Credit card with no foreign transaction fees and great air miles bonus.

[JimmyJ]

I am waiting to receive my Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card.

 

It's the card with the best bonuses currently:

 

Unlike most Chase cards, no 3% foreign transaction fees.

 

If $4,000 USD charged within the 1st 4 months of being approved for the card, there is a bonus of 100,000 air miles.

Booking the flight thru Chase travel they give an extra 50% so it is worth 150,000 miles ($1500).

 

The card costs $450 annually including the 1st year. They give an annual $300 travel credit, so effectively it will cost me $150.

 

There are a few other extras including being able to use it in some cases to enter airport lounges without charge (afaik).

 

They did recognize that the address I gave is actually a mail drop (PMB) so I had to give a physical residential address.

 

[Colabamumbai]

No fees? They just charged you $450 in fees. A travel credit was paid for in the fees. How much is the interest rate, 22%?

[wimpy]

I have one. It is the best deal going by far, if you do enough monthly charge volume. The 100,000 point sign up bonus is enough for a round trip international business class ticket. You need to generate $15,000 a year in normal charges to make up for the effective $150 annual fee. A third of that if you are charging meals or travel, where they give you 3x points. The interest rate is irrelevant if you are clever enough to pay it off every month.

[retarius]

I would never pay to have a credit card. I have one here in Thailand with a Thai bank and a US card registered to a US address. Those two suffice for my needs. As for air miles, just try to use them. What a con with blackout dates and a tiny number of seats available on each flight. Useless. 

[islandor]

Nice idea... but the card you mentioned should be the  Chase Sapphire RESERVE... not the  Chase Sapphire Preferred... so beware if you are going to apply, they are different... and they don't link to Thai Airlines... but do to United and Singapore and some others. For me the 'no fees' on international purchases was a great point also as they add up quickly when using my other cards overseas!

[mduras01]

CapitalOne Venture. You can use the points across all carriers--including the budget ones. I find it far more useful in Southeast Asia.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[JimmyJ]

15 minutes ago, islandor said:

Nice idea... but the card you mentioned should be the  Chase Sapphire RESERVE... not the  Chase Sapphire Preferred... so beware if you are going to apply, they are different... and they don't link to Thai Airlines... but do to United and Singapore and some others. For me the 'no fees' on international purchases was a great point also as they add up quickly when using my other cards overseas!

 

Thanks for the correction!

 

NOTE - PLEASE READ - for anyone who missed islandor's post above - the card I referred to is actually the Chase Sapphire RESERVE.

 

 

 

 

[Docno]

And in yesterday's news:

 

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/08/chase-sapphire-reserve-card-is-cutting-its-bonus-points.html

[JimmyJ]

26 minutes ago, mduras01 said:

CapitalOne Venture. You can use the points across all carriers--including the budget ones. I find it far more useful in Southeast Asia.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

Yes, I got that card a few weeks ago (40k miles by charging 3k in 1st 3 months, no charge for the annual fee for the 1st year).

(It may be difficult for me to achieve the bonuses on both cards but the timing was necessary although unfortunate).

 

All Capital  One cards do not charge foreign transaction fees including their no annual fee cards.

 

[wimpy]

56 minutes ago, retarius said:

I would never pay to have a credit card. I have one here in Thailand with a Thai bank and a US card registered to a US address. Those two suffice for my needs. As for air miles, just try to use them. What a con with blackout dates and a tiny number of seats available on each flight. Useless. 

 

If you book through Chase, there are no blackout dates. You can use with any carrier. Plus, as stated above, the points are worth 50% more.

[wimpy]

28 minutes ago, Docno said:

And in yesterday's news:

 

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/08/chase-sapphire-reserve-card-is-cutting-its-bonus-points.html

 

Still have two days to apply and get the 100,000 point bonus.

[MANFROMBOCA]

1 hour ago, wimpy said:

I have one. It is the best deal going by far, if you do enough monthly charge volume. The 100,000 point sign up bonus is enough for a round trip international business class ticket. You need to generate $15,000 a year in normal charges to make up for the effective $150 annual fee. A third of that if you are charging meals or travel, where they give you 3x points. The interest rate is irrelevant if you are clever enough to pay it off every month.

on what airline can you get a round trip business class fare for 100000 points ??? is it round trip from cambodia ??

[wimpy]

49 minutes ago, mduras01 said:

CapitalOne Venture. You can use the points across all carriers--including the budget ones. I find it far more useful in Southeast Asia.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

I used to use the CapOne Venture. Now I use the the Chase to buy my local tickets, hotels, and meals. I like collecting the 3x points. These I intend apply to business / first class long haul flights. No more cattle class for me. :)

[JimmyJ]

For the guys who have the Reserve card - Have you tried using it for airport lounges? Success getting in free?

 

The wording was not very precise on the Chase site, and I saw a post on a travel forum where a guy was going to be charged despite having the card, so I got the impression it depends on the airline or airport but hopefully I'm wrong.

[wimpy]

12 minutes ago, MANFROMBOCA said:

on what airline can you get a round trip business class fare for 100000 points ??? is it round trip from cambodia ??

 

As I said, the 100,000 points are worth 150,000 if you book through Chase. I just checked. I can do a round trip business class trip to London on Finnair for 143,213 points booked through Chase. So there.

[wimpy]

Bkk-Rome-Bkk 146,800 points Egyptair Business class.

[Mansell]

2 hours ago, retarius said:

I would never pay to have a credit card. I have one here in Thailand with a Thai bank and a US card registered to a US address. Those two suffice for my needs. As for air miles, just try to use them. What a con with blackout dates and a tiny number of seats available on each flight. Useless. 

Not really true. I have an American Airlines Citi card. Every time I need to fly they have bent over backwards to help me, the guy took an hour to get it right. Last time I flew on JAL business because coach didn't have the dates I wanted. Much happier in business (they don't have first class) with the bed and good food and comfort, plus going through the airports with the flight crew, and the lounges. Three suitcases 70lbs each....I doubt they actually cared. My cost for the ticket was zero. If you charge purchases in U.S. Dollars there isn't any conversion charges, and the card is $50 a year. Fly anywhere for 70,000 miles, business for 140,000 miles. You are going to spend the money anyway, so why not get something for it. Your choice.

[charliebadenhop]

Can someone perhaps "summarize"...?

 

Which cards offer outstanding deals with  no downside?

 

Living in Thailand, is it not a bit hard to rack up more than $1,000 a month in credit card bills?

 

I am guessing the card company does not give great conversion rates when you buy here in Baht. Any idea of how much is "lost" in such transactions?

 

 

[4MyEgo]

3 hours ago, Docno said:

And in yesterday's news:

 

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/08/chase-sapphire-reserve-card-is-cutting-its-bonus-points.html

 

Who wants credit cars when you have $'s, they were set up to fleece millions of ordinary working class people and that's exactly what they do.

 

Wouldn't have one if you gave it to me for free 555

[onekoolguy]

8 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

For the guys who have the Reserve card - Have you tried using it for airport lounges? Success getting in free?

 

The wording was not very precise on the Chase site, and I saw a post on a travel forum where a guy was going to be charged despite having the card, so I got the impression it depends on the airline or airport but hopefully I'm wrong.

It is a priority pass select card good at over 900 lounges world wide. The select card allows you to bring members of your party also at no charge. I just used mine at Bangkok and Hong Kong. Had 2 guests. Nice lounges and no charge. Although some say they charge for alcohol? Didn't check that. The club here was kind of basic but the Hong Kong club was very nice with lots of good food!

As far as flight availability check united Airlines.  Fly one way to USA and you will usually get 8 pages of choices for award flights as they include star alliance. I personally prefer EVA and they are usually available in coach or business. One way searches work better. Half price and too many choices!

[Artben]

13 hours ago, Docno said:

And in yesterday's news:

 

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/08/chase-sapphire-reserve-card-is-cutting-its-bonus-points.html

Applied for mine today.  Best deal to or from USA is Chase card and transfer points to United Frequent Flyer program.  Not sure about Europe or Australia and may not be the best for flights in Asia.   If you book in advance it is no problem to get a 1 way economy fare for 40,000 points or business for 80,000.  If you watch United closely you can get a first class on the long leg and business on the short for the same number of points.  Capital One and other cards with no blackout dates require you to charge much more for a ticket. 

 

If you receive 100,000 points after you spend the required amount your cost for a round trip ticket to the US is the fee for the card and you will still have over half the cost of a second 1 way ticket to the US.  If there is anything less expensive I don't know what it is.  As far as interest rate, it doesn't matter because anyone with credit good enough for this card knows that you have to pay the full amount each month of it's very expensive. 

[gentlemanjackdarby]

12 hours ago, charliebadenhop said:

Can someone perhaps "summarize"...?

 

Which cards offer outstanding deals with  no downside?

 

Living in Thailand, is it not a bit hard to rack up more than $1,000 a month in credit card bills?

 

I am guessing the card company does not give great conversion rates when you buy here in Baht. Any idea of how much is "lost" in such transactions?

 

 

If the card has "no foreign transaction" fee, then the exchange rate used by the network to which the card "belongs", ie; VISA or Mastercard is the rate one gets for the conversion.

 

In other words, one does not "lose" anything.

 

In the real world, it is extremely unlikely that one would ever get a better exchange than that offered by the major card networks since, based on the huge forex volume generated by the networks, they are by any account major players in the forex markets.

 

Now if one is foolish enough to choose "dynamic currency conversion" when one makes a card purchase, that is another story altogether.

[JimmyJ]

" If $4,000 USD charged within the 1st 4 months of being approved for the card, there is a bonus of 100,000 air miles."

 

I got this wrong - it's 4k USD charged the 1st THREE months.

 

Too bad for me - I can't see myself making  the bonus on the Capital One Venture I got 2 weeks ago.

 

I wanted to get these cards before I make my first 3 month trip to SE Asia as I'm giving up my longterm residence and thought it would be a problem applying later.

Turned out to be very easy to get these so my timing was awful but will start only using the Chase Reserve once that arrives.

 

 

[JimmyJ]

PS - And it's less than 3 months with both cards as they begin the countdown when the card is approved, even though it takes a few more weeks before it arrives.

[LivinLOS]

Are these cards available to a Thai address ?? I have UK, Irish, Dutch, and Thai addresses but currently only 'bank' with personal banking offshore, uk and Thailand.. I would love a Chase sapphire reserve (I am flying long haul a lot this year, My missus will fly one or two times, I maintain a few homes, racking up credit card spending in the west isnt hard) but thought it was for US residents only. 

 

Other than that I saw BA Visa and AMEX card options.. IIRC I can get 25,000 AVIOS with 3k spending (easy) also I think it was 3x avios on BA bookings which I expect many this year. 

 

Things I want from a card are lounge access, airmiles (BA primarily) and points on fuel / hotel spending. I dont mind an annual fee if it includes at least 10 lounge visits as I can drop priority pass.. 

[charliebadenhop]

I would love to know how people living in Thailand can gill more than #1,000 a month on their card.

Especially when you need to bill even more for the first three months.

 

And I mean, “really” and not something like “I go to bars every night and buy drinks for all the ladies.”

 

 

[wimpy]

18 minutes ago, charliebadenhop said:

I would love to know how people living in Thailand can gill more than #1,000 a month on their card.

Especially when you need to bill even more for the first three months.

 

And I mean, “really” and not something like “I go to bars every night and buy drinks for all the ladies.”

 

I drink a lot and eat well. Also travel quite a bit in the region. By the way, when you buy wine at Wine Connection, it is categorized as a restaurant purchase, so you get triple points. 

 

Will be buying a couple air conditioners in the next few days, which should ensure I reach the 4k mark.

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2017 by wimpy

[charliebadenhop]

Well, if you cannot pay your rent using a credit card, yes, to me, hard to see how one can rack up $1,000 a month here on a regular basis.

 

I took four other folks to lunch at Le Meridien the other day. B2,000 for all five of us. 

[elgenon]

The Capital One card was bad. Travel alert limited to 30 days, wouldn't give me much of a credit limit. BofA Has no foreign trans fees and I got a limit of $50k. Important if you go to the hospital. No fees.

 

So hard to redeem miles for flights I really want, I prefer cheaper now.

Colabamumbai- OP said no foreign transaction fees not no fees.

[JimmyJ]

13 hours ago, elgenon said:

The Capital One card was bad. Travel alert limited to 30 days...

 

What is "Travel alert..."?