Credit Card update: 2nd Citi AA Exec and Lifemiles Visa signup bonus!

I just wanted to breakup my trip report with a quick update on two cards I’m interested in.

 

First, I read another excellent article by PFDigest that one could get a 2nd Citi Exec AA card for a 2nd 100k AA miles sign up bonus, even if you’ve already gotten one. You just need to wait a certain amount of time, no one quite knows how long, but I waited 4 weeks after applying for my first one. I’d already gotten my 100k AA bonus (which I used on my parents…in a subsequent article), but was hungry for another one. Luckily, I have a CVS near me that’s frequently stocked w/ Vanilla Reloads, so the $10k spend in 3 months is no problem at all.

 

I applied this Monday, and just as before, I got a screen having me call a number to verify information. I called, and within 5 minutes I was approved. “Dr. Sheep, is a $19k credit line enough?”….”Sure!”. I don’t need that much, but as I explained before, the more total credit you have the better. They said I’d be getting my card by the 31st, but yesterday on the 26th I received this:

I got my 2nd card in TWO DAYS! I don’t know why or how Citi is allowing people to get two Citi Exec cards, but I’m a huge fan! It’s not the best deal ever – there is a $450 annual fee, but remember, you get a $200 statement credit after spending $200 on anything…so really $250. $250 for 100k AA miles. 0.25 cents per mile??? Not too shabby! While Citi does waive annual fees because of the SCRA, they’re one of the more restrictive companies, so YMMV.

 

For the 2nd deal, I applied for and received in January the US Bank Lifemiles Visa Signature through this link, which offered 20k Avianca Lifemiles miles after the first purchase. It waives the annual fee the first year and after that is $75, but remember that US Bank waives annual fees for military members. I’m interested in Lifemiles, because they are in the Star Alliance and have some generous routing rules for Star Alliance partner routes. Well, I found out there is a more generous signup bonus offer out there. There is a 40k Lifemile potential bonus out there, 20k miles after the first purchase, and 20k more after $3k spend in 120 days. The signup link is here.

 

I called US Bank yesterday, and asked if they could match that offer on my account. Ostensibly, the rep said he couldn’t find that offer anywhere (maybe he doesn’t ready boardingarea blogs!), but helpfully he said if I mailed or faxed a printout of the page to them, they could match that offer on my account. I saved a screenshot of the application page, wrote a cover letter w/ my account info, and faxed it. FAXED IT?!? Wasn’t the Cold War won with fax machines??? I don’t actually have a fax machine, I use an amazing website called Hellofax, which lets you save signatures, edit online documents, and fax them over the intrawebs. I highly recommend it, it makes everything so much easier.

 

I will finish my trip report and tell you how to book a similar award flight tomorrow.