I was previously denied an application for a Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I was humiliated and ashamed. (not really) But at the time I found out about Chases 5/24 rule for credit cards. They deny you if you've applied for 5 cards in the past 24 months. So I simply waited until I was past that and applied again. My second application was approved.
The card gives you 50,000 points bonus after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. Thats a pretty hefty amount of money to spend in 3 months on one card, but we had a summer trip that helped get me to the total among other things. I also tried to maximize my rewards by using other cards for 5% bonuses so I didn't put all our spending on this card. I think I also got 5,000 points for adding my wife as an authorized user. The spending on the card also tallies up points.
In total I ended up with 60,820 points which is good for $608.20 credit to my account.
I could also use the points to get 1.25 worth of travel or $760.25. I plan to hold on to the points for as long as possible so I can get that 25% bonus on any travel expenses we might have.
On top of that I can also transfer the points over to airline programs on a 1-1 basis if I want to. Southwest Rapid Rewards are one of the options. If I needed to fly to Vegas I could book a flight for abut 7,500 rewards points plus $11 taxes. Paying for the flight would be about $135. That would be more like 1.67 cents per point.
Unfortunately the card has a hefty annual fee so I'll cancel it before the year is up.
$608-$760 is a pretty great haul from one card.
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