Biding my time until one of us is under 5/24 by opening checking accounts lately.
I didn't really plan to get into this at all, but I can't pass up $1300 in free cash for minimal effort! We each opened a US Bank account with their $200 summer offer (opened online, no direct deposit needed, just set up a couple $25 bill payments). Then we got a mailer for TCF wanting to give us $250 for merely using their debit card for $250 of purchases, so I opened that one (did have to go to branch, but no issues - this said one per household). And since I was having a good time
we both opened BMO Harris accounts for the $200 bonuses also (required two $300 direct deposits, but I found my payroll could easily be changed online to do this). And then today we got ANOTHER TCF mailer for another $250 - and this is a different offer (other just expired) which only requires using their bill-pay. So, I'm thinking DH can do this one - different offer, so I don't think it breaks the one per household rule.
Oh, one other note - the BMO Harris offer is still valid if you are in one of the states they are in (we are) and you can apply online and fund up to $1000 with a credit card - great for meeting spend and counted as a purchase on CSR.
One caveat - the bonuses count as bank interest income, so I am saving a chunk of them for tax time in case we owe a bit more. Still worthwhile for us, though.
My 5/24 drops off on 12/1. I did some searching and have seen some data points that I could apply on 12/2 and get approved. I really don't want to push it off a whole month until January. Will look into it again for updated data points between now and then. Was planning to get CSP, but some of the talk about business cards make me wonder if I should get CIP instead (or could I get both at 4/24??? but that's a LOT of spend...) I have recently been considering starting up my independent contractor business again (as a side gig), but I haven't done much for a few years with it - probably good enough for Chase that I'm genuinely considering it?
We would transfer any UR points I get to DH's CSR to use through the portal for 1.5x. DH does have a legitimate side business, but he is at 5/24 until mid-2018 - he can't get CIP until he's at 4/24, correct? If so, not sure I'm willing to wait that long for other cards. Will have to think on that some more.
Other than the big UR bonuses, I don't see us needing any other 5/24 cards. We live in a Delta hub, so don't see a great need for Southwest or United. Don't have any immediate need for Marriott. After grabbing the UR bonuses, are we okay to move on to other cards or am I missing anything?
I'm thinking that new Bank of America Premium Rewards would be good to grab. DH has a Barclay Arrival Plus, but I still need one (bummed the bonus just went down, though!) In general, I'm thinking that anything that will give me a wad of cash is good right now.
Our immediate needs are discounts on things that can't really be bought on points:
Disneyland Paris package and
Disney Cruise (both next summer). We also need to get airfare for the cruise (MSP-Vancouver), so if the Delta AmEx bonus goes up again, might be good to grab. We should be getting two free Hilton nights in March and two free Hyatt nights in June and were thinking we'd use one of those for hotel in Vancouver, but I'm not sure if that is cutting it too close to our August cruise.
And then we also are hoping to add a Disneyland/cousin wedding in LA area trip in October 2018. Need to find ways to get flights/hotel/tickets as cheap or free as possible. That's like the bonus round for churning.
Hoping we can find a way to pull it off!
Anyway, writing this all out partially for me to organize my thoughts and also for any feedback/advice from this group. Thanks again for all the info that's gotten us this far!