During my last round of credit card applications I had a hard time deciding which cards to apply for...
Yeah, first world problem, right?
In the past Chase's array of valuable credit cards have always been at the top of my list, however due to the 5/24 rule most Chase cards were out of reach.
This means I had to look elsewhere.
The Club Carlson Visas
In the past I've had both the personal and business version of the US Bank Club Carlson Visa. Both cards come with a 40,000 point annual bonus when you renew your card, however when the annual fees came around I had to decide which cards to keep over the next year and decided to closed both.
On small note to add is that interestingly the business and personal version of the card offer the same welcome bonus and as far as I can tell, minus some Visa insurance benefits, have identical Club Carlson perks. Apart from that one major difference is that the personal card comes with a $75 annual fee, whereas the business card only has a $60 annual fee.
With a lower $60 annual fee it's actually very temping to keep the card open to earn the 40,000 annual points bonus after the first year. The 40,000 points can easily be worth more than the fee when redeemed.
Going Pending
Thus I decided to apply for the business version a second time to see if I could earn the 85,000 point welcome bonus after spending $2,500 within the first 90 days.
I've heard stories about lots of people being denied when applying for these cards, but given that I was approved for both before I thought I had a chance. However this time around my application went pending, but it was eventually approved several days later.
After receiving the card in the mail I quickly started on the spending requirement, which I just hit last week.
Earning the 85k Bonus a 2nd Time
The good news is that the 85,000 bonus points posted to my account last week! This means it's entirely possible to earn the bonus again on the Club Carlson Visa cards.
Although these cards are not the most lucrative hotel credit cards out there I believe they still hold value when redeeming the 85,000 point welcome bonus at lower tier properties. One of my favorites is the Park Inn Bratislava which is currently undergoing a full renovation and only costs 9,000 points per night.
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