round in the end of December. Points have posted and spend done so on to the next round. What did we go for and what happened and what was her credit score pre-app? Let’s take a look.

First what happened. Results were mixed. None of the 3 cards came with instant approvals and one is currently still in the NO column but we are not ready to give up on it just yet.

So what did we go for and why? We needed more cards with low spend due to the bulk of our spend, including vanilla, being pushed to my Delta AMEX to get my bonus MQM’s. We also are in need of more hotel points and want to top off our AA points as well as more “travel cash” for next year’s ski trip.

• So card number one was the AA CitiBank business 30,000 point card. With a low spend level for 30k points it was a perfect fit. There was no instant approval but very quickly the card arrived with a nice size credit line.

• The next one was the 40,000 point Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard. Again no instant approval. Time for the reconsideration call. Lisa has two US Air cards, like I had before I went for my Barclays and I had to move some credit from my old one to get the OK. We attempted the same for Lisa but the rep would just not budge. Lisa has too short a time with Barclays and enough credit already. Time to write a letter asking to have the account looked at one more time. I am confident we can get this done with some more work.

• The last one was the Chase 80k PC card (not my link). Again this took a call and we moved her entire United card credit line from that card to the new PC card and it was approved. Lisa, a very long time ago, had a PC Visa so it will be fun to see if we do get the points or not (the rep confirmed 80k with $1000 spend but we will see). Even with NO points, this card will be a long term keep so I am fine either way due to all the perks it gives.

That wraps up this round of cards. Even if Barclays ends up in a final no after a reconsideration letter I am pleased. I am only a few weeks away from another big dump of MQM’s from my personal Delta AMEX Reserve card and then can shift, after Lisa’s cards, to my last $30,000 spending on my business Reserve card. – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information

My stack of cards is getting a bit silly but as a big time 91+ day card churner who tries not to cancel cards if I can be persuaded to keep them, they do tend to build up a bit. I have my current credit score and chart up and where my number is after my last churn!

Now on to why, what & results of this latest churn. Everyone should have their own goals when they churn cards. My goals should not be your goals. I have so many points right now that I am having a hard time spending them and while having millions of points sounds great, with all the devaluations of points going on, this is NOT smart. So I am trying to burn as much as I can at a good redemption rate.

Clearly I am all about Delta. Delta Points, Delta status, Delta Delta Delta! In that regard, one of my current goals is getting cards that will let me get to mileage run start cites, that is, to be able to reposition AND to earn Delta RDM’s & MQM’s for the reposition flights, but at the same time not pay or pay full price for these (I am up to 60,000 FlexPerks points now for just this reason). Another goal is to go for cards I have not had as I have almost ALL of them! I also wanted to avoid AMEX and CHASE this round as I have way too many of their cards for right now. So goal two was avoid these two banks and that’s hard since most of the best deals are from them. I also am working on HUGE spend totals on my personal and business AMEX Reserve cards for this year trying to get to $90,000 total; so I just can not do any cards that require say $5000 in spend to get the points this round. Last goal was experimentation and testing. This should NOT be a goal for you (unless you too run a blog).

So there is the background. As mentioned, I only got ONE approval instantly. The other 3 cards I had to call each bank’s reconsideration / application status line and talk to a person to see about approvals. I never, ever wait. I apply on a weekday and then call the next weekday to find out what is up. I want approvals as fast as I can get them. I have no fear in calling as all my info is correct and in front of me. I recommend you do the same. If something is wrong on the app you can fix it right away and get the card on the way to you. I have all the phone numbers you need at the bottom of the Best Points Cards tab. So what cards did I get:

• Card one was Citi Business AA 30,000 point card. I have almost 200k AA now and 140k USAIR so another 30k works and the key on this one is just $1000 spend to get the points. There is a 50,000 point business VISA link out in the wild, but I don’t have $5000 in spend to get that one!

• Card two was the Barclays 20,000 point Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard. For 18,000 points (after 10% point credit back) I will get $200 off a Delta ticket to fly to a reposition city and I only have to spend $1000 to get the points. I will earn RDM’s & MQM’s on the flight I would otherwise have to spend Skymiles to get done. I currently have 2 US Air cards so I had to have them close the one, move the $6000 in credit from that old card, and was approved for a new card with $10,000 credit. Plus, I have never used TripIT Pro and readers are saying it is great. I get it free for a year. OK that works.

• Card three was the 25,000 Bank of American Alaska Airlines card (not my link btw) and the points are after approval so ZERO spend but I will spend something on the card. I have several BofA cards right now. One of my oldest is an NCL card (hate to admit that, but I got it a LONG time ago). I got an Alaska card when they had the 35k offer but that one has not been out for a while now so this one worked. I had them move $10,000 in credit line from my NCL that I will never ever use to approve this new Alaska card. But, approved also!

• Card four was a Capital One Venture One card via their card finder tool. This is by no means a great bonus. I like and have the standard Venture card and do use it now and then but this one was a test for me and not an AMEX or CHASE card; the funny thing is it was the only one with instant approval. I will get $100 after spending just $1000 to apply to a Delta repositioning flight to earn RDM’s & MQM’s. I would like to see Capital One bump these bonus deal up to 20-40,000 points to make them a good value card to apply for.

So there is my latest churn and results. I am still 100% approvals for ALL MY CARDS I have ever applied for. Some of the fun things the reps said along the way during the status calls were ( again did not say was just thinking this – CLEAR):

“Why have you requested so much credit over the past year”
Cuz I want all the points you are willing to give me!

“You have done an excellent job managing your credit”
Y-Yes I have to earn millions of points and 1st class travel!

“Allow me to put you on a brief hold while I conduct a review of your credit”
Oh would I love to see them notice just how many cards I have open

Happy churning weekend everyone and hope to see you on a Delta flight soon!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information