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

[LuckyMamaInDE]

We are at the Wyndham Deerfield beach. It has excellent beach access- pretty much out the door and toes in sand.

The rooms were redone this past December and are really nicely updated. We have a ‘stay well’ room so it’s very clean smelling and bed is very comfy. The pool area is too small and will be redone this fall but the space just isn’t there to do much different so guessing that won’t change a lot. I prefer more of a ‘resort style’ pool but the focus here is definitely on the beach.

Restaurants have been pretty good. We had JB’s on the beach tonight. Very good food!! We’d received several rec’s for it, including from @calypso726, and they weren’t wrong. It was delish. We ate at Burger Craze last night and it was pretty tasty and very reasonably priced. My huge Cobb salad was like $9! Both restaurants, as well as many others, are within walking distance of the hotel.

The staff at this hotel are amazing! From parking attendant to front desk to housekeeping, they are so nice and accommodating.

ETA: the ocean here is pretty calm so not a place for someone who likes to surf. Tons of stand up paddle boarding though!

That sounds so lovely

View attachment 420603
YAY!

Thanks everyone! It's my first big point earn!!!

Congratulations

 

[PolyRob]

Well my personal Plat finally posted to my credit report today. 2nd statement closing seems consistent.

Does this mean I should avoid another Chase biz card until 10/27?

 

[mmmears]

I forgot to add that it seems Uber Eats has been rolling out a “Pickup” option. Participation might vary by locality and how many restaurants they’ve signed up near you. I haven’t tried it personally, so I don’t know what if any fees they charge for this, but GrubHub by comparison doesn’t charge fees for pickup. Might be worth looking into if you want to avoid fees.

Oooh this would be fantastic if it works here. By the time we pay for the delivery x2 it's really not a good deal for us. If there is no delivery charge I think it would be easier to use.

 

[wendow]

About URs though - we met a good chunk of DD's CIP spend and she was planning on sending some of those SUB points our way when she finishes the spend. Would that look bad? Same last name and same address. We could really use those URs

@Lain is correct (as usual ) and we do transfer the URs from dd19’s card to us. She never even uses the CIPs so we meet 100% of the spend and we use the points for cash back for Disney. She and we are very good with that agreement

We also are same address and same last name so chase has no problem with this!

 

[Haley R]

We were at Six Flags today. We get there at opening, which kills me because it’s 10 am The line to get in was kind of long but the ride lines were great at first but the lines for everything else were terrible. Line at guest services to upgrade DSs tickets was 30 min, line for an Icee 15 min. Can’t bring food in, so ate in the parking lot, 15 min to get back in. Their food is at least as expensive as Disney and not as much selection. Lots of chicken strips and nachos. One day ticket: $47.99 pp plus $30 parking. Season pass 54.99 and includes parking. Bleh.

I work days and can’t keep up some days. By the time I get home at 3 or 4 things are rolling Lol

Sounds a lot like our day. We could’ve bought the quick que....for an additional $89 pp lol. Yeah that’s more than we paid to get in. The food we had for lunch wasn’t good at all

 

[mmmears]

@Lain is correct (as usual ) and we do transfer the URs from dd19’s card to us. She never even uses the CIPs so we meet 100% of the spend and we use the points for cash back for Disney. She and we are very good with that agreement

We also are same address and same last name so chase has no problem with this!

Great! Thanks for the reassurance. My DD is meeting a decent chunk of the spend (or at least she plans to before time runs out) so we are splitting the points since we also use points for family vacations. She is working on getting a bunch of her own, though, since she will have to fund some travel in the next couple of years.

 

[Lain]

Well my personal Plat finally posted to my credit report today. 2nd statement closing seems consistent.

Does this mean I should avoid another Chase biz card until 10/27?

No. Amex may take two statements to report a new card account to your credit report, but it back dates to the actual opening date, which according to my spreadsheet was on 6/2/19. Three months from that is early September.

 

[Lain]

Oooh this would be fantastic if it works here. By the time we pay for the delivery x2 it's really not a good deal for us. If there is no delivery charge I think it would be easier to use.

Pickup is available here in the city. Not sure about the Peninsula. Fire up your Uber Eats app to check. I just played around with the Pickup options and there’s a good number of restaurants nearby. No service or delivery fees that I could see in my cart.

There are also a lot of promo codes available for Uber Eats right now that’ll give you a bit of a discount (limit one promo code per order):
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ubereats-promo-codes-discounts-other-savings/

 

[wendow]

Great! Thanks for the reassurance. My DD is meeting a decent chunk of the spend (or at least she plans to before time runs out) so we are splitting the points since we also use points for family vacations. She is working on getting a bunch of her own, though, since she will have to fund some travel in the next couple of years.

My dd has met every other card MSR on her own but the CIP is just too much for her. We still pay for her family vacations 100% so she doesn’t mind the arrangement.

My dd got her own SW and met the spend so those points are hers. She’s using 19k of the 60k she earned to fly to mco with her friend. Realizing she could get three RTs from that one card was pretty eye-opening!! It’s one thing to hear mom talk on and on about it lol but another thing to see the direct result on your own pocketbook

 

[mmmears]

My dd has met every other card MSR on her own but the CIP is just too much for her. We still pay for her family vacations 100% so she doesn’t mind the arrangement.

My dd got her own SW and met the spend so those points are hers. She’s using 19k of the 60k she earned to fly to mco with her friend. Realizing she could get three RTs from that one card was pretty eye-opening!! It’s one thing to hear mom talk on and on about it lol but another thing to see the direct result on your own pocketbook

That's fantastic! Mine mostly met the CFU one, and kept all those URs, but as you noted the CIP MSR is too big. We are still paying 100% for family vacations, but now she's taking some trips with her friends, too, and thinks this would be a great way to pay for them.

 

[Alexle2007]

I forgot to add that it seems Uber Eats has been rolling out a “Pickup” option. Participation might vary by locality and how many restaurants they’ve signed up near you. I haven’t tried it personally, so I don’t know what if any fees they charge for this, but GrubHub by comparison doesn’t charge fees for pickup. Might be worth looking into if you want to avoid fees.

ETA: I just played around with the Pickup options and there’s a good number of restaurants nearby. No service or delivery fees that I could see in my cart.

DoC has a running list of Uber Eats promo codes (limit 1 per order):
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ubereats-promo-codes-discounts-other-savings/

Ok, I am perplexed? Why would you need UberEats if you were going to pick it up yourself? Why wouldn’t you just order directly from the restaurant?

 

[PolyRob]

No. Amex may take two statements to report a new card account to your credit report, but it back dates to the actual opening date, which according to my spreadsheet was on 6/2/19. Three months from that is early September.

Thank you! This is great to hear, especially because of that big purchase I was outlining yesterday

Your spreadsheet is 100% accurate. Now I just have to decide if that 9/3 Chase biz card should be CIP#3 or a CIU.

 

[mmmears]

Pickup is available here in the city. Not sure about the Peninsula. Fire up your Uber Eats app to check. I just played around with the Pickup options and there’s a good number of restaurants nearby. No service or delivery fees that I could see in my cart.

There are also a lot of promo codes available for Uber Eats right now that’ll give you a bit of a discount (limit one promo code per order):
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ubereats-promo-codes-discounts-other-savings/

Not seeing it here, sadly. Maybe in a few months it will catch on.

 

[Lain]

Ok, I am perplexed? Why would you need UberEats if you were going to pick it up yourself? Why wouldn’t you just order directly from the restaurant?

I tend to agree with you. Food delivery services like GrubHub and Uber Eats take a big cut from the restaurants on their service, even when the order is for pickup. And the restaurant industry in general operates on thin margins, so ordering from a restaurant directly is preferable to ordering from a food delivery service that’s going to take a cut of the order.

This suggestion is an option to use up the Amex Platinum’s monthly use-it-or-lose-it Uber credits for those who don’t ride Uber. (Or the Amex Gold’s $10 monthly dining credit towards GrubHub.) So for some people, this is “money” they otherwise wouldn’t have spent at the restaurant if not for the credits, promo codes, gift card discounts, etc.

Uber credits work on Uber Eats, but the Delivery option will incur a 15% service fee (not tip), delivery fee, a small order fee if your order is less than $10, and optional tip. All these fees will basically wipe out any value in those $15 monthly credits. The Pickup option doesn’t appear to charge a service or delivery fee, and promo codes that give you a discount on the order still seem to apply, so this saves the value of the Platinum credit from being eaten up by Uber Eat’s fees.

 

[DisneyMandC]

DH just now: “My oil light keeps occasionally lighting up on my dash. What do you think that means?”

Me: Off to buy a couple quarts of oil... don’t know what’s up with that but I already really don’t like it.

 

[Hoosier John]

Anyone have tips on booking Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL)?
RCCL CC offers $100 back, but CIP will come close to that (and help meet MSR plus some insurance).
Will Costco beat RCCL price ? The online price is worse, so does it require a phone call?
Other thoughts?

 

[AmyAnne]

Oooh this would be fantastic if it works here. By the time we pay for the delivery x2 it's really not a good deal for us. If there is no delivery charge I think it would be easier to use.

I have a few pick-up options now too, which I didn't have last month. There are still more delivery options than pick-up options but hopefully that will improve.

I went out this afternoon to use some AmEx offers -- and at the risk of sounding like the crotchety old person who says "things were so much better back in the day," I feel like I spent maybe more time than can really be justified by the savings. It all started when I found out I needed to book a Marriott hotel in Philly for next month. I thought, "Great, I can get some Marriott points and a use a few perks from my gold-elite status." I had actually booked the hotel through the Marriott website before I thought to check and see what those perks actually are now . . . which is pretty meager.

So while I'm reading through the uninspiring list of gold-elite perks, I remember that I have some AmEx offers (Staples and BBB) that I could use for hotels.com gift cards. I check hotels.com and the price is $8 more for the whole stay. I collect my assorted AmEx cards (mine and some AU's) and head out to Staples. The good news is that I had no trouble charging 3 $50 hotels.com cards to 3 different AmEx cards. I noticed the $200 Mastercards and thought I would pick up a few for the 5xUR on my old Ink card. And for whatever reason, the same person who had no trouble selling me the 3 hotels.com gift cards in 3 separate transactions could only sell me one MC.

BBB was almost a total fail, as the store only had $100 hotel.com cards. I decided $15 off $100 is not as good as $15 off $75 but it's a lot better than nothing, so I asked the cashier if I could split the payment among 3 credit cards. He then said that I couldn't pay for a gift card with a credit card *at all*. He didn't seem too sure of this, though, so I did ask a few questions and he called the manager over, who was completely fine with paying with 3 credit cards (whew).

So now I need to figure out how to use all of these giftcards on a single reservation, which I think might require a phone call. I seem to recall that last year about this time, I was racking up far more rewards for less hassle . . .

 

[Hoosier John]

Honestly, with all the meetups planned over at r/churning, I'm surprised no one has just booked a room at the cheapest local Marriott to earn the elite nights.

How about group block room bookings, switched each day to the next host block, thus earning a new stay (for chains that consider 5 nights to still be only one stay)

Okay just applied. Here is what I got.

Thank you for your request.
We need to review your request a little longer. We will let you know of our decision as soon as possible.

Thank you for choosing the Chase Ink Business Preferred.

I got the exact same thing. Got good news on the Monday following a Saturday application, via the Status Line: 800-432-3117 and follow the prompts #, 3, 1.

 

[Alexle2007]

Anyone have tips on booking Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL)?
RCCL CC offers $100 back, but CIP will come close to that (and help meet MSR plus some insurance).
Will Costco beat RCCL price ? The online price is worse, so does it require a phone call?
Other thoughts?

Are you trying to get the cruise for free or figure out what the best card is to pay for it OoP? I have a March RCCL cruise booked on the Harmony of the Seas. I booked it direct for RCCL and paid the deposit with my Arrival + so I could use my points to erase the deposit. I then transferred the cruise to Chase UR and got them to agree that I could make the final payment at PIF rather than at transfer. I had the URs in place but did it really make sense to say bye to them that early (June) when the PIF isn’t until Dec. So I’ll call in Dec and use my URs and bam! Free Spring Break, 13th birthday cruise for DS!

 

[Hoosier John]

Are you trying to get the cruise for free or figure out what the best card is to pay for it OoP? I have a March RCCL cruise booked on the Harmony of the Seas. I booked it direct for RCCL and paid the deposit with my Arrival + so I could use my points to erase the deposit. I then transferred the cruise to Chase UR and got them to agree that I could make the final payment at PIF rather than at transfer. I had the URs in place but did it really make sense to say bye to them that early (June) when the PIF isn’t until Dec. So I’ll call in Dec and use my URs and bam! Free Spring Break, 13th birthday cruise for DS!

That's exactly the type of tip I was looking for. We will book direct with RCCL, then will try to transfer to Chase UR and delay the PIF like you!

Again the DISboards comes through!