In my last post, I was considering the acquisition of another credit card, the Hilton Honors Aspire card by American Express. But, what was stopping me is the effort to grow the credit limit on my Apple credit card. Well, I decided to take the leap in applying for the Aspire card, which is the top tier of the Hilton cards with an annual fee of $450.
Wrapping Up One Spend
The reason I decided to take the leap is that I am near the end of the 90 days since getting my last Apple card credit limit increase. September 1 marks the 90 days. I can request an increase again. Based on how much I have used the card in the past months, there is a good chance that I will get a limit increase. If not, I can request more frequently until I do. It is only after you have received an increase that you have to wait 90 days.
If I do not get the increase, it would potentially be that I have not paid off the full balance yet. If I don't get the increase, then I'll request again next week on payday when I can pay off the balance. This gives me an opportunity to shift my spending over to a new card to earn the sign up bonus.
About the Aspire Card
In this case, I am referring to the Hilton Honors Aspire card sign up bonus, which is 150,000 Hilton Honors points for spending $4000 over the next 3 months, well, 2 and a half. This is within my normal spending average. If I do come up short, it may be a few hundred dollars, which can be made up by a quick trip to the home improvement store. Chances are that it will not be necessary.
The bonus will get my Hilton Honors points up past 350,000. With an estimated value of $0.005 per point, that's roughly the equivalent of $1,750. This doesn't include any points I would earn from spending, Which at minimum would equal 12,000, estimated at least $60 in value. It would likely be more depending on how much I spend on dining, which rewards 7X rather than the 3X base earning rate.
Unfortunately, the Aspire Card, like the American Express Platinum card, is not a great points card for everyday spending. It is great for very specific spending, particularly travel.
In this case, I was approved for only $5000 in credit. Fortunately, I have the American Express Blue Cash Preferred, which had a credit limit of $8900. I transferred credit from that card to the Aspire card to top off the credit limit at $10,000. This achieved what I have been attempting with the Apple card.
Future Designs
Now that I have one card with a $10,000 credit limit, it should be easier to get other cards with the same. After receiving the Aspire card sign-up bonus, I will shift spending back to the Apple card to qualify for another credit limit increase.
I am quite satisfied with my credit card setup now. The main driver for getting the Aspire card was to bump up to Hilton Honors Diamond status, which is complementary with the card. This comes with many perks when staying at Hilton properties.
The AMEX Blue Cash Preferred card will be cancelled when it reaches its one-year anniversary. The maths don't work on the 6% cash back with a $95 annual fee. I'm better off getting the AMEX Gold Card, which offers 4X rewards on dining and groceries. Even with the $250 annual fee, it has a higher return. When I cancel the Blue Cash Preferred card, I'll transfer the remaining credit to the Aspire card, which should be around $13,000.
I will also be canceling my Hilton Honors Business card. It is made redundant with the Aspire card. All this will have to be in 2023.
All this new card activity, unfortunately, disqualifies me from getting any credit cards with JP Morgan Chase. I'll have to lay low for a couple of years to qualify. However, if I need balance transfer cards, I may look at Citi, Wells Fargo, US Bank, or Bank of America.
For the present, my big goals are met. Now, I just need to age the accounts a bit.