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

[wed100105]

Woo-hoo I was just typing that I didn't receive the Mastercard Plastiq promo, but I found it in my junk email! I paid our property taxes this year using Plastiq and our CIP cards and Frontier Mastercard (when CIP was back to only 1x). I have a big loan payment and I can only use my Mastercard for it through Plastiq. I thought this would be great, but you must make 3 reoccurring payments and the final one must be processed by 8/31/19. Time to figure out what other bills I need to make reoccurring.​

I placed a big ShopDisney order ($230 or so) and took the gift card out at the last minute. I'm kicking myself now that so many people had success with the 15% cash back from Ebates. (I'm not even going to attempt the new name.)

I purchased the Landry's gift cards when Sams had their bonus card offer $90 for $67.50. I received the cards today, and it states one bonus card per table. That's a bummer. I signed up for the Landry's club and paid $160 total for $205 worth of cards ($190 if the second $15 card can't be used).

Otherwise, it's just been a couple of crazy busy weeks here. I'm sure you can all relate.

 

[Lain]

RE: Plastiq - I have some spend left on the Upgraded Bonvoy Card. I am assuming since you can't pay Mortgage with AMEX on Plastiq that you cannot pay HELOC either?

Exactamundo.

 

[miztressuz]

What is the Amex Platinum that would have been issued in 1994? Trying to help my mom plan some stuff and she has this card,she says she thinks its about $100 AF on it. I don't like her paying AF for a card she never uses.

Wow, never would have guessed the Plat AF would have been that low. By early 2000's it was definitely in the 395-450 range (I'm getting older and forgetful. I just know it was way more than my $90 Gold card AF and they hounded me with mailers trying to get me to apply or upgrade to it. It's a shame we didn't travel then, free companion air ticket was a pretty good deal)

I've had a hard time finding a historical benefits tracker site as I've been curious to compare current card offerings to previous ones. Hopefully someone here had a Plat in the 90's to help you out because I'm not sure you'd find any info just searching for it. Might have to talk her through looking at the benefits page online in her account (and hope she has an online account )

 

[amalone1013]

Just to clarify... Do 'employee' cards with AMEX count towards your 5 card limit? Or just the ones that you are the actual account owner on? Did that make sense?

 

[Lain]

yeah... it sorta is lol.

some guy on reddit is doing it... $25 for 3 months of Explorist--> mLife Gold.
$50 for 21 months of Explorist --> mlife Gold.

can confirm, its not a scam.

I need to be spoon fed....

As I understand it, these status upgrade services are likely taking advantage of a corporate status match.

Many hotel chains, including Hyatt, offer corporate status match to certain companies for their employees to use. See, for example, Hyatt Status Match and Challenge for All Corporate Travelers. It's assumed that the sellers work for one of these companies, have access to these promotions, and can get you access to the corporate status match for a price. You pay them, give them your Hyatt member number (no password), and they'll match you. The match is for only trial status. As you can see from the linked article, the trial status is only good for 90 days, and comes with a challenge to stay a certain number of nights to maintain and/or move up in status.

The trick is you can match your Hyatt status to M Life status (WOH Explorist/Globalist > M Life Gold). See Time to Match Your World of Hyatt Status to M life for Elite Perks - TPG. I've seen comments that said that M Life won't match Hyatt trial status, but they've had success with HUCA, or doing the match online via incognito or mobile. When your Hyatt trial status ends, you should be able to match M Life Gold back to Hyatt Explorist. See Match M Life back to Hyatt Explorist ’till Feb 2020 - FM. As the TPG article noted, WOH and M Life elite status run on different timelines. The M Life program resets its status levels in October; WOH resets each year on March 1. "This can create an interesting elite status cycle." Effectively, you can status match back and forth between WOH and M Life whenever one or the other resets.

 

[amalone1013]

Calling all Costco and Costco Cruise/Travel Experts!

Here is my situation: Last year I upgraded to an Executive membership because why not, if I can get a refund on the difference if I don't earn enough back... well I only got $16 back I blame getting a Sam's membership. My membership expires on 7/31. Since our cruise is next month, and I need to be an executive member to earn the 2% back on that (which is around $130), but they have already cut my reward check for this year... I'm thinking I need to do another year of executive membership to get that $130, just with how my timing is. Unless someone sees a way around that or a way to get back the $44 difference between regular membership + my $16 reward and the executive membership. I've never had an executive membership so I thought I would check with the experts around here.

 

[Albort]

As I understand it, these status upgrade services are likely taking advantage of a corporate status match.

Many hotel chains, including Hyatt, offer corporate status match to certain companies for their employees to use. See, for example, Hyatt Status Match and Challenge for All Corporate Travelers. It's assumed that the sellers work for one of these companies, have access to these promotions, and can get you access to the corporate status match for a price. You pay them, give them your Hyatt member number (no password), and they'll match you. The match is for only trial status. As you can see from the linked article, the trial status is only good for 90 days, and comes with a challenge to stay a certain number of nights to maintain and/or move up in status.

The trick is you can match your Hyatt status to M Life status (WOH Explorist/Globalist > M Life Gold). See Time to Match Your World of Hyatt Status to M life for Elite Perks - TPG. I've seen comments that said that M Life won't match Hyatt trial status, but they've had success with HUCA, or doing the match online via incognito or mobile. When your Hyatt trial status ends, you should be able to match M Life Gold back to Hyatt Explorist. See Match M Life back to Hyatt Explorist ’till Feb 2020 - FM. As the TPG article noted, WOH and M Life elite status run on a different timelines. The M Life program resets its status levels in October; WOH resets each year on March 1. "This can create an interesting elite status cycle." Effectively, you can status match back and forth between WOH and M Life whenever one or the other resets.

For some reason, the 20 month one requires them to login to your account. I currently have explorist with hyatt and currently matching it over to mLife right now.
Hopefully the flipflop would work just like with Wyndam and Cesears.

 

[Killer Fish]

Insert Titanic it's been 84 Years meme......still waiting on Barclays Biz decision that was applied for last Monday.

Applied for CIP 2 today and no auto-approval. Time to start calling the number.

 

[Limes96]

Happy to report my 60k RR and CP posted late this morning! Now I have to get my daughter listed as my companion and switch over her ticket for our August trip. Hopefully it will be a smooth process.

 

[Lain]

Here's an interesting Amex Offer for those who love high quality luggage:

Rimowa: Spend $500+, get 15,000 Membership Rewards points or $150 statement credit. Expires 7/15/19

For details: https://frequentmiler.boardingarea....t-15k-membership-rewards-points-150-targeted/

P.S. I got the MR points version of this offer on DW’s Gold AU (for some reason, this card gets offers mostly in MR).

P.P.S. I got the Spend $30+, get 500 MR x3 at Phillips 66/76/Conoco Amex Offer just now on my BGR (yay! 3x MR), after it wasn't there when I checked this morning!

 

[Limes96]

Do I cancel my daughter’s originally booked flight before or after I add her as a companion to my flight?

 

[miztressuz]

Got a mailer for Key Bank yesterday addressed to hubby. This was a nice surprise as their public offers are usually in targeted areas not near us and we've never seen mailing from them since they entered the region. What's also surprising is how it was addressed, it used a version of hubby's name he doesn't really use many places. In fact, it's not like him to use that format so you'd think it'd be easy to figure out but it's not on any of his typical loyalty/rewards/shopping accounts so it must be something obscure we've forgotten about. Wish we could figure out where they got the mailing list so I can sign myself up

It's not the highest one, but $300 for a single $500 DD is pretty sweet. I told him about it and his immediate response "Sold. Sign me up!"

So I think I sort of figured out P2's game play level: (easy) bank bonuses = Good, credit cards = Bad. I'll take what I can get

 

[Limes96]

Yes...you have it right...you cancel first...the 5.60 fee can either be refunded to your CC or become ticketless funds

Just answering my previous question with a search. Thanks! Lol

 

[Haley R]

Dyson absolut.
I have 2. Cordless is amazing for obvious reasons, and having both heads is great...one for hard and one for carpet.
I actually have 2 of them and keep one upstairs and one downstairs.

Idk what that is but I’ll look into it lol

 

[Haley R]

I can't stand litter on the floor. So I buy the extra large puppy pads that are about 3 ft by 4 feet and put that under the litter pan. Still get some litter on the floor but not that much and then I use the stick vacuum to catch what escapes.

Our cats track it around the house on their feet so I’m not sure the puppy pads would help.

 

[Haley R]

I love our cordless shark ion for hardwood/tile/carpet!

I’ll have to look at that one too. Thanks!

 

[Judique]

As I understand it, these status upgrade services are likely taking advantage of a corporate status match.

Many hotel chains, including Hyatt, offer corporate status match to certain companies for their employees to use. See, for example, Hyatt Status Match and Challenge for All Corporate Travelers. It's assumed that the sellers work for one of these companies, have access to these promotions, and can get you access to the corporate status match for a price. You pay them, give them your Hyatt member number (no password), and they'll match you. The match is for only trial status. As you can see from the linked article, the trial status is only good for 90 days, and comes with a challenge to stay a certain number of nights to maintain and/or move up in status.

The trick is you can match your Hyatt status to M Life status (WOH Explorist/Globalist > M Life Gold). See Time to Match Your World of Hyatt Status to M life for Elite Perks - TPG. I've seen comments that said that M Life won't match Hyatt trial status, but they've had success with HUCA, or doing the match online via incognito or mobile. When your Hyatt trial status ends, you should be able to match M Life Gold back to Hyatt Explorist. See Match M Life back to Hyatt Explorist ’till Feb 2020 - FM. As the TPG article noted, WOH and M Life elite status run on a different timelines. The M Life program resets its status levels in October; WOH resets each year on March 1. "This can create an interesting elite status cycle." Effectively, you can status match back and forth between WOH and M Life whenever one or the other resets.

Interesting! Thank you for the detailed explanation. Just what I needed.

 

[miztressuz]

Oh, for my Philly area peeps, the KeyBank offer is a public offer I looked at the mailer more closely just now and there's no unique invite code, just the promo code.
Well more than just Philly, but I hadn't seen that market listed on DoC's posts, usually it's Pittsburgh when it hits PA -

Offer available in the following markets ONLY: Dayton, OH; Idaho; Central NY (Syracuse); Rochester, NY; Cincinnati, OH; Philadelphia, Pa.

Lists "key.com/my300" to open online. That redirects me to https://www.key.com/personal/promo/get-300.jsp?ppc=1905_CMPSAT_MSAT0519_dm which has the promo code keyed up. $300 bonus for $500 direct deposit.

I don't think it's limited by household so maybe we both do it. Yay for obscure mailing lists! We might not have seen this otherwise

 

[havaneselover]

Dyson absolut.
I have 2. Cordless is amazing for obvious reasons, and having both heads is great...one for hard and one for carpet.
I actually have 2 of them and keep one upstairs and one downstairs.

I have the dyson absolute v8. It's amazing. Makes me not hate cleaning.

 

[havaneselover]

Calling all Costco and Costco Cruise/Travel Experts!

Here is my situation: Last year I upgraded to an Executive membership because why not, if I can get a refund on the difference if I don't earn enough back... well I only got $16 back I blame getting a Sam's membership. My membership expires on 7/31. Since our cruise is next month, and I need to be an executive member to earn the 2% back on that (which is around $130), but they have already cut my reward check for this year... I'm thinking I need to do another year of executive membership to get that $130, just with how my timing is. Unless someone sees a way around that or a way to get back the $44 difference between regular membership + my $16 reward and the executive membership. I've never had an executive membership so I thought I would check with the experts around here.

I'm confused. I thought they would cut the check after your membership renews. Mine renews 8/1/2019 so I'm expecting my check in August. Confirming you're not talking about the citi costco rebate. But anyway to get the 2% you have to be an executive member at the time of travel. So it seems like if the cruise is next month and you are an executive member through July you should be fine.