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

[miztressuz]

In today's tale of STRANGE churning redemptions...

I used MRs for a Bed Bath & Beyond Gift Card to purchase a new anti-fatigue kitchen mat, dish drainer, and Cookie Press (whatever that is) for my wife...

This on the heels of using MRs for a Home Depot gift card for a Roku to replace one of my Comcast boxes...

Meanwhile, @calypso726 is enjoying a shower in the sky as I happily redeem MRs at 1cpp for gift cards to major retailers. And this my friends, is why there is truly no BAD way to churn Both of us are very happy with our redemptions...

(Mind you that all of these MRs were earned from tons of r/churning clicks last year so I didn't actually signup for cards to get them)...

I'm woefully behind but Cookie Press = business expense, IIRC, shouldn't we have been getting a new business card to take care of that? C'mon man..."whatever that is", really...
(j/k )

On a more curious note, does your BBB have gift cards? Have you tried using a GC for them? It's YMMV but I thought more people in our neck of the woods were successful, well at least on my side of the state and Jersey, I never tried out there. Could be an interesting way for you to turn MR into Disney money.

 

[EACarlson]

Now even much more impressed with my Delta MR redemption for our WDW trip in Nov/Dec. Just priced out my itinerary again on Delta.com and it came up at 41,000SM per person. I paid 17,000 when I booked a little over a month ago.

 

[Alexle2007]

Ugh, finished the MSR on DH’s CIU but can’t seem to pull the trigger on a new app. Looking at the Arrival + for DH or the AmEx Hilton Biz for me. We have a large federal tax bill to pay next month.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

The balloon one's started in DL and have been at WDW before but sell out I think. The mickey one you posted was the one I was thinking about, I don't like the new cartoon, just not cute. I like the pixar one though.

Well dang, I should’ve grabbed the balloon one to boost my eBay “business” sales.
Maybe I will grab it tomorrow when we go back to MK.
There has been so much cute new stuff to buy for the first time in a couple years, that I have spent more than normal and have a lot extra to carry as it is.

 

[kandb]

I just got the Marriott AMEX bonvoy business card. (I already put $3900 on it with a car repair. Ugh!), anyway, I remember years ago when I had an Amex card they would send incentives to get more points. Do they do that presently? I am wondering if they give extra points to add on an authorized user, can I get a card for my son? He is going to be 16 in a few months.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

That one doesn’t make Disney math sense, card churning sense, or rational sense to me... but you do you!! Can you not just buy this mug?

Hahahaha that’s what I was thinking....under $20. I always buy it because I’d spend that much on coffee daily anyways and the kids use it the rest of the day for lemonade or Powerade (which I can’t seem to find here at POR.)

 

[kandb]

I am presently at 3/24 but my last 2 credit cards that I opened were Chase Disney Rewards cards. I opened one that gave me $250 but then got a pre-approved application for another one for a $200 gc and I signed my 15 year old daughter as an au and got another $50 gc. Stupidly, I cancelled the one within the first year that had a annual fee because I figured I don't need both. The next card I want to apply for is CIP. I am wondering if I should use the chase ddisney card I have more before trying to apply. Do you think chase will use my cancellation of the card against me? Also, is it possible for CIP to go back to the 100K points instead of the 80K points they have now?

 

[amalone1013]

You should be able to do the two CSR payments online. I did last time.

Even better! I had no idea, thanks!

Today in creepy horse show hotels I’ve stayed at:

View attachment 388741

What’s behind this dark, padlocked door at the end of this hotel hallway? The county jail? The psych ward? Hotel patrons that have complained? We’ll never know.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Even better! I had no idea, thanks!


View attachment 388766

I forgot about that option

 

[kandb]

I see a lot of people lower their CL on their cards. I know a few of mine have $30K CL's. Is it advisable to lower them? I am assuming it increases your credit score or chances of getting approved for a card? Experian had my credit rating at 816 today, it was lowered 6 points because I applied for the Amex bonvoy card.

 

[Judique]

I'm woefully behind but Cookie Press = business expense, IIRC, shouldn't we have been getting a new business card to take care of that? C'mon man..."whatever that is", really...
(j/k )

On a more curious note, does your BBB have gift cards? Have you tried using a GC for them? It's YMMV but I thought more people in our neck of the woods were successful, well at least on my side of the state and Jersey, I never tried out there. Could be an interesting way for you to turn MR into Disney money.

I was successful in doing this months ago but haven't tried recently. But - I don't see it as a discounted value for the Disney gift card. Anything else I buy at BBB, I can use the gift card plus get at least 20% to 33% off, depending on which coupon I have to pair with the gift card.

But then again, you are not using 'money' just substitute funds, so it is still essentially 'free'. I guess I like to maximize free - I always buy coffee pods at BBB using a coupon.

 

[tink1970]

I just got the Marriott AMEX bonvoy business card. (I already put $3900 on it with a car repair. Ugh!), anyway, I remember years ago when I had an Amex card they would send incentives to get more points. Do they do that presently? I am wondering if they give extra points to add on an authorized user, can I get a card for my son? He is going to be 16 in a few months.

Sometimes I've been offered incentives for my MR earning cards but can't remember too many for co-brands but you never know with Amex..

I am presently at 3/24 but my last 2 credit cards that I opened were Chase Disney Rewards cards. I opened one that gave me $250 but then got a pre-approved application for another one for a $200 gc and I signed my 15 year old daughter as an au and got another $50 gc. Stupidly, I cancelled the one within the first year that had a annual fee because I figured I don't need both. The next card I want to apply for is CIP. I am wondering if I should use the chase ddisney card I have more before trying to apply. Do you think chase will use my cancellation of the card against me? Also, is it possible for CIP to go back to the 100K points instead of the 80K points they have now?

I see a lot of people lower their CL on their cards. I know a few of mine have $30K CL's. Is it advisable to lower them? I am assuming it increases your credit score or chances of getting approved for a card? Experian had my credit rating at 816 today, it was lowered 6 points because I applied for the Amex bonvoy card.

Chase doesn't appear to hold cancelled nor inactive cards against you (unlike Amex). They DO look at already extended credit and the fraction it is of your household income. I have lowered my CLs to about 20% of our household income in anticipation of being under 5/24 within the next 12 months

 

[Judique]

I see a lot of people lower their CL on their cards. I know a few of mine have $30K CL's. Is it advisable to lower them? I am assuming it increases your credit score or chances of getting approved for a card? Experian had my credit rating at 816 today, it was lowered 6 points because I applied for the Amex bonvoy card.

6 points isn't much but my score hasn't budged more than 1 point with the last few cards I've opened. I wouldn't worry about it if you are still 816, but you can SM to Chase to reduce the credit line. I did this with a few of my Chase cards, but I haven't touched any other cards. If I ever get a denial, I might consider doing it.

 

[WVMomof3]

All,

I’ve spent the past week reading the original board. You all rock! I made it up to page 185 and wanted to move on over here to check out the recent news. Thank you for all of your stories and advice. Like many of you, I wish I’d read this before I recently upgraded and got some new cards. I got hooked into this hobby by staying at the Hotel Indigo in Anaheim and getting the IHG Select card years ago. I then got the CSR and paid for our wedding in Cancun with the card and used the points for our honeymoon in Europe. I now see that I didn’t necessarily make the best use of the points as I directly utilized the UR portal as opposed to travel partners. Anyways, here’s what I have and here’s some questions I have about the best new cards to utilize for my future travel:

2019:
Feb - Amex Gold
Feb - Freedom
Feb - Upgraded to Southwest Priority from Premier - no bonus - had the prior card for 8 years and have never canceled it and got the bonus again - that’s a learning experience

2018:
June - Amex Platinum

2017:
August - DiscoverIt
June - Freedom Unlimited

2016:
Feb - CSR
June - IHG Select

Smith’s is our local grocery store and next month they stop accepting Visa credit cards so that’s why I got the Amex Gold. I then plan on using the Freedom @ Costco during the rotating quarter. I alternate CSR and Amex Gold for restaurants. Amex Platinum and CSR are then both used for booking travel. Freedom Unlimited is for everything else.

I live in Vegas, if you can’t tell by my name so Southwest is the primary airline I fly. Here are some questions I have;

1) Now that I’ve missed out on the bonus for the personal Southwest premier card for this year does it make sense to go ahead and try for the Southwest business now so I can go for CP again in 2 years?

2) Or is there potentially more value in going for CIP as opposed to a Southwest business card? We’ve got a newborn so I don’t anticipate traveling to WDW for at least a year or two. Southwest and Frontier are the only airlines flying nonstop from Vegas to MCO that I’m aware of.

3) Hotel wise we’re all over the place but I utilize the IHG Select frequently. This fall we’re going on a Viking River Cruise. I’ve already got a room in Amsterdam taken care of via IHG but I haven’t done so in Basel. With the current offer on Marriott Bonvoy I’m debating going for that. Make sense? Although I’m not intrigued with the Radisson Rewards card based on @calypso726’s experience in Europe. Although I haven’t read enough to determine if the new Club Carlson card is a good deal. What do you think?

4) Domestic flying I have a bit of a condrum. I fly to Maine and Kentucky each 1-2x a year, and California at least 4x a year. Southwest goes to all destinations but I’m intrigued with springing for 1st class. I could fly to Cincinnati via Delta in 1st to get to Kentucky and occasionally to California via delta. With respect to Maine, Skyscanner says our best option is American Airlines or Southwest. It seems to me based on my various destinations, going for the CP with SW is the best bet. Do you recommend any alternative card for domestic travel or another card for international travel?

5) My wife is an AU on the Amex Gold, CSR and Freedom Unlimited. She also has her own Southwest card. I suppose I could have her cancel her card and order Southwest and the business card for her? The difficulty is that we made her an AU on three cards this year.

Thanks! I look forward to joining the discussion!

There are ways to get the AUs removed from you wife's credit report. I think you should probably start there with her. Does she have other cards in her name? Would getting the CP in her name help you? If you fly a lot of SW, that could make the most sense. But it would take a couple months to get it for this year. Would it make sense for you to wait till next year to get it to maybe get more use out of it? It looks like you are already 5/24. Is your wife under? Getting the CIP in her name and then her referring you to it after June when you go under can get you a lot of URs. Do you really have the CSR ($450 AF) and pay $75 for your wife? Or did you mean the CSP, because I don't think your date makes sense for the CSR.

 

[Judique]

I have lowered my CLs to about 20% of our household income in anticipation of being under 5/24 within the next 12 months

I haven't lowered that far, but I'm going to look at it again since I'll be under 5/24 by fall of this year.

 

[WVMomof3]

Hi friends! I feel like a prodigal child returning...

I stopped following the old CC thread in June of last year, when we took a trip (with my brother who has special needs) to CA where we saw the Wiggles in concert and went to Disneyland. I then went on a month-long trip to New Zealand and Australia, but that's a story for another time. I just got too overwhelmed by how far behind I was on the thread, and I gave up. Anyway, I finally decided to jump back in!

Here's where I'm at. I currently have 7 open cards, two of which were opened in the last 24 months.

03/18 - CHASE Southwest Plus
03/18 - CHASE Southwest Premier

More than 24 months:
CHASE Sapphire Reserve
CHASE Freedom
CHASE Disney (No AF)
US BANK Cash Rewards Visa
CHASE Ink Preferred

I'm completely out of the loop and I have no idea what I should do next. I just spent a lot of URs on a cruise, so I'd like to refresh my stock of UR points. I still have a SW CP, so I primarily fly SW (although my RR balance dipped below 100k, which I'd prefer to have higher). That being said, I'd be open to any card with a significant bonus.

I currently spend ~$1000/month on my credit card. Our rent for our apartment is ~$2000/month (ugh, I know), and we can choose to pay using Visa, Discover, or AmEx, all of which charge a flat $36.00 processing fee, which comes out to 1.8%. I've tried playing with it, and it looks like we could pay more than 1 month at a time and the fee would remain at $36. I'd prefer not to incur the fee regularly as the fee essentially negates any CC benefits, but I'd be happy to do so if that would enable me to meet a minimum spend.

Does anyone have recommendations for me on a card?

I'm looking to close the CIP (the annual fee just posted - ugh) and the SW Plus and Premier, as they don't have enough of a benefit to incentive me to keep them open. Any reason I shouldn't?

Is there somewhere where I could read a summary of major changes that have happened since last June? I genuinely have no idea what's changed since then. I feel like such a newbie! It's humbling.

Missed you all. Hope you're well! I've seen some of you on other threads, but I'm going to do my best to try to follow along with you here again.

Definitely CIP #2 for you. I think you can even self refer. Do you have a Player 2 or is it just you?

 

[Disneyonmymind]

I see a lot of people lower their CL on their cards. I know a few of mine have $30K CL's. Is it advisable to lower them? I am assuming it increases your credit score or chances of getting approved for a card? Experian had my credit rating at 816 today, it was lowered 6 points because I applied for the Amex bonvoy card.

My CSR was 36K and I lowered it to 10K. My credit score dropped as a result - 9 points if I remember correctly. But I figured it was necessary because I also have other high CL cards and my total CL was getting high. I decided to do them one at a time starting with the CSR because it was the highest CL. However, AMEX just increased my SPG CL ,without asking, and gave me 28K on the Hilton biz. Chase just approved my CIP and the card should be here tomorrow so I will see what the CL is.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I am presently at 3/24 but my last 2 credit cards that I opened were Chase Disney Rewards cards. I opened one that gave me $250 but then got a pre-approved application for another one for a $200 gc and I signed my 15 year old daughter as an au and got another $50 gc. Stupidly, I cancelled the one within the first year that had a annual fee because I figured I don't need both. The next card I want to apply for is CIP. I am wondering if I should use the chase ddisney card I have more before trying to apply. Do you think chase will use my cancellation of the card against me? Also, is it possible for CIP to go back to the 100K points instead of the 80K points they have now?

Chase does not seem to hold cancelling cards against you like Amex does....they seem to look at time in between applications and credit limits you have with Chase...so if your CLs are close to 50% of household income...you could reduce them to try in increase your chances of an auto approval

In your situation I’d apply for the CIP....the 100k has not been around for about a year...and if you apply now you can apply for your next Chase card sooner

 

[Disneyonmymind]

On the subject of credit lines, I am thinking I will PC my CSP to a no fee Freedom card. Will the high CL carry over to the new card, or will they lower it?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

All,

I’ve spent the past week reading the original board. You all rock! I made it up to page 185 and wanted to move on over here to check out the recent news. Thank you for all of your stories and advice. Like many of you, I wish I’d read this before I recently upgraded and got some new cards. I got hooked into this hobby by staying at the Hotel Indigo in Anaheim and getting the IHG Select card years ago. I then got the CSR and paid for our wedding in Cancun with the card and used the points for our honeymoon in Europe. I now see that I didn’t necessarily make the best use of the points as I directly utilized the UR portal as opposed to travel partners. Anyways, here’s what I have and here’s some questions I have about the best new cards to utilize for my future travel:

2019:
Feb - Amex Gold
Feb - Freedom
Feb - Upgraded to Southwest Priority from Premier - no bonus - had the prior card for 8 years and have never canceled it and got the bonus again - that’s a learning experience

2018:
June - Amex Platinum

2017:
August - DiscoverIt
June - Freedom Unlimited

2016:
Feb - CSR
June - IHG Select

Smith’s is our local grocery store and next month they stop accepting Visa credit cards so that’s why I got the Amex Gold. I then plan on using the Freedom @ Costco during the rotating quarter. I alternate CSR and Amex Gold for restaurants. Amex Platinum and CSR are then both used for booking travel. Freedom Unlimited is for everything else.

I live in Vegas, if you can’t tell by my name so Southwest is the primary airline I fly. Here are some questions I have;

1) Now that I’ve missed out on the bonus for the personal Southwest premier card for this year does it make sense to go ahead and try for the Southwest business now so I can go for CP again in 2 years?

2) Or is there potentially more value in going for CIP as opposed to a Southwest business card? We’ve got a newborn so I don’t anticipate traveling to WDW for at least a year or two. Southwest and Frontier are the only airlines flying nonstop from Vegas to MCO that I’m aware of.

3) Hotel wise we’re all over the place but I utilize the IHG Select frequently. This fall we’re going on a Viking River Cruise. I’ve already got a room in Amsterdam taken care of via IHG but I haven’t done so in Basel. With the current offer on Marriott Bonvoy I’m debating going for that. Make sense? Although I’m not intrigued with the Radisson Rewards card based on @calypso726’s experience in Europe. Although I haven’t read enough to determine if the new Club Carlson card is a good deal. What do you think?

4) Domestic flying I have a bit of a condrum. I fly to Maine and Kentucky each 1-2x a year, and California at least 4x a year. Southwest goes to all destinations but I’m intrigued with springing for 1st class. I could fly to Cincinnati via Delta in 1st to get to Kentucky and occasionally to California via delta. With respect to Maine, Skyscanner says our best option is American Airlines or Southwest. It seems to me based on my various destinations, going for the CP with SW is the best bet. Do you recommend any alternative card for domestic travel or another card for international travel?

5) My wife is an AU on the Amex Gold, CSR and Freedom Unlimited. She also has her own Southwest card. I suppose I could have her cancel her card and order Southwest and the business card for her? The difficulty is that we made her an AU on three cards this year.

Thanks! I look forward to joining the discussion!

Hi and Welcome
It looks like your 5/24 right now...with one card dropping off in June...4/24 and another in August
So you can’t apply for the CIP or any Chase card now.....once your at 4/24 you can apply for it.
If your going to apply for a card now...I’d suggest a Amex business card since it wouldn’t affect your 5/24 stats