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

[Alexle2007]

I can officially say I have never seen SNL. For whatever reason, it is just not my type of thing.

 

[amalone1013]

I can see my Chase Savings bonus is pending. Hurry up and post so I can move the funds where they will earn better interest. Then I'll just move $500 in and out for the next 3 months until I can close the account.

Curious how you are moving it in and out? For the DD requirement to keep it fee free? I just got DHs account opened Sunday night.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I can officially say I have never seen SNL. For whatever reason, it is just not my type of thing.

me neither

 

[speedyfishy]

Called Amex to make sure my cash advance limit was 0 because I’m going to play around and see if I can get money orders with a credit card at any stores near me. They guy on the phone said I was doing a great job with the points that I’m almost at half a million and that’s $50,000. LOL. Where can I cash out for that?

Update: not Giant or Walmart lol

 

[disneymagicgirl]

@SouthFayetteFan here is a price comparison for you. My points posted for my first AA biz, so I was playing around...

5/22-29
WDW sun and fun POFQ RV $1953.13
aavacations with car 242,900 points
use aamiles hotel only 270,600 points

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Still cash! My points never reappeared, and the credit is still there offsetting other charges. I thought about calling to get the points back, but decided I'd rather have the credit, so I never followed up. Seems like it works.

Yeeessss. I'm off to book a fake stay at 1:1 value then so I can cancel it. Whoohoo!

 

[afan]

I want to make sure we are in a safe part of town, but a short drive (20 mins or less) to the Seattle Port.

A 20 min or less drive is very subjective here, all depends on the time of day. The best idea I can give you is to figure out what you want to do while here and then find places that are near/would work with those things and then ask if the location is ok.

I personally wouldn't stay in Pioneer Square, adjacent maybe, but that's because most of what I would want to do is more downtown and I'd prefer to walk.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I know this can be controversial so that’s why I didn’t mention it! The Renaissance is definitely a lot more difficult because everyone has to have their room key scanned (including all kids!) to get on the boat over to the Renaissance private island. But the Stellaris wasn’t a big deal at all. They did ask for all our names at check in but after that it wasn’t a problem at all. We just travel with an air mattress and the room had plenty of space and nobody ever asked us about it. When you rent a palapa you just have to enter 4 guests. There aren’t any wristbands or anything like that. It is hard to travel as a family of 5. But it was pretty great!!

You guys are making me spill all my secrets! We only went over on our second day. I had requested another key when I got separated from my family the day before but that inactivated all our other keys. So I got the original 4 re-activated and then I took the kids over in the morning to see the flamingos (kids are only allowed on the flamingo beach from 9-10) while my DH checked us out from the hotel and then he let them know his key (the extra key) wasn’t working and so they activated that one (we didn’t need keys anymore because we were now on the island and checked out of our room). We weren’t sure if DH was going to make it over and we went into it being ok with that.

Thank you! Dang, you are good at this! ha!
I wanted the renaissance since it has the suites. I'm going to have to ponder this. Is the only beach the flamingo one?

 

[amcc]

I posted a little while back talking about how I’ve actually been out of the game for awhile. I just haven’t had the energy to manage apps and spends and points so have just been relying on my go to cards.

However, I’m in the process of buying my first house! I’m thrilled and terrified lol. That said I will be doing some renovations immediately. Are there any cards particularly good for this kind of spend? I know the Home improvement stores will offer 0% financing on their cards.

Anybody done this to maximize rewards? Not sure if I should just pick 4-5 cards and go for the best sign-up bonuses to pad my rewards accounts or if there’s a better way to maximize spending from Home Depot/Lowe’s etc.

TIA!!

Ibotta keeps sending me emails about Pay with Ibotta. You link your cards, then at the register, enter on Ibotta the amount you need to pay, and then scan a QR? Code. It gives 3% back. I haven’t tried it but plan to next time I’m in a qualifying store.

My aviator card got me group 5 boarding today while my coworkers got group 9 and had their rolly bags taken away. That alone was worth the $99 annual fee.

How does it work? Did you book the tickets on the card or did you just flash the card?

Only reason I got a costco membership was for the car rentals, has saved me at least 3x the membership fees on car rentals alone and the 2nd driver is a great perk. When I got my costco membership I was like, I'm never going to use this except for the rentals, but I end up going at least a couple times a month and it isn't that convenient for me. Gas is the cheapest in my area, and organic produce is typically a good price. Also best price on bottled water.

So sorry for your loss, . Always the best to keep busy, and working on the CC plans are the best! So many options!

Does Costco do international rentals?

After the Norwegian Air - Chase portal non-starter, I booked flights to Munich for the 6 of us. I paid $50 on my CSR in case that’s necessary for the travel coverage then I paid for seats on 3 of the 4 legs for under $200. Now to find ways to lower the cost of Airbnb somehow probably discounted gift cards? And a rental car that fits 6 with some luggage.

So excited!!

 

[BamaBoy]

Just a quick SW DP on flight changes. Had flights from ATL to OAK booked for a couple of months for Mid-June. Received an e-mail from SW Saturday night that flights had been changed. Original flights were ATL to Phoenix, plane change with an hour plus layover, then on to OAK. The change was flight leaving an hour earlier, stop in Houston (no plane change), and then on to OAK. Return non-stop from OAK to ATL was unchanged.

Overall can't complain, but flight leaves ATL at 5:25 our time (Central). That means leaving the house at 1:30 a.m. after emceeing a Hall of Fame induction that night. Maybe 2 hours of sleep and then going through 4 time zones-fun times! What a way to start a vacation!

 

[bernina]

Does Costco do international rentals?

Yes, at least as of 2016 when I booked a rental out of Heathrow.

 

[bernina]

The only issue with this churning business is that my budget app (YNAB or You Need A Budget) won’t let me add any additional banking connections It seems to think 25 separate bank logins is sufficient...

 

[wanderlust7]

Ibotta keeps sending me emails about Pay with Ibotta. You link your cards, then at the register, enter on Ibotta the amount you need to pay, and then scan a QR? Code. It gives 3% back. I haven’t tried it but plan to next time I’m in a qualifying store.


How does it work? Did you book the tickets on the card or did you just flash the card?


Does Costco do international rentals?

After the Norwegian Air - Chase portal non-starter, I booked flights to Munich for the 6 of us. I paid $50 on my CSR in case that’s necessary for the travel coverage then I paid for seats on 3 of the 4 legs for under $200. Now to find ways to lower the cost of Airbnb somehow probably discounted gift cards? And a rental car that fits 6 with some luggage.

So excited!!

They do. But for Europe, I'm finding Auto Europe cheaper.

 

[1st*toright]

The only issue with this churning business is that my budget app (YNAB or You Need A Budget) won’t let me add any additional banking connections It seems to think 25 separate bank logins is sufficient...

Oh no! OK, I'm not at 25 yet. If you have 3 accounts with one bank (say, an Amex Plat, Green and co-branded all in one login), does that count as 3 accounts or 1? There is no way I could manage all this without YNAB, so its a concern! What about if you're running more than one budget?

 

[Brian4891]

Wife's CIP #1 met MSR on 4/11. SUB shows as pending today 4/16.

Also, her account never showed one of those new spending tracker bar graphs that show how much you have left until you meet the MSR. It did not show up at all for the past two months that she had the card. But now that she met the MSR, it does show up and is full and says your points are on the way.

Just thought I would share. Thanks everyone for the great info.

 

[Tikitoi]

I’m going to try and catchup but haven’t been around since my Mom passed away suddenly and is with Dad in Heaven.
She was 91, still living on her own in the house we grew up in...she was blessed with a long, healthy life and was exactly where she wanted to be at home so for that we are grateful.

So glad I had plenty of SW points and was able to fly my son on them vs a $1,100 airline ticket

So sorry for your loss

Need to make sure I'm not wearing the same thing to meet a character that I've already worn before.

This is me because I love taking pictures. This is why I always go shopping before a vacation. Gotta have new outfits.

 

[bernina]

Oh no! OK, I'm not at 25 yet. If you have 3 accounts with one bank (say, an Amex Plat, Green and co-branded all in one login), does that count as 3 accounts or 1? There is no way I could manage all this without YNAB, so its a concern! What about if you're running more than one budget?

Each bank/login ID combination counts as 1 connection, regardless of how many accounts you have with that bank.

All of the bank bonuses I’ve done are probably what’s putting me over the top. My solution is to disconnect accounts that don’t require much management (I still manually enter transactions).

You can create multiple budgets and get a new set of 25 but for now having a few as manual seems to be working for me. I unlinked my retirement accounts too and just manually monitor and reconcile every few months.

 

[amalone1013]

Just for fun... Universal 2 day P2P ticket 1 adult
Sam's $274
UCT $281
Uni Website $304

Kennedy Space Center
Sam's $51.50
KSC Website $67 ($57+$3 tax+$6 fee, only one fee per order)

 

[Alexle2007]

Curious how you are moving it in and out? For the DD requirement to keep it fee free? I just got DHs account opened Sunday night.

I am plan to try my CU checking acct since that means to work with WF without any issue. I don't think it is a "fee free" issue though for the savings. I think it is more about maintaining the terms which was $10k for 3 months and then I could reduce it to $1.5k with a monthly $500 deposit. (I hope I have the terms correct since I am tired of only earning $.22.)

 

[Alexle2007]

Just for fun... Universal 2 day P2P ticket 1 adult
Sam's $274
UCT $281
Uni Website $304

Kennedy Space Center
Sam's $51.50
KSC Website $67 ($57+$3 tax+$6 fee, only one fee per order)

Their SeaWorld tickets are also a very good price. The 3 day (SW, Aquatica, BG) is a very good deal. The Daily Deals for 2 day is better than Sam's but if we wanted to do 3 days, Sam's is better.