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

[djmeredith]

If anyone is looking for teenage/young adult gifts, UGG is having a good sale. I got a pair of boots, leggings, and sweatshirt for around $150. Rakuten will give you an additional 10% off. They have several reasonable priced hoodies and sweatshirts.

 

[havaneselover]

If anyone is looking for teenage/young adult gifts, UGG is having a good sale. I got a pair of boots, leggings, and sweatshirt for around $150. Rakuten will give you an additional 10% off. They have several reasonable priced hoodies and sweatshirts.

Are you suggesting Uggs aren’t for middle aged women?

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Hello from beautiful Budapest. Made it here, sadly my luggage, despite 2 x 3 hour connections did not. Which is where traveling with the large Away carry-on comes in very handy. I could’ve easily gone 3 or 4 days with the clothes in that bag. Luckily Lufthansa had my luggage at the lovely Matild Palace within 7 hours of landing, which was bittersweet (I was looking forward to doing some shopping on their dime, alas it wasn’t meant to be!)

I was upgraded to the Elisabeth Suite a few days before I arrived. It is a huge corner room with a lovely view of Elisabeth bridge (named after their beloved Queen, Elisabeth, aka Sisi). The location of the hotel is quite good and the included breakfast for platinums is outstanding (basically whatever you want from the buffet or menu, however room service is on your own dime). The only issue I have with the hotel is the temperature. My goodness they like to keep the hotel warm (like 74 degrees warm). Apparently that is the temp they have decided everyone likes and individual rooms cannot adjust the temperature. I begged and pleaded with them on my first night to turn it down, but nothing could be done. I was told that they hadn’t heard from any other guests about it being “too warm”, so it must be just me (I keep my house at 64 degrees in the winter because I like it to be cool). However this morning while chatting with the front desk agent about transit options, not 1, not 2, but 3 guests came to the front desk to complain about how hot the rooms are (and I was only at the desk for 5 or 6 minutes). However I have decided to just roll with it, because it is a gorgeous property and the staff are amazing. I would stay here again without hesitation.

Travel fun continued yesterday when I received an e-mail (in German no less) from OBB, the company I was supposed to be traveling to Vienna with on the 28th. The hotel we are staying with in Vienna translated the e-mail for me and it said there is a strike on the 28th. The hotel in Vienna said if they sent out an e-mail,then there will most likely be a strike. So my options were hope it was over on the 29th, or leave a day early. The wonderful concierge here worked with me last night to book another ticket to Vienna tomorrow (he had to call the train company twice — they don’t have any English options, so his service was invaluable). I am sad to be leaving a day early, but I don’t really have any other option (I could hire a private transfer for 750 Euros, lol). I can’t say enough good things about the concierge staff here — it’s a service I seldom use, but they really, really helped me out this trip.

I will share a few pics of my room and my fav pic of the famous Parliament building.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

A few Christmas market pics

 

[canopy]

I review every card (and I have...a lot)...at least annually if not semi annually. I've kept some no AF cards for decades, and I'll "always" (or since I began churning) have a CSR or CSP so I can transfer URs to Hyatt (my favorite hotel chain) and at least an Amex Delta Platinum or Reserve (for free bags, mostly and to earn/keep status). The nice thing, as someone mentioned, is you can product change expensive cards after a year...so a CSR to a CSP or a freedom is an acceptable play. With Amex, I've gone back and forth between Delta Platinum and Reserve many, many times. So the answer is...it depends on the card and the benefits it provides to me. I value Hyatt and Delta loyalty status so I'm likely going to keep a Delta Reserve and the Hyatt personal and business so they can assist me in earning status. I was able to get the Hilton Aspire card without an AF (it was an oops promotion) and although I did get more than its regular AF worth from the card, still cancelled it at the 1 year mark because I've discovered Hilton isn't the hotel brand for me. This is why it's important to know (and maybe put in writing) what's important to you in a credit card, short/long term travel goals, etc.

I will encourage you to NEVER cancel an American Express card before you've had it for 366 days-Amex can be both petty and spiteful and if you want to preserve the relationship with them, then wait until day 366 and/or when the annual fee posts (if you cancel the card after that they'll credit the annual fee).

As for the chase travel portal- as @Albort and @Psychodisney said, booking through the Chase travel portal is using an OTA (online travel agency) and if your travel has any hiccups then you'll be at the mercy of them to change your travel/return your URs. The one and only time I used it, DD and I were flying to Scotland and there was a freak summer storm that essentially shut down the East Coast airports, delaying our flights from ATL to JFK to EDI...I lost about 100,000 URs because the hold time on the phone was 3 hours-got through, then they hung up on me and I was back on hold for 4 hours before we had to board the flight-and never spoke to a person who could resolve our issues. So that was an expensive, painful lesson that stuck-I'd rather deal with an airline/hotel v. through a 3rd party who couldn't care less about me (not that Marriott does either, lol, but Hyatt and Delta pretend to ).

Thank you so much to everyone who replied to me! This is all super helpful information

You mention that you can switch from a CSR to a CSP or CF... how would you then get benefits? Do you cancel completely and then you can re-apply and get a SUB if they have a new one advertised (while staying within the 5/24) or do they recognize you from a previous signup and ban you out of it? Or are there sometimes SUBs for just switching into that level of card? (I've had a CF card for myself - no AUs - since 2015).

Also to confirm, I was thinking about cancelling the AmEx (I was thinking Delta Gold) at the year mark (so no AF) but you're saying to wait 366 days and then cancel it and they'll refund me the AF?

That's really rough about the Chase Travel Portal, but good information to know. I could see where it wouldn't be worth it to me either because I'm usually checking our flights relatively consistently to see if we can get better seats lol (that's actually why I have a bit of a credit towards Delta at the moment - switched to a less expensive flight that made more sense for our travel schedule at the last minute)

 

[djmeredith]

Are you suggesting Uggs aren’t for middle aged women?

LOL! Definitely not, I am a middle aged woman and I bought the items for myself.

 

[tink1970]

A few Christmas market pics

View attachment 721503View attachment 721504

So glad you had a helpful concierge-I love Budapest although when we were there in December it was chilly! Yummy chimney cakes help with the cold, though Best wishes for safe and smooth travels tomorrow to Vienna!

 

[tink1970]

Thank you so much to everyone who replied to me! This is all super helpful information

You mention that you can switch from a CSR to a CSP or CF... how would you then get benefits? Do you cancel completely and then you can re-apply and get a SUB if they have a new one advertised (while staying within the 5/24) or do they recognize you from a previous signup and ban you out of it? Or are there sometimes SUBs for just switching into that level of card? (I've had a CF card for myself - no AUs - since 2015).

Also to confirm, I was thinking about cancelling the AmEx (I was thinking Delta Gold) at the year mark (so no AF) but you're saying to wait 366 days and then cancel it and they'll refund me the AF?

That's really rough about the Chase Travel Portal, but good information to know. I could see where it wouldn't be worth it to me either because I'm usually checking our flights relatively consistently to see if we can get better seats lol (that's actually why I have a bit of a credit towards Delta at the moment - switched to a less expensive flight that made more sense for our travel schedule at the last minute)

Amex will refund the AF on your statement if you call to cancel (or product change) as soon as it posts (I believe you have several days to pay or cancel but I wait until it posts, then cancel/downgrade immediately so I don't forget!).

You can product change Chase (or Amex) cards versus outright cancelling --as soon as the product change occurs, then the benefits you receive are those of the new card. The most common is the CSR to CSP (and after a year, often back to CSR) or CSR to freedom (if you want to take a year off from AF and travel). It's achieved by calling and asking to product change-most customer service reps know the drill. The Sapphire Products have a 48 month rule...on top of 5/24, you cannot receive a bonus for EITHER the Reserve or Preferred until 48 months after the sign up bonus is received which is pretty restrictive and why many people flip between CSR-CSP more than once. Chase isn't as spiteful as Amex can be about cancelling (Amex actually has "anti gaming" language in their application process) but product changing is thought to keep the bank happy AND help with annual age of accounts, a small factor in credit score (if that's a consideration).

Booking through any travel portal adds a middle man so if you prefer to reprice flights and reschedule them then I'd agree, that would be a hassle for you.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

NOT AT ALL! The terms and conditions state it takes something like up to 6-8 weeks for points to appear. When we tried to get a CP we made the MSR spend requirements to get the bonus in mid-December and they posted the points only days later and screwed us out of getting the pass. I had SW card in the past and it always took weeks for points to post. I will always feel it was purposefully done by the company.

I think that was just bad luck that you'd seen them take weeks to post then post quickly. I've never had SW points take weeks to post. In fact my SW card anniversary bonus points were on my 11/21 statement and in my SW account 11/22.

Speaking of SW, finally saw the points drop for our Costa Rica trip return. Used 53k pp one way to get there and it was the same for the return (originally booked AA for return only to have AA cancel all nonstops between Chicago and Costa Rica and they put us on a crappy flight in seats nowhere near each other.). Anyway today the flight we needed dropped to 39k points, which is still ridiculous but better. By the time I got home from work, I saw the "only 2 seats left" for that flight. I transferred my 9k SW points to DH (thanks to SW biz for covering the fee) and 57k more URs to DH's SW account. Thankfully everything transferred quickly, I booked 2 tix and added DS as my companion. Whew! Glad to have it done. Not so glad to use 185,000 SW points for 1 trip.

 

[canopy]

Amex will refund the AF on your statement if you call to cancel (or product change) as soon as it posts (I believe you have several days to pay or cancel but I wait until it posts, then cancel/downgrade immediately so I don't forget!).

You can product change Chase (or Amex) cards versus outright cancelling --as soon as the product change occurs, then the benefits you receive are those of the new card. The most common is the CSR to CSP (and after a year, often back to CSR) or CSR to freedom (if you want to take a year off from AF and travel). It's achieved by calling and asking to product change-most customer service reps know the drill. The Sapphire Products have a 48 month rule...on top of 5/24, you cannot receive a bonus for EITHER the Reserve or Preferred until 48 months after the sign up bonus is received which is pretty restrictive and why many people flip between CSR-CSP more than once. Chase isn't as spiteful as Amex can be about cancelling (Amex actually has "anti gaming" language in their application process) but product changing is thought to keep the bank happy AND help with annual age of accounts, a small factor in credit score (if that's a consideration).

Booking through any travel portal adds a middle man so if you prefer to reprice flights and reschedule them then I'd agree, that would be a hassle for you.

Ah okay so the switch back to CSR would be more so if you’re planning to travel because you can take advantage of the extra points (instead of the perks of a SUB). Am I understanding that correctly?

 

[Judique]

Ah okay so the switch back to CSR would be more so if you’re planning to travel because you can take advantage of the extra points (instead of the perks of a SUB). Am I understanding that correctly?

Yes, you've got that part of it.

 

[spacerangerqueen]

I got my Hyatt card 2 years ago this month and I am thinking of churning it as I have used up all my points. My question is, it was a tierd bonus so I earned 25k points in February of 2021 and then another 25k in June of 21. Do I need to wait until June to apply for a new card?

 

[hsmamato2]

How difficult is it to use the $50 CSP hotel bonus? You have to book thru the portal to use it,right? I hate leaving a credit lying unused lol

 

[CyndiLouWho]

How difficult is it to use the $50 CSP hotel bonus? You have to book thru the portal to use it,right? I hate leaving a credit lying unused lol

Yes. I booked our London hotel with URs except $51. The credit posted a few days after the charge IIRC.

 

[wanderlust7]

I got my Hyatt card 2 years ago this month and I am thinking of churning it as I have used up all my points. My question is, it was a tierd bonus so I earned 25k points in February of 2021 and then another 25k in June of 21. Do I need to wait until June to apply for a new card?

You do have to wait until June. Also the current card (if you still have it) needs to be closed for at least 30 days.

The Hyatt bonus isn’t great though and it’s easier to earn URs and transfer instead (if you have a CSR/CSP/CIP). The CIU/CIC bonuses are great right now.

But if the goal is to chase Globalist then it’s a great strategy as you would get 5 elite nights from the current card and 5 again when you open the new card.

 

[tink1970]

Ah okay so the switch back to CSR would be more so if you’re planning to travel because you can take advantage of the extra points (instead of the perks of a SUB). Am I understanding that correctly?

Yes-both 3X UR and the $300 travel credit

 

[canopy]

Yes-both 3X UR and the $300 travel credit

Thank you so much for all your help

 

[elgerber]

When a Chase offer says "until up to $6" does that mean you can use the offer more than once, say for $35 then $25 to total $60?

 

[spacerangerqueen]

You do have to wait until June. Also the current card (if you still have it) needs to be closed for at least 30 days.

The Hyatt bonus isn’t great though and it’s easier to earn URs and transfer instead (if you have a CSR/CSP/CIP). The CIU/CIC bonuses are great right now.

But if the goal is to chase Globalist then it’s a great strategy as you would get 5 elite nights from the current card and 5 again when you open the new card.

Not sure Globalist is in my future. As long as I can match back and forth with MGM I have Explorist on lock. But, that's good to know if I want to make a go at it! I think another Ink is in my future. Always keeping an eye out for something more interesting than an Ink though haha. Actually, it's almost time to ask for a retention offer on my Plat now that I think about it.

 

[afan]

When a Chase offer says "until up to $6" does that mean you can use the offer more than once, say for $35 then $25 to total $60?

Generally it means up to 6 back but we'd need to see thr entire offer.

Most chase offers are one time vs some.on amex being total until you hit it.