Guys, I'm bored, I have no min spend to work on. Apparently planning out how to max out the last bit of this quarter with 2 Discovers and a Freedom, next quarter with a Freedom, and the 10% Staples/Lowes offers I've got on three cards isn't enough... #churnerproblems
I’m having the exact opposite problem! Too many MSRs coming up, or new cards I want, with too many expenses tied up to optimize bonus categories, and not enough non-bonus big ticket expenses in the coming months.
I finished my SPG personal MSR last week and 30k Starpoints have posted to my SPG account. I’m just about done with my CIC MSR, and should be over it once charges from today post. That’s another 50k UR when my statement closes next month.
I signed up for the 125k Hilton Biz offer — still waiting for the card so I can start putting non-bonus spend on it and start chipping away at the $5k MSR (!!!).
I probably should have passed on the Hilton Biz (no plans to use the points, although I’m a big advocate of signing up for Amex bonuses at their highest and we’ve been needing to rebuild our Hilton stash), and used the next month or two months to focus on maximizing the 10% back offers on DW’s and my SPG Bizes, and putting all non-bonus spend on the SPG cards while they’re still earning 1x Starpoint until 8/1. (I guess it’d make more sense to maximize the Exxon offer on the SPG Biz after 8/1 because even though base earn lowers to 2x Marriott points from an effective 3x now, gas is supposed to go up and earn 4x Marriott points). Meanwhile, I could’ve thrown in the CIU for DW and a BBP for me — both with lower MSRs — to keep me busy with new cards.
Instead, since I’ve been approved for the Hilton Biz, I feel like I need to double down and refer DW for her own Hilton Biz while the offer is still 125k until 6/27 in order for this detour to have made sense. Really crossing my fingers my Hilton Biz comes in soon!
But to meet a combined $10k MSR on Amex cards means lost opportunity cost somewhere, because I’m going to have to shift some optimized bonus spend to the Hilton Bizes, or at the very least not put non-bonus spend on the SPG cards while their base earn is still worth something. And I still want the BBP in my wallet, which I’ll probably have to push back to later this year; and the CIU for DW, which is looking more like late summer now and pushes up against the release of the SPG Luxury card.
Oh, I finally maxed out my Chase Freedom today by buying 4x $100 VGCs from Safeway, which I’ll be using into next quarter for non-bonus spend that could’ve been going onto the SPG cards or Hilton Bizes. Small solace that I still have 4x $50 VGCs to buy, but I’m waiting for my Hilton Biz to come in for that.