I am planning a project for my Camaro over the summer which needs about three grand in parts. I am also looking for opportunities to boost my credit since a home purchase is in my near future. I'm looking to game the system here, so I can boost my credit, pay no interest, and possibly get some sort of reward from the card. So in summary Looking for a card with the following: 1.) Six months or so of no interest. 2.) No annual fee 3.) A free flight or something? Anyone have any ideas?
Chase United Explorer card is my favorite. If I refer you, you can get 50,000 miles for free after spending like 1-3 grand (not sure amount) in the first 3 months. The first month fee is waived and it is $95 a year after that. I am not sure what the interest policy is. 50,000 miles is two domestic round trip flights and for 60000 I am flying to italy round trip this summer.
if you are going to get a card for travel and a chase card then i would suggest the sapphire preferred not the united chase.
You're not likely to find #1 and #2 in the same card, unfortunately. That said, you can get the rewards card and then a zero-interest card (often 12-18 months) and do a balance transfer. You'll generally have to pay a one-time 3% fee, so it's not quite zero-interest, but it's better than 18% APR or whatever. For which rewards card to get, I would start based on if you have a particular airline you use/prefer. If you're in Houston, obviously United has lots of advantages in direct flights, etc. If you really like an airline, their airline-specific card generally will be the best deal - but don't settle for less than 50k bonus miles. Every card offers that at least a few times a year. Or if you're unsure, the Sapphire Preferred card is nice in that you can transfer to a variety of airlines (United and Southwest being the main ones) - but it only comes with a 40k bonus and has a higher minimum spend requirement to get the bonus ($4k?). As far as your home purchase, you generally don't want to open too much new credit in the period shortly before applying for a loan (6 months is the rule I've heard). But if it's a little farther out, opening a card or two actually can sometimes increase your credit score depending on how the different factors play out for you. You'll get a ding for opening new credit and reducing your average age of credit. But oddly, you'll be rewarded for having a lower usage rate. If you have $500 outstanding on $5,000 in available credit, that's considered "worse" than $500 outstanding on $10,000 in available credit. That said, your carried balance on the balance transfer would hurt in that regard - generally it works best if you're not carrying any balances.
I'm a huge fan of Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premium; haven't paid for a domestic flight for the past couple of years. Lookout for the 50K miles upon sign up offers with $1000 spent in the 1st 3 months (good for 2 roundtrip flights to pretty much anywhere in the lower 48). Annual $99 fee, but you get an additional 6000 miles
