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

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Can anyone tell me what the current PYB categories are w/ the CSP? The BF is going in branch to grab that today. I was trying to explain that he can earn more back with it.

Also if you are shopping through the Chase portals....LoveSac has 2UR/$1 if you shop through the Chase Freedom portal (which he has). Can he use that portal, but his new CSP card? He could get 2URs using the freedom portal, but the Sapphire portal is only 1UR.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask but I have 2 questions. 1-Wanting to book SW flights. RT for 7 is $2512 or 178K points. Between DH and I we have enough points (if I transfer his to mine) to cover flights there. I also have about 17k UR points. I have a SW credit card and a Chase Freedom unlimited card. He does not anymore (his cards were hacked, took months to resolve, long story). What is the best way to go about this? Do I split the flights into 2 bookings? Is there a hack to get points cheap? I'd rather book with points instead of cash with that many ppl in case we have to cancel, travel funds are a pain.
2- Planning a USO/Beach trip. Looking at the Clearwater area. Any recommendations for a Hilton property in the area? Ones with queen beds, not doubles lol. We have a king bed at home, no way I'm sleeping in a double lol. We have over a million Hilton points that need to be used. We'd need 2 rooms and want direct or walkable beach access.

One more question. I have the Chase freedom unlimted card. I think it gets 1.5%. Is there a way to upgrade that to the one with the rotating quarters? I currently have 3 chase cards. Disney (opened 3 years ago), SW (opened in Oct 21) and the freedom unlimited (at least 3 years old). Dh has no chase cards. The only 2 cards I've opened in the last year is the SW card and a Lowe's store card (synchrony bank I think). Or would I be better off with a different card? Mainly looking for rewards I can use to pay for travel, like park tickets, airfare, car rentals etc.

You might want to just look at opening a Freedom Flex and keep the CFU for the 1.5. There are lots of Chase options if you're looking to earn a bunch of points w/ a SUB.

 

[MarBee]

Hello again experts! I’m here again asking for advice. I am spending about $600 to buy gift cards to Target/Walmart/grocery stores for a charity. (The gift cards will be in $25 increments if that matters.)
What’s the best way/best place to maximize my points earnings here? I don’t have time to take advantage of a SUB so I have to work with the cards I have.
Between DH and I we have the following cards:
Disney Visa
Chase Freedom
Chase SW Visa (both premium and plus)
Marriott Bonvoy Visa
Citi MasterCard AA Aviator
Chase Business Ink
Amex Bonvoy
Amex Bonvoy Business

We just met the $1500 max on Walmart 5x points CF bonus category, so I’m kind of at a loss here.

Any and all help is welcome

ETA: it’s the Chase Business Ink Preferred

 

[Judique]

Hello again experts! I’m here again asking for advice. I am spending about $600 to buy gift cards to Target/Walmart/grocery stores for a charity. (The gift cards will be in $25 increments if that matters.)
What’s the best way/best place to maximize my points earnings here? I don’t have time to take advantage of a SUB so I have to work with the cards I have.
Between DH and I we have the following cards:
Disney Visa
Chase Freedom
Chase SW Visa (both premium and plus)
Marriott Bonvoy Visa
Citi MasterCard AA Aviator
Chase Business Ink
Amex Bonvoy
Amex Bonvoy Business

We just met the $1500 max on Walmart 5x points CF bonus category, so I’m kind of at a loss here.

Any and all help is welcome

Which Chase Business Ink is that? If it is the CIC, you can use it at Staples for 5UR per $. CIC is Chase Ink Business Cash, but the rewards are UR's which can become cash.

 

[MarBee]

Which Chase Business Ink is that? If it is the CIC, you can use it at Staples for 5UR per $. CIC is Chase Ink Business Cash, but the rewards are UR's which can become cash.

Sorry about that! It’s the Business Preferred card. I’ll edit above.

 

[LynnTH]

Does anyone know if you can expedite the Venture X?

I applied on Monday for DH. Card arrived yesterday. Just in time. He is looking at new trucks today and want to put down as much on a CC as they will let us. That will use up some of the MSR.

 

[mhautz]

Can anyone tell me what the current PYB categories are w/ the CSP? The BF is going in branch to grab that today. I was trying to explain that he can earn more back with it.

Also if you are shopping through the Chase portals....LoveSac has 2UR/$1 if you shop through the Chase Freedom portal (which he has). Can he use that portal, but his new CSP card? He could get 2URs using the freedom portal, but the Sapphire portal is only 1UR.

CSP PYB is Airbnb, Away brand luggage, and “select charities”. We’re close to a new quarter and I’m hoping that means this will change.
Based on what I can tell, you have to access the Chase shopping portal through specific cards, but once you click through, you can use any card for actual payment. The UR points would go to the card from which you clicked through (but you can transfer them later to another card in your Chase UR portfolio, except that new ink card )

 

[Judique]

Sorry about that! It’s the Business Preferred card. I’ll edit above.

If you've had it a year you can call to PC it to Ink Cash. It's immediate and the old card will work until you get a replacement card. That's unless you are using it to transfer to partners.

 

[wanderlust7]

Hello again experts! I’m here again asking for advice. I am spending about $600 to buy gift cards to Target/Walmart/grocery stores for a charity. (The gift cards will be in $25 increments if that matters.)
What’s the best way/best place to maximize my points earnings here? I don’t have time to take advantage of a SUB so I have to work with the cards I have.
Between DH and I we have the following cards:
Disney Visa
Chase Freedom
Chase SW Visa (both premium and plus)
Marriott Bonvoy Visa
Citi MasterCard AA Aviator
Chase Business Ink
Amex Bonvoy
Amex Bonvoy Business

We just met the $1500 max on Walmart 5x points CF bonus category, so I’m kind of at a loss here.

Any and all help is welcome

ETA: it’s the Chase Business Ink Preferred

There's a Target offer for 10% back on Chase cards. The ones I got have limits of $7 or $9.

On Amex, see if you can find the Walmart offer for $10 back on $35.

You can also sign up for the 10x Paypal offer for the personal Bonvoy (sign-up ends tomorrow):
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amer...rchases-through-december-31-max-50000-points/
You can pay with Paypal on Walmart.com. I'm not sure yet if the Paypal offer stacks with the Amex Offer for Walmart. Waiting to see if the AO credits.

If you can get any of the myriad Amazon Shop with Points offers to work, you can buy grocery gift cards with that.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Booked my summer southwest flights- man we’re the flight times awful. We have to leave at 5am and get home after midnight from Phl to the west coast.

My other choice is AA but I have so many southwest points and will have 2 companion passes

Our choices were awful. SNA to MDW, one way, cheapest points 22k, only 1 nonstop 27k. Not enough points for 3 of us, so paid over $350 per person ONE WAY! I will cancel and rebook once points and hopefully CP from current MSR. Not even sure why I booked because no way I'm keeping that cash price. I had already booked MDW to BUR last week, again one nonstop daily. On Friday it's 10:50 am but on Saturday (preferred day) only nonstop is 5 pm, arriving 7:40 which is a waste of a whole vacation day.

 

[wanderlust7]

I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask but I have 2 questions. 1-Wanting to book SW flights. RT for 7 is $2512 or 178K points. Between DH and I we have enough points (if I transfer his to mine) to cover flights there. I also have about 17k UR points. I have a SW credit card and a Chase Freedom unlimited card. He does not anymore (his cards were hacked, took months to resolve, long story). What is the best way to go about this? Do I split the flights into 2 bookings? Is there a hack to get points cheap? I'd rather book with points instead of cash with that many ppl in case we have to cancel, travel funds are a pain.
2- Planning a USO/Beach trip. Looking at the Clearwater area. Any recommendations for a Hilton property in the area? Ones with queen beds, not doubles lol. We have a king bed at home, no way I'm sleeping in a double lol. We have over a million Hilton points that need to be used. We'd need 2 rooms and want direct or walkable beach access.

One more question. I have the Chase freedom unlimted card. I think it gets 1.5%. Is there a way to upgrade that to the one with the rotating quarters? I currently have 3 chase cards. Disney (opened 3 years ago), SW (opened in Oct 21) and the freedom unlimited (at least 3 years old). Dh has no chase cards. The only 2 cards I've opened in the last year is the SW card and a Lowe's store card (synchrony bank I think). Or would I be better off with a different card? Mainly looking for rewards I can use to pay for travel, like park tickets, airfare, car rentals etc.

It costs 1 cent per point to transfer Southwest points and there is a minimum. Usually not worth it, unless you have one of the SW business cards that comes with $500 point transfer credit.

Hopefully you can split up into 2 groups and make the numbers work with the existing points you both have. You won't be able to transfer your URs to SW unless you upgrade your CFU to a Sapphire Preferred or Reserve (or apply for one).

 

[platamama]

It's looking like I'm going to end up about 5,000 points short from getting a companion pass for next year. I didn't realize I was that close. Frantically trying to figure out how to get them in the next week and a half. . .

RR shopping portal. My last purchase posted points within 3-4 days.

 

[LynnTH]

UGGHHH.. DH is buying a truck today. Just got his Cap One Venture X in the mail yesterday. Car dealership won't take any payments on CC... Well Dang. Good thing I will be buying a new mattress and couch/loveseat. Was hoping to put at least $5000 on the truck.... but no...

 

[wanderlust7]

UGGHHH.. DH is buying a truck today. Just got his Cap One Venture X in the mail yesterday. Car dealership won't take any payments on CC... Well Dang. Good thing I will be buying a new mattress and couch/loveseat. Was hoping to put at least $5000 on the truck.... but no...

I was going to say if you started to walk out I bet they would take cc. Then I remembered, we don't live in normal times.

 

[LynnTH]

I was going to say if you started to walk out I bet they would take cc. Then I remembered, we don't live in normal times.

I know. It's killing me to pay $60,000 for a truck also. But his has seen better days and we are not putting more $ into it (2004 Tahoe). But you can't really haggle anymore either - was hard enough finding what he was looking for. Was hoping his current truck would at least hold out until spring but no...

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Certain American Express cards come with an airline incidental credit. Platinum charge cards ($200) and Hilton Aspire ($250). The credits are based on calendar year. So, if you were to obtain one of these cards now and use the credit before 12/31/21, it would reset on January 1st and you could use it again in 2022. Because you opened the card in December, the closing date of your 13th cycle won't be until January 2023, so you would be able to use the credit again in that calendar year, then cancel for a full refund of the 2nd annual fee. Few issuers still use calendar-year credits; most use membership year credits.

The "triple dip" only works if you open the card in late November/early December because the 13th statement close has to be after January 1 for the credit to reset a third time.

Thanks for the detailed explanation!

 

[afan]

I know. It's killing me to pay $60,000 for a truck also. But his has seen better days and we are not putting more $ into it (2004 Tahoe). But you can't really haggle anymore either - was hard enough finding what he was looking for. Was hoping his current truck would at least hold out until spring but no...

I'm amazed he found a truck and one he liked.

 

[amalone1013]

Looks like one Nonstop a week is the new normal for OMA to MCO. I really hoped their recent trend of additional flights (even just an extra Sunday flight) would continue, but apparently not. There are still plenty of reasonable one stop flights, but I really do like getting to Orlando before late afternoon.
Might be time for us to try driving to Kansas City (three hours vs. one hour to Omaha)

And of course when I start getting more into the credit card game and am willing to test the waters outside of SW, our local airport in Lincoln lost Delta, so the options are very limited (and expensive).

I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, things are pretty much the same as pre-Covid. We
never felt compelled to fly from LNK before and the SW flight availability and prices aren’t really too different (and probably the best airline from OMA), I just wanted “better”

I'm so sad about delta leaving, I hope it doesn't spell bad news. I've been doing the united flights from Denver and it's just so nice especially when solo - I was there this past weekend and in my friends driveway less than 4 hours after DH dropped me off in Denver.

I always get such a kick out of it. 12min after driving onto airport property to go home, I had parked my rental car, returned the keys at the desk, used the restroom, and gone through security.

 

[LynnTH]

I'm amazed he found a truck and one he liked.

He has been looking for a while - finally had to pull the trigger and actually get one. We do keep our vehicles for a long time and his was the oldest in the family. The kids have much newer vehicles than him. So, it was time - even thought it is painful spending the $$.

 

[mhautz]

I'm so sad about delta leaving, I hope it doesn't spell bad news. I've been doing the united flights from Denver and it's just so nice especially when solo - I was there this past weekend and in my friends driveway less than 4 hours after DH dropped me off in Denver.

I always get such a kick out of it. 12min after driving onto airport property to go home, I had parked my rental car, returned the keys at the desk, used the restroom, and gone through security.

Yeah, only time I flew out was back when they had Allegiant and it was super convenient. I wish they could bring that back and fly to Orlando, especially now that Magical Express is leaving, I’d have no issue flying into Sanford.