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

[WVMomof3]

Can I get some advice? I will need to pay DD's tuition in August and again in December. Her college portal charges 2.5% if you pay by credit card (no amex option). I can also do a monthly payment plan. No "interest" but there's a $75 fee. I do not have that money sitting in the bank so I'm considering a 0% transfer card (I think amex has one for 15 months). After that, assuming it's still not paid off, I'm considering a home equity loan.

DH thinks this is all too complicated and we should just put the whole thing on a home equity loan and pay it off as soon as possible. This is her last year so this will be it.

A complication is that I have no idea what her tuition will be next year until her financial aid award comes in.

I need to structure this to minimize interest and fees and maximize points. Any ideas?

That was the original plan, but DH wants to get the helic just in case and I'd hate to leave all those reward points on the table.

You've now got me thinking that how I can best maximize the $22k will be paying in May for private school tuition. I don't think they take CCs so I would have to go through Plastiq so I would need to make over $550 in reward benefits to come out ahead.

I am not much of a help. Having this same problem too. We did set up a HELOC to use for tuition, we are on year 3 of tuition with 5 more years to go. We haven't tapped into it yet, but I don't think we can continue to cash flow it. Last fall I was able to open a new CIP and use Plastiq. DD2 university does not accept CC at all. But with plastiq coding as 3x on the CIP at that time, it was worth it. In January when we had to pay the spring bill we just transferred from our bank account since stupid Tesla guy killed the 3x plastiq. But I hated doing it. Still looking into options for next fall. DD1 does accept CC with a fee, and I did use it to finish off my SW spend in January. DD1 only owed because she is studying abroad this semester so had additional fees added in. Hopefully we wont have to pay anything else for her next year as her scholarships pretty much cover tuition. But DD2 went to a stupid expensive university so need to figure out what to do for that. Hoping that DS doesn't pick a stupid expensive place.

ETA - I did one year of business with $1000 income for both CIP and CIC. I got a $5000 limit on the CIP and a $9000 limit on the CIC a few months later.

 

[Tikitoi]

Ok Chase, I don't think I'll fall for it again, offering $5 to go paperless on my IHG card so you can send me a 1099 for 100x that next year. Fool me once shame on you... a fooled man can't get fooled again!

ThanKs for the 1099 reminder about this. I will definitely delete that email and not consider it anymore.

never thought i'd have this much fun with twitter
#ChaseMakesKidsCry

 

[shairpdrh]

Just checking what bridging tickets at Guest Services codes as : I’m guessing entertainment ?

That’s the plan if it codes as entertainment. If it codes as travel then I have enough travel credits to wipe out the upfront cost and the bridge cost. That’s why I asked

Someone else may have responded by now. I think if you run the charges through your room bill, ie pay with magicband, they may code as travel, but using the card at the kiosk will usually result in entertainment.

I have done this at least 4 times and charged the cost to my room (I charge everything to my room including ticket upgrades and merchandise) to get it to code as travel. I has worked for me on 3+ trips using my CSR and CIP. I haven't used other cards, but I would hope it would work since it should show up as a hotel charge.

 

[vanjust14]

mind blown...that works for a direct deposit requirement????

Yes, for PNC is does! I found that out on DOC and can confirm it worked.

what is that 75 credit useful for?

I've only used it for the credit toward the $5.60 in taxes when booking with points, but I believe it is also good for cash bookings and EBCI.

 

[shairpdrh]

Another example for the benefit of all watching AA Miles for Disney hotels:

Sept 9 - Sept 13; Yacht Club has a Water View on the "Sun & Fun" promotion on the Disney site for $1,593.92 ($398.48 per night). This is a 30% off promotion I believe.
Found it on the useaamiles.com site for 160,200 miles. ~1cpp (again 0.995 due to some rounding they do on the pts needed).

So that's a Disney promotion to save 30% that I'm seeing on the AA Site

ALSO good news to report - it doesn't seem like they have any "glitch" with pricing when you add children. I know some 3rd party sites have had an issue with that in the past (not sure if that's even still a thing) but AA does not

This is such helpful information! I was planning to ask the same question today. I don't have AA points, but did a search logged in to my empty AA account and got the same inflated prices that @kayteekt was seeing. It made me reconsider heading down the AA path and now I think I am back on track. I am trying to save something on my DLR stay at the Disneyland Hotel and this seems like a possibility. Just wish I could get accurate pricing without having points in my account (and if I am missing what I need to do to get accurate search results, let me know).

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

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[elgerber]

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[SouthFayetteFan]

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[Alexle2007]

I am not much of a help. Having this same problem too. We did set up a HELOC to use for tuition, we are on year 3 with 5 more years to go. We haven't tapped into it yet, but I don't think we can continue to cash flow it. Last fall I was able to open a new CIP and use Plastiq. DD2 university does not accept CC at all. But with plastiq coding as 3x on the CIP at that time, it was worth it. In January when we had to pay the spring bill we just transferred from our bank account since stupid Tesla guy killed the 3x plastiq. But I hated doing it. Still looking into options for next fall. DD1 does accept CC with a fee, and I did use it to finish off my SW spend in January. DD1 only owed because she is studying abroad this semester so had additional fees added in. Hopefully we wont have to pay anything else for her next year as her scholarships pretty much cover tuition. But DD2 went to a stupid expensive university so need to figure out what to do for that. Hoping that DS doesn't pick a stupid expensive place.

ETA - I did one year of business with $1000 income for both CIP and CIC. I got a $5000 limit on the CIP and a $9000 limit on the CIC a few months later.

I am thinking of opening a few credit cards to get the bonus. So like if I did the Arrival + for DH that's a $5000 MSR for 70k + 10k (for the spend) so there we have $800 in rewards so that makes up more than the total Plastiq fee ($550). Then he has the CIU that he just received approval on so 50k +4.5k or $817.50 when I transfer to my CSR and book through the UR portal. And now I have $12k left to figure out but I am up to over $1k in extra value. I am getting closer to a free vacation

 

[shairpdrh]

Awesome! It seems that to see the best rates you do need to have AA Miles and probably one of their credit cards.

FYI: On the WDW Tips thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/comments/ai6lq0/dischurners_walt_disney_world_tips/ We actually have a real life experience by @trstno1 who has booked a Disney hotel VERY recently this way.

Guess I'd better get that application going today!

 

[vanjust14]

The offer on my Plat is just to get $10 off making it $29.99 which is the same price I get just going to the TurboTax website so my plan is to skip Amex and just get the 1000 RR points through the Southwest portal.

The great thing about the southwest portal is you don't have to actually pay anything to get the 1000 RR's. Just filing will do. I did my DS's taxes and because he doesn't make much and it is a simple return, it was free and I still got the 1000RR. For mine, I used Tax Hawk at someone's recommendation here and I was able to file my fed for free and only paid $9.71 per state with code TaxHawk25.

 

[BamaBoy]

Poking around the AA site. The cost is definitely high browsing the car rental portal. How far do you take the dummy booking? Do you do the dummy booking as if you are going to use points?

Yes

 

[BamaBoy]

@BamaBoy I am not getting any lower rate by logging in either. The rate is even higher than it was yesterday, do they go up and down like they do with the car rental sites?

I have to do a dummy booking (and usually when you do that it will log you off and you have to login a second time). Once you do that the points needed usually drops by 50%. What city are you looking at and I will try on my end?

 

[elgerber]

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[SouthFayetteFan]

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[SouthFayetteFan]

Do you have to be a current AA credit card holder to get the rates, is that my problem?
I log in and this is what I see...Thank you for logging in. AAdvantage® elite status members and co-branded credit cardholders enjoy exclusive rates.
I guess it's telling me I am not an Elite member?
Hmmmm, can I get a Citi Biz asap? LOL. Do they hit personal reports?

Hmmmm - if you check out my comment right below yours and right above this I think I was reading your mind, LOL!

 

[gottalovepluto]

LeMeridian Seychelles booking saga update: nothing to see here! Within 4 hours of Marriott filing a case with the hotel Le Meridian Seychelles emailed me last night confirming the rate I was booked at and inquiring what time I would be arriving (which is something I put on the original reservation but was apparently lost in the never-never world that is Marriott IT so good on this hotel for filling in their own blanks). The Marriott rep on the phone said the hotel had a week and if I didn't hear back to call Marriott to escalate- this hotel responded pretty much asap. SPG FTW (also, no wonder some of these hotels are leaving Marriott for other partners!)

 

[elgerber]

Hmmmm - if you check out my comment right below yours and right above this I think I was reading your mind, LOL!

Yep, you surely were!
But is that why I am seeing higher rates, because I don't have a card anymore?

 

[BamaBoy]

Do you have to be a current AA credit card holder to get the rates, is that my problem?
I log in and this is what I see...Thank you for logging in. AAdvantage® elite status members and co-branded credit cardholders enjoy exclusive rates.
I guess it's telling me I am not an Elite member?
Hmmmm, can I get a Citi Biz asap? LOL. Do they hit personal reports?

I do have 3 AA cards-Barclays personal and business and Citi. There may be a code running in the background attached to my membership tied to having a card that gives deeper discount. I had not thought about that possibility.

 

[elgerber]

Yep, you surely were!
But is that why I am seeing higher rates, because I don't have a card anymore?

Nevermind, I see you answered that too.
Shoot, now I need to find info on the dummy booking offer and miles match. I haven't been paying any attention.