Disney for $1.10 for a family of four...

[loveshak22]

I just found this blog: http://www.bradsdeals.com/blog/how-to-go-to-disney-world-for-almost-free and thought I'd share for those who might be interested.

My DH and I have amazing credit and always pay off our monthly credit card bills. We have gotten credit cards for points to pay for airline tickets in the past but I've never used them to this extent because I never thought about using the statement credits for specific purchases (duh!). If you have time before your next vacation, some of these strategies can really help bring down the cost of your WDW vacation!! I think I'm going to get the Barclay card for our ticket packages, as is suggested in the blog. I've got over 7 months until our trip and that can definitely make a dent in our cost.

Although - I'm only repeating what's in the blog that you should not even think about this if you can't meet the minimum spending requirements to earn the points and you can't pay off your credit card every month. If you end up paying interest on any of your purchases then you're losing any benefit to the rewards.

I'm sure some people will have differing opinions so I'd love to hear the pros and cons from folks who may have tried this in the past!

 

[hsmamato2]

None of this is new.... it's all 'out there' just google and learn...lots! This absolutely can work,multiple times if you really learn how to maximize the rewards. Again as noted in the article, you have to have excellent credit,and a real sense of self control when it comes to spending and your own income....Also of note,and this is important the author didn't note all the annual fees with the various cards to go along with this which takes that total of 1.10 up to around 4-500.00.....It's still discounted, but it takes effort,and it's not free. I.E. if you get 2 southwest cc's for the parents, that's an annual of 69-99 each card.

 

[loveshak22]

Good point about the annual fees. I have had cards I've canceled after the first year when the annual fee was waived and I've kept some because the fee was worth the points. I've always used the cards for airline points but didn't think of these other ways to use the cards in a joint effort! And I liked this blog for the step-by-step instructions as well!

 

[eliza61]

LOL, I love the line "this is not about going into debt". hum sorry that's exactly what I think would happen with most folks.

I'm with hsmamato. None of this in new or blog worthy. I'm guessing that just about everyone here does some version of that.

I thought it would be some thing new or easy to do.

 

[hsmamato2]

All of these cards mentioned have annual fees right from the get go,no waiving. That's b/c the cards with high rewards are worth the fees,if used as noted. And this never,never works unless you can do this using your regular household spending pattern,and pay each card off without any finance charges,etc. The bonuses come after you pay the annual fee, and charge a certain amount for each card. (usually must spend somewhere between 3000- 5000.00 per card within a short time frame) so no,not free,and not especially simple, but very legal,and very doable.

 

[loveshak22]

Well now I feel bad for starting the thread! I did do a search and had not found anything recently about a planned out use of the rewards cards points to pay for a full trip so thought it was interesting - LOL!

And I did go back and look at the two cards I did not have yet - the AA Citi Card and the SPG Amex and both say they waive the annual fee for the first year.

 

[elgerber]

All of these cards mentioned have annual fees right from the get go,no waiving. That's b/c the cards with high rewards are worth the fees,if used as noted. And this never,never works unless you can do this using your regular household spending pattern,and pay each card off without any finance charges,etc. The bonuses come after you pay the annual fee, and charge a certain amount for each card. (usually must spend somewhere between 3000- 5000.00 per card within a short time frame) so no,not free,and not especially simple, but very legal,and very doable.

Barclays does not charge the annual fee the first year, my husband and I both got one a few months ago. The fee is waived for the first year.

 

[hsmamato2]

Oh you know what? you are right, a couple of them waive it for the first year....sorry I forgot that! OP don't feel bad! I was just noting to anyone who might read this some of the very real drawbacks of this plan.... on first glance that article appears to make it all simple, but there details that should be noted too...

 

[leebee]

We have been taking advantage of some of these offers for awhile. DH and I have each had both a regular and a premier card through southwest when they offer the 50K points deal, so we've socked away enough credits for quite a few flights and canceled each card before the 1st anniversary. I also use the Disney VISA premier card for everything possible, so we rack up between $1500-$2000 in rewards dollars over two years. This puts a huge dent in the cost of a value resort and park tickets. Yes, we've paid annual fees ($296 for the 4 southwest cards, and $99 annually for the VISA card), but if we save for 2 years to go to WDW, in fees I'll have paid $500 for our entire vacation (not counting food). Works for me!

(and yes, I juggle things so that we never pay monthly interest on any card)

 

[loveshak22]

Oh you know what? you are right, a couple of them waive it for the first year....sorry I forgot that! OP don't feel bad! I was just noting to anyone who might read this some of the very real drawbacks of this plan.... on first glance that article appears to make it all simple, but there details that should be noted too...

I agree wholeheartedly that it's anything but "simple"!!! I've got a whole spreadsheet created because it relies so heavily on dates and spending amounts and then when the rewards hit the account to be able to redeem them (especially if a trip's coming up). Not to mention all the other caveats mentioned about annual fees, paying off balances, etc.! If I planned right though, I think we can save about 57% on our upcoming trip...maybe even a little more depending on where we spread out some of our reward points. I definitely did not get down to $1.10 and I definitely did not open up 17 cards like the guy who wrote the blog states he did!! That would be way too much!

 

[runwad]

I did a mini version of this before I knew better. Back in the day you could have 3 Disney visa's in your name and they were giving you a $200 gift card to open an account. I got 3 in my name and 3 in my husbands name so we got a total of $1200 that we put towards a Disney Cruise. We cancelled all but one of the cards after we used the bonuses.

Ya well my car and house insurance went up because opening so many cards lowered my credit score. In the end I don't think it was worth it to pay higher insurance premiums. But at the time, I was on cloud nine that I got $1200 for free. So be careful of that. And I had a credit score in the 800's when I did this.

 

[elsbit]

I wouldn't feel bad for posting this for discussion OP. I had not seen that article before, so not "everyone" does some version of that. Personally, not a path I would journey down. The before and after credit score comparisons would be intriguing to see. It sounds like you have mapped out a plan and are ready to attack it. It would be great to have updates as you went for folks to see how it is coming along.

 

[loveshak22]

I did a mini version of this before I knew better. Back in the day you could have 3 Disney visa's in your name and they were giving you a $200 gift card to open an account. I got 3 in my name and 3 in my husbands name so we got a total of $1200 that we put towards a Disney Cruise. We cancelled all but one of the cards after we used the bonuses.

Ya well my car and house insurance went up because opening so many cards lowered my credit score. In the end I don't think it was worth it to pay higher insurance premiums. But at the time, I was on cloud nine that I got $1200 for free. So be careful of that. And I had a credit score in the 800's when I did this.

That's really interesting. I didn't know car and home owners insurance checked your credit regularly unless something changed like filing a new claim against one of them of changed the policy some how?

 

[loveshak22]

I wouldn't feel bad for posting this for discussion OP. I had not seen that article before, so not "everyone" does some version of that. Personally, not a path I would journey down. The before and after credit score comparisons would be intriguing to see. It sounds like you have mapped out a plan and are ready to attack it. It would be great to have updates as you went for folks to see how it is coming along.

Thanks! My husband and I each actually have one of the cards opened already but I just didn't think about applying it towards a statement credit - I actually thought I could only use it for airline miles, hotel, or car rental until I read the article and went back and checked my account reward options. So I think before my 45 day pay off date I'll call and pay $1,000 towards my balance and then apply a $500 credit statement towards that bill and then do the same thing on my DH's card. That will save $1,000 there, without opening any new cards. I am not doing the intense version of this plan so I really don't see it affecting our credit too bad. I mean we're not opening up 17 cards like the guy who wrote this blog did and we won't be closing them and opening more after that, so I'll check my credit in a few months and see. My DH only has one credit card in his name and one under an account of mine so if he opens a couple more travel cards I really don't see it dinging him because he does travel a lot and it would make sense that a lot of people who travel have airline and hotel credit cards that get them certain perks. I have a couple of cards but the ones I have are longstanding accounts. All three of them have been open 5 years plus with no late payments. So I think if I open a couple of new cards now, and pay them off, it wouldn't do too much damage either. I think it would definitely do more damage to open a dozen cards and close them all in a year and start all over again - which we won't do either. And, the other thing we have going for us is we don't have other debt besides student loans and our mortgage. And since we'll pay everything off every month we won't be adding any new debt.

Again, though, I'll check in a few months and see!

 

[runwad]

That's really interesting. I didn't know car and home owners insurance checked your credit regularly unless something changed like filing a new claim against one of them of changed the policy some how?

Yep mine does and it actually shows me how they rate me on my declarations page. When I got out my bill from the year before and compared, I could actually see my scores they gave me and how they dropped. I've never filed an auto claim or house claim since DH and I have been married, 23 years, so my rates didn't go up because of that.

 

[loveshak22]

Yep mine does and it actually shows me how they rate me on my declarations page. When I got out my bill from the year before and compared, I could actually see my scores they gave me and how they dropped. I've never filed an auto claim or house claim since DH and I have been married, 23 years, so my rates didn't go up because of that.

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[JanaDee]

That's really interesting. I didn't know car and home owners insurance checked your credit regularly unless something changed like filing a new claim against one of them of changed the policy some how?

Yes, insurance companies typically check your credit at least once a year and your credit score is a determining factor in what rates you pay.

 

[drnp]

Just a heads up for anyone using SPG points at Swan or Dolphin. The points do get you the room rate for free, but it does not cover the resort fee or the parking fee if you have a car.

 

[btk2333]

Just FYI here's my 2014 sign ups

United Explorer (50,000 points and waived annual fee- plus free checked bag so I keep this card open anyway)
Chase Ink (60,000 points and waived annual fee)
Chase Sapphire Preferred (45,000 and waived annual fee)
SPG (30,000 and waived annual fee)- all my non-bonus spending goes on this card
SPG business (30,000 and waived annual fee)
Hilton Reserve (2 free nights and any Hilton worldwide $89 annual fee) (used at the Waldorf Astoria for a long weekend in Chicago)
Credit score is over 800

Will probably be adding the Chase Hyatt, Citi American Airlines card later this year for sign up bonuses

We are a family of four- book 3 seats and one lap infant

November trip
ORD-MCO is 75,000 miles (50,000 from MileagePlus and 25,000 transferred from Chase)
DVC points to stay at BCV

January trip
ORD-MCO 75,000 miles (75,000 transferred from Chase)
7 nights at Swan and Dolphin (~60,000 SPG points)


Now I have a ton of legitimate spending (3 businesses, all spending goes on CC's) so it's easy to meet minimum spends and rack up even more points. However, I pay for a very large portion of my travel budget every year with this type of thing. I paid a grand total of $89 in annual fees this year. My credit score is monitored monthly, I know exactly where I'm at before applying for a new card- we refinanced our house this year and no banks made any mention of the credit cards for which we've applied.

On top of the points, I also acquire SPG gold status, Hilton Diamond, free United checked bags and many other perks.

If you have the self- discipline credit cards are a very useful tool; however, you HAVE to pay them off in FULL every month (I actually pay mine before the statement generates- so my credit utilization shows up as <1% most months)

 

[btk2333]

I did a mini version of this before I knew better. Back in the day you could have 3 Disney visa's in your name and they were giving you a $200 gift card to open an account. I got 3 in my name and 3 in my husbands name so we got a total of $1200 that we put towards a Disney Cruise. We cancelled all but one of the cards after we used the bonuses.

Ya well my car and house insurance went up because opening so many cards lowered my credit score. In the end I don't think it was worth it to pay higher insurance premiums. But at the time, I was on cloud nine that I got $1200 for free. So be careful of that. And I had a credit score in the 800's when I did this.

I'm not doubting you- but I've been doing this for three years, my credit score has never dipped below 750 (it's hovering around 800 right now). I've never had anything mentioned to me by insurance companies- I will certainly keep an eye out for it. What did your credit score dip to if you don't mind saying? If it dipped below 700 then yes there could certainly be adverse action; however, 6 credit card apps shouldn't have that much impact unless something else happened too. Did your utilization drastically change? Did you cancel older cards thus vastly reducing your average age of accounts? Credit apps alone don't kill your credit score.