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

[570traveler]

From reddit, it seems like there are other people like me who are having issues with charges posting on their CFF. Ugh...my Best Buy Chase offer expires in 5 days, I really hope this issue clears up soon and it recognizes that I used the offer. Not going to be happy that I paid full price for a Disney GC if the charges posts way later. If that happens, I will SM to ask them for the % back but knowing Chase, I might never see that money.

I’m also missing a purchase from Walgreens. My bed bath and beyond posted from the same day but Walgreens is missing. Received my 20% back from BBB so I’m with you hooping when Walgreens posts I get the % back.

 

[Hoosier John]

I’m also missing a purchase from Walgreens. My bed bath and beyond posted from the same day but Walgreens is missing. Received my 20% back from BBB so I’m with you hooping when Walgreens posts I get the % back.

Got credit back from Walgreens & BB&Beyond on both CSP & plain Freedom (don’t have CFF)

 

[trippedup]

I only got normal 1% back on my BBB purchase on my Disney card... verified the 20% offer shows as expired, not redeemed. Theres no obvious way to SM them about rewards, so I guess I have to call? Ugh.

 

[Judique]

From reddit, it seems like there are other people like me who are having issues with charges posting on their CFF. Ugh...my Best Buy Chase offer expires in 5 days, I really hope this issue clears up soon and it recognizes that I used the offer. Not going to be happy that I paid full price for a Disney GC if the charges posts way later. If that happens, I will SM to ask them for the % back but knowing Chase, I might never see that money.

Chase - so I got the 20% flash deals and the Walgreen's are all credited back.

I had several for McDonald's offering 20% for 2 days on my CF, and then 4 days and 6 days on other cards.

So, used the CF with 2 days to use same day I did the Walgreen's. On that card I also had another 'regular' 10% McD's offer. Guess which one they honored? Yup....the 10% one that had 36 days or so to be used. I'm going to call on Monday. It's up to $4, and - the actual reason we went to McD's. Yes, we go there but usually when the girls are asking for Happy Meals, or maybe on a trip. So the offered 20 and 10 and now even if we wanted to we can't use the 10 after the 20 which was an option before they screwed it up.

 

[Judique]

I only got normal 1% back on my BBB purchase on my Disney card... verified the 20% offer shows as expired, not redeemed. Theres no obvious way to SM them about rewards, so I guess I have to call? Ugh.

I thought about SM and decided to call anyway. The SM options are very limited and doesn't show this as a subject, but for another issue, I used it anyway, clicked something, and then wrote out my request/problem which had nothing to do with what I clicked on. Problem was resolved.

 

[EACarlson]

Looks like Chase and Hyatt just screwed me out of $38. Have a Chase offer on my CSP that ends today for 15% back up to $38. Just so happens that the wife had a business trip that she had to stay at a Hyatt checking out Friday. There is no record of a charge on my CSP, no authorization, nothing pending, nothing posted. I have a feeling it's going to show up out of nowhere tomorrow as posted.

 

[platamama]

Looks like Chase and Hyatt just screwed me out of $38. Have a Chase offer on my CSP that ends today for 15% back up to $38. Just so happens that the wife had a business trip that she had to stay at a Hyatt checking out Friday. There is no record of a charge on my CSP, no authorization, nothing pending, nothing posted. I have a feeling it's going to show up out of nowhere tomorrow as posted.

I would take a screenshot of your Hyatt offer, and save the receipt from the Hyatt stay. In case it doesn't post correctly (I think there's a chance it will though), then at least you have documentation to support any claim you want to pursue.

 

[elgerber]

Can I assume UCT still codes as travel, for Disney tix with the Cap One Venture?

 

[IFlossU]

Can I assume UCT still codes as travel, for Disney tix with the Cap One Venture?

I don’t have personal experience, but read this on Reddit this morning. There’s a little blurb towards the end about him using his Cap One for UT.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/qjlo14/_/hir4r60

 

[SleepyatDVC]

I applied and was approved for the CSP in Sept 2021. Completed my MSR and got my SUB. Found this group and started researching here and elsewhere. Transferred 10,000 to my Hyatt account and booked 2 nights near college town to help DD move out in May 2022. Patting myself on the back on a good use of points.

Got the itch to accumulate more URs and had my DH (P2) do the MDD in October. Approved and still working on the MSR currently.

Since DH is the one with the only CSR in the family, does it make sense to "travel" under his name?

Which card should we consolidate all our UR points on? My CSP or DH's (P2) CSR? We will both have approximately the same amount of points once he gets all his SUBs, approx. 160K+ @. Should we consolidate or keep separate until we need to use them for something specific?

ALL loyalty programs (hotel, car, etc.) are typically under my name. I sometimes travel on my own but P2 always travels with me. It was always easier to just keep track of loyalty programs under one name.

I am second guessing myself for booking the Hyatt on points under my loyalty account instead of opening one in P2's name, if we want to get to a higher status one day. Am I over thinking this?

At the end of the day, I wish I had the CSR and not P2. Lol.

Thanks for any insight or help.

 

[calypso726]

This makes me wonder how people decide between accumulation and usage. 400k of UR seems like a lot (to me). We've had CSP (P1 and P2) for just about 2 years and have about 250k between us. Obviously part of each of those was the SUB. We have plans to travel to Ireland for 2 weeks in 2023 so my first thought was to just keep accumulating, but we also have travel plans this summer. I feel like I can't convince myself to use any points. (we don't dabble with Biz cards, so our total points across programs is probably lower than many)

Anyone want to share their accumulate/spend philosophy?

While I earn and burn at an alarming rate under normal travel conditions (pre 2020) it isn't for the sake of staying ahead of the next devaluation. Therefore, I consider myself an opportunistic hoarder. Ideally, I like to plan travel destinations about 2 years out just to make sure I give myself time to earn and replenish the miles and points I will need. Part of those plans will mean I may need to implement back up plans in case plan A doesn't work out, so the plan B, C, D etc can go into effect. If a great new card bonus presents itself, I have a tendency to jump on it. Those points and miles may not be part of Plan A but they may be part of plan B.

I like to look at my stash of points and miles like a diversified portfolio. They provide options. Ideally we've got 4 million points between us across all hotel, air and variable currencies. When the total is significantly below that, then I will see why that is and where I need to replenish. Once one of us dips below 250k URs or 250k MRs, it is time to work on the spending bonus categories of the cards. Sometimes, we divide and conquer between P1 and P2. I may work on Chase URs and he may work on MRs. This means, online shopping is strictly using the UR portal for me and Rakuten for him.

The main currency for us is UR so the goal is always to achieve 5x on all spending or as close to it as possible. This is done with the old Ink Plus cards which get 5x up to $50k spend in office supply stores each year. The card no longer exists but the CIC is a similar version with 5x up to $25k at Office supply stores. When OM/OD or Staples has fee free Visa promos, we both take advantage. So, if I decide to spend the money over using points because I need the points for something bigger and better, I will pay with the Visa GCs if possible. Just did this with a reservation for a wine tour in Napa next year. I need to beef up my UR stash so we can stay at Ashford Castle again in Ireland which got cancelled in 2020 because of the impending zombie apocalypse. So, instead of paying with URs, I paid with the Visa GCs and got 5x for that spend. If I had no business cards earning me 5x on Visa GCs and various merchant GCs, then I would have booked it (if available) through the Chase UR travel portal and earned 5x. We booked a rental car for Kauai this way using the CSR UR travel portal and will get 10x for that and the same for our rental car in Napa.

Nothing wrong with spending real money for smaller travel trips while earning more points and miles for your larger trips. Hope this helps

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I applied and was approved for the CSP in Sept 2021. Completed my MSR and got my SUB. Found this group and started researching here and elsewhere. Transferred 10,000 to my Hyatt account and booked 2 nights near college town to help DD move out in May 2022. Patting myself on the back on a good use of points.

Got the itch to accumulate more URs and had my DH (P2) do the MDD in October. Approved and still working on the MSR currently.

Since DH is the one with the only CSR in the family, does it make sense to "travel" under his name?

Which card should we consolidate all our UR points on? My CSP or DH's (P2) CSR? We will both have approximately the same amount of points once he gets all his SUBs, approx. 160K+ @. Should we consolidate or keep separate until we need to use them for something specific?

ALL loyalty programs (hotel, car, etc.) are typically under my name. I sometimes travel on my own but P2 always travels with me. It was always easier to just keep track of loyalty programs under one name.

I am second guessing myself for booking the Hyatt on points under my loyalty account instead of opening one in P2's name, if we want to get to a higher status one day. Am I over thinking this?

At the end of the day, I wish I had the CSR and not P2. Lol.

Thanks for any insight or help.

not sure what others do but I transfer all URs from my and DHs cards to my CSR each month after the statements close…I have all cards close on the same date so it’s easy.

Since you have the CSP you can transfer URs to your loyalty programs…..after it’s a year old you can product change it to a CSR if you’d like and cancel or PC your DHs CSR after using the $300 travel credit

 

[Happy_2_B]

This makes me wonder how people decide between accumulation and usage. 400k of UR seems like a lot (to me). We've had CSP (P1 and P2) for just about 2 years and have about 250k between us. Obviously part of each of those was the SUB. We have plans to travel to Ireland for 2 weeks in 2023 so my first thought was to just keep accumulating, but we also have travel plans this summer. I feel like I can't convince myself to use any points. (we don't dabble with Biz cards, so our total points across programs is probably lower than many)

Anyone want to share their accumulate/spend philosophy?

I'll chime in. We earn and burn with the 'long game' in mind. We spend almost all of our flexible points (MR/UR/TYP) on long haul international flights in business or first class. That is far and away the best value for using these types of points IMHO. A little story. Several years ago DW and I booked a spur-of-the-moment 3 week trip to the UK with less than 30 days notice. One morning over breakfast I said it would be nice to see Stonehenge again and my wife said 'make it happen'. I was able to get us into United First in the nose of the plane with ten individual pods. When we transferred planes at SFO they escorted us to the tarmac and a towncar took us to a super secret lounge with a concierge and butlers- I didn't know until then that these lounges even existed. It was massive- and the food and drinks were top shelf- and there were only a dozen people at the most using it. When it was time to get on the plane, someone came for us in one of those little airport buggies, drove us to the gate, and walked us on to the plane. The price for the flight was over 13,000 dollars if we had to pay for it- but I found a United supersaver for 260,000 miles for BOTH tickets. These days I almost always use a travel award service to book our flights- but I found this one on my own and am proud to share it. Right now DW and I have about 1.5 million URs and 800k MRs- and a bunch of other stuff. I just pulled up our award wallet account and we have over 3.2 million points/miles in various accounts. We had considerably more- but we took two domestic trips this year so I burned through a bunch- and I have used a bunch to 'pay' for reservations on next year's trips. Right now we are in the process of paying off 6 cruises due over the next several months (actually 5- we paid one off a month or so ago and we leave in 10 days for that one). Needless to say, we are cranking out as many new cards as we can- and focusing on the ones with massive spends. My wife just got another CIP with a 15k minimum spend that we will make when we pay off a cruise to France next week, and we just made a 15k spend paying off the cruise we are about to go on and have 2 other cards that we are working with, too, since after the cruise we are spending 2 weeks doing the Orlando theme parks and a stay on the beach. When we get back home we will get more cards because we have a cruise with a 30k balance due in January. With all that said, my advice to you is to use your points when you can get a massive bang for the buck (best bang is long haul international in business class). We don't use our points unless I can extract a ton of value from them. We have plenty of points in different hotel programs like Marriot and Hilton and Hyatt- but we don't use points unless there is value- we will pay cash instead. The longer you are in this hobby, the harder it is to accumulate points easily. Don't worry- the first few years you won't have any issues as there are plenty of cards to apply for- it's after this 'honeymoon period' that you will need to get more creative- but that's a whole other topic. Anyways- have started to ramble- sorry.

 

[platamama]

Had our first trick-or-treaters. Happy Halloween!

 

[SleepyatDVC]

There have been more than one poster that mentioned using an award booking service. Any recommendations? I will probably need one eventually to help me get my parents to Asia when they are ready to travel again. It is a bit overwhelming for me.

They need to travel on at least premium economy because of the distance but they are are very price conscious as well.

I need to start researching for them now so that I know what to do when they are ready to pull the trigger.

I think if they don't have enough miles to get a free premium ticket, they can use points to upgrade? Is this possible?

They will mainly want to fly to HK or Taiwan. What points should I concentrate on accumulating for them?

 

[Happy_2_B]

There have been more than one poster that mentioned using an award booking service. Any recommendations? I will probably need one eventually to help me get my parents to Asia when they are ready to travel again. It is a bit overwhelming for me.

They need to travel on at least premium economy because of the distance but they are are very price conscious as well.

I need to start researching for them now so that I know what to do when they are ready to pull the trigger.

I think if they don't have enough miles to get a free premium ticket, they can use points to upgrade? Is this possible?

They will mainly want to fly to HK or Taiwan. What points should I concentrate on accumulating for them?

PM me on this- not sure how the mods would handle this if posted publicly so best to be safe

 

[Judique]

Looks like Chase and Hyatt just screwed me out of $38. Have a Chase offer on my CSP that ends today for 15% back up to $38. Just so happens that the wife had a business trip that she had to stay at a Hyatt checking out Friday. There is no record of a charge on my CSP, no authorization, nothing pending, nothing posted. I have a feeling it's going to show up out of nowhere tomorrow as posted.

I think it will be backdated to Friday and you will get your 15%.

Good luck with it!

 

[Jax1023]

Made a down payment on my kids braces and my dryer kicked the bucket today and suddenly I’m 3k into the spend on my southwest biz that I got a whole 2 weeks ago.

it’s nearing time to sock drawer that one til January. I’ll spend like 4k and then stop.

thinking next I refer DH for the southwest personal. Keep that to 1500 in spend, then use that card to refer my second so biz.

then to hit all the spend with the goal of having 2 companion passes by the end of February for a Disney trip. Would need to buy tickets for that trip and possibly a Disney hotel, so that will knock out some spend.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Received this offer in email today

 

[wanderlust7]

I applied and was approved for the CSP in Sept 2021. Completed my MSR and got my SUB. Found this group and started researching here and elsewhere. Transferred 10,000 to my Hyatt account and booked 2 nights near college town to help DD move out in May 2022. Patting myself on the back on a good use of points.

Got the itch to accumulate more URs and had my DH (P2) do the MDD in October. Approved and still working on the MSR currently.

Since DH is the one with the only CSR in the family, does it make sense to "travel" under his name?

Which card should we consolidate all our UR points on? My CSP or DH's (P2) CSR? We will both have approximately the same amount of points once he gets all his SUBs, approx. 160K+ @. Should we consolidate or keep separate until we need to use them for something specific?

ALL loyalty programs (hotel, car, etc.) are typically under my name. I sometimes travel on my own but P2 always travels with me. It was always easier to just keep track of loyalty programs under one name.

I am second guessing myself for booking the Hyatt on points under my loyalty account instead of opening one in P2's name, if we want to get to a higher status one day. Am I over thinking this?

At the end of the day, I wish I had the CSR and not P2. Lol.

Thanks for any insight or help.

I used to combine all UR to my CSR. But I don't redeem through the travel portal or PYB these days, so I stopped doing it. Had the CSR 3 years, finally downgraded it recently. Now, I do about 90% Hyatt and 10% SW. SW I only get about 1.3 cent per point, but I really value the flexibility for now. Will be going for the CP, so hopefully won't need to transfer more.

For the Hyatt reservation, it's easy to get the reservation changed to your DH's name/loyalty account if you wanted to. Though I'm not seeing a reason to because your DH has the CSR? Booking through the portal, you usually wouldn't get credit for the stay.