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

[Jmazzuca243]

Hello, old friends!

It's been... a while. I sorely wish I had the time to follow this thread along with you all like I used to (way back in the v1.0 days), but my current job just doesn't give me the time.

Anyway, I'm here to say hi and ask for some advice:
I'm at 5/24:
A little over a month ago, I was approved for the AmEx Platinum. I got a 125k offer that I couldn't refuse.
I also got a SW Personal Card in early October - we use CP a lot and have a stockpile of SW points, so we decided it was worth it to get the guaranteed CP offer.

It's officially been 48 months since I received my CSR bonus (early Jan. 2017). I think my next step is to apply for a CSP. I'm thinking CSP for two reasons:
1) A family member is going to be studying abroad (yes, even now) beginning next month. They don't have a card with no foreign transaction fees, and all of our cards that have no FTFs are ones that cost a hefty amount to add an AU. I've added her as a free Gold user on my Platinum, but AmEx isn't accepted widely in Europe. My thought was that I would add her as an AU on my CSP, as there are no FTFs and the CSP AU is free.
2) I want to capitalize on getting my Sapphire bonus as soon as possible in order to get the clock ticking on the next 48 months...

Am I thinking wrong here? Is there a better route to what I want?

If I do go down that route, how soon can I think about applying for the CSP? Should I wait until February 1, just to be safe? Wait until 1 full month from the 48 month mark?

I'm not worried about the high minimum spend because (unfortunately) my rent is insane but (fortunately) I can pay it directly with a cc with very little fee.

On that note, my last question (that I just thought of): should I be concerned about larger-friends-of-mice if I use my AmEx to pay my rent in order to reach the minimum spend? Like I said, it's charged directly by my building, so it's not like I'm doing a third-party workaround...

Thanks all for any and all advice you have! I'm going to do my best to track along with you all as long as I can. I'll be a quiet observer and "like"r, but I miss this community so I want to stay as long as I can manage!

A couple of things first:
1. Wait to apply for any chase card until you are under 5/24
2. You can’t hold both a CSR and a CSP. The best option is to downgrade your CSR to a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. I personally perfer the Freedom for the 5% categories. I’m not sure the exact time you need to wait after downgrading, but it’s at least a week.
3. If you check your statements in Jan 2017, you will see when you got your bonus. You need to validate the date when you got it.

As far as getting a no FTF cc, there are a couple of student cc that could also work and have no annual fee (either MasterCard or visa). But if you want the points, you can’t go wrong with the CSP. I’m not a fan of giving AU, but it all depends on the level of trust.

The other thing you could try is to MDD to get both the CSP and CSR (if you have 8k in spending). And no issues if you are paying your rent to meet MSR. I have done it with chase and Amex cards all the time.

 

[Hoosier John]

Hello, old friends!

It's been... a while. I sorely wish I had the time to follow this thread along with you all like I used to (way back in the v1.0 days), but my current job just doesn't give me the time.

Anyway, I'm here to say hi and ask for some advice:
I'm at 5/24:
A little over a month ago, I was approved for the AmEx Platinum. I got a 125k offer that I couldn't refuse.
I also got a SW Personal Card in early October - we use CP a lot and have a stockpile of SW points, so we decided it was worth it to get the guaranteed CP offer.

It's officially been 48 months since I received my CSR bonus (early Jan. 2017). I think my next step is to apply for a CSP. I'm thinking CSP for two reasons:
1) A family member is going to be studying abroad (yes, even now) beginning next month. They don't have a card with no foreign transaction fees, and all of our cards that have no FTFs are ones that cost a hefty amount to add an AU. I've added her as a free Gold user on my Platinum, but AmEx isn't accepted widely in Europe. My thought was that I would add her as an AU on my CSP, as there are no FTFs and the CSP AU is free.
2) I want to capitalize on getting my Sapphire bonus as soon as possible in order to get the clock ticking on the next 48 months...

Am I thinking wrong here? Is there a better route to what I want?

If I do go down that route, how soon can I think about applying for the CSP? Should I wait until February 1, just to be safe? Wait until 1 full month from the 48 month mark?

I'm not worried about the high minimum spend because (unfortunately) my rent is insane but (fortunately) I can pay it directly with a cc with very little fee.

On that note, my last question (that I just thought of): should I be concerned about larger-friends-of-mice if I use my AmEx to pay my rent in order to reach the minimum spend? Like I said, it's charged directly by my building, so it's not like I'm doing a third-party workaround...

Thanks all for any and all advice you have! I'm going to do my best to track along with you all as long as I can. I'll be a quiet observer and "like"r, but I miss this community so I want to stay as long as I can manage!

I paid rent for my Amex Gold, and am now doing the same for the Platinum.
And be careful about going too soon for the CSP. You need 48 months since receiving your bonus, not just getting the card.
If you can handle two MSRs, might wanna try for a Sapphire MDD.

 

[wanderlust7]

Hawaii planning help requested, so forgive me for all of the questions that are about to come...

I jumped into this game with the goal of offsetting costs to Hawaii in Sept 2022. I've searched the boards, read trip reports, and created a table of notes on excursions and places to stay. I believe I read that I need to be prepared to make our reservations this coming fall (Sept. 2021) especially since we'll be using points. I'm trying to figure out what kind of points goal I need. Only 3 of us- myself, DH, DD13. I'm initially planning for 2-3 week trip.

Currently 3/24
9/20- CSP/CSR
12/20- Hyatt

Also, have a Disney Visa and Chase Freedom that we've had since the early 2000's I believe.

I'm working on Hyatt points now for Grand Hyatt Kauai and DH will have enough points to cover Marriott Ko Olina. Based on the Hyatt, it looks like 25K per night for a standard room, but I'm aiming for Globalist and elite nights to get a suite. Will this change my points goal?

Is Hilton a must? Should the Aspire come into our plans at some point that we could utilize on this trip?

I'm sitting on a personalized mailer offer (expires 2/28) for an AMEX Plat w/ a 125K SUB, but I'm a brand new player to AMEX and unsure how this can benefit the Hawaii trip. How can this help toward this trip?

Flights- we're flying from the East Coast. My husband has priority w/ AA and I had plans to work toward a CP for Southwest at the end of this year. Is there something different we should be considering?

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! I guess my ultimate question is how can I best use this year to earn rewards AND my remaining 2 slots?

@SouthFayetteFan gets huge props for helping in the wings for months to even get me to this point, but I thought I may give him a break and share the questions with the masses Thanks, y'all!

The info I've come across on the Grand Hyatt Kauai suggests that you might get a better view as Globalist, but an upgrade to a suite is not that likely. You can book the standard suite for 40k. Or you can go for 50 elite nights and get 2 suite upgrades as a milestone award.

If you want to stay at the Grand Wailea on Maui, an Aspire would be a good way to do it. It would take up a slot though. Standard awards are 95k. You would get a free night a couple months after opening the card, which is extended to end of 2022 (and can be used any night of the week). With the spend on the card and the SUB, you're pretty close to 2 nights on points. You would have 3 nights in place to stalk availability at around 12 months. The 4th night is trickier. If you applied now, you would get the renewal free night mid-March to April 2022. Then you'd have to hope that standard awards are still available.

Amex MRs can be transferred to Hilton 1:2. Sometimes there is a transfer bonus of 40% (more rarely 50%). It's not usually thought of as a great value, but can make sense with the bonus and a specific redemption in mind. The highest value would be airline transfer partners for business or first class. Or cashout at 1.25 cpp with a Schwab.

 

[softballpooh]

Or you can go for 50 elite nights and get 2 suite upgrades as a milestone award.

Depending on how the spend and current mattress run goes during the bonus period, I actually have this as one of my goals! A guaranteed suite would definitely be my preference!

Amex MRs can be transferred to Hilton 1:2. Sometimes there is a transfer bonus of 40% (more rarely 50%). It's not usually thought of as a great value, but can make sense with the bonus and a specific redemption in mind. The highest value would be airline transfer partners for business or first class.

Thank you, this helps! I'm really leaning toward the AMEX Plat over the Hilton since I have flexibility w/ Hilton and flights. I've found a few articles online as well that describe various ways I could use them, plus the 125K SUB including the 10X on groceries is really hard to pass on!

 

[mfly]

A couple of things first:
1. Wait to apply for any chase card until you are under 5/24
2. You can’t hold both a CSR and a CSP. The best option is to downgrade your CSR to a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. I personally perfer the Freedom for the 5% categories. I’m not sure the exact time you need to wait after downgrading, but it’s at least a week.
3. If you check your statements in Jan 2017, you will see when you got your bonus. You need to validate the date when you got it.

As far as getting a no FTF cc, there are a couple of student cc that could also work and have no annual fee (either MasterCard or visa). But if you want the points, you can’t go wrong with the CSP. I’m not a fan of giving AU, but it all depends on the level of trust.

The other thing you could try is to MDD to get both the CSP and CSR (if you have 8k in spending). And no issues if you are paying your rent to meet MSR. I have done it with chase and Amex cards all the time.

Oops! I meant to type that I’m at 2/24, not 5/24.

I didn’t realize you couldn’t have both a CSP and CSR at once! Is that a new rule, or just something I forgot?

I’ve looked into the no FTF student cards, but I just thought this may kill two birds with one stone. I’m comfortable having her be an AU.

I paid rent for my Amex Gold, and am now doing the same for the Platinum.
And be careful about going too soon for the CSP. You need 48 months since receiving your bonus, not just getting the card.
If you can handle two MSRs, might wanna try for a Sapphire MDD.

1/5/17 was the day I received the CSR bonus. Do I wait 31 days from 1/5/21? Or am I good to go now?

I may have to pick someone’s brain on the MDD, if anyone is willing. I understand the basics, but I don’t recall the details of what order, etc.

I’ll go check dischurners on Reddit to see if there’s anything there on it.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Spacing between chase apps, 90 days or 3 months?

Either is fine. It’s not a hard rule, just a guide. You can get cards sooner than 90 days if you want, it’s just the faster you go; the riskier you’ll seem.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Oops! I meant to type that I’m at 2/24, not 5/24.

I didn’t realize you couldn’t have both a CSP and CSR at once! Is that a new rule, or just something I forgot?

I’ve looked into the no FTF student cards, but I just thought this may kill two birds with one stone. I’m comfortable having her be an AU.

1/5/17 was the day I received[/] the CSR bonus. Do I wait 31 days from 1/5/21? Or am I good to go now?

I may have to pick someone’s brain on the MDD, if anyone is willing. I understand the basics, but I don’t recall the details of what order, etc.

I’ll go check dischurners on Reddit to see if there’s anything there on it.

The advanced strategies thread on DISchurners has a writeup on how to do a MDD.

You should be good to go now. The one Sapphire rule has been in place for quite a long time so you just might have forgotten about it.

 

[wanderlust7]

Depending on how the spend and current mattress run goes during the bonus period, I actually have this as one of my goals! A guaranteed suite would definitely be my preference!


Thank you, this helps! I'm really leaning toward the AMEX Plat over the Hilton since I have flexibility w/ Hilton and flights. I've found a few articles online as well that describe various ways I could use them, plus the 125K SUB including the 10X on groceries is really hard to pass on!

Just noticed that you actually only have 1 slot left to stay under 5/24. Once you're 5/24, you can't get Chase cards. The Plat is "best ever", so I would get that over the Aspire too.

 

[ten6mom]

Just logged into Chase again and my previously missing Sam's Club purchase has reappeared, posted date 1/15 so that should help!

Whew!

Off to SM them now and ask them for the increased bonus.

 

[platamama]

Hawaii planning help requested, so forgive me for all of the questions that are about to come...

I jumped into this game with the goal of offsetting costs to Hawaii in Sept 2022. I've searched the boards, read trip reports, and created a table of notes on excursions and places to stay. I believe I read that I need to be prepared to make our reservations this coming fall (Sept. 2021) especially since we'll be using points. I'm trying to figure out what kind of points goal I need. Only 3 of us- myself, DH, DD13. I'm initially planning for 2-3 week trip.

Currently 3/24
9/20- CSP/CSR
12/20- Hyatt

Also, have a Disney Visa and Chase Freedom that we've had since the early 2000's I believe.

I'm working on Hyatt points now for Grand Hyatt Kauai and DH will have enough points to cover Marriott Ko Olina. Based on the Hyatt, it looks like 25K per night for a standard room, but I'm aiming for Globalist and elite nights to get a suite. Will this change my points goal?

Is Hilton a must? Should the Aspire come into our plans at some point that we could utilize on this trip?

I'm sitting on a personalized mailer offer (expires 2/28) for an AMEX Plat w/ a 125K SUB, but I'm a brand new player to AMEX and unsure how this can benefit the Hawaii trip. How can this help toward this trip?

Flights- we're flying from the East Coast. My husband has priority w/ AA and I had plans to work toward a CP for Southwest at the end of this year. Is there something different we should be considering?

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! I guess my ultimate question is how can I best use this year to earn rewards AND my remaining 2 slots?

@SouthFayetteFan gets huge props for helping in the wings for months to even get me to this point, but I thought I may give him a break and share the questions with the masses Thanks, y'all!

Depending on how the spend and current mattress run goes during the bonus period, I actually have this as one of my goals! A guaranteed suite would definitely be my preference!


Thank you, this helps! I'm really leaning toward the AMEX Plat over the Hilton since I have flexibility w/ Hilton and flights. I've found a few articles online as well that describe various ways I could use them, plus the 125K SUB including the 10X on groceries is really hard to pass on!

The 125K SUB with 10x groceries is THE BEST EVER SUB on that card, I personally wouldn't pass that up, especially with all the extra benefits on that card (worth potentially $680+ in the first year alone). Plus once you've gotten an Amex card, you'll start getting Amex Offers that can really help offset the sting of the AF. And with the Plats, you automatically get Hilton Gold status (which gets you free breakfast), and you get Marriott Gold (which basically gets you...nothing worthwhile haha). I'd try to save the Aspire until after you've hit 5/24 and shut yourself out of Chase since Amex doesn't have the same 5/24 rule.

Have you looked at Google flights to see what airlines service the route you'd like? What's your nearest big airport? That probably determines what airline you should be considering the most heavily for flights to Hawaii. Are you planning on one island or more? I think SW and HA operate most of the inter-island flights.

 

[ten6mom]

Mulling over what my refund might be for my DLAP. I had to go request an old billing statement from a now-closed Amex... I purchased a 3 day PH which I then upgraded to the Signature AP so I am sure that's going to further muck up figuring what my refund should be.

To add to the confusion, the original PH was purchased on a DIFFERENT Chase card... which is also now closed.

Speaking of refunds.

I have a NEGATIVE UR balance on a recently closed CIP. I sort of thought I could "transfer" it over to a card that has a positive balance, but that is not an option. Anyone know how Chase will ultimately (ha!) take care of that?

 

[hsmamato2]

I know some of you have done Grand Canyon and other western National Parks. My son is getting married at Zion in September. We have accommodations there. We plan to add on a couple of days in Vegas and then I'd love to see the Grand Canyon while we are west. Would love any recommendations. Seems I might be too late to get lodging at the park. We wouldn't be hiking...just sight seeing.

there are two or three chain hotels right outside the entrance at Zion.... check those out if you can,it was nice staying at a Holiday Inn(? trying to recall which it was) and walking into the park to sightsee. Be sure you walk the narrows,rent the water boots and do it,you won't be sorry! I love Zion it's beautiful.

 

[iujen94]

Here’s a morbid question - I was thinking last night that, if something were to happen to me, DH would be totally lost as to what’s going on with our credit cards, how to access the accounts, even how many we have! (To be fair, if something were to happen to him, I’d be lost with regard to our insurance, mortgage and investments.).

If you keep this kind of information together “just in case,” how do you do so, or what do you use? I thought about creating a Google doc that we could both add information to, but then I got paranoid and wasn’t sure if we should have ALL of that account info and passwords in one place online. Any suggestions?

 

[havaneselover]

Here’s a morbid question - I was thinking last night that, if something were to happen to me, DH would be totally lost as to what’s going on with our credit cards, how to access the accounts, even how many we have! (To be fair, if something were to happen to him, I’d be lost with regard to our insurance, mortgage and investments.).

If you keep this kind of information together “just in case,” how do you do so, or what do you use? I thought about creating a Google doc that we could both add information to, but then I got paranoid and wasn’t sure if we should have ALL of that account info and passwords in one place online. Any suggestions?

I have a password protected excel file with passwords, accounts, net worth and gave my sister the password. But if something were to happen to me people would be confused as to why I have three separate Amex Platinum cards.

 

[havaneselover]

Moved my CL around with Chase Business so I have more room on CIC 2. Still not sure if CIC 1 has reset for office spending. And I am pretty sure I haven't received a new card from Chase for my PC and I think it's been three weeks. But as long as they're giving me 5x ur at office stores, I'm fine with it

 

[ski_mom]

I cancelled my 50th bday trip to Cancun this week when they announced u have to Covid test negative to return. Not risking that in Mexico. Booked Florida keys. Heading to key west Hyatt and Hilton casa marina. But after free southwest flights we are staying first night on Key Largo Hilton. Bakers Cay Resort is only 42000 HH points for the night and is nice. We stayed there years ago before it changed to Hilton and liked it. Only an hour from Mia airport.

We are going to the keys in late Feb/early March for a little over a week. I have Bakers Cay booked for our first two nights. We are staying in Key West for the next 5 nights and we were going to do them all at the Hyatt Centric since I can use points there. I see on DOC this morning that Hilton points are being doubled again, so I could purchase enough points for a reasonable amount that we could add them to what we have already and stay at the Case Marina for those nights instead. We would have free breakfast (I think) at the Hilton because we have the status upgrade due to having the platinum and we would get the 5th night free as well.

Any opinions on the 2 options. We've never been there, but it seems like the Centric is the perfect location, but the Case Marina has the beach, so I'm kind of torn.

 

[Psychodisney]

there are two or three chain hotels right outside the entrance at Zion.... check those out if you can,it was nice staying at a Holiday Inn(? trying to recall which it was) and walking into the park to sightsee. Be sure you walk the narrows,rent the water boots and do it,you won't be sorry! I love Zion it's beautiful.

A lot of the wedding guests are staying at the Springhill Suites. The wedding party is staying at a newer condo complex. We'll have a lot of space to host a party Sat night. We are planning on doing the narrows as a group event on Saturday!

 

[ski_mom]

Here’s a morbid question - I was thinking last night that, if something were to happen to me, DH would be totally lost as to what’s going on with our credit cards, how to access the accounts, even how many we have! (To be fair, if something were to happen to him, I’d be lost with regard to our insurance, mortgage and investments.).

If you keep this kind of information together “just in case,” how do you do so, or what do you use? I thought about creating a Google doc that we could both add information to, but then I got paranoid and wasn’t sure if we should have ALL of that account info and passwords in one place online. Any suggestions?

I have a password protected excel file with passwords, accounts, net worth and gave my sister the password. But if something were to happen to me people would be confused as to why I have three separate Amex Platinum cards.

I have started working on this a little as well. I also do the bank bonuses, so at any given time have a few bank accounts open. I've started a monthly summary in excel showing our total balance in "checking" accounts with a column for each bank. There's another tab with the websites with usernames and passwords for each account. That way DH would at least know where the money is and have access to it.

I've haven't done as well with the points and credit cards. We do still have everything mailed to our house so that he would at least know that it's an active account since we'd get a bill. It's also set up on auto pay so he wouldn't get any late fees. I'm working on a spreadsheet that will be similar to the bank accounts for points, but I'm finding it more difficult to set up since there are so many types of point balances. I need to focus on it more though because I'd hate for them all to go to waste. I know DH probably wouldn't end up using them all, but hopefully he'd get value out of some of them. I probably ought to show my kids too because they would be more apt to dig in and figure a way to use them.

 

[papaof3]

We are going to the keys in late Feb/early March for a little over a week. I have Bakers Cay booked for our first two nights. We are staying in Key West for the next 5 nights and we were going to do them all at the Hyatt Centric since I can use points there. I see on DOC this morning that Hilton points are being doubled again, so I could purchase enough points for a reasonable amount that we could add them to what we have already and stay at the Case Marina for those nights instead. We would have free breakfast (I think) at the Hilton because we have the status upgrade due to having the platinum and we would get the 5th night free as well.

Any opinions on the 2 options. We've never been there, but it seems like the Centric is the perfect location, but the Case Marina has the beach, so I'm kind of torn.

I stayed at both in January before Covid. Hands down the Hyatt is better. The Hyatt Centric is very short walk to main tourist sites and bars and restaurants in old key west. If you look at a map Casa Marina is a much longer walk, although closer to southern most point icon. Hyatt wins. Hyatt rooms are cleaner and more updated. You can read reviews from google or TripAdvisor. Casa marina rooms needed to be refreshed 10 years ago. Very run down. Hyatt wins there. I am explorist Hyatt which gives u nothing at the centric. Diamond at Casa gives you a small chance at upgraded room which I didn’t get last year, and a continental breakfast which had no warm or hot food. So casa wins there. The grounds and pool at casa are slightly nicer. Pool is nice and so is bar but sticker price for drinks much higher at casa. The blue bar at Centric has great happy hour specials!!! I find Hilton points easier to get to meet that 60k per night than the 25k Hyatt or ultimate rewards. I am doing a night at casa mostly because they are a Hilton resort. So if u have the aspire card we get 250 per year to spend on anything billed to room. So parking, dinner and pool drinks are all free basically. I wish I was globalist to get upgrade and breakfast at Hyatt. Overall my P2 and I love Hyatt more. Great views of boats sailing by as the sunsets and walks to Duval street and Mallory square sunsets.

 

[elgerber]

Either is fine. It’s not a hard rule, just a guide. You can get cards sooner than 90 days if you want, it’s just the faster you go; the riskier you’ll seem.

cool thanks. I had to get past 5/24, which was Jan 3rd. Now Thursday is 90 days . Really want that CIU