Southwest Card Flies Another Year
Sep. 15th, 2026 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerThis week I thought I was going to cancel a points credit card I've had for two years. Instead the bank made me an offer, and I've chosen to keep it for a third year. The card is the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Premier card.
I opened this card two years ago with a juicy sign-up bonus. That propelled me to a whopping $2,400 win the first year of ownership. As good as that is, without those sign-up bonuses the second and subsequent years with these points cards often don't pencil out. Thus I often cancel them after one year. But this one I kept for a second year already. Let's check the math on that.
Over the past 12 months I charged a whopping $55,000 on this card. I earned 89,000 points. At my valuation of $0.02/point that's $1,780 of raw value. But there's an opportunity cost to that. If I'd charged that $55k to one of my no-fee 2% cashback cards instead I'd have earned a whopping $1,100. Cash. Then there's the $99 annual fee (AF). Subtracting out both those costs, the net value is a still respectable $581.
I've got to say, $581 in net value from a card in its second year is stellar. That proves my thesis for why I kept it a year ago. So why, then, was I thinking about canceling it now?
Part of the credit card churning game is knowing when you can reapply for a card and get the sign-up bonus all over again. I can't reapply for this card now-now, but I can in a few months. So I figured I'd cancel now, get the AF for next year reversed (it posted to my account a few weeks ago), and apply again in a few months. But Chase made me a retention offer.
The retention offer's a simple one. Chase offered to credit me $149 to keep their card. That's more than the $99 AF they charged! I guess their computer looked at that $55,000 I cycled through their card in the past 12 months and said, "Holy smokes, let's not lose this guy!"
Netting an extra $50 over the AF is a nice touch but it's small potatoes. I've turned down offers like that before. Because, remember, what I'm comparing it to is the value I can get from the next card— like the $2,400 I got from this card in its first year.
But here's the thing... a stellar offer like that isn't on the table right now. Chase's current sign-up bonus offers are weak. Thus taking the retention offer on this card becomes my best choice. I definitely want to open a new Southwest card sometime in 2027 for a big bonus to requalify for Companion Pass. Renewing this card doesn't give me any bonus but does give me another 12 months of time to wait for a better offer to come around while still having a Southwest points card for basic earnings.
I opened this card two years ago with a juicy sign-up bonus. That propelled me to a whopping $2,400 win the first year of ownership. As good as that is, without those sign-up bonuses the second and subsequent years with these points cards often don't pencil out. Thus I often cancel them after one year. But this one I kept for a second year already. Let's check the math on that.
Over the past 12 months I charged a whopping $55,000 on this card. I earned 89,000 points. At my valuation of $0.02/point that's $1,780 of raw value. But there's an opportunity cost to that. If I'd charged that $55k to one of my no-fee 2% cashback cards instead I'd have earned a whopping $1,100. Cash. Then there's the $99 annual fee (AF). Subtracting out both those costs, the net value is a still respectable $581.I've got to say, $581 in net value from a card in its second year is stellar. That proves my thesis for why I kept it a year ago. So why, then, was I thinking about canceling it now?
Churning and a Retention Offer
The reason to cancel now is that I can Lather, Rinse, Repeat.Part of the credit card churning game is knowing when you can reapply for a card and get the sign-up bonus all over again. I can't reapply for this card now-now, but I can in a few months. So I figured I'd cancel now, get the AF for next year reversed (it posted to my account a few weeks ago), and apply again in a few months. But Chase made me a retention offer.
The retention offer's a simple one. Chase offered to credit me $149 to keep their card. That's more than the $99 AF they charged! I guess their computer looked at that $55,000 I cycled through their card in the past 12 months and said, "Holy smokes, let's not lose this guy!"
Netting an extra $50 over the AF is a nice touch but it's small potatoes. I've turned down offers like that before. Because, remember, what I'm comparing it to is the value I can get from the next card— like the $2,400 I got from this card in its first year.
But here's the thing... a stellar offer like that isn't on the table right now. Chase's current sign-up bonus offers are weak. Thus taking the retention offer on this card becomes my best choice. I definitely want to open a new Southwest card sometime in 2027 for a big bonus to requalify for Companion Pass. Renewing this card doesn't give me any bonus but does give me another 12 months of time to wait for a better offer to come around while still having a Southwest points card for basic earnings.
