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

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

So I'm thinking the new CSP SUB is going to be short lived. What do y'all think?

I think I'm going to refer DH ASAP once the referrals show the new SUB. I've convinced him to join in the credit card game but we were gonna wait until we met my new CSP + CSR MSRs. Should be fine, though, and it'll give me an excuse to get some landscaping done

 

[Alexle2007]

I think I asked before but no response so I’ll give it another try.
Limo service from MCO to WDW recommendations?

We use Bob at Legacy Limo Service. +1 (407) 383-1954. He is super nice and super dependable. You can tell him Tina from MD recommended him.

I always just text him when I need transportation.

 

[Hoosier John]

For those thinking about jumping on the Charles Schwab Platinum before it's (potentially) too late, Lain did a great write-up in the past (and since I can't find it by searching, I'm just pasting it here ... I think this is all his words, and not any of my additions):

Amex Schwab Platinum by Lain:
There's no cost, other than a hard pull, to open a Schwab One brokerage account. And if you apply via a supportal link and can float $1,000 [25,000] in the brokerage account for 45 days, you'll earn a $100 bonus. You may also want to open up a Schwab checking account while you're at it, since one of the benefits of Schwab's checking account is refunded ATM fees worldwide, which comes in handy when you travel internationally.

You don't need an Amex Schwab Platinum to open a Schwab One brokerage account, but you do need a Schwab One brokerage account to be eligible for a Schwab Platinum. And you need to keep a Schwab Platinum open as long as you want the ability to invest ("cash out") your MR to your Schwab One brokerage account at a 1 MR = 1.25 cent rate.

So to your question, there's no harm in opening up a Schwab One brokerage account early, long before you even intend to cash out your MR. The qualifying account will be there when you're ready. However, ideally, you'd open a Schwab One brokerage account via a supportal link and when you can float $1,000 [25,000] for 45 days or more to earn at least a $100 bonus.

The other part to your question is when should you open a Schwab Platinum. Most wait until they've hit several of Amex's big SUB cards and built up a good stash of MR. This is because you need to keep your Schwab Platinum open for at least a year, but also for as long as you want the ability to invest ("cash out") your MR to your Schwab One brokerage account. If you want to keep this benefit for whatever MR you earn in the future, you'll need to keep your Schwab Plat open at a cost of $550 AF per year. Another reason is one of Amex's biggest SUBs is the personal Plat (whether the 100k MR Platicorn, or 70k/75k MR incognito offers, or even just the 60k MR public offer). Of course, you'll want to bank this SUB, but that means you'll also have a Plat for a year or two (if you accept a retention offer). The Schwab Platinum has basically all of the same benefits of the regular Plat (but with the ability to cash out your MR), so it's not really ideal to have the personal Plat and the Schwab Platinum concurrently. It's also not ideal to get the Schwab Platinum first then the regular Plat, because if you keep the Schwab Plat open to cash out you'll be holding the Schwab Plat concurrently with the regular Plat (and paying both AFs), or if you close the older Schwab Plat to avoid the duplication of benefits and another AF then you'll no longer have the ability to cash out any points you'll earn from the regular Plat and any other MR card. (Then there's a Morgan Stanley Platinum with it's own 60k MR bonus.) For these reasons, the Schwab Plat is usually a late in the game card, and for some the Platinum card they end up keeping (after churning the regular Platinum, Morgan Stanley Platinum, and the discontinued Ameriprise and Mercedes-Benz Platinums) for the usual Platinum benefits, but also because of its unique ability to cash out. (Of course others may take a hit it hard, hit it fast approach and get all the cards in a short period of time.) (One more thing: any personal Platinum — any personal Amex card — will add to your 5/24 count, so you need to decide how that fits into your strategy.)

There are always concerns whether this neat little benefit will continue. Amex and Schwab could decide to end their relationship, just as we've seen Amex discontinue the Ameriprise and Mercedes-Benz Platinums. Amex could decide to treat all the remaining varieties of personal Platinum cards with a SUB (e.g., the regular, Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab) as the same product fo the purposes of its lifetime language restriction on bonuses, so getting a SUB on one variety makes you ineligible for a SUB on another flavor. Schwab could decide to stop the invest with rewards program or cut the redemption rate to 1 MR = 1 cent or less, since it's thought Schwab is footing the bill on the extra 0.25 cpp to get you to use their investment products.

Again, like I mentioned to you when you first started churning, Amex cards have serious AFs, but their rewards are lucrative and bonus categories are extremely useful, and having the right set of cards in your wallet can mean earning MRs at a much faster clip than even Chase URs. But because Amex cards typically have higher AFs than Chase's cards, you need to have an idea whether the SUB, credits, earning structure and benefits are worth it to help offset the fees, and a plan for what you're going to do with the MRs you earn. And as you know, Amex can be very sensitive to churning behavior, especially if you sign up for their cards and stop spending on them after you've gotten the bonus, then try to move on to the next one.

Investing your MR with Schwab, or cashing them out is one option if you have the right card. But MRs can also transfer over to Virgin Atlantic (frequently with transfer bonuses) and ANA, if you want to fly to Japan again, or British Airways or Air France/KLM if you wanted to fly to Europe, among many other transfer partners.

ETA: Because this was somewhat dated, please see comment(s) below. I have edited my changes in [ ]'s and bolded for emphasis.

 

[Alexle2007]

For those thinking about jumping on the Charles Schwab Platinum before it's (potentially) too late, Lain did a great write-up in the past (and since I can't find it by searching, I'm just pasting it here ... I think this is all his words, and not any of my additions):

Amex Schwab Platinum by Lain:
There's no cost, other than a hard pull, to open a Schwab One brokerage account. And if you apply via a supportal link and can float $1,000 in the brokerage account for 45 days, you'll earn a $100 bonus. You may also want to open up a Schwab checking account while you're at it, since one of the benefits of Schwab's checking account is refunded ATM fees worldwide, which comes in handy when you travel internationally.

You don't need an Amex Schwab Platinum to open a Schwab One brokerage account, but you do need a Schwab One brokerage account to be eligible for a Schwab Platinum. And you need to keep a Schwab Platinum open as long as you want the ability to invest ("cash out") your MR to your Schwab One brokerage account at a 1 MR = 1.25 cent rate.

So to your question, there's no harm in opening up a Schwab One brokerage account early, long before you even intend to cash out your MR. The qualifying account will be there when you're ready. However, ideally, you'd open a Schwab One brokerage account via a supportal link and when you can float $1,000 for 45 days or more to earn at least a $100 bonus.

The other part to your question is when should you open a Schwab Platinum. Most wait until they've hit several of Amex's big SUB cards and built up a good stash of MR. This is because you need to keep your Schwab Platinum open for at least a year, but also for as long as you want the ability to invest ("cash out") your MR to your Schwab One brokerage account. If you want to keep this benefit for whatever MR you earn in the future, you'll need to keep your Schwab Plat open at a cost of $550 AF per year. Another reason is one of Amex's biggest SUBs is the personal Plat (whether the 100k MR Platicorn, or 70k/75k MR incognito offers, or even just the 60k MR public offer). Of course, you'll want to bank this SUB, but that means you'll also have a Plat for a year or two (if you accept a retention offer). The Schwab Platinum has basically all of the same benefits of the regular Plat (but with the ability to cash out your MR), so it's not really ideal to have the personal Plat and the Schwab Platinum concurrently. It's also not ideal to get the Schwab Platinum first then the regular Plat, because if you keep the Schwab Plat open to cash out you'll be holding the Schwab Plat concurrently with the regular Plat (and paying both AFs), or if you close the older Schwab Plat to avoid the duplication of benefits and another AF then you'll no longer have the ability to cash out any points you'll earn from the regular Plat and any other MR card. (Then there's a Morgan Stanley Platinum with it's own 60k MR bonus.) For these reasons, the Schwab Plat is usually a late in the game card, and for some the Platinum card they end up keeping (after churning the regular Platinum, Morgan Stanley Platinum, and the discontinued Ameriprise and Mercedes-Benz Platinums) for the usual Platinum benefits, but also because of its unique ability to cash out. (Of course others may take a hit it hard, hit it fast approach and get all the cards in a short period of time.) (One more thing: any personal Platinum — any personal Amex card — will add to your 5/24 count, so you need to decide how that fits into your strategy.)

There are always concerns whether this neat little benefit will continue. Amex and Schwab could decide to end their relationship, just as we've seen Amex discontinue the Ameriprise and Mercedes-Benz Platinums. Amex could decide to treat all the remaining varieties of personal Platinum cards with a SUB (e.g., the regular, Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab) as the same product fo the purposes of its lifetime language restriction on bonuses, so getting a SUB on one variety makes you ineligible for a SUB on another flavor. Schwab could decide to stop the invest with rewards program or cut the redemption rate to 1 MR = 1 cent or less, since it's thought Schwab is footing the bill on the extra 0.25 cpp to get you to use their investment products.

Again, like I mentioned to you when you first started churning, Amex cards have serious AFs, but their rewards are lucrative and bonus categories are extremely useful, and having the right set of cards in your wallet can mean earning MRs at a much faster clip than even Chase URs. But because Amex cards typically have higher AFs than Chase's cards, you need to have an idea whether the SUB, credits, earning structure and benefits are worth it to help offset the fees, and a plan for what you're going to do with the MRs you earn. And as you know, Amex can be very sensitive to churning behavior, especially if you sign up for their cards and stop spending on them after you've gotten the bonus, then try to move on to the next one.

Investing your MR with Schwab, or cashing them out is one option if you have the right card. But MRs can also transfer over to Virgin Atlantic (frequently with transfer bonuses) and ANA, if you want to fly to Japan again, or British Airways or Air France/KLM if you wanted to fly to Europe, among many other transfer partners.

Note: That $100 bonus for $1k is no longer there. It requires a lot more funding now.

 

[Jackie1023]

I think I asked before but no response so I’ll give it another try.
Limo service from MCO to WDW recommendations?

We used happy limo to get to universal about a decade ago. It was good.

 

[havaneselover]

Tony Hinds is who I used for our uso trip.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

So, I went to add all of our passport info to our Southwest flights (we depart in 2 weeks). We have 8 travelers each way and like 10 different confirmation numbers (because of credits, etc). Well, I put in my kid's confirmation number (ages 23-7) and their flight was CANCELLED. Whaaatt?

So I was on the phone with SW for 2hrs7mins while they straightened it out. They can't explain why, but the system auto-cancelled the reservation. All of our reservations were fine.

But here's the kicker- at the 2 hour point, the agent says, the good news is we've recreated the reservation. The bad news is we can't get the reservation to go through without charging you a $0.42 tax difference per person, as taxes have gone up. Seriously SW, you can't cough up $1.68 after taking two hours of my time? I just paid it because it had been TWO HOURS at that point, and then she explained to me that actually, they were refunding the whole taxes I paid and then recharging them to the card I just gave her. So that's going to screw up my airline incidental credits, but at this point, I couldn't take anymore.

The truth is, there were a lot of changes with these flights with the magical change window, and the IT desk had to be like, WTheck is going on here? She volunteered that I contact customer relations because of the error on Southwest's part. But, I think I'll let sleeping dogs lie

Now when I look at my account, it's up 28,000ish points for what is listed as "customer service adjustment." So that was very kind, if it was intentional. I value that at about $400, so I think I can just quit my whining about my airline incidentals and my $1.68 in extra taxes.

Despite them auto-cancelling the ressie, Southwest still has the best service and value proposition anywhere in the air. I am happy to continue to give them my business.

 

[georgina]

Back from our week in St Lucia. Not even going to try catching up with this thread. I did learn something new about customs this trip. We did our Global Entry thing. No questions at all at the kiosk, just took our image and compared it to the passport. (Didn't they used to ask a few questions?) Anyway, then off to baggage and of course my suitcase did not come to the carousel. American app showed DH's at baggage claim, mine just said 'unloaded at MIA'. OK? We hung around baggage to see if it would show up (no). Then we left, DH took his bag to be rechecked, the gate agent said they would just put mine on the connecting flight. So what exactly is the point of making you get your bag and drop it off again? Obviously not necessary as mine just went without me to the next plane. Never asked a question about what we were bringing back, etc.

 

[mmmears]

I rarely get credit card offers in the mail and I think it's partly because I have my credit frozen and I probably opted out of stuff or something. I'm sure the chase disney offers I got where related to my vacations and not my relationship with chase. Anything else, is "pre qual" offers for Cap 1 but I have a savings acct with them and if they were actually looking at my cr they'd see they would never approve me as I'm far from their ideal customer.

Huh. I wonder if that's it. We do have the credit all locked down to prevent fraud.

 

[mmmears]

You’re welcome. I just thought even with a timeshare package it was a lot of money. Although the car rental may make it worth it considering how hard and expensive those have been lately. If you require a newer nice room it’s not gonna happen at Ocean Tower which is the only one with direct beach access. If you are expecting the pool and resort to be on par with Aulani, that’s also not gonna happen. My experience is colored due to expectations. Had my expectations been in line with the reality it may not have been as bad with the exception of the dirty smelly room. The other two rooms for the extra two days I saw were not dirty or smelly, just not what I paid for



I did explain to her that the room we visited on the tour was nice and that the other property looked nicer. But no direct beach access or ocean view would be a deal breaker for her.

I'm so sorry it wasn't the vacation resort you'd hoped for. DH and I visited that hotel back in the 90s when we were staying elsewhere in Kona and even though it was pretty new neither of us liked it one bit. I also have friends who complained about it. I'm super picky about hotels sadly, so it's not one I'd try. I was hoping that the timeshare deal would be a good one since Hawaii's getting so expensive these days.

 

[tinytinkmom]

So, I made the mistake of getting the CSP at 60k + waived fee in January. Was already kicking myself when the 80k offer came out... Now 100k?!?!

P2 has CSR and is over 48 months since his bonus posted... Trying to figure out the best way to get in on this. Besides CSR, he has Freedom, Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited and Disney Visa. He’s 3/24, with most recent card being Amex Gold at the beginning of May. Looking to downgrade CSR to another Freedom card, as it sounds like you can have more than one of a given Freedom card... If we do that, and he gets denied for CSP, does Chase let you reverse a downgrade within a certain amount of time? The only reason we’d give up the CSR would be for the opportunity at 100k points with CSP. Also, how many days should we wait after the downgrade for him to apply for the CSP?

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

So, I made the mistake of getting the CSP at 60k + waived fee in January. Was already kicking myself when the 80k offer came out... Now 100k?!?!

P2 has CSR and is over 48 months since his bonus posted... Trying to figure out the best way to get in on this. Besides CSR, he has Freedom, Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited and Disney Visa. He’s 3/24, with most recent card being Amex Gold at the beginning of May. Looking to downgrade CSR to another Freedom card, as it sounds like you can have more than one of a given Freedom card... If we do that, and he gets denied for CSP, does Chase let you reverse a downgrade within a certain amount of time? The only reason we’d give up the CSR would be for the opportunity at 100k points with CSP. Also, how many days should we wait after the downgrade for him to apply for the CSP?

Wait 4 days after downgrading the CSR before applying for the CSP.

If you are denied the CSR in the MDD, I believe you can upgrade one of your old Freedoms to a CSR (not the new one). But someone besides me should confirm this.

 

[Hoosier John]

Signed up for Schwab One Brokerage account today (thanks to @miztressuz and @happ for support links that helps the user!).
With the prereq. in place, figured I'd wait a day before trying to apply for the Amex Charles Schwab Platinum

... but I was denied an Amex Blue Biz Cash on May 26th (possibly related to previous attempt with credit bureaus locked?).

Is there a wait period between an Amex biz denials and the CS Plat?

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I think it was you I told I would update about the aviator card. If not I hope it helps whoever I did tell. I just received my bonus on the second aviatercard. It was 2 years between cards. I will try for the business card this Fall when it hits the two year mark.

It looks like I’ll be cancelling my Japan trip this Fall. But I’m feeling optimistic about 2022. I think it’s going to be a good travel year.

Once I play out the Chase game and go over 5/24, I'll likely go back to Barclay and try again w/ them. I got the personal back in 2017, I haven't cancelled it yet. After 7 tries I got the Biz last year. How long was your card cancelled before you tried for #2? As it stands now....I'll be doing Chase cards the rest of 2021, so I guess it doesn't matter right now. I think I'm going to cancel my personal this year when it renews and just keep the Biz for now. We'll see.

 

[AmyAnne]

Another "what should I buy at Dell" question. I really want to use that credit soon but I'm pretty stuck. I could use new headphones but the Dell website is really not helping me--700+ results for "headphones" and no option to sort by customer review. Does anyone have a recommendation for headphones from Dell in the neighborhood of $100? Or anything else that you bought from Dell that is useful?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I rarely get credit card offers in the mail and I think it's partly because I have my credit frozen and I probably opted out of stuff or something. I'm sure the chase disney offers I got where related to my vacations and not my relationship with chase. Anything else, is "pre qual" offers for Cap 1 but I have a savings acct with them and if they were actually looking at my cr they'd see they would never approve me as I'm far from their ideal customer.

My credit isn't frozen or anything but all I get is weird small banks or cards I've never heard of. No chase or Amex for me or DH. Occasionally a Citi card or bank offer but that's it.

 

[Haley R]

My credit isn't frozen or anything but all I get is weird small banks or cards I've never heard of. No chase or Amex for me or DH. Occasionally a Citi card or bank offer but that's it.

Same here. Our credit isn’t frozen and we’ve gotten some strange offers lately from places I’ve never heard of

 

[MinnieMay]

My AF was charged on April 1 on my CIP. I should have product changed it to a no-fee card but I forgot. Is there anything I can do now? Will Chase prorate the fee?

 

[Alexle2007]

Another "what should I buy at Dell" question. I really want to use that credit soon but I'm pretty stuck. I could use new headphones but the Dell website is really not helping me--700+ results for "headphones" and no option to sort by customer review. Does anyone have a recommendation for headphones from Dell in the neighborhood of $100? Or anything else that you bought from Dell that is useful?

I have bought gaming chairs for DH and me since we were jealous of DS’s. Today I ordered the Bose QuietComfort 35 for DH.

 

[Alexle2007]

@havaneselover Did you receive an email about the Biz Plat offer? I got one today as did DH. I wonder if the email works along with the one on the BBP.