Hi all! I have been reading and absorbing as much info as I can on this forum for a few weeks and have learned a lot! This has been so helpful! Also realized a couple of mistakes I made just before I found you all - live and learn! My head is spinning with all of this and I'm still unsure of how to move forward from what I've done so far. So, a little about me:
I've been fairly successful in the past using Amex BCP, maxing out the $6k/year grocery 6% cash back and getting a $450-$600 cash reward each year through Citi Costco & Exec membership rebate. This year I decided to try Chase United Mileage Explorer, got the $250 SUB and miles for one free ticket for our February Disney trip; didn't occur to me to have DW apply separately so missed that boat. She has been removed as AU on mine and I plan to have her apply for a card of her own later. We each also just got the Chase Disney Preferred with the $200 SUB (minus $49 AF), but don't have much use for those other than possibly financing the balance of our trip at 0% for 6 mo.
I have delved into the cash back rebate sites and Raise.com. Managed to score a $500 DGC for $470 during last weekend's sale with my extra $10 off.
At this point, I'm not sure how much more I can do to save $$ on our Feb trip; the Costco and Amex cash back will pay for some of it (we'll bank the Costco $$ and use the Amex on the trip for dining & earn the 3% then apply the past few month's accumulated rewards as a statement credit when we return). I'm thinking we'll use the available $150 credit on each Chase Disney for DGC for souvenirs, etc. Then I have to weigh financing the balance vs purchasing the DGC from BJs at the 6% BF deal and pulling the $$ from savings.... so much to think about :-O
We are not huge travelers, but would like to do some more, but also need to be more cautious with the budget now. In 2020, my first priority will be saving $$, then maybe banking some cash/points/miles for a 2021 trip (Disney Alaskan Cruise??).
Here's our stats:
Me:
02/19 Catherine's - Comenity Bank
08/19 Chase United MPE
10/19 Chase Disney Premier
P2:
08/19 AU on Chase United - removed 11/19
10/19 Chase Disney Premier
-MONTHLY SPEND:
Gas $60
Groc $900
Cell $80
Internet/landline $100
Dining/Ent $300
Pet food/supplies $250
Other $2300
-CC's are paid off every month
-DEN airport
-No preference, but have started with United
-SW does service DEN, but not our fav
-No Hotel rewards pref
-No travel points
-M + DW
Thanks for any input!!
Oh, totally forgot about a Barclay Apple card I opened in April 2018 and closed early this year. That's it though.
@SouthFayetteFan Thanks! That was my next question
I’ve been in ‘research’ mode and haven’t commented on anything until today. I’d like to join the group and would be happy to lend some support!
@tink1970 Thank you! That is so helpful. In spite of all the reading I’ve been doing, I haven’t quite gotten the gist of the travel cards and how rewards work. I didn’t realize you could get cash back on those as well. I looked at the rotating category cards, but wouldn’t get much out of most categories. I think I do better with the Amex 6% on groceries even with the AF. Lots to think about!
Welcome to the thread!
@tink1970 gave you lots of great info. It can be overwhelming, but getting free vacations is so gratifying. Your monthly snapshot is similar to mine, as well as DEN being my home airport too.
If you've really laid out all your cards, so to speak, you are sitting right at 4/24 (because the Barclay card you closed still counts as a new account in the past 24 months) and the next move you make will affect what you can do for the next 6 months to a year or more. If you go with a personal card application now with
any financial institution, be aware that shuts you out of getting any more Chase cards for you until Apr-May 2020 because of their 5/24 rule (24 months from your Barclay 4/18 card that you opened). When was the Citi Costco opened?
If you max out your BCP with the 6K annual cap on groceries, you're netting $265 after the annual fee. The SUB for the CSP is worth $600 cash for $4K spend, or $505 after subtracting the annual fee. That's a $240 difference in cash. For spending $4K instead of $6K. The strategy for CSP that
@tink1970 laid out is very compelling.
Something that may have not struck you in your research is that business cards do not show up on your credit report (with some exceptions) so if there is any business you have (it's craigslist/ebay sales for me) then you can apply for business credit cards. You don't need to make a lot from it for it to count as a business. There are some great Chase business cards, and the funny thing with Chase is that even though it issues the business credit cards and obviously knows about them, those cards do not get counted in your 5/24 status. However you need to be at <5/24 in order to nab a Chase business card.
Which brings me to my final point I want to share - Southwest cards, issued by Chase in both personal and business versions. We are very fortunate that DEN is a SW hub. Southwest has the Companion Pass program, which is one of the best travel deals out there, where your companion flies for free with you. For the past five years, my family has flown on SW around the country for $5.60 taxes/fees one way per ticket (next week we're flying SW to Costa Rica for $84.54 total for 3 travelers), using SW Rapid Rewards points (transferrable from Chase UR, just like you can transfer to United). Timing wise, you could get a business SW card now, wait until Jan to finish up the MSR (not technically necessary to wait til Jan, but I want to make it easy for you to remember) and then get a different SW card early next year to set you up for a Companion Pass for the rest of 2020 and all of 2021. But you need to decide first if you have a business, even a "business." Please ask here for advice before you decide to go apply for one.
I see you say that SW is not your fav. I'll just point out that with using SW points to travel, you can make changes to your plans without penalty whereas United will charge you upwards of $125 per ticket to change award tickets. And the first two checked bags are free with SW (not because of the credit card, it's just because that's how SW rolls); they'll cost you $40 for your 2nd bag with United (since your first bag is free using your United MPE card to purchase the tickets).
It is a lot to take in, it's great that you are trying to learn more about the best ways to maximize your rewards.
So I followed up with a call to their delivery team on Saturday as directed, they didn't know how to handle it and transferred me back to sales, who wanted to transfer me to the delivery team but said since they just keep sending me back he would call and get the details. Back and forth over an hour he said the only option is for them to just refund the transaction, but they cannot do it the delivery team has to, but the delivery team cannot since the order is too old. He said he was going to write up an exception request and see if he could go that route but needed more information, after about 10m more on hold I was hung up on. This made me really mad as now I didn't know where I was transferred to and he had all my information and could have called me back!!! So I figured I would give it a day or two like he said to hear their response via email... Today I got an email saying the transaction is way to old for them to do anything about and asked me to "kindly contact my bank and kindly dispute the transaction." Full 360 here we go! This time I at least have an email from Sears telling me to dispute it, Why do I have the sinking feeling even with that Chase will not side with me?!!?
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