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

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Lain said:
First of all, thank you for your incredibly quick and detailed response.

You’re in luck, because several of us are planning Japan trips in 2020 and 2021. This thread helped @Haley R, who is in Japan right now, accumulate enough points for business class flights on ANA from LAX to Tokyo and a stay at the Hilton Tokyo Bay for her visit to Tokyo Disneyland within a few months time starting just over a year ago. I knew from the TDL thread that she was going, but not that she got help from this thread! How awesome!

There are lots of points “currencies” (or programs) you can work on to earn miles for your trip. Two of the big ones with lots of points on the table for you to earn are Chase’s Ultimate Rewards (“UR”) and Amex’s Membership Rewards (“MR”). Both are flexible points currencies that can be cashed out, redeemed for travel on their respective travel portals, and most importantly in your case transferred points to points/miles to various other airline and hotel travel partners. Chase URs transfer to United (UA), which flies from LAX to NRT/HND, and Virgin Atlantic (VS), which you can use to book partner awards on ANA that’ll take you to Tokyo. With United’s recent announcement that they’re moving to dynamic award pricing later this year, the VS -> ANA route is a better value in that it’ll require you to earn and spend fewer points. @Haley R actually focused on earning oodles of UR, transferred them to VS to book her business class flights on ANA. Amex’s Membership Rewards similarly transfers to Virgin Atlantic, which you can use to book partner awards on ANA, and there’s a transfer bonus going on through 7/1/19, which means for every 1,000 points you transfer from MR, you’ll get 1,300 miles with VS (instead of the usual 1,000). Unfortunately, you may not be able to take advantage of this transfer bonus given the short time frame, but these bonuses come around periodically. Amex MR also transfers to ANA directly, and as I mentioned before it is a good value in itself. You did mention you’d like to fly JAL. Neither Chase nor Amex transfer to JAL, but an alternative is to earn American Airline (AA) miles to redeem for partner awards with JAL. @DisneyMandC is doing this for her flights to Tokyo for next year’s Summer Olympics. I would prefer JAL to ANA, but it's sentimental only, really, because my mom worked for JAL when I was a little girl. I am sure that either airline is equally good. One of the main concerns I have is being able to transfer them to either airline... I know nothing about how it all works since I have no experience with acquiring and using miles, much less the airline 'partnerships.'

As you can see, you have a lot of options. But where to start? If you saw my post from last night about developing a strategy early on, then you need to play your cards very carefully. You said you’re 1/24 with a Cap1 card. You’ve got 4 slots to play with. If you’re open to business cards, you can get much more than 4 cards and still be in the game with Chase. As you might have read, Chase has some of the most lucrative signup bonuses (SUBs) with their Ultimate Rewards earning cards. But they also have one of the most stringent rules to prevent people from getting their cards if they’ve gotten too many other cards from them or other issuers. That’s the “5/24 rule” — Chase will deny you for any of their cards if they see from your credit report that you’ve gotten 5 or more cards from any issuer in the past 24 months. However, if you’re willing to sign up for business credit cards, the good news is most issuers don’t report business cards to your personal credit report so Chase doesn’t see them on your credit report and won’t add the business cards against your */24 count. This gives you a lot of room to play your cards right! Chase’s 5/24 rule is why we suggest prioritizing Chase’s cards first, while you’re still under 5/24, because going willy nilly and getting personal cards from other issuers (e.g., Amex, Citi, Barclays, BofA, Cap1) will blow your */24 status in no time and lock you out of Chase for at least two years. (You can still, generally, get business cards from other issuers, as long as they don’t report their business cards to your personal credit report. And we can tell you which ones are safe.) It’s important to consider both the short and long term in developing a strategy because this Japan trip hopefully won’t be your last travel hack; you said you’d like to go to WDW too. Points can take you there and elsewhere for significantly reduced out of pocket costs. It just now occurred to me that I DID have a Chase Disney Visa at some point... but I don't remember when I got it or closed it. Do you know of a way to check the dates? And I will go look for your post from last night.

You already have the Chase Freedom (“CF”) which is a good start. Are you maximizing the 5% category this quarter by activating the category and using the CF at grocery and home improvement stores? The CF actually earns its cash back in the form of UR points that can be cashed out. So you may already have UR points that you don’t even know about. However, a better use for them would be to get one of Chase’s more premium travel cards, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve (“CSR”), Chase Sapphire Preferred (“CSP”), and/of the Chase Ink Preferred (“CIP”) so you have the ability to combine your URs from spending and SUBs and transfer them to one of Chase’s travel partners, like Virgin Atlantic. I do pay attention to the categories and make appropriate purchases where it's convenient for me, but otherwise, no. Unfortunately, I immediately cash them out for "cash back" (just applying it to my balance). I've heard of the other cards but have always shied away from anything that carries an annual fee, although I understand I should be willing to change that to take advantage of many of these offers.

Another Chase travel partner that should be on your radar is Hyatt, which has several ah-mazing properties in Tokyo and often is an incredible value when you transfer UR -> World of Hyatt points. Just for example, during sakura season, when you’ll see some peak cash pricing, the Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills runs ~$650/night and the Park Hyatt Tokyo, made famous by Lost In Translation, runs ~$900/night, but both are bookable for only 30,000 Hyatt points per night. UR points transfer to Hyatt 1:1, so that’s 30,000 UR, or only $300 if you had cashed out the UR for cash. Chase also has a Hyatt credit card that can earn you (currently) a 50,000 Hyatt points SUB and hotel loyalty status (but again, you need to be under 5/24 to be eligible). No objection to Hyatt- we stayed at the Hilton Tokyo Bay last fall so I am a bit familiar with it, but I have no brand loyalty as far as either of them goes.

I know some of these numbers may not make much sense to you right now, and I’ve tried not to overwhelm you with too many numbers right off the bat. But just look at the SUBs for some of Chase’s cards: the CSR has a 50,000 UR SUB; the CSP has a 60,000 UR SUB; the CIP has an 80,000 UR SUB; two other Chase business cards, the Chase Ink Cash (“CIC”) and the Chase Ink Unlimited (“CIU”) each have 50,000 UR SUBs. You can run up a lot of points by getting all of these cards! But keep in mind there are rules to applying for these cards, but if you’re willing to listen and learn, we can walk you through how to get all of them, maybe even more than once, while you’re still under 5/24. And if you get a partner involved, you two can double up on these cards, and refer each other for more “support” bonuses, then combine your URs to make some big redemptions. Yes, that's why I am here!

I’ll leave it here for now. Get back to me with answers to some of my questions and we can better help you. And please please please “watch” this thread, ask a lot of questions and we’ll answer the best we can, stay involved and just chat with us so we can learn a little more about you and we can better tailor our advice, use us as a sounding board for your plans, read and learn from other people’s posts whether they’re about Japan or addressed directly to you or not. Thank you!
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Ohmygoodness that's a lot to take in! THANK YOU! To answer some of the questions you posed:

• How many people will be in your travel party? Just me and my husband

• What parts of Japan are you planning to visit? Probably Tokyo (visiting TDL of course) and then Kyoto, mainly. **We will avoid Sakura season!** Probably avoid July/August also as I do not handle humidity very well.

• Do you have a spouse or some other partner who is willing to sign up for credit cards and work on bonuses too? I doubt he'd be willing to, unfortunately

• Do you have a business or any side gigs (e.g., selling stuff online, selling crafts or baked goods, babysitting, pet sitting or dog walking, tutoring, consulting, independent contracting, driving for a ride share, etc.) that might qualify you for a business credit card? If not, did you have one in the past or could you say you have any plans to start one? Aside from a nebulous plan to eventually list a few random items on eBay as I purge the stuff in my house this summer, I would have to say "no." No past businesses.

• Would you and any partner be willing to open up business credit cards? If I were qualified to get one, sure. Him- I doubt it.

• Would you be interested in joining DISchurners, our private Reddit group, where we share more in depth tips, links to credit card offers, and recap the news and discussion to help you keep up with this fast moving thread? I don't know anything about Reddit but I should be able to figure it out... right? I'd love to join if I can.

To open up your options, you may need to take a positioning flight from PHX to LAX, but it sounds like you’re ok with that. Yes, that's what we did last time (I traveled with a family group of 12 to Japan just last fall, but I made none of the arrangements myself- I just gave my dad a large sum of money toward the trip).

I'm off to check out Reddit now to see if I need an account or something.

Thank you so much!
 
ten6mom said:
Ohmygoodness that's a lot to take in! THANK YOU! To answer some of the questions you posed:

• How many people will be in your travel party? Just me and my husband

• What parts of Japan are you planning to visit? Probably Tokyo (visiting TDL of course) and then Kyoto, mainly. **We will avoid Sakura season!** Probably avoid July/August also as I do not handle humidity very well.

• Do you have a spouse or some other partner who is willing to sign up for credit cards and work on bonuses too? I doubt he'd be willing to, unfortunately

• Do you have a business or any side gigs (e.g., selling stuff online, selling crafts or baked goods, babysitting, pet sitting or dog walking, tutoring, consulting, independent contracting, driving for a ride share, etc.) that might qualify you for a business credit card? If not, did you have one in the past or could you say you have any plans to start one? Aside from a nebulous plan to eventually list a few random items on eBay as I purge the stuff in my house this summer, I would have to say "no." No past businesses.

• Would you and any partner be willing to open up business credit cards? If I were qualified to get one, sure. Him- I doubt it.

• Would you be interested in joining DISchurners, our private Reddit group, where we share more in depth tips, links to credit card offers, and recap the news and discussion to help you keep up with this fast moving thread? I don't know anything about Reddit but I should be able to figure it out... right? I'd love to join if I can.

To open up your options, you may need to take a positioning flight from PHX to LAX, but it sounds like you’re ok with that. Yes, that's what we did last time (I traveled with a family group of 12 to Japan just last fall, but I made none of the arrangements myself- I just gave my dad a large sum of money toward the trip).

I'm off to check out Reddit now to see if I need an account or something.

Thank you so much!
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I think there are several of us whose business is more in the planning stage than the actual making money stage. I’m about to apply for my 4th business card and I’m still in the gathering my stuff for eBay phase of my business. You will get lots of great advice here. Good luck! And the way some people have gotten their reluctant player 2 on board is to tell them you will be in first class on the plane from the points you earned and they can sit in economy. Haha. Many of us have started with the reluctant spouse. They usually eventually come around to getting some cards.
 
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WVMomof3 said:
I think there are several of us who’s business is more in the planning stage than the actual making money stage. I’m about to apply for my 4th business card and I’m still in the gathering my stuff for eBay phase of my business. You will get lots of great advice here. Good luck! And the way some people have gotten their reluctant player 2 on board is to tell them you will be in first class on the plane from the points you earned and they can sit in economy. Haha. Many of us have started with the reluctant spouse. They usually eventually come around to getting some cards.
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It took 11 months, but my dh agreed to a business card this weekend! I explained that the bartering/pro bono financial advice he's been giving to our kids' mid20s friends and colleagues totally counts as a side business--"how much would they be paying you for this hour or two if they were clients" seems to have done the trick.
 
Judique said:
I don't think I'm on the same page. Do you mean 'use all 12 months of credit' as in 'after 12 months I'm going to close the card'? That's where I'm maybe on a different page - I rarely close cards so I saw it as 'each month there is a credit' versus 'sign up early enough to use that month's credit'. Then there's the @Albort tip...get the card, and card number right away, book and cancel. I wouldn't get too close to end of the month on that one though.
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I see what you mean. I would have to reevaluate a plat after one year so I'd like to get all 12 credits... much as I'd hate to get on the naughty list, I dont know if a Plat would make sense to keep for us with that AF. Could use uber and airline credits, and if they ever open this darn Centurion lounge at DEN that would help... would have to figure out the Saks credit to take advantage of that, theres not one near us and I don't think I've ever been in one or on the website. It stinks they just pulled the PP restaurants because that could have been a big factor in keeping a Plat over a CSR.

wendow said:
I know you are not a woman and you are not old! You are a 35'ish yo man who lives in your parent's basement and "works" (aka: naps...) in your recliner. See, I know things too 😆
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Dont forget that he wears a leotard/ unitard
 
I'm getting increasingly irritated with Citi's IT as we acquire more cards from them. 4 different accounts - me personal/biz, DW personal/biz. Seems like every time I log in, it asks me to receive a verification code even though I log in the same way every time. Half the time, it errors out while I'm trying to enter it, and I end up on the phone with them. DW got a targeted mailer for a TY point bonus with a checking account, and I tried my hardest to get that set up, but it was entirely too much of a headache. I finally have access to the online account now, but I'm just over it and I'm simply going to transfer the initial funding back to our main checking account and close the account. It's too bad it couldn't have been ANY other issuer that had this mailer loophole.
 
amalone1013 said:
I see what you mean. I would have to reevaluate a plat after one year so I'd like to get all 12 credits... much as I'd hate to get on the naughty list, I dont know if a Plat would make sense to keep for us with that AF. Could use uber and airline credits, and if they ever open this darn Centurion lounge at DEN that would help... would have to figure out the Saks credit to take advantage of that, theres not one near us and I don't think I've ever been in one or on the website. It stinks they just pulled the PP restaurants because that could have been a big factor in keeping a Plat over a CSR.


Dont forget that he wears a leotard/ unitard
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I would like to get a plat but I've already determined that it would be a 12 month card as the ongoing values are not there for me. I would only want it to get the highest number of MR's available to me and I would try to structure it to try to triple dip the airline gift card credit. My daughter keeps a plat card but she flies a lot more than I do. She's in Panama right now and has made use of the Centurion lounge in Miami (food and massages). She has had a CSR and that may be a card she goes back to if the plat doesn't give her enough lounge access after Aug 1. If the structure of the plat changed, my needs from it might also change, but right now, all my cards are doing their respective jobs whether it be providing free nights while collecting dust or giving me 5% categories or 4% groceries and gas.

Future cards include more UR's. Can't get on the CIPpy cup train until I get under 5/24. Don't have a real pressing need for AA, but might give a business card a whirl if I get so motivated. Having DVC, a nice stash of Marriott points and 8 cards that provide free nights or points kind of takes away any pressure to collect more cards at this moment.
 
Well May is almost over here is my churning recap.

BMO Harris credit card for SO- $200 bonus.
Ebates credit card MS- $150 profit
Citi AA personal for SO 60,000 AA miles and a 250 gift card. (he got a letter in the mail saying he would get the match it was his first one)
Schwab Bank bonus for SO $100
BVA credit card bonus for me $150
Ellevest Bank Bonus for SO and I and a referral $150
Gold card for SO 40,000 MR
referral for SO's Gold card 15,000 MR
Almost maxed the Gold card this month. ( I have 4k left which will be finished in the next week.
(100,000 MR)
Fee Free Visa cards at Staples with CIC loaded to Serve (I was having issues with serve so I only got 4,000 UR for this)

Total: $3,190 in value assuming 1.0 cent per point. This is definitely the most lucrative side hustle ever lol especially because I'm not spending that much time doing this.

Pending
This weekend we are going to Chase to open a Biz checking account for $300 each.
I applied for a Citi Biz card for SO thats pending. (used a mailer for 75,000 AA miles)
 
speedyfishy said:
Well May is almost over here is my churning recap.

BMO Harris credit card for SO- $200 bonus.
Ebates credit card MS- $150 profit
Citi AA personal for SO 60,000 AA miles and a 250 gift card. (he got a letter in the mail saying he would get the match it was his first one)
Schwab Bank bonus for SO $100
BVA credit card bonus for me $150
Ellevest Bank Bonus for SO and I and a referral $150
Gold card for SO 40,000 MR
referral for SO's Gold card 15,000 MR
Almost maxed the Gold card this month. ( I have 4k left which will be finished in the next week.
(100,000 MR)
Fee Free Visa cards at Staples with CIC loaded to Serve (I was having issues with serve so I only got 4,000 UR for this)

Total: $3,190 in value assuming 1.0 cent per point. This is definitely the most lucrative side hustle ever lol especially because I'm not spending that much time doing this.

Pending
This weekend we are going to Chase to open a Biz checking account for $300 each.
I applied for a Citi Biz card for SO thats pending. (used a mailer for 75,000 AA miles)
Click to expand...

You trying to put the rest of us to shame?
 
June Plans

Chase Checking account bonus for SO.
HSBC credit card for me
Ebates MS
Hyatt free night MS
SO is eligible for an Amex credit card in the middle of the month.
Also, I think Im going to try to get SO the Barclay AA Biz and personal cards this month. He never heard back after we sent in the forums.
 
speedyfishy said:
Fee Free Visa cards at Staples with CIC loaded to Serve (I was having issues with serve so I only got 4,000 UR for this)
Click to expand...

Have you done the $10 off $100+ VGC deal at Safeway yet? I picked up 2x $500 variable load VGCs yesterday for $495.95 each. Unfortunately, the first try triggered a fraud alert on my CF so I used my Amex Gold. Cleared up the fraud alert, went over to next Safeway and bought another on my CF.
 
Lain said:
Have you done the $10 off $100+ VGC deal at Safeway yet? I picked up 2x $500 variable load VGCs yesterday for $495.95 each. Unfortunately, the first try triggered a fraud alert on my CF so I used my Amex Gold. Cleared up the fraud alert and went over to next Safeway and bought another on my CF.
Click to expand...


I'm doing this today. I added the offer's on both mine and SO accounts. Im going to try and do it at one store.
 
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