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

[Andysol]

I'm just going to put this out there: my opinion is that getting personalized advice from one of our expert contributors here is 1000x better than consulting blogs such as TPG or MMS.

BUT you also need to make sure that the person dishing out advice here knows what they are talking about. You'll often see me hang back on questions regarding international travel - because that isn't an area of expertise of mine. It would be easy for me to recommend a CIP, and then a CSR/CSP MDD (I mean seriously...can you go wrong with that strategy?) BUT when it comes to int'l flights, I totally understand that sometimes it's more about OTHER currencies. AND you need to earn those miles well in advance of the trip so sometimes the URs just have to take a backseat to getting the miles you need today.

This isn't directed anywhere in particular - just a general caution that as our group grows, we need to have a balanced approach in helping new folks and make sure we stick our fundamental goal which is to provide the BEST help regardless of personal preferences, support clicks, etc.

If more people would just listen to me, the world would be a better place. Not just points, but everything. I'm always right. My wife even says so. Except it's more like "You're always right"

 

[Lain]

For those wondering about the buy SB. I didn't buy any yesterday and it only let me buy one today. Course that doesn't mean it wouldn't have done the same yesterday.

I was able to get 6,000 SB yesterday and 8,000 today before erroring out. I cashed out for $50 PayPals.

 

[Lain]

Yeah, just filed two claims.

Sweet! I was compromised, but have myFICO. Apparently my info is also on the dark web.

 

[elgerber]

Is this a money market account or checking account? I just want to make sure I’m getting the right one to sign up for. Even better if it does have an interest rate.

I think they have both, but I did the money market.

 

[speedyfishy]

Sweet! I was compromised, but have myFICO. Apparently my info is also on the dark web.

Are you asking for a time compensation too? how many hours?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Long time lurker, first time poster with a WWYD.


We are in the midst of several LARGE home remodeling projects ($10k project, $15k project, and $5k project) plus fertility treatments.

DH got the Chase Marriott Bonvoy card with 100k bonus points with initial spend, and it was met last week.
I got the Amex Marriott Brilliant card with 100k bonus points with initial spend, and it was met in May.
I got the Chase Southwest RR card with 60k bonus when it was still open back in May. Met the minimum spend in June.
I got the chase 30k bonus Rapid Rewards points for opening a new checking with direct deposit.

I'm conflicted on what to do next - by my math, I'm going to be about 18,000 points short of the 110k needed for SWRR companion pass. But, I'm also pregnant and unsure if we'd be able to maximize the companion pass in 2020- we only have 2 RT flights planned, and one of the return flights would be 1/1/2021, so not eligible for companion pass.

We still have roughly $10,000 in home projects to carry out between now and year end.

None of our cards carry a balance (paying in full monthly from our HELOC).


Should I have DH try and get the current 40k southwest RR bonus? Is there another card you'd recommend? Should we just sprint for the companion pass benefits on my card and take what we can get?

If you want to get the SW CP....you could open one of the SW business cards and meet the spend this year ....that would get you well over the 110,000 RR points needed

 

[Lain]

Are you asking for a time compensation too? how many hours?

Nah, I had myFICO from way back probably since the Target breach.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

If more people would just listen to me, the world would be a better place. Not just points, but everything. I'm always right. My wife even says so. Except it's more like "You're always right"

Are you pitching to become my life coach?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Are you asking for a time compensation too? how many hours?

I went with 9 hours 30 minutes. I indicated that beginning in June of 2018 I enrolled in monitoring services and now spend 30 minutes each month checking the report in full for any issues after seeing an unwanted inquiry. That is actually pretty honest as I do spend 30 minutes each month looking at all my accounts and inquiries to make sure everything is accurate when my Experian tracker updates. I figured being under 10 hours was better than being right on 10 hours, lol!

 

[amalone1013]

All I've done since the Experian breach is continue to monitor everything through Credit Karma...

 

[afan]

@speedyfishy I posted about the equifax thing last night. Trying to figure out hours.

I don't get this. I've done 4 on DHs account and 3 on mine so far today...

I was able to get 6,000 SB yesterday and 8,000 today before erroring out. I cashed out for $50 PayPals.

It let me do a 2nd and then I got an error again. I go back to the buy sb on the left. Maybe they are too close together.

 

[DisneyMandC]

OMG yes! The way TPG flies, where he goes, and the places he stays are sooooooo out of touch with most people, including I’m sure many of his readers. TPG sells aspirational travel, but most of the advice he and the blog peddles maybe will get you one trip of a lifetime, the way they push cards without regard to each issuer’s rules and guidelines for approval and bonuses, and certainly won’t get you his lifestyle. Most of us don’t have a business that spends millions of dollars on advertising, dining and travel every year that we can run through credit card bonus categories and spit out tens of millions of points on the other end. It’s interesting that TPG’s brought in Summer Hull (Mommy Points) and Richard Kerr (Award Travel 101) to expand (diversify?) the blog’s content and viewpoint.

I was actually looking at TPG this morning for the first time in a long time because I was searching for some reviews of hotels in Hawaii and Mommy Points did a long trip there. Then I started browsing through some other reviews and thought how it was funny that for a points website, they tend to pay cash a lot of the time... I mean, you'll see them use miles for international first class and stuff like that, but I felt like at least half of the Hawaii hotels she paid cash for.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Putting this out there so people don't miss it:

Claims are now being accepted for the 2017 Equifax breach - you could receive $125 or more.
You could receive a flat $125 compensation and more for time spent handling the breach or financial losses. Claims are open until January, and the process only takes about 5 minutes.

• Settlement website
• Eligibility checker
• FTC.gov press release

It's also worth putting this comment out there from r/churning (I haven't checked the math but I would imagine he might be right, lol)

Looking at section 7 and 10 of the FAQS it looks like they are only allocating $31 million to each Time Spent and the Alternative Reimbursement Compensation of $125.​

​

https://www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/faq​

​

So $31 million to Time spent, and $31 million to the base $125 payout that most people will do.​

​

If my math is correct once 250,000 people submit their claim, the payouts will start being lowered???​

​

I have to imagine this whole thing is going to go viral and millions of people will submit claims. If 10 million people submit a claim, we're looking at $3 dollars a person?​

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Ugh...received a letter from Chase that the 2018 1099 they issued me was incorrect and a corrected one will be sent by July 30th....
not sure what’s going on since my support was just over the $600 and I though match my records...going to have to double check everything

They also offer to reimburse any fees paid for filing an amended return

 

[smmco]

Oooh, didn't think of member recognition.

This was my first thought lol. Come on @Lain , tell @smmco the real reason we don't like MMS: https://www.disboards.com/threads/i-love-credit-cards-so-much.3528202/page-2162#post-59621127

I get what you're saying. I honestly do. To me, it's just another source of information. There are things people do on this board I don't necessarily agree with nor would I be comfortable doing myself. I just research everything I can and make my own decisions.

 

[wendow]

For those wondering about the buy SB. I didn't buy any yesterday and it only let me buy one today. Course that doesn't mean it wouldn't have done the same yesterday.

I was able to buy multiples yesterday but I had to wait awhile between purchases. If I tried right away, I'd get an error.

 

[calypso726]

I'm just going to put this out there: my opinion is that getting personalized advice from one of our expert contributors here is 1000x better than consulting blogs such as TPG or MMS.

BUT you also need to make sure that the person dishing out advice here knows what they are talking about. You'll often see me hang back on questions regarding international travel - because that isn't an area of expertise of mine. It would be easy for me to recommend a CIP, and then a CSR/CSP MDD (I mean seriously...can you go wrong with that strategy?) BUT when it comes to int'l flights, I totally understand that sometimes it's more about OTHER currencies. AND you need to earn those miles well in advance of the trip so sometimes the URs just have to take a backseat to getting the miles you need today.

This isn't directed anywhere in particular - just a general caution that as our group grows, we need to have a balanced approach in helping new folks and make sure we stick our fundamental goal which is to provide the BEST help regardless of personal preferences, support clicks, etc.

This is why I never comment on SW questions. I have a general idea but that’s about it. I stick to international first class travel and partner awards, advocate planning 2 years out and having back up plans. It’s what I do and what works for me. I appreciate the diverse knowledge and travel styles we have here. It’s been helpful when I have needed to utilize a strategy that is out of the norm for me.

OMG yes! The way TPG flies, where he goes, and the places he stays are sooooooo out of touch with most people, including I’m sure many of his readers. TPG sells aspirational travel, but most of the advice he and the blog peddles maybe will get you one trip of a lifetime, the way they push cards without regard to each issuer’s rules and guidelines for approval and bonuses, and certainly won’t get you his lifestyle. Most of us don’t have a business that spends millions of dollars on advertising, dining and travel every year that we can run through credit card bonus categories and spit out tens of millions of points on the other end. It’s interesting that TPG’s brought in Summer Hull (Mommy Points) and Richard Kerr (Award Travel 101) to expand (diversify?) the blog’s content and viewpoint.

Uhm, ouch. I fly like he does just not as often. I also have used some of his trips as bucket list ideas and recreated them for myself. Al Maha, Maldives over water bungalows, fly to Europe for a weekend to see a show etc. Ok so, I guess I’ll be over in the shunned corner.

 

[afan]

I was able to buy multiples yesterday but I had to wait awhile between purchases. If I tried right away, I'd get an error.

Will try again after jd or on a break. Starting in a few min.

 

[Etonduf]

Looks like a public link for the BoA $300 checking bonus is out.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/cgr6rs/_/euo1jt8

$300 after 4k of DDs in 90 days. I believe Serve worked earlier this year, for all the folks with shiney new Serve cards. (but we'd have to research again to be sure)

Just opened this. Funded it with a $!00 VGC that I got with the Safeway discount yesterday--one less trip to FD. Hoping to meet the DD requirement by putting the rest of my Safeway/Staples gift cards onto Serve and ACHing from there.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Putting this out there so people don't miss it:

Claims are now being accepted for the 2017 Equifax breach - you could receive $125 or more.
You could receive a flat $125 compensation and more for time spent handling the breach or financial losses. Claims are open until January, and the process only takes about 5 minutes.

• Settlement website
• Eligibility checker
• FTC.gov press release

I just put my info in the eligibility checker and it said:

Based on the information you provided, our records indicate that your personal information was not impacted by this incident. Equifax has worked hard to make the “Am I Impacted” tool as accurate and up-to-date as possible.

Does this mean that I have been paying for Life Lock for no reason? I am wondering if I should cancel it if I wasn't part of the breach.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Ugh...received a letter from Chase that the 2018 1099 they issued me was incorrect and a corrected one will be sent by July 30th....
not sure what’s going on since my support was just over the $600 and I though match my records...going to have to double check everything

They also offer to reimburse any fees paid for filing an amended return

An update...the only thing I can figure out is that a CIP support shown on my 1/19 statement was posted by Chase in 12/18...

only other extra points I received in 2018 were my SW anniversary points and the 5,000 points for the upgrade to the Priority card