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

[vanjust14]

Congrats!! How many chase biz cards does this make for you and how long had you had your first CIP? Thinking about trying this for my dh to get him another CIP. I'm over 5/24 so no bueno for me right now.

It's driving me crazy that I'm over 5/24 for awhile. Now that Amex is such a bummer, I want to go back to Chase but can't!

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I got an e-mail from AmEx this morning saying that my free weekend night posted (from my Aspire) and that I will receive an e-mail from Hilton within 8-12 weeks with instructions on how to redeem (that seems long!).

Now to source where I can best use it. I saw the Conrad Fort Lauderdale on the list of properties and thought that might be good for a 1 night break! Or maybe I can put it towards the Conrad Maldives next year (spring, 2020). I won't let it go to waste! Does it have to be used in the 2019 calendar year or can I carry it forward to 2020? Anyone know @calypso726 ?!

 

[Haley R]

That was exactly my thought when they show video of the kids being all excited about snow days, boy will they change their tunes about June 10th LOL.
Thank goodness my kids are not in school anymore, it's just ridiculous at this point. We got 6 inches overnight, what did you end up with? Seriously not sure how my dogs are navigating the yard at this point.

The kids here are getting kind of sick of it. Well you still get the couple that hate everything about school. It makes it super hard on the teachers and me as a sub because the kids have completely forgotten how to behave at school.

I think we got like 5+ I’m not sure though. Dh had to take something to the post office today and said he got stuck three times. They decided not to plow the street next to us which is absolutely ridiculous

 

[Haley R]

We have that one too (was in a 4-pack we have). And I just realized as we are discussing this that I have another kinkade 4-pack that some friends gave us two Christmases ago. I never even opened them since just thinking back to our first 4-pack exhausted me. Now I feel bad. I meant to get them out and try them but just never did

I actually would like to try another puzzle but it won’t be a kinkade one. The sky on that puzzle and all of the flowers were ridiculous. We got to the point where it was process of elimination. We literally went through each piece and tried turning it every which way until we found one that fit

 

[elgerber]

So this was our first puzzle and we didn’t really think about the whole framing it or hanging it part. I found sticky strip type things online that had really good reviews and we ordered those instead of having to glue it. It comes with two plastic hangers so we didn’t end up buying a frame. They are supposed to come Thursday but I’m not really sure how to get our puzzle flipped over

What I did was slide wax paper, or something like that, under the bottom of the puzzle, and foam core or similar on the top and kinda held those together at the edges of the puzzle (two people would work best) and flipped it over. Let me know your kit works!

 

[miztressuz]

Been dragging my feet on buying a SW gc. Hopefully this isn't dead

Ok, so after finding the discussion (which had been downvoted into oblivion and automatically collapsed so I thought @striker1064 was nutz ) it looks like it's mostly around AA gift cards bought recently, like after 2/8 possibly (https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/aps8tw/discussion_thread_february_12_2019/egb0rk3/).

SW seems to be fine again. There seems to be a hold up on GCs purchased exactly on 1/31 but ones bought before and after have been reimbursed from what I can tell. (here's one from that FT thread https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30748493-post1590.html) But looks like the last few posts on FT are stuck on the 1/31 reimbursement problem so I didn't notice anything after that 2/8 date. For now I'd suspect this is a AA problem until more info comes in.

 

[elgerber]

The kids here are getting kind of sick of it. Well you still get the couple that hate everything about school. It makes it super hard on the teachers and me as a sub because the kids have completely forgotten how to behave at school.

I think we got like 5+ I’m not sure though. Dh had to take something to the post office today and said he got stuck three times. They decided not to plow the street next to us which is absolutely ridiculous

I wouldn't even try to get out right now, I no longer have AWD and my car is a sport model, and I have discovered it doesn't go worth you now what when it's slick. My dd's little Pontiac G5 goes way better than mine.

 

[Haley R]

Okay back on topic. I got an intriguing email today from Hilton. It says something close to this:
Since I have a Hilton biz card and I received a targeted email, I can buy up to 80k Hilton honors points and they will 100% match that.

This seems like a really good deal to me but I’d like anyone else’s input because it may not be worth our money considering how much the points will cost. So if we buy 80k points it will cost us $800 but they will match our point cost so we will get 160k points for $800. I’m not sure but that seems like a good deal except we are paying $800 out of pocket. It isn’t like an MSR so we wouldn’t be paying for things we already need.

What do you guys think? Would you do this deal?

 

[Lain]

which airline gift card? there's been a lot of ppl stupidly calling amex saying why their gift cards aren't coding... :-/

From the chatter, it looks like AA changed their coding for gift cards sometime after 2/4, and now list their purchase as “gift certificate” in the details.

Tagging @calypso726 (who I know buys AA GCs).

Any DPs for SW or Delta?

 

[Haley R]

What I did was slide wax paper, or something like that, under the bottom of the puzzle, and foam core or similar on the top and kinda held those together at the edges of the puzzle (two people would work best) and flipped it over. Let me know your kit works!

I’m so nervous that it’s gonna just break apart. Why has no one made this an easier process? Should I make something and put it on shark tank?

 

[Haley R]

I wouldn't even try to get out right now, I no longer have AWD and my car is a sport model, and I have discovered it doesn't go worth you now what when it's slick. My dd's little Pontiac G5 goes way better than mine.

Oh I’m not going anywhere after yesterday lol

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I'm sorry in advance, because I feel like this is an easy question, but I can't find an answer to it.

I referred DH to the Disney Chase Visa with the $200 bonus. I plan on using it to buy $500 in gift cards (enough to qualify for the bonus) and quickly redeeming the Disney reward dollars. How badly will it hurt our credit if I cancel the card immediately after earning and using the bonus Disney reward dollars? I don't need another card to keep track of as we have several already. We have excellent credit scores now.

Cancelling cards has no affect on your credit.

That said...I will reiterate that there is no good reason to close a card in the first year! The only thing that can come of that is upsetting the bank. There really is nothing to keep track of - login to Chase (or mint.com) and make sure the card balance is at $0. I’d honestly leave a no AF card open forever (or until I had a good reason to close it)

 

[miztressuz]

Okay back on topic. I got an intriguing email today from Hilton. It says something close to this:
Since I have a Hilton biz card and I received a targeted email, I can buy up to 80k Hilton honors points and they will 100% match that.

This seems like a really good deal to me but I’d like anyone else’s input because it may not be worth our money considering how much the points will cost. So if we buy 80k points it will cost us $800 but they will match our point cost so we will get 160k points for $800. I’m not sure but that seems like a good deal except we are paying $800 out of pocket. It isn’t like an MSR so we wouldn’t be paying for things we already need.

What do you guys think? Would you do this deal?

I wouldn't unless you absolutely have a redemption you would use them on now that you are expecting to pay more than $800 cash. You're buying them at .5 cpp ($.005 cents ) and most redemptions I've looked at are at best .0048, so at that exchange rate you'd be paying $800 for a $768 room/stay.

Not all redemptions suck, but there's more in the .4 cpp range than over .5 cpp so you'd be probably over paying for the points if doing it speculatively.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Okay back on topic. I got an intriguing email today from Hilton. It says something close to this:
Since I have a Hilton biz card and I received a targeted email, I can buy up to 80k Hilton honors points and they will 100% match that.

This seems like a really good deal to me but I’d like anyone else’s input because it may not be worth our money considering how much the points will cost. So if we buy 80k points it will cost us $800 but they will match our point cost so we will get 160k points for $800. I’m not sure but that seems like a good deal except we are paying $800 out of pocket. It isn’t like an MSR so we wouldn’t be paying for things we already need.

What do you guys think? Would you do this deal?

I am firmly in the camp of “Never Buy Points”. I get points for free for signing up for cards. I then use those points to stay and travel for free. The keyword here is everything is free

160,000 Hilton Points in my book is worth between $600-$1,000 depending on how I’d redeem them. Worst case scenario, you could lose money on buying these points. Best case scenario you got a very small discount over just paying cash.

The only time I’d advocate buying points is if you were a small amount short from a redemption (ie <3,000 pts). Others may see this differently but that’s my personal stance.

 

[Jaime4004]

I am holding that sweet Chase Ink Cash card in my hands! I still get excited when a new card shows up - it's like a kid on Christmas over here!!

Same here. DH's capital one venture (we're diversifying ) just came in and I keep picking it up to feel it. It's kind of pretty.. and heavy. May have to get one myself...

 

[miztressuz]

I’m so nervous that it’s gonna just break apart. Why has no one made this an easier process? Should I make something and put it on shark tank?

What we've done mostly successfully before is find a piece of cardboard, or something else thin and stiff, put that at the edge of the table. Slide the puzzle off the table and onto the cardboard then use another piece of cardboard or foam over top to sandwich and then flip it. Helps to have two people and sometimes works to put the foam on top as you're sliding put a little pressure on it evenly. I like the idea of sliding waxpaper under it first, or maybe parchment paper?, might make it slide better. Then once you flip there usually just a few that need to be flattened back.

 

[striker1064]

I will also interject on the puzzles discussion simply because I love them so much. It's been years since I've done one because we just don't have the space anymore, but we used to live close to a specialized puzzle store. I'd buy puzzles with a foam board, complete it, and bring it back to be glued and have wall mounts attached. I had puzzles hanging everywhere in the house. The store owner would also frame the puzzle for you if you wanted. That got expensive - $80-100 per puzzle - but for the puzzles we truly loved the most, it was worth it. I did anything ranging from 1000-3000 pieces and always liked cityscapes the best. If you're ever in Biloxi, MS for some random reason, go to Edgewater Mall and visit Puzzles USA.

My best accomplishment and favorite puzzle remains this 3000 piece old world map. It took a few months but I loved every minute of it. It's currently glued and in "storage" at my parent's house, hah. One day I'll get it back and get it framed. (Picture removed and replaced with link cause it was a way bigger picture than I thought)

 

[trenty]

Cancelling cards has no affect on your credit.

That said...I will reiterate that there is no good reason to close a card in the first year! The only thing that can come of that is upsetting the bank. There really is nothing to keep track of - login to Chase (or mint.com) and make sure the card balance is at $0. I’d honestly leave a no AF card open forever (or until I had a good reason to close it)

What would be some good reasons to close a no AF card?

 

[WVMomof3]

My friends bought this puzzle. I don't think it will ever get finished, maybe half done and they have lost interest in it.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

What would be some good reasons to close a no AF card?

Earning the bonus again LOL!

Also hitting AMEX’s 5 card limit or if you think you have too many Chase cards open. (for some reason when I get to double digit open Chase cards it causes me to pause and consider cancelling some).