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

[Lain]

Anyone have any thoughts if a VGC is an acceptable wedding gift?

Fun fact: When I buy VGCs or MCGCs in store, I always try to pick out the prettiest most celebratory packaging so that if the cashier asks why I need a $500 GC I can say it's a wedding gift.

 

[wendow]

When I put my info in the status check page for Barclay, last night’s app doesn’t even show. Only my two previous arrival+ apps from 9/17 and 12/18.

 

[miztressuz]

Anyone have any thoughts if a VGC is an acceptable wedding gift?

I say Yes, but know your audience. Is it someone who uses CC's all the time so using a VGC isn't an inconvenience? Will they remember to use it before fees start getting charged? ( ala me a dozen years ago when I totally forgot someone gave me one )

I know we had this conversation a while back and I thought the consensus was it's usually ok. I might consider it now keeping the above in mind.

 

[MKTokyo]

How do you all meet minimum spending requirements? Our mortgage is automatically deducted through our credit union. We do have a business, but it’s farming and there are major fees (sometimes 6%) for paying using credit cards. Many times you lose your early incentives as well. Last year we spent over $250,000 through the farm, but it’s all in checks.

I’ve gotten caught up in the spend a dollar to save a quarter mentality before, and I don’t want to go back down that route. We pay our cards off monthly. We just did a big house remodel, and don’t have many other “big” house expenses planned this year.

Any tips you have to meet minimum spending would be great. Thanks!!!

I should add that I have 3 cards we primarily use, and that’s where I should be researching how to earn more bonuses. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and got it and qualified when it was a bonus of 100k UR points. Most of our monthly spending is on that card, including our timeshare dues of ~$450 a month. I get 3x rewards on them. We both have Amex HHonors cards, and both spent $15,000 on them. We earned 4 free nights total, but we each pay a $95 AF. We signed up when there were a ton (don’t recalll the exact number) of Hhonors points, and I referred DH so I earned the bonus as well. When we take weekend trips, we stay at Hilton properties, so I do like having Gold status. I’ve been preselected for the Ascend version, but the AF is deterring me.

IMO this hobby is very much Not Worth It if you don’t have high organic monthly spend. In your case, it seems like you definitely have the spend, but it’s still not worth it if you would be paying 6% fees on top of everything else. $250K/year in checks is making my eye twitch.

This rule does not apply if you are one of the resident MSers but that depends on your comfort level with MSing. Mine is -3 They are braver than me.

But, nobody should be charging anything they aren’t immediately paying off in order to churn. That would eat up any savings/bonuses & lead down an ugly path.

 

[punkin]

How do you all meet minimum spending requirements? Our mortgage is automatically deducted through our credit union. We do have a business, but it’s farming and there are major fees (sometimes 6%) for paying using credit cards. Many times you lose your early incentives as well. Last year we spent over $250,000 through the farm, but it’s all in checks.

I’ve gotten caught up in the spend a dollar to save a quarter mentality before, and I don’t want to go back down that route. We pay our cards off monthly. We just did a big house remodel, and don’t have many other “big” house expenses planned this year.

Any tips you have to meet minimum spending would be great. Thanks!!!

I should add that I have 3 cards we primarily use, and that’s where I should be researching how to earn more bonuses. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and got it and qualified when it was a bonus of 100k UR points. Most of our monthly spending is on that card, including our timeshare dues of ~$450 a month. I get 3x rewards on them. We both have Amex HHonors cards, and both spent $15,000 on them. We earned 4 free nights total, but we each pay a $95 AF. We signed up when there were a ton (don’t recalll the exact number) of Hhonors points, and I referred DH so I earned the bonus as well. When we take weekend trips, we stay at Hilton properties, so I do like having Gold status. I’ve been preselected for the Ascend version, but the AF is deterring me.

I never have a problem meeting msr with basically everyday expenses. My problem is generally that (given other financial constraints) when I cannot have an msr on a new card going, I feel like I'm leaving money on the table.

 

[Psychodisney]

Did you have other Barclay cards?

No I don't. I probably wouldn't be approved since I don't use the one I have. I got it for the easy AA miles and since it was a biz card.

 

[punkin]

If you dined on 1/31 itself, check to see if it posted as February. This happened to one of my $10 statements as the restaurant probably submitted it a day later.

The charge posted on 1/31 just fine but the $10 credit is lost in cyberspace. Lol.

 

[DisneyMandC]

When I put my info in the status check page for Barclay, last night’s app doesn’t even show. Only my two previous arrival+ apps from 9/17 and 12/18.

Sorry, I just speed read the last 4 pages. You applied for AA biz right? That has a different status check page.

https://www.barclaycardus.com/apply/cas/applications/search?PARTNERID=BUSINESS

 

[miztressuz]

Fun fact: When I buy VGCs or MCGCs in store, I always try to pick out the prettiest most celebratory packaging so that if the cashier asks why I need a $500 GC I can say it's a wedding gift.

That's my go to when my cashiers get all bug eyed when I ask them to put $500 on a GC. "Wow, that's a nice gift." with $$ in their eyes. I usually say we all chipped in for someone's wedding/bridal shower/baby shower if we're not near Christmas. It's one of the downsides to living in a comparatively speaking lower COLA, you look rich if you even have $500 bucks. If I ever get into MS, I gotta work the higher rent districts so I'm not memorable (although I'd have a lot of competition it looks like).

 

[wendow]

Sorry, I just speed read the last 4 pages. You applied for AA biz right? That has a different status check page.

https://www.barclaycardus.com/apply/cas/applications/search?PARTNERID=BUSINESS

Thanks!! Too funny! That one did bring up my, still pending, app but it’s not the one they sent in the email. They sent the consumer site.

 

[miztressuz]

When I put my info in the status check page for Barclay, last night’s app doesn’t even show. Only my two previous arrival+ apps from 9/17 and 12/18.

Barclay has a different status checker for biz apps. I don't know what it is offhand but that's probably why you're not seeing it. I'll see if google can help my memory out.

Edit: @DisneyMandC FTW!

 

[speedyfishy]

That's my go to when my cashiers get all bug eyed when I ask them to put $500 on a GC. "Wow, that's a nice gift." with $$ in their eyes. I usually say we all chipped in for someone's wedding/bridal shower/baby shower if we're not near Christmas. It's one of the downsides to living in a comparatively speaking lower COLA, you look rich if you even have $500 bucks. If I ever get into MS, I gotta work the higher rent districts so I'm not memorable (although I'd have a lot of competition it looks like).

I hate it when cashiers comment on it and make a huge scene. I just say something like my boss wanted me to pick them up for employee awards or something.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So the general consensus on the r/churning question thread was I should call Citi on my wife’s pending AA biz app...time to bring out my high voice?? Part of me thinks, just wait a couple of days but if it’s verification that may not fix itself. Hmmm

 

[DisneyMandC]

So the general consensus on the r/churning question thread was I should call Citi on my wife’s pending AA biz app...time to bring out my high voice?? Part of me thinks, just wait a couple of days but if it’s verification that may not fix itself. Hmmm

I didn't call Citi on a pending app, but I did call when I couldn't get Citi's website to create an account for him on the new card. I just gave them his name and info and they never said anything, but getting approval might be different.

 

[striker1064]

Anyone have any thoughts if a VGC is an acceptable wedding gift?

Totally, we got a lot of them when we got married. GCs in general can be a pain, but we definitely preffered VGCs to a random smattering of store-specific GCs (got a lot of those too).

I have two Barclay already. I PC’ed my first arrival+ to a no fee rewards card and then I got another arrival+ Last December.

That explains it. Your first with Barclays is generally ok. 2 is tricky. 3 is pushing it. 4 is virtually impossible. If this is #3 that's why they're reviewing it.

 

[Judique]

Anyone have any thoughts if a VGC is an acceptable wedding gift?

Yes, it is perfectly acceptable.

But we all know cash is king! (as in it can be deposited into your accounts.)

But if you are buying a gift card for some one I wouldn't hesitate!

I even gave my daughter visa gift cards as a gift just recently as I bought them with the staples offer of 10% off.

 

[wendow]

Anyone have any thoughts if a VGC is an acceptable wedding gift?

Years ago when they were first coming out, I really didn’t like getting them as a gift very much cause it was always hard to use them all the way up. Now that I know a few places I can drain them, I’d be fine with getting one as a gift and would prefer one over most other GCs.

 

[wendow]

That explains it. Your first with Barclays is generally ok. 2 is tricky. 3 is pushing it. 4 is virtually impossible. If this is #3 that's why they're reviewing it.

I never use the rewards card. I could offer to close it but I’m sure they’ll want to know why I need another card if I don’t use that one. I met the msr on the new arrival+ but I’ve still been using it so hopefully that at least looks good.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I'm probably the only one with this issue, but just thought I'd share- DH has to mail his taxes because the IRS has his birthday wrong so he can't e-file. I had him go through Southwest for 1000 miles for using Turbo Tax but realized right before he printed that it was only for online filing, but I just figured oh well, we're done with his taxes anyways. He still got the miles even though he printed and mailed!

 

[wed100105]

Thank you everyone for the wonderful replies!

In small farming, I think it's pretty much done this way that you write checks for your inputs. You save an exorbitant amount of money in prepaying your inputs. We paid cash for a new shed (money was from inheritance and savings). We also have to be careful in that we don't want to have our supplier see us paying using credit cards. It's small town living....

Thanks for everyone who mentioned using the pay service. I'm going to look into that because I have two large farm payments ($11,000 each) this year. We were going to pay it with a personal check to Compeer, but this may be an excellent opportunity to churn and meet minimum spending.

I have to be very careful as well with our credit. I want to maintain my excellent credit score as we plan to purchase more farms in the future.