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

[afan]

Cannot even believe the magical agency thread is still open!! What is this board coming to!?!

Because our board doesn't have a mod, shh... I don't think they pay as much attention unless something gets reported.

I did not need to see this! Don't these *&$%#@! stupid banks know I am trying to get back under 5/24!!!! Looks like I'm gonna be doing some mathing this weekend to find out if Plane Princess and I may or may not be getting a second Alaska card each.

Check the language of the offer because back in the fall they changed it to 24 months for the bonus and took everyone's churning of the card away. Made me happy I'd apped a couple months before the change.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Our CFA pays less than McD's. Not sure about Wendy's. I know the training at CFA is pretty customer focused. My dd18 applied for the DCP and got a chance to talk with a recruiter for Disney as well as former VP for MK and both stressed her CFA training was a major asset to Disney since they use similar models for training employees.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I totally notice the difference!! The pay at CFA is less but the training is better. By far. I absolutely think CFA does a better job training their employees. Which is why Disney says they use the same model. My dd just finished up her last day at CFA this past monday and starts tomorrow at an aquarium (good for a biology major) but I hope it doesn't come back to bite her in her DCP dreams. Everyone at Disney she spoke to said having worked at CFA was very, very good for Disney experience.

Still catching up after you guys had a busy night and I've been away from my desk this morning! Just wanted to say that my husband's line of work is actually in employee training and he is OBSESSED with how CFA and Disney train their employees. I actually bought him some books for Christmas the other year about CFA's and Disney's training models. Disney offers a lot of conferences on how they train their employees and their management style, but the conferences are suuuuuper expensive. I'll be honest, I think a lot of the reason DH likes going to Disney is because he knows the quality of service he's going to receive there. I know that Disney doesn't always treat its employees super well, but I think we would all agree that they provide a level of customer service that is a cut above the rest.

 

[usakiwi]

Have much would the tax deduction be? If we use 33% - the fee for using Plastiq would be $251 ($15,000 * 2.5% * 67%). Would you pay $251 for 22,500 UR or 30,000 Cap One points?

There is no "right" answer. Only what's right for you.

Right. So, that’s the thing! I think really it’s all pretty much a wash or some small gain. With the UR points transferred to my CSR it would be 33,000 UR or 30,000 Cap One like you said. The Cap One is easy to figure because that is $300 worth for paying $251. Without having an exact goal for the UR that one is foggier to really get a decent idea of what the point value would be, but could definitely be the more beneficial one. Cap One “points” or whatever they are called are more versatile for travel I’m thinking now that UR site has changed a bit. So I guess it doesn’t really matter all that much.

Maybe I’ll just spread the spend around, or some other situation will arise (promo on Plastiq perhaps??!!) to push it one way or the other.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything glaringly obvious but I don’t think I am. Thanks for the help!

 

[amalone1013]

I'll be honest, I think a lot of the reason DH likes going to Disney is because he knows the quality of service he's going to receive there. I know that Disney doesn't always treat its employees super well, but I think we would all agree that they provide a level of customer service that is a cut above the rest.

My DH too. He's even told me that he's now scared to try another cruise line because of Disney service.

 

[snugglebug]

OK this is not good.

I made a $5,000 Plastiq payment to a contractor on 5/8. The points are now showing as only 1X in my UR recent activity.

This exact same account is also showing a $50 payment made on 5/6 still at 3X.

Did I exceed some kind of limit with the $5,000 or did something just change overnight? Any DPs of Plastiq payments posting today 5/10???

I'll be another DP. Payment on 5/8 has posted at 1x.

 

[WVMomof3]

The pizza talk and the love/hate of Papa Johns cracks me up. I actually like it. I don’t really like NY style thin pizza. We have several local stores that only sell this kind and it’s definitely not my 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice. That said we have another local place that has really delicious pizza I love and it actually is the closest place to us, we live way out from anything but this place is very close. But the frugal side of me doesn’t like to order it often. But you definitely get what you pay for. My kids always get to pick their birthday meal and DS’s pick is always Papa Johns. Every year. So this year I am once again getting Papa John’s for Mother’s Day. Lol He turns 17 tomorrow.

 

[vanjust14]

So I know what some of you were saying when you wondered how mother/child trips happen without DH feeling left out. I've been getting the hints that he is happy for me but sad he won't be there. Plus with DD being 3, she doesn't get why daddy wouldn't be there. sigh. So I'm going to wait on the mother daughter trip until she's a bit older, and DH is coming for Memorial Day weekend. Luckily I have points to grab him a flight ( with RR's) and ticket (with Citi points) today.
$0 oop but boy these points just keep flying out of my accounts. Time to get more I guess!

 

[afan]

That is odd, that's so not like a CFA. We actually know a couple of the local CFA owners and although they are crazy busy, its not the money making opportunity that you would think it is for being as busy as they are. I was actually eating with my daughter one day and in the next booth they were doing interviews. I texted the owner and told him that if he didn't hire the guy they were interviewing then I was going to break in and tell him to come to my company for a job. He was a good young man and I also liked that they were asking him real scenario questions not the BS "Tell me a situation in which you had to influence others" that our HR asks. They seemed more like they wanted to get to know the person because, after all, if you're not a nice person, you're not going to fit in with the team, no matter how well you can answer HR questions.

I can't eat it all the time either as my stomach does not like it as much as my tastebuds so I'm glad that they are branching out into salads and such. I'm with you on the sweets, thats my vice!

I follow chef Michael Simon from the chew and iron chef on twitter and he tweeted yesterday that they look for someone that will fit in at the restaurant because they can teach someone to cook. Seems like this was the same type of thought being done and what should be done more often everywhere. You can see if someone has the skills or not from their resume and references but you can't tell personality ans with the awful questions used you still can't. I wish they'd just do interviews as more of a conversation and allow the tangents etc because those are always more comfortable.

 

[WVMomof3]

More bad news this morning.

I got an email from Amex that a new replacement card is coming for my SPG Lux. The metal Bonbon Brilliant. The worst part:

Your existing Card will be deactivated
You will receive your new Card within the next several days. You may continue to use your existing Card until your new Card arrives, however as a security measure, your current Card will be deactivated soon afterward.

I'm going to chat with Amex to see if I can keep my purple card.

Tagging @tink1970, @MKTokyo, @DisneyMandC, @GZanta77, @kmc8826, @Judique and everyone else partial to purple.

Was you card expiring? That would be consistent with what Marriott told me, that I would get a replacement card with new branding only when my current card was about to expire and then I wouldn’t be able to use the old one. I am hoping that’s the case. DD has my Marriott card as her only CC there and it shouldn’t expire anytime soon. She does have her Schwab Debit card but no other CC so hoping they don’t just randomly send me a new card.

 

[AmyAnne]

I finally decided to join the AA train since I "need" an MSR and am trying to get back under 5/24 (and trying not to hit AmEx too hard). I'm not sure exactly what I will do with a bunch of AA miles but it seems like the best non-Chase, non-AmEx business card option.

Instant approval with a ridiculous CL -- do I need to lower that before I apply for another one? Which is in 95 days, correct?

 

[WVMomof3]

Right. So, that’s the thing! I think really it’s all pretty much a wash or some small gain. With the UR points transferred to my CSR it would be 33,000 UR or 30,000 Cap One like you said. The Cap One is easy to figure because that is $300 worth for paying $251. Without having an exact goal for the UR that one is foggier to really get a decent idea of what the point value would be, but could definitely be the more beneficial one. Cap One “points” or whatever they are called are more versatile for travel I’m thinking now that UR site has changed a bit. So I guess it doesn’t really matter all that much.

Maybe I’ll just spread the spend around, or some other situation will arise (promo on Plastiq perhaps??!!) to push it one way or the other.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything glaringly obvious but I don’t think I am. Thanks for the help!

I don’t remember, did you do the $10k Plastic promo? Just making sure you didn’t miss that since it would give you so many fee free dollars.

 

[miztressuz]

Ughhhhhhh, just got CIP #2 in the mail yesterday

Sorry, everyone, my bad. I'm ready and able to apply and thought it was great that Plastiq came back so I could pay my property taxes without the fee. I thought it so the universe had to shut it down. Apologies.

 

[orangecuse]

Pizza- worst pizza of my life was my time in NY hahaha (state though, not the city). I like saucy, thick crust, low grease. I’m a southerner though so low bar here for pizza or bagels. Having some bbq chicken for lunch

SO We pulled the trigger on some card action over here!

1. P1 (me) auto approved for Hilton Ascend w/ 150,000 point bonus offer. Oddly they didn’t tell me a CL so I will have to log in not from my phone later and look for it.

2. P2 (DH) auto approved for Barclay Arrival Plus w/ 70,000 point bonus offer. 12,500 CL. He texted me about to fall off his chair. Our total CL across both old cards was under 10k hahaha

We are still both 1/24 so fine for Chase once we clean up these MSRs. Husband really wanted to research and chose Barclay first because of the recommendation toward ease of use w/ cruising over the UR from Chase.

Also calling BOA today to see about a very small CLI to get our visa up to a signature. I last had this increased like uh...7 years ago? A long time haha Husband is supposed to call the Credit Union to see about a PC to the cash back card for them (no sign up and we won’t use it a ton but uts a flat 2% and we just have their plain card now).

However a question (ugh of course haha)

1. If Barclaycard is still a 70k+ point offer in a few months should I go for this and P2 for Hilton? I don’t think either of these are combinable so not sure there is a huge value over doubling skipping to Chase next for us but wanted to check.

2. Speaking of BOA- I assume if I PC I wouldn’t hit any sign up bonus yes? If no bonus I’ll leave this as the cash back card for now for simplicity sake.

 

[amalone1013]

Ok, now I'm debating the Busch Gardens/Sea World ticket deal... BG was on my radar for it originally but thinking now, I know DH would like to do SW Orlando. So do I do 1 day or 2 days? I mean, 2 day tickets would make for an okay weekend trip right? Especially during off season when parks close earlier anyways...

 

[Haley R]

Wow I missed a lot of important things here.

Pizza-Dh likes papa john’s the most so we get that a lot. I like Casey’s which is a local place. It’s actually a chain of gas stations but their pizza is the best. I like dominoes too. I can’t stand Pizza Hut pizza.

Bagels-I’m not much of a bagel person but I do like them. We just don’t buy them at our house

Dh told me the relocation company emailed yesterday saying June is a busy time for them and they can’t find a moving company that’s available. What?! You had one job lol. They said they’re still looking but I’ll be demanding a company if it comes down to it. They offer one, so they better find one.

 

[DisneyMandC]

But we do have a few decent NY style pizza places in Richmond (including one downtown).

Ha, funnily enough we did our rehearsal dinner there! Wanted something lowkey and not fancy and we had a great time. My mom was FURIOUS about it at first. She was under the impression I was going to have some huge fancy wedding for some reason. I'm not sure why, since she wasn't paying and I was less than 8 months into my first job when I got married lol.

Ok, now I'm debating the Busch Gardens/Sea World ticket deal... BG was on my radar for it originally but thinking now, I know DH would like to do SW Orlando. So do I do 1 day or 2 days? I mean, 2 day tickets would make for an okay weekend trip right? Especially during off season when parks close earlier anyways...

Oh man, I'm so glad you posted about this because I TOTALLY FORGOT!! Thankfully they aren't sold out and I just went and bought two tickets!

 

[Mopedmom1]

Just met dh 5k MSR Amex SPG Biz (I REFUSE to acknowledge what travesties have been bestowed upon this card) almost a month early, unless they can "see" the $500 gift card I purchased at a grocery store.

Don't ever buy an unusual bed size. We have a dual adjustable California King split, so basically two separate, REALLY long, skinny twin beds. Try finding bedding for them. I ordered a mite, dust, and water proof mattress cover and an additional cotton mattress cover to the tune of $252.89 including shipping from a custom bedding store.

Even though I despise 5k MSR cards I will probably go for CIP #2 for me. We need new sheets too.

 

[miztressuz]

Pizza- worst pizza of my life was my time in NY hahaha (state though, not the city). I like saucy, thick crust, low grease. I’m a southerner though so low bar here for pizza or bagels. Having some bbq chicken for lunch

SO We pulled the trigger on some card action over here!

1. P1 (me) auto approved for Hilton Ascend w/ 150,000 point bonus offer. Oddly they didn’t tell me a CL so I will have to log in not from my phone later and look for it.

2. P2 (DH) auto approved for Barclay Arrival Plus w/ 70,000 point bonus offer. 12,500 CL. He texted me about to fall off his chair. Our total CL across both old cards was under 10k hahaha

We are still both 1/24 so fine for Chase once we clean up these MSRs. Husband really wanted to research and chose Barclay first because of the recommendation toward ease of use w/ cruising over the UR from Chase.

Also calling BOA today to see about a very small CLI to get our visa up to a signature. I last had this increased like uh...7 years ago? A long time haha Husband is supposed to call the Credit Union to see about a PC to the cash back card for them (no sign up and we won’t use it a ton but uts a flat 2% and we just have their plain card now).

However a question (ugh of course haha)

1. If Barclaycard is still a 70k+ point offer in a few months should I go for this and P2 for Hilton? I don’t think either of these are combinable so not sure there is a huge value over doubling skipping to Chase next for us but wanted to check.

2. Speaking of BOA- I assume if I PC I wouldn’t hit any sign up bonus yes? If no bonus I’ll leave this as the cash back card for now for simplicity sake.

Congrats on the auto-approvals! For Hilton you can do points pooling, so getting him a card at some point would be useful. As for Barclay's, AFAIK you'd have to split the charges you'd want to erase between the two cards. If you're looking to erase a cruise reservation you could make multiple payments and split those payments between the cards.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

At any rate...has access to
Stupid story - I recently ate at some "millennial type hot spot food court thingy" on Pittsburgh's North Shore. It was after a meeting and my co-worker said let's go there. And I bought a chicken sandwich (no fries, no drink...just a fancy-ish fried chicken sandwich) for $14 from a multiple piercing, colorful hair young lady at the register. (I don't point that out to judge, it's just an honest observation - definitely had way too "hip" of a vibe for me). And I'm sitting there saying...What stupid people pay $14 for a chicken sandwich...and then I look around and there's a lot of "stupid" people paying $14 for chicken...and then I think for another minute...I'm "stupid people"!! I bought the Chicken Sandwich... So are businesses charging more because we have access to capital...or are we just willing to borrow to have instagram worthy chicken sandwich experiences?? (Side Note...Arby's has a much better Chicken sandwich than this for like $3...ugh I still hate myself for my lunch choice that day)

I'm not sure I've really said anything here...haha!

This is just like my parents, and myself, though not at the same extreme as my parents. They will say, "why should we go sit down at (insert restaurant name here) and spend $40 when we can go to Zaxby's and share a large plate for under $10. I'm still full at the end of the meal either way." So there you go. Now I find myself telling DD19 the same thing as we are trying to plan our disney meals. She wants all these $60/pp TS meals and I want to have fried rice at the yak n yeti take out window for $6.

 

[amalone1013]

Oh man, I'm so glad you posted about this because I TOTALLY FORGOT!! Thankfully they aren't sold out and I just went and bought two tickets!

Yay! I decided to go with my gut and do the 2 park tickets. I figured I'd be kicking myself if we ended up doing both and had to buy a one day ticket to one of the parks, with the best price I'm seeing being $90-$95. And even if for some reason we only used 1 day, we're still saving $15-$20 off gate price...