I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 & 2024 (see first page for add'l details)

[chattadisser]

I have an insurance related question too. Has anyone ever used the insurance that you can get, specifically the auto insurance, being a Costco member?

Our auto insurance has gone up 25% in the last year (State Farm) and with three cars it's getting to be more than I can stomach. I called my agent and got the "costs are going up for everyone" speech. Sure dude but my pay isn't going up 25% a year and I've been with you for over 30 years. So I went online and did an online quote through Costco which is actually American Family Insurance and the quote was about $100 less every six months per car. Tempting but then, I'm not sure how the service would be. I will say that anytime we needed anything, which hasn't been often, State Farm has been very easy to deal with.

I really don't want to deal with shopping around and having people call me and then trying to compare apples to apples.

And to keep this on the topic of credit cards, I also align paying my installments with an MSR, usually a shiny new CIC!

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

I have an insurance related question too. Has anyone ever used the insurance that you can get, specifically the auto insurance, being a Costco member?

Our auto insurance has gone up 25% in the last year (State Farm) and with three cars it's getting to be more than I can stomach. I called my agent and got the "costs are going up for everyone" speech. Sure dude but my pay isn't going up 25% a year and I've been with you for over 30 years. So I went online and did an online quote through Costco which is actually American Family Insurance and the quote was about $100 less every six months per car. Tempting but then, I'm not sure how the service would be. I will say that anytime we needed anything, which hasn't been often, State Farm has been very easy to deal with.

I really don't want to deal with shopping around and having people call me and then trying to compare apples to apples.

And to keep this on the topic of credit cards, I also align paying my installments with an MSR, usually a shiny new CIC!

We recently switched to Costco/American Family Insurance because of the same thing. We had Allstate and it went up a lot. I will say, being able to pay for the premium on a credit card, which Allstate would not allow without giving up a hefty discount, was very nice. We haven't had to deal with them on anything yet though, claims or otherwise, so I can't attest to their service. We saved $300 on our 6 month premium though, so $600/year was significant enough to get me to switch companies.

 

[Princess Michele]

In 2022 I did AmEx plat (150k)

In 2023 I did
AmEx plat biz (120k)
AmEx biz checking account (60k)
and today I received a 1099 for $600 (presumable for the biz checking account 60k - note that this is not for interest earned for that account, I got a separate 1099 for that)

Just an FYI DP for anyone else who may have done the account last year!

I did the AmEx biz checking account last year also. I have not received anything in the mail yet but I received an email from AmEx that I could view and print a 1099 from my online account. I have looked all over the online account and have not been able to find any 1099. Hopefully I will get it in the mail also.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

The CSP has primary car rental insurance, but they exclude certain "high value" cars while CSR does not. We got a great rate on a Tesla rental last time, but it was a high value example, so I had DH upgrade to the CSR.

The travel insurance on the CSR is better. Trip delay is 6 hours instead of 12 and it includes 100k of emergency evacuation, just to name a few.

Okay, it's worth the hassle, then, because we usually rent Teslas from Hertz!

 

[wanderlust7]

I did the AmEx biz checking account last year also. I have not received anything in the mail yet but I received an email from AmEx that I could view and print a 1099 from my online account. I have looked all over the online account and have not been able to find any 1099. Hopefully I will get it in the mail also.

To the right and half way down, there's a Documents and statements link. Scroll down and you'll find Tax documents. Mine only has the interest though and not the SUB.

 

[wanderlust7]

Okay, it's worth the hassle, then, because we usually rent Teslas from Hertz!

I wondered if the example is outdated since there are Tesla models that are not that expensive these days. But I didn't bother calling to ask since we were going to a Priority Pass restaurant, I wanted that benefit as well.

This is how it's worded:
"Examples of high value motor vehicles or exotic car brands notcovered are Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bentley, Corvette, Ferrari,Jaguar, Lamborghini, Lotus, Maserati, Maybach, McLaren, Porsche, Rolls Royce, and Tesla; However, selected models of Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Infiniti, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, and Range Rover are covered. Wondering if coverage applies to a specific type of vehicle? Contact the Benefit Administrator."

 

[wdwpluto]

I did the AmEx biz checking account last year also. I have not received anything in the mail yet but I received an email from AmEx that I could view and print a 1099 from my online account. I have looked all over the online account and have not been able to find any 1099. Hopefully I will get it in the mail also.

It was interesting b/c the 1099 for the interest came via email. I couldn't find it on the site either and ended up clicking the direct link from the email (though I know that's usually dicey with possible scams, but it was legit in this instance). That was maybe 3 days ago and the 1099 for the SUP came via snail mail yesterday. First I thought it was just a mailed copy of the emailed one, but nope!

 

[wdwpluto]

To the right and half way down, there's a Documents and statements link. Scroll down and you'll find Tax documents. Mine only has the interest though and not the SUB.

Mine only shows the interest 1099 there despite getting the mailed 1099 for the SUB.

 

[lsutigers03]

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless 5 x 50K Free Night Certificates bonus is back.

https://frequentmiler.com/MRPlus/#Goto

My reason for getting this card would be to stay at the Swan and Dolphin. Is there a quick way to see what various nights would cost in points? It seems like most nights are more then the 65k that would make these FNC valuable.

 

[wanderlust7]

Anyone hear a rumor about a good SUB coming up for the CSR? I would like to churn my CSP but now I'm stuck waiting for a decent sign up offer.




This is helpful info. I think that we fly out of the same airport area, and I keep wondering if the United expanded access could be helpful since we find ourselves flying United more and more these days. What kind of things have you seen?

I often see discounted saver point rates, usually mid-week. We're tied to the school schedule, so hard to take advantage.

If there are flights you're interested in, I can tell you what the expanded award space looks like.

 

[orangecuse]

My Amex gold annual fee will hit next month. I was planning on cancelling bc I just never really use Amex and don’t find the fee worth it. Got retention last year.

Just logged on and there is an offer to upgrade to platinum for 100,000MR for $6000 spent over 6 months. Kind of tempted. Can definitely use the airline credit. Not sure about the hotel credit but hopefully.

Thank you!! My gold had the same offer and Ive had the plat before so great offer for me!

 

[VickieMouse]

CSR travel experts. I had asked earlier about doing the CSR downgrade and eventual upgrade and got great advice. Thank you!! my new question is if I book a trip using points with the CSR and then downgrade the card, what happens to the reservation?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless 5 x 50K Free Night Certificates bonus is back.

https://frequentmiler.com/MRPlus/#Goto

My reason for getting this card would be to stay at the Swan and Dolphin. Is there a quick way to see what various nights would cost in points? It seems like most nights are more then the 65k that would make these FNC valuable.

Before I got this bonus last time around, I found a few dates that would work. By the time the bonus posted, I could find only 1 week we could make work at Dolphin. It was mid June and then my sons soccer team decided on a tournament that week so we had to cancel. I have honestly found it hard to use the 5 FNCs any place I want to go. Ended up booking a Residence Inn in San Diego for next July. Any place "nice" seems 67k and up especially Swolphin.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless 5 x 50K Free Night Certificates bonus is back.

https://frequentmiler.com/MRPlus/#Goto

My reason for getting this card would be to stay at the Swan and Dolphin. Is there a quick way to see what various nights would cost in points? It seems like most nights are more then the 65k that would make these FNC valuable.

Go to the Marriott website, search for the Walt Disney World Resort or the specific hotel you want, pick a one night stay approx when you want to go, select flexible dates and points. It will show a month calendar for that hotel with point cost each night. My player who got stuck with these didn't have success using their certs for the dates they wanted, unlike last year where they were able to top them off to get there. The point inflation has just gotten too high. I see there are some nights that will work depending on when you want to go but almost all will require decent top offs (max you can top is 15k pts).

Do realize these are extremely dynamic and just because they're here today doesn't mean they'll be there when you're ready so I would hit the spend asap if dates that worked for me were available to get hold of the certs.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

What is the best way to (trip) insure a 2 week trip that includes:

flight to Paris (points + CSP for fees already paid)
Airbnb in Paris (CSP, but not yet booked)
hotel in London for one night (maybe points, maybe cash on CSP, but not booked yet)
train from Paris to Barcelona (not booked yet, but on CSP)
night in Barcelona hotel (not booked yet, but on CSP)
7 day Princess Med cruise (deposit paid on CSP so far)
2 nights in hotel in Rome (CSP, but not yet booked)
flight from Rome to home (points + CSP for fees)

Please don't flame me, but I've never gotten trip insurance before. This'll be my first time.

Like others have said, insure my trip is very handy. You can compare multiple policies at once. You do want a comprehensive policy, so you're on the right track there.

In order to know how much to insure, if you woke up the morning of the trip and couldn't go, what cash would you be out? As in, what couldn't you cancel without paying a penalty? So insure all of that. It's okay to make some estimates.

Once you enter your details, you'll then get a list that you can sort. I like to use the sort button that features a specific benefit (at the top where sort usually is) using the medical insurance benefit. I always try for a minimum of 100,000 in primary medical insurance, if I can. Once you find a few policies that look appealing, select their compare button and it will put them all side by side. That's where you'll see some of these details come through, like some will offer 6 hours flight delay, some will offer car rental insurance, etc. I find the best way to see these differences is just by comparing them side by side.

Feel free to ask more questions- it gets easier as things go on.

 

[djmeredith]

What’s the best card right now for large travel spend? The next year or so we will probably have $50k+ in travel spend. Right now I’m having a tough time finding anything better than just using my CSR.

Don’t fly Southwest so no interest in the companion pass.

On that spend, I might be tempted to maximize the 5X office store on a 1 or 2 CICs. The downside is you have to do the work to buy all the Visa/MC gcs. I have never (or maybe once) taken advantage of the 5x to get a GC, because I am usually working on a SUB. However, that's a lot of points with $50K spend.

I have an insurance related question too. Has anyone ever used the insurance that you can get, specifically the auto insurance, being a Costco member?

Our auto insurance has gone up 25% in the last year (State Farm) and with three cars it's getting to be more than I can stomach. I called my agent and got the "costs are going up for everyone" speech. Sure dude but my pay isn't going up 25% a year and I've been with you for over 30 years. So I went online and did an online quote through Costco which is actually American Family Insurance and the quote was about $100 less every six months per car. Tempting but then, I'm not sure how the service would be. I will say that anytime we needed anything, which hasn't been often, State Farm has been very easy to deal with.

I really don't want to deal with shopping around and having people call me and then trying to compare apples to apples.

And to keep this on the topic of credit cards, I also align paying my installments with an MSR, usually a shiny new CIC!

You may want to try your state's Farm Bureau insurance co (not "Farmers"). Where I am, they are a lot cheaper than anywhere else I researched. I have a local agent (their office is less than 1 mile away), and he/his staff have always provided excellent customer service. I am also able to pay with my cc online. I think some state's Farm Bureaus are subsidiaries/partners to larger companies, but I live in a rural/farming state and they are an indep co.

 

[mmmears]

Being that I've never done this -- I have no idea what I'm doing, which factors to factor in or how to go about this. I just know I'm going to be in Europe for 21 days on a massive trip and something is bound to go "wrong" at some point. I think maybe where I went wrong was pricing the trip at $15k for 3 people (ages 55,50 and 18)? Should I just break down and call or are they going to upsell me because I'm naive?

I'm an intelligent person beyond this, I promise.

I find it all pretty confusing. Last year I took a trip that looks really similar to what you are planning. I also used insure my trip - I even called and talked to an agent and he did not try to upsell me. Things I personally was looking for were pre-existing conditions being covered, primary medical insurance, evac, and also I wanted "cancel for any reason" because who knows if my reason would be covered? Luckily we didn't need to use the insurance. I've bought the same one for our 2024 planned trip to Europe. I hope this helps.

I often see discounted saver point rates, usually mid-week. We're tied to the school schedule, so hard to take advantage.

If there are flights you're interested in, I can tell you what the expanded award space looks like.

Thanks so much. That does help. Lately we've been looking for weekend flights (because of work) so it sounds like it won't help us much, but if I have a trip I'm looking at I'll ask you about it. Lately I have been trying to book a weekend in Cabo, but I can either find hotel availability or decent flights, but never both at the same time.

 

[hsmamato2]

Does this sound like the right amount for all of the above through USAA? It was the most expensive one they had -- and quite frankly, I think that's cheap -- but what do I know?

View attachment 828545

I recently got trip insurance for an international trip for 2- 'cancel for any reason' etc added They had me input the value of the trip to calculate it- I think I paid $428 for it. I usually don't buy insurance but this was a biggie for us.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Thanks for all of your replies re: Tokyo Disney Sea. I wasn’t sure if I’d go or not until I got off the flight this morning, but I was fine, so decided to go! I had so.much.fun! Felt like a little kid again on the rides, just enjoying myself and being in the moment for the day. ]

I had no game plan at all, didn’t even have a ticket or Tokyo Disney app. I took care of both of these things on the 15 min train ride to the park! I took the monorail from the airport to the JR Hamamouto (sp) line, then walked out of Tokyo station to the Tokyo Station Hotel. I was here just before 8, but I wanted to freshen up a bit and lock my passport in my suitcase. I left here around 8:10 and was at the park entrance just after 9. Wow was it busy. Like really, really busy. The security line was huge, but it moved quickly, same with the ticket line. A few people in line helped me get used to the app and showed me how to navigate it (the people here are super helpful).

As soon as I passed through the ticket gate I bought a Priority Passes for Soarin’ and Indiana Jones. I then headed for Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The line time said 80 minutes (I was in line by 9:35), but it took closer to 110 minutes. Headed from there to my Soarin’ PP time, boy does the PP line move quickly. Rode almost immediately and once I had scanned my FP I purchased a PP for Tower of Terror. Then headed to get something to eat (sausage goyza), took food to the line for 20k Leagues Under the Sea (around 45 min wait). By this time it was my time in McDuck shop (you have to get a ticket to get in some of the shops and they limit some of the merch you can buy). After McDucks I rode ToT which I LOVED. Then headed to Indiana Jones which I think was 1 of my favorites. After I rode IJ with my PP I lined up again as a single; it took longer to get through the line, around 20 minutes, but still waaaay shorter than the 120 standby line. Then headed over to Sinbad and rode that. While in line I was refreshing the app and was able to grab another PP for Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Rode that again, then went over to Nemo and waited around a half hour to ride it. Somewhere along the way I stopped for an orange hot chocolate which was delicious. By this time I was able to get into Emporio (which was code only until 5pm) and buy a few very small things. I got to do everything that I wanted to do and rode Journey and Indiana Jones twice. Toy Story is down for a few weeks BOOO —it’s one of my favorite rides. But without it in operation I was able to get almost everything else done.

I tried for lottery tickets for Big Band show and didn’t get any (that’s 0 for 2 — didn’t get them in 2019 either). Oh well. I watched the show on the water for 2 or 3 minutes — super cute ear worm song they’ve come up for the 40th. Will post pics later — too tired now and still have to develop plans for tomorrow.

The only ride that I did without a PP was Journey at the beginning of the day and I knew after waiting that long that I wouldn’t be doing any other standby lines. Soarin’ was at 150 mins from the time I got in the park, Journey was around 110 minutes, Indiana Jones and ToT were both around 120 minutes. Just no.way did I have the patience to wait in line for that long. Once was enough for me, but I got lucky and avoided lines . I was wondering how I managed the parks in the summer in 2019 and I have no clue. I think the weather was perfect today — around 44 degrees. Not hot, not cold, loved it.

Train back to Tokyo station was super easy (It takes just over 15 mins and costs a whopping $1.50ish). Man is that a huge station, my gosh. It took me a good 10-15 mins to walk from where I got off the train to the exit to the hotel. I did stop somewhere in the station for dinner (shredded chicken with rice which was good) — honestly I was so tired I just wanted to get to my room.

 

[Haley R]

We ended up booking the Tokyo Disneyland hotel last night for our trip in May. We had the Hilton booked but decided to splurge a little and booked a room with grand park view so we’ll be able to see the castle and monorail.