I love credit cards so much!

[wendow]

Wow, I just skipped literally over 100 pages of this thread because I got so far behind! I jumped to page 1000 and read from there. Hopefully I didn’t miss too much!

I’m having a hard time deciding what to do next. I really want the 35K SPG offer, but I’m only ~1/3 of the way into the MSR on my Marriott Biz.

Can I fund a bank account with the Marriott Biz, or is that not advisable with biz cards? If I could knock out the rest of the Marriott spend by funding $2K into a PNC account, I’d feel better about going for the SPG.

Also, is Plastiq still working to meet MSR on AmEx cards? I read the DoC article about the terms changing for earning points but didn’t find if that actually affected Plastiq or not. I’d almost certainly need to use Plastiq to pay my rent to meet the $7K MSR for SPG Biz.

Hey

Nice to see you back. This thread has been FLYING lately. I feel like I am missing so much if I just step away for a few hours.

Plastiq will still work for Amex but Amex is no longer working to fund bank accounts. SO, you could finish off your Marriott biz spend by funding PNC and then move to the Amex biz card and use plastiq. I'll be relying on a lot of plastiq to meet the spend on the spg biz.

 

[MrPTato]

I used to MS back when options were easier - Amazon Payments, Vanilla reloads from CVS, Blue Bird, Redbird. After Redbird died and I went through 4 Blue Bird Shutdowns on different accounts MSing our way to a BA companion pass, I stopped. I'm going to wade back in the MS waters but will focus on banks that I don't care if I get shutdown.

I miss the RedBird!! Had to drive over an hour to another state to get one as they weren't sold in my state. Able to reload locally so it was a quick turn...shame I got in near the end...had a good 4 months with it.

 

[Albort]

I miss the RedBird!! Had to drive over an hour to another state to get one as they weren't sold in my state. Able to reload locally so it was a quick turn...shame I got in near the end...had a good 4 months with it.

did u get a prepaid one? I bought one online through a random person since california doesnt have any prepaid redbird card... till this day, every time i use it, the cashiers are like, where did u get this card!?

 

[Luvdancink]

Since Hyatt is being discussed, I need some advice, everyone. I’m thinking of diverting from my plans with Chase because we’ll be staying at a Hyatt in Cleveland at the beginning of May and it got me thinking about the Chase Hyatt card. Here are my current stats and thoughts. Don’t judge me for the Amazon card, it was 2016 BC (Before Churning).

Me:
1/24 Amazon: 07/15/16
2/24 Southwest Premier: 12/21/16
3/24 Southwest Plus: 12/21/16
4/24 CSR: 02/17/17
X/24 CIP: 06/05/17
5/24 SPG Personal: 07/21/17
X/24 SPG Biz: 01/14/18

DH:
1/24 CFU (PCed from CSP): 05/12/16
2/24 CSP (PCed from CSR): 09/07/16
3/24 Hilton Honors: 11/14/16
4/24 SPG Personal: 03/31/17
5/24 Amex BCP: 08/02/17

Current Plan:
End of May: Refer DH for CIP, after his CFU drops off but before my AF hits
Beginning of June: PC my CIP to CIC
End of 2018: Apply for both SW cards for DH, to get the CP for 2019-2020

Now I’m looking at the Hyatt card for DH in May. It isn’t subject to 5/24, and we amazingly haven’t gotten him a new card since August, so I’m not too concerned about approval, aside from the ridiculous amount of credit Chase has already extended him.

I won’t judge you for the amazon card. While not great for churning we keep it for the 5% back on prime purchases and has saved us tons! That’s our only non churned card other than our chase freedoms.

 

[calypso726]

Great! Thank you so much for the info! This can get really confusing.
So any flight that I cannot find on the BA website is bookable if I call in with the info?

Not quite. Any flight you find on AA that is a SAVER AWARD flight is bookable on BA. If not on their website and there are connections, search by segment as @Albort suggested. If not searchabel that way, then call BA with the flight info you find for the saver flight on AA. Let's take a look at my flights to and from Santiago, Chile for the Antarctica trip I'm doing later this year. We play this game to fly international business or first lie flat seats. If I wanted to book the fights on BA using Avios or UR transferred to BA Avios and was unable to find them on BA, I'd search AA for saver awards. Our trip departs 12/25 and we return 1/6. When I search AA for a saver business award this is what I get. The only saver awards available in business/first are for 12/27-12/31. I would not be able to book a flight on AA with BA Avios for 12/25. I would not even be able to book the flight with AA miles as a saver award. I would have to book it as an Anytime Award. If I change my trip to 12/27 then I can book on BA with Avios. This is an 8 hour flight and Avios is distance based so it won't be 57.5K AVios, it is 75K Avios one way.



My dates are fixed so I cannot change my departure. I'm stuck booking an Anytime Award. When I click on the Anytime Award I can see how many AA miles this will cost me. 150,000 AA miles per person, one way.



When I check flights back home 1/6. I see that there are absolutely NO business/first saver awards for the entire month! Plus the Anytime Awards for my date is 195K per person. So, I could not book this with BA Avios.



This is why it is important to plan a couple of years in advance if you know you will have fixed dates. You need to get a general idea of how many miles/points you will need and in what program(s). You want to start a search for the dates you will need in advance. If you know you are going to Timbuktu in February of 2020, then you begin searching for award flights in March of 2018 (330~ days out) that depart to Timbuktu in February 2019. This will give you a rough idea of how many miles you will need and in what program. You also have about a year to get those miles in place for March of 2019 to book your February 2020 award flights.

I knew well in advance that flights for our Antarctica trip would likely be at the Anytime level and that saver levels would be highly unlikely. This is actually the first time I've EVER booked AA flights at the Anytime level. I planned for blowing through about 800,000 AA miles for this trip and made sure to have a cushion in case of a devaluation as well as a plan B which was AA gift cards and UR points. Silver lining was that it only cost me 690K AA miles. DH and I will each get back 10K miles since we have the Barclay Aviator business cards and AA Citi cards. It was a better value to us use our AA miles over UR points for this. Having depleted our 1,000,000 + AA miles balance we will be focusing on the AA shopping portal for the foreseeable future to beef it back up. Hope this helps.

 

[eeyoresmom]

I just got the CIP as well and have to meet MS. My PayPal account was flagged during the ebay- Target days and I have been hesitant to use PayPal for any gift cards since. My account wasn't locked, I just kept getting a message to contact them which I ignored at the advice of others whose accounts were locked when they contacted PayPal. Havent gitten any messages from them since then. Do you guys thinkk it's risky for me to attempt the gyft/ CIP option for giftcards?

 

[hsmamato2]

Great! Thank you so much for the info! This can get really confusing.
So any flight that I cannot find on the BA website is bookable if I call in with the info?

except when it's not. B/c I tried last week to book an available flight using Avios by phone, rep insisted I couldn't book anything unless it showed up on BA website...(I could see it available on AA site) it was kind of frustrating,and I really dislike using Avios after this experience (still waiting for a return on some points I canceled on yesterday,and extremely annoyed) so it's not a straightforward use of points like a general flight using Southwest or Jetblue,that's for sure. I did end up booking some flights (for not ideal times on our return) so it all worked out, but I don't plan to use these again anytime soon.And a week after I did all this the actual flights I called about showed up on BA website, but now I had to pay $55 pp to change anything.... (first world problems)

 

[MrPTato]

did u get a prepaid one? I bought one online through a random person since california doesnt have any prepaid redbird card... till this day, every time i use it, the cashiers are like, where did u get this card!?

It was the one that was like the Serve card...is that prepaid?

 

[calypso726]

except when it's not. B/c I tried last week to book an available flight using Avios by phone, rep insisted I couldn't book anything unless it showed up on BA website...it was kind of frustrating,and I really dislike using Avios after this experience (still waiting for a return on some points I canceled on yesterday,and extremely annoyed) so it's not a straightforward use of points like a general flight using Southwest or Jetblue,that's for sure. I did end up booking some flights (for not ideal times on our return) so it all worked out, but I don't plan to use these again anytime soon.

Same thing happened when I was helping friends to book AA with Avios for flights to Hawaii. It took 4 HUCA before an agent was able to see the flights.

 

[hsmamato2]

Same thing happened when I was helping friends to book AA with Avios for flights to Hawaii. It took 4 HUCA before an agent was able to see the flights.

and now I'm stuck in limbo waiting on a return of some points (for one segment) that I need badly so I can use them asap....but now I'm reading online that the reps tell everyone 24-72 hours and then it takes weeks. So I'm unsure what to do next. Ah well. back to real life so I don't stress out. I wish there was a number I could call to talk to someone at BA that was actually helpful.

 

[eeyoresmom]

It’s against the terms to get points for cash equivalents, but they don’t know what we are buying.... yet... some stores are providing detail to Amex on what has been purchased, but so far it’s been working for me

How do you check your Amex account to see if gift cards are earning rewards? I have the Amex BCP which gives me 6% at grocery stores. I have been getting a Disney gc with my weekly grocery store trip for a few years and just assumed I was earning 6% on the gc.

 

[speedyfishy]

How do you check your Amex account to see if gift cards are earning rewards? I have the Amex BCP which gives me 6% at grocery stores. I have been getting a Disney gc with my weekly grocery store trip for a few years and just assumed I was earning 6% on the gc.

I don’t have a cashback Amex card, but my Delta points and SPG points show at the end of my statement. It says how many I earned in that period and how many I earned for the year.

 

[GlamMistress]

did u get a prepaid one? I bought one online through a random person since california doesnt have any prepaid redbird card... till this day, every time i use it, the cashiers are like, where did u get this card!?

I bet you and I bought our Redbirds from the same "random" online... from Reddit. Ha.

Those were the days.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

So the CIC bonus has me thinking in that direction. DH has CFU and CSP, I Have CF. We transfer the UR to CSP. If DH gets CIC, it will transfer to his CSP and still let me transfer from CF?

Also, anyone has BOA Premium Rewards Card, what triggers the $100 credit? Airline GCs?

 

[Ava]

i think the biggest news u missed is the 50k CIC card.

bank funding with Marriott Biz is a okay. Only card with this issue is amex.
Amex still works with plastiq. if its rent, ur good. I just triggered an SPG promo... $5000 for 5000 points... $3600 of that is through plastiq rent.

Welcome back! Long time no see!

@Albort 's got you.

Hey

Nice to see you back. This thread has been FLYING lately. I feel like I am missing so much if I just step away for a few hours.

Plastiq will still work for Amex but Amex is no longer working to fund bank accounts. SO, you could finish off your Marriott biz spend by funding PNC and then move to the Amex biz card and use plastiq. I'll be relying on a lot of plastiq to meet the spend on the spg biz.

Thank you all for the welcome back! I guess I need to put reading this thread on my daily “to do” list so I don’t get too behind again, lol.

@Albort I did see the info about the 50K CIC. I was going to PC my CIP to the CIC this fall when the AF comes due but I may do it as a new app instead, especially if the bonus stays at 50K.

Question about the PNC checking accounts. Does anything fulfill the “direct deposit” requirement for the bonuses besides an actual direct deposit? Mine isn’t easy to change with my employer so I don’t really want to mess with changing it for a bonus and then having to change it back in a few months. If I can’t easily get a bonus I may just do the basic checking account since you only have to keep $500 in that one to avoid a fee.

 

[Lain]

So the CIC bonus has me thinking in that direction. DH has CFU and CSP, I Have CF. We transfer the UR to CSP. If DH gets CIC, it will transfer to his CSP and still let me transfer from CF?

DH may have to transfer from CIC>Your CF>His CSP, but yes the CIC points will transfer to CSP.

 

[Psychodisney]

So the CIC bonus has me thinking in that direction. DH has CFU and CSP, I Have CF. We transfer the UR to CSP. If DH gets CIC, it will transfer to his CSP and still let me transfer from CF?

Also, anyone has BOA Premium Rewards Card, what triggers the $100 credit? Airline GCs?

I haven't tried airline GC's. We've gotten credit for baggage fees, EBCI on SW and the SW taxes on tickets purchased with points.

 

[calypso726]

Also, anyone has BOA Premium Rewards Card, what triggers the $100 credit? Airline GCs?

I purchased a $100 AA e gift card and that triggered the credit.

 

[StephPlum]

Weekly recap: I think I finished CIP min spend. Think because I hate how the charges show as pending and then go away and then finally show up as posted. My Delta flights for my Glacier trip are no longer there but when they were I was only $6 short of the $5000 and the Chinese take out last night put me well over that! I'll verify once all the charges show up.

SPG biz was approved on Monday and still waiting on the card to arrive. Looking up places that take AMEX. This is my first AMEX and hope it is not too hard to use. I feel I have a good backup plan to prepay full year of real estate taxes and then will only need ~$1000 of additional spend. That would be easy with organic spend. I am not looking to MS or grab a ton of gift cards for future use. I will get gift cards if I have a near term need (bought grocery store GC and office store GC for DH since he is not in the CC game yet!)

Questions for the experts:
1. Points that expire and points that don't. Is there a good guide out there to which points expire and how to keep them from expiring? I have 7K IHG points that are going to expire in August. Looking at how to keep them. I have a BW booked for one night by the Denver airport in May. I'll look for a HIE/HI that I can use. I don't want to pay a lot more than the current price I have, though. Any other options?

2. Next cards to target. I have definitely caught the bug as I do not even have my SPG card yet and already looking ahead!
My stats:
0/24 (newest personal card is from 2011)
Chase: 1/30; 1/3; 1/6; 1/12
CIP 2/2017
SPG Biz 3/2017

Biggest goals are CSR/CSP in June or July. Need that timing to hit MSR. Also want the SW CP for 2019/2020. I will not have any trips planned until May 2019 so can wait until 2019 to apply but it would be nice to have in Dec for holiday spend to help with MSR.

Like some others I got very excited and distracted about the CIC increased bonus. I was planning to PC my CIP to a CIC later. Would rather have the 5x points on Office store/internet/phone/cable and no AF. What are chances I can get 2 business cards from Chase with a "Business"? Also I'd probably want to lower my CL as they gave me 12K on the CIP. Is it too soon to request that?

Should I just wait for June for CSR/CSP or is there something I can do after SPG and before that?

 

[karmomof3]

Please help me decide which credit card to get to earn the best points. I read through many post and I'm confused. I don't know what CSR, CIP, MSR...... means. I just started thinking about using credit cards for points. What about Southwest? How about Discover? I want to use points for traveling. Thanks.