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

[pryncess527]

Even with rewards, acting like it brings the cost of Disney down so low is ignoring the opportunity costs. Yes, I could get a "free" flight. Or I could get cold hard cash deposited in my bank account. So that "free" flight, was not free -- it cost, at the very least, as much as I could have had in cash if I'd made different rewards choices. now, if I'm going to take that flight either way, then it makes sense and has value -- but it seems so many bloggers who promote this do so as a way to justify a vacation you would not otherwise have taken.

 

[btk2333]

Even with rewards, acting like it brings the cost of Disney down so low is ignoring the opportunity costs. Yes, I could get a "free" flight. Or I could get cold hard cash deposited in my bank account. So that "free" flight, was not free -- it cost, at the very least, as much as I could have had in cash if I'd made different rewards choices. now, if I'm going to take that flight either way, then it makes sense and has value -- but it seems so many bloggers who promote this do so as a way to justify a vacation you would not otherwise have taken.

This is absolutely true- you are foregoing 2% cash back for travel rewards. However, you can often get much better than 2% cash back on travel if you know how to use various FF systems. Additionally, you could use the same idea and churn cash back cards if you loved cash back cards.

Freedom has a $100 sign up bonus and 5x for categories
Discover It miles is basically a 3% cash back card for the first year
CapitalOne Venture is a 2% cash back towards travel ($400 sign up bonus)
Barclays Arrival plus is a 2.2% cash back towards travel ($440 sign up bonus)
Citi Double Cash is basically 2% cash back
Blue Cash Preferred is 6% groceries cash back and 3% gas and departments stores cash back (I actually have this one) with $150 sign up bonus

I'm sure there are others but I don't use the cash back cards as heavily (except Blue Cash Preferred cuz that 6% is more than I can get with travel points)

 

[runwad]

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.

I didn't pull my FICO score to know that it actually went down(I don't think it did) and unfortunately I don't have my auto policy from when this happened(2009).

I've pulled my most recent statement and there is a Insurance Score Indicator on my declaration page and Score Factor Codes(that they take into consideration when assigning you an overall Score). Again I didn't keep the enclosed notice to be able to look up the codes and know what they mean. BUT I do know that after my premiums went up in 2009 and I read the score factor codes and compared it to the one from the year before I could see how my scores were different. Again I can't tell you verbatim what it said but I learned from those codes it was from all the cards I opened and closed that year. My Insurance Score went down causing my rates to go up.

Now I wish I would've kept those bills. My present Score Indicator is a 7 and I see it's been that since 2012 but I don't have any paperwork going back further. And I have no clue how high the Score could go? Anyone know?

 

[runwad]

I never think to google, but I'm learning:

https://www.progressive.com/shop/car-insurance-credit-scores/
What credit factors can affect an insurance score?
Favorable credit information results in lower premiums. Because both above-average and below-average factors are evaluated, you still have the opportunity to get a lower rate, even if there are some below-average items in your credit history.

Favorable credit factors might include:

• Long-established credit history
• Numerous open accounts in good standing
• No late payments or past due accounts
• Low use of available credit

Unfavorable credit factors might include:

• Collection accounts
• Numerous past-due payments
• High use of available credit
• Numerous recent applications for credit

 

[btk2333]

I never think to google, but I'm learning:

https://www.progressive.com/shop/car-insurance-credit-scores/
What credit factors can affect an insurance score?
Favorable credit information results in lower premiums. Because both above-average and below-average factors are evaluated, you still have the opportunity to get a lower rate, even if there are some below-average items in your credit history.

Favorable credit factors might include:

• Long-established credit history
• Numerous open accounts in good standing
• No late payments or past due accounts
• Low use of available credit

Unfavorable credit factors might include:

• Collection accounts
• Numerous past-due payments
• High use of available credit
• Numerous recent applications for credit

But that's still just one factor- did you put a large amount of spending on those cards? Did the six new cards greatly decrease your average age of accounts? I'm just surprised ive never heard of a data point like this before... I know people who apply for six cards a quarter and have never heard a peep from insurance companies

How many credit cards did you have before that app o Rama? If you only had one then you would have crashed your average account age and potentially drastically affected your credit utilization which would have caused your fico to plummet

I do six per year and just refinanced after applying for three in the span of a month and didn't have any issues

 

[runwad]

No not a lot of spending on those cards, just opened for the bonus and left them open until we used the bonus. I don't think we had a lot of other cards open. Maybe 2 or 3 major ones, visa & mc, and a few store cards? Honestly I don't remember exactly how many cards, but we don't have too many. And we pay what we do have off in full every month.

Maybe I'm just unlucky, I'm one of those people who can't do anything wrong cause I always get "caught". I have no idea why you are ok and I wasn't? Maybe your insurance company doesn't score you? We have home and auto with AAA.

And I have no idea what the limits where either? Who knows. I just learned a lesson from it all and won't ever be doing it again. Good Luck to you, hope you keep on trucking along with no ill consequences.

 

[loveshak22]

I have opened a few accounts in the span of a year and never had any issues. My brother works in an industry that relies heavily on consumer financing and he pulled my credit report and my DH's last week and sent it to me. We are doing excellent by all measures - high scores, low debt to credit ratio, etc. I told him my plan and just asked if we open 3-4 new cards each over the next few months would it be an issue and he said we should be perfectly fine. But I'll check our scores again in the Fall just to make double-sure.

Right now, using points we hope to accrue over the next several months, I think I can save 56% on our trip, assuming our resort is in on the 30% room only discount - fingers crossed!!

If we had more time we could have saved even more but I'll take over 1/2 off.

 

[calypso726]

DH and I been doing this for nearly three years now and have accumulated nearly 3 million points and miles. Our credit scores have gone up into the 800's throughout the process. We don't carry balances as that would defeat the value of the points and miles earned. We focus more on miles or points instead of cash back since we are usually able to redeem them for higher than a straight cash back value. We use the airline miles to travel in a style we can't afford nor would pay actual money for even if we could, like flying international first class.

Once in while though we will diversify the portfolio for earning cash back if there is a specific need coming up. For example, this year between each of us getting a Barclay Arrival Plus and Capital One Venture, making the spend and getting the bonus and adding a smidge of manufactured spending into the mix we will be able to wipe off $2000 in on-board expenses and excursions on the 11 day DCL Norway, Iceland, Scotland cruise this year.

In addition to the application bonuses we earn miles by doing most online shopping through shopping portals. We maximize bonus categories offered for each card and get creative with the spending to maximize the points. For example if we need something at Macy's, Sears or grocery shopping at Whole Foods we will go through a shopping portal to shop online at Staples and buy the gift cards for the store using the Chase Ink card which earns 5 points/miles per dollar.

 

[livingisagift]

While credit is used if you provide your social (most companies actually do not refuse to cover you if you decline to give it to them, but they are trained to ask for it like it is a required piece of info) it is "typically" not rerun periodically unless there is a reason to. Insurance rates can go up or down for any number of things that have absolutely nothing to do with you. Companies file new rates with the state to keep their cost/profit ratio within a certain percent based on changes to their expenses. If your rates went up because of the influx of new credit, then it should have gone back down once your credit score stabilized again.

 

[minnie45]

DH and I been doing this for nearly three years now and have accumulated nearly 3 million points and miles. Our credit scores have gone up into the 800's throughout the process. We don't carry balances as that would defeat the value of the points and miles earned. We focus more on miles or points instead of cash back since we are usually able to redeem them for higher than a straight cash back value. We use the airline miles to travel in a style we can't afford nor would pay actual money for even if we could, like flying international first class.

Once in while though we will diversify the portfolio for earning cash back if there is a specific need coming up. For example, this year between each of us getting a Barclay Arrival Plus and Capital One Venture, making the spend and getting the bonus and adding a smidge of manufactured spending into the mix we will be able to wipe off $2000 in on-board expenses and excursions on the 11 day DCL Norway, Iceland, Scotland cruise this year.

In addition to the application bonuses we earn miles by doing most online shopping through shopping portals. We maximize bonus categories offered for each card and get creative with the spending to maximize the points. For example if we need something at Macy's, Sears or grocery shopping at Whole Foods we will go through a shopping portal to shop online at Staples and buy the gift cards for the store using the Chase Ink card which earns 5 points/miles per dollar.

...Oh Wow! That's great! I admire anyone who can use this to their advantage and get all of the rewards/points. I want to try it one day...after learning as much as I can about it. I'm afraid that I'll lose track and get myself some unwanted credit card debt. perhaps later this year....

 

[btk2333]

...Oh Wow! That's great! I admire anyone who can use this to their advantage and get all of the rewards/points. I want to try it one day...after learning as much as I can about it. I'm afraid that I'll lose track and get myself some unwanted credit card debt. perhaps later this year....

I recommend spreadsheets to organize - we also set all of our credit card billing dates the same day so we can't forget!

I have spreadsheets with the date I applied for each card, when I got the bonus, when I'm eligible for another bonus, when the annual fee is due, if the annual fee has been waived, any spending bonus and how close I am, and my points in each program with expiration dates if applicable

 

[calypso726]

...Oh Wow! That's great! I admire anyone who can use this to their advantage and get all of the rewards/points. I want to try it one day...after learning as much as I can about it. I'm afraid that I'll lose track and get myself some unwanted credit card debt. perhaps later this year....

Thanks I learned by reading the blogs of the people who basically do stuff like this on a much more advanced scale than I do. What I know and do is very little compared to the bloggers but it is working just fine for us. There is nothing wrong with starting out slow and taking it one card at a time at least with the "keeper cards." Those will be the cards you keep in addition to the no fee cards because the benefits outweigh the cost of the card. A few good blogs to learn from are Million Mile Secrets, A View From the Wing, Mommy Points, The Points Guy and Frequent Miler.

I recommend spreadsheets to organize - we also set all of our credit card billing dates the same day so we can't forget!

I have spreadsheets with the date I applied for each card, when I got the bonus, when I'm eligible for another bonus, when the annual fee is due, if the annual fee has been waived, any spending bonus and how close I am, and my points in each program with expiration dates if applicable

Definitely a MUST! We have excel spreadsheets with the pertinent information for each card. In addition we keep a spreadsheet for all of the points and miles and update it each month. This came in handy recently when British Airways had a security breach and locked everyone out of their accounts. People had to reset their passwords and many accounts had zero balances. DH's was fine but mine was at zero. When I called they said everything was still under investigation and they confirmed the 240K balance in our household account which was actually only DH's balance. Fortunately I knew exactly how many miles were missing in my account and they were able to add it back. Had we not been keeping track I could have easily had 60K+ miles go missing and not have really noticed.

 

[neatokimmo]

Wow some of you are really organized. I have my one Disney Visa that I pay off monthly. I do run 90% of my business expenses on it so points add up quick. We got our 6 day passes (2 adults, 1 kid) Christmas 2014 for under a buck. That with our cheap condo ($300 a week for 2 weeks) it was the cheapest Disney trip ever!

 

[alymae1010]

We need a points/churning/manufactured spending thread on here!

 

[dbramer]

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)

This also requires a good deal of disposable income and not something that a family with two single streams of income would want to attempt (unless both of those income streams are six figure plus). The average person, I feel, would become so mired in debt that the sea would close over them before they could realize the savings. My wife and I are both professionals with "decent" incomes, but the minimum purchases that most of these cards require for the rewards to kick in would overwhelm our monthly disposable income. I could not find room in my budget to pay off a 3000.00 balance before the next billing cycle. Sounds good, but not for the "average" American worker ($50,500 per annum).

 

[JanaDee]

This also requires a good deal of disposable income and not something that a family with two single streams of income would want to attempt (unless both of those income streams are six figure plus). The average person, I feel, would become so mired in debt that the sea would close over them before they could realize the savings. My wife and I are both professionals with "decent" incomes, but the minimum purchases that most of these cards require for the rewards to kick in would overwhelm our monthly disposable income. I could not find room in my budget to pay off a 3000.00 balance before the next billing cycle. Sounds good, but not for the "average" American worker ($50,500 per annum).

It also sounds exhausting.

 

[btk2333]

This also requires a good deal of disposable income and not something that a family with two single streams of income would want to attempt (unless both of those income streams are six figure plus). The average person, I feel, would become so mired in debt that the sea would close over them before they could realize the savings. My wife and I are both professionals with "decent" incomes, but the minimum purchases that most of these cards require for the rewards to kick in would overwhelm our monthly disposable income. I could not find room in my budget to pay off a 3000.00 balance before the next billing cycle. Sounds good, but not for the "average" American worker ($50,500 per annum).

You just need to get creative- there are plenty of ways to meet minimum spend without actually spending any money- plus they're not one month requirements- most are three months some are six. Google manufactured spending and you can get some ideas

 

[btk2333]

It also sounds exhausting.

It definitely takes some time; however, in the next 18 months I'll have done 3- 8 day wdw vacations only paying for food and souvenirs (and some of those I cover with cash back cards) and 5-10 weekends around the Midwest at very minimal cost- it is well worth the time imo

 

[loveshak22]

This also requires a good deal of disposable income and not something that a family with two single streams of income would want to attempt (unless both of those income streams are six figure plus). The average person, I feel, would become so mired in debt that the sea would close over them before they could realize the savings. My wife and I are both professionals with "decent" incomes, but the minimum purchases that most of these cards require for the rewards to kick in would overwhelm our monthly disposable income. I could not find room in my budget to pay off a 3000.00 balance before the next billing cycle. Sounds good, but not for the "average" American worker ($50,500 per annum).

But if you did a modified version over say 3 years as opposed to trying to earn all the points in one year you could do it. As btk2333 said, there's usually a 3 month spending requirement of $3,000. And it's not all disposable income - it includes groceries, toiletries, car repairs, dining out, utility and cell phone bills, etc. You wouldn't increase your spending but change how you purchase. Instead of opening two cards that require $3,000 in 3 months, open one card spend $1,000 a month on it then open a new card and do the same. It still gets you the reward points but takes a little longer.

 

[eliza61]

But if you did a modified version over say 3 years as opposed to trying to earn all the points in one year you could do it. As btk2333 said, there's usually a 3 month spending requirement of $3,000. And it's not all disposable income - it includes groceries, toiletries, car repairs, dining out, utility and cell phone bills, etc. You wouldn't increase your spending but change how you purchase. Instead of opening two cards that require $3,000 in 3 months, open one card spend $1,000 a month on it then open a new card and do the same. It still gets you the reward points but takes a little longer.

Lol. 3 YEARS. ok God bless ya. So after you get the 1000points on one card, how do you combine all the points over 8 cards??
So if you have 3 cards is that 9k you have to spend?