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

[Andysol]

I saw a Tweet recently setting out how one of the miles bloggers went through 1 million miles in a year, and I thought I'd update my spreadsheet and see how many I've gone through so far this year ... wow! So far for travel that took place in 2019 (not when booked) I've used 1,439,388 miles. For travel in the first half of 2020 that I have planned ... another 770,000. I didn't break down by type, but most of them are URs & MRs (transferred to BA or VS) and Southwest RRs with few United miles.

Well done! Where all has that taken you? It's the large families that crush the points...

My RTW I mentioned earlier is actually all points. 1,473,766 so far used for that trip alone and I still need to book my inter-country flights via UR which will be a healthy chunk. 452k Hilton, 191k Hyatt, 280k Marriott, 88k Radisson, 420k MR, 42,766 UR (Hotel in Cambodia). Also a 7 night marriott cat 5 cert and a Hyatt FN cert. I still have to book Rome, and will also attach some Marriott and Hyatt Certs as I get them, so hopefully that number will level out under 2 mil.

I'm at 3,198,379 Spent for travel in 2019. 1,851,656 I've already travelled. The rest is already booked upcoming travel.
-Banff (we leave tomorrow!)
-Wife and Daughter for 10 year old b-day New York in September
-Universal/Vero Beach/Bahamas also in September
-Peru in October
-Argentina in December. Going out with a bang hiking Iguazu Falls, relaxing in the wineries of Mendoza before hiking in Patagonia for a week. Yeehaw.

 

[Lain]

So I'm new to the Ebates game, but I see that is a way to earn extra MRs. I've already signed up and made my first purchase through Saks, so hopefully I'll get the 1500 MR bonus through Rakuten, and then also the Saks credit on my Plat, will be interesting to see if that works.

Question: I travel a lot for work, and stay at Marriotts. I see that Marriott is an option on Rakuten to click through and get 1%, not great but better than nothing. My question is, does that stack with the points I'd already earn through Marriott? I'm Titanium, and wouldn't want to lose the bonus multiplier by choosing Rakuten instead, but if I get the MRs AND the Marriott points, and then get points through whatever card I use to maximize the spend, that would be amazing. Is that how it would work?

Can confirm.

If you book a room directly on Marriott through Ebates, you'll be able to earn Marriott points on your stay with a bonus based on your Elite status, Ebates MR on your room rate, and points on whatever card you use to pay (I usually use one of my Amex Bonvoy cards for the 6x points at Marriott, or whichever card has an Amex Offer for cash back from a Marriott stay).

Marriott is trending at only 1% cash/points back on Ebates these days, but Ebates ran several "Travel Thursday" promotions in the spring when Marriott and other brands were at 10% so look out for these (and it might be worth rebooking if one of these promos comes around).

ETA: Checking my Ebates activity, Ebates credited my stay at a Sheraton 10 days after checkout.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Can I request to expedite CIP through my Chase personal account since I don’t have any other Chase Biz cards?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@SouthFayetteFan when are you going to PC your wife's CSP? I remember she (you) and I are DD buddies. LOL

If my next statement closes 8/7, I assume the charge will hit 9/1, and then I have until 10/1 officially for a full refund (but @wendow had that nice DP of a full refund past 30 days).

Hey @PolyRob - I'm a jerk and never responded to this!

So here's my full plan:

1) I PCed one of my CF cards to a CSP back in March to see how long it would take the AF to post and to be able to do some easy transfers to my travel partners. Turns out the AF posted on 8/1 so it took 5 months. Also that timing makes no sense at all in relation to when I initially opened the card or when I PCed it so at this point it seems the Chase CSR is correct when they say that the AF will be charged in 1-6 billing cycles.
2) So since that AF posted on 8/1, today I called in and upgraded it to a CSR (instead of paying the $95) and I will double dip the TC and still have a 1.5x outlet. The fun part will be seeing when the $450 posts now, lol!
3) My wife already has 2 CFs. So the easy answer is that her CSR can be downgraded to a CFU once I have double dipped the TC. I think I'm going to close the CSP. She already has 11 open Chase cards and at some point I feel like I have to close some of them. I'll wait until both AFs actually post before doing any of this though in case I hit the rare retention offer. Since the cards were both opened in Aug I fully expect the AFs to show up on 9/1 and I will act quickly then.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Fun!
I am at 798,835 misc points for 2019 plus 7 round trip SW flights using my CP.
We went to CHS x3, Disney x4, Notre Dame/NHL thing, and misc kid sports travel. Pretty awesome! Looks like $10,243 saved with points usage.

ETA: I'm wishing I had been tracking my random rebate portals cashouts now. I've gotten a decent amount from them too that I just apply to my trips.

I didn't count the companion pass flights, but we had a ton of those as well. It's fun looking at it, isn't it? I've saved a lot of $$ as well, and I do keep track, but it's a little bit of pencil math as I'm calculating the costs based on what I would have spent (which is less) than the actual costs at times. In other words, if we fly first I don't put down the ridiculous cash cost of 1st since I would never pay that. I would pay a certain amount though so I put that down.

Well done! Where all has that taken you? It's the large families that crush the points...

My RTW I mentioned earlier is actually all points. 1,473,766 so far used for that trip alone and I still need to book my inter-country flights via UR which will be a healthy chunk. 452k Hilton, 191k Hyatt, 280k Marriott, 88k Radisson, 420k MR, 42,766 UR (Hotel in Cambodia). Also a 7 night marriott cat 5 cert and a Hyatt FN cert. I still have to book Rome, and will also attach some Marriott and Hyatt Certs as I get them, so hopefully that number will level out under 2 mil.

I'm at 3,198,379 Spent for travel in 2019. 1,851,656 I've already travelled. The rest is already booked upcoming travel.
-Banff (we leave tomorrow!)
-Wife and Daughter for 10 year old b-day New York in September
-Universal/Vero Beach/Bahamas also in September
-Peru in October
-Argentina in December. Going out with a bang hiking Iguazu Falls, relaxing in the wineries of Mendoza before hiking in Patagonia for a week. Yeehaw.

That is amazing!!! Very impressive numbers. You should tell that blog guy, LOL. I can't remember which blogger it was. We are a family of 4 so yes, that definitely helps. We also travel a ton.

I'm a little embarrassed but so far in 2019:
--WDW x2
--DLR: x3
--Paris DL
--London 5x
--Maui 2x (which is actually low for us--we may go in late December)
--Japan

On the books for first half of 2020 are 2 more trips to London, 2 trips to WDW, and 1 to DL.

Have an amazing time in Banff! That is on our list. @Calfan and I have hiked Patagonia (girl's trip) and it was amazing. Love travel!!

 

[WVMomof3]

Well done! Where all has that taken you? It's the large families that crush the points...

My RTW I mentioned earlier is actually all points. 1,473,766 so far used for that trip alone and I still need to book my inter-country flights via UR which will be a healthy chunk. 452k Hilton, 191k Hyatt, 280k Marriott, 88k Radisson, 420k MR, 42,766 UR (Hotel in Cambodia). Also a 7 night marriott cat 5 cert and a Hyatt FN cert. I still have to book Rome, and will also attach some Marriott and Hyatt Certs as I get them, so hopefully that number will level out under 2 mil.

I'm at 3,198,379 Spent for travel in 2019. 1,851,656 I've already travelled. The rest is already booked upcoming travel.
-Banff (we leave tomorrow!)
-Wife and Daughter for 10 year old b-day New York in September
-Universal/Vero Beach/Bahamas also in September
-Peru in October
-Argentina in December. Going out with a bang hiking Iguazu Falls, relaxing in the wineries of Mendoza before hiking in Patagonia for a week. Yeehaw.

Do you blog about your travels? Assuming that you homeschool your kids in order to travel that much or are all the trips not necessarily with kids? I see all these travels and everyone else's and the RTW ticket and think LifeGoals, then I remember that I hate flying! lol I have been able to make myself do it so far, but the thought of all the plane rides in that 54 day trip makes my anxiety through the roof! Especially thinking that some of them are probably on tiny planes. And over the ocean . Haven't been able to talk myself into that yet. I am so glad my girls are so much braver than me. They have both out traveled me.

 

[amalone1013]

On the phone with Chase trying to upgrade my Freedom to CSR again... CSR is trying to talk me into a new application for the welcome offers

 

[amalone1013]

Ok, so I don't scare anyone, my last try was just a total fluke for being told no. Maybe someone who didn't know how to do it. This time, as I finished up the call (but before hanging up), I had logged into my account on my computer before making the call... I clicked to go to the UR portal and my card already showed as a Reserve

Stats:
9/5/2017 opened card as Freedom Unlimited
4/2018 changed to regular Freedom
8/6/2019 changed to Sapphire Reserve, travel credit is immediately available, says it will reset after my statement closes in 8/2020, will watch for AF to post...

Sure, I was hoping TC would come around again sooner... but this works fine, I think... my original CSR bonus was received in 11/2016 so I will be able to use the credit again next year, then cancel and churn... I can't help but wonder a bit if I am too close to my 'original' account anniversary date and that is why my TC won't reset until 8/2020

ETA: Also semi-tempted to upgrade other Freedom card

 

[calypso726]

I feel like someone has mentioned those tickets on this thread before. @calypso726 @Andysol @Albort @gottalovepluto @CaliforniaGirl09 @Calfan @*WDW*Groupie* come to mind as those crazy enough to do it. lol

This sounds right up my alley!

 

[snugglebug]

Hm, so if that's what really caused it, it brings up a question I was researching back through the thread this week. I recalled a similar discussion going on and found @Calfan 's experience in reply to @snugglebug who was told she'd need to use middle names on the tickets.



Hubby was also just told this at his interview. We both did our GE applications to match our passports. His passport has his full middle name, but his FF accounts match his DL which is just an initial. I considered having the tickets updated to be his full middle name but then I remembered that I have my SW account with my middle initial (to match my DL, since SW insisted when they setup the account way back when) but my GE/passport has no middle name listed at all and I still get Precheck - as recently as Apr. So doesn't seem like it needs to be an exact match... or at least it hasn't needed to.

But now I'm back to hming and hawing about changing his tickets. If there was a recent change to how they choose I wouldn't think we'd all be grandfathered in but who knows? Since it took so long just to get him approved for this trip, I'd hate to check in the day before and oops! I again have preCheck and he doesn't

For our Costa Rica trip neither DH nor I had middle initial or name on our SW ticket per my email receipt from SW. Those are on our GEs and Passports. We did have pre-check.

Seems I still have boarding passes from Costa Rica lol I guess I forgot to remove them from my passport holder. Anyway, those have "TSA Pre", our names and under that is the full name.

For our upcoming trip I did not use middle initial or name so we'll see what happens.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ok, so I don't scare anyone, my last try was just a total fluke for being told no. Maybe someone who didn't know how to do it. This time, as I finished up the call (but before hanging up), I had logged into my account on my computer before making the call... I clicked to go to the UR portal and my card already showed as a Reserve

Stats:
9/5/2017 opened card as Freedom Unlimited
4/2018 changed to regular Freedom
8/6/2019 changed to Sapphire Reserve, travel credit is immediately available, says it will reset after my statement closes in 8/2020, will watch for AF to post...

Sure, I was hoping TC would come around again sooner... but this works fine, I think... my original CSR bonus was received in 11/2016 so I will be able to use the credit again next year, then cancel and churn... I can't help but wonder a bit if I am too close to my 'original' account anniversary date and that is why my TC won't reset until 8/2020

ETA: Also semi-tempted to upgrade other Freedom card

The TC actually isn't tied to your annual fee at all. It says 8/2020 because that's a year from when you upgraded (mine says the same thing - the one I PCed tonight). My card was opened originally in Nov of 2015 as a CF. I'd also venture that our AFs may not hit for a few months so your TC is now completely independent of your AF likely making it far easy to double dip.

(I'd imagine all of this is only making you further interested in PCing your other card, LOL!)

 

[amalone1013]

The TC actually isn't tied to your annual fee at all. It says 8/2020 because that's a year from when you upgraded (mine says the same thing - the one I PCed tonight). My card was opened originally in Nov of 2015 as a CF. I'd also venture that our AFs may not hit for a few months so your TC is now completely independent of your AF likely making it far easy to double dip.

(I'd imagine all of this is only making you further interested in PCing your other card, LOL!)

At least I feel less like I missed out now lol. And um yes, further interest... I mean, I could probably use 2xTCs for one AF more than 5% on this gas/streaming category

ETA: Also, just think if I had TWO TCs to use right now, and TWO more next year, coming around together... the TC version of the paired FNs between P1/P2!

 

[Lain]

I've been pretty busy over the past few days, but I've been monitoring this situation that doesn’t look good and I don't think it's been discussed here in the thread:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/gyft-no-longer-coding-as-5x-on-chase-ink-preferred-datapoints-wanted/
MtM (DoC's source for the above post) has confirmed Gyft no longer earns 3x UR with the Chase Ink Preferred, 5x UR with the Chase Ink Cash/Plus.
https://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/gyft-no-longer-earns-5x-with-chase-ink/
Seems to have happened either 7/30 or 7/31.

I guess this doesn't come as much of a surprise, after the death of 3x and/or 5x on Swych, Cashstar, PPDG, GCM, GC .com, GiftCardMart, not to mention Plastiq, Venmo, Points .com... the list goes on. It was only a matter of time.

There's still office supply stores for 5x UR on gift cards with the CIC/Ink+, but apps and online marketplaces certainly made things convenient.

Pouring one out for Gyft.

 

[ten6mom]

Still no CIP #2 in the mail. Doesn't Chase know I have money to spend?????

 

[amalone1013]

Marriott cert is extended. I feel like I'm on a roll, maybe I'll even call Barclays about my 10k AA miles for employee purchase...

 

[Andysol]

London 5x

Whoa!

What’s funny is that for everywhere I’ve traveled, I’ve never been to New York City or London! Wife has done NYC many times and doing it again with oldest for her 10th bday. So I’ll still not have that under my belt.

We’re staying at Hilton Park Lane next year. Thoughts?

Do you blog about your travels? Assuming that you homeschool your kids in order to travel that much or are all the trips not necessarily with kids?

Yes, we started homeschooling the kids last year and my wife has been loving it.

But no, we don’t blog. I don’t believe our life or travels are worth blogging about. Then again, I don’t think anyone’s is.
Truthfully though, those moments are ours. My wife is on Instagram (ElisabethSolomon) and provides a snippet here and there, but we usually go phoneless and just enjoy the moments.

 

[amalone1013]

D'oh, my Barclays AA Biz employee miles totally posted on my first statement

And gosh darn it, I just locked DHs account out again. WHhhhhhhyyyyy didn't I write down the login info???

 

[GlamMistress]

Well here's something new and annoying. I was just on Amex chat. I wanted to move over some of DH's credit line from his Delta blue to his Everyday and then close the Blue.

In the past this would have been immediate.

Now I have to wait 7-10 days for the credit team to review the request. I feel like this isn't a good sign, considering how finicky Amex is these days.

I wanted to close the Blue tonight and now I have to wait.

Also I got around to checking on DH's ancient Home Depot account. The other day on MyCreditJourney I noticed a note that said the HomeDepot account was closed. Interestingly enough, it was closed and go riddance! We used that card 1 time a decade ago (pre-rewards days!) to get a discount on new carpet and free install (recession!)

I'm glad DH didn't have to talk to a rep to close that account. We've wanted rid of it forever.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Whoa!

What’s funny is that for everywhere I’ve traveled, I’ve never been to New York City or London! Wife has done NYC many times and doing it again with oldest for her 10th bday. So I’ll still not have that under my belt.

We’re staying at Hilton Park Lane next year. Thoughts?

OMG that is too funny. I love London--it's my favorite city in the world. We actually bought a time share there last year in Mayfair and with my daughter going to school over there, we go all the time. I've never stayed at the hotel, but we've eaten at Trader Vics there. Our time share is a few blocks away so we walk by all the time. It's a fantastic location.

 

[amalone1013]

Alright, feeling dumb, usually keep good records but apparently for both of our Barclays AA Biz cards the employee miles posted on the first statement with the regular 65k bonus. Not sure what I was thinking. At least I only made one embarassng phone call instead of two?