Chase Disney is Turning Me into a Madwoman!

[MapleGirl]

DH and I are working hard to stick to a budget and pay off all our consumer debt. We're doing great and actually having fun with it. However, Chase Disney is getting in the way. We make all our purchases and put as many bills on the Chase card as we can and pay it off every week (we're die hard about not paying a penny of interest). Between car repairs, groceries, gas, bills and some reimbursable business expenses we've racked up quite a few Disney Dollars and I'm all like .

But now the sickness has set in .... (cue scary, foreboding music) I must have more Disney Dollars! MORE!!!!! DH and I bought a new bed this weekend. It was needed but required us to shift our budget around. I hate spending money but I'm evilly gleeful about the coming Disney Dollars. My mother is making some online purchases.... "Wait mom! I'll pay for them and you can send me a check." : More Disney Dollars..... MORE!!!!! MWUAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!

I've turned into the Mrs. Hyde of Disney Dollars mongering. When will the madness end??

I don't want to be an extreme couponer - I want to be an extreme Disney Doller-er!






ETA: In all fairness to Chase, I was pretty mad to start with.

 

[ancestry]

lol!

I'm the same way but with my Jet Blue American Express card. I try to get as many points as possible so we can get free flights to Disney. I feel your addiction!

 

[MomtoPatNJoe]

So you still get the rewards even if you pay it off right after the purchase? I haven't tried that because I was afraid the rewards are added/calculated by the balance at the end of the statement period.

 

[allison443]

How are the rewards dollars calculated-what percentage of your spending? Thanks!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I pay my card off as soon as the charge apprears and I get full Disney Dollar credit at the end of the month

 

[rockundergirl]

I have a question about this , kinda related .. what can you buy with the disney dollars? Can you pay for vacation package with them? Or is it only used as spending money in the parks?

 

[sydneysmom]

So you still get the rewards even if you pay it off right after the purchase? I haven't tried that because I was afraid the rewards are added/calculated by the balance at the end of the statement period.

You sure do.... your points are calculated on your purchase transactions, not your balance at the end of the month. We make a payment after everything we put on the card. We try to put cable, car insurance, all of that to get the points, then just turn right around and pay Chase as soon as the charge posts to our account.

Your points won't post to your account until after your blill closing period. For us, we usually see the points on the 5th - 7th of each month, depending. it's nice extra Disney money.....as long as you pay your bill off and don't incur interest fees !

 

[DawnM]

I look at it this way:

It is ONLY 1% of the total. $1 for every $100 I spend. Therefore, if item A (that I planned on buying anyway) is $500 with a cc but $350 if I purchase with cash or find used, I will pay the $350 and use the remaining $150 to buy myself Disney gift cards or set it aside for Disney.

It makes no sense to spend more when you only get 1%.

I would much rather pay cash for everything, including Disney.

And sometimes they charge 3% more if you use a CC......we had to pay for our a/c units, our roof, etc....with cash to avoid being charged more.

Dawn

 

[disny_luvr]

This is hilarious!

I feel your pain. I'm actually only getting into using my Disney Visa to pay bills and then in return getting the Disney dollars. We were on vacation last week and before we left I moved money from our ING account into our checking account so I could pay off the room balance with my debit card. Well, on the way there I had a total "AHA" moment and thought to myself that I should charge it on the Disney Visa and get an additional $10 in Disney dollars. So that is what I did and then paid if off when we returned home.

Disney dollars are a wonderful thing.

 

[sydneysmom]

I have a question about this , kinda related .. what can you buy with the disney dollars? Can you pay for vacation package with them? Or is it only used as spending money in the parks?

yes, you can use them to pay towards your vacation, use them for meals, souveniers, in the Disney store and online.

When you get at least $20 disney dollars, you can load them to the Disney Rewards Card ( you order separately). Then, you can load in increments of $10 (I believe). You want to be careful when you load your Disney dollars to the rewards card, because once you load them, they expire in a year. If you just leave them sitting on your account to add up, I believe they don't roll off for like 5 years.

We had about $500 Disney dollars ( from the $200 offer + other stuff) so I went ahead and put that amount on the rewards card. I used the rewards card to buy a Disney Gift Card....the Disney gift card has no expiration date.... so I didn't have to worry about that. We'll use that towards our trip in 2013.

Disney Visa is great.... you get emails about room discounts, free dining and other discounts before they're open to the general public. You also get 20% off Disney tours and 10% off a $50.00 purchase at Disneystore.com and the stores in the parks.

here's their link if you want to read more....we just love it. We pay our utilities and car insurance with it... it's a great way to rack up your Disney Dollars !!
http://disneyrewards.disney.go.com/credit/rewards/earning.html

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

A few summers ago I got a really good bonus deal in the mail, it was either 3 or 5% on all purchases with an easy threshhold- not like the crazy offers they have sent me this year (only on spend over $3000-like that is going to happen!)

I was a mad woman that summer with my Disney Visa, but I earned a few hundred bucks in Disney Dollars and it came in handy when I was buying several Annual Passes!

I spend a ton every month at Target, I did start using the Target Red Card there for 5% off all purchases. One more prescription and I get a 5% shopping pass.

 

[MapleGirl]

We are new to the Chase madness so hopefully the sickness will wear off....

We are returning to WDW in 2 and a half years. We are going to keep accumulating Disney Dollars with Chase then use them towards that trip. I would like to pay off as much as possible on our 2-adult 10-day park hopper passes with no expiry and water and fun with our Disney Dollars and one unused 1-day pass each. We shall see.

 

[herdtoDisney]

I did this-on a smaller scale than PP's-I bought last year's Christmas presents all on the Chase Disney visa...however, I already had the cash for that from our Holiday club acct, so paid it off immediately. Same with our AutoTrain tickets for the Disney trip (this past Feb).

I ended up with enough Disney dollars for us all to ride the Sea Raycers at Downtown Disney, with a treat after. We were happy with that

 

[cam&phoebsmom]

We use it frequently and pay it off each month so no interest. We have about $500 in the disney dllars that we will use to pay for th room only portion of our trip in November. Each time we have gone we have a few hundred dollars worth on our rewards cards. Last time we went I got one card with $75 on it and gave that to my son for his purchases, and the rest we paid off what we had charged back to the room.

 

[eeyoresmom]

Be aware that there is usually a limit to how many Disney Dollars you can accumulate in one year. I know my limit is $300 per calander year. Not sure if it's different for others though.

 

[gardenergirl]

We do this too. The only thing I think we don't pay with the CC is the mortgage, and I've been after Hubs to change it over! We go about every 2 years, (next trip may actually not be until 2013 so Fantasy Land expansion is finished) it adds up-we hope to have many disney dollars to pay for a night or two of the hotel bill for the next vacation (we just bought a new mattress, washer, etc. too), but have to take a deep breath to think about how much we would have spent to "earn" at 1% (EEK!)

 

[MapleGirl]

Be aware that there is usually a limit to how many Disney Dollars you can accumulate in one year. I know my limit is $300 per calander year. Not sure if it's different for others though.

Oh No! Can anyone else comment on this?

 

[indimom]

I look at it this way:

It is ONLY 1% of the total. $1 for every $100 I spend. Therefore, if item A (that I planned on buying anyway) is $500 with a cc but $350 if I purchase with cash or find used, I will pay the $350 and use the remaining $150 to buy myself Disney gift cards or set it aside for Disney.

It makes no sense to spend more when you only get 1%.

I would much rather pay cash for everything, including Disney.

And sometimes they charge 3% more if you use a CC......we had to pay for our a/c units, our roof, etc....with cash to avoid being charged more.

Dawn

True. Anything we can get cheaper by paying cash, that's what we do (braces come to mind, it was 5% cheaper to pay in cash). It wouldn't make sense to pay more just to get 1% rewards.
But, if it's just a matter of running a purchase through the cc before paying the bill and there is no interest or added expense, then the rewards are just "free money" toward our next trip.
I run absolutely everything I can through the card. One percent adds up quickly when you pay everything you can with the cc. At my current rate, I'm going to be able to pay for the food or tickets (for four people) from my rewards on our next trip. At no expense to me. Well worth it!

 

[benolathe]

Be aware that there is usually a limit to how many Disney Dollars you can accumulate in one year. I know my limit is $300 per calander year. Not sure if it's different for others though.

The earning limit is news to me, have not heard of that before. In the past year and a half, we have earned over $1,000 in Disney rewards. It is what I use to purchase everything. And I do pay the balance in full each month, so do not pay any interest.

 

[aribelle]

So you still get the rewards even if you pay it off right after the purchase? I haven't tried that because I was afraid the rewards are added/calculated by the balance at the end of the statement period.

The rewards are calculated on the total amount charged/credited during the billing cycle. Payments don't detract from this amount, but CREDITS do....so you can't go buying stuff and returning it and still get rewards on it.

I charge everything that I can and pay it off in full at each payday. For things that I've bought and end up returning (like at Walmart, Target, etc) I ask them to put it on a store credit. I'm going to end up spending money there anyway, and this way it doesn't get returned to the VISA and therefore deducted from my reward points. It's a small thing, but every penny counts right!