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

Yeah I already got 2k in discounted Dis giftcards. The rest I was going to pay bills but was told new
"purchases" so will have to think of something else. lol

I think they call it "new purchases" to distinguish from something like a balance transfer. I checked my utility bill credit card transactions and they are purchases. It's not on a Discover card though, but I would think it's not different.
 


Does anyone know anything about Microsoft Cashback? My Sam's Club order seems to have generated (at least an email) some cash back.

I don't follow that and other than the fact that they are always stalking me online, I've never received anything before.

I did see a pop up which I see all the time, but didn't actually read it.

Well, probably no cash for me. Gift cards are excluded.
 
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Thank you! I've been approved for a Venture X and a CIU in the last 30 days, so Chase isn't going to approve me for the CSP right now.

I think I'll just use my Venture X travel credit to book the hotel through their portal - it's probably a better use of that than burning points at barely over 1 cent per point.

FWIW, I've booked a Delta Flight on the VX portal (for the $300 travel credit) and about 3 hotels in Ireland (we were in small towns with no chain hotels and the points to stay were very cheap imo) via the portal using points. No issues with any of them. The Delta flight got changed about 3 times and in one case to an itinerary that did not work for us and calling Delta had no issues changing the itinerary to one we wanted.

Since I have like $400 left on hitting the Hilton FNC and $400 left on hitting my spend on the Bonvoy 5 FNC.....And I have like $2k in hotel charges coming up, I just applied for my second CIU....and it was approved! Wooooo! I was hesitating and was going to cancel the existing one. But I guess I'll keep both for now. My original one is under my name twice vs my business name. So who knows. But now to hit $6k spend in 3 mos. I think I'll be okay because I have the $2k in hotels next week. I leave for Vegas on 11-11, do you think I need to expedite the card?

I figure between the holidays, the $2k hotel, I have property taxes and home owners insurance in Jan. Should be easy to hit $6k I hope.

I FINALLY got PP Bill Pay to work with our county property tax. It was giving errors for that payee on web and app for weeks. I tried again on the app last night (only sent $500 since I want to make sure it's working correctly before I send the big amount) and it went thru to the FF pending. Chase FF is 5x for PP for Q4 and I'm not currently working on a SUB. So now I just have to wait to make sure our county reflects the payment and then I'll do the rest. For anyone in Wake County NC -- I'll confirm that it worked when I know for sure.

It's been a few months since our last SUB and I know that's not making best use of our spending, but I needed a little break and honestly was on the fence about SW CP (still am). Since we're retired from our professional careers, I just want to be mindful about which cards I apply for -- have never been declined, but who knows now that our income is so small (we work some very part time stuff).
 
Times like this I'm happy to have a smaller home and a new from 2019 gas furnace, probably cheaper as it was right before the thing that drove prices up.
Trust me, I get it! My house isn't big though. It's just that it's two stories with no vent on the second story and the vent on the first floor is for a 2 ton system and I have/need a 3 ton system.
 


Brief recap on my recent trip.

Early morning flight from JFK to LHR necessitated spending a night in NYC. Stayed at the Iroquois, part of the SLH; was able to use an offer on my plat card, spend $300 get $100 back. Worked and credit has posted. The hotel was nice -- just a 6 min walk from LIRR station making it super easy to get to and from JFK. Clean, quiet, Frette linens (always a plus in my books), nice staff and fantastic location. Would stay here again and def recommend. While in NYC I made use of my Uber credit at Levain (YUM!).

Flight took off right on time and landed in London 10 mins early. Thought a daytime flight would be nice, but I had trouble getting to sleep since it was 4pm here. I still prefer a daytime flight over the ocean and will choose this option again if available. AA service was unremarkable -- can't remember what the food was, so it must've been okay.

I stayed at the Sofitel LHR, a short 8 min walk from T5 where my flight to Florence was to depart from. The hotel is in need of a refresh, mainly because there are no electrical outlets or USB charging ports close to the bed. I had to leave my phone on the bedside table for the early alarm (so it wasn't charging overnight). For what it was I thought it was expensive, but you are paying for location. I'd stay here again if I had an early flight from T5. I landed in T3 and took the tube to T5, stopped at M&S food hall for some snacks, before heading to the Sofitel. It was super easy to get to the hotel.

Flight to Florence was hell and I will never again try to fly there. I will aim for Milan or Bologna (both easy train rides to Florence).

LOVED my hotel in Florence, the Milu. For reference it is almost directly across the street form the Il Torbuoni, which is part of Hyatt SLH. I had booked the Torbuoni through Hyatt but cancelled it because it was 35k pts/night and I knew that I'd never be in the room. It would be ideal for couples on a romantic getaway or people who like to spend a lot of time in their room (of which I am not one). This gem is a small boutique hotel with a nice breakfast spread, friendly and helpful staff, an ideal location and clean and quiet rooms, which is what I like. I paid cash and thought the price of 315 euros / night was very low given the location and how nice the hotel is, mind you I booked it 9 months in advance. I would def stay here again and highly recommend it.

In Milan I stayed at the STRAF Hotel & Bar using 2 FNCs plus 15k pts. I hated it and wouldn't stay there again if it was free. All rooms face the front of the hotel, so they are directly over the bar, which features live music every night. The window was single glaze and I am sure most here know where I'm going with this. The band may as well have been in my room, that's how loud my room was. Also the design was dark and cold: concrete walls and floors in the room and gold metal floors and walls in the bathroom. The bathroom counter was 6" below my knees with a very tall sink. What an incredibly bizarre configuration. I had breakfast at the hotel my first morning and it was 25 euros for a bowl of cereal and yogurt (ripoff). I knew this in advance, so my bad for being lazy. The staff was awful. The location was okay, being a few steps from the Duomo, across from LaRinascent, steps from the metro and in close proximity to La Brera and great shopping. But I would NEVER stay here again and would only recommend it if you can sleep in a very loud room and tolerate terrible staff. I dealt with it because it was free, but ugh.

I spent 1 night in Frankfurt at the airport Marriott to catch my early morning flight to JFK on Singapore Air 777 in first class. I chose to stay at the airport and take the metro into the city (super easy) for the day. My room was updated, clean, quiet, the staff was lovely and helpful and the hotel had a very nice executive lounge. I would def recommend this hotel and would stay here again.

I wanted to explore Frankfurt since I've passed through the airport many times but never been into the city. It was okay, Old Town was pretty, food that I had was good. I wouldn't visit the city again unless I had a layover of a few hours.

Singapore Air first class was everything that I expected and more. The FAs were AMAZING, omgosh just over-the-top amazing. So nice, friendly, engaging, service was excellent, I really can't say enough good things about the staff. The seat was huge and comfortable and the food was delicious. SA is known for their chicken satay and it didn't disappoint. I could've eaten 2 skewers, alas I was only offered 1 (though in retrospect if I had asked for another I'm sure they would've given me 3!). I had used their 'Book the Cook' menu in advance and chose the Vietnamese chicken served with warm potato salad and it was delicious. For pre-landing snack I had the meat porridge and it was also delicious. The bed was comfy and the bedding was so cosy I didn't want to leave. I didn't care for the pajamas -- they had a weird fit and I left them on the plane (gasp!). The amenity kit was Lalique and had a small box of soap, a large bottle of perfume and hand lotion. The FAs also gave me the biz class amenity kit which was really nice and then they gave me 2 Penhalgion small kits (I don't know why they gave me all this bling but I don't mind). The FAs knew I had a 2 hour connection time (on a different ticket) so they gave me a small bag full of snacks. I am going to put SA firmly at the top of my list of first class products. Doubt I'll fly them again anytime soon because the mileage cost to book can be quite high, but if I had the opportunity I'd jump on it!

I had 2 hours to clear customs and go through security to make my Delta One flight to Toronto. There was no line at GE so it took less than a minute (the non-GE line said a 50 min wait); I was able to use the GE line for security and it took less than 5 mins. So I was able to spend 40 mins in the Centurion lounge at JFK! It was nice -- not very crowded, nice staff and decent food (I wasn't that hungry). Liked my Delta flight back -- took off on time, landed a bit early, FA was super nice and funny -- she kept giving snacks because I said I loved their selection and I was hungry part-way into the flight.

There was a lot of moving around on this trip, but I had a great time. I wish vacations didn't fly by so quickly!

I am going to try to book another trip to Florence for next October, maybe for a 5 or 6 nights. I will be looking at logistics shortly.
 
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I am trying to post a few pics but they are showing as .heic files and the board won't allow me to post them. Any suggestions?

If anyone is going to Milan, I HIGHLY recommend seeing DaVinci's Last Supper -- I bought my ticket 3 months in advance, which is what is required. It was my second time viewing it (you only get 15 minutes in the room) and I'd go again and again if I were to find myself in Milan.

In Florence a must-do IMHO is to book the Academia to see David. I've seen him before, went this trip and I'd def go again next time I'm in Florence (hopefully soon). You need to book tickets before leaving for Italy because David is super popular. I would've like to climb the stairs to the Duomo but it is something that I didn't book in advance and I wasn't able to get tickets for the time period that I was there. I climbed the bell tower instead, which was amazing, but next time I want to climb the Duomo.

I don't consider myself an art lover per se, but the 2 aforementioned pieces are so amazing they are must-sees for me.
 
I am trying to post a few pics but they are showing as .heic files and the board won't allow me to post them. Any suggestions?

If anyone is going to Milan, I HIGHLY recommend seeing DaVinci's Last Supper -- I bought my ticket 3 months in advance, which is what is required. It was my second time viewing it (you only get 15 minutes in the room) and I'd go again and again if I were to find myself in Milan.

In Florence a must-do IMHO is to book the Academia to see David. I've seen him before, went this trip and I'd def go again next time I'm in Florence (hopefully soon). You need to book tickets before leaving for Italy because David is super popular. I would've like to climb the stairs to the Duomo but it is something that I didn't book in advance and I wasn't able to get tickets for the time period that I was there. I climbed the bell tower instead, which was amazing, but next time I want to climb the Duomo.

I don't consider myself an art lover per se, but the 2 aforementioned pieces are so amazing they are must-sees for me.

Loved the write up. I have been wanting to return and do a Northern Italy trip, but also would like to visit Tuscany. I hear Bologna is the most underrated city in the world. Thanks for the tip about flying into Florence; I definitely want to avoid that fiasco.

I ran into that issue with HEIC files when downloading from iCloud. You can click on the ... and select jpg instead of heic.
 
Loved the write up. I have been wanting to return and do a Northern Italy trip, but also would like to visit Tuscany. I hear Bologna is the most underrated city in the world. Thanks for the tip about flying into Florence; I definitely want to avoid that fiasco.

My son flew into Bologna in the summer for a work trip semi nearby. He only stayed in Bologna 1 night but very much enjoyed it. He and his wife did a 10 day Italy trip about 2 months later (Rome, Amalfi Coast, Naples) and loved their trip. He ended up having to back to the Bologna area about a month later and this time stayed in Bologna and his wife came along (very short trip), and she enjoyed her time too…said it was very
“Chill” in comparison. They both worked parts of each day, but knowing they weren’t going anywhere else they enjoyed it a lot.
 
Brief recap on my recent trip.

Early morning flight from JFK to LHR necessitated spending a night in NYC. Stayed at the Iroquois, part of the SLH; was able to use an offer on my plat card, spend $300 get $100 back. Worked and credit has posted. The hotel was nice -- just a 6 min walk from LIRR station making it super easy to get to and from JFK. Clean, quiet, Frette linens (always a plus in my books), nice staff and fantastic location. Would stay here again and def recommend. While in NYC I made use of my Uber credit at Levain (YUM!).

Flight took off right on time and landed in London 10 mins early. Thought a daytime flight would be nice, but I had trouble getting to sleep since it was 4pm here. I still prefer a daytime flight over the ocean and will choose this option again if available. AA service was unremarkable -- can't remember what the food was, so it must've been okay.

I stayed at the Sofitel LHR, a short 8 min walk from T5 where my flight to Florence was to depart from. The hotel is in need of a refresh, mainly because there are no electrical outlets or USB charging ports close to the bed. I had to leave my phone on the bedside table for the early alarm (so it wasn't charging overnight). For what it was I thought it was expensive, but you are paying for location. I'd stay here again if I had an early flight from T5. I landed in T3 and took the tube to T5, stopped at M&S food hall for some snacks, before heading to the Sofitel. It was super easy to get to the hotel.

Flight to Florence was hell and I will never again try to fly there. I will aim for Milan or Bologna (both easy train rides to Florence).

LOVED my hotel in Florence, the Milu. For reference it is almost directly across the street form the Il Torbuoni, which is part of Hyatt SLH. I had booked the Torbuoni through Hyatt but cancelled it because it was 35k pts/night and I knew that I'd never be in the room. It would be ideal for couples on a romantic getaway or people who like to spend a lot of time in their room (of which I am not one). This gem is a small boutique hotel with a nice breakfast spread, friendly and helpful staff, an ideal location and clean and quiet rooms, which is what I like. I paid cash and thought the price of 315 euros / night was very low given the location and how nice the hotel is, mind you I booked it 9 months in advance. I would def stay here again and highly recommend it.

In Milan I stayed at the STRAF Hotel & Bar using 2 FNCs plus 15k pts. I hated it and wouldn't stay there again if it was free. All rooms face the front of the hotel, so they are directly over the bar, which features live music every night. The window was single glaze and I am sure most here know where I'm going with this. The band may as well have been in my room, that's how loud my room was. Also the design was dark and cold: concrete walls and floors in the room and gold metal floors and walls in the bathroom. The bathroom counter was 6" below my knees with a very tall sink. What an incredibly bizarre configuration. I had breakfast at the hotel my first morning and it was 25 euros for a bowl of cereal and yogurt (ripoff). I knew this in advance, so my bad for being lazy. The staff was awful. The location was okay, being a few steps from the Duomo, across from LaRinascent, steps from the metro and in close proximity to La Brera and great shopping. But I would NEVER stay here again and would only recommend it if you can sleep in a very loud room and tolerate terrible staff. I dealt with it because it was free, but ugh.

I spent 1 night in Frankfurt at the airport Marriott to catch my early morning flight to JFK on Singapore Air 777 in first class. I chose to stay at the airport and take the metro into the city (super easy) for the day. My room was updated, clean, quiet, the staff was lovely and helpful and the hotel had a very nice executive lounge. I would def recommend this hotel and would stay here again.

I wanted to explore Frankfurt since I've passed through the airport many times but never been into the city. It was okay, Old Town was pretty, food that I had was good. I wouldn't visit the city again unless I had a layover of a few hours.

Singapore Air first class was everything that I expected and more. The FAs were AMAZING, omgosh just over-the-top amazing. So nice, friendly, engaging, service was excellent, I really can't say enough good things about the staff. The seat was huge and comfortable and the food was delicious. SA is known for their chicken satay and it didn't disappoint. I could've eaten 2 skewers, alas I was only offered 1 (though in retrospect if I had asked for another I'm sure they would've given me 3!). I had used their 'Book the Cook' menu in advance and chose the Vietnamese chicken served with warm potato salad and it was delicious. For pre-landing snack I had the meat porridge and it was also delicious. The bed was comfy and the bedding was so cosy I didn't want to leave. I didn't care for the pajamas -- they had a weird fit and I left them on the plane (gasp!). The amenity kit was Lalique and had a small box of soap, a large bottle of perfume and hand lotion. The FAs also gave me the biz class amenity kit which was really nice and then they gave me 2 Penhalgion small kits (I don't know why they gave me all this bling but I don't mind). The FAs knew I had a 2 hour connection time (on a different ticket) so they gave me a small bag full of snacks. I am going to put SA firmly at the top of my list of first class products. Doubt I'll fly them again anytime soon because the mileage cost to book can be quite high, but if I had the opportunity I'd jump on it!

I had 2 hours to clear customs and go through security to make my Delta One flight to Toronto. There was no line at GE so it took less than a minute (the non-GE line said a 50 min wait); I was able to use the GE line for security and it took less than 5 mins. So I was able to spend 40 mins in the Centurion lounge at JFK! It was nice -- not very crowded, nice staff and decent food (I wasn't that hungry). Liked my Delta flight back -- took off on time, landed a bit early, FA was super nice and funny -- she kept giving snacks because I said I loved their selection and I was hungry part-way into the flight.

There was a lot of moving around on this trip, but I had a great time. I wish vacations didn't fly by so quickly!

I am going to try to book another trip to Florence for next October, maybe for a 5 or 6 nights. I will be looking at logistics shortly.

Love all the feedback and the recommendations!

I absolutely agree about the service on Singapore Airlines. PlanePrincess and I have been tossing around the idea of going to Singapore for a street food trip. But the real purpose is just to fly SQ suites again :laughing:
 
Login to your Chase account, find the card you want to support from and then click on the More? dropdown button, Account Services, "Support" a Friend. It will bring you to a link. I always paste the link in an incognito window to double check it's the right offer before sending it on to anyone.
Thank you!

Supported him and he was approved for his first business card! Thankfully he has sold some things on ebay before so he feels better about it.

Quite a low credit limit but we will make it work!

Can someone help me find the way to combine his Chase personal and Chase biz logins?
 
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FYI if interested: I just noticed you can now buy WDW tickets with points through the Chase UR portal. They’re priced about 15-19% more than buying direct from the park from what I can tell from the few dates I played around with.
About 12% more for my dates but points wise with CSR I would do it if I had the points. I don't right now.
 
Stopped at 2 old navy today and no 3rd party gc. I know I'd seen them in the one before, maybe purchased too. Have one more to check tomorrow that I know I've bought them at before with a chase deal but don't have much hope.

My Hilton fnc posted this morning so I need to both call to book my fnc/points booking for next Sept but also to PC my Aspire down to a Surpass. My af hit sept 22 for timing of fnc.
 
My Dad just does not have good luck with credit card applications...

He recently applied for the CIU (as P2 to my Mom) and it is pending... After 2 weeks, I went over to their home and called the Chase Recon line from there. He gave them all the information from the application all over again and they are (re-)submitting the information again... And now we wait some more.

In the meantime, he applied for the Capital One Venture and was instantly approved! Yippee, or so we thought. It was impossible to set up an online account with them to track his card. They could not verify his identity based on his cell phone (family plan billed to me).

When he finally got the Venture card in the mail yesterday, it was impossible to verify and activate the card. Again, they could not identity him through his cell number and he could not enroll in an online account. We had to call. I again went over to their home. My DH came with to do some stuff on my Mom's Honey-Do list for them.

It was literally IMPOSSIBLE to verify his ID. We were on the phone with the rep for almost an hour. She sent us a link to upload his Drivers License so that the "computer" could read it and verify his ID. She could see it in real time but the computer just could not read his ID. It kept failing and saying that the ID was expired (it is not) or too damaged to read (also not).

She sent us links to different phones (my Mom's) and we must have tried 50 times, on black, brown, red, and white backgrounds, in different rooms, with different lighting, etc.

She finally had to send us an emailed link for us to upload his DL, to be sent for human eyes to verify his ID, which can take "upto" 7-10 business days... at which time, someone will CALL him to verify. At which time he can then ACTIVATE his card.

How in heavens can an old person who is not tech savvy be able to activate this Capital One card? My Dad would not be able to if I wasn't there to help him and even I couldn't get it done. My DH who was trying to help with the picture uploading told us to cancel the card.

If my parents didn't want to fly business class to Asia at the end of next year, I wouldn't be trying to get them all these SUBs... And we all thought non-calling husbands were bad...


For those following along:

We have NOT heard back from Capital One yet about verifying Dad's ID in order to activate the card he already received. So, even though he has the card in hand, it is currently a worthless piece of plastic (or metal). >:(

OTOH, I emailed from my parents' email address the branch manager of the Chase that we do all our banking with and who knows our family personally and knows that I have POA on all my parents' accounts and asked if he could have someone in the branch check the status of Dad's CIU application.

One of the Chase Reps at our home branch called me the next day (I have worked with him before) and went over what I needed him to do, basically check on the status of Dad's card application. I explained that in order for me to check on behalf of my Dad, I have to call with my Dad on the phone, etc. The Chase rep was spoke with, advised us to have our banker check the status for us if we didn't want to go through the whole phone thing again and if we didn't want to wait 2 weeks for a letter to be sent to us.

He called me back about 20-30 mins later and told me that my Dad's CIU was approved. He had to talk to the Chase Fraud dept to verify to them that my Dad was the one that applied for the card and once he did, the card was approved. And was told to let Dad know to disregard the letter he would get in the mail about calling the Fraud Dept., etc.

So, now we wait 5-7 business days to get the card. I didn't want to make more work for him and ask him to call back to ask for the card to be expedited. He was not able to make the request on his end via his computer.

So, happy ending for one of his applications, albeit with a wait...
 
Question about purchasing GCs with CC. Sorry, I haven't been paying attention to this. We have always just spent enough to go through the MSR without needing to purchase GCs.

My parents out of the blue when I was over to their home helping Dad with his Chase IU card application and Capital One Venture activation told me that they want to give out GCs (I would imagine Visa, MC, or AMEX gift cards) as gifts this Christmas instead of writing out checks as they normally do...

Looking at the calendar before Christmas, I am banging my head against the wall...

Are there instructions for idiots on how to do this or if it is even worth my time?

We are currently in South Florida and the only grocery near us is Publix.

We have a few CICs opened a while ago and a Staples nearby (that I have not checked out yet).

Is it worth it to buy GCs with our existing CICs from Staples? I just read here that the fee waiver for purchasing MCGCs is happening soon at Staples. Would I need to purchase 5 - $200 GCs, if they wanted to give a gift of $1k?

Or is it worth a whole lot more if we apply for a new CIC to get the GCs with? I do like to get SUBs and URs from purchases but I normally do not like to go out of my way to get those reward points, KWIM? Especially, with such a short lead time.

Any advise would be appreciated. TIA!
 













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