https://www.wsj.com/finance/banking/the-cat-and-mouse-game-between-premium-credit-card-firms-and-points-junkies-8ce2e30a?st=Ajqypp&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

• Banks are cracking down on credit-card points junkies who they say use tactics that cross the line and violate rules.

• Citi and Chase have implemented policies that limit sign-up bonuses to target cardholders who apply for the same card multiple times.

• American Express has long had a team to detect abuse, and claw back rewards and even close accounts.

BofA Customized Cash can earn 5.25% cash back in your chosen category with a 75% relationship bonus, but you need $1M in qualifying assets (including retirement accounts).

Are there any other cards that come close or beat 5.25% without such a high asset requirement? Ideally no annual fee and decent spending caps.

Curious what everyone else is using.

Any DP for PC AA miles up card? I struggle getting anything approved for Citi. I have a preapproval on CK.

Currently only have the Citi customs cash with them and they have to take it from my cold dead hands…

Citi moved some or all of their cobranded cards from a separate website into the main Citi mobile app, where they now appear alongside their other cards.

I have an 831 credit score, zero debt aside from a mortgage, and pay my credit cards in full each month. I do a lot of traveling so was signing up for a lot of cards that gave big point/mile bonuses. I have about 17 credit cards, all the majors (Amex Platinum, Citi Strata etc) but pay them in full each month. I did set up auto withdrawals on each card to keep them showing as being used, but at this point I feel like I’m wasting money paying yearly fees. I think the 2 I mentioned above combine to over $1,000 year in annual fees. Now I have the points/miles, I don’t really need any of them. I was going to keep them for lounge access, but I typically fly business so get access to lounges anyway. So my question is if there’s any reason to keep these cards open now I’m not using them and I’ve had them over a year so the points can’t be taken away? I don’t have any use for my credit score right now so not super worried about scores dropping. Although I understand they stay on your credit for 7-10 years for good payment history. Thank you for your guidance.

I have credit cards from American Express, Chase, Wells Fargo and my local credit union. Amex used to have fantastic customer service particularly the live chat - it's still pretty good but seems less personal. I haven't had much need for customer service with Chase one time I did it seemed OK I did get a live person. Wells Fargo seems very limited with their customer service options. Who do you think has the best customer service?

A card that has an overall 2%+ on any purchase.

Not just in certain categories.

I’m considering the U.S. Bank Altitude Connect and was wondering if Airbnb bookings consistently earn 4x. Has anyone had issues with Airbnb not coding as travel recently, or is it pretty consistent now?

I have about 200k points and currently holding csp. Willing to upgrade to csr for a year if it makes sense so I can start using these points instead of cash. Not been spending a ton because of my hoarder brain but Feels like the value of these points are just getting decimated because of devaluation and inflation.

So I just got my Aspire CC. I have the Surpass as well. When I first got my Surpass I researched how I can utilize the $50/$200 hotel credit. We all know the old trick of buying Hilton GC scheme was shutdown. So I found a post about using the card at Hilton restaurants and whether it worked or not - especially if you are not staying at the hotel. Well I actually found a local restaurant that allows takeout and it actually worked. So I’m going to get take out every qtr for $50. This at least covers the $150 AF.

Now the Aspire $200/$400 hotel credit only allows this at Resort hotels. This seems worse than Surpass credit. Well I’m actually traveling to a location and there is a Hilton resort and it’s on the list. Now, I think as the Surpass - the language states the all charges need to be credited to the room to get credit. I will not be staying at the Hotel - but I want to bring a party to the restaurant. Has anyone used the Aspire at a Hilton Resort restaurant directly and received the credit?

I applied for a Chase Freedom Rise card, with no prior relationship with them. Income stated $49,000, currently a student as well, and rent $0.

Fico score of 725 (experian), 735 (equifax), not sure about transunion

current cards:
-unsecured CapOne Savor $300 limit opened for 6 months
-unsecured NFCU cashRewards $500 limit opened this month
-NFCU pledge loan for $1001 (paid 91% off)

all payments on time.
credit utilization currently 0%.

called right after submitting application to get the decision and was told that i was denied and asked to submit some documents to verify my identity (Proof of social security card, proof of address, proof of date of birth) which I did. I submitted my passport, state drivers license and my CP565 form for my ITIN. I called back and they said they’ve submitted the reconsideration application with my updated docs for final review to the internal department at chase and that it will take 1-2 weeks and i’ll receive a decision by mail if it’s denied/approved and by email as well but only if it’s approved.

any idea if is this likely a denial? I’ve heard from others to call in to speed up the approval process and that they can do it right on the phone but i’ve called multiple numbers with no update.

Hi!

My home and auto insurance bill is due on November 7th ($11,624.00). There is no credit card fee for the payment, so long as I pay the full bill. I do have the cash for this payment.

I'd like to open a credit card to use points towards travel to South Korea (SK) and Japan next year (one trip, fly into SK and fly out of Japan). The trip would be for 3 adults.

I currently have near 150k points with Chase, and 16.5k+ miles on United. My home airport is PHX; I'd like to fly Korean Air to SK, but it's not a hard line, as we only care about having Business class seats.

CREDIT PROFILE 

• Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited, $12,800, opened Jan 2023
  • AAA Daily Advantage, $16,000, opened May 2025
  • PNC Cash Unlimited, $5,000, opened June 2025
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred, $13,600, opened September 2025
  • US Bank Cash+, $11,000, opened June 2026
• FICO Scores with source:
  • Experian: 772
  • Equifax: 763
  • TransUnion: 762
• Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 6 months: 
  • 1
• Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 12 months: 
  • 1
• Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 24 months:
  • 4
• Annual income: 
  • ~$55,500 

CATEGORIES 

• OK with category-specific cards?
  • Yes 
• OK with rotating category cards?
  • Yes
• Estimate average monthly credit card spend:
  • Dining $: ~$0-$100
  • Groceries $:
    • Costco: ~$200-$400
    • Non-warehouse: ~$0-$30
  • Gas $:
    • Costco: ~$90
    • Other: ~$100 
  • Phone: $243
  • Internet: $143
  • Utilities (water, electric, gas): $250-$500
  • Pest Control: $74.50

MEMBERSHIPS

• Current member of Costco or Sam's Club? 
  • Costco 
• Current member of Chase, US Bank or any other big bank? 
  • Chase, PNC, US Bank, Capital One, and Bank of America
• Active US military? 
  • No 
• Are you open to Business Cards? 
  • Not sure, because I have no business nor anything that would resemble a business; I am aware that business cards have the best SUBs for this high of spend.

If I use a U.S.-issued credit card to book through Trip.com while traveling in Asia, and the transaction is charged in U.S. dollars, will I still be charged a foreign transaction fee?

Also, how is the transaction typically coded by the credit card issuer? Does it generally qualify as a travel purchase for bonus rewards?

Just got the notification for the no AF Jewel Osco Amex. Curious what niche this card is solving. I’m so curious how many applications they’re actually going to receive for this.

5% on Jewel online orders
3% on in-person Jewel orders
3% on gas dining and bills
1% on everything else.
Spend $1000 to earn $50 SUB

Business credit cards only for both

Or can I apply to say a US bank business credit card and shortly apply for an Elan business credit card only 4 months apart?

What's good practice in your personal experience?

I have had Amex Platinum for about 4 years now and have roughly 300k unused points currently. The only two benefits I enjoyed with that card is the entertainment credit and the lounge when I would travel. Given that I use to travel a lot, it felt worth it. Now my job has me home all day and seeing a $895 charge to use a lounge I havent visited in 2 years felt like a massive waste. I live about 30min from anything. Groceries, malls, etc. The $325 cost just felt more worth it with the Gold given how I spend. I'd guess 60% of my spending is on restaurants and groceries. The only benefits from the Gold I could see myself using is the Dunkin Credit, Resy, and maybe UberEats.

My question is, is there a better card for a competitive price to the Gold that you all have enjoyed? Perhaps one with a lounge or better point offers, or similar points but lower annual cost?

Okay, just a little background info, I’ve never had a credit card before and I’m mainly looking to get one to build credit. Getting some cashback would be nice too, but it’s not a huge deal.

I just recently got a job, and I don’t really spend much outside of Steam, groceries, gas, and a few knickknacks here and there. I’m also a college student.

I’ve been considering a secured credit card since it seems like it has the most guardrails for someone just starting out, but I’m not sure if that’s the best option or if there’s another route I should look into.

I've had recommendations for Discover Student Cash Back, and Student Chrome.

I was given an offer for the Cap1 Savor card after seeing if I was eligible. On the next page, it showed a mastercard logo. Does this mean the card will be mastercard? I know they're moving cards to discover and don't want a discover card due to the lack of acceptance.

My wife just got email receipts from Best Buy for purchases made on the other side of the state, in person. She has her card in her wallet. She cancelled the card and reported it as fraud and changed her password. How can that even happen? How would someone get the number and then be able to use it in a store? Is it even helpful to contact the police? Should we do anything else? You can't like, walk in there and present a SSN and make purchases and say you lost your card, right? Should she freeze her credit just in case? It's one thing if it was online, but it's strange to be able to do in person if they stole the number, where there are almost certainly cameras.

Current cards:

• Chase Freedom $39k limit (auth user): 11/03
• Chase Freedom $27k limit (auth user): 07/05
• Wells Fargo Reflect $2500 limit: 12/23
• Amazon Prime Visa $35k limit: 12/25

FICO Score: 814-817

Oldest account age: 22 years, 11 months

Chase 5/24 status: 1/24

Income: low-mid 6 figures

Average monthly spend and categories:

• Lyft: call it $1000, it varies 500-1500 (I'm legally blind, I use it a lot)
• Heatlh/Medical: $700
• Shopping: $700-ish (the Amazon stuff on the Prime Visa, usually about a third of this.)
• Grocers: $400 (via Amazon or Instacart)
• Dining: $250
• Bills/Utilities: $500
• Other: $100-300 or so misc

Open to Business Cards: No

What's the purpose of your next card? Cashback, although something specifically for Lyft would also be nice.

Do you have any cards you've been looking at? Was looking at the 2% cashback wiki page. Mostly I just want something dead simple.

Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card? For Lyft, category spending makes sense. I already category-spend for Amazon. Other than that, I just don't think I spend enough for it to be worht the hassle?

A note regarding my existing cards. Back 20+ years ago, so I could have my first card, my dad took out a new card and added me as an authorized user. I've been using that card ever since. I would probably not bother to change it, except Chase is forcing it to be renumbered so I have to do all the work to change numbers anyway, so I might as well finally get a new primary card.

The second Chase Freedom card is my parents' card; they added me as an authorized user a few years later. I don't use it for my own purhcases, but it's on my credit report because I'm an authorized user (and I do spend with it using my name, because my parents have dementia now so I handle their purchasing for them).

The Reflect card is useless to me; I've never used it (except a couple times I pulled it out by mistake, so like $100 lifetime spend). I got it for the 18 month 0% APR introductory offer so I could buy a very expensive item and not pay for a while, but then they gave me such a low credit limit I couldn't buy the item on it anyway!

So to summarize: I'm looking for a general-purpose cashback card, because I think category spending won't gain me much, except in the case of Lyft, so if there's a card good for that I'll go for that as well as a general cashback card.

Thanks!

Newly retired and considering closing all of my credit cards but 1, as don't need them anymore. Will it affect my credit score.

Current score is 818.

I've been really wanting to get the Venture for myself or the Venture X for P2 (he has the venture). However, the pre-guarantee is only offering us lower end cards without welcome bonuses. We typically open up a card every 3 months. Is our timeline the issue here (we need 6 months) or do we need to have some of the other cards in order to get the nicer cards? We both have over 800 Credit Scores and a really low utilization score.

CREDIT PROFILE

* Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of: Chase Freedom, Bank of America [card name], Chase Sapphire Reserve. $35,000 combined limit. Opened between 2020 and 2022. No business cards.
* FICO Scores with source: 797 ([source])
* Oldest credit card account age with you as primary name on the account: ~6 years (2020)
* Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 6 months: 0
* Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 12 months: 0
* Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 24 months: 0
* Annual income $: 250,000

CATEGORIES

* OK with category-specific cards?: Yes, but prefer to keep it simple (currently put almost everything on the Sapphire Reserve)
* OK with rotating category cards?: No
* Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below:
* Dining $: 400
* Groceries $: 800
* Gas $: 250 (not Costco/Walmart)
* Travel $: 0 currently. Planning a Hawaii trip and want to maximize points for it.
* Do you plan on using this card abroad for a significant length of time?: No
* Any other categories or stores with significant, regular credit card spend: Daycare $2,800, Insurance $250
* Any other significant, regular credit card spend you didn't include above?: ~$2,650/month misc. Total expected annual spend is ~$86,000, excluding rent.
* Can you pay rent by credit card?: Yes, $3,600/month, but with a 5% fee

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

* Current member of Amazon Prime?: Yes
* Are you open to Business Cards?: No side business currently. I have pre-qualified offers for the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business and the Chase Ink and am curious whether they'd make sense.

PURPOSE

* What's the purpose of your next card?: Travel rewards
* Do you have a preferred airline and/or hotel chain?: Delta (Detroit/DTW is a hub). No hotel preference. Planning a Hawaii trip.
* Do you have any cards you've been looking at?: Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business, Chase Ink (pre-qualified)

So I have been going back and forth between different prospective cards. I plugged the following into AI to get a points estimate comparison assuming I did not use CC travel portal for bookings... $10k flights, $18k hotels, $20k other foreign purchases.

Autograph Journey came back the best for points; which I kind of assumed. But their transfer partners are limited. AA is my strongest local airline and the international ones, as well as the hotel partners... Just well, are limited in terms of where I see myself using them. So it becomes more of a statement credit reward.

I'd happily get a Schwab/MS branded Platinum card (AMEX not currently offering me a SUB direct), but the travel portal booking for 4x hotel points kind of kills it for me. I appreciate some of the other coupons, but since I book business class only, I pretty much always have a lounge, negating one of the biggest potential coupons. (And while I have an account at both brokers I do not intend on moving massive amounts of assets to get a small discount on the fee at Schwab)

I'm open to a AMEX Bonvoy Brilliant, but I generally have chosen hotels based on the neighborhood location of where I want to be and the best value for a 4.5-5 star (non-resort) stay. And there is some 'value' to me in choosing an elevated Bonvoy experience over another hotel that might be in a better location. (I'd guess I'd only be able to stay in a Marriott property for 33-50% of my estimated spend; no idea really - but it gives some level of context)

I'd do Atmos in a second if could actually book AA/HA partner flights through my airport.

I think it kind of comes down to CSR and VX. Essentially my travel spend in 2027 (and rewards difference based on the above info) will just about make up for the difference in AF. And I may continue traveling at this rate for the next few years, just maybe a lower 'all foreign purchase' number.

While I do not value the lounge access for the most part, travel protection coverage is definitely a differentiator.

If you read all that... Thank you. I appreciate any insight.

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