Confused about Credit Cards

[Bamboozled]

I would like to earn points to take my kids and grandkids to Disney. Since there will be about 14 of us I thought staying off site at a house rental would be the way to go. I would prefer to stay on-site if possible to give them the best Disney experience. I would also like to pay for all park tickets and flights for all, as well as pay for on-site meals and extras.

I don't use CC's, but it seems to be a way to earn credits to help pay for a Disney vacation. What is the best way to go about this? I have no idea where to start and the threads discussing CC's are confusing since I don't know what the abbreviations mean or where a conversation started. It also appears some have more than 1 card?

Can someone please help me sort it all out and find the best card for me?

 

[DLgal]

Do you even have established credit? It will be hard for you to qualify for a rewards based credit card if you don't. You need a pretty high credit score in order to get a line of credit high enough to really earn a lot of rewards.

We have about 5 active credit cards. Over the years we've had probably 15 or so. We use them to our advantage. Different cards earn different rewards so we decide what we are wanting to earn and we use that card primarily until we earn enough airline points, Disney rewards, etc.

The Disney Visa card gives you 1% back in rewards dollars that can be loaded onto what is basically a Disney gift card. So for every $100 you spend, you get $1 Disney reward dollar. There is usually a sign up bonus of $100 if you apply for the card and then charge a specific amount within a specific timeframe.

In order to really benefit, you have to use your card a LOT, like start charging EVERYTHING that you can. I have recurring bills charged to the card every month so I can earn points. (cell phone, car insurance, phone, cable). If you pay off the credit card every month on the due date, you will never pay interest.

We earn several hundred Disney reward dollars every year. We use the money towards our annual passses. Last year, we earned $950. We upgraded to the Premiere Disney Visa which earns 2% on gas, grocery, and Disney purchases but we were not eligible for that card until we had the regular one for a year or so. And we have credit scores near 800.

 

[adisneyaunt]

Earning enough to make the dent in the trip ur talking about is almost impossible imho. If however ur looking to cover a small portion on the cost, it'd be worth looking at the Chase card accts offered online.
Staying onsite versus off is a completely different experience altogether. It's a Total Disney Immersion onsite!
I'd consider looking into renting DVC... with that large of a group .. you d need atleast 2.. we did that
Grand villa AKL, Kidani and another
It was an absolutely Totally Amazing Celebration Trip.
But be forewarned..it was $$$$ by the time it was said and done, tho that included everything.. meal plan/villas, tix, transport, and lots of xtra special treats/surprises.
Amazing!!!

 

[lynn_s]

For most people, the biggest point earner though is sign up bonuses.
For example, Chase has multiple southwest cards, each with a 50,000 point bonus. 50000k SW points are worth quite a bit. If you have a side business, and opend 2 cards (1 of each), you can get 100k points, which will be close to getting you a companion pass (your designated buddy flys free with you for at least 1 year).

To much to discuss here, there are various websites with lists of cards, how to get started etc out there.

 

[amcnj]

Hi. Since you are new to credit cards and might not want to juggle several cards and keep track of who is giving a bonus discount this quarter, and for what, one of the simplest is the Citibank Double Cash card. You earn 1% when the statement closes, and then another 1% on that amount when you pay the bill, so 2% on all purchases. And you can take the reward in cash, and thus can use it anywhere.

 

[SharonZ]

I think as a "new" credit card user. You might find it difficult to get a rewards credit card with enough of a credit limit to pay for what you stated in your post.

 

[Albort]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/i-love-credit-cards-so-much.3528202/page-117#post-57287571

a good read if u have the time... :]

i honestly comes down to what your trying to go for. You need Flights? maybe SouthWest cards would help. Hotels? Theres some for that too(hyatt card, Marriott Card, etc).

have a big family? AU some cards with the correct spending categories, IE Ultimate rewards program.

 

[disneedee]

go to the i love credit cards so much thread and read through that. ask questions over there. they are a great bunch. also read through the last 30 days of the disney gift card deals. you can save about 10% using the gift card purchasing tricks. for airfare you will probably need to convince multiple adults to get credit cards for points/airfare/bonuses. some of those points may be useable for lodging. we did a 26 person family trip to disneyland a year ago. IT WAS AN AMAZING TIME. my parents paid for 3 day tickets for everyone which ran about $7000. then the different family groups arranged their own transportation and lodging. we shared food bills while there.

 

[Bamboozled]

Thanks for the responses. I should have explained it better. We have a great credit history and have two credit cards. We rarely use them and don't carry a balance. We have had them both for a very long time and neither of them offer rewards. We pay cash/debit for everything. It appears people use the cards for everyday items then pay off the balance every month. I am starting a saving acct. just for a Disney vacation.

That other thread is so long and I found it hard to follow not being able to find beginning of conversations and not understanding abbreviations.

I don't expect the rewards to pay for everything, just make it hurt a little less. LOL

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Thanks for the responses. I should have explained it better. We have a great credit history and have two credit cards. We rarely use them and don't carry a balance. We have had them both for a very long time and neither of them offer rewards. We pay cash/debit for everything. It appears people use the cards for everyday items then pay off the balance every month. I am starting a saving acct. just for a Disney vacation.

That other thread is so long and I found it hard to follow not being able to find beginning of conversations and not understanding abbreviations.

I don't expect the rewards to pay for everything, just make it hurt a little less. LOL

I would look at your regular expenses and figure out the types of things you spend the most money on a regular basis. If you spend a lot on groceries, then maybe you could get the American Express Blue Cash Preferred that gives 6% cash back up to $6000 per year (or $360 cash back). You can also use this card to buy Disney gift cards at the grocery store.

Or if you spend a lot of money on travel or dining, you could look at the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which gives 4.5% cash back on travel and dining when you redeem your points towards travel purchases. It has a high annual fee ($450), but it gives you a $300 statement credit towards travel and that includes making a $300 deposit into a Disney Vacation Account.

So I would determine the type of spending that you do and then ask people on the other thread for recommendations as to the best card for you to maximize rewards.

 

[Marionnette]

Thanks for the responses. I should have explained it better. We have a great credit history and have two credit cards. We rarely use them and don't carry a balance. We have had them both for a very long time and neither of them offer rewards. We pay cash/debit for everything. It appears people use the cards for everyday items then pay off the balance every month. I am starting a saving acct. just for a Disney vacation.

That other thread is so long and I found it hard to follow not being able to find beginning of conversations and not understanding abbreviations.

I don't expect the rewards to pay for everything, just make it hurt a little less. LOL

I would still encourage you to read that thread and ask questions. They're very nice people and they'll help you figure out how to ease your way into travel hacking.

Since you're not expecting to pay for everything with your CC rewards, it's probably a good idea to establish what you DO want those rewards to cover. Once you've decided what you want to use those rewards for, then you can narrow down what credit cards will work best for that purpose. There are a number of websites (bankrate, nerdwallet, etc) that can help you with that. Then, it's just a matter of spending as much as you can on your rewards credit card in order to maximize your rewards. That's a simplistic explanation.

You might also want to check travel hacking blogs like the points guy or million mile secrets.

 

[platamama]

If you want to keep it simple, I would apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and charge everything to that. Annual fee is waived the first year ($95 after that), with a signup bonus worth $500 cash (after you spend $4000 in the first 30 days). It has very good benefits (primary car rental insurance, trip interruption/cancellation coverage) as well. You can try to squeeze more value out of the Ultimate Rewards, aka UR, points if you have the desire. However, the most straightforward is that 1 UR pt = $0.01.

There are many options in credit cards that offer rewards for spending, I just think that the one above is easy and has a high value signup incentive. Since you pay off your balances in full, it would be nice to earn some money on the spending you do anyway, right?

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

If you want to keep it simple, I would apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and charge everything to that. Annual fee is waived the first year ($95 after that), with a signup bonus worth $500 cash (after you spend $4000 in the first 30 days). It has very good benefits (primary car rental insurance, trip interruption/cancellation coverage) as well. You can try to squeeze more value out of the Ultimate Rewards, aka UR, points if you have the desire. However, the most straightforward is that 1 UR pt = $0.01.

There are many options in credit cards that offer rewards for spending, I just think that the one above is easy and has a high value signup incentive. Since you pay off your balances in full, it would be nice to earn some money on the spending you do anyway, right?

It is $4000 in first 90 days, not 30.

 

[platamama]

It is $4000 in first 90 days, not 30.

Yes, you're right, good catch. I was thinking 90 in my head and typed 30.

 

[yawns]

To the OP. You might want to look at http://www.frugaltravelguy.com. Look under the Rookie tab at the very top of the very first page. He explains a lot of things. You didn't say when you are looking at going; it does take some time to use the card(s) and then get whatever bonus they are offering.