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Hi, CBers! Looking for advice about Chase and Southwest cards, particularly how it applies to obtaining a Companion Pass. Any input is appreciated, especially if you have personal experience with any of the scenarios described below. As always, thank you all SO MUCH for any help that you can provide! Long story short, I have determined that it was time to update my credits cards earlier this fall. Particularly, I decided I finally want to get the CSP, for its 2x points on dinning and travel and the transfer options into Southwest and United, which are the number one and two airlines that I fly. I also decided that I really, really want to get the Southwest's Companion Pass, preferably earlier on in 2015, so that it would be good for almost two years. So, with that in mind, my initial plan (which, I admit, I didn't really think through really well) was to obtain the Southwest Premier Card and then obtain the CSP. I was hoping to get the 50,000 Rapid Rewards points bonus post on my account in early January and have the CSP's 45,000 post some time in February. From there, I was going to transfer 50,000 UR points to Southwest, through Hyatt, earning me 30,000 Rapid Rewards points. After that, I would just need 30,000 more Rapid Rewards points, which I planned on getting through travel and using my Southwest Premier Card. Since I fly Southwest a lot, my plan was to keep both the Southwest Premier and CSP, despite the annual fees. Well, I applied and was approved for the Southwest Premier as planned in about a month ago I am almost to my spending threshold and will wait to hit the $2,000 spend mark until after the New Year's, so that the 50,000 bonus will post in 2015, instead of 2014. So far, so good. But then I realized, that I would rather spend the 45,000 UR points from CSP's bonus on a flight to Europe on United, instead of "wasting" them by transferring to Southwest through Hyatt, thus significantly de-valuing them. Hmmm, dilemma. How to keep the UR points but still obtain the Companion Pass for Southwest early on in 2015? So, one solution is to apply for and obtain the Southwest Plus card, which is the younger brother of the Southwest Premier. The annual fee is less and I think you get less rewards overall, but the sign-up bonus is still 50,000 after spending $2,000. If I can be approved for the Plus card now and get the 50,000 points to post to my account early on in 2015, I will have 100,000 of the 110,000 required points for the Companion Pass. I can then apply for CSP and have that as my daily spender card. In the alternative, I can apply for CSP at the same time as Southwest Plus. These approaches pose two questions, however. And it is those questions that I hope someone on here has dealt with previously and/or has wise advice to disperse on. First and the most important question is can I get the 50,000 sign-up bonus for BOTH the Southwest Premier and Southwest Plus cards? The terms and conditions for both say: "This new cardmember bonus offer is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this consumer credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this consumer credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this consumer credit card within the last 24 months." The more precise question is what do they mean by "this consumer credit card"? At first glance, it would seem that the Southwest Premier and Southwest Plus cards are different consumer credit cards, seeing as they have different annual fees, different bonus structure, etc. However, I do not want to obtain the card, only to find out that I can't get the bonus after making the required spend because I already received a similar bonus on their different card. So, does anyone have any thoughts on this? Have you or has anyone you know successfully applied for both cards within two years and received both bonuses? Has anyone applied for both and been denied the second bonus? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!! The second, and no less important, question is what are my chances of being approved for so many Chase cards? I currently have two Chase cards, the United MileagePlus Explorer (opened beginning of 2013) and the Southwest Premier (opened a month ago). If I app'ed for another one or two Chase cards, would that cause me to be declined for one or both? Would you suggest applying for the Southwest Plus now, and then applying for CSP in two or three months? Or should I app for both cards on the same day? Also, do you think there is any chance of getting denied for the Southwest Plus card solely on the ground that I already have the Southwest Premier Card? If anyone has had experience applying for several/multiple Chase cards within a short period or even over a period of 24 months, any feedback and suggestions would be greatly welcome! Phew. That was a much longer post that I intended. But I figured more is less, especially when trying to get meaningful advice. As mentioned above, any and all feedback is GREATLY appreciated!! Thank you guys so much! :-)

Seeking advice.... I am about to embark on an App Spree and need to decide on either CSP, which I am pre qualified for OR the British Airways Card. My only issue is I have a 19yo going to Study Abroad in Austria May 2015 and he is traveling with classmates and BA is what they want to fly. I was gonna get DW to app for the BA card in Q1 2015 and buy ticket then, but kids wanna buy tix before Xmas break. We both plan on getting the card, just wondering if the 2.5 Avios is worth passing up the CSP now. Sorry if it's a ridiculous question or a no brainer I just missed, lol. Thanks for your feedback.

I applied last week for the CSP and was approved for $12,000!!! :yahoo: I am shocked at the limit! I was approved for $4500 on the Freedom in February and told that for a CLI they would need to pull EX. I figured if I was going to give up an EX pull, I might as well do it for the CSP. They ended up also pulling EQ, so I hope that any future CLI requests can be done with EQ instead of EX. I wasn't going to apply for any more cards this year, but I am changing my rewards strategy to mainly accumulating points on my Amex PRG and Chase Freedom, so I needed the CSP to be able to transfer points. Back into the garden for real now.

Happy Holidays, Was curious as to who has the most Chase cards and your limits.... If you have more than 4 --- how long did you wait between your apps. ? I currently have 4 Chase cards that are open... All were obtained within the last 6 months fairly close to each other. Chase Sapphire Preferred Chase Southwest Plus (closed after approved for Premier) Chase Southwest Premier Chase Marriott Premier Chase Freedom

Ive been wanting to app for two Chase cards soon. The CSP and Marriott Rewards Premier. I want them both for the great sign ups but was wondering if anyone has tried applying for 2 Chase cards in the same day, would they use the same hard pull? Sure would love to get a 2 for 1. I went on their site and put my info in their soft pull card qualifier and was eligible for 3 cards. CSP, Freedom and Chase Slate. I really want the $500. worth of sign ups for the CSP but not crazy about the AF. And I like the free nights(50k points) the Marriott Rewards offers, looks good with a chip and I hear its metal too.