I love credit cards so much! v7.0 - 2025 (see first page for add'l details)

[VGCgroupie]

Update on my Chase CIP app. They called this morning and asked a ton of questions about my business, then said I needed to talk to the fraud team who didn’t really ask me much. While on the phone with fraud the recon people called me back but I didn’t answer due to being on phone with fraud. Called back and they said nothing else is needed and they are still making a decision. So I assume this is a denial or they’d just tell me approved?

 

[mmbrad02]

For those that are well versed in Capital One Rewards, could you help a newbie out?

My sister and I (separately) opened the Venture card several months ago in an effort to help pay for airfare for our cruise this summer (we each have a family of 3, so we are looking at purchasing 3 round trip tickets). I think the SUB at the time was 80,000 rewards if we spent $4k in the first 3 months. That part we have completed, all is well.

Now it's time to actually book the airfare. We are looking at Delta flights that we can book directly through Capital one or on the Delta site. My sister is going to come up short on her total points to cover the 3 flights she is booking (I have used my card more, I have accumulated more points to cover my family). If we book through the Capital One site directly, Can you pay the difference as a whole, or will she have to book like 2 of her 3 tickets and pay cash for the last one?

Or should we book through Delta and use the card points to cover the travel purchases once that charge has hit? In that case, can she transfer the total toward the total of the tickets and pay the difference?

I'm not new to credit card rewards as a whole but I am to Capital One and I want to make sure we chose the best option as far as using more points than $$ if possible

 

[elgerber]

For those that are well versed in Capital One Rewards, could you help a newbie out?

My sister and I (separately) opened the Venture card several months ago in an effort to help pay for airfare for our cruise this summer (we each have a family of 3, so we are looking at purchasing 3 round trip tickets). I think the SUB at the time was 80,000 rewards if we spent $4k in the first 3 months. That part we have completed, all is well.

Now it's time to actually book the airfare. We are looking at Delta flights that we can book directly through Capital one or on the Delta site. My sister is going to come up short on her total points to cover the 3 flights she is booking (I have used my card more, I have accumulated more points to cover my family). If we book through the Capital One site directly, Can you pay the difference as a whole, or will she have to book like 2 of her 3 tickets and pay cash for the last one?

Or should we book through Delta and use the card points to cover the travel purchases once that charge has hit? In that case, can she transfer the total toward the total of the tickets and pay the difference?

I'm not new to credit card rewards as a whole but I am to Capital One and I want to make sure we chose the best option as far as using more points than $$ if possible

I would book through Delta and pay with the Cap One card, and cover the charge. She can transfer all the points she has, its just a statement credit. Say the tickets were $900 and she has 80000 points. She can then cover $800 of the charge, by redeeming all the miles for a statement credit. I hope that makes sense. You choose Cover Travel Purchases in the options.
Her new statement balance would be $100.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I've enjoyed reading a lot of your TR...do you usually go solo? I'm looking into starting some solo travel....

Aww thank you! Yes, usually I go solo. I brought ds with me to Japan and he and I are going on a DCL cruise (booked through DU who were awesome to deal with) from Hawaii to Syndey, then flying on to New Zealand in the fall.
Tbh I prefer being unencumbered when I travel -- ds's work schedule while were in Japan was.....challenging! My dd seems to want to travel with her long-time boyfriend now. I'm heading to Paris & Amsterdam in a few weeks and can't wait!

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I read something on Reddit that I wanted to run by y'all because I want to double check whether it's true: "You can no longer get a SUB on the [Amex] Green Card or Gold Card if you have ever had a Platinum Card."

ETA: the reason I asked the above is because DH's vanilla Plat AF is due, but last year's retention happened late so can't cancel within the 13 month rule. I thought, fine: we use most of the credits anyway. But if he's locked out of a Green SUB anyway, then maybe I'll have him downgrade (unless downgrading also triggers a retention clawback?)

 

[VGCgroupie]

I read something on Reddit that I wanted to run by y'all because I want to double check whether it's true: "You can no longer get a SUB on the [Amex] Green Card or Gold Card if you have ever had a Platinum Card."

ETA: the reason I asked the above is because DH's vanilla Plat AF is due, but last year's retention happened late so can't cancel within the 13 month rule. I thought, fine: we use most of the credits anyway. But if he's locked out of a Green SUB anyway, then maybe I'll have him downgrade (unless downgrading also triggers a retention clawback?)

Im sure others that are more versed than will chime in but from my research yes this is true for personal cards but not for business cards.

 

[miztressuz]

I read something on Reddit that I wanted to run by y'all because I want to double check whether it's true: "You can no longer get a SUB on the [Amex] Green Card or Gold Card if you have ever had a Platinum Card."

ETA: the reason I asked the above is because DH's vanilla Plat AF is due, but last year's retention happened late so can't cancel within the 13 month rule. I thought, fine: we use most of the credits anyway. But if he's locked out of a Green SUB anyway, then maybe I'll have him downgrade (unless downgrading also triggers a retention clawback?)

It's a never-say-never scenario, but yes, that is part of the criteria now when it's deciding on whether to offer you a bonus or not. So you are way more likely to get a pop up about not getting the bonus on a Green or Gold card if you've had the Platinum card.

From a Green card app:
OFFER TERMS
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the American Express® Gold Card or previous versions of these Cards.

So you'd want to look at the terms of the card(s) you're considering to confirm.

As for the retention offer, you have to hold the card without cancelling or downgrading for 12 months after you accept the offer or they'll take back the retention bonus. (You can upgrade, can't downgrade. Forget the language they use in the disclosure.) The 13 month thing is not being eligible for another retention offer until 13 months since you accepted one.

 

[VGCgroupie]

DP regarding Chase. I have had a heck of a day dealing with some other things and I was feeling feisty and not wanting to wait 2 weeks for Chase to decide so I called back again. Approved with the criteria of obtaining the credit line by getting it from my other CIP card.

Applied approved for CIP 04/24
Closed old CIP from 2016 in 07/24 and moved most of the credit line to new CIP prior to cancellation
Approved CIU 08/24
Applied CIP and approved via recon above 02/25.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Hi all!
UPCOMING GOAL/PURCHASES:
We’re going on our first combo DCL/DL trip this summer and hoping to plan a DL Tokyo/Aulani trip next summer.

I also expect to make another DVC direct purchase - potentially in May - and if that happens it would be another $35k.

Since all of my CC points have been used for travel it dawned on me that I could be doing more with my cards to help me reach these goals.

QUESTIONS:
- Are there others cards I should adding? I have yet to explore any of the Business cards though I do own real estate that we rent, so presumably that would qualify as a business?
- Are there purchases (outside of travel) that I am putting on Amex that I should move to CSR? For instance, whenever we use Instacart/Lyft I know to put them on CSR but I’m probably missing a lot!
- Any other advice to maximizing the points for travel? I also assume transferring out of Chase to BA (as an example) is better but maybe that’s not the case.

Any advice is welcome! Thanks in advance!!

Are you looking to pop into the cc bonus game (getting cc because they have a good bonus with the intention of cancelling/downgrading after 1 full year before paying the AF again if the card doesn't make mathematical sense to keep for another year)? Or are you looking for maybe a new card or two to supplement your current purchasing? If you aren't interested in bonuses, lean into the eco system you have to earn more points. So with Chase that means picking up something like a Freedom or Freedom Flex for 1.5x UR back on everything or 5x rotating quarterly categories respectively and then transferring the points over to your CSR. You'll make a lot more dough with your spend if you start focusing on a bonus here or there though...

And yes, Lessor of Real Estate definitely qualifies as a business! If you don't have a separate entity set up for doing it that makes you a sole proprietorship and you use your SSN in place of the EIN (and it gives you a more legit business than like half of us here who tend to be really optimistic about our ebay potential ...). If you don't have a DBA the name of the business is just your name. The nice part about business cards is Chase and Amex biz cards don't show as new cards on your credit report so you can hit them without affecting your 5/24 status! They will hard hit your credit which will whack it for a few points but it will recover. I recommend starting with the Chase biz card that has the highest bonus right now. Do you have a Partner? If so once one of you get any Ink card you can refer the other and then go back and forth referring each other to the other Inks. Recommended pacing is space out every 3-4 months. Chase is getting stingier on approvals these days but you're basically fresh so you should be good to go.

Is the DVC purchase something you can use cc's towards? Amex has a business platinum card that you can sometimes pull bonuses of up to 250k points for but it has a hefty $20k spend. I wouldn't slam the card for $20k right off the bat (or you risk getting a financial review where Amex will ask for an IRS transcript copy of your taxes to verify your income) but figure out a level you feel safe at and you could put away a nice chunk of that spend during your dvc purchase. Amex has multiple transfer partners so if biz class flights are something you're interested in it might nice to have Amex and Chase points to work with to try to piece something together (never transfer points unless the flights are available).

Random- DoC keeps a nice list of best cc bonuses for personal and business use here. Feel free to pop in here when you're about to apply for something if you have an specific q's or concerns or just want to make sure their isn't anything weird to be aware of (like Cap1 biz cards usually, not always, show up on personal credit reports and would therefore affect your 5/24 status- we are fountains of random info like that lol). Keep in mind Amex bonuses are once in a lifetime, once you've had the card you can't get a bonus on it so you want to make sure Amex bonuses are good offers when you go for one. If you want you can join our private reddit group here where we share "support links" but no pressure if that's not your thing!

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

It's a never-say-never scenario, but yes, that is part of the criteria now when it's deciding on whether to offer you a bonus or not. So you are way more likely to get a pop up about not getting the bonus on a Green or Gold card if you've had the Platinum card.

From a Green card app:
OFFER TERMS
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the American Express® Gold Card or previous versions of these Cards.

So you'd want to look at the terms of the card(s) you're considering to confirm.

As for the retention offer, you have to hold the card without cancelling or downgrading for 12 months after you accept the offer or they'll take back the retention bonus. (You can upgrade, can't downgrade. Forget the language they use in the disclosure.) The 13 month thing is not being eligible for another retention offer until 13 months since you accepted one.

Thanks. Another year for this Plat it is!

 

[reliev]

Aww thank you! Yes, usually I go solo. I brought ds with me to Japan and he and I are going on a DCL cruise (booked through DU who were awesome to deal with) from Hawaii to Syndey, then flying on to New Zealand in the fall.
Tbh I being unencumbered when I travel -- ds's work schedule while were in Japan was.....challenging! My dd seems to want to travel with her long-time boyfriend now. I'm heading to Paris & Amsterdam in a few weeks and can't wait!

Did you get that American airlines deal to nz?

 

[Arcades]

Update on my Chase CIP app. They called this morning and asked a ton of questions about my business, then said I needed to talk to the fraud team who didn’t really ask me much. While on the phone with fraud the recon people called me back but I didn’t answer due to being on phone with fraud. Called back and they said nothing else is needed and they are still making a decision. So I assume this is a denial or they’d just tell me approved?

I get a fraud check on every single business application. Sometimes the rep that verifies my identity is able to process the approval right then and there and sometimes they say they have what they need to push the application forward. In the latter scenario, I have been approved and denied by letter in the upcoming days, so I wouldn't read too much into the fraud check or the lack of an on-call approval.

 

[hsmamato2]

Aww thank you! Yes, usually I go solo. I brought ds with me to Japan and he and I are going on a DCL cruise (booked through DU who were awesome to deal with) from Hawaii to Syndey, then flying on to New Zealand in the fall.
Tbh I prefer being unencumbered when I travel -- ds's work schedule while were in Japan was.....challenging! My dd seems to want to travel with her long-time boyfriend now. I'm heading to Paris & Amsterdam in a few weeks and can't wait!

you're my hero! I want to ask a million questions about solo travel.... like how you choose destinations, do you worry about safety/no backup travel partner etc.....I know I can do it but so far the only place I've managed totally solo is Disney as that's a no brainer

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

So Pepper says they can no longer process Amazon gift card transactions. FYI @wanderlust7 and anyone else else who was using this to get the US Bank $100 digital credit

 

[VGCgroupie]

So Pepper says they can no longer process Amazon gift card transactions. FYI @wanderlust7 and anyone else else who was using this to get the US Bank $100 digital credit

For us the next best is Sam’s club. Interesting they stopped taking cc on just Amazon.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

So Pepper says they can no longer process Amazon gift card transactions. FYI @wanderlust7 and anyone else else who was using this to get the US Bank $100 digital credit

For us the next best is Sam’s club. Interesting they stopped taking cc on just Amazon.

Weirdly, you can still use your rewards on Amazon, just can't order with credit/debit. I tested and cashed out points to Amazon GCs this morning successfully after that notice went out.


I'm assuming this whole thing is going to crash and burn sooner rather than later. Just looking to use points and immediately redeem GC balances so I don't lose anything when it falls apart.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Weirdly, you can still use your rewards on Amazon, just can't order with credit/debit. I tested and cashed out points to Amazon GCs this morning successfully after that notice went out.


I'm assuming this whole thing is going to crash and burn sooner rather than later. Just looking to use points and immediately redeem GC balances so I don't lose anything when it falls apart.

Thanks for the reminder, going to cash out, too

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Did you get that American airlines deal to nz

Was there a deal on AA to NZ? We are flying from Sydney --> Auckland, but I haven't booked the flights yet. Guess I should get on that now.

you're my hero! I want to ask a million questions about solo travel.... like how you choose destinations, do you worry about safety/no backup travel partner etc.....I know I can do it but so far the only place I've managed totally solo is Disney as that's a no brainer

I try not to worry about not having backup with me. I am fit and healthy and take all necessary precautions when I travel to limit risks. If I needed backup either my sister or ds could fly to wherever I am and my travel insurance would cover the cost of their flights and accommodations. There are places that I would not consider going solo such as Africa, parts of S. America, certain areas in Mexico, etc.

Destinations I go where my heart leads me; currently that is back to back to Japan next January, perhaps followed by a detour to Labjuan Bajo to see komodo dragons in their natural habitat. Also there are places that I'd like to visit again, such as Norway, Italy (can never get enough of Italy), Antarctica, London (trying for once per year or so), etc. I'd also like to visit Morocco, Iceland, Egypt and Churchill, MB (polar bears!!), to name a few places!

 

[wanderlust7]

So Pepper says they can no longer process Amazon gift card transactions. FYI @wanderlust7 and anyone else else who was using this to get the US Bank $100 digital credit

Darn! I might do Target next month since the minimum is $1. Not as convenient as Amazon though. You can't combine GC, but can apply up to 10 each time.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Weirdly, you can still use your rewards on Amazon, just can't order with credit/debit. I tested and cashed out points to Amazon GCs this morning successfully after that notice went out.


I'm assuming this whole thing is going to crash and burn sooner rather than later. Just looking to use points and immediately redeem GC balances so I don't lose anything when it falls apart.

The email I got says you can still use for redemptions so hopefully it remains.

Some blogs have predicted pepper would be dead soon.