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

[palhockeymomof2]

I can't remember. Am I the "owner" of my sole-proprietorship business? For my CIP app?

And then MY total gross annual income is my personal income, right?

Yes you are the owner....and gross annual income is personal/household(if you have a P2) income...

 

[ten6mom]

APPROVED FOR CIP#2!!!!

 

[Albort]

APPROVED FOR CIP#2!!!!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

APPROVED FOR CIP#2!!!!

Congrats

 

[ten6mom]

Do you all think it's safe to SM Chase and ask for CIP #2 to be expedited? My first one was opened two months ago.

 

[bernina]

It looks like your AA and UR stash are the biggest ones, and and the remaining MRs and Delta are probably not sufficient to get you to BCN.

I poked around a little on AA's website, which is what I've used over the years to get to Europe, but I've always needed a positioning flight to get to an AA hub like ORD, PHL, JFK, etc. I'm seeing Econ tickets 30K each direction per person plus less than $52 in fees for a roundtrip from a hub. Can you do a positioning flight or drive to get from your home airport to one of the hubs? And if you can find a nonstop flight from a hub to BCN, you could also consider using BA Avios (you can transfer MRs and URs for BA Avios 1:1) for the AA flight if the airmile distance would work out to cost less in BA Avios than AA miles. I believe it needs to be a SAAver fare in order to use Avios though, not the AAnytime fares.

.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Do you all think it's safe to SM Chase and ask for CIP #2 to be expedited? My first one was opened two months ago.

I didn’t for my second one....but see what others have done

 

[Lain]

I was going to refer DH to the Hilton biz from my Hilton Biz. However my AF just posted and I am planning to cancel. Will I get the referral points if I cancel? Or should I refer him from my Platinum instead?

If you support DH to a Hilton Biz from your Hilton Biz, you'll get a 20,000 Hilton Honors point bonus.

If you support DH to a Hilton Biz from a personal Platinum, you'll get a 15,000 MR point bonus. (The Biz Plat will get you a 20,000 MR support bonus.)

However, MR points transfer to Hilton Honors points at a 1:2 ratio, so 15,000 MR = 30,000 Hilton Honors points.

Even better, Amex often runs transfer bonuses to Hilton, targeted up to a 30-50% bonus, which means that 1,000 MR = 2,600 Hilton or 3,000 Hilton.

Because MR points are a transferrable currency, you may find better redemption value transferring MR to other partner programs.

In any case, 15,000 MR > 20,000 Hilton.

 

[Limes96]

I got an email offer today from BoA AAA Visa today. They’re offering me an extra 2x points on all my purchases from now until the end of September. This is a good deal so it’s kind of cheering me up from my Amex pop up blues. Normally I get 2% back on grocery, gas, pharmacies and big box warehouse stores with this card. So this will bump it up to 4%. When I redeem for travel using a AAA voucher through AAA I get up to an additional 1.4x on top of that. So $500 in points will get me $700 in travel or anything at AAA (luggage, memberships also). I haven’t used this card much at all lately with all the other options available to me now. But I’ll probably use this for grocery store gift cards over the next 2 months and it will save me more of my $6,000 BCP limit to use this fall/early winter.

 

[Lain]

 

[ten6mom]

I didn’t for my second one....but see what others have done

I wouldn't. Avoid the risk of eyes on your account.

It should arrive next week anyway.

Thank you... I will lay low.

I did see it's already showing on my online Chase account. Too bad they don't show me the whole account number so I can start making online purchases with it!!

So, I think that means it's time to "sock drawer" CIP#1 and then make a reminder about when to close it (in about 10 months, since I got it 5/30), is that correct?

 

[platamama]

Thank you! I think we could definitely do a positioning flight. Our home airport is Detroit.

What city were you using to find the 30K and $52 fees?

I think it was both ORD and PHL.

Also, United has something called an excursionist perk, which would allow you to go to two European cities (I think), but I don't know exactly how it works, only that you basically get a free one-way ticket in the middle of your itinerary.

I read about it here https://thriftytraveler.com/how-to-use-uniteds-excursionist-perk-to-score-a-nearly-free-flight/

 

[spacerangerqueen]

If you support DH to a Hilton Biz from your Hilton Biz, you'll get a 20,000 Hilton Honors point bonus.

If you support DH to a Hilton Biz from a personal Platinum, you'll get a 15,000 MR point bonus. (The Biz Plat will get you a 20,000 MR support bonus.)

However, MR points transfer to Hilton Honors points at a 1:2 ratio, so 15,000 MR = 30,000 Hilton Honors points.

Even better, Amex often runs transfer bonuses to Hilton, targeted up to a 30-50% bonus, which means that 1,000 MR = 2,600 Hilton or 3,000 Hilton.

Because MR points are a transferrable currency, you may find better redemption value transferring MR to other partner programs.

In any case, 15,000 MR > 20,000 Hilton.

Thank you! Platinum it is then!
I'll be honest, I've not actually used any of my 100k+ MRs other than for the Amazon deal on Prime Day so I'm not that savvy with them yet.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Thank you... I will lay low.

I did see it's already showing on my online Chase account. Too bad they don't show me the whole account number so I can start making online purchases with it!!

So, I think that means it's time to "sock drawer" CIP#1 and then make a reminder about when to close it (in about 10 months, since I got it 5/30), is that correct?

I closed mine after the second AF posted

 

[havaneselover]

I'm thinking of cashing out some MRs for an HD gift card. I can buy a decent garbage disposal and pay for installation for < $300. Much better than the $675 I was quoted yesterday ETA--yay! They are 20% off.

 

[Albort]

I'm thinking of cashing out some MRs for an HD gift card. I can buy a decent garbage disposal and pay for installation for < $300. Much better than the $675 I was quoted yesterday ETA--yay! They are 20% off.

theres some HD gift cards on sale currently at 9% off. might be worth going through that route but of course, free is free...

 

[Lain]

 

[havaneselover]

theres some HD gift cards on sale currently at 9% off. might be worth going through that route but of course, free is free...

Yes--Kroger also has 4x fuel points right plus 5% back from dosh (so I can get about 18% off). But I'm trying to conserve cash right now.

 

[tink1970]

Thank you for the reply and great info!!

I’m not positive if we’ll hit another city in Europe. Almost certain we’ll fly into BCN A few days before the cruise so I love your suggestion to book 2 one ways. This gives us a bit of time to decide our plans for post cruise (we have friends in central England we may try to meet up with).

The cruise departs July 5 so it’s getting super close to when United will allow booking for July 2-3 range which is probably what we’d do.

I was wondering if any carriers had loopholes with stop overs and open jaws still, will need to search around a bit.

Good news-United does do a free stopover but bad news-you have to book the trip all together so you'd have to wait a bit longer for the stop over and flight back.

Say you're wanting to fly Friday, June 5th from DTW to BCN (layover in EWR), that's 70k x 3; then BCN to LHR on June 13th-that's 0 miles, home to DTW from LHR on June 16th that would be 66x3= 408,000 plus $683.79 in fees.

It would definitely be cheaper if you positioned in EWR -270,000 miles and $666.99 in fees (LHR kills you on fees). If you wanted to avoid fees I'd recommend asking your friends to meet you somewhere in Europe lol.

If you flew out of ORD and didn't mind flying TAP Portugal, that would be the cheapest (miles wise) at 180,000 miles and $709 for ORD-BCN, BCN-LHR, LHR-ORD.

Anyway, hope this gives you some ideas!

It's kind of a wash (to me) whether it's worth it to do the free stop over and risk having the flight I really want when they open. Everyone is different-I know there will be lots of flights on certain routes so I'd rather get to Europe and back the way I want and then fiddle with intra Europe later but everyone is different.

Are you cruising with DCL or another line?

Do you know where you're staying in BCN?

 

[disfanforlife]

I don't do Serve either. I'd like to but we have no FD or DG anywhere around us and I avoid WM at all costs. We have the grumpiest people at our WM. I'm terrified to try anything there!

I do SB's. I've been at it since Feb 2016. I've made $3,300. I don't make as much as @havaneselover but I put very little effort into it so I can't complain. My dh and teens have accounts too. My dh has made about $1,900 and my teens almost $1,000. I've slacked off most of this year since a lot of the profitable methods have dried up.

I don't do any surveys. I never qualify and if I actually do, it never seems to credit.

We have both FD and DG in the town I shop in which is about 30 minutes from where I live ( in the boonies!) I haven’t done any research on doing serve so I don’t know what it’s about, but might read up about it for when I have more free time after summer is over.