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

[Psychodisney]

Yesterday my Disney friend and I went to Office Depot to purchase Disney cards at 10% off with my Chase card offers. Just us in the store and 2 cashiers plus a manager. Friend shopped for kiddie stuff for their trip while I bought the gift cards. I was doing 6 transactions. Cashier was very nice and asked me if I wanted to join the rewards program for 2% back. I did so.

After my 3rd transaction, the next one wouldn't go through without manager over ride. That's when I made the mistake of running one card twice. They had no problem with over riding the cash register, and at the end, both cashier and manager decided that it didn't like giving me 'all those rewards'. I spent $770, then my friend said, 'put my purchase on her number also' store items for about $50. Had to over ride again.

The employees were just fine with giving me all the transactions. Manager said that it usually asks at 10 gift cards, not after 3. So, the cashier will call him when someone wants 10 cards.

All's well that ends well. In total I get $66 cash back on the Chase offers and a total of almost $30 in points and Office Depot rewards.

In other news my Amex Best Buy offers for $25 off $250 credited. Shopped Nov 1, credit Nov 2. That was fast.

I have 2 more ShopDisney offers to do. After that hopefully more will come in.

I did get a cell phone bill offer in a wave of offers that appeared after I cleared 100 offers. It ends Dec 31st, for 10% up to $30. My November bill is already paid and I'll only owe $25 to $35 in December - unless somebody buys a phone. So I'll get a $2.50 to $3.50 credit. . Actually I have 2 offers, one on DD's au card as well as my card.

Nice haul! I never seem to get cooperative cashiers for multiple transactions. I get the "money laundering" excuse.

On a side note, sadly I don't think you will earn Office Depot rewards from the gift card purchases. Same thing at staples.

 

[hsmamato2]

so Turo is a legit option for car rentals? I was considering booking something,and paying the cost with UR points on statement (regular rental options are still crazy high)

 

[calypso726]

To transfer to Flying Blue, do I need to have my account established for a certain period or can I immediately transfer?

No but it is common for Flying Blue to freeze new accounts that have had a large number of miles deposited to prevent fraud. The practice isn't as rampant as it used to be a few years ago but it is still a risk and still happens. You may be better off calling in for the award flight and asking for a temporary booking to hold it and then transfer the points.

 

[reliev]

so Turo is a legit option for car rentals? I was considering booking something,and paying the cost with UR points on statement (regular rental options are still crazy high)

i haven't had a bad experience (only in us) it's half the cost my insurance said they would cover in USA. I would call to inquire I think its only a matter of time before chase has an agreement that its included with the CSR. I did have one guy that kept texting me once about how his baby was every day was a little weird other then that great.

 

[bbsearchlight]

Yesterday my Disney friend and I went to Office Depot to purchase Disney cards at 10% off with my Chase card offers. Just us in the store and 2 cashiers plus a manager. Friend shopped for kiddie stuff for their trip while I bought the gift cards. I was doing 6 transactions. Cashier was very nice and asked me if I wanted to join the rewards program for 2% back. I did so.

After my 3rd transaction, the next one wouldn't go through without manager over ride. That's when I made the mistake of running one card twice. They had no problem with over riding the cash register, and at the end, both cashier and manager decided that it didn't like giving me 'all those rewards'. I spent $770, then my friend said, 'put my purchase on her number also' store items for about $50. Had to over ride again.

The employees were just fine with giving me all the transactions. Manager said that it usually asks at 10 gift cards, not after 3. So, the cashier will call him when someone wants 10 cards.

All's well that ends well. In total I get $66 cash back on the Chase offers and a total of almost $30 in points and Office Depot rewards.

In other news my Amex Best Buy offers for $25 off $250 credited. Shopped Nov 1, credit Nov 2. That was fast.

I have 2 more ShopDisney offers to do. After that hopefully more will come in.

I did get a cell phone bill offer in a wave of offers that appeared after I cleared 100 offers. It ends Dec 31st, for 10% up to $30. My November bill is already paid and I'll only owe $25 to $35 in December - unless somebody buys a phone. So I'll get a $2.50 to $3.50 credit. . Actually I have 2 offers, one on DD's au card as well as my card.

The 2% rewards that you get when becoming an Office Depot member does not apply to gift card purchases:

Members earn 2% back in rewards in store and online on almost every item including technology, furniture, supplies and services. The only items members do not earn rewards on include: Office Depot Marketplace items, delivery fees, postage stamps, gift or pre-paid cards, any services relating to Tech, furniture, marketing or administrative, or any third-party services.

At one point when they first revamped the program you earned rewards on gift card purchases but they got rid of that pretty quickly.

 

[Princess Michele]

I need to transfer URs from P2's account to my account for the first time. Does it matter which account I use to SM to request the transfer? Thank you.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I finally got a trip to Traverse City!!! WOOOO! My uncle's funeral was on Thursday. I made the choice to take off Friday and we headed up after the funeral on Thursday. My BF and I have tried to go up a few times w/ no luck. And now that I have hilton benefits, our room was only $40/nt! WOOOO. The ex and my son are in WI this weekend for a hockey tournament. I called and put the reservation on my Hilton Surpass card, but for some reason they had my Amex Biz gold on file. GRRRR! So just called to have that all swapped over. I have an offer for $40 off a Hilton stay. Plus, I get all those extra points, LOL.

I think I'm going to spend my PD on Tuesday working on the MDD. I will close my IHG traveler card tomorrow. And work on lowering some CL too. Jury is still out on cancelling my Bonvoy card. I think I have 3 FNC to use w/ Hilton before March. I have 2 IHG FNC, and we (the BF) have 5 Marriott FNC. So I think I'm not going to "need" the Marriott FNC that the bonvoy gives me. Plus now that I have hilton bennies, I can score hilton rooms so cheap! I don't know if I'll need all the FNC options, LOL. I'm not a Marriott fan girl to start.

After waiting WEEKS for the state to send me the title on my dad's car, I went back into the sect of state on Thursday and asked for a same day title. Not sure why they didn't give us that the day we transferred it. GRRRR! So I'm hoping tomorrow to sell his car. Carite gave the best quote, so I'll take it to them and see We also got an offer Friday on my dad's place. They offered $10k less, we countered $5k less. And then accepted their counter of $500 less than that, LOL. In the end, I think we basically will be getting what he paid (minus the work he kinda put into it). The good news is, his "costs" were about $1k/mo. And we should close by Thanksgiving. So, we're pretty happy. I just had to pay the $12k bill for his funeral, so getting the money for his house and trailer will help!

That is a little scary. DH has been telling me to throw our air fryer for awhile, he hates that thing and thinks it's a fire waiting to happen. Coincidentally, I got a recall notice from Best Buy a few months back for it. I forgot to do anything about it and now they aren't offering the refund anymore. But we are getting these new appliances in the next few days, and we've decided on a range that has air frying built in, so we can get rid of this fire hazard!

Be happy you didn't try to do the recall. My mom did it right away and is STILL waiting on getting the giftcard for hers. It's been MONTHS! I didn't do the recall on mine, and I'm kinda happy I didn't lol.

 

[bbsearchlight]

so Turo is a legit option for car rentals? I was considering booking something,and paying the cost with UR points on statement (regular rental options are still crazy high)

Yes, Turo is an option but there are things to realize.

1) No credit card company will cover the insurance for rentals from Turo. Your own car insurance MIGHT cover you if you have collision insurance on your own car. Otherwise, you might have to buy the insurance from Turo which is $12+ per day. (On a side note, a few years ago when my father called his insurance company to see if his own insurance covered rental cars, he called 3 times and got 3 different answers from 3 different people at the insurance company. )

2) While some Turo cars are coming from rental agencies, many of them are coming from individual people. You may have to travel to their house to pick up and return the car. In many cases you are renting cars that are over 10 years old and may not be in great shape. On my last rental from Turo, I had a 10 year old Prius which broke down in rural Wisconsin. Luckily, the car owner was very nice and came and picked me up although I just barely made my flight home.

Just some things to consider when renting from Turo.

 

[bbsearchlight]

Thanks. That article muddies the water a bit on gift card payment, says sometimes the processors treat them as debit and sometimes not. Since you have to deduct the fee before entering the payment amount, if the processor charges the higher credit card fee I'm not sure what happens if the payment + fee ends up over the value of the GC. I guess I could always pay a little less and if I end up with a few bucks on the GC I can use them up at Costco.

Since I just did an estimated payment with Pay1040, I took some screenshots. On the first page, you are asked how much you want to pay. Put in the amount you want to pay without the service fee (In my case I was using a $1000 Simon Visa so I put in $997.50

Then on the final page where you review everything they will show you the service fee:



At this point they have not charged you yet, so if the fee is not coming up correctly or you made a mistake and put in the wrong amount, just hit the green edit button and you can go back and make changes or start again.

It is very similar at the other providers, ACI and PayUSA.

 

[reliev]

Yes, Turo is an option but there are things to realize.

1) No credit card company will cover the insurance for rentals from Turo. Your own car insurance MIGHT cover you if you have collision insurance on your own car. Otherwise, you might have to buy the insurance from Turo which is $12+ per day. (On a side note, a few years ago when my father called his insurance company to see if his own insurance covered rental cars, he called 3 times and got 3 different answers from 3 different people at the insurance company. )

2) While some Turo cars are coming from rental agencies, many of them are coming from individual people. You may have to travel to their house to pick up and return the car. In many cases you are renting cars that are over 10 years old and may not be in great shape. On my last rental from Turo, I had a 10 year old Prius which broke down in rural Wisconsin. Luckily, the car owner was very nice and came and picked me up although I just barely made my flight home.

Just some things to consider when renting from Turo.

yeah, mine is written with my insurance company it's covered up to my limits (my wife is a stickler for the fine print). not sure about others.
Also, I personally never rent a car more than 4 years old. Also, you can check the box for free delivery to narrow your results so you don't have to go out of the way to get it. and 3x on CSR.
I usually rent EVs and they are half the price of hertz almost always.

 

[reliev]

Since I just did an estimated payment with Pay1040, I took some screenshots. On the first page, you are asked how much you want to pay. Put in the amount you want to pay without the service fee (In my case I was using a $1000 Simon Visa so I put in $997.50
View attachment 716776
Then on the final page where you review everything they will show you the service fee:

View attachment 716777

At this point they have not charged you yet, so if the fee is not coming up correctly or you made a mistake and put in the wrong amount, just hit the green edit button and you can go back and make changes or start again.

It is very similar at the other providers, ACI and PayUSA.

this makes me want to buy a Simon visa to save on the bigger fee.

 

[wanderlust7]

nice, are you going out of Kyoto? i still am undecided if i can do 3 days of parks for my 9 day trip.

We're staying near USJ, then moving on to the Conrad Osaka.

No Kyoto this time since we've been and the kids wouldn't be that interested. Will probably try to make it to Nara. Would like to visit Arashiyama again, but not sure we'll have time.

 

[bbsearchlight]

this makes me want to buy a Simon visa to save on the bigger fee.

We took out the United Credit Card earlier this year, but in order to get the full sign up bonus we had to spend $20,000 in 6 months (gulp). So we bought a whole bunch of $1,000 visa cards at Simon Mall - the cards have a fee of $3.95 each. There are no extra fees if buy them in the mall - you can also buy them online but there is a rigorous sign up process (or so I'm told - I have never actually tried it) and there are additional fees.

In the mall itself, you have to go into the mall management office or designated gift card place and specifically request the $1000 Visa gift cards.

 

[fireflyer]

so Turo is a legit option for car rentals? I was considering booking something,and paying the cost with UR points on statement (regular rental options are still crazy high)

Haven't read all the past discussions, but regarding Turo I have used it on a 1-week rental in spring 2022. It was a positive experience, and nice to get to pick the specific car I wanted in advance. I decided to reserve another Turo car for 2 weeks in spring 2023. I bought the minimum liability insurance just in case, since your personal auto insurance probably doesn't cover car-sharing.

 

[Alexle2007]

Nice to have no fee VGCs this week at Staples since I have tuition to pay and a CIC MSR to meet.

 

[reliev]

We're staying near USJ, then moving on to the Conrad Osaka.

No Kyoto this time since we've been and the kids wouldn't be that interested. Will probably try to make it to Nara. Would like to visit Arashiyama again, but not sure we'll have time.

yeah its my first trip (hopefully of many) just me and my buddy i think 2 cities is enough, might just do Disney one day because id rather sees history and japan. Probably better to go disney sea from what i read right? Also im debating using the bag service for like 20$ (they told me at the hotel) or does it really suck to take 2 bags on the train?

 

[reliev]

We took out the United Credit Card earlier this year, but in order to get the full sign up bonus we had to spend $20,000 in 6 months (gulp). So we bought a whole bunch of $1,000 visa cards at Simon Mall - the cards have a fee of $3.95 each. There are no extra fees if buy them in the mall - you can also buy them online but there is a rigorous sign up process (or so I'm told - I have never actually tried it) and there are additional fees.

In the mall itself, you have to go into the mall management office or designated gift card place and specifically request the $1000 Visa gift cards.

yeah i think i do the full boat on that 1.76 % on the pay1040 $ I would be ahead for sure the problem with this is I couldn't do a last-minute calculation id have to plan

 

[afan]

yeah its my first trip (hopefully of many) just me and my buddy i think 2 cities is enough, might just do Disney one day because id rather sees history and japan. Probably better to go disney sea from what i read right? Also im debating using the bag service for like 20$ (they told me at the hotel) or does it really suck to take 2 bags on the train?

Did you ever use the luggage service with mde going to wdw? How it was so much easier than lugging it around and that's without the potential of stairs.

I fully plan to use it from my Tokyo hotel to tdlr. Then I'll send my main suitcase to Osaka and my souvenir bag to my last Tokyo hotel. I'll use a small carryon to fly to Okinawa and then send my main suitcase and potentially the small one from Osaka to Tokyo. It's just easier to deal with a backpack period when dealing with train stations and walking blocks. I did not enjoy lugging my suitcase up all the stairs in the paris metro.

 

[Haley R]

Did you ever use the luggage service with mde going to wdw? How it was so much easier than lugging it around and that's without the potential of stairs.

I fully plan to use it from my Tokyo hotel to tdlr. Then I'll send my main suitcase to Osaka and my souvenir bag to my last Tokyo hotel. I'll use a small carryon to fly to Okinawa and then send my main suitcase and potentially the small one from Osaka to Tokyo. It's just easier to deal with a backpack period when dealing with train stations and walking blocks. I did not enjoy lugging my suitcase up all the stairs in the paris metro.

We shipped out bags from Tokyo to Kyoto and it was great.

 

[AmyAnne]

Did you ever use the luggage service with mde going to wdw? How it was so much easier than lugging it around and that's without the potential of stairs.

I fully plan to use it from my Tokyo hotel to tdlr. Then I'll send my main suitcase to Osaka and my souvenir bag to my last Tokyo hotel. I'll use a small carryon to fly to Okinawa and then send my main suitcase and potentially the small one from Osaka to Tokyo. It's just easier to deal with a backpack period when dealing with train stations and walking blocks. I did not enjoy lugging my suitcase up all the stairs in the paris metro.

We did this in Japan it was so easy. I had forgotten how nice it was to turn over the suitcases and not worry about them on the train.