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Jerry's Mega Thread of Credit Cards Q&A

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bizee-bee wrote:
McMaggot wrote: No check at Equifax at all. Just one check at TU.
Well that's not good news. My wife was clearing her EQ file in anticipation of getting another Chase card. Now they're gonna see her recent pulls for Amex and MBNA cards.
If you were Chase, and trying to crack down / implement 5/24 rule, etc ... would you need to see the actual 'pull' on the file, or wouldn't seeing a card with an age of 1 month be a 'hint' enough for you that the applicant probably had a pull at the other credit bureau a month ago? :)

Or are we talking about caring only for that short window in between applying and before the new card reports to both bureaus?
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Jan 19, 2016
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sr79 wrote: Just received Amex Business Platinum. Heres my strategy, any comments are welcome

I will need 2 months to get 5k of expenses and 75 000 pts.

I was thinking of applying now for Business Gold, 1 in my name and 1 for GF. I dont plan on spending 5k on the Gold so its only to get the 25 000 points referral. Do i need to activate the card to get bonus or only approval is enough?

Once i get 5k of expenses on the platinum i will apply for Gold, Rewards 1 for me 1 for GF, and spend the 1500 $ for 25 000 pts.

Total points :
Platinum: 75 K.
Business Gold 50 k referrals.
Gold Rewards : 50 k referrals plus 50k.
Total 225 000
Regarding what others have been saying warning about generating alot of hard inquiries with this strategy, one thing you could try (try it for one person first...) is to apply for both the personal gold and the business gold on the same day. I applied for 2 separate AMEX in May on the same day and although the second one didn't get approved automatically, I called in and once I told them I did it on purpose, they approved the second one. The nice little surprise I found on my credit report is that only one hard inquiry was done even though I applied for 2 separate cards - one was personal Platinum, the other was Air Miles Platinum. It's pretty easy to explain that you need 2 cards to keep personal and business expenses separate - and this lets you collect those MR faster and so you can churn faster too even if only churning referral bonuses - plus you never know when they will reduce the referral bonus ala Personal Platinum. This is just an idea - of course everyone's situation is different and sometimes their experiences too.
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Jan 19, 2016
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McMaggot wrote: I was wondering if anyone who has any recent experience of applying for Marriot Visa knows which bureau Chase hit? I just noticed they hit Transunion in June this year but all my prior checks with them were Equifax. Anyone have experience otherwise?

This kinda sucks now. Worthwhile issuers that check Equifax are shrinking.
Some data points:

Applied and was approved for Chase Marriott on Aug 13, saw credit inquiry done on my Equifax report. Haven't paid to see my Transunion since then, but would assume they did not do an inquiry there from past experience. My credit reports show that AMEX/MBNA hit TransUnion, CapitalOne hits both, and Chase/CIBC/TD/BMO/National Bank hit Equifax. Although I have slightly more hits due to AMEX on my TransUnion report (although pretty balanced regardless due to the long list of big banks using Equifax), my TransUnion score is much higher for some reason maybe since they don't seem to calculate average age of accounts the same way as far as I can tell.
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vkizzle wrote:
McMaggot wrote: No check at Equifax at all. Just one check at TU.
Are you sure?
A few years ago when I applied for a Sears department card, Chase performed a hard check on Equifax.
Also, just recently when I applied for the Marriott Visa, there was another hard check by Chase on Equifax.
Yes sir, I am. I request printed reports often, currently looking at reports that I requested during labour day weekend and the one TU check coincides with my application date that was approved by the online system.
Like I said, all my prior experiences with Chase were Equifax hits (and there are quite a few of them between various products and repeat signups by more than a few people) but this situation warranted further investigation.
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McMaggot wrote:
vkizzle wrote:
McMaggot wrote: No check at Equifax at all. Just one check at TU.
Are you sure?
A few years ago when I applied for a Sears department card, Chase performed a hard check on Equifax.
Also, just recently when I applied for the Marriott Visa, there was another hard check by Chase on Equifax.
Yes sir, I am. I request printed reports often, currently looking at reports that I requested during labour day weekend and the one TU check coincides with my application date that was approved by the online system.
Like I said, all my prior experiences with Chase were Equifax hits (and there are quite a few of them between various products and repeat signups by more than a few people) but this situation warranted further investigation.
These random moves by the FI will keep me on my toes while I continue churning cards.
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Aug 17, 2008
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ace604 wrote:

I wouldn't waste the 40k x 2 from the business golds and wait until you can spend $5k on those to get an extra 80k. Don't forget Plastiq (and it's a "supplier" for Biz gold so earns 2x).
Problem is i wanted to buy a lot of grocery GC but both places where i go (IGA and Maxi in QC) dont take Amex. So ill try to find grocery GC elsewhere but Amex doesnt seem to be popular in Qc. I know about Plastiq, i will prepay some bills but $15k is too much spending if i cant spend some on grocery.
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sr79 wrote:
ace604 wrote:

I wouldn't waste the 40k x 2 from the business golds and wait until you can spend $5k on those to get an extra 80k. Don't forget Plastiq (and it's a "supplier" for Biz gold so earns 2x).
Problem is i wanted to buy a lot of grocery GC but both places where i go (IGA and Maxi in QC) dont take Amex. So ill try to find grocery GC elsewhere but Amex doesnt seem to be popular in Qc. I know about Plastiq, i will prepay some bills but $15k is too much spending if i cant spend some on grocery.
Are you in a rush to get the points? Just pace out your $5k spending which will also pace out your applications at the same time. win-win.
$5k Platinum done? get biz gold, spend $5k next 3 months. Done that $5k? get gold spend $1.5k ...

By 9 months you have all the points and spread out all the spending.
POLL: How frequent is your RRSP-matching?
Plastiq: Pay any bill with credit card for 0-2.5% fee (help meet min spending and keep old cards active!)
Rewards program transfer times (e.g. SPG->Aeroplan, Marriott->SPG, Amex MR->SPG...)
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not really in a rush. I will try to do it like that. i just hope they dont cut referrals in the next year. thankyou
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sr79 wrote: not really in a rush. I will try to do it like that. i just hope they dont cut referrals in the next year. thankyou
I paced mine out until they said "changes to personal platinum June 29th" and then I applied for that, and referred from it to 3 other cards in my family within 2 weeks :-)

So just keep an eye out here for changes and rush when you need to rush, otherwise ... take your time :)

Plus the longer it takes you to cycle through all the MR cards, the longer you can keep your MRs before having to decide which program to transfer them all out to :-) ... unless you always keep an MR card indefinitely to be able to keep them forever (which you should be able to do, but if the bonuses become one-time and enforced as such, the churning at that point would be only for referral points and the next year free)
POLL: How frequent is your RRSP-matching?
Plastiq: Pay any bill with credit card for 0-2.5% fee (help meet min spending and keep old cards active!)
Rewards program transfer times (e.g. SPG->Aeroplan, Marriott->SPG, Amex MR->SPG...)
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McMaggot wrote: I was wondering if anyone who has any recent experience of applying for Marriot Visa knows which bureau Chase hit? I just noticed they hit Transunion in June this year but all my prior checks with them were Equifax. Anyone have experience otherwise?

This kinda sucks now. Worthwhile issuers that check Equifax are shrinking.
bizee-bee wrote:
McMaggot wrote: I was wondering if anyone who has any recent experience of applying for Marriot Visa knows which bureau Chase hit? I just noticed they hit Transunion in June this year but all my prior checks with them were Equifax. Anyone have experience otherwise?

This kinda sucks now. Worthwhile issuers that check Equifax are shrinking.
Chase has always pulled from Equifax for my/wife's cards too. I've read that they pull both if your EQ file is questionable or needs secondary info. Did you see a pull at EQ at all?
vkizzle wrote:
McMaggot wrote: No check at Equifax at all. Just one check at TU.
Are you sure?
A few years ago when I applied for a Sears department card, Chase performed a hard check on Equifax.
Also, just recently when I applied for the Marriott Visa, there was another hard check by Chase on Equifax.
ntcse1 wrote:
McMaggot wrote: I was wondering if anyone who has any recent experience of applying for Marriot Visa knows which bureau Chase hit? I just noticed they hit Transunion in June this year but all my prior checks with them were Equifax. Anyone have experience otherwise?

This kinda sucks now. Worthwhile issuers that check Equifax are shrinking.
Some data points:

Applied and was approved for Chase Marriott on Aug 13, saw credit inquiry done on my Equifax report. Haven't paid to see my Transunion since then, but would assume they did not do an inquiry there from past experience. My credit reports show that AMEX/MBNA hit TransUnion, CapitalOne hits both, and Chase/CIBC/TD/BMO/National Bank hit Equifax. Although I have slightly more hits due to AMEX on my TransUnion report (although pretty balanced regardless due to the long list of big banks using Equifax), my TransUnion score is much higher for some reason maybe since they don't seem to calculate average age of accounts the same way as far as I can tell.
All you mofos need to update the list with your datapoints, if you haven't done so already :rolleyes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11YJ ... Z2YDE/edit

RFD Thread
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G0DKING wrote:
McMaggot wrote: I was wondering if anyone who has any recent experience of applying for Marriot Visa knows which bureau Chase hit? I just noticed they hit Transunion in June this year but all my prior checks with them were Equifax. Anyone have experience otherwise?

This kinda sucks now. Worthwhile issuers that check Equifax are shrinking.
bizee-bee wrote:
McMaggot wrote: I was wondering if anyone who has any recent experience of applying for Marriot Visa knows which bureau Chase hit? I just noticed they hit Transunion in June this year but all my prior checks with them were Equifax. Anyone have experience otherwise?

This kinda sucks now. Worthwhile issuers that check Equifax are shrinking.
Chase has always pulled from Equifax for my/wife's cards too. I've read that they pull both if your EQ file is questionable or needs secondary info. Did you see a pull at EQ at all?
vkizzle wrote:
McMaggot wrote: No check at Equifax at all. Just one check at TU.
Are you sure?
A few years ago when I applied for a Sears department card, Chase performed a hard check on Equifax.
Also, just recently when I applied for the Marriott Visa, there was another hard check by Chase on Equifax.
ntcse1 wrote:
McMaggot wrote: I was wondering if anyone who has any recent experience of applying for Marriot Visa knows which bureau Chase hit? I just noticed they hit Transunion in June this year but all my prior checks with them were Equifax. Anyone have experience otherwise?

This kinda sucks now. Worthwhile issuers that check Equifax are shrinking.
Some data points:

Applied and was approved for Chase Marriott on Aug 13, saw credit inquiry done on my Equifax report. Haven't paid to see my Transunion since then, but would assume they did not do an inquiry there from past experience. My credit reports show that AMEX/MBNA hit TransUnion, CapitalOne hits both, and Chase/CIBC/TD/BMO/National Bank hit Equifax. Although I have slightly more hits due to AMEX on my TransUnion report (although pretty balanced regardless due to the long list of big banks using Equifax), my TransUnion score is much higher for some reason maybe since they don't seem to calculate average age of accounts the same way as far as I can tell.
All you mofos need to update the list with your datapoints, if you haven't done so already :rolleyes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11YJ ... Z2YDE/edit

RFD Thread
Unfortunately, I do not have any credit score products for me and for those under my wings to add any value to the document.
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McMaggot wrote:
G0DKING wrote:
McMaggot wrote: I was wondering if anyone who has any recent experience of applying for Marriot Visa knows which bureau Chase hit? I just noticed they hit Transunion in June this year but all my prior checks with them were Equifax. Anyone have experience otherwise?

This kinda sucks now. Worthwhile issuers that check Equifax are shrinking.
bizee-bee wrote: Chase has always pulled from Equifax for my/wife's cards too. I've read that they pull both if your EQ file is questionable or needs secondary info. Did you see a pull at EQ at all?
vkizzle wrote: Are you sure?
A few years ago when I applied for a Sears department card, Chase performed a hard check on Equifax.
Also, just recently when I applied for the Marriott Visa, there was another hard check by Chase on Equifax.
ntcse1 wrote: Some data points:

Applied and was approved for Chase Marriott on Aug 13, saw credit inquiry done on my Equifax report. Haven't paid to see my Transunion since then, but would assume they did not do an inquiry there from past experience. My credit reports show that AMEX/MBNA hit TransUnion, CapitalOne hits both, and Chase/CIBC/TD/BMO/National Bank hit Equifax. Although I have slightly more hits due to AMEX on my TransUnion report (although pretty balanced regardless due to the long list of big banks using Equifax), my TransUnion score is much higher for some reason maybe since they don't seem to calculate average age of accounts the same way as far as I can tell.
All you mofos need to update the list with your datapoints, if you haven't done so already :rolleyes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11YJ ... Z2YDE/edit

RFD Thread
Unfortunately, I do not have any credit score products for me and for those under my wings to add any value to the document.
Fair enough, you're off the hook Smiling Face With Open Mouth
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McMaggot wrote:
G0DKING wrote:
McMaggot wrote: I was wondering if anyone who has any recent experience of applying for Marriot Visa knows which bureau Chase hit? I just noticed they hit Transunion in June this year but all my prior checks with them were Equifax. Anyone have experience otherwise?

This kinda sucks now. Worthwhile issuers that check Equifax are shrinking.
bizee-bee wrote: Chase has always pulled from Equifax for my/wife's cards too. I've read that they pull both if your EQ file is questionable or needs secondary info. Did you see a pull at EQ at all?
vkizzle wrote: Are you sure?
A few years ago when I applied for a Sears department card, Chase performed a hard check on Equifax.
Also, just recently when I applied for the Marriott Visa, there was another hard check by Chase on Equifax.
ntcse1 wrote: Some data points:

Applied and was approved for Chase Marriott on Aug 13, saw credit inquiry done on my Equifax report. Haven't paid to see my Transunion since then, but would assume they did not do an inquiry there from past experience. My credit reports show that AMEX/MBNA hit TransUnion, CapitalOne hits both, and Chase/CIBC/TD/BMO/National Bank hit Equifax. Although I have slightly more hits due to AMEX on my TransUnion report (although pretty balanced regardless due to the long list of big banks using Equifax), my TransUnion score is much higher for some reason maybe since they don't seem to calculate average age of accounts the same way as far as I can tell.
All you mofos need to update the list with your datapoints, if you haven't done so already :rolleyes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11YJ ... Z2YDE/edit

RFD Thread
Unfortunately, I do not have any credit score products for me and for those under my wings to add any value to the document.
No that's not true, you need to add which bureau got pulled when for which card, score is secondary really.
POLL: How frequent is your RRSP-matching?
Plastiq: Pay any bill with credit card for 0-2.5% fee (help meet min spending and keep old cards active!)
Rewards program transfer times (e.g. SPG->Aeroplan, Marriott->SPG, Amex MR->SPG...)
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Dec 9, 2014
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ace604 wrote:
McMaggot wrote:
G0DKING wrote:

All you mofos need to update the list with your datapoints, if you haven't done so already :rolleyes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11YJ ... Z2YDE/edit

RFD Thread
Unfortunately, I do not have any credit score products for me and for those under my wings to add any value to the document.
No that's not true, you need to add which bureau got pulled when for which card, score is secondary really.
That's true ─ you're back on the hook again, McMaggot Angry Face
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G0DKING wrote:
ace604 wrote:
McMaggot wrote:

Unfortunately, I do not have any credit score products for me and for those under my wings to add any value to the document.
No that's not true, you need to add which bureau got pulled when for which card, score is secondary really.
That's true ─ you're back on the hook again, McMaggot Angry Face
Lol. McMaggot on the hook. We can catch some big McFish with that.
POLL: How frequent is your RRSP-matching?
Plastiq: Pay any bill with credit card for 0-2.5% fee (help meet min spending and keep old cards active!)
Rewards program transfer times (e.g. SPG->Aeroplan, Marriott->SPG, Amex MR->SPG...)
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Jerry, experts ...

What are some of the suggested ways to go from 2 Amex *credit* cards to a 3rd?
I understand the limit is 2.

If I apply for a 3rd would they do a credit check and then still reject me due to holding 2?
Or would they contact me before doing a check and offer to convert one of my existing cards?

I have an unused Airmiles Amex that I'd rather get more use out of by getting something else ... but not really wanting to have to close it first because it is 15+ years old.

I also have someone who can refer me to a card for a kickback, or I can self-refer to SPG biz (or can I do that now anyways - do biz credit cards count against the cap of 2?)

Ideally I would want to do all of the following if possible :)
1) Accept a referral for a new app
2) Get approved by converting the oldest Amex into the new one
3) Do above without a credit hit! :-)


LOL. Dunno if I'm dreaming. Hoping at least I can do two of the three, but fearing I can't proceed without closing the oldest account first which I don't want to do.

My backup plan is to just use one CC slot at Amex by referring spouse to SPG, then she refers me back to next card after I close 2nd card.

Tips, anecdotes, pointers, links to FAQs, etc, welcomed.

Thanks
POLL: How frequent is your RRSP-matching?
Plastiq: Pay any bill with credit card for 0-2.5% fee (help meet min spending and keep old cards active!)
Rewards program transfer times (e.g. SPG->Aeroplan, Marriott->SPG, Amex MR->SPG...)
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Jan 30, 2012
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a question for those who have the amex platinum airmile, how long did it take the miles to be posted in your airmile account?

(and do you think airmile still offer good values?)
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ValueHunter999 wrote: a question for those who have the amex platinum airmile, how long did it take the miles to be posted in your airmile account?

(and do you think airmile still offer good values?)
Once you spend the $500, it'll show & post on the FOLLOWING monthly statement
Same goes for SPG, Aeroplan AMEX cards
Which Credit Cards to sign up? >> Jerry's Mega Thread of Credit Cards Q&A
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Oct 1, 2004
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for the AMEX Plat and Business Plat, it says for the $200 travel credit, it can only be used once based on the anniversary year of membership, is this new? I believe a lot of ppl were getting the Plat card mid year then using the credit twice?

just saw the Business plat referral is 25K vs regular Plat which is 15K... always thought they were all the same! Should have got the business plat first then get the Plat instead of vice versa.... :(
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greg123 wrote: for the AMEX Plat and Business Plat, it says for the $200 travel credit, it can only be used once based on the anniversary year of membership, is this new? I believe a lot of ppl were getting the Plat card mid year then using the credit twice?
Dont see that in the terms from the website: "Annual Travel Credit can only be used once per calendar year towards a single travel booking of $200 or more"

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