Other than the signup bonuses, what are the advantages to using the SPG card vs. the AGR card? Does the SPG card have an annual fee? Just wondering if I'm missing out on anything by not carrying the SPG card.Without doing a line by line comparison of the AGR MasterCard and the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex Card, are any of you using the Starwood Amex Card to earn SPG points that you transfer to AGR? I am going to give it a try.
https://www143.americanexpress.com/apisites...;landingCode=76Other than the signup bonuses, what are the advantages to using the SPG card vs. the AGR card? Does the SPG card have an annual fee? Just wondering if I'm missing out on anything by not carrying the SPG card.Without doing a line by line comparison of the AGR MasterCard and the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex Card, are any of you using the Starwood Amex Card to earn SPG points that you transfer to AGR? I am going to give it a try.
No fee first year. Nominal $45 year thereafter.I don't know, but I agree. :blink: I got rid of all my cards that had annual fees - and just use the AGR MC to get AGR points for free! So what's the advantage? (Unless they transfer at something like 1 Starwood point transfers as 10 AGR points, why pay a fee - if there is one?) :huh:
What I'm particularly interested in knowing is why would I want to continue using the SPG after the first year, after I've gotten my signup bonuses and transferred my points to AGR?No fee first year. Nominal $45 year thereafter.I don't know, but I agree. :blink: I got rid of all my cards that had annual fees - and just use the AGR MC to get AGR points for free! So what's the advantage? (Unless they transfer at something like 1 Starwood point transfers as 10 AGR points, why pay a fee - if there is one?) :huh:
Yes.are any of you using the Starwood Amex Card to earn SPG points that you transfer to AGR?
Honestly, I wouldn't suggest this kind of churning just for the sign-up miles. Unlike Chase's checking account promotions, it's a one-time hit -- and it's not helpful to your credit.For example, my wife and I both got the Continental OnePass MasterCard for the 30,000 OnePass miles after the first spend and adding each other as authorized users. The $65 annual fee was waived for the first year, which made it a really sweet deal. Now that we've moved all those miles over to our AGR accounts, we'll be closing these cards out before the first anniversary.
By reading this thread, I see that the Amex SPG can convert points to Amtrak's Guest Rewards. Is the opposite also true? For example, if someone had the AGR Chase card, could they convert that to Starwood points?
Excellent point, but if this is really a serious concern wouldn't all these folks who do open and close numerous credit accounts each year just for the bonuses be suffering at some point? I have heard some horror stories but it seems so long as you keep opening new accounts in roughly the same or larger numbers than the accounts you closed you'll at least break even on your credit scores. Weird, illogical, and risky. But it seems to be working for a lot of folks. Now, as for those who close more accounts than they open, they certainly get burned and those who close all of their accounts seem to get burned the worst. I honestly have no idea how you rebuild and recover after closing all of your accounts. It's like the credit scoring system was never designed to handle that possibility. Kind of like telling the post office you no longer want any mail. ;-)Honestly, I wouldn't suggest this kind of churning just for the sign-up miles. Unlike Chase's checking account promotions, it's a one-time hit -- and it's not helpful to your credit. There's no such thing as a free lunch. What are you trading for these "free" points?
sechs, you certainly have a valid point. For some people, accumulating credit cards, for whatever reason, could lead to disaster. If they are not disciplined with their credit and take their new credit cards and treat them as found money to ring up large balances they can't pay off right away, thus incurring larger and larger interest and penalty charges, they can destroy their credit and their entire financial lives.Honestly, I wouldn't suggest this kind of churning just for the sign-up miles. Unlike Chase's checking account promotions, it's a one-time hit -- and it's not helpful to your credit.For example, my wife and I both got the Continental OnePass MasterCard for the 30,000 OnePass miles after the first spend and adding each other as authorized users. The $65 annual fee was waived for the first year, which made it a really sweet deal. Now that we've moved all those miles over to our AGR accounts, we'll be closing these cards out before the first anniversary.
There's no such thing as a free lunch. What are you trading for these "free" points?
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