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canyonwalkerOne of my credit cards has just reached its anniversary, so it's time to check the score on how well I've done with it. This one's the Chase United Business Mileage Plus card, and I've owned it for one year— which means the tally of benefits from the past year should be pretty good, considering the lucrative sign-up bonus.
Now, you might be thinking, "Wait, didn't you used to have two United cards— and canceled both of them?" The answer is Yes and Yes. 😅 In 2022 I opened both personal and business cards with United/Chase and then closed both of them in 2023. But in 2024 and this year I opened both kinds of cards again. Yup, this is the credit card churning that my topic What's in YOUR wallet? is all about.
I opened this card last year under a fairly typical (for this card) offer of 75,000 bonus UA miles after $5,000 of spend in the first 3 months. I hit the spending target easily in the first two months then... didn't quite toss this card in the proverbial sock drawer for the remainder of the year. Instead I kept using it occasionally, taking advantage of various promotions it offered. At the end of 12 months I've charged a total of $6,700 on the card and earned 85,100 points.
But wait, there's more.
More in this case takes the form of various promotions Chase and United offered on the card. I put them into three groups:
There are other categories of credits Chase/United offer on this card but the remainder aren't worth it to me. (For example, there's $25 in United credit on two car rentals with Avis/Budget booked through United, but the rates at United are more expensive than I can get elsewhere with the same car providers.) With the three above, including the one-time double-dip, I nabbed $301 in cash and credits this year.
I'm thinking I will renew this card for a second year. The ride-sharing credits, if I can max them out, basically pay back the AF. If I do the 5x$100 purchases again I'll get another $125 credit... though that will be in the form of store credit with United, not cash-back on the credit card. I'll have to decide if I expect to spend that voucher before it expires after 12 months from issue. (The answer is most likely "Yes" but I want to wait until I have more visibility before buying.) Finally, I'll earn a 5,000 mile bonus, worth $55, by having this card together with the United Quest card I opened a few months ago. That bonus will be paid a month or two after the renewal.
Now, you might be thinking, "Wait, didn't you used to have two United cards— and canceled both of them?" The answer is Yes and Yes. 😅 In 2022 I opened both personal and business cards with United/Chase and then closed both of them in 2023. But in 2024 and this year I opened both kinds of cards again. Yup, this is the credit card churning that my topic What's in YOUR wallet? is all about.
I opened this card last year under a fairly typical (for this card) offer of 75,000 bonus UA miles after $5,000 of spend in the first 3 months. I hit the spending target easily in the first two months then... didn't quite toss this card in the proverbial sock drawer for the remainder of the year. Instead I kept using it occasionally, taking advantage of various promotions it offered. At the end of 12 months I've charged a total of $6,700 on the card and earned 85,100 points.Miles & More
At my current valuation of 1.1 cents per point (cpp) for UA miles, my haul of 85,100 miles is worth $936. The annual fee (AF) of $99 was waived the first year so I won't subtract that, but I will subtract the opportunity cost of not charging that $6,700 of spend to one of my 2% cash-back cards. This $134 is the cost of earning these miles. It brings the net win down to a still very respectable $802.But wait, there's more.
More in this case takes the form of various promotions Chase and United offered on the card. I put them into three groups:
- The card offered a $100 statement credit after charging 7 purchases of at least $100 at United. This was likely meant to encourage and reward people who regularly buy flights but I found I could game the system by purchasing United TravelBank credits of $100 each in 7 separate transactions. These triggered the reward— which was cash back— plus I had $700 of credits at United that wouldn't expire for 10 years.
- Partway through my membership year United/Chase changed the above benefit from a $100 statement credit to a bonus of $125 in United TravelBank funds that requires only 5x$100 purchases. Changing it from a cash back bonus to a store credit bonus makes it less useful, generally speaking; and especially because the bonus credit expires in just 12 months. But the cool thing was Chase/United double-dipped me. They gave me both the original bonus and the new one for the same set of purchases I made. And I already spent the $125 voucher. So this year the 12 month expiry was not a problem.
- Along with revamping the purchase credit back in the April/May timeframe, United/Chase added a new benefit to the card: $8/month credit on ride-share purchases of at least $20, with a slightly larger credit of $12 in December. If you max out this credit across the year it's worth $100. I hit it for $48 in the months I had access to it.
- Chase offers a catalog of merchant specific bonuses, things like "5% back at ABC" or "$5 off one purchase of $25 or more at XYZ". Most of these are at merchants I don't care about, but over the past year there have been at least half a dozen I found worthwhile. I've redeemed cash-back offers worth $28.
There are other categories of credits Chase/United offer on this card but the remainder aren't worth it to me. (For example, there's $25 in United credit on two car rentals with Avis/Budget booked through United, but the rates at United are more expensive than I can get elsewhere with the same car providers.) With the three above, including the one-time double-dip, I nabbed $301 in cash and credits this year.
A Good Haul, But Do I Renew?
Putting the net value of the miles and bonuses together, I've made this card worth just over $1,100 in its first year. That's a solid score. But the question at hand now is Do I renew? It's a tough question because after the first year there's no big pile of miles from a sign-up bonus... oh, and the $99 AF kicks in.I'm thinking I will renew this card for a second year. The ride-sharing credits, if I can max them out, basically pay back the AF. If I do the 5x$100 purchases again I'll get another $125 credit... though that will be in the form of store credit with United, not cash-back on the credit card. I'll have to decide if I expect to spend that voucher before it expires after 12 months from issue. (The answer is most likely "Yes" but I want to wait until I have more visibility before buying.) Finally, I'll earn a 5,000 mile bonus, worth $55, by having this card together with the United Quest card I opened a few months ago. That bonus will be paid a month or two after the renewal.
