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

[Artygal90]

Today has been like Christmas came early! First my Target order with all my table linens for hosting Thanksgiving came in, my box of clothes from my online shopping spree last week showed up a week ahead of schedule, we got our wills signed finally, I found the perfect kitchen rug at the new HomeGoods near me (which has been a SAGA that included a shower tile floor dyed blue). Best of all, DH's new CIP came in the mail and I was able to buy tickets for our Disney trip just in the nick of time while also hitting MSR! (FP day is Wednesday). Our newest little kitty is a talkative Siamese who loves to cuddle and also terrifies the **** out of our other two cats. Between the shopping and the new member of the family, we are hitting MSRs faster than expected - although, I say that every time!

I seem to remember some chatter about lots of people here being in Orlando this weekend. Anyone going to be in Universal at all? I'm coming down just for the holiday stuff.

 

[PolyRob]

I'm not normally one to jump on new technology, but I need this:
https://www.cnet.com/features/motor...-hands-on-heres-what-we-about-it-love-so-far/

I am 100% an Apple person, but this phone intrigues me enough to head to a VZW to play with. Seems like Motorola figured out some major quirks that Samsung couldn't figure out with the original Galaxy Fold. IDK why they are deciding to launch it the day after Christmas tho... that seems like a mistake on my part. Definitely nostalgic!!

 

[PolyRob]

Same thing happened to me. And I noticed it right before the due date and didn't want to be late, so I paid it. Then ended up with a -$497 balance on the account. I left it like that figuring I'd charge something to it eventually to even it out, but they mailed me a check for it a few months later. I'm done using that card, Barclays sucks...

UGH I think this is what I will end up doing. I am ok tying up a couple hundred dollars if it ensures I don't have a bank angry at me. I would be absolutely fine with a refund check a few months later. I could also attempt to use the overpayment, but I don't want to be stuck with even more outstanding credit. I really want the card for the annual JetBlue points and waived baggage fees, but I doubt I will ever use the stupid thing. Maybe one charge annually to ensure it doesn't go dormant. Take that Bar Cray Cray!

 

[PolyRob]

Anyone else having trouble seeing their AMEX offers tonight? I want to order something online but can't even get the offers to load (so I can't read the fine print).

My offers are also completely blank online

 

[Haley R]

I am 100% an Apple person, but this phone intrigues me enough to head to a VZW to play with. Seems like Motorola figured out some major quirks that Samsung couldn't figure out with the original Galaxy Fold. IDK why they are deciding to launch it the day after Christmas tho... that seems like a mistake on my part. Definitely nostalgic!!

The only reason I use an iPhone is because all of my music is on iTunes. Otherwise I would gladly use another brand. I miss my pink razor so bad that I would buy this new one in a heartbeat lol.

 

[mmmears]

The only reason I use an iPhone is because all of my music is on iTunes. Otherwise I would gladly use another brand. I miss my pink razor so bad that I would buy this new one in a heartbeat lol.

I loved my pink Razr but I doubt I'll switch from my iPhone. I think it's really cool that they are making it though.

 

[PolyRob]

The only reason I use an iPhone is because all of my music is on iTunes. Otherwise I would gladly use another brand. I miss my pink razor so bad that I would buy this new one in a heartbeat lol.

Very hard to switch once you enter an ecosystem! The companies like it like that LOL. I still have about 2,000 songs I keep on my iPhone, but I have been relying heavily on streaming services the past... 8-ish years.

 

[smmco]

Does anyone want to go to Prague? There are a lot of AA saver biz awards to PRG this Summer. I was going to fly to London and than CPH. I thought that would be the easiest. Now I'm doing 4 nights in PRG and 1 night in CPH. I got a really great flight into PRG first-class to PHL and then Biz to PRG.

I got approved for the Hilton Biz I need more hotel points for some weekend trips I have planned.

Unfortunately, I used up all my Marriott points on the AA flights. Marriott has great redemptions in Prague 57.000 points total for 4 nights at a really nice Marriott. I booked it, but I need to come up with the points. Do UR's transfer to Marriott or should I just get a Marriott card? I've used most of my MR's, but I've got a lot of time to come up with more. I need to use the MR's I have right now for a flight from PRG to CPH. I'm thinking I should have gotten the personal Marriott Amex, but that would have put me back up to 6/24 for the next 16 months. The Hilton redemptions are high in Prague. Hyatt doesn't exist there.

 

[Haley R]

Very hard to switch once you enter an ecosystem! The companies like it like that LOL. I still have about 2,000 songs I keep on my iPhone, but I have been relying heavily on streaming services the past... 8-ish years.

I never use streaming services. I just keep downloading more music onto my phone. I think I have around 2,500 songs or something like that.

 

[PaintsWithAllTheColors]

Does anyone want to go to Prague? There are a lot of AA saver biz awards to PRG this Summer. I was going to fly to London and than CPH. I thought that would be the easiest. Now I'm doing 4 nights in PRG and 1 night in CPH. I got a really great flight into PRG first-class to PHL and then Biz to PRG.

I got approved for the Hilton Biz I need more hotel points for some weekend trips I have planned.

Unfortunately, I used up all my Marriott points on the AA flights. Marriott has great redemptions in Prague 57.000 points total for 4 nights at a really nice Marriott. I booked it, but I need to come up with the points. Do UR's transfer to Marriott or should I just get a Marriott card? I've used most of my MR's, but I've got a lot of time to come up with more. I need to use the MR's I have right now for a flight from PRG to CPH. I'm thinking I should have gotten the personal Marriott Amex, but that would have put me back up to 6/24 for the next 16 months. The Hilton redemptions are high in Prague. Hyatt doesn't exist there.

1) would LOVE to go to Prague... definitely on the short-term list, but next summer is reserved for South America...

2) yes! URs do transfer to Marriott

 

[Tikitoi]

OK so ... still no offers on my chase Biz cards, either on the app or on a desktop computer/website. So sad! However, at the close of the next cycle, which should be a couple days before I'm going to try to book the flight to Japan, I should have just about 205K UR. Now all I need is to get lucky on those flights!

I was having issues viewing offers for my business cards. Thank goodness it got fixed just yesterday. Hope yours get fixed too. I was going through FOMO regarding those BJ'S offers. But this is great having them on all 3 of my business cards along with my free bj's membership.

 

[GlamMistress]

My offers are also completely blank online

View attachment 452723

When this happens to me I switch browsers. Also, clear the cache on the main browser you use.

 

[calypso726]

Does anyone want to go to Prague? There are a lot of AA saver biz awards to PRG this Summer. I was going to fly to London and than CPH. I thought that would be the easiest. Now I'm doing 4 nights in PRG and 1 night in CPH. I got a really great flight into PRG first-class to PHL and then Biz to PRG.

I got approved for the Hilton Biz I need more hotel points for some weekend trips I have planned.

Unfortunately, I used up all my Marriott points on the AA flights. Marriott has great redemptions in Prague 57.000 points total for 4 nights at a really nice Marriott. I booked it, but I need to come up with the points. Do UR's transfer to Marriott or should I just get a Marriott card? I've used most of my MR's, but I've got a lot of time to come up with more. I need to use the MR's I have right now for a flight from PRG to CPH. I'm thinking I should have gotten the personal Marriott Amex, but that would have put me back up to 6/24 for the next 16 months. The Hilton redemptions are high in Prague. Hyatt doesn't exist there.

Oh if only I wasn't planned out for the next year I'd jump on a Prague trip. It is such a beautiful city and I would love to return for a longer trip.

Congrats on the approval. Hilton is currently running a 100% bonus on purchased points with a minimum of 10k points purchased in one transaction at .5 cpp. They increased the cap you could purchase, now up to 160,000 HH points. So, you could get 320,000 Hilton points for $1600. Personally, I'd only jump on this for something like a trip to the Maldives or Bora Bora in an overwater bunglaow because those often run upwards of $1,000. I'd pair it with our free night certs from the Aspire and 5th night free on points. The Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives is 120k HH per night and the room is over $2600 per night. I wouldn't have a problem topping off an account with an extra 320k at $1600 for a $18,260 seven night stay with the 5th night free and 2 free night certs. The Conrad Bora Bora is 80k per night so the promo would get you 5 nights on points alone.

URs do transfer to Marriott. I have often found that paying with URs through the CSR UR portal is less points than a direct transfer with some hotels. For example, I picked a random Prague Marriott date and the hotel was 35k points per night or $342. I'll keep this in mind for one of the free night certs down the line. Using the CSR UR travel portal one could pay for the hotel with 22, 800 UR points per night instead of transferring 35k points per night to Marriott. Even when you factor in 5th night free it would be 140k UR points transferred to Marriott vs 114k points using CSR UR portal.

 

[KPK02090]

I'm definitely heading to the crying corner now. I've just realized I messed up the Chase Business Checking bonus. Ugh! I was looking at my account and realized I've dipped below the required "minimum balance of $2500 for 60 days", by $100.
I went to pay a chase business credit card and it automatically linked to the new account, so I used it. I was concentrating more on transactions and forgot about the balance you need to maintain. I've transferred over more money, but I'm thinking it's a lost cause at this point.
Anyone care to give me hope, the bonus still might post? This has been a rough week for me!

 

[disfanforlife]

Today has been like Christmas came early! First my Target order with all my table linens for hosting Thanksgiving came in, my box of clothes from my online shopping spree last week showed up a week ahead of schedule, we got our wills signed finally, I found the perfect kitchen rug at the new HomeGoods near me (which has been a SAGA that included a shower tile floor dyed blue). Best of all, DH's new CIP came in the mail and I was able to buy tickets for our Disney trip just in the nick of time while also hitting MSR! (FP day is Wednesday). Our newest little kitty is a talkative Siamese who loves to cuddle and also terrifies the **** out of our other two cats. Between the shopping and the new member of the family, we are hitting MSRs faster than expected - although, I say that every time!

I seem to remember some chatter about lots of people here being in Orlando this weekend. Anyone going to be in Universal at all? I'm coming down just for the holiday stuff.

Glad you are having a great day! I am in Orlando and staying at BWV. But I am going to city walk on Sunday to meet some family for dinner. That’s the closest to universal I have ever been. Defiantly want to plan a trip there soon!

 

[disfanforlife]

I'm definitely heading to the crying corner now. I've just realized I messed up the Chase Business Checking bonus. Ugh! I was looking at my account and realized I've dipped below the required "minimum balance of $2500 for 60 days", by $100.
I went to pay a chase business credit card and it automatically linked to the new account, so I used it. I was concentrating more on transactions and forgot about the balance you need to maintain. I've transferred over more money, but I'm thinking it's a lost cause at this point.
Anyone care to give me hope, the bonus still might post? This has been a rough week for me!

No idea, but hopefully you will still get it. I haven’t tried any of the bank bonuses yet.

 

[Judique]

A little bit of churning frustration for me today... my DH ordered tires from Sam's during their big sale last Sat. I got the email today that they're in, but you pay in store and the only credit card you can use to pay is a Mastercard or Sam's card! What?!? Not sure if it said that when he ordered but I was hoping to use my new SW card to help with MSR. Now to figure out what mastercard to out it on...

Will they take Sam's gift cards? Buy gift cards with the MSR card?? I don't know - just trying to help out.

 

[happ]

I'm definitely heading to the crying corner now. I've just realized I messed up the Chase Business Checking bonus. Ugh! I was looking at my account and realized I've dipped below the required "minimum balance of $2500 for 60 days", by $100.
I went to pay a chase business credit card and it automatically linked to the new account, so I used it. I was concentrating more on transactions and forgot about the balance you need to maintain. I've transferred over more money, but I'm thinking it's a lost cause at this point.
Anyone care to give me hope, the bonus still might post? This has been a rough week for me!

That stinks, but maybe there's still hope if they look at average daily balance since you added funds.

 

[miztressuz]

Please redirect if this isn't the place.

For those of you who don't bank bonuses.... isn't it usually a requirement to have Direct Deposit? In my (admittedly limited) experience, Direct Deposit is from your work. So do you change around your Direct Deposit to the new bank if you're doing this? Or what I am missing?

Not all bank bonuses require a direct deposit, although many checking account ones do. I have done a few checking that only required debit card transactions or bill pays to meet the requirements. There are also savings account bonuses that don't require a DD, but usually want a high dollar amount to be deposited for a certain period of time or just a total amount to be deposited within a certain window. Like a CC sign up bonus, usually the bonus amount offers a higher return than leaving that money sit in a savings/MM account with a good rate (especially now with the rate cuts). Using Chase as an example, they'll give you $200 to deposit 15k into the savings account within 20 days of opening and leave it there for 90 days. The bonus pays out the Tuesday following 90 days from account open, so generally in less than 100 days you get the bonus and can move that money back to an account earning real interest. (Chase savings pays poorly, to put it mildly, so I wouldn't count on much past the bonus ) That puts it around a 5% return vs the 2-ish% for most accounts.
There's also Discover savings with $200 for 25k in deposits within a window. And that's it, once you deposit enough to make the threshold you get the $200 the next day. No hold times and since it's just a total amount, multiple deposits works. This also means cumulative deposits work, so if you only have 15k for example, you can deposit that then withdrawal and redeposit 10k to get the full bonus. The only downside to Discover is it's pretty much a once in lifetime bonus.

As for DDs, as has been mentioned sometimes you can trick a bank with another bank ACH transfer but not always. I have changed my DD for a couple banks who are not easily tricked. Fortunately for me, changing it is all done online and I can change it whenever I want to wherever I want so it's split between a couple banks right now.

Interesting; OK thank you.

I am paperwork averse and my financial institution is a small credit union so I would be shocked to find it on that list from DOC! But I will take a look!

Sometimes the small CUs work as a "DD". It may not make DoCs list but I see people report DPs of their small/local CU triggering bonuses. But it's not usually listed by name being small and or local so generally limited value/reveals too much info/don't want it to get burned

If you're interested in bank bonuses then you could look into a hub account that's pretty consistent in triggering bonuses. DOC has a few posts on hub accounts and bank bonuses in general.

ETA: You could try some bank bonuses that are quick to credit so you'd know if your CU worked and then if it didn't you could go to backup option like another account or changing your actual DD.

 

[hsmamato2]

Hi all, just running by with a quick note. Normally, I don't pay much attention to Hilton purchase points promotions (because we here on the DIS like free!) but I got curious this morning and decided to take a closer look. I also have kind of written off the Grand Wailea on Maui because one night is now 95,000 points and that hurts. But this is interesting... since the 5th night is free on points bookings, it comes out to 380,000 points. If you purchased the maximum amount (160,000) you'd end up with 320,000 points for $1600. You'd need to earn only 60,000 more at that point to have enough for a 5 night trip. That's not hard to do even with the NAF Hilton Amex card. If you got in on the NAF for 1 year Aspire deal a week or two ago, you could add a free night using your cert and have $250 resort credit to spend while you're there. Here's the cash cost for 5 nights in March. (you can find standard availability throughout 2020 by using flexible search) . That's a SUPER redemption, when you consider most of the time, Hilton points are worth half a cent per point, at best. I'm a BIG fan of choosing redemptions wisely with Hilton and sometimes... sometimes it can even be worthwile to purchase them. (gasp)

View attachment 452577
Here's a great video on the Grand Wailea and he has another good comparison of the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island if you're interested.

Oh be still my beating heart now you've got me planning another trip to Maui even tho DH has insisted he'll never fly that far again..... I have to figure out how I can make this happen...that place is just so incredible it's my dream to stay there instead of just wandering thru the gardens!