Having taken a bit of a break from signing up for credit cards, I wanted to take advantage of a few expiring offers. I decided not to sign up for too many, since I am still working through some of the spending requirements for some cards from my last signups, but there were a few that I wanted to get.
Chase Ink business card
The Chase Ink is a great card that I’ve written about many times and is probably one of the best ones out there. I keep this in my wallet because a) 5x on office supply stores is a great category bonus, and b) Having a “premium” card like this or the Sapphire lets you transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards to one of a variety of transfer partners, which is where you can really get the best bang for your buck.
The Ink card was having an increased signup bonus, where you get 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after 3 months of spending (instead of the regular 50,000). Unfortunately that deal expired last week, but Carolyn applied just in time.
The Ink is a business card, and we’ve talked before about why you can still get a business card, even if you don’t really think that you have a business. I already have the Ink card, but Carolyn applied for her photography business. She was not approved automatically, and she was NOT looking forward to having to call the reconsideration line.
We had not quite gotten around to calling yet, when yesterday we checked the mail and lo and behold, it was her new Chase Ink card, with a $27,000 credit limit. (Seriously Chase? What the heck is up with that??!!?)
America
n Express Everyday Preferred
Another card for Carolyn – she had a Gold card where the $175 fee was coming due, so we wanted to make sure and get her into another card that earns Membership Rewards, so that her MR points didn’t expire when we canceled the Gold card.
This seemed to be the best option – we reviewed the differences between the Everyday and Everyday Preferred cards, and for us, it seemed to make sense to pay the fee to get the Preferred card. She was approved immediately with a credit limit of $10,400
The real trick for us is going to be in the using of the card – because the real value for this card is unlocked when you make 30 purchases in a given calendar month (giving a 50% bonus to all points). Time will tell how well that works for us.
Chase Freedom
Finally I am getting in on the action! This is another case where we have a premium card where the annual fee is coming due, and wanting to downgrade. I got the Chase Sapphire card back last May and don’t really want to pay the annual fee. I could definitely call and just downgrade it to the Chase Freedom, but why would I want to do that and miss out on a great signup bonus!?!?!
The bonus for the Freedom isn’t great, with 20K Ultimate Rewards points after spending $500 in the first 3 months, and an additional 2500 points for adding an authorized user (easy money people!)
I was not approved automatically, but a few days later, I called Chase and they told me that my application had already been reviewed, and my card was on the way. Great!
My plan is to, once my card arrives, call up Chase, cancel my Sapphire and attempt to move the credit line from the Sapphire to my new Freedom card. The one thing I will lose is the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards points. But for that I still have an Ink card, though actually, now that Carolyn has an Ink card, I may cancel mine, since Chase has a pretty liberal policy for spouses transferring UR points to each other.
What about you? What kind of good signup bonuses have you taken advantage of? Is there one that you’re particularly waiting for?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I’m curious your thoughts on why you think your wife was successful in getting the biz card. Think it was the length of time she’s been doing photography at weddings?
I don’t think that had anything to do with it. They never talked to us at all – I think she was successful because she has a good credit score, we have a good household income, she has an existing relationship with Chase where she pays her bills, and she doesn’t have any existing business cards with Chase.