I love credit cards so much! v4.0 - 2021 (see first page for add'l details)

[EM Lawrence]

Once you send them, make sure you follow up because many times it seems to just go into limbo and doesn’t actually get processed.

Will do. That is so funny to me. They want to have accounts opened right? LOL.

 

[happ]

How does everyone keep track of their rewards points? It looks like AwardWallet is one of the bigger ones but I'm not sure that I trust signing in through their system.

I just use a spreadsheet and manually update it when I do my monthly budget, which is another spreadsheet.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort & Spa. The rooms are over $900 per night for our dates so it's an excellent use of FN certs.

Where we stayed too. But my diamond status didn't get me an upgrade as they were booked. Rooms were like $600/nt when we stayed. I did like the free beach chairs and vouchers for breakfast.

 

[Limes96]

Chatted with Amex for the second time this morning asking about my missing Feb 1 PayPal credit and got the usual response.

I have no MSR to work on right now. Not in a hurry to get a new card but starting to think about it. My Amex gold has the elevated 30k referral offer so maybe an Amex card for P2. But I don’t have the BBP yet and we have gotten SO MUCH VALUE out of P2’s BBP. Don’t want to take on too high of an MSR because I’m working hard to get all the value I can out of my grocery spend on the new plat and CF which will be ongoing until June.

 

[tink1970]

Chatted with Amex for the second time this morning asking about my missing Feb 1 PayPal credit and got the usual response.

I have no MSR to work on right now. Not in a hurry to get a new card but starting to think about it. My Amex gold has the elevated 30k referral offer so maybe an Amex card for P2. But I don’t have the BBP yet and we have gotten SO MUCH VALUE out of P2’s BBP. Don’t want to take on too high of an MSR because I’m working hard to get all the value I can out of my grocery spend on the new plat and CF which will be ongoing until June.

Don't give up hope! My credits that I've been waiting on since Jan 30th (2 Lowes and 1 spend $500 get $25) all credited yesterday ...finally...after several chats and hearing the party line so often I could sing it.

 

[stitchfan18]

Is there a maximum amount of Chase biz cards that I should have open at a time when applying for a new card? I'm still 4-6 weeks out from my next app and I have 4 biz cards open with them, 2 of those are accounts that are over a year old - one is totally sock drawered, but no AF, the other gets some spend still. Is there any reason to keep the sock drawered card open any longer? My only pro for keeping it open would be to move credit from that account over to a possible new account if approved. Right now my total credit with chase is a little less than 50% of income. Thoughts on whether I should keep the sock drawered account open or go ahead and close?

 

[LynnTH]

Back from our week trip to Universal. Stayed at Cabana Bay. Liked the resort. Bus service was excellent and food court was nice as were the pools. First time at Universal. It was fun and glad we went but kept comparing everything to Disney. Good thing we will be there in May.

Thanks to @SouthFayetteFan, who gave me detailed descriptions of all the rides. I don't like big coasters/drops. I did go on all the HP rides (very proud of myself). They do have a lot of 3D/4D rides, which are fun too. Crowds were not bad during the week but Saturday when we left it was really getting busy.

Kept up on the boards. Happy to see the increased offer coming for CSP.. Getting prepared to do MDD on that and CSR. Just past the 48 mark of the bonuses. Just SM'd Chase to lower credit limits on 3 of my cards. Going to be cancelling one when the annual fee shows up and then downgrading my current CSP to a Freedom. Hoping that will all help in getting the 2 cards.

Got DH's BOA Biz expedited right before the trip so already have $3000 of the $5000 needed for MSR. Will probably wait til beginning of April or later to get the CSP and CSR. DD will be signing up for Fall classes soon and planning on using the cards for Tuition, so that will use up a bunch of it. DS graduates in May so will not have his tuition to use anymore for MSR's (also no more tuition and rent so that will be good...)

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

So while I catch up on reading from the weekend.....My teaching schedule has me in the classroom M-TH and then Friday is remote. I'm done w/ students around noon then it's office hours. I was all kinds of sad as my BF got a trip Thursday that was going to have him gone all weekend (and last week was my off week w/ the kids). With Rona he's not really flown a ton, so I've been spoiled. Weds he had to do his line check and flew from DTW to MCO and back. Then TH he was supposed to end up in FLL for the night. His flights got changed and he ended back in Detroit at midnight. I was SUPER excited until he told me just after he landed that he got a flight for Friday to LAX.

After my classes were done on Friday, I packed everything up to do office hours from his house to see him before he left. Over lunch we joked that I should join him on his flight. It was DTW to LAX with a 22 hour layover. A late flight there, Friday night, and the red eye back on Saturday. His flight showed completely booked but we decided to risk it. He doesn't have me on his flight benefits yet, so I had to use one of his buddy passes which means I'm the lowest priority to board. Apparently gate agents aren't always the nicest, so he was worried I wasn't going to get on the flight. If I was on his benefits I get the same level priority as him to get on the flight. Well I guess we lucked out because the agent cleared me for the entire exit row (He flies Spirit, so there's no lucking out on 1st class, LOL). We've flown before, but never with him actually flying the plane, so I was all excited. Our plan was do to the whale watching tour in Long Beach where they stay.

Jump head to literally 2 minutes before we board (the BF was already on the plane getting it ready) the agent makes an announcement for everyone to check their emails. EVERYONE starts groaning. Our flight was supposed to take off at 8:45pm, and the email stated it was being delayed till 6am. I sent him a text joking, did he get the flight cancelled so we could go home. He had no clue what was going on. At this point the FAs had gotten onto the plane and said they had gotten notice their report time was now 6am. Then the rumors started. I had noticed he didn't have an FO. One gate agent had said it was a plane maintenance issue. So I text him about that. He called me. He told me the plane was 100% fine, but he didn't have an FO. He was gonna get ready to call scheduling to see about that. About 10 minutes later he came out to talk to the agent and see me. Seems no one was telling him anything really or the gate agents. But they were starting to give hotel rooms and food vouchers and clearing the gate (sending people home). He went back onto the plane to try and find out more.

At that point I became his eyes and ears. He was on hold w/ Spirit trying to figure out what was going on. So I was feeding him info. His FAs were like how are you finding this all out, he's like my GF is sitting at the gate . In the end there was a plane from BWI that was having issues. So they diverted that plane to DTW as it's a maintenance base. The plan was to try and fix it, but they took the BFs plane (and moved the flight till 6am) so they had a back up. Ironic thing is, he flew an empty plane in Thursday night, but he figures that was already put into the rotation. The BWI plane didn't even land until 12:00am and we don't know if they ended up using our LAX plane or not. We would have been over Vegas before they even landed.

The girl next to me at the gate was all kinds of nervous. She had heard the rumors that the plane had issues. I told her, oh no the plane is fine. She's like how do you know? I said that's my BF sitting on it. He's the captain, LOL. She then told me how she hadn't flown in over 2 years, and she spent the day praying that the pilot had a good day. I had to laugh. I told her he had a great day. Got to sleep in, had a nice lunch, I had grabbed/packed him a dinner and he even had a nap She was hoping he'd be her pilot at 6am, but I told her I knew that wouldn't happen (he was outside the "rest time" reqs).

In the end, the BF got released from the flight and we headed back home. I went from not seeing him till Monday, to going on a trip to LA with him, to having him home all weekend, LOL. Such is the glamorous life of a pilot's GF. And the moral of the story.....Don't believe everything you hear sitting at the gate, LOL. We're not sure why Spirit decided to move his flight to 6am. The BF's like why piss off 2 planes full of people. Should have let us take off and either put the BWI people in a hotel, fix their plane or get another plane there for them.

But like I said, it worked out in that I got to have him home all weekend. We were bummed about missing out on the whale tour, but I do have all summer to tag along w/ him

 

[Lain]

Is there a maximum amount of Chase biz cards that I should have open at a time when applying for a new card? I'm still 4-6 weeks out from my next app and I have 4 biz cards open with them, 2 of those are accounts that are over a year old - one is totally sock drawered, but no AF, the other gets some spend still. Is there any reason to keep the sock drawered card open any longer? My only pro for keeping it open would be to move credit from that account over to a possible new account if approved. Right now my total credit with chase is a little less than 50% of income. Thoughts on whether I should keep the sock drawered account open or go ahead and close?

You can preemptively move CL from your sockdrawered >1 yr. biz card to another biz card that you’re not ready to close yet, then close the sockdrawered >1 yr. biz card.

 

[Oscar Madison]

I'm sorry for his loss, but I'm thrilled and hoping they'll want Rusell Wilson. The Saints are one of the 4 teams he'll ok a trade to, so please take him. I don't care how good he is, he thinks he's more important than he is and that he should get more say in everything with the team. As players come and go and he's the constant, you start knowing that he's also the locker room issue and needs to go. I also know most Seahawks fans would tell me I'm nuts, but there's more to a team and a player than their on the field performance.

Asks for and receives the big contract and then wonders why the team can't afford good blockers to protect him.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

How does everyone keep track of their rewards points? It looks like AwardWallet is one of the bigger ones but I'm not sure that I trust signing in through their system.

I just use a spreadsheet and manually update it when I do my monthly budget, which is another spreadsheet.

Second vote for a spreadsheet. I can't imagine there's anything out there that would track what I want to know better than me. I track all of the following in my spreadsheet:

• Program Name
• Person (me, wife, kids)
• Gross Points - my total points excluding pending items
• Pending Points - a formula that can include positive and negative amounts showing points I'm expecting AND points pending use (i.e. a SUB that hasn't posted yet, a Southwest flight not yet flown, My Marriott placeholder reservation for next year's WDW trip, etc.)
• Net Points - Gross + (or minus) Pending
• Last Activity Date - for points programs that have an expiration policy)
• Expiration Date - calculated off of last activity date and verified regualrly
• As Of - the last time I updated this points program record
• Value - calculated off of how many points I have based on my expected value
• Notes

I try to update once a month, or just take a quick glance when I'm in my account to see that all looks good and no fraudulent points activity has occurred.

EDIT: That pending points field is fairly new for me, but I like it because it helps me remember what all I have booked - especially since I grab a lot of placeholder stuff (that may get canceled) or book a lot of speculative things until I know firm dates and such. It also helps me keep track of how many URs or MRs I'm expecting to hit my accounts from future SUBs so I know when I'll hit a certain threshold to help me book a trip or cash out, etc.

 

[LB002]

Our slice of paradise for the next 2 nights before we move to HVVView attachment 562292View attachment 562293View attachment 562294View attachment 562295View attachment 562296

Looks fabulous! Where are you staying? (Before HHV)

I heard such bad feedback about HHV before we went, but it was fine for us. We did get a suite. It wasn't fabulous, but good enough.

 

[afan]

Asks for and receives the big contract and then wonders why the team can't afford good blockers to protect him.

Or don't hold onto the ball for forteen years looking for the perfect pass. Defense can only hold people back for so long each play. Or change things up so the other teams don't know you'll hold onto thr ball for forteen years or run it when that magical perfect receiver isn't there.

Should they have a better line, sure but it's not all on them, and is a lot on him. Throw the damn ball!

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I have an ABD to NZ booked for next March (I am hoping that it doesn't get cancelled). Yesterday I booked the flights for ds and myself using the Avios that I had left from the cancelled Maldives trips. This is what our trip looks like so far:

Toronto to London (Air Canada -- will book flights using points in the next few weeks -- no rush since AC flies there several times a day); overnight at the Hilton Heathrow

London to Doha on Qatar business class (Q Suites); 3 nights in Doha (I wasn't able to get a direct flight, so why not?!)

Doha to Sydney on Qatar business class (Q Suites); 4 nights in Sydney (most importantly to me, I'll be there on a Saturday to hit the markets that I loved last time that we were there!) at the PH (3 nights points and cash in harbour view room and 1 night points in regular room)

Sydney to Melbourne: will book on Quantas when they open up availability, using MRs (AmEx plat biz); 3 nights

Melbourne to Auckland: flights as above, 2 pre-ABD nights at the PH (used URs to transfer to Hyatt)

After the ABD (we are staying an additional 2 nights at the end of the trip in Queenston for Millford sound and to do some hiking) we will do 1 of 2 things:

Get to Auckland and fly Auckland to Vancouver, Vancouver to Toronto using Air Canada (biz class) OR

Fly to Sydney, then Sydney direct to IAD on Etihad first class, then United IAD to Toronto (this is the most likely scenario)

It was tricky booking the Qatar flights using Avios. I have been studying Qatar's award seat releases for the past few weeks so that I would be able to book the day they released the seats that we needed. But their pattern is irregular and they didn't release any seats for the direct flight that I was hoping for, thus the stopover for 3 days in Doha (ds and I are looking forward to some dune smashing in the desert there!). I will do the same with the Etihad first class seats, but the Etihad pattern is more predictable.

The Qatar flights alone would have cost me $9,244.00 cash. All Avios were originally transferred to BA from UR (back when they had a 30% promo 2 years ago), except for an extra 40,000 points that I knew I would need that I transferred last week from my Cdn MR stash. Without this hobby we would never be in QSuites since they are OneWorld and AC is Star Alliance! LOVE this hobby!

 

[Oscar Madison]

Or don't hold onto the ball for forteen years looking for the perfect pass. Defense can only hold people back for so long each play. Or change things up so the other teams don't know you'll hold onto thr ball for forteen years or run it when that magical perfect receiver isn't there.

Should they have a better line, sure but it's not all on them, and is a lot on him. Throw the damn ball!

Totally agree. Get rid of the ball quicker with timing routes. 2019 Rodgers held the ball, waiting for that perfect play; 2020 Rodgers got rid of it quick and had best season in a long time. Coaching and receiving coaching matters, even in the NFL.

 

[Alexle2007]

Looks fabulous! Where are you staying? (Before HHV)

I heard such bad feedback about HHV before we went, but it was fine for us. We did get a suite. It wasn't fabulous, but good enough.

We stayed at the Royal Hawaiian. We liked the location and hotel better. Hilton Diamond got us $20 a day at Starbucks since the lounge is closed. Not even a real breakfast. She did try searching for a suite but couldn’t locate any.

 

[Haley R]

Just got approved for a BoA checking account with the $300 offer

 

[LB002]

We stayed at the Royal Hawaiian. We liked the location and hotel better. Hilton Diamond got us $20 a day at Starbucks since the lounge is closed. Not even a real breakfast. She did try searching for a suite but couldn’t locate any.

I will keep that in mind if we stay in Waikiki again. We have 7 nights Aulani (DVC) this coming trip

 

[KPK02090]

I’m applying DH for a CIC and I’m stumped on the business category. He has been selling on eBay for about 20 years.
So I’m putting “Retail: Books, Hobbies, music, sports, general, nonstore Retail,” but I can’t figure out what the next two sub-categories should be? Any advice?

ETA: I went with "Other Miscellaneous store retail." I got "We need more time..."

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I wanted to share two recent experiences with the Amex Plat Concierge, in case others might be interested, especially those headed to Maui.

Request 1: Reservations at Mama’s Fish House, two weeks from now
Result: While on chat, they attempted to contact the restaurant and secure reservations I was unable to secure online. They were unable to obtain reservations and informed me the restaurant indicated “we are fully committed for all tables through the end of April.”


Request 2: Research hiking trails, waterfalls and springs/swimming holes in Maui, including transportation costs and distance from WA Grand Wailea
Result: Concierge requested a few days to turnaround and committed to EOD Tuesday or sooner. By Wednesday, no response. When contacted again, they requested additional time. By Thursday I received a list (name, distance, cost) and requested a bit more time to finish up springs/swimming holes. I was disappointed by the output. By Friday they sent over a completely different research project, with descriptions and links. I’m not sure why the the sudden change, but sort of suspect they never put anything together initially, rushed something out the door, and then delivered the final product. I was pleased with the research and at no cost to me, was an easy starting point to share with my group and then do more research on our own.

You might be asking why not do my own research or google searches. I am very DIY, almost to a fault. I think with so many trips being canceled, I definitely have cancellation fatigue. So perhaps I didn’t want to get too invested. And I wanted to try a service included with the Amex Platinum card. Based on the experience, I would task them with future requests, probably further in advance.

In the end we’ve decided to do the Road to Hana and are using the App Guided Shaka Maui ($14.99) and combining it with some of the Amex research.

I thought I’d share a sample if anyone is interested. Feel free to PM me if you’d like me to email you a copy.

COPIED FROM AMEX EMAIL:

The distances listed are from your hotel to the locations.

Insider Tip: For many locations if there is a cost for parking or entry the entry fee paid at one location may be valid for multiple locations for up to 3 days if you save your receipt.

Trails:

Hosmer Grove Loop Trail
Distance: 41.3 Miles
Parking: $30.00

Cost to enter the Haleakala National Park:
Private vehicle: $25
Motorcycle: $20
Individual person: $12 (cyclists, pedestrians, hikers)

Link to this option: https://bit.ly/3vqlr0W
About: “Hosmer Grove Trail is located (just barely) inside Haleakala National Park. At approximately mile marker 10.5 on Highway 378, just after entering the park, you'll want to turn left to the start of the Hosmer Grove trail.
At about 0.3 miles down the road (on the right) you may notice one of Hawaii's famous sandalwood trees. The sandalwood has a long history in Hawaii and was once very precious in China for making incense and aromatic woodcarvings. “

Wai'anapanapa State Park Trails
Distance: 62.3 Miles
Parking: $10.00

Link to this option including a couple of short videos: https://bit.ly/3rO84We
Reviewer: "Beautiful beach, easy trails, amazing views"

Hoapili Trail & Kings Trail
Distance: 6.9 Miles
Parking: Free
Cost: Free
Link to further information about this location: https://bit.ly/3cJTKIj
Map of the area: https://bit.ly/3qLbk3t
About “From La Perouse Bay, this section of the ancient King’s Trail follows the coastline across jagged lava flows. The first part of the trail is along the sandy beach at La Perouse Bay. Be prepared: wear hiking boots, bring plenty to drink, start early and tell someone where you’re going. It’s a dry area with no water and little vegetation, so it can get very hot.”

Twin Falls Trail
Distance: 32.1 Miles
Parking: Free
Cost: Entrance to Twin Falls is free,
Link to further details of the location: https://bit.ly/38Dqp0V
About: “Twin Falls is the first easily accessible string of waterfalls and pools on the Road to Hana. It also has one of the better snack stands on the journey. Twin falls is typically underrated by guidebooks, and is a worthy stop.”

Kuloa Point Trail
Distance: 64.7 Miles
Parking: $30.00
Admission is $10
Link to further details: https://bit.ly/3tc54Do
About: “This hike is located near the Oheo Gulch which is about 15 minutes past Hana, near mile marker 42. The Kahakai Trail stretches a quarter-mile between Kuloa Point and the Kipahulu campground near the 'Ohe'o Gulch.
Shoreline views along the ocean are beautiful, but be mindful of your step.”

Iao Valley State Park
Distance: 19.7 Miles
Parking: $10
Entry Cost: entrance fee when entering the park that ranges from $5 to $40 depending on how many passengers are in the vehicle.
Link to further details: https://bit.ly/3vn7Zer
About: “Visiting the Iao Valley on Maui is a must do when vacationing on the island. The park is home to one of Maui's most recognizable landmarks, the 1,200-foot Iao Needle. This iconic green-mantled rock outcropping overlooks Iao stream and is an amazing attraction for easy hiking and sightseeing”