Pages

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The toughest reconsideration call with Chase and $150 statement credit for AA Citi clarification

1.      Southwest Business/personal VISA ($69 one) re-consideration call

Per my previous note that I anticipated that Southwest/Chase will revoke the 50,000 points link and lower to 25,000 points, yes, they did it around last week and I can’t find a 50,000 link no more. However, if you have a bit of patience, I am very positive these kind of offers will come back soon.

You can opt-in Southwest email offers/promotions, sometimes, they mail those targeted offers.

Ok, my wife applied both business VISA and personal before those links got expired, however, as expected she got both denied. I separated two strategies to call Chase for re-consideration

1)      Business card

I believe it’s easier to get this card as Irene doesn’t have a business card yet. It was much tough than I expected, long story short. The agent verified both my wife’s full-time job and the business she is running. She does help me run a few ebay selling and a few websites she hosted for some of the friends/clients. She was very honest with Chase’s agent about revenue and month expenses. (a few hundred $, it doesn’t really matter, just be honest with Chase, they understand). She also explained why she is eager to get this card because Seattle is a hub city of Southwest and she has some expense of office products that she’d like to charge to Staple, OfficeDepot around $200~300 a month.
She got approved after 35 minutes on the phone with the agent. J

2)      Personal card

The person card was even tougher and I have to ask her to call three times during the day. One of Chase’s concern is within 6 months, why did so many inquires populate on her credit report? Such as Maycs, Target, Kohls, I told my wife to convince the agent that “it’s never too many store cards for women”. She also was very polite and had mini-conversation with the agent. (cheer them up is SUPER important as I’ve pointed out a few times).

Now, we are looking at companion pass for two people in the family, it also means, for the next year, our family (fourpeople) will travel in US literally only use two rewards tickets.(I have 130k and Irene will have 110k points to burn)

The feeling = Priceless.

2.      Citi $150 statement credit

When I got the Citi AAdvange Visa/AMEX using two-browsers trick, there was a statement that you will get $150 when you make eligible AA purchase. I got my $150 via giftcard purchase, however, when I purchased the luggage tag, I didn’t get the $150 statement credit.
1)      I sent Citi SM(Secure Message), it doesn’t work well
2)      I called them and one of nice agent conferenced AA and told me it does count.
Hence, I’d suggest buy the giftcard and $150 will be automatically populate on your next statement.

12 comments:

  1. Wow, you are so free in US than you were in Toronto! Egg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. except for losing a lot of $$$ on the housing market in Toronto. :-)

      Delete
  2. Ben, what kind of gift card? how much? thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the giftcard i mentioned above is America Airline purchase via aa.com which will give you $150 statement credit if you use your Citi AAdvanage VISA/America Express cards. if you need to apply for the card, you can refer below:
      http://millionmilesecrets.com/2011/10/11/citi-aadvantage-50000/

      Delete
  3. Hi Ben,
    Nice blog! Thank you for sharing your experience.

    How much did you buy for the AA gift card in trying to get the $150 statement credit? Looks like AA.com wants you to start from $50 but I'd like to just buy $10. Is it possible? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. $50 is the smaller amount you can buy @ aa.com.+ $4.95 shipping.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Ben. So if I understand this correctly, I can purchase a $50 AA gift card and Citi will give me $150 statement credit? I don't need to buy a $150 gift card in order to get $150 statement credit. Correct? If true, that would be so sweet!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. correct, you will get $150 after spending $50 on giftcard in your next statement. it's verified for me. I am verifying the luggage tag with Citi, which I didn't get the $150 I supposed to get.(they told me I will get the next statement, we will see, but it appears that Citi internally confused about this)

      Delete
  6. Ben, Did you get statement credit for Tag?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. not yet, my statement is 6/20, i will keep you posted here. :-)

      Delete
    2. Did it work? I am stuck as no gift card for NJ resident and not travelling any time soon by AA.

      Delete
    3. the tag didn't count, i gave up with Citi. :-(

      Delete