I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[alryan]

@alryan I know with PNC they gave me 3 accounts when I signed up for the virtual wallet. Growth and something else??? Were you able to message center all of yours in one fell swoop?

I just said please close all accounts. I guess my DH isn't actually closed yet. They needed an updated address. I messaged that and now they say they need a reason. So it's not as easy as one message. But at least I didn't have to call.

 

[Lain]

This is one of our options for next year. Is is walkable to the park? Is 2 days enough? I’m thinking 2 Universal, 5 DLR.

I think 2 days is more than enough for Universal Studios Hollywood. The park is very compact. We did just 1 day, and felt ok about it. But we also aren't fans of a lot of the franchises featured at the park, so we were ok with not doing everything. The wait times do get long by mid-day, just like at Disney parks. It was our first time visiting a Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and we loved how immersive it is. I kind of want to see the Orlando version now, since it also has Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express. We caught the new Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle projection light show, and WOW we were blown away. I hope they keep this nighttime show around.

There are two hotels next to USH, the Sheraton and the Hilton, which are right next to each other on the opposite side of the street (Universal Studios Drive) from the USH and CityWalk (USH's version of Downtown Disney). Both are walkable, but the hotels, park, and dining and entertainment district are on a hill. The Sheraton is lower down on the hill than the Hilton. From the Sheraton, it's maybe an 8-10 minute walk to USH; the Hilton is closer, so maybe a 5-8 minute walk from there to USH. There's a pedestrian bridge that takes you over Universal Studios Drive, and that takes you pretty much right to bag check.

If walking up a hill every morning and back down in the afternoon or at night isn't your thing, both hotels offer a shuttle directly to the park. The shuttle runs every 15 minutes, picks up at the Sheraton first, then the Hilton, and drops off passengers at CityWalk, near the Tony Roma's and Jamba Juice. We lucked out that the shuttle picks up at the Sheraton first, because by the time we got to the Hilton it could only pick up about half the guests waiting there. You wait at the same drop off spot to go back to the hotels, and there's an electronic sign at CityWalk that gives you an ETA for the shuttle. The shuttle runs until about 10 p.m. at night.

 

[miztressuz]

@alryan I know with PNC they gave me 3 accounts when I signed up for the virtual wallet. Growth and something else??? Were you able to message center all of yours in one fell swoop?

Yes, just ask to close your Virtual Wallet and they close all 3 accounts at once. You'll get a conversion letter in the mail that's a little confusing but the general gist seems to be they convert your checking account(s) and then close them. You'll get 3 account closed letters in the mail too.

 

[Oscar Madison]

I just said please close all accounts. I guess my DH isn't actually closed yet. They needed an updated address. I messaged that and now they say they need a reason. So it's not as easy as one message. But at least I didn't have to call.

Yes, anything but calling!

 

[Lain]

Back from our NCL Bliss cruise to Mexico. I don't even know how many pages I'm behind, lol. Think the Dischurners news will have to do.

Wanted to report back about NCL refunds of onboard credit. It was all refunded in CASH. Had the AmEx offer of spend $500 get $150 back on 2 cards. So bought onboard credit for our cabin and my parents' cabin. Their cabin had a lot leftover and they got a call the day before disembarkation to go to guest services. Our cabin only had a small amount. While I was at guest services with my mom, I asked if any excess would just get refunded to my card. Nope. If I didn't want to have to go back to guest services, I should take the refund and let any charges go to my credit card.

Think I have a bit of land sickness. We spent most of yesterday driving back from L.A., so didn't feel it much then. Hope it goes away by tomorrow.

Can't wait to read more about your trip.

But wow, what an MS opportunity. What was the limit for onboard credit?

 

[wanderlust7]

Thanks, I would really appreciate the upload.

We used the Amex $500 less $150 to buy cruise Next certificates. I really hope they run that promo again soon!

Of your three dining choices we have only done Cagneys. DH refuses to dress up on vacation so I will probably never eat at Le Bistro (unless I send him to the buffet lol). You didn't by chance try the Mexican restaurant? I'm thinking that, Cagneys and La Cucina. Despite some bad reviews we have always been pleased with our meals there.

So glad the OBC cash out worked for you. Hopefully you feel better soon. I have never gotten nauseous after disembarking, only had to deal with the ground rolling.

No, we didn't try La Cucina. Dress code? What dress code? LOL. First time on NCL, all I knew is that their reputation is casual, so I didn't look into it too much. My DH wore jeans and a dark T-shirt to Le Bistro. Now that I look at it, I guess it was supposed to be a collared shirt (jeans are fine though). Oops.

 

[wanderlust7]

Can't wait to read more about your trip.

But wow, what an MS opportunity. What was the limit for onboard credit?

I think it's $1000 per cabin. So can't get too crazy, lol.

 

[Albort]

This is one of our options for next year. Is is walkable to the park? Is 2 days enough? I’m thinking 2 Universal, 5 DLR.

if your willing to spend the extra $, do the front of the line pass. I tried it with a friend and we got everything done within a day. the longest line we waited for(unsure why) was the Simpsons at 1 hour long... everything else were less than 10 minutes.

 

[Albort]

Ok so I’m looking for a card I can use with plastiq that I’d break even or make some with. I really miss the days of cip coding 3x. Thankful to have used the mc no fee this month. But now it’s got me wanting a card to start getting points again for paying bills. I’m under 5/24 and would like to stay that way if possible. Open to business cards. Can’t get any chase cards till June to be on the safe side since last Card was in feb.

Q1- who are u trying to pay?
Q2- do u have a walmart nearby?
Q3- do u have a CI+ or CIC?

 

[wanderlust7]

We can see details (like hard inquiries, account balances, etc) for TU and Equifax on CK, but what about Experian? I have a FICO score from my credit union provided by Experian but it gives no details - just the score. Is there a website that shows the Experian details?

You can sign up for a free account directly with Experian. Think it's under Free Credit Report. Make sure it's not a free trial and doesn't require entering a credit card number.

 

[LynnTH]

FYI - I just called Chase's Cruise Dept. and inquired about using UR points for a cruise in December 2020 as previously they were only letting people book through 2019. She was able to pull up the cruise I was looking at tell me how many UR's it would take to book. So, you can now book later than 2019 (Except on DCL).

So, now to figure out if I should book or not... I get 5 weeks of vacation a year and can transfer some days from one year to the next.

January 2020 - Booked Trip to Aruba on AA Flights and Marriott Points. (Surprise for kids at Christmas - they are both home from college until Mid-January so got great deals) Hoping to use leftover vacation days from this year.

March 2020 - Going To Vegas with Family and Extended Family for DS's 21st Birthday. Haven't figured out the particulars of that one yet.

June 2020 - Alaskan Cruise - Still trying to figure out the ship on this one. We know it will be Princess so will cash out my MR"s to Carnival Corp Gift Cards. This will pay for most of the cruise. Airfare have some Delta and have UR's and should have more SW by then. Depends on if we fly into Alaska/Vancouver or do Seattle RT. (This is a surprise for DH for our 25th Anniversary but will give it to him at Christmas - so many secrets to keep)

December 2020 - That leaves me with the RCCL Cruise I want to take. Prices are great as we would go right when the kids get out of school for Winter Break. Inside Cabin on Oasis of the Seas is $2100 for the 4 of us or about 145,000 UR's. Will use SW as we will have 1 if not 1 companion fares by then and hopefully replenishing those points with new CC's the end of this year for me and middle of next year for DH. The only issue is that I only see non-refundable deposits for this cruise and the deposit would be $1000 or my UR's and since it is so far out and with 2 kids in college - plans can change. So, that is what is holding me back. Hoping they come out with a new 'Sale" and that the deposit is reduced or they offer refundable fares. Does anyone know if they do this?

So, this would be 4 trips in a year. Normally we were lucky to go on 1 trip a year. This is crazy - but so much fun!! The kid at my daughters school all think we are rich because we go on so many trips. She tries to tell them that I just get good deals...

 

[Calfan]

So clearly I must be doing something wrong...I had the Happy Cards offer on my Amex Plat. I am not at all familiar with Happy Cards, but I took a look at the website, and the Happy Teen card has a couple of categories that would be useful (Regal is our local movie theater, and I happen to need something at Sephora at the moment). It looks like you can purchase a variable amount on the card from $20 to $500. Since the Amex offer is $15 off $100, I typed in $100 for my amount. But when I add it to my cart, it is showing as $500! This happened multiple times using Chrome. I tried Explorer and same thing. Am I missing something? Is $500 the minimum purchase? That can't be right. Any tricks to being able to purchase a $100 Happy Card?

 

[wendow]

How do y'all find the musical theater shows on the UR portal? I went to travel>Things to do>Denver, CO and searched all of May. Nothing like that comes up? Are these shows only available in NYC? Nothing that interesting at all comes up here in Denver lol.

 

[Lain]

the Park Hyatt Tokyo in September.

Can't wait to hear this review! Hoping to stay there next year.

Looking forward to enjoying some Suntory Time at the Park Hyatt Tokyo in spring 2021.

 

[alryan]

-

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ok so I’m looking for a card I can use with plastiq that I’d break even or make some with. I really miss the days of cip coding 3x. Thankful to have used the mc no fee this month. But now it’s got me wanting a card to start getting points again for paying bills. I’m under 5/24 and would like to stay that way if possible. Open to business cards. Can’t get any chase cards till June to be on the safe side since last Card was in feb.

Are you hitting AA biz cards? That would be an easy option to put in between your Chase biz cards.

 

[Haley R]

in theory, it works. you may get stopped by the cashier. I had to try it twice. 2nd attempted work.
try a cashier, if its not a whole lot, they wont bat a eye. If they do somehow stop you, i kept mentioned to them that the Happy Cards is a "credit" card, not a debit card. I point at the "ATTN: Casher charge this as a credit" they may see things differently because of that.

I checked and we don’t have the happy guy offer

 

[happ]

So clearly I must be doing something wrong...I had the Happy Cards offer on my Amex Plat. I am not at all familiar with Happy Cards, but I took a look at the website, and the Happy Teen card has a couple of categories that would be useful (Regal is our local movie theater, and I happen to need something at Sephora at the moment). It looks like you can purchase a variable amount on the card from $20 to $500. Since the Amex offer is $15 off $100, I typed in $100 for my amount. But when I add it to my cart, it is showing as $500! This happened multiple times using Chrome. I tried Explorer and same thing. Am I missing something? Is $500 the minimum purchase? That can't be right. Any tricks to being able to purchase a $100 Happy Card?

I just ordered using chrome. I clicked the $100 button on the card I wanted instead of entering an amount. It worked fine. Maybe try that instead.
Update: I got the email notification from Amex that I used my offer.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Whew - small churning win today. I updated my spreadsheet and it is nice to be off of tracking 6 MSRs at once. Down to just 2 now! March/April was a bit crazy for my preferences... I'm not at the @speedyfishy level or anything but I guess all of this effort will be worth the 400k-500k pts or so.

 

[WVMomof3]

FYI - I just called Chase's Cruise Dept. and inquired about using UR points for a cruise in December 2020 as previously they were only letting people book through 2019. She was able to pull up the cruise I was looking at tell me how many UR's it would take to book. So, you can now book later than 2019 (Except on DCL).

So, now to figure out if I should book or not... I get 5 weeks of vacation a year and can transfer some days from one year to the next.

January 2020 - Booked Trip to Aruba on AA Flights and Marriott Points. (Surprise for kids at Christmas - they are both home from college until Mid-January so got great deals) Hoping to use leftover vacation days from this year.

March 2020 - Going To Vegas with Family and Extended Family for DS's 21st Birthday. Haven't figured out the particulars of that one yet.

June 2020 - Alaskan Cruise - Still trying to figure out the ship on this one. We know it will be Princess so will cash out my MR"s to Carnival Corp Gift Cards. This will pay for most of the cruise. Airfare have some Delta and have UR's and should have more SW by then. Depends on if we fly into Alaska/Vancouver or do Seattle RT. (This is a surprise for DH for our 25th Anniversary but will give it to him at Christmas - so many secrets to keep)

December 2020 - That leaves me with the RCCL Cruise I want to take. Prices are great as we would go right when the kids get out of school for Winter Break. Inside Cabin on Oasis of the Seas is $2100 for the 4 of us or about 145,000 UR's. Will use SW as we will have 1 if not 1 companion fares by then and hopefully replenishing those points with new CC's the end of this year for me and middle of next year for DH. The only issue is that I only see non-refundable deposits for this cruise and the deposit would be $1000 or my UR's and since it is so far out and with 2 kids in college - plans can change. So, that is what is holding me back. Hoping they come out with a new 'Sale" and that the deposit is reduced or they offer refundable fares. Does anyone know if they do this?

So, this would be 4 trips in a year. Normally we were lucky to go on 1 trip a year. This is crazy - but so much fun!! The kid at my daughters school all think we are rich because we go on so many trips. She tries to tell them that I just get good deals...

Jealous of all your plans! Sounds great. I was just telling DH we need to come up with a trip for our 25th. I said we can take one this year and next year. lol Our actual anniversary is December 30th, a really crappy time for us to travel. So I said we need to take a trip in November and then again maybe in February and we can call them both anniversary trips. We have only ever taken 1 anniversary trip and that was for our 15th (in March), so I think 2 for this year sounds good. I was thinking Puerto Rico, but have made zero plans.