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

[afan]

$550 AF just posted on my converted Amex MB Plat. I was thinking I'd keep it anyway since I want to stay on Amex's nice list, and between the airline incidentals, Uber, and Saks credits, and Amex Offers, this card is basically a wash for me. I'll have my Biz Plat for Centurion Lounge access until at least August or September. But after that, I don't want to churn through another personal Platinum (i.e. Ameriprise, Charles Schwab, or Morgan Stanley) yet because I'm trying to stay under 5/24 until later this year to pick up a few more cards from Chase. Another two cards won't drop off my */24 count until April 2020, so I need to slow my roll.

I called into Amex's retention department. Rep looked up my account, noticed my spend on the Plat was only "average"* and I have "all these other cards, the Gold, the Biz Plat, a Biz Green, all the Bonvoys, why would [ I] want to keep the Plat?" So tables turned, I list the things I value about the Plat, but tell him that practically speaking, for most things I'm spending on every day, the Plat is a 1x MR card, whereas the other Amex cards in my wallet offer more rewarding bonus categories and I'll put my spend where I get a better bonus. The rep says he'll see if they can offer me some sort of spending bonus that'll help me put more spend on the Plat, puts me on hold for a minute, and comes back with 30k MR for $4k spend in 3 months. Done. Took the offer.

*ETA total spend in the past year was only about ~$11.5k. The rep did say I did "pretty good" a few months ago, which I'm guessing refers to over the holidays and when we bought our Casper mattress, when the statement balances were in the thousands vs. a few hundreds usually. Amex obviously cares about spend.

I don't underatand how they expect people to keep spend up amongst the 5 cards you are allowed, not even looking at charge, when the bonus cats aren't good on all cards. Though I realize biz spend should be separate and not count because it shouldn't be a "business" but still. Even with my real biz if I only spend on stuff I needed for the rental I'd put apend on the card maybe once or twice a year. To do any more than that I'd have to use plastiq which doesn't make sense to do.

 

[Calfan]

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.

Thanks! Finally figured out the issue. I tried three different browsers (Chrome, Explorer, Safari) and couldn't get any denomination amounts to pop up for the Happy Teen card (and every time I manually entered a dollar amount, a $500 card would end up in my cart). Then I checked the other categories, and they all had different denomination options that can be selected. Sadly, the Happy Teen is the only card I would find useful since it has Regal. So I'm assuming maybe they are out of all denominations of the Happy Teen card except $500. I'll check back periodically...

 

[Lain]

Reports of a BA devaluation incoming...
im really hoping the short domestic flights with AA remains...

A few more details from the blogosphere:

Devaluation looms: British Airways announces changes from May 30, 2019 - FM

British Airways is Changing Partner Award Prices May 30 – But Won’t Tell Us How Much They Go Up - VFTW

Ugh: British Airways Changing Partner Award Prices - OMAAT

 

[AmyAnne]

Thanks! Finally figured out the issue. I tried three different browsers (Chrome, Explorer, Safari) and couldn't get any denomination amounts to pop up for the Happy Teen card (and every time I manually entered a dollar amount, a $500 card would end up in my cart). Then I checked the other categories, and they all had different denomination options that can be selected. Sadly, the Happy Teen is the only card I would find useful since it has Regal. So I'm assuming maybe they are out of all denominations of the Happy Teen card except $500. I'll check back periodically...

If it's not too inconvenient to add another step, I'm pretty sure I have seen Regal GCs at Home Depot.

 

[DisneyMandC]

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[Alexle2007]

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[LynnTH]

This is great news! I hear there is a good pricing around Memorial Day weekend so that’s my plan. To try and book our March 2020 Harmony of the Seas cruise using URs.

I wonder if you can still book with RCCL and transfer like previously. Then I could use my Arrival + points for the deposit and pay the rest with URs?

Yeah - I wonder how that works for RCCL. I did that with Carnival. I booked through them then transferred to Chase. It was super easy - Chase did everything right on the phone. Not sure how it works with RCCL. Also, I had been reading more on Cruise Critic and I went on RCCL and put everyone's info in like I was going to book - on that last page comes up with an additional cost to book a refundable fare. In my case it was like $70-$100 more depending on the cabin. So, glad about that. Didn't like the non-refundable deposits.

 

[Calfan]

If it's not too inconvenient to add another step, I'm pretty sure I have seen Regal GCs at Home Depot.

Thanks for the suggestion. Sadly, that is probably enough inconvenience to make a 15% discount not really worth it for me. Especially because I currently buy Regal gift cards via the MPX app and get 5+ United miles per dollar spent, plus the rewards for whatever cc I'm using. I think I will just wait and see if the other denominations of the Happy Teen card come back.

 

[pillow]

Just hopping on to add a DP on the CitiBiz AA match business for DH's card. First I requested a 70k match on his 40k offer via late night chat. That request was declined by letter. Then I tried again, but this time I requested a 60k match on the 40k offer (late night chat again). I just received the letter granting the extra points. Nothing super exciting about this as its in line with other DP's. It does underscore for me that the 40k offer is the way to go. Late night chat is so much easier than trying to MS the extra MSR!

 

[pillow]

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.

Ha I feel the same way. I do have 4 I'm working on right now, but the dollars are small, so it feels easy.

 

[pillow]

Thanks for the suggestion. Sadly, that is probably enough inconvenience to make a 15% discount not really worth it for me. Especially because I currently buy Regal gift cards via the MPX app and get 5+ United miles per dollar spent, plus the rewards for whatever cc I'm using. I think I will just wait and see if the other denominations of the Happy Teen card come back.

Sometimes Retail Me Not has in store cash back offers for Home Depot. They have $2 rebate on $100 ending tomorrow, but I'm wondering if it will appear again or if another Home Depot offer will take its place. I've been able to link a Happy Guy card to RMN in the past to get the rebate.

 

[speedyfishy]

What everyone’s churning plans for May?

Here’s what I’m thinking for me:

Should be time for SO and I each to get a personal Citi AA card.

I’ll get SO the Ebates card.

I plan to MS the ebates card for $150 in profit.

Open a Schwab account for SO to get $100 bonus.

Ugh, idk what else. This seems like it will be a low point month so I should probably focus on some bank bonuses.

Oh, I can also work on maxing my Gold 4x this month.

Hyatt? I think I have 8k for the 15k free night?

Anyone have any plans?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

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.

Thanks for the info! My son wants to do Universal Hollywood because he loves Despicable Me. We were at USO a few years ago and he really disliked a lot of rides. He is not a Harry Potter fan and didn’t like the violence in many of the 3D type rides. He might like them better now. I loved HP world at USO. Totally immersive, just as I found Cars Land at DCA.
I have both Hilton and Bonwhatever points, so have been looking at both those options.

 

[LynnTH]

Can you Venmo AMEX Bonvoy for MSR - or do they frown upon that.

Done it with Chase and Capital One - just not sure on AMEX.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Thanks for the reminder on using URs for activities. I think I’ll use URs for citypass in Chicago and for phantom tickets for nyc if they are available for November. I really don’t want to see phantom but it’s dd’s 16th birthday present so it’s her pick.

The CityPass is great but I don’t usually take a week off to do everything in my hometown. But maybe I should.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

They were just stuck into the bulletin board with no glass. This was very likely a teenage girl’s room. Ours at home are just stuck in a bulletin board but it’s hanging on the wall up high and we don’t have any kids

Ours our on Mickey shape cork boards but hung high enough on the wall that I need to stand on a chair to reach them.

 

[havaneselover]

The CityPass is great but I don’t usually take a week off to do everything in my hometown. But maybe I should.

I’m trying to pack it in in two days plus a Cubs game and we are seeing Hamilton. Not going to be restful!

 

[Lain]

 

[Lain]

Can you Venmo AMEX Bonvoy for MSR - or do they frown upon that.

Done it with Chase and Capital One - just not sure on AMEX.

Avoid Venmo and PayPal (and other P2P payment services) with Amex. Even outside of MSR, Amex has been known to shut down accounts for P2P (mostly PayPal) payments to people who share an address or last name as you.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I’m trying to pack it in in two days plus a Cubs game and we are seeing Hamilton. Not going to be restful!

Dang that’s ambitious! You could easily spend 5-6 hours at one of the museums.