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

[Disneyonmymind]

Well I should be leaving right now for my first time in First Class, in lie flat seats for our 30th anniversary in Hawaii. Instead we are heading out to pick up our RV rental and head to the covid exploding state of South Dakota LOL! Still excited to be going, we will just not be doing anything indoors and hoping we can social distance in some of the more popular outdoor spots.

Have a great trip!! I am so jealous. I have been sitting here thinking I'd love to take my family on a road trip out west but the Rockies are a little far and South Dakota seems like a great alternative destination. Both DH and I visited the state as teenagers (so long ago los) but our kids have never been there. I haven't considered an RV rental but that sounds awesome too!! I hope you post your reviews!

We went to Myrtle Beach during the reported covid flare up but we had a great time. We spent most of our time outdoors on the beach. We bought some groceries for our kitchen but mostly ate take out. We did find a favorite burger joint open and they only had a few tables occupied so we did indoor dining there. The crowds were noticeably less than normal for peak summer season so that just added to our overall experience. Since I have never been a fan of big crowds lol, it was one of my best trips to MB!! I hope the weather is good and you have a fabulous time! I can't wait to hear the details!

 

[Disneyonmymind]

DD is sitting for the SAT this morning! Last week we learned she had convergence insufficiency and needs vision therapy (they told us there's an 18 month wait list for the therapy). Her prism glasses came in yesterday so I hope they help her because reading gives her headaches. And of course there was a half marathon around the high school and she kept getting re-routed but finally made it!

And my week with her was like this: Sunday--she's applying ED to UVA
Monday--she thinks she wants to go to Purdue
Tuesday & Wednesday--VA Tech or bust

I hope she figures this out soon!

My DD is also taking the SAT right now!! She had to drive an hour this morning to get to the location. I am so glad it didn't get cancelled again. So many sites were cancelled. Good luck to your DD - sounds like she has a lot of plans!!

 

[Judique]

Well I should be leaving right now for my first time in First Class, in lie flat seats for our 30th anniversary in Hawaii. Instead we are heading out to pick up our RV rental and head to the covid exploding state of South Dakota LOL! Still excited to be going, we will just not be doing anything indoors and hoping we can social distance in some of the more popular outdoor spots.

I would love to do that trip again! We didn't RV as we were leaving one duty station in Charleston, SC and moving to another in Kingsville, Texas. We went via Bethesda, Md (home) to Montreal, Ca, to Thunder Bay, Ca, to Superior, Wisconsin and then from there to Sioux Falls and Rapid City, stopping in to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, then to Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma into Texas. We were traveling for about a month and on a very limited budget but had a fantastic time and saw a lot of this country.

Some of these places we stayed with friends and relatives, and others we just got a room. Only one bad room but it was memorable! And, we had NO credit cards! This was a significant problem which being young 20 somethings we didn't anticipate.

The solution was to stay in a chain and pay for our next room as we left the first. We got a lot of help from the chain with this and they earned a lot of loyalty from me as I proceeded through life. Waiting to get somewhere meant having limited options in the middle of summer. Had never heard of hotel points - not sure if they existed back in the 70ties, lol. But we did have cash and checks and places accepted both. I can't imagine walking into a hotel now and writing a check for the night!

 

[havaneselover]

My DD is also taking the SAT right now!! She had to drive an hour this morning to get to the location. I am so glad it didn't get cancelled again. So many sites were cancelled. Good luck to your DD - sounds like she has a lot of plans!!

Me too! She got cancelled out of the SAT in our county and was able to quickly find a seat in the next county over. Good luck to your dd as well!!!

 

[afan]

I see that hyatt releases rooms 395 days in advance but do all properties? I find it hard to believe that my top two choices foe Tokyo are both completely sold out of everything but the other properties all have availability including the park hyatt. Looking at the tokyo station and andaz. TS I can find in july but nothing in Aug or Sept and the andaz through the last day in aug then nothing.

I know they moved the olympics but they are well before the start of Sept. I also don't want to book anything until I get our flights but am concerned if those two are sold out for all available dates in Sept that I shouls get something. It's just odd which makes me think they haven't released that far.

 

[IFlossU]

I'm super excited to share that my family finally gets to travel next weekend for the first time this year. What is normally a quick weekend getaway to San Diego has turned into the BIG vacation of the year for us, haha!! We're flying to San Diego, normally we would drive, but I have so many SW points I figured why not! We are staying 3 nights at the Hotel Del Coronado, with 1 night using DH's Aspire FWN. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to just getting out of my house for a few days. I'm sure you can all relate.

I also finally have some credit card things happening. I received my Aviator Biz this week with it's whopping $650 limit, haha! It actually arrived in less than a week. I was surprised. I went ahead an applied DH for one last night, he got the same "application under review" message. This should give us a nice stash of AA miles. I'm also going to have DH upgrade his CSP (I copied his CSP support link ) to a CSR next week, and take advantage of the PYB feature. He has a "man trip" in September so the CSR will come in handy. Also since I've been at this for a year now, WOOT WOOT, it's time to start thinking about canceling my Citi Biz card and possibly my Aviator personal card.

In October I'm going to try to support DH to a Gold card with elevated 60K offer, but honestly expecting to get the pop-up based on other's experiences. If the gold is no go, I'll have to reconsider his options. Will also attempt a Freedom DD for him later this year to get him out of 4/24.

For myself I'm almost done with the $15K spend on my Hilton biz so I'm going to try to get an Aspire in October. If I get the pop-up it will be back to the drawing board. Also going to attempt a MDD at the end of the year.

Lots of credit card plans on the horizon for us. Since I'm so new to this I have endless options, and even though travel is on pause I'm collecting points and still dreaming of the future.

 

[pinkxray]

I just noticed I have a few Rite Aid offers expiring today on Chase cards. If I buy something today will the offer still credit?

 

[georgina]

DD is sitting for the SAT this morning! Last week we learned she had convergence insufficiency and needs vision therapy (they told us there's an 18 month wait list for the therapy). Her prism glasses came in yesterday so I hope they help her because reading gives her headaches. And of course there was a half marathon around the high school and she kept getting re-routed but finally made it!

And my week with her was like this: Sunday--she's applying ED to UVA
Monday--she thinks she wants to go to Purdue
Tuesday & Wednesday--VA Tech or bust

I hope she figures this out soon!

I wasn't laughing at the first part of your post, but the last. I well remember those days with my youngest DD. She had a really hard time making up her mind and applied to LA schools from Maine to California. While my DS only wanted one school, applied ED, was accepted, and that was that. I REALLY feel for all parents with school aged children now, from elementary through college.

 

[georgina]

Finally got Chase to credit my donation through pay yourself back, but got an email that said they took 1:1 points for it instead of 1.5X. So back to SM some more!

I just noticed I have a few Rite Aid offers expiring today on Chase cards. If I buy something today will the offer still credit?

It should. I bought something at Rite Aid on the 26th and it shows as being purchased then. Haven't gotten the credit yet, but it usually takes several days.

 

[linzjane88]

I cancelled our Disneyland trip for the last weekend of September We had air on Jetblue booked with UR's--Jetblue cancelled the flight but UR's didn't automatically redeposit. I emailed Chase to tell them it cancelled and ask them for the refund. JetBlue never even notified us of the cancel which was sort of odd. The room was booked via AA Vacations and I called to cancel that. She said they would waive the 200$ per person cancellation fee (on the $864/70kmile redemption.....) I guess I didn't realize they are normally not cancellation friendly so that was good info to keep in the back of my head. Now I have this future travel credit for $864 which is neat but I don't know how to use it. It sounds like you call them to use it? I don't know-never had one. The lady on the phone wasn't excited to give me anydetails either other than to correct me when I would accidently call it a "voucher". "Ma'am, it is a future travel credit and not a voucher!" she kept saying. 'WHATEVER YOU CALL IT HOW DO I USE IT! '.

We could never get past that issue and I gave up, so, I still don't know. Haha.

 

[IFlossU]

I cancelled our Disneyland trip for the last weekend of September

Sorry to hear this. I’ve been hanging on to Disneyland Parkhoppers I bought in February from UCT in the hopes that they would reopen sometime soon. Now that’s looking less likely . I finally reached out to UCT this morning to see if I have any refund options. I didn’t request a refund sooner because I really wanted to support their business during this time, and now I may be out of luck. At the rate California is moving I don’t foresee us going to Disneyland for possibly a year or even two.

 

[softballpooh]

but honestly expecting to get the pop-up based on other's experiences.

Can someone explain this to me? I've only seen it referenced as a "pop up" and mostly related to AMEX. I'm going on a limb and say it has to do with not using the card enough? or too often? or too many applications for cards? I've tried to search the board before asking, but well...there are too many "Pop" related conversations on DISBoards for that

 

[Judique]

I cancelled our Disneyland trip for the last weekend of September We had air on Jetblue booked with UR's--Jetblue cancelled the flight but UR's didn't automatically redeposit. I emailed Chase to tell them it cancelled and ask them for the refund. JetBlue never even notified us of the cancel which was sort of odd. The room was booked via AA Vacations and I called to cancel that. She said they would waive the 200$ per person cancellation fee (on the $864/70kmile redemption.....) I guess I didn't realize they are normally not cancellation friendly so that was good info to keep in the back of my head. Now I have this future travel credit for $864 which is neat but I don't know how to use it. It sounds like you call them to use it? I don't know-never had one. The lady on the phone wasn't excited to give me anydetails either other than to correct me when I would accidently call it a "voucher". "Ma'am, it is a future travel credit and not a voucher!" she kept saying. 'WHATEVER YOU CALL IT HOW DO I USE IT! '.

We could never get past that issue and I gave up, so, I still don't know. Haha.

That's when those surveys after your call might come in handy.

 

[Judique]

Can someone explain this to me? I've only seen it referenced as a "pop up" and mostly related to AMEX. I'm going on a limb and say it has to do with not using the card enough? or too often? or too many applications for cards? I've tried to search the board before asking, but well...there are too many "Pop" related conversations on DISBoards for that

It's anybody's guess why we get pop ups from Amex. They don't 'really' explain it other than to say you are NOT getting a sign up bonus for this application if we approve you. The pop up pops up during the application process.

The theory is that they want spend on the cards you have. A lot of us here don't proceed with the application after getting the pop up. And, it's somewhat temperamental - some get the pop up on a hotel card like Hilton and then turn around and get instantly approved for an MR card - Amex's own product. So it's not necessarily velocity, although Amex does have 'credit' card limits, but not 'charge' card limits.

In any case, the prevailing advice for Amex is to wait it out until you see the highest offer, and if you get pop up, don't continue - give it time and if you have an Amex card, put some spend on it.

 

[IFlossU]

Can someone explain this to me? I've only seen it referenced as a "pop up" and mostly related to AMEX. I'm going on a limb and say it has to do with not using the card enough? or too often? or too many applications for cards? I've tried to search the board before asking, but well...there are too many "Pop" related conversations on DISBoards for that

The AMEX pop up is a notification you get before submitting your card application. It basically says you can apply for this card, but you WILL NOT get the bonus. Which under most circumstances makes completing the application less appealing without a sign up bonus. There is some thought that keeping spend on your current cards helps avoid the pop up. Since I’m hoping to get AMEX cards for both DH and myself this fall, I’ve been trying to keep a good amount of spend on our current cards. We’ll see

ETA: oops didn’t see @Judique answered this

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Can someone explain this to me? I've only seen it referenced as a "pop up" and mostly related to AMEX. I'm going on a limb and say it has to do with not using the card enough? or too often? or too many applications for cards? I've tried to search the board before asking, but well...there are too many "Pop" related conversations on DISBoards for that

In addition to what’s already been said, this means that you need to be somewhat selective with which Amex cards you pursue. You want to obtain cards that are worth using regularly and cards that you’re willing to keep using and pay the annual fee on.

 

[wendow]

My DH has worked from home for the last 25 years. I used to be so excited when I'd hear him get in the shower first thing, because that meant he was going to see a customer and leaving the house! It was never fun to keep the kids or the dog quiet, limit playdates, or schedule vacuuming. But, it gave him the flexibility to coach our kids baseball and soccer teams and so much more.

I think I’d like it if he had some flexibility. But it’s zoom meetings all day long. He had meetings all day when he was in the office and never took a lunch break unless it was a work lunch and it’s just that but at home. Thankfully, all our sports start after dinner so he can still be the coach!!

 

[wendow]

Sorry to hear this. I’ve been hanging on to Disneyland Parkhoppers I bought in February from UCT in the hopes that they would reopen sometime soon. Now that’s looking less likely . I finally reached out to UCT this morning to see if I have any refund options. I didn’t request a refund sooner because I really wanted to support their business during this time, and now I may be out of luck. At the rate California is moving I don’t foresee us going to Disneyland for possibly a year or even two.

Our family did our first trip to DLR back in 2018. My dh grew up in SoCal so he went to DL all the time. We'd taken just our girls for a day when they were little but 2018 was our first full family trip and we did 4 park days. It was amazing!!! Coming from a girl who grew up on WDW and then did WDW every year, I just fell in love with DLR. My dd17 will graduate this year, as will one of my cousin's dd's. Our girls are close and they have been planning their grad trip to DLR for YEARS. Both families have been planning this...I keep thinking, surely DLR will be open by May...but the way things are going, I'm not so sure anymore. I know the girls will be disappointed but wondering if we need to shift our planning to WDW instead.

 

[MrPTato]

Just wanted to check in after my several month long hiatus. How is everyone doing??

 

[IFlossU]

I keep thinking, surely DLR will be open by May.

Big sigh... I feel your disappointment . For our family we’ve agreed that at this point we don’t want to go back to Disneyland until it’s back to “normal.” I’m sure it will reopen in the upcoming months, but with the restrictions in place we just don’t think it will be as enjoyable for us. UCT offered a 95% refund, but encouraged me to hang on to my tickets as they believe the expiration will be extended and I will end up paying 2019 prices in 2020 or even 2021. DH and I talked about it, and decided to take the refund. I would be surprised if DL is back to normal in 2021, but I REALLY hope I’m wrong.