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

[georgina]

I love to camp! Two years ago I had a week at Boardwalk in a studio a couple nights at the Sand key in Clearwater, and we finished it off with 2 nights in a tent at Fort Wilderness. Something ate me alive but didn't touch my friend and I was completely miserable. I will go again, but it will be in a hard sided camper of some sort.

I grew up tent camping, it was the only vacation my parents could afford. We have a pop-up, and I think my kids' favorite Disney trips were the 2 summers we drove to WDW and camped at FW. (The pop-up has air conditioning). We took it to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, Acadia in Maine, the beach. Now it's just DH and I, it doesn't get used as much, we are thinking of selling it.

I have been following the vacation discussions. DH and I worked at a traditional company, 2 weeks to start, 3 weeks after 5 years, 4 weeks after 20 years. My DD1 started at a consulting company in 2012 with 6 weeks. She is on track to make partner if she wants, and they have a mandatory retirement at age 62 for partners! DD2 works for a tech start-up in San Francisco that is growing rapidly, she has the unlimited vacation days, and they did tell her most people take on average 3 weeks. It is also a place that provides 3 meals a day on-site, and she can stroll in at 10 AM and leave at 6 PM if she wants. She will be taking off to go to Burning Man in August!

 

[Lain]

But will the inquiry?

AFAIK, issuers don’t do hard pulls on AUs when being added to a card.

 

[jujubiee4]

Have not sailed Princess or used the Princess offer. But I would think it works the same as when the offer is for World's Leading Cruise Lines (Carnival, Princess, etc) or NCL. In those cases, you can use the offer when you book the cruise, either direct or through a TA (as long as the payment is to the cruise line). You can also use it when you make payments on the cruise. If you have the offer on multiple cards, you can do a whole lot of stacking.

Thanks. I wonder if Costco Travel is considered a travel agent?

 

[Sarah_B]

I got a lovely offer from Plastiq that if I spend $100,000 for 6 months in a row they'll lower my fee from 2.5% to 2%

Soooo.. If anyone here is casually chatting on a Disboards forum about ways to save money but also insanely wealthy -- plastiq has a deal for you.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

PSA for all of us just getting into this game....

Keep track of your dates, offers, and take screenshots. (I know @SouthFayetteFan recommends this often, too!)

I upgraded my Hhonors Aspire to the Ascend with a 150,000 Hilton Honors point bonus if I spent $4000 in 3 months. I did so. I've never had problems (that I know of) with the points posting correctly. I was waiting for the points to deposit and chatted with Amex....the rep said there is no such promotion on your account. I escalated the concern further to their "special marketing department." They then reported back about 10 days later that there were no such promotions on my account. I started thinking I was a bit crazy...maybe the offer was only on my DH's Ascend account. Nope---found an email with the offer listed for my account. Whew! I'm on the phone now trying to get this resolved.

I wish I would have taken a screen shot of the offer in my Amex offers list. I've never had a problem though, so I didn't think I really needed to be that dilligent about it. I'm glad I have the email, and I hope that it's resolved quickly with this phone call---though I'm not holding my breath!

ETA: The rep just came back on the phone and said that there is no such 150,000 bonus offer; the most recent one was from last year. "So, I'm sorry mam, but there are no bonus poitns." I stated that I have proof, and I'm assuming that most people who uprgraded using this offer aren't aware that there is an issue if AMEX is stating that there is no promotion going on at this time.

I could even prove this now with the offer listed on my DH's card!

ME...when somebody says they are playing the game but don’t have a spreadsheet to track everything:

 

[DrFacilier]

PSA for all of us just getting into this game....

Keep track of your dates, offers, and take screenshots. (I know @SouthFayetteFan recommends this often, too!)

I upgraded my Hhonors Aspire to the Ascend with a 150,000 Hilton Honors point bonus if I spent $4000 in 3 months. I did so. I've never had problems (that I know of) with the points posting correctly. I was waiting for the points to deposit and chatted with Amex....the rep said there is no such promotion on your account. I escalated the concern further to their "special marketing department." They then reported back about 10 days later that there were no such promotions on my account. I started thinking I was a bit crazy...maybe the offer was only on my DH's Ascend account. Nope---found an email with the offer listed for my account. Whew! I'm on the phone now trying to get this resolved.

I wish I would have taken a screen shot of the offer in my Amex offers list. I've never had a problem though, so I didn't think I really needed to be that dilligent about it. I'm glad I have the email, and I hope that it's resolved quickly with this phone call---though I'm not holding my breath!

Thanks. I have not started to do this but your cautionary tale is making me think I will from now on. Good luck!

ETA I keep dates but not screenshots of the SUBs.

 

[Lain]

ME...when somebody says they are playing the game but don’t have a spreadsheet to track everything:

And those who don’t use proper grammar.

 

[DrFacilier]

ME...when somebody says they are playing the game but don’t have a spreadsheet to track everything:

I have a very basic spreadsheet. Is there somewhere I can get a copy of a good one?

 

[wed100105]

ME...when somebody says they are playing the game but don’t have a spreadsheet to track everything:

I have a spreadsheet, but I don't include screenshots on it. I'm glad that I never clean out my inbox though!

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Thanks. I wonder if Costco Travel is considered a travel agent?

Yes it is That's who we used for our Alaska Princess cruise.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I have a spreadsheet, but I don't include screenshots on it. I'm glad that I never clean out my inbox though!

lol me too---I found something last night in my inbox (from 2 years ago) that dh was looking for!

 

[Judique]

Check to see if your personal Amex charge cards are targeted for the 10k MR Pay Over Time offer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/bmie87/discussion_thread_may_09_2019/emxkudz/

Previous recent links were for only business charge cards.

P.S. The OP is a reputable r/churning contributor.

This link shows my Rose Gold as enrolled. I've been waiting for an offer. Guess someone clicked it on for me. couldn't figure how to get my card out of it.

So my DD texts me this morning that she received good news and got a scholarship to a 2 week summer thing in Australia. She had mentioned wanting to do it earlier and I just ignored it but now that she got the scholarship I really think she is serious. So she wants to fly home from Africa, be home less than a week then fly to Australia. Oy Btw @Judique she put up 2 posts this week if you didn't see. She was flattered to have a fan. She doesn't think her friends are even reading it.

I've already read them both. Hope she blogs about Australia!

 

[wanderlust7]

Thanks. I wonder if Costco Travel is considered a travel agent?

Sure, the charge will come from Princess and the offer should work. I'd recommend checking Cruise Compete first. Have had luck getting a lower price than Costco.

 

[Mopedmom1]

This sounds like a great deal. We're looking into booking a Cruise as well. So definitely saving my UR's. We wanted to do the Oasis but we also want to go to Cuba. Unfortunately Oasis doesn't do Cuba so we may have to look elsewhere. But would love to hear about your experience on the Oasis.

We were recently looking at cruises to Cuba but given all the travel uncertainty there we switched to a Mexican Riviera cruise. A few days later I saw that Chase would not allow you to use UR for Cuban cruises. Still googling and will post if I can come up with the source.

ETA: Maybe call Chase Travel to confirm before you get too far into the planning process. 1.866.234.7350

 

[Natgridenergy]

I got a lovely offer from Plastiq that if I spend $100,000 for 6 months in a row they'll lower my fee from 2.5% to 2%

Soooo.. If anyone here is casually chatting on a Disboards forum about ways to save money but also insanely wealthy -- plastiq has a deal for you.

Me too. I actually laughed out loud reading it.

 

[Calfan]

I messaged Barclays to match the new AA Biz offer a couple of days ago. I just got an email that they have replied, but when I go into my account, under messages, there is nothing there. Not my message or their message back to me :-(

I got the same thing. Go under the "services" tab on the left and then "view all service requests" under Communications and you should see your message and theirs. It's kind a weird place to put it but that's where I found mine.

Thanks, I did look there before and nothing. But's is there now. They have forwarded for review for a match.
Issue, I don't current have an employee card, should I add one now, and will it hit his credit report if I do? And then make a purchase?

I had the same thing happen to me. Took me several tries before I found the response to my SM under "View All Service Requests." Got the same general response that they have forwarded for review for a match. We'll see. I haven't ordered an employee card yet pending the response on whether I'd be eligible.

I got a lovely offer from Plastiq that if I spend $100,000 for 6 months in a row they'll lower my fee from 2.5% to 2%

Soooo.. If anyone here is casually chatting on a Disboards forum about ways to save money but also insanely wealthy -- plastiq has a deal for you.

I got this to and had very similar thoughts.....

Also just to add a couple more DPs, both of the Plastiq payments I made recently using the CIP (one on mine and one on DH's) did receive 3x UR. So glad this is back (at least for now)!

 

[elgerber]

I had the same thing happen to me. Took me several tries before I found the response to my SM under "View All Service Requests." Got the same general response that they have forwarded for review for a match. We'll see. I haven't ordered an employee card yet pending the response on whether I'd be eligible.
)!

Doesn't look like they ask for a social, so I figure it should be harmless to ask for one? In case they don't reply? Pretty sure I have read people have never gotten an answer but the points just show up later?

 

[Lain]

This link shows my Rose Gold as enrolled. I've been waiting for an offer. Guess someone clicked it on for me. couldn't figure how to get my card out of it.

IIRC, you signed up for the Rose Gold after that product was revamped last October. Part of that revamp included automatic enrollment in Pay Over Time, which you can see on the Gold product page under Payment Flexibility.

You can chat with an Amex rep and ask to unenroll your card from the Pay Over Time program. That should open you up to future offers.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I have a very basic spreadsheet. Is there somewhere I can get a copy of a good one?

Hopefully this will be helpful:
@SouthFayetteFan 's churning spreadsheet headers!


The top one is the headers on my Credit Card Spreadsheet:

• Credit Card = name of card starting with ISSUER (i.e. CHASE Disney Rewards)
• Acct = last 4 of acct (or 5 w/ amex)
• Person = My name or My Wife (although I keep a separate table for each of us so this probably isn't necessary, lol)
• AU = last 4 of AU card if I added one
• Date Applied = actually is the date approved but I never renamed it
• Date Cancelled = Empty unless I cancelled the card
• Annual Fee = the AF amount
• Annual Bonus = any bonus you get annually for keeping the card open
• Signup Bonus = what I earned or will earn from the signup
• Min Spend = the MSR I reached
• Bonus Received = the date the bonus posted (for Chase cards I make this the stmt close date, not the day they go pending)
• Bonus Value = the monetary value of the bonus (typically including the base points and any other 1st year credits that go along with the card)
• % Return = Bonus Value divided by MSR
• Notes = Misc. Notes on how I valued things and such
• Ongoing Rewards Value = any bonus categories of interest that this card had

The bottom one is the headers on my Loyalty programs tracking sheet

• Program = Southwest, Marriott, Ultimate Rewards, American Airlines, etc.
• Person = my name or my wife (I keep these all in the same table sorted by program)
• Points = number of points in the account (often a formula where I'm subtracting any points I have "pending use" but didn't actually complete the flight or stay yet
• Last Activity = last time points posted (only if there is an expiration date with the program)
• Expiration = a formula based on last activity of when my points will expire (or N/A if they don't expire)
• As Of = the last time I logged in and checked my balance on this program
• Approx. Value = my valuation of those points based on how I probably will use them
• Notes = Misc. Notes on how I valued the points and other things I may want to track
• Membership ID = my loyalty number

EDIT: I also have a separate spreadsheet of screenshots of every offer I apply for...it's quick/easy to take a screenshot and paste it there showing the bonus on the application before I submit it!

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

And those who don’t use proper grammar.

What about SUB????