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

[PolyRob]

He said he could see that the last name’s matched so it was ok. Yay for the patriarchy...?

Glad it worked out in your favor, but this stuff is so confusing to me. I had a friend recently get married and she did not change her last name. Her and her husband got checks written to either her, him, her AND him, or Mr and Mrs X. She explained to me that the individual checks were fine, but if you put AND (instead of OR) the banks want it to go to a joint account with both names. Ok, fair. I asked what happens with the Mr. and Mrs. checks since that isn't your name? She said the banks took that into the joint account as well. Oh really? It is ok for someone that doesn't exist, but you can't deposit a check with your name + another because it has AND instead of OR? Really makes sense to me

 

[Killer Fish]

So I am about to go for 2nd card on GrAAvy train. I know that things are hit or miss these days but pretty sure I saw that as least a slightly better chance of being approved if doing a different offer/link. Round 1 was 75k/5k spend so I was going to do the 70k/4K spend link. Worst case scenario basically just earn 4k miles and no bonus correct?

 

[DisneyMandC]

Glad it worked out in your favor, but this stuff is so confusing to me. I had a friend recently get married and she did not change her last name. Her and her husband got checks written to either her, him, her AND him, or Mr and Mrs X. She explained to me that the individual checks were fine, but if you put AND (instead of OR) the banks want it to go to a joint account with both names. Ok, fair. I asked what happens with the Mr. and Mrs. checks since that isn't your name? She said the banks took that into the joint account as well. Oh really? It is ok for someone that doesn't exist, but you can't deposit a check with your name + another because it has AND instead of OR? Really makes sense to me

My bank changed my name on my credit cards and debit card AND checks, but never changed my name on my actual bank account. I didn’t realize it until a year ago when I had to do ID verification for Barclays and realized I didn’t have a bank statement or utility bill in my married name!

 

[speedyfishy]

Thank you so much! I booked more ADRs than I would like to admit between Oct and Dec trips. Disney just makes it so hard. I will cancel the extras once I get FP+ solidified.

Do you know if the rides will be offering FP+ in December?

 

[amalone1013]

Do not close or downgrade an Amex card until at least one year after you accepted the upgrade offer, so in your case after 3/2020. Otherwise, your upgrade bonus will be subject to a clawback.

Thank you. I couldn't remember if this applied to upgrading and wasnt having luck searching.

 

[happ]

Hey! I haven’t had close to enough time to keep up with this thread, but I did a quick search to see if you all had discussed the Green Dot 3% Cash Back offerings and didn’t see anything, so for those who might be interested, here’s a DoC article about it

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/gree...rchases-3-apy-savings-account-on-up-to-10000/

I was intrigued by this when I saw a tv commercial about it. Keeping it fee-free would not work for me because of the monthly spending requirement, but for the right person it seems like a good deal.

 

[happ]

It's been a rough couple weeks for me. We had a family reunion and my Mom passed away suddenly surrounded by her family. We were sitting around the campfire listening/singing one minute, she started making a coughing sound, I went over to her, watched her take a few breaths, told her I loved her, and that was it. No pulse, eyes were fixed and dilated, and I had to tell everyone she was gone. It wasn't a total shock, my Mom has had over 10 heart attacks and strokes starting at the age of 47. Her last stroke was almost 5 years ago, and it has been a struggle. Deep down I knew the next one was only a matter of time. Although she tried to keep a good attitude she has been praying for God to take her to heaven for a long time. Even though she never officially became a DNR, she said she would never have the strength to go through another stroke. So even though I knew it was best for her it was not easy to look at my step dad and say just let her go.

But I have much to be thankful for. She is now at peace and is reunited with my brother who passed away at 17. I counted up 8 Disney trips we've been able to take with her, including the first one 6 weeks after a ruptured aneurysm, a condition that many don't survive. I'm thankful for this community, it's been nice to read here and take my mind off things. The weird thing is we planned this family reunion so that the next time we got together it wouldn't be for a funeral. We were more thinking of my 95 year old grandma, but God had other plans. Here's one of my favorite pictures. Our first Disney trip after that ruptured aneurysm.

Prayers to you and your family as you mourn the loss of your mom.

 

[FloridaNative8]

It's been a rough couple weeks for me. We had a family reunion and my Mom passed away suddenly surrounded by her family. We were sitting around the campfire listening/singing one minute, she started making a coughing sound, I went over to her, watched her take a few breaths, told her I loved her, and that was it. No pulse, eyes were fixed and dilated, and I had to tell everyone she was gone. It wasn't a total shock, my Mom has had over 10 heart attacks and strokes starting at the age of 47. Her last stroke was almost 5 years ago, and it has been a struggle. Deep down I knew the next one was only a matter of time. Although she tried to keep a good attitude she has been praying for God to take her to heaven for a long time. Even though she never officially became a DNR, she said she would never have the strength to go through another stroke. So even though I knew it was best for her it was not easy to look at my step dad and say just let her go.

But I have much to be thankful for. She is now at peace and is reunited with my brother who passed away at 17. I counted up 8 Disney trips we've been able to take with her, including the first one 6 weeks after a ruptured aneurysm, a condition that many don't survive. I'm thankful for this community, it's been nice to read here and take my mind off things. The weird thing is we planned this family reunion so that the next time we got together it wouldn't be for a funeral. We were more thinking of my 95 year old grandma, but God had other plans. Here's one of my favorite pictures. Our first Disney trip after that ruptured aneurysm.

So sorry for your loss

 

[GZanta77]

Oooh good to know!

Ha now swing by and stay a night!!

Cool! What touristy things did you do?

Freedom trail, USS Constitution, JFK Museum, Harbor Islands, Salem, Cambridge/Harvard...people watching at Fanueil hall and Boston Common....lots of cycling using the Blue Bikes (I think I only used the T once all week). Took in a couple shows...Blue Man Group and Dear Evan Hansen.

Had a busy and fun week.

 

[Haley R]

OT but Oga’s Cantina is now taking reservations up to 180 days out. Got some for my wedding trip.

I got one for my birthday at 7:10 pm since we won't see the land at night during our AP preview. I'm not sure if we'll go back to the land before my birthday in November. I'm thinking we'll spend most of our time at F&W.

 

[PolyRob]

Do you know if the rides will be offering FP+ in December?

I haven't seen anything official yet. I honestly don't think we will see FP+ in 2019. The second ride isn't opening until December so I would imagine SWGE will be flooded for that. If there is FP+ distribution for the original ride I think it will get swarmed. I hope I am wrong.

I did see an article that the MDE app has virtual queue code in it so maybe that will help? IDK

 

[Ngwira]

Used AA miles to book an Alaska flight, San Francisco to Philly nonstop. It was 12,500 plus 5.60 in taxes.

CSR annual fee also posted on August 1 even though my anniversary is October? Paid it as I think it’s a keeper card for me along with my Amex Platinum.

 

[miztressuz]

Hey! I haven’t had close to enough time to keep up with this thread, but I did a quick search to see if you all had discussed the Green Dot 3% Cash Back offerings and didn’t see anything, so for those who might be interested, here’s a DoC article about it

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/gree...rchases-3-apy-savings-account-on-up-to-10000/

I skipped by the headline since there's usually a 'gotcha' with these types of cards. Reading it now, I think the big one for this is the $7.95 monthly fee, which is waived only if you use the debit card for $1,000 in purchases the previous month. The next one is the 3% cashback on the debit card is only for online and in-app purchases, where airline tickets and giftcards are excluded, and they pay out on a yearly basis. Does look like you get notified when cb is applied to the account, so you can track it at least, and it's just not available until after 12 months of use.

This could be useful to someone who has less than 10k in liquid savings and normally does their banking outside of traditional banks and cards. Compared to other similar products, having that 3% savings account on top of the cashback account is pretty different. For me though, I'll take the slight loss in savings APY for a better gain on traditional CCs.

An interesting tidbit from the comments though, someone was able to load it at WM from a debit card for free using the app. But that's as far as I'll go with that since the MS possibilities are not in my wheelhouse, I'll let an expert dissect that.

 

[DisneyMandC]

So I saw on Informed Delivery this morning that I had something in the mail from Sam's Club, and the front of the envelope said "Second time's the charm, right? Look inside for a lil something." Then I just saw this on DoC- https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sams-club-offering-45-giftcards-for-scan-go-promo-error/

My $45 never loaded when I bought the membership, but I contacted Sam's Club and they resolved the error quickly and just sent me a $45 card. Well, I think I must be getting another one! Mail isn't here yet, but I'll be interested to see if that's what it is!

 

[miztressuz]

So I saw on Informed Delivery this morning that I had something in the mail from Sam's Club, and the front of the envelope said "Second time's the charm, right? Look inside for a lil something." Then I just saw this on DoC- https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sams-club-offering-45-giftcards-for-scan-go-promo-error/

My $45 never loaded when I bought the membership, but I contacted Sam's Club and they resolved the error quickly and just sent me a $45 card. Well, I think I must be getting another one! Mail isn't here yet, but I'll be interested to see if that's what it is!

I thought of you when I read that I wondered if you'd get a MM out of it. Guess there wasn't a way to mark the account as satisfied. That could be interesting.

 

[Judique]

Freedom trail, USS Constitution, JFK Museum, Harbor Islands, Salem, Cambridge/Harvard...people watching at Fanueil hall and Boston Common....lots of cycling using the Blue Bikes (I think I only used the T once all week). Took in a couple shows...Blue Man Group and Dear Evan Hansen.

Had a busy and fun week.

Curious - how did you enjoy Dear Evan Hansen? I've been looking at tickets but haven't pulled the trigger.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I thought of you when I read that I wondered if you'd get a MM out of it. Guess there wasn't a way to mark the account as satisfied. That could be interesting.

I guess not I mean, if they're just sending me the GC already it's not like I can opt out of it for the sake of not cheating the system haha. I feel like I also got a $5 GC from them for some other promo surrounding that too. I can't remember if it was for my trouble or if it was because of something I bought or what. Either way, it's turned out to be a moneymaker and I certainly won't mind either picking up some more Landry's or Disney GCs for my trip!

 

[georgina]

OT but Oga’s Cantina is now taking reservations up to 180 days out. Got some for my wedding trip.

THANK YOU! It took the web page 15-20 min to load (app not working for dining, people must be bombarding it), but I got one for my October trip. Only breakfast time available was 9:55, lunch showed noon and sometime after 1. I have no idea how long it will take to get on the ride if I am arriving at 5 AM, so went for breakfast. I'll be ready for a drink by 10!

 

[Alexle2007]

I'm getting lucky w/ my Staples and VCGs this go around. There is one I go to that's close to the Walmart I load at. I've done $1k there a few times now. Today I hit the one by the gym, they were almost cleaned out of VGCs, I did $400 ($200 on one amex, $200 on another). I have 2 other Amex I was gonna put spends on, but I didn't want to make the cashier do 4 different cards, so that will be Thursday's adventure after yoga. I need to load onto the Serve, maybe that's tomorrow's fun. Well that and closing my Huntington acct. I need to find a good bank bonus.

For those w/ more than one Serve, do you use the same info (name, etc) when ordering others? I should get a back up incase I'm shut down.

And for those that got the popup w/ Amex, how soon after putting some spends on your cards till you try again? Do I need to wait for the statements to close out? I just put $400 spend on 2 of them, in addition to using them last week while in NC (for small purchases here and there). I booked a night at Kalahari on one tonight. I'm about to switch our car insurance to my delta gold biz (I scored the offer, and the ex is fine w/ me taking over the payments...yes our car insurance is still together, LOL). So that will get a monthly spend of $200+ every month. My Amex everyday has an offer for added MR if I use it to pay my cellphone bill so the Aug/Sept/Oct bills will be on that as well. In other words, all 4 of my Amex will now have some decent spends on them and several will have monthly bills now. So how long should I wait? Is there any harm in trying daily? I'm trying to go for the Hilton Biz. I have the Surpass, the Aspire, Delta Gold Biz and Everyday. I just closed the SPG when my AF hit and to make room for the Hilton Biz.

Which Kalahari are you going to? We’ve done GWL many times and I am thinking Kalahari might be a nice change.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Just thought I'd share regarding Hagrid's Motorbike ride: a friend went yesterday and reported consistently with what's been said here. Insane lines in the morning, lines are delayed sometimes because the ride goes down, but it seems to quiet down more later at night. She said they got in line last night and it was showing 150 minutes, which was the lowest they'd seen it, but they actually only ended up waiting 55 minutes!