I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[palhockeymomof2]

I'm open to business cards. I currently have two cards through Chase- is it just opening 5/24 that is an issue, or in theory am I able to have an old one (or two) and open 5 more over two years?

We spend around $5,000/month- which is why it occurred to me I need to figure out how to utilize this better. I think what I really want is the ability to take advantage of SUB reward points because nearly everything we do gets put on cards (and it's all paid monthly)

Southwest makes me nervous mainly because of the open seating with my kids as we always manage to be those unlucky people who get split up- but I'm wondering if it's worth dealing with my anxiety for that. Are the points costs of domestic flights generally realistic enough that you get many free flights vs cash rewards elsewhere?

you are fine with the 2 Chase cards.....they count 5/24 as all personnel cards from any issuer over the last 24 months....most business cards do not count towards it but you have to be under 5/24 to get approved for Chase business cards

With your spend the most lucrative business card is the Chase Ink Preferred CIP the bonus is 80k URs after a $5k spend.....if you open one, then send your DH a support link...you get 20k URs and DH gets the 80k bonus...after meeting the spend you these 2 cards you would have 190k URs

SW is reasonable cost/points....the big advantage to booking with points is if you need to cancel the points go back into your RR account and can be used to book a ticket for anyone...

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

how frustrating.....At this point would you be better off letting this application expire and apply again after 30 days with just first name, last name and SS number as the business name

I would rather it stay under the EIN since we do everything possible to keep personal and business expenses separate.

 

[Minnie368]

Choose Option 1 and then say you don’t have ref# / press 0. A rep will come on and ask for SSN.

OMG I'm sweating bullets. My friend just got off the phone with them. It was a 15 minute stressful phone call- at least for me. I don't like confrontations. So much easier when things can be done online instead of having to talk to an actual person. So my friend is planning her first trip to Disney with her family of 5 and I referred her for the SW card. She was reluctant and waited till the last day of the 75,000 SUB, which was today. She immediately got the 7-10 day reply on the status line, so I told her to call in. She had me on speakerphone to help her through it. Her only recent credit card was one opened in September of last year and a business card opened in January (CIP, after I told her about it- I think she used a DIS referral ). The rep said the reason was too many recent requests for credit, so the only thing I can think is that the business card last month hurt her. She also had an auto loan show up which the rep brought up but my friend explained that she felt that shouldn't count against her credit worthiness to buy a car. Then the rep started asking why she wanted the card, was she planning to use it frequently, and was she getting it just for the SUB? Geesh I was surprised how she grilled her. Then she brought up that she could see she had a SW card that was closed back in 2013?! Wow, eventually she was approved but I was suprised how not easy that was. I had told her about the MDD when I first referred her and now I know she'll never try that. I think she's scarred for life. But, she was approved so all's well that ends well. The tips I read on this board and others really helped me to advise her how to handle all of this, so thank you!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

OMG I'm sweating bullets. My friend just got off the phone with them. It was a 15 minute stressful phone call- at least for me. I don't like confrontations. So much easier when things can be done online instead of having to talk to an actual person. So my friend is planning her first trip to Disney with her family of 5 and I referred her for the SW card. She was reluctant and waited till the last day of the 75,000 SUB, which was today. She immediately got the 7-10 day reply on the status line, so I told her to call in. She had me on speakerphone to help her through it. Her only recent credit card was one opened in September of last year and a business card opened in January (CIP, after I told her about it- I think she used a DIS referral ). The rep said the reason was too many recent requests for credit, so the only thing I can think is that the business card last month hurt her. She also had an auto loan show up which the rep brought up but my friend explained that she felt that shouldn't count against her credit worthiness to buy a car. Then the rep started asking why she wanted the card, was she planning to use it frequently, and was she getting it just for the SUB? Geesh I was surprised how she grilled her. Then she brought up that she could see she had a SW card that was closed back in 2013?! Wow, eventually she was approved but I was suprised how not easy that was. I had told her about the MDD when I first referred her and now I know she'll never try that. I think she's scarred for life. But, she was approved so all's well that ends well. The tips I read on this board and others really helped me to advise her how to handle all of this, so thank you!

This is why watching your pacing is so important! For somebody who has gotten no CCs to suddenly grab 3 in 6 months can look like rapid credit seeking behavior. Going for a biz card in Jan and coming back to the well in Feb for a personal card seemed to trigger what would have been a denial (but for today's recon call). I don't think she'd have had the same experience if she had waited until March (or preferably April) like the pacing recommendations suggest.

I don't know your friend's credit history but I'd have her pump the brakes now for 3-4 months with Chase. She could be teetering on a bust-out risk shutdown (aka all Chase cards closed, cash out your points, don't let the door hit ya on your way out).

 

[brownhaired_girl]

Do any of you use rental cars fairly regularly? Is it normal for the price to fluctuate quite a bit?

Originally I made a reservation for 5 days for my upcoming trip. Last week my friend, who is splitting the cost with me since we always carpool, asked me how much to PayPal me for the car. When I looked up the reservation I discovered I had made it for pickup on the wrong day!! Yikes! So to pick it up a day earlier now went from $234 to $374. Obviously my fault so I quoted her for half the original dollar amount and I will just have to eat the rest.

But, today on a whim I went back and looked and the same rental is down to $337. Obviously I rebooked that and canceled the higher one.

And I feel like on my first rental a few months ago, when I brought the car back, they ended up charging me a bit less LESS than my original reservation stated (which I wasn't going to complain about).

So are rentals cars just... weird in that respect or am I missing something? This is only the third time in recent years I've rented. It just seems odd to me.

Yes, car prices fluctuate quite a bit. I usually make a reservation as soon as I have plans, then check back every few days. Sometimes it flexes a little, sometimes a lot. No problems changing reservations frequently.
Do you have a Costco membership? They beat other discounts almost every time !
Sometimes I’ll check mousesavers for coupons too, but I usually end up with Costco.

I seem to rent about 4-5 times a year. I agree with the Costco advice. I did chat with Costco and got their code. I was then able to insert that into the Corporate ID in the Alamo website to get the better prices and 2nd driver. I was also able to use Alamo coupons that way. In April/May there are Alamo coupons on the Daily Getaways site. If you call in to Alamo, you are able to apply 3 coupons to a reservation. I waited until close to our trip to be sure I won’t be rebooking.

 

[Minnie368]

This is why watching your pacing is so important! For somebody who has gotten no CCs to suddenly grab 3 in 6 months can look like rapid credit seeking behavior. Going for a biz card in Jan and coming back to the well in Feb for a personal card seemed to trigger what would have been a denial (but for today's recon call). I don't think she'd have had the same experience if she had waited until March (or preferably April) like the pacing recommendations suggest.

I don't know your friend's credit history but I'd have her pump the brakes now for 3-4 months with Chase. She could be teetering on a bust-out risk shutdown (aka all Chase cards closed, cash out your points, don't let the door hit ya on your way out).

I agree with you about her pacing. She didn't tell me she had even applied for the CIP until the rep brought it up on the phone. I told her she needs to get on the DIS or just ask more questions because she definitely jumped in without being educated. The SUBs are tempting to jump on though, I know. You actually talked me down off of having DH go for the SW MDD this month if you remember. Thanks so much for that advice!! If he ever had to make a call like that it would be over for sure! He's fine with going along for the ride, but he wouldn't make a recon call. He'd just let it be denied.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Exactly my experience! I was fine paying with a CC before switching to the mix and match unlimited plan. I only switched because the auto pay discount ended up making unlimited cost less than my grandfathered shared data plan. Didn’t want to lose the savings!

@LuckyMamaInDE I believe the max online GC you can purchase at once is 5, $100 GCs. In store would be different if you need more or you could do multiple orders. There have also been reports of people getting to checkout online and VZ saying the GCs are sold out. I got around that by placing individual orders. Lol. The GCs come in 24/48 hours so it’s not too bad. Also, DO NOT peel the security sticker on them, scratch them off gently! I almost lost the pin on one of mine. Lesson learned

 

[elgerber]

I read that as pop tart

I totally did too!!!!

 

[gottalovepluto]

JW Marriott Anaheim reservations look to be open starting 4/15 in a limited capacity... Rates are starting around $320/night pre-tax, hotel is a Cat 7 at 50k points/night, located at Garden Walk. Idk if they'll have transport to the parks not seeing anything on it yet. (This will match Courtyard Theme Park points rate for anyone wondering.)

They will apparently have the city's highest rooftop bar with views of the nightly fireworks show over Disneyland... please tell me I'm not the only one finding it hilarious that Disneyland will be paying for the bar's nightly entertainment (and true selling point tbh) especially seeing as Disneyland nixed the hotel they were going to build with a rooftop bar and restaurant for views of their shows...

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Can anybody here with a SW card do a quick check for me? When you login to the Chase App and click on that card does it say "Rewards information isn't available right now. Please check back later." Under the Rewards and benefits section?

Last week I know this was working on my new card but over the past couple of days it never shows me anything there. I'm trying to figure out if it's an issue with my card/account or a more global connection issue between Chase and SW.

 

[WVMomof3]

Can anybody here with a SW card do a quick check for me? When you login to the Chase App and click on that card does it say "Rewards information isn't available right now. Please check back later." Under the Rewards and benefits section?

Last week I know this was working on my new card but over the past couple of days it never shows me anything there. I'm trying to figure out if it's an issue with my card/account or a more global connection issue between Chase and SW.

I can see both mine and DH's accounts. Was hoping to see support points, but not there yet.

 

[wendow]

Can anybody here with a SW card do a quick check for me? When you login to the Chase App and click on that card does it say "Rewards information isn't available right now. Please check back later." Under the Rewards and benefits section?

Last week I know this was working on my new card but over the past couple of days it never shows me anything there. I'm trying to figure out if it's an issue with my card/account or a more global connection issue between Chase and SW.

Mine shows my current points and pending points.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I can see both mine and DH's accounts. Was hoping to see support points, but not there yet.

Mine shows my current points and pending points.

Ok - well, I'll just try not to worry about it. It is odd to me that my info was showing and now is not...but I'm not about to draw eyes to my SW and Chase accounts...

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Can anybody here with a SW card do a quick check for me? When you login to the Chase App and click on that card does it say "Rewards information isn't available right now. Please check back later." Under the Rewards and benefits section?

Last week I know this was working on my new card but over the past couple of days it never shows me anything there. I'm trying to figure out if it's an issue with my card/account or a more global connection issue between Chase and SW.

i can see my RR points earned to date

 

[snugglebug]

PEI introduces Party Cash
https://medium.com/pei-technology-i...ash-cashback-boosts-with-friends-d027978c5586
Seems interesting for anyone in 2 player mode.

 

[ep1229]

Another Verizon question... will using the Chase Freedom card trigger the 5% back for buy a gift card in the Verizon store?

 

[DisneyMandC]

Those who have been to USO recently:

what time do you recommend I get to the park with a 9 AM opening this Friday to try to get in line for Hagrid’s? No express passes and not staying on site or anything, so just driving there and parking. We are also not opposed to doing single rider for this ride, but I see some stuff online that acts like the line can be as long as the regular line? I feel like I’ve usually had good luck with single rider lines, but maybe something is different here.

 

[Minnie368]

Those who have been to USO recently:

what time do you recommend I get to the park with a 9 AM opening this Friday to try to get in line for Hagrid’s? No express passes and not staying on site or anything, so just driving there and parking. We are also not opposed to doing single rider for this ride, but I see some stuff online that acts like the line can be as long as the regular line? I feel like I’ve usually had good luck with single rider lines, but maybe something is different here.

We were there last month. We went to IOA on a day they opened at 9am. We were there just under an hour before they opened. It was a very controlled walk to Hagrid's and we were on within 20 minutes of park opening. It was the weekend after New Year's so still a pretty busy time.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Those who have been to USO recently:

what time do you recommend I get to the park with a 9 AM opening this Friday to try to get in line for Hagrid’s? No express passes and not staying on site or anything, so just driving there and parking. We are also not opposed to doing single rider for this ride, but I see some stuff online that acts like the line can be as long as the regular line? I feel like I’ve usually had good luck with single rider lines, but maybe something is different here.

Have you guys had the argument over who gets the bike and who gets the sidecar yet??

 

[DisneyMandC]

We were there last month. We went to IOA on a day they opened at 9am. We were there just under an hour before they opened. It was a very controlled walk to Hagrid's and we were on within 20 minutes of park opening. It was the weekend after New Year's so still a pretty busy time.

That’s great, thanks! Hopefully it won’t be outrageous. I just checked and the wait time is currently 90 minutes, which doesn’t seem terrible compared to some of the waits I’ve seen.

Have you guys had the argument over who gets the bike and who gets the sidecar yet??

Ha, no, but I’m guess DH is going to tell me to get in the sidecar