I love credit cards so much! v5.0 - 2022 (see first page for add'l details)

[reliev]

I recently learned that actually February is Fashion Week--at least when I'm there in late February...I felt super lucky to get the Park Hyatt booked when I did-the Hotel de Louvre had no points bookings available (that was my preference, actually). So I think parts of February can be low season but likely not around Valentine's Day or Fashion Week. I had no idea but fortunately backed into a points booking-better lucky than smart

I went at the end of February I'm guessing it's in the beginning? for all who thanked me no problem that's why I'm on this thread. I really wanted to go to the other place but I couldn't justify it even though the other places cost me more points. I wanted to feel like I was in Paris, not just another hotel.

 

[tink1970]

I went at the end of February I'm guessing it's in the beginning? for all who thanked me no problem that's why I'm on this thread. I really wanted to go to the other place but I couldn't justify it even though the other places cost me more points. I wanted to feel like I was in Paris, not just another hotel.

Chanel, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton (for women) 2/27-3/7/2023. I'm there 2/24-2/27 so just barley dodged the fashionista bullets...since the Dior people were staying in my hotel in June in Seville, I'd prefer to not repeat the experience

 

[Simba06]

My husband is starting his masters this fall, and while his company will reimburse us after the semester depending on grades, we have to pay upfront. His program runs just shy of two years.

Is there a credit card that’s best for getting the most milage out of about $10k a semester? We currently have southwest, delta gold amex and chase sapphire. I am open to getting a different card or upgrading one if theres a better payout.

 

[havaneselover]

My husband is starting his masters this fall, and while his company will reimburse us after the semester depending on grades, we have to pay upfront. His program runs just shy of two years.

Is there a credit card that’s best for getting the most milage out of about $10k a semester? We currently have southwest, delta gold amex and chase sapphire. I am open to getting a different card or upgrading one if theres a better payout.

Does the school charge a fee?
I'm also starting a master's (in August) and will be reimbursed by my company after the course is completed. I'll probably just pay straight from my bank account because the fee IU charges is 2..89%.

I'm trying to figure out if it will be a fringe benefit (no tax implications) or additional compensation. If I were a w2 employee, this would be easier to figure out.

 

[becauseimnew]

Would love to

My husband is starting his masters this fall, and while his company will reimburse us after the semester depending on grades, we have to pay upfront. His program runs just shy of two years.

Is there a credit card that’s best for getting the most milage out of about $10k a semester? We currently have southwest, delta gold amex and chase sapphire. I am open to getting a different card or upgrading one if theres a better payout.

Most colleges charge a fee for paying with a credit card. The best way to get the most out of high spending is to open a new credit card.
If you are willing to open business credit cards those have the highest SUBs (sign up bonus). Most of us here get Chase Ink business cards every few months. You don't need to have a real business, just a side hustle, to apply. When applying for business cards you'll need to apply as a Sole Proprietorship, use you first and last name as your business name and your social.
The Chase Ink Cash (C(C) and the Chase Ink Unlimited (CIU)don't have an annual fee, you'll earn 75,000 URs for spending $7,500 in 3 months, which then you can transfer to your sapphire card to use on the Chase portal or transfer to travel partners.
After you have your first Chase Ink card you can then send your support link to your husband and he can apply for his own card. You'll earn 20,000 URs if he's approved and he'll earn the SUB from the new card.

If you aren't interested in business cards, I would still consider opening new cards for the SUB. If you are interested in hotel points the Chase Marriott current SUB is 5 - 50,000 night certificates, MSR is $5,000

We have a Reddit group with support links, there are several people on here that can get you set up. Our you can just submit a request:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/

 

[Simba06]

Does the school charge a fee?
I'm also starting a master's (in August) and will be reimbursed by my company after the course is completed. I'll probably just pay straight from my bank account because the fee IU charges is 2..89%.

I'm trying to figure out if it will be a fringe benefit (no tax implications) or additional compensation. If I were a w2 employee, this would be easier to figure out.

I an getting mixed messages on the fees. Their general website says a convenience fee, but not how much. The email from his masters program coordinator said that no fees will be charged, but I don’t know if that was in reference to their payment plans or credit cards. I will have him clarify tomorrow.

 

[tink1970]

My husband is starting his masters this fall, and while his company will reimburse us after the semester depending on grades, we have to pay upfront. His program runs just shy of two years.

Is there a credit card that’s best for getting the most milage out of about $10k a semester? We currently have southwest, delta gold amex and chase sapphire. I am open to getting a different card or upgrading one if theres a better payout.

I open several new cards before I pay DD's tuition. I do the math and always find that the fee is outweighed by the rewards. I agree with @becauseimnew that if you have a side hustle a Chase business card-perhaps the Chase Business Ink Unlimited (or the Ink Cash) are great no AF fee cards with a nice cash back sign up bonus. You could also consider the American Express Business Gold (if you're a delta hostage-there is an annual fee of $295 though). On the personal card side, the Capital One Venture or Venture X could be a good fit, as could the Citi Premier card or getting another Delta American Express Card (like the Platinum, although the annual fee is higher than the Delta Gold at $250).

Again, you'll need to weigh out the convenience fee from the college plus the Annual Fee of the card to determine whether it's a good fit for you (but if you pick the correct cards...it will be!). Please feel free to ask us here after you've done some research to double check your numbers. Paying for college tuition is a great way to generate organic spend and complete minimum spend requirements but you have to find value in paying the convenience fee.

 

[DogCat]

Would love to Most colleges charge a fee for paying with a credit card. The best way to get the most out of high spending is to open a new credit card. If you are willing to open business credit cards those have the highest SUBs (sign up bonus). Most of us here get Chase Ink business cards every few months. You don't need to have a real business, just a side hustle, to apply. When applying for business cards you'll need to apply as a Sole Proprietorship, use you first and last name as your business name and your social. The Chase Ink Cash (C(C) and the Chase Ink Unlimited (CIU)don't have an annual fee, you'll earn 75,000 URs for spending $7,500 in 3 months, which then you can transfer to your sapphire card to use on the Chase portal or transfer to travel partners. After you have your first Chase Ink card you can then send your support link to your husband and he can apply for his own card. You'll earn 20,000 URs if he's approved and he'll earn the SUB from the new card. If you aren't interested in business cards, I would still consider opening new cards for the SUB. If you are interested in hotel points the Chase Marriott current SUB is 5 - 50,000 night certificates, MSR is $5,000 We have a Reddit group with support links, there are several people on here that can get you set up. Our you can just submit a request: https://www.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/

Is it okay to open a new Chase Ink card every few months? How soon do you close them? How many can you have at one time? I really want another card but I have 3 already. Each of them was opened in a different year though so not every few months.

 

[becauseimnew]

Is it okay to open a new Chase Ink card every few months? How soon do you close them? How many can you have at one time? I really want another card but I have 3 already. Each of them was opened in a different year though so not every few months.

You can open a new Chase card every 3 month, the Chase business cards you can have multiples of the same card. I have 2 CICs and 2 CIUs, I wait a year and them close them. The Chase business cards don't appear on your credit report, only the hard pull.

When it comes to Chase they will only approved you if you are under 5/24, meaning that you can't have more than 5 new cards on your credit report within the last 24 months.

 

[mmmears]

Is there a compelling reason to keep a Bonvoy Brilliant now that the $300 credit is turning into monthly $25 dining credits? Just wondering if I'm overlooking something that might make it worthwhile to not cancel (other than a retention fee of course).

 

[Judique]

Is there a compelling reason to keep a Bonvoy Brilliant now that the $300 credit is turning into monthly $25 dining credits? Just wondering if I'm overlooking something that might make it worthwhile to not cancel (other than a retention fee of course).

Nothing that appeals to me. I am planning on probably trying to downgrade to the old spg card if that is possible. Also have never had a retention fee on that card so will consider that also.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

you can't have more than 5 new cards on your credit report within the last 24 months.

Rephrasing this, you can't have more than 4 new cards in the last 24 months. If you're at exactly 5, you'll be denied.

 

[havaneselover]

I open several new cards before I pay DD's tuition. I do the math and always find that the fee is outweighed by the rewards. I agree with @becauseimnew that if you have a side hustle a Chase business card-perhaps the Chase Business Ink Unlimited (or the Ink Cash) are great no AF fee cards with a nice cash back sign up bonus. You could also consider the American Express Business Gold (if you're a delta hostage-there is an annual fee of $295 though). On the personal card side, the Capital One Venture or Venture X could be a good fit, as could the Citi Premier card or getting another Delta American Express Card (like the Platinum, although the annual fee is higher than the Delta Gold at $250).

Again, you'll need to weigh out the convenience fee from the college plus the Annual Fee of the card to determine whether it's a good fit for you (but if you pick the correct cards...it will be!). Please feel free to ask us here after you've done some research to double check your numbers. Paying for college tuition is a great way to generate organic spend and complete minimum spend requirements but you have to find value in paying the convenience fee.

Agree. I'll say I don't go this route for dd's tuition and don't plan on going it for my master's because I have so much other credit card spend (including < $30k/year for federal taxes, $4k for car insurance, etc.). I put this spending mainly on Chase Business Cards. I couldn't open enough Biz cards fast enough to pay my/dd's tuition (I'd need to be able to open one a month, not one every three months). If you can, go for it.

 

[StephPlum]

no fee VGC at Staples starting Sunday.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/staples-no-purchase-fee-on-200-visa-gift-cards-10-31-11-6-limit-5/

 

[Simba06]

We heard back from the college and the masters program payment plans do not charge a convenience fee for credit cards.

We chose the deferred payment plan to allow the least amount of time between the charge and reimbursement from his company. Since each class is about 8 weeks long, we will be charged about $5000 every 2 months for the next 20 months or so.

I do not want to mess with business cards, so I will stick to just personal ones. I would like to take advantage of some sign on bonuses, but also dont want to go crazy opening up a bunch of new cards. Our current mix of cards is split between my dh and i.

Southwest (2 cards): husband
Disney visa: me
Chase sapphire: me
Delta amex gold: husband

So ideally we would refer each other for certain cards to get both referral and sign on bonuses. We primarily fly delta and southwest because our main large airport is a delta hub, and our closest regional airport has good southwest options. We currently plan on traveling domestically for the next few years, but would like to do some international trips (likely ABD and DCL) after that (waiting for kids to get a bit older). I feel pretty confident in my domestic flight rewards system, but figuring out long haul international flights is daunting!

Basically, I would love to get a crapton of miles stocked up for our future years of travel both domestic and international. What cards would you recommend with this information?

 

[mom2febgirls]

no fee VGC at Staples starting Sunday.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/staples-no-purchase-fee-on-200-visa-gift-cards-10-31-11-6-limit-5/

I thought I read that you can't buy VGC with AMEX and get points, is that wrong? I've already met the SUB on my Delta AMEX Reserve, but I'd like to earn some more miles for a trip we have coming up.

 

[reliev]

We heard back from the college and the masters program payment plans do not charge a convenience fee for credit cards.

We chose the deferred payment plan to allow the least amount of time between the charge and reimbursement from his company. Since each class is about 8 weeks long, we will be charged about $5000 every 2 months for the next 20 months or so.

I do not want to mess with business cards, so I will stick to just personal ones. I would like to take advantage of some sign on bonuses, but also dont want to go crazy opening up a bunch of new cards. Our current mix of cards is split between my dh and i.

Southwest (2 cards): husband
Disney visa: me
Chase sapphire: me
Delta amex gold: husband

So ideally we would refer each other for certain cards to get both referral and sign on bonuses. We primarily fly delta and southwest because our main large airport is a delta hub, and our closest regional airport has good southwest options. We currently plan on traveling domestically for the next few years, but would like to do some international trips (likely ABD and DCL) after that (waiting for kids to get a bit older). I feel pretty confident in my domestic flight rewards system, but figuring out long haul international flights is daunting!

Basically, I would love to get a crapton of miles stocked up for our future years of travel both domestic and international. What cards would you recommend with this information?

I would get the delta platinum if you are flying that much for the BOGO (i have the reserve for the first-class BOGO) then I would mix it up with unlimited as well or maybe even go fully on the delta platinum for status, the real question is do you care about status with delta? if not id signs up for the unlimited and leave it be. (i know others will disagree with me and that's fine) or if you care about the hotel bonus sign up for that card. I don't put any spends except Disney spend on my Disney card the rebates aren't that great. How far are you from southwest companion pass? I don't fly Southwest but that's something you could "chase" also. The only hotel card I would recommend is the Hyatt card but not if you don't care the sign-up bonus isn't fabulous on any of these cards besides the delta right now. I am in the same camp where I do have a ton of cards but I want keeper cards.

 

[becauseimnew]

We heard back from the college and the masters program payment plans do not charge a convenience fee for credit cards.

We chose the deferred payment plan to allow the least amount of time between the charge and reimbursement from his company. Since each class is about 8 weeks long, we will be charged about $5000 every 2 months for the next 20 months or so.

I do not want to mess with business cards, so I will stick to just personal ones. I would like to take advantage of some sign on bonuses, but also dont want to go crazy opening up a bunch of new cards. Our current mix of cards is split between my dh and i.

Southwest (2 cards): husband
Disney visa: me
Chase sapphire: me
Delta amex gold: husband

So ideally we would refer each other for certain cards to get both referral and sign on bonuses. We primarily fly delta and southwest because our main large airport is a delta hub, and our closest regional airport has good southwest options. We currently plan on traveling domestically for the next few years, but would like to do some international trips (likely ABD and DCL) after that (waiting for kids to get a bit older). I feel pretty confident in my domestic flight rewards system, but figuring out long haul international flights is daunting!

Basically, I would love to get a crapton of miles stocked up for our future years of travel both domestic and international. What cards would you recommend with this information?

I would start out with the Hyatt card, since you'll have a lot of spending and the MSR is $15,000 in the first 6 months. You'll earn 30K points for spending $3,000 in the first 3 months then you have to complete the total $15,000 within 6 months, but you'll also earn a Free night certificate for spending $15,000 in a calendar year.
Well, now that I say that you only have 5 months to spend the $15,000 to earn that extra free night certificate this year.

You just missed some really good American Express SUBs.

 

[Simba06]

I would get the delta platinum if you are flying that much for the BOGO (i have the reserve for the first-class BOGO) then I would mix it up with unlimited as well or maybe even go fully on the delta platinum for status, the real question is do you care about status with delta? if not id signs up for the unlimited and leave it be. (i know others will disagree with me and that's fine) or if you care about the hotel bonus sign up for that card. I don't put any spends except Disney spend on my Disney card the rebates aren't that great. How far are you from southwest companion pass? I don't fly Southwest but that's something you could "chase" also. The only hotel card I would recommend is the Hyatt card but not if you don't care the sign-up bonus isn't fabulous on any of these cards besides the delta right now. I am in the same camp where I do have a ton of cards but I want keeper cards.

I considered the delta platinum for the bogo companion pass. Does that work as easily as the southwest companion pass?

 

[Simba06]

I would start out with the Hyatt card, since you'll have a lot of spending and the MSR is $15,000 in the first 6 months. You'll earn 30K points for spending $3,000 in the first 3 months then you have to complete the total $15,000 within 6 months, but you'll also earn a Free night certificate for spending $15,000 in a calendar year.
Well, now that I say that you only have 5 months to spend the $15,000 to earn that extra free night certificate this year.

You just missed some really good American Express SUBs.

I am not interested in a hotel card since most of our stays are either disney resorts, my parents timeshare, or national park lodging.