At the advice of another DD.com forumer, I was told that I had 2 good options as far as meeting my 3k limit for the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the 50k bonus that it gives. It'd be nice to collect because if possible it'd help with planning for YK and Sukkot and how to get from here to New York to California back to here(SoFlo)
I've been fairly hesitant to do the mint because of some articles like the once-posted Y-a-h--o--o article....and really, I can't wait much longer. Maybe 2 weeks more(bill comes around Tisha B'Av, slightly after).
The first suggested alternative was to buy and return something at a small loss. The second was to buy a flight that could be refunded--obviously point B being taka far far away and expensive to get to.
Can anyone volunteer how one would do so SAFELY? I'm a yeshiva bochur so its not like I can afford to throw my credit line around without knowing I can pay it. The goal here is to understand how the process works:
1.) Which airlines
2.) Types of refunds and all the weird stuff relating to vouchers and the like
3.) Effect of a refund on your sign-up bonus when you meet the required spending prior to refund
4.) How often one can do this
5.) Best way-- Phone vs Computer