Over the past month, MANY people have applied for the Southwest credit card. And MOST people applied for this card (or two cards!) to be able to earn the Southwest Companion Pass! I’ve received a ton of questions regarding timing and many readers want to make sure to they do not screw up meeting the minimum spend! You can read more about timing on meeting the minimum spend here.
While some credit cards have the annual fee waived for the first card, the three Southwest credit cards do not! The Southwest Plus card comes with a $69 annual fee while the personal and business version of the Southwest Premier card comes with a $99 annual fee. The annual fee is charged pretty quickly after receiving the card. THE ANNUAL FEE DOES NOT COUNT TOWARDS MEETING YOUR MINIMUM SPEND.
When you are paying your statement balance make sure to NOT include the fee in the amount remaining needed to hit this spend. I know many people have faced this “oops†issue in the past, so do not let it happen to you. This happens more often than not and you do not want to screw up not getting the bonus points, thus not getting the Southwest Companion Pass due to counting incorrectly!
Remember, if you want the points to post in 2017 to count towards the 2017/2018 companion pass, you want to hit the minimum spend PRIOR to your statement close date in 2017. If you want the points to post in 2018 to count towards the 2018/2019 companion pass, you want to hit the minimum spend AFTER your statement close date in December, but to be 100% sure they post properly I recommend waiting until January 1, 2018.
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I’ve heard that in the past Chase has been “generous” and has posted the points early, thereby preventing the points from posting when we want them to in 2018. What is the maximum amount you recommend that we spend in 2017 so this doesn’t happen?
@Anthony – Chase has never been generous by giving out bonus points earned prior to the minimum spend being met.
I was “given the bonus” because they did not figure in my returns that posted in the same billing cycle. So one bonus this year and one in January. What a joke.