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

[Lain]

Airline weirdness:

It's 56K for AF J class SFO>CPH with a stop in CDG
It's 74K to return with just the CDG>SFO portion.
But, if I wanted to return from CPH, which requires an extra flight, it's only 56K.

So they would charge me 19K miles more for not taking that extra flight?

Taking advantage of these pricing disparities is why skiplagged exists. Airlines hate it (and are cracking down).

 

[Lain]

I’m a big fan of their biz plat as it doesn’t show on your credit report. $500 for $5k. (And they gave it to me with no hard pull at the time I went in for a biz checking account. I really didn’t mean to get a cc that day ) Alas only some branches are “biz” friendly.

Sounds like a card @bernina should consider.

 

[platamama]

WWYD?

I’m at 3/24 and primarily focused on drinking from the CIPy cup and maybe staying on the business grAAvy train if we see some DPs of the bonus posting for non mailer approvals.

I already did the 100K Personal Amex Plat and the Chase MDD. There aren’t really any other personal cards I’m eying that I don’t already have.

We have about $4200 to pay on our July 2020 cruise (payment due in April). I really should have booked through Chase to use our stash of URs but I used my TA and snagged the awesome dirt cheap ultimate beverage package when they had the glitch so I hate to cancel and rebook. I think travel eraser cards might be a good option.

I received the Capital One Venture 60K/$3000 MSR offer in the mail and it’s good until October. AF is waived the first year. It looks like I could pay $600 or so towards the cruise and erase it with the points (RCCL payments through my TA have always shown as direct payments to RCCL and posted as cruise/steamships or something like that).

I think @DisneyMandC recently received this card?

Any reason not to apply or anything special to keep in mind? Is there another personal card I’m missing that would give me more (I’ve already had the Arrival+ and am kind of sick of Barclays at the moment after DH’s failed Aviator card)?

I know I could go for the Chase Ink Cash for $500 but I’d prefer not to hit chase too hard right now.

Thanks!!

Do you have the personal Amex Gold? I think that one is worthy of a personal slot.

 

[mmmears]

Taking advantage of these pricing disparities is why skiplagged exists. Airlines hate it (and are cracking down).

Yep, I'm definitely too cautious to book 2 flights and then try to take the second one. And we are pretty much open to ending our trip somewhere else. The reason I was thinking about Paris was because we seem to be able to get good flights there, but this is making me rethink the plan. I was trying to avoid the super high fees that BA charges when flying out of LHR.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Sounds like a card @bernina should consider.

@bernina good call! DoC’s write up on that card is here I got it when I went in branch for a bank account bonus last year as a pre-approval in the middle of the checking application and didn’t even get a hard pull. In branch acceptances of a “biz” is YMMV. Idk about online.
ETA: the spend is only $3k now!!

 

[smmco]

I’m a big fan of their biz plat as it doesn’t show on your credit report. $500 for $5k. (And they gave it to me with no hard pull at the time I went in for a biz checking account. I really didn’t mean to get a cc that day ) Alas only some branches are “biz” friendly.

Huh. I'll have to check it out. I log into my account 2 or 3 times a week and I see pop-ups, and I also get mailers. None of the offers have ever interested me, but I'll check out the business cards. I keep thinking I'd be better off with a Chase bank account, but I'm too lazy to change all my bill pays, and auto payments.

 

[NewbieMom]

You have to accumulate $100 in points to use it. So you need to spend another $1250 on the card to reach 10,000 pts for redemption. You still lose out on the $5 sitting there after redemption from the 5% rebate on points.

Thanks! I've pretty much sock-drawered the card since meeting MSR. The $1250 isn't too difficult if I could get some fee free MCGCs, and I don't have a MSR to work on until our house closes. But it looks like I'll be canceling once the AF hits in a few months. I hate the idea of always having to lose the 5% rebate on the last redemption.

 

[ten6mom]

If you call Cruise & Tours can they bring it up?

Gosh, I don't know. I guess I could try. Worst they can say is no, right?

The things that don't occur to me sometimes!

 

[Judique]

This is gonna sound bad for someone (trying) to follow here for 6 months, but since we just rented BWV to another couple, we need a place to stay to visit Universal Studios Orlando (USO). We have Premier APs (free parking and Express Pass after 4pm), so it doesn't need to be onsite. The only travel card we have is CIP. Is the best idea to just check Chase Portal for good deals. We aren't terribly picky with lodging. Any tips?

I'm 3 or 4 pages behind and this may have been answered so I'll come back and edit if I don't find an answer.
Edit: I see you have a Fairfield booked. And, I can read every day and not remember all the info. It's certainly okay to ask once you have the need. Good job on the BWV reservation!
And, I think someone stayed there fairly recently or was it a Residence Inn?
2nd edit: I think @Alexle2007 has reported that there is some kind of Express pass priority that you get by staying at a few local hotels near either Seaworld or Universal, and I did not retain the info well enough to be sure what it is, but I'd love for her to come back and talk about it since I have a ticket I need to use.

 

[wanderlust7]

Got our Global Entry cards except for DS's. Sigh. Why is there always one odd man out? It was DH before when only his conditional approval took a long time. I was going to ask through their website, but the option is if the card hasn't arrived in 8 weeks, so I guess I'll just wait. Glad to have mine and DD's since we'll be flying to the DCA Halloween party. DS probably won't be flying until June anyways.

We did Enrollment on Arrival at SJC. CBP agent was very nice. Didn't really ask us anything. But process took awhile with computer and fingerprint machine issues.

 

[disfanforlife]

We were just there with 7 park days planned. With our shiny new AP's, we ended up going in another day for a half day. And even with commando park touring, we never slowed down lol. I always have high hopes that we will do more relaxed touring but my family doesn't know the meaning of that. I was worried stopping to meet @afan was gonna get my dh all worked up because it was the morning of our first day and that is when my dh is most hyper about rushing everywhere. He was fine with it though

Lol, that was us for YEARS. We finally slowed down a bit when we started going by ourselves without kids.

 

[Tikitoi]

I had to do several errands today and I think I probably passed a zillion Family Dollar/Dollar Generals. My town does not have a lot, but we have those two stores every mile. I had my cards with me and did I stop???? NOPE. Aughhhhh I am still chicken. lol I think I can, I think I can....

Not sure if you've done this by now as I am 30 pages or so behind. But due to the FOMO plague I signed up for a Serve card a couple weeks or so ago. After activating and setting it up i decided to take my last vgc to DG and just try it. It was good because there was no one there (at least in line) so I told the cashier that I wanted to load my serve card, she didn't blink. Asked me how much and it was done. That quick.

Ugh, the Giants by me aren’t participating in the new VGC promo. It was buy $150+ in VGC get a $15 coupon for your next grocery order. I was planning on maxing SOs Gold with that and getting $360 in “free” groceries. And of course it’s in NY and I’m going there next Friday so I will miss it by a day.

My Hannaford had this deal for $10 off when you buy at least $150. So put the $150 on one vgc, I figured one fee and with the $10 off and using my HH card not too bad. Just wondering should I load this entire card to serve or can I just do $100 of the $150?

 

[Lain]

@bernina good call! DoC’s write up on that card is here I got it when I went in branch for a bank account bonus last year as a pre-approval in the middle of the checking application and didn’t even get a hard pull. In branch acceptances of a “biz” is YMMV. Idk about online.
ETA: the spend is only $3k now!!

Maybe not...

• You can’t apply for this card online unless you have a checking [or savings] account that has been opened for at least 12 months.

I just checked, and this restriction is still there. I’m not sure if @bernina has had a Wells Fargo checking or savings account open for more than a year, and there are no Wells Fargo bank branches in Michigan.

Tagging @bernina.

 

[Haley R]

We were just there with 7 park days planned. With our shiny new AP's, we ended up going in another day for a half day. And even with commando park touring, we never slowed down lol. I always have high hopes that we will do more relaxed touring but my family doesn't know the meaning of that. I was worried stopping to meet @afan was gonna get my dh all worked up because it was the morning of our first day and that is when my dh is most hyper about rushing everywhere. He was fine with it though

We really only rushed in the morning because I wanted us to get on soarin without waiting since my mom had to sit outside and wait for us. The wait said 20 min but we walked right on. We maybe had a 5 min wait. My dad was like “that has to be a record” lol. After soarin, we slowed way down and just took our time but I still had a plan of where we were going next.

 

[smallsy]

You guys have been awesome helping me earn rewards but now I need to figure out how to use them. I spent the last 10 years with only the one CF card and would just get a statement credit every few months *puts on cone of shame*

So I’m a clueless traveler/rewards user over here. What should I look for when booking an international flight, and how far in advance should I start looking? We’re still not 100% sure if we want Scotland or another European destination but we need to book something for our 10 year next year or it will never happen (considering our anniversary was 2 months ago ). We only have Chase UR right now to use. I also need to figure out how and when to combine them. I’m thinking put them all on the CSR since that gets the best rate. Can I transfer from CIP to CSR?

 

[disfanforlife]

We really only rushed in the morning because I wanted us to get on soarin without waiting since my mom had to sit outside and wait for us. The wait said 20 min but we walked right on. We maybe had a 5 min wait. My dad was like “that has to be a record” lol. After soarin, we slowed way down and just took our time but I still had a plan of where we were going next.

That’s great! I love it when you get short waits like that. I have the back stage tour of soarin booked in November. Looking forward to it.

 

[Andysol]

Both P1 and P2 have the Hyatt and IHG cards from Chase. They’re keeper cards due to the annual free nights. We’ve had them for 6+ years.

Cancel them and then apply for a new one. That’s the definition of “churning” back when the word was coined for CCs. Getting the same card over and over, which we used to be able to. Now it’s basically CIPs and AAs only that fall under those terms.

Also, don’t worry about the “6+ year” credit history falling off; it’ll stay on for 10 more years.

I did the MDD back in April and was approved for CIP #2 earlier this month. I figured it might be a good idea to give Chase some breathing room so I can try for CIP #3 in 3 months or so.

Applying now with april as last is more than fine. 3 months from now, hit CIP again. You’re velocity is more than OK. You also have a nice long relationship with Chase, which only makes it that much easier.

So I’m a clueless traveler/rewards user over here. What should I look for when booking an international flight, and how far in advance should I start looking?

Www.awardhacker.com
Www.flightconnections.com

Bookmark those as you can do a lot of planning with those two alone. As for how far in advance? The earlier the better. All airlines are a bit different when they release their availability; so be Johnny on the spot with those dates and book as early as possible. A simple “when does xyz release award availability?” Google works.

Can I transfer from CIP to CSR?

Yup. And spouses can transfer amongst each other as well.

 

[speedyfishy]

Not sure if you've done this by now as I am 30 pages or so behind. But due to the FOMO plague I signed up for a Serve card a couple weeks or so ago. After activating and setting it up i decided to take my last vgc to DG and just try it. It was good because there was no one there (at least in line) so I told the cashier that I wanted to load my serve card, she didn't blink. Asked me how much and it was done. That quick.



My Hannaford had this deal for $10 off when you buy at least $150. So put the $150 on one vgc, I figured one fee and with the $10 off and using my HH card not too bad. Just wondering should I load this entire card to serve or can I just do $100 of the $150?

You can do $150.

 

[Limes96]

I’ve been using Serve at WM with VGC. The DG’s in my town don’t take debit cards for Serve, it has to be cash. But I have two MCGC’s from the OM deal so thought I’d try one at a FD that I saw coming home from DD’s volleyball game yesterday. It was in a little town, and the guy behind the register was maybe in his 60’s. I asked if they could load Serve cards from American Express there in his store. He said he didn’t know, let’s try it. He wasn’t sure how to do it, so I said, sometimes there’s a code to scan that you might have behind the counter there. Maybe on a yellow card? (That just came to mind from a post from @speedyfishy last week. I would have had no idea otherwise.) And he found it and it worked. I was kind of surprised it worked actually, I’m used to stuff with Serve not working. Still trying to get a routine going with this.

Trying to decide which card(s) to use with GCM for this endeavor also. Would like to be able to use HHBiz but I know there’s a risk with that. My volume won’t be high, so I’m hoping just $500/month mixed with organic spend won’t be a problem.

 

[speedyfishy]

And he found it and it worked. I was kind of surprised it worked actually, I’m used to stuff with Serve not working. Still trying to get a routine going with this.

Did you hit cancel with the MCGC when it tried to run as credit? Or did it automatically run as debit?

Trying to decide which card(s) to use with GCM for this endeavor also. Would like to be able to use HHBiz but I know there’s a risk with that. My volume won’t be high, so I’m hoping just $500/month mixed with organic spend won’t be a problem.

Are you meeting MSR or trying for a free night? GCM right now is working with Amex I’m using it to MS the BBP. But obviously Amex can claw black. I don’t think they have clawed back Hilton points though? Just MRs?