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

[thevalley]

Good Morning Everyone.
My CSR annual fee hit yesterday. I really like the card and have kept it since June 2017. My dilemma is that I can do a MDD in September. Do you think the elevated CSP will still be around? I was able to have my CSR reduced by the 100 dollars making it 450 fee. I have used all credits and have used PYB many times. I just don't know what the next step to do is? I have a CF, UCF. should I downgrade and do the MDD in September? Any help would be great!! Thanks.....

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Anyone else feel stressed? Of course the opened flights when I was dropping DS6 off at school. Come home and DD4 is asking me a million questions, DD16 is texting me.

I feel you. Yesterday was super stressful. Got up at 0445 to make Disney dining reservations then off to work. First hour and a half ok, then computer gets glitchy and by 8:15, the whole electronic medical record is down. Everything reverts to paper, which means I can't look up labs or other data on my patients. ICU rounds start late due to computers down, so I miss 10 minutes as no one told me they were starting. 15 minutes later, text from real estate agent to call him. We put a bid on a house Tuesday night and seller said they had a bunch of showings Wednesday which they were going to honor before considering our offer. By Wednesday am, they reconsidered and said they would take our offer if increased $5k, and cancel other showings. Texted DH to get his ok, called agent back to counter with a change in closing date. Agent emailing new contracts with updated offer to sign. All while I'm still in rounds. Needless to say I didn't accomplish much at work, but assuming inspection pans out, we have a new place to live soon.

 

[havaneselover]

Anyone have a sense of what an umbrella policy should cost for $1 million of coverage (I know there are tons of variables involved). I was quoted $560 through Geico which seems kind of high although I have one brand new driver and a 17 year old who has been driving for 18 months. Driving records are spotless and no accidents.

 

[georgina]

Anyone have a sense of what an umbrella policy should cost for $1 million of coverage (I know there are tons of variables involved). I was quoted $560 through Geico which seems kind of high although I have one brand new driver and a 17 year old who has been driving for 18 months. Driving records are spotless and no accidents.

Ours is $271 with Allstate. Only 2 over-50 drivers, we also have our homeowners and auto ins with them which gives a 33% discount.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Great travel hacking morning. I was holding some Southwest flights in early Nov for our Thanksgiving Disney trip- schedule opened with good flight options and I GOT THE CHANGE WINDOW!!!! So, essentially those flights "cost" $214 RT, but were all booked with points or airline incidental funds. I even booked flights for the gfs and bfs fresh today, and those qualified for the change window.

 

[Judique]

Anyone have a sense of what an umbrella policy should cost for $1 million of coverage (I know there are tons of variables involved). I was quoted $560 through Geico which seems kind of high although I have one brand new driver and a 17 year old who has been driving for 18 months. Driving records are spotless and no accidents.

No but kudos to you on the umbrella policy. If some may remember my daughter and family had a big accident in Colorado a few years ago. The person who hit her had a 50K policy. My daughters insurance covered the majority of the bills which were about 3/4 of a million.

Of course with the lawyer involved, stuff was negotiated. Helicopters involved to get husband to hospital. Reconstructive surgery for husband. 28 pins in my daughters broken leg. Two year old with fractured neck. And on and on, plus many weeks of hospital care and then rehab.

Hopefully no accidents in your future but you are protecting yourself. The 'other' driver may have the smallest amount and no assets.

 

[havaneselover]

No but kudos to you on the umbrella policy. If some may remember my daughter and family had a big accident in Colorado a few years ago. The person who hit her had a 50K policy. My daughters insurance covered the majority of the bills which were about 3/4 of a million.

Of course with the lawyer involved, stuff was negotiated. Helicopters involved to get husband to hospital. Reconstructive surgery for husband. 28 pins in my daughters broken leg. Two year old with fractured neck. And on and on, plus many weeks of hospital care and then rehab.

Hopefully no accidents in your future but you are protecting yourself. The 'other' driver may have the smallest amount and no assets.

Thank you for reminding me how high the stakes are. I really don't want to pay $560/year, but I do want to protect my assets (they're modest, but I'd still like to keep them!).

 

[amcc]

The desire to travel is strong. Found great tickets to Lisbon for Thanksgiving, found spectacular, Airbnb in Lisbon and Nazare where the big waves are. I even found a Mercedes van rental for $400 for the 6 of us . And Portugal is CLOSED to Americans for non-essential travel. . The basic economy tickets are non-refundable, non-changeable and $3k is just too much to risk losing - I guess this is why everything is so cheap.

Hi all, I wanted to share a travel TIP which has allowed our family of 6 to take trips we never would have been able to take. While I currently use credit cards to earn bonuses, my other largest travel savings has come from cheap airfare. While I know a lot of the regular posters here try to fly in first or business, for our family of 6, we'd rather use our funds/points to take more vacations, even if that means economy!!!

Hoping this tip might help the lurkers out there who don't regularly post, but are looking for ways to save. Utilizing cheap airfare, I have booked economy flights (from the Midwest, not even from a coast):

$400ish RT to Santorini, the Greek Islands with a stopover in London on British Airways a380
$400ish RT to Iceland on IcelandAir
$500ish RT to Paris open jaw departing London
$600ish RT to Venice, open jaw departing Rome on Lufthansa

The key to us is being open to different destinations. The biggest tool we've come across is Scott's cheap flights. You get flight deals straight to your inbox, which you can then jump on on your own. Their service scans for cheap flights and mistake airfare, and then sends those deals to your inbox. You take the research from there and continue to search on Google Flights. Once you've found the dates you want, you can book directly through the airline. Scott's cheap flights has a free service, as well as a Premium service which is $49/year.

Another way to take advantage of that cheap airfare you found is to then go to the Chase travel portal and see if you can book it there, utilizing your ultimate rewards at a 1.25 or 1.50 bonus with the Sapphire cards.

Happy travel hunting everyone.

Thanks for the tip. We are a family of 6 also. I use google flights and just put in dates and choose a place based on price. We aren't too picky. I've booked through the Chase portal at 1.5 which I love for these cheap economy rates but now with PYB, it's easy to erase equivalent amounts of charges. I'm going to sign up for Scott's.

I was looking at doing a confirmed dvc reservation for over thanksgiving but I’m worried it’ll be too cold to swim in the ocean and pool for ds

We have an apartment 20 miles down the island from the resort. My kids have gone in the ocean in November but it's a bit cold already and by then it's also quite choppy although you could luck into a calm weekend. It should be warm enough for the pool and to play on the beach, again, should be. Where we are, we don't have any beach erosion problems but the beach does get narrower as you go north. Vero Beach is a nice town with a boardwalk, some nice restaurants, an ice cream shop.

 

[Haley R]

The desire to travel is strong. Found great tickets to Lisbon for Thanksgiving, found spectacular, Airbnb in Lisbon and Nazare where the big waves are. I even found a Mercedes van rental for $400 for the 6 of us . And Portugal is CLOSED to Americans for non-essential travel. . The basic economy tickets are non-refundable, non-changeable and $3k is just too much to risk losing - I guess this is why everything is so cheap.


Thanks for the tip. We are a family of 6 also. I use google flights and just put in dates and choose a place based on price. We aren't too picky. I've booked through the Chase portal at 1.5 which I love for these cheap economy rates but now with PYB, it's easy to erase equivalent amounts of charges. I'm going to sign up for Scott's.


We have an apartment 20 miles down the island from the resort. My kids have gone in the ocean in November but it's a bit cold already and by then it's also quite choppy although you could luck into a calm weekend. It should be warm enough for the pool and to play on the beach, again, should be. Where we are, we don't have any beach erosion problems but the beach does get narrower as you go north. Vero Beach is a nice town with a boardwalk, some nice restaurants, an ice cream shop.

Thanks! We live about an hour away so we thought it would be fun to check it out. I think we would want it to be warm though so we can make sure we can use the beach and pools.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

The desire to travel is strong. Found great tickets to Lisbon for Thanksgiving, found spectacular, Airbnb in Lisbon and Nazare where the big waves are. I even found a Mercedes van rental for $400 for the 6 of us . And Portugal is CLOSED to Americans for non-essential travel. . The basic economy tickets are non-refundable, non-changeable and $3k is just too much to risk losing - I guess this is why everything is so cheap.


Thanks for the tip. We are a family of 6 also. I use google flights and just put in dates and choose a place based on price. We aren't too picky. I've booked through the Chase portal at 1.5 which I love for these cheap economy rates but now with PYB, it's easy to erase equivalent amounts of charges. I'm going to sign up for Scott's.


We have an apartment 20 miles down the island from the resort. My kids have gone in the ocean in November but it's a bit cold already and by then it's also quite choppy although you could luck into a calm weekend. It should be warm enough for the pool and to play on the beach, again, should be. Where we are, we don't have any beach erosion problems but the beach does get narrower as you go north. Vero Beach is a nice town with a boardwalk, some nice restaurants, an ice cream shop.

Hi- maybe double check Portugal. I thought there was an announcement in the past few days about them opening to vaccinated American tourists.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

The great travel hacking morning continues. DH was instantly approved for day 1 of his MDD- CSP. I requested expedited card and lowered credit limit.

I know an MDD should be done earlier in the week, but I was hoping the referral links would update. They didn't. And I'm crunched with time with a trip next week that I'd like the cards in hand for. So hopefully day 2 will go smoothly, but, I'm okay with letting the CSR app go if it doesn't.

 

[pinkxray]

I feel you. Yesterday was super stressful. Got up at 0445 to make Disney dining reservations then off to work. First hour and a half ok, then computer gets glitchy and by 8:15, the whole electronic medical record is down. Everything reverts to paper, which means I can't look up labs or other data on my patients. ICU rounds start late due to computers down, so I miss 10 minutes as no one told me they were starting. 15 minutes later, text from real estate agent to call him. We put a bid on a house Tuesday night and seller said they had a bunch of showings Wednesday which they were going to honor before considering our offer. By Wednesday am, they reconsidered and said they would take our offer if increased $5k, and cancel other showings. Texted DH to get his ok, called agent back to counter with a change in closing date. Agent emailing new contracts with updated offer to sign. All while I'm still in rounds. Needless to say I didn't accomplish much at work, but assuming inspection pans out, we have a new place to live soon.

Thats a lot to do all at once!
Very exciting about the new place though. Hope all goes well for you!

 

[Scouter]

Anyone have a sense of what an umbrella policy should cost for $1 million of coverage (I know there are tons of variables involved). I was quoted $560 through Geico which seems kind of high although I have one brand new driver and a 17 year old who has been driving for 18 months. Driving records are spotless and no accidents.

Perhaps I shouldn't share this but...... I will anyway.
When my son was almost about to get his learners permit by Ins guy came in to my workplace (USPS) by chance, and I asked him about getting coverage. He said not to do anything yet, and we'd discuss.
Not much longer, I spoke with an friend who worked in Insurance but moved to a new bigger company and had heard and learned some things.
She told me that technically, anyone, according to most insurance policies, is covered by your car insurance by anyone that YOU give permission to drive your car.
She said, don't say another word and don't get him coverage.
I didn't. My Ins guy, who knew me well enough, never said another word about it either.
Are you SUPPOSED to tell your Ins company? YES!
Could you play stupid and say, "oh, well, I just thought anyone I gave permission to drive my car is insured, right?" I did.
Never felt guilty about that.
Luckily, never had any accidents or other issues.

 

[iujen94]

The desire to travel is strong. Found great tickets to Lisbon for Thanksgiving, found spectacular, Airbnb in Lisbon and Nazare where the big waves are. I even found a Mercedes van rental for $400 for the 6 of us . And Portugal is CLOSED to Americans for non-essential travel. . The basic economy tickets are non-refundable, non-changeable and $3k is just too much to risk losing - I guess this is why everything is so cheap.


Thanks for the tip. We are a family of 6 also. I use google flights and just put in dates and choose a place based on price. We aren't too picky. I've booked through the Chase portal at 1.5 which I love for these cheap economy rates but now with PYB, it's easy to erase equivalent amounts of charges. I'm going to sign up for Scott's.


We have an apartment 20 miles down the island from the resort. My kids have gone in the ocean in November but it's a bit cold already and by then it's also quite choppy although you could luck into a calm weekend. It should be warm enough for the pool and to play on the beach, again, should be. Where we are, we don't have any beach erosion problems but the beach does get narrower as you go north. Vero Beach is a nice town with a boardwalk, some nice restaurants, an ice cream shop.

just saw this on Twitter and thought of your post!
https://thepointsguy.com/news/portu..._content=67D69376-C9FB-11EB-A226-7DB84744363C

 

[mgarbowski]

Anyone have a sense of what an umbrella policy should cost for $1 million of coverage (I know there are tons of variables involved). I was quoted $560 through Geico which seems kind of high although I have one brand new driver and a 17 year old who has been driving for 18 months. Driving records are spotless and no accidents.

Ours is $271 with Allstate. Only 2 over-50 drivers, we also have our homeowners and auto ins with them which gives a 33% discount.

In my experience umbrella premiums have gone up substantially over the past 5-10 years, especially as compared to other insurance. FWIW I'm paying more than both of you, but with bundles it is hard to compare individual policies. I recently switched to Liberty Mutual for Home, Auto and Umbrella and I now keep getting notifications from Mint that I'm overpaying for Umbrella. That's true when looked at alone but my combo deal for all 3 is saving me considerably from what I had before and could get elsewhere because my home premium more than makes up for the high umbrella cost and if I took my umbrella business away from LM I would pay more for the other 2 components.

 

[Alexle2007]

Now that our Nov./Dec. trip is booked I need to figure out our Hawaii trip.
I can’t decide where I want to stay in Waikiki.
Bonus MR transfer to Hilton ends in a few days.
I am so bad at making decisions.
Every time I think I decided I change my mind.
Hilton Hawaiian Village, Embassy Suites, Royal Hawaiian and Sheraton Waikiki are my final choices.
If I pick one of the first two I need to transfer points to Hilton soon.

Having stayed at The Royal Hawaiian and HHV in March, I would definitely choose RH over HHV. Much better location and unless something has changed breakfast was $20 at Starbucks a day. I’d prefer to have the Pink Palace pancakes at RH.

 

[Brandilla]

Is the card showing on your credit report? Do you have an online account? Sometimes cards that go unused for years get closed quietly.

Yes and yes. I had totally forgotten about it and had a different card that I received a letter in the mail saying it would be closed if I didn't use it within x amount of days. So I got looking into old accounts. This one has been lowered to a $500 limit and I imagine next step is closure, which is why I want to use it ASAP! I logged in and it says I have to call for a replacement card. Which is fine, but like I said, I'm wondering if I have to call either way, if it's possible to PC it to something else without a hard pull. I'm nervous about trusting their answer if I ask them directly.

 

[GZanta77]

Anyone have a sense of what an umbrella policy should cost for $1 million of coverage (I know there are tons of variables involved). I was quoted $560 through Geico which seems kind of high although I have one brand new driver and a 17 year old who has been driving for 18 months. Driving records are spotless and no accidents.

As you said, lots of variables involved - but I can tell you my umbrella policy basically doubled when I added my 17 yr old driver.

 

[amcc]

just saw this on Twitter and thought of your post!
https://thepointsguy.com/news/portu..._content=67D69376-C9FB-11EB-A226-7DB84744363C

Thank you! I couldn't find anything this morning and the government websites still show the current prohibition. I think I'm going to book the cancellable Airbnb and the car.

 

[pinkxray]

Having stayed at The Royal Hawaiian and HHV in March, I would definitely choose RH over HHV. Much better location and unless something has changed breakfast was $20 at Starbucks a day. I’d prefer to have the Pink Palace pancakes at RH.

I have pretty much narrowed it down to Royal Hawaiian or Sheraton Waikiki. (Keeping Embassy Suites as a back up in case my budget starts going out of control once I start getting activities/itinerary in place.)
Is it wrong that once I saw the pink pancakes I started leaning towards RH vs Sheraton?

I like RH for the shared family pool, dining options look good, walk right out to the beach, location is great. Don’t love the historic look of the rooms (tower too much $) and won’t have an ocean view.

Like Sheratons room better. Have great views and shared pool for kids. Dislike not having the beach front (seriously though, am I that lazy to walk down to the beach?) Saves a couple hundred. Haven‘t looked at Sheratons dining options yet but we can easily walk to RH for breakfast and Dukes for dinner.