American Express Hilton Credit Card(s)
I’m a big fan of Hilton. We have 2 Aspires, and I have a Surpass. We like going wine-tasting in Sonoma & Napa and have found that we can get great value from the Free Night Certificate (FNC) at the Hilton Carneros Resort. (Unfortunately, it’s not really a “Resort” in terms of the Aspire’s “Resort Credit”.) It’s a beautiful place, and the breakfast is great. The rooms are individual cottages with a small backyard that usually has a fire pit and often an outdoor tub. P2 loves it!
The Aspires provide an FNC every year, but we like to go more than that, so getting another FNC (or two) would be great.
So I applied for the recent offer for the Surpass of 130K points and an FNC after $3K spend. What I didn’t realize was that I already had 5 credit cards with Amex, and that’s the maximum they will allow (there are some instances where they allow 6, but I’m limited to 5). So I had to call and close one of my credit cards. Unfortunately, it appears that it takes some time for Amex’s system to recognize that I had closed one of my credit cards, so my application was denied.
Undeterred, I waited a few weeks and applied again. My application went pending again, and after about 2 weeks, it was finally approved. Yeah!
I did have to use an NLL (No Lifetime Language) link because I already had a Surpass. Amex doesn’t want you to get the bonus more than once, but you can often find NLL Links corresponding to their current offers. Doctor of Credit (fantastic site!) is a great source for these NLL links.
Since we could always use another FNC, I’m going to have P2 apply for the Business Hilton to get yet another FNC before the offers expire on 4/15. Note that Business cards don’t impact Chase’s 5/24 Rule, and P2 is will be under 5/25 in June. For those not familiar with 5/24, Chase will not approve you for a new credit card if you have 5 or more personal credit cards in the last 24 months. If you are an Authorized User on someone else’s personal credit card, Chase will deny you too, but you can call to ask Chase to review your credit report again and to ignore the AU cards, so long as you say you are “not financially responsible.”
When you read this, I’ll be at the Pebble Beach Wine & Food Festival. I’ll write a blog post about my experience for next week. I went many years ago for a friend’s birthday celebration, and I’m going with him again- should be fun!
