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

[disfanforlife]

Is the 3% offer at grocery stores good on the SW biz card too? Just wondered because I got a bonus offer of spend $4K get 2,000 miles.

 

[Judique]

Question for Hilton Head fans: I’ve looked on Disney’s website to see about a cash stay at the DVC resort. Are they taking reservations right now? It doesn't say they aren‘t, but all the dates I tried didn’t have availability. Trying to figure out if they’re all booked up or if there’s still a chance.

All booked up except for random Friday and Saturday nights. Cash nights here go quickly in summer, and are usually available as early as 11 months ahead. Since my Hilton Head DVC points are very limited, for summer, I usually end up doing a few cash nights to supplement my point nights and I get them through DVC at 11 months. There is rarely any availability through the regular Disney website for June through September.

Also, the highest availability is for 2 bedrooms. HH is a very small resort and the studios and 1 bedrooms are all lock offs and the number of each is about 17. (My number may be off by 1 or 2 - doing this from memory. Two bedrooms are more like 80+. There are only 5 grand villas - ie 3 bedrooms. In 20 years I've never been able to snag a grand villa in July.

There are quite a few Marriott vacation club resorts here, all with great locations, a couple that are very close to the Disney resort. They are available on Marriott's website. Actually just looked and they seem to all be sold out, but I didn't do every resort, just a few dates. Hilton Head is filled with condo rentals and something should be available. There are also a few hotels with reasonable beach access such as the Westin HH. I've stayed at the Westin quite often and enjoy it. It's older but pretty well maintained. I'm usually lucky enough to get upgraded to Ocean Front, but those rooms are limited. The vibe is definitely not the same as the Disney resort. It is more the full service type experience that costs an arm and a leg.

Access to the Disney resort itself is restricted. Since it is so small, visitors are not really encouraged and I've seen people who've walked in be approached and asked to leave - escorted back over the bridge.

Edited to add: this is especially true for Tuesday night fireworks put on by the town, not Disney, but they are in the bay across from Disney, so people would tend to try to come watch from the resort. I think it may be less of an issue now since there is a newer park development behind the Kroger that gives a similar view.

Disney beach house is a mile and a half away with a shuttle. I really like the set up but some people want to be walking from their rooms to the sand. I also like this but find the separation gives a good feel to my vacation. The beach is nearby and I don't have to be there unless I want to be.

If you were to get a rental in the community surrounding Disney's beach house:
Beach house access is available for the food options to beach goers in that community through an exterior stairs and window set up. In other words Dole Whips are available! They can't come into the beach pool area or use the 'inside' facilities. There are also exterior facing bathrooms for use by the residents and parking at the beach house is shared by the people who have homes inside the gated community. There are now 2 gate access points to approach the beach house - not Disney controlled but our Disney parking permit gets us in.

Good luck with finding a place. Hopefully you'll find a few nights at Disney.

 

[hsmamato2]

If you can both use the travel credit (now groceries too) and would make enough points to offset the $450 AF then it might be worth it. I’m sure someone will have the exact numbers already crunched as to how much you’d need to spend to make it worthwhile

Question 1- So.... grocery credits... this offer for 5x grocery and use the TC ($300) for grocery is only thru end of June,correct? And this goes for the cashout at 1.5x also, that amount I could cashout is ONLY for what I spent on grocery from May-June. (but I have until Sept. to redeem those amounts at that 1.5?) DO I have this right?
If the above is true, and I wanted to PC a FR- CSR today, would I need to wait till I got a new card in mail to start purchasing? (like a week at least) so I'd have about 2.5 weeks to max that $1500(If I chose to)
Question 2- If I decide NOT to cashout at 1.5x, this makes the spend equal to using my FR card thru end of June,right? Still trying to figure out how much benefit there might be to either the PC, or the cashout or both combined.
I have it so firmly set in my brain that I only use these rewards for travel,I'm having a tough time envisioning anything else...

 

[hsmamato2]

We only have one CSR, and transfer points as necessary.

If you upgrade to a CSR and use the $300 credit it’s still $150 you’ve spent for it. If you max out the $1500 5x grocery in June, that gets you 7500 x 1.5 cash out = $112.50 which is still less than the $150 you spend to upgrade. Could you get Chase offers to offset that gap of $37.50 just to break even? Maybe if you’re lucky. TBH I don’t see it being worth it since you have one CSR already.

I think this was what I was looking for..... much clearer than my thoughts about it-

 

[havaneselover]

Product changed CIP to CIU. Chase is not making it easy to talk to someone.

 

[punkin]

Product changed CIP to CIU. Chase is not making it easy to talk to someone.

When I called, there was a long menu of choices and they tried to get you off the line to go to the website (I wish I could product change there but I can't) and told you your wait will be horrendously long. However, once I got past that, an actual representative was on the phone almost immediately.

 

[hsmamato2]

Well I just did it. I just pulled the plug on our once in a lifetime 30th anniversary trip to Aulani, that I worked so hard to plan out. Too many unknowns, and this has just sucked all the planning fun out of it. By the time we knew if we would go, it would be too late to finish planning. And if I waited till an opening date was announced and we didn't want to go at that point, I would have lost all my DVC Points. So, I just finished chatting with MS, and my trip is now gone.
Now to deal with the airlines...Delta owes me a full refund for what they did to my flight. AA however, hasn't changed anything, so who know what they are going to let me do.
So now I will have a 31st anniversary trip to Aulani and a 30th anniversary road trip, probably to South Dakota LOL. Comparable yes?

I'm sorry all your hard work got flushed.... but hopefully there's next year for your visit there! A road trip sounds fun to me right now, I'm itching to go somewhere different and I can't right now- FWIW, I've had anniversary trips of all types, from tent camping in a hurricane on Assateague,to an Alskan cruise,to cabins in Maine, to hotels in Maui,to Disneyworld for the weekend-.... honestly, this most recent one was the most...
B/C my habit had become over the past years was to 'celebrate' by going somewhere as a family, somewhere fun and different..... and this year, it wasn't happening.
So we didn't do much, with the exception of me choosing a kitten (which I just love and I'm thrilled with) but it otherwise was just another day...

 

[jenmsmith]

All booked up except for random Friday and Saturday nights. Cash nights here go quickly in summer, and are usually available as early as 11 months ahead. Since my Hilton Head DVC points are very limited, for summer, I usually end up doing a few cash nights to supplement my point nights and I get them through DVC at 11 months. There is rarely any availability through the regular Disney website for June through September.

Also, the highest availability is for 2 bedrooms. HH is a very small resort and the studios and 1 bedrooms are all lock offs and the number of each is about 17. (My number may be off by 1 or 2 - doing this from memory. Two bedrooms are more like 80+. There are only 5 grand villas - ie 3 bedrooms. In 20 years I've never been able to snag a grand villa in July.

There are quite a few Marriott vacation club resorts here, all with great locations, a couple that are very close to the Disney resort. They are available on Marriott's website. Actually just looked and they seem to all be sold out, but I didn't do every resort, just a few dates. Hilton Head is filled with condo rentals and something should be available. There are also a few hotels with reasonable beach access such as the Westin HH. I've stayed at the Westin quite often and enjoy it. It's older but pretty well maintained. I'm usually lucky enough to get upgraded to Ocean Front, but those rooms are limited. The vibe is definitely not the same as the Disney resort. It is more the full service type experience that costs an arm and a leg.

Access to the Disney resort itself is restricted. Since it is so small, visitors are not really encouraged and I've seen people who've walked in be approached and asked to leave - escorted back over the bridge.

Edited to add: this is especially true for Tuesday night fireworks put on by the town, not Disney, but they are in the bay across from Disney, so people would tend to try to come watch from the resort. I think it may be less of an issue now since there is a newer park development behind the Kroger that gives a similar view.

Disney beach house is a mile and a half away with a shuttle. I really like the set up but some people want to be walking from their rooms to the sand. I also like this but find the separation gives a good feel to my vacation. The beach is nearby and I don't have to be there unless I want to be.

If you were to get a rental in the community surrounding Disney's beach house:
Beach house access is available for the food options to beach goers in that community through an exterior stairs and window set up. In other words Dole Whips are available! They can't come into the beach pool area or use the 'inside' facilities. There are also exterior facing bathrooms for use by the residents and parking at the beach house is shared by the people who have homes inside the gated community. There are now 2 gate access points to approach the beach house - not Disney controlled but our Disney parking permit gets us in.

Good luck with finding a place. Hopefully you'll find a few nights at Disney.

Thank you! Great information!
We are thinking perhaps an October or November stay. So we just may need to plan ahead for 2021,

 

[havaneselover]

When I called, there was a long menu of choices and they tried to get you off the line to go to the website (I wish I could product change there but I can't) and told you your wait will be horrendously long. However, once I got past that, an actual representative was on the phone almost immediately.

Yes, that's what happened to me. They basically tell you they won't talk to you but somehow I got to someone. I really don't get why their customer service is so limited at this point.

 

[punkin]

American Banker newsletter reported that credit issuers closed 16.5M revolving credit accounts in April. Credit is tightening.

ETA: that's a 25% increase from March.

 

[IFlossU]

Chase retention offer DP....DHs Personal SW cards $69 fee hits 6/1 called and received a $35 statement credit.

I do want to upgrade it to the priority for the 4 free upgraded boarding....does anyone how the year to use them works ? Will it stay with his May anniversary date of the original Plus card or if we upgrade in say October would we have until 10/21 to use

I upgraded a Plus to a Priority last October. You are correct the credits are from Oct-Oct.AF hit March 1st. PC’d Oct 25th. Original card opened Aug. ‘12

 

[ten6mom]

Product changed CIP to CIU. Chase is not making it easy to talk to someone.

Well phooey. I expect to have to call within a couple weeks.

When I called, there was a long menu of choices and they tried to get you off the line to go to the website (I wish I could product change there but I can't) and told you your wait will be horrendously long. However, once I got past that, an actual representative was on the phone almost immediately.

Well that gives me some hope!

 

[Killer Fish]

My Amex Plat renewal is coming up later this month. I had expected to close it but with the streaming and phone credits for the rest of the year at my calculation being $280 in value ($40 x 7) I think it makes sense to keep it for another year.

With another $200 in Uber/$100 Saks it seems like an easy decision. Obviously there is the $200 airline incidental but who knows about that right now. Obviously that would put it way over the top.

I have had a lot of success with Amazon MR points for 20% off but I guess I can't count that since I have the Amex everyday card.

Any reason not to keep it open that I am missing?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I upgraded a Plus to a Priority last October. You are correct the credits are from Oct-Oct.AF hit March 1st. PC’d Oct 25th. Original card opened Aug. ‘12

Thanks so much...exactly the information I was looking for

 

[disneybirds]

Thank you! Great information!
We are thinking perhaps an October or November stay. So we just may need to plan ahead for 2021,

If you want to rent points, there is availability. I checked the DVC website and there is sporadic availability in the studios and 1 Bedrooms. I think there are a few 3 night reservations. If you are willing to do a 2 Bedroom, there are lots of weeks available. Just know that there is risk in renting out points especially right now with the potential for closures. Hopefully, there will be rooms for cash available later. If you can, I would just wait a few weeks and then try to book again.

 

[havaneselover]

DCL cancelled! On the phone with Costco to re-book for Dover to Copenhagen but of course Costco won't pick up.

 

[Calfan]

DD's global entry renewal was approved on May 31 with no interview requirement Two family members down, two to go. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to DHS's methodology on these. I applied for renewals for all for of us in Sept. since my birthday is in Sept. and is the latest in the year among our family (so that was when all four of us were eligible for renewal and I could submit the applications on the same day). I applied around Sept. 20 DH received notification on Sept. 25 that his renewal had been approved with no interview required. Then nothing until May 31. I was actually surprised to hear anything then given the known backlog at DHS and now the impacts of the pandemic. I had assumed they were going in birth date order for our four applications since DH has the earliest birthday and heard back first. But now they have leapfrogged over DS's application (who is next in birthday order) and approved DD. We'll see if it is another 8 months before the next one of us hears something.....

 

[wendow]

Mine are all gone too. I remember wondering if I should even bother making FPs lol Maybe should have just gone with my intuition on that one.

Now I'm just anxiously awaiting Wholesale to open so I can get kids added to my reservation. I have a feeling that's going to be necessary to ensure park reservation. I'm kind of selfishly hoping DVC gets a little priority and a DVC cash stay will count for that. So many variables and unknowns right now.

I called yesterday to try to link our two rooms and they couldn’t do anything but cancel. We have a dvc stay at bcv and then we move to ASMo. Thinking there is a decent chance movies won’t be open and we’re moved to Pop or AoA. Hoping not to be split up.

 

[Haley R]

Because some of you might need cheering up for various reasons I thought I’d share this. He says don’t worry, be happy!

 

[havaneselover]

I know it will be worth it when I get the Costco cash card after traveling, but Costco has been a pain to deal with during the pandemic. After being hung up on three times, I finally got through and was told it was a 30-45 minute wait. Over an hour later... Thankfully dd came over to man the phone since I have to get on a call at noon.