Originally posted 6/27/24, reposting 9/8/24 as the offer is slated to expire on 9/16/24
Timing Your Spend
We wrote earlier about the 120,000 points signup bonus on both Chase Southwest business credit cards. There is a $15,000 spend requirement. To get the Southwest Companion Pass requires 135,000 points, and so anyone who does this bonus can end up with the Companion Pass. The key here is the timing, since the signup bonus is broken down in two components:
- Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from your account opening.
- Plus, earn an additional 40,000 points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 9 months.
Getting The Pass In 2024-2025
Someone who hits the $15,000 threshold in 2025 will not end up with any Companion Pass since the 135,000 points have to all be earned in one calendar year.
And so, seemingly, the plan would be to finish both tiers of the entire spend requirement before your December 2024 statement closes. This way, you’ll get the full 135,000 points during 2024. You’ll then get the Companion Pass for the rest of 2024 and the entire 2025.
Getting The Pass For 2025-2026
Yet some people might take an entirely different route and deliberately delay getting the pass until 2025. The key here is the fact that these signup bonuses are slated to end on 9/16/24.
A potential plan would be to deliberately push off applying for this card until September. Then change your statement to close on December 1st. And you’ll deliberately delay meeting any signup bonus spend requirements until after your December statement closed. (Or you can meet most of it, but leave a bit of spend off. This route might leave you a few thousand points short, but it’ll make the spend easier.)
This way, all of the spend and signup bonus points will come through on the January 2025 statement. Then you’ll meet the second tier spend requirement during December or any of the coming months. With this plan, it’s possible to squeeze nearly two years of Companion Pass (2025 and 2026) from this deal instead of just one-and-change.
It’s possible to change your card statement date to close the 1st of each month. That way, any points earned in December won’t post to your Southwest account until January 1, 2024.
Readers suggest that changing the Due Date to the 26th of the month should result in the statement closing on the first of each month. Others recommend changing to the 2nd or 5th to avoid cutting it so close. Note that you might not be able to change your due date more than once-per-180-days, so we have to get it right the first time.
You can read this article we wrote last year and the comments there for more discussion on the timing.
Applied on 9/15, payment due date is 11/11. Should I change the due date to the 1st?
I would change the date to give yourself a wider window in which to meet the spending requirement. Right now, your December statement will close on 12/14. Consider changing the payment due date to the 27th of each month, which corresponds to a statement closing date of the 2nd of each month.
I applied on 9/16 (last day that the offer was valid), and was approve yesterday. My due date is Oct 28th on their website. Am I good to go or should I change the payment due date to Oct 27th?
That means your December statement will close on December 3 and you are good to complete the MSR(s) after that (and before the respective deadlines). No real need to change.
Thanks so much ch for your prompt response!
I’m in the same boat, due date of Oct 28th. I’m new to this game of timing credit card rewards, so i want to make sure i’m completely understanding.
A) what are MSRs?
B) if our statement is closing on Dec 3, what you’re saying is from Dec 4 to Dec 31, spend the $5k, which should get the first 60k new account points in our account in Jan, which is the target as that’s the start of the new year for new Companion Pass earning timeframe?
MSR = minimum spending requirement. If you applied on 9/16, then your first spending deadline is probably 12/15. You can spend some before 12/3, just don’t exceed the $5k MSR and leave a healthy buffer, because mistakes can happen. Then between 12/4 and say 12/13, spend the rest that you need to get to $5k, leaving a couple of days for the charges to post by the deadline. That will trigger the 60k bonus, which will post on your next statement, which will be in January 2025. You are also free to spend the additional $10k for the second stage bonus any time after 12/4 and before the nine month deadline.
Justin
hell yeah, thanks for that clarification!
Thank you for the detail. This is very helpful.
Hi I hope you can help clarify if Iunderstood this correctly.
My payment due date is 11/13 and have until 12/18 to complete 5k. Does it means statement close date is 12/16? And I’m cutting it too close to potentially have point posted between 16th-18th? It would be best to change statement to 27th? And should I do it now? Thank you.
I applied and was approved for the SW Performance Business card on 9/13. I have not yet received the physical card but am now able to see the new card within my chase account as of this afternoon. It currently shows an Oct 24th due date which I know is problematic since that would make for a closing date on or around the 27th of each month not allowing for the initial point release to post in 2025. If I understand correctly, I should change that from Oct 24th to Nov 1st but when I try to change the due date I get a pop-up indicating that the date can’t be changed because it’s a new account. I can’t find anything indicating that you need to wait some period of time before changing the due date. Am I missing something?
Personally, I would choose a payment due date of the 27th, which corresponds to a statement closing date of the 2nd. With a new account, you have to call to change the payment due date.
Hello! So I applied and was approved for the Biz Card on Sept 11. Online shows payment due date Oct 25. Couple questions:
1) I know I need to change the payment due date but mixed dates that I’ve seen in the chat. When I call chase, what payment date should I request?
2) 3 months to meet minimum spend. 90 days from account opening is Dec 10th. Cutting it a little close with the revised Dec statement closing. But also read that I have more time to meet min spend. Is there somewhere where it lists the date I have to meet min spend? Would I confirm via chat?
Just signed up for the SW Performance and was approved for $6k. Currently have an Ink Cash card. Can I cancel my Ink Cash card and have the available line of credit of $5k transferred to my SW Performance card? Plan on hitting $15k spend in December. A higher line of credit makes it easier.
I think I tried doing something like this 6-7 years ago and Chase allowed me to lower my credit limit on one of the cards all the way down to $500. Not sure if anything’s changed since then. Make sure you transfer the credit before you cancel the card, obviously.
My advice do not close Ink, but lower limit as much as Chase lets you and transfer it to SW. If you have to pay off SW mid month to increase available limit.
Inks are very valuable in terms of referral bonuses which are substantial. So my rule – always keep at least 1 Ink to be able to refer and that earned me hundreds of thousands of URs over the years in referral bonuses.
The Southwest personal cards are now giving 85,000 point bonuses, so seems you can pair that with the 3k spend requirement of the Southwest Premier Business card’s 60,000 bonus tier to get the Companion Pass unless I’m missing something. 6k spend is way easier than 15k spend.
You have been able to pair the business and personal offers around this time most every two years. While the two card option is best for most, there are some that would benefit from the one card strategy. For example, someone who opened two cards in 2023 to earn a 2023/2024 Companion Pass would have the 24 months from last bonus waiting period on the personal before being able to open another personal card again. With the 120,000 point offer, someone wanting to do the big $15,000 spend could earn the bonus for 2025/2026 early in January by opening the other business card (and making sure to carefully manage the spend so the SUB is met after the December statement cuts, but also insuring spend is made within 90 days of card opening).
Does anyone have info or thoughts on exactly what “ends 9/16” means? I’ve got a big credit card payoff due for credit report posting, and I’d like to apply after it hits. It may be delayed because today is Sunday, last report was Aug 14.
So, does that mean the offer goes away at the end, or start of 9/16, and what time zone would Chase use?
In a different article, DoC says that “Sites with affiliate links are reporting this deal will end 9/17/24 at 7am Eastern.” You could apply with your credit reports frozen, then unfreeze and ask for reconsideration within 30 days — if approved, you would still get the offer you applied for.
It is currently still showing in referral links. Affiliates are showing that it will end on the 16th or 17th, but oftentimes different avenues have different end dates. Chase’s own website is already showing the new offer of 80,000 and 60,000 on the two business cards, without the second tier available.
I thought I’d missed the deadline because P2’s referral links already show the 50k offers, but I was able to apply for the 120K offer through the link that’s available at https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-southwest-business-credit-cards-120000-points-signup-bonus/
Missed out on 20k referral points though…
too late, I already applied… was too anxious about having missed the deadline
Did another application from a ref link, as I’m over 5/24 anyway. Called in and got the ref # for it, will recon on Oct 1.
Approved just now for Performance card, shows due date of 11/11, I’m assuming I’m going to need to change that since it’s cutting it too close to the 90 days
Yes, requesting a due date of the 1st would give you a statement in the first week of December, allowing you to reach the spend after that, but before the 90 days.
A couple months ago I applied for an Ink Business Preferred card and was approved with a lowly $6,000 limit assumingly due to my “business” not having very much income. What are the chances I can actually get one of these SWA cards if I put the same business info for it? Not sure they are going to want to give me anymore credit since I still have the Ink. Maybe I should overestimate my income on this application to get a better chance of them wanting to give me more credit?
I had similar situation and was just approved for SW with the same credit limit as Ink, using the same application information. Only my second business card with Chase, so that might have helped.
Thanks for your experience.
Here’s my DP: Applied with the same business info, and was approved instantly with a $5,000 limit.
Same here. $6k on my first Ink a few months ago, $5k on the SW Premier today. No other biz cards with Chase.
Seems the most important step is hitting the first spend within 3 months. You DO NOT want to hit the second spend until 2025. The earlier in 2025 the better to activate the Companion Pass. Once the second spend it met, the Companion Pass will include the remaining months of 2025 (one month after spend) and all of 2026? Changing the closing cycle and hitting the second spend in late December makes it possible to have a Companion Pass for all of 2025 and 2026?
Please advise
Thank you
As I understand it, you also don’t want to hit the first spend ($5k) until 2025. Or at least the spend occurs in December so it occurs on your January statement. You need those 85k points in your 2025 southwest tally, not just the 40k second tier.
You MUST hit your first spend tier after December statement closes but before 3 months (from date you approved). Allow a few extra days for transactions to post. You MAY hit your second spend tier any time after your December statement closes (as long as it is within 9 months from approval date). The earlier you hit the second tier the sooner you get the CP for 2025-2026.