I love credit cards so much!

[SBWB48]

This is promising. I haven’t been MSing hard since Harris Teeter denied me twice at two different stores. I have to go back to Harris Teeter (maybe at night) and Walmart. I found a Walmart where the card is swiped with the back facing the cashier. Lol I have a $500 visa giftcard to liquidate. And I want to max SO’s Discover grocery category.

I have been doing the Venmo trick to meet SO’s SPG Biz spend just $1,500 left on that. This is saving me so much time.

Venmo is great until you’ve hit the max...waiting impatiently for 6month to reset lol. I’m just happy to have found the local harris teeter that I can source VGCs easily now and the WM that is still liquidating with no issues.

With 4 CFs and 4 Discover ITs, maxing out the Q2 grocery category spending is and I can only purchase so many grocery store and retail gift cards for future use Throw on top of that a Spark Biz and SPG Biz and I’m

But our June CA trip is entirely covered on points (flights SW RR and CP, Hyatt Regency Embacardero and Hyatt House in Anaheim) and DL Tickets with Disney GCs. Now some of the excess cashback I’m earning from the Spark Biz and URs via MSing the Q2 category be directed for all other expenses.

 

[sayhello]

We have a bunch of people (like 100+ active) on this thread that have varying experience levels with all sorts of things. That one wouldn't be my area of expertise but I'd bet @calypso726 and others can help you. I'll leave that advice to them

My areas of expertise are Disney World, flying on Southwest, Using Marriott/SPG points, a little bit of cash back, and anything involving difficult MATH, lol!

Thanks!

Sayhello

 

[Reuven Shechter]

Is there a reason you don't have a Southwest Card? If you pick up a SW business and SW personal card at the right time you could earn over $1,600 worth of points AND get a companion pass to fly your husband free with you for 13-23 months (depending on when you earn the pass).

If you're open to business cards - I'd recommend a Chase Ink Preferred (CIP) as your next move as it's the best bonus out there right now! You can qualify for a business card pretty easily if you have a side job of any sort (sell on Ebay, sell cookies, teach piano, mow lawns, shovel driveway). I know some of that sounds ridiculous but it's true!

The simple reason I don't have Southwest cards (either business or personal) is the earning rates. I probably should have done it when the bonuses were higher, but the 2x earning seemed dumb to me. But a companion pass would definitely be useful. 4-5 free flights a year is a great benefit.

Obviously the CIP is great for paying Internet/Phone and it has Cell Phone Protection. But other than the 80k bonus, is there any reason for retaining it?

 

[speedyfishy]

Venmo is great until you’ve hit the max...waiting impatiently for 6month to reset lol. I’m just happy to have found the local harris teeter that I can source VGCs easily now and the WM that is still liquidating with no issues.

With 4 CFs and 4 Discover ITs, maxing out the Q2 grocery category spending is and I can only purchase so many grocery store and retail gift cards for future use Throw on top of that a Spark Biz and SPG Biz and I’m

But our June CA trip is entirely covered on points (flights SW RR and CP, Hyatt Regency Embacardero and Hyatt House in Anaheim) and DL Tickets with Disney GCs. Now some of the excess cashback I’m earning from the Spark Biz and URs via MSing the Q2 category be directed for all other expenses.

Is it crazy if I buy some cheap phones to have more Venmo accounts lol?

That is a lot of cards to max. I don’t have any Freedoms yet. MSing is a lot of work, but it is so fun when it works and then you get to enjoy amazing vacations for practically free.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

The simple reason I don't have Southwest cards (either business or personal) is the earning rates. I probably should have done it when the bonuses were higher, but the 2x earning seemed dumb to me. But a companion pass would definitely be useful. 4-5 free flights a year is a great benefit.

Obviously the CIP is great for paying Internet/Phone and it has Cell Phone Protection. But other than the 80k bonus, is there any reason for retaining it?

So what you'll find here is that many of us don't pay a lot of attention to the regular earning. We move from bonus to bonus. If you're just looking for a good card to put all of your expenses on, we can probably give some recommendations there, but it's typically not what we focus on here.

Between my and my wife, we have gotten 62 cards since we began playing this "game". My average return on those sign-ups is 34% back (on over $100,000 in Minimum spends met). In the past year we've averaged 21% back on 11 cards. People think I'm crazy when I tell them I expect to earn 20% back from all my purchases but, I do! Now some of this return is in cash, some is in airline points, some hotel or other travel but it's all money I planned to spend otherwise that I'm now getting for free

It probably would make sense for you to determine if you want to do a little bit of bonus chasing (and it doesn't have to be 60 cards!). You could easily plan to get 3-5 cards in the next year and earn $3k-$4k worth of travel.

 

[disneedee]

Marriott nights/ flight question. After purchasing a night/flight package the certificate shows on your Marriott acct? How do you get the “Certificate” to convert to southwest rapid rewards points?

 

[kmc8826]

Good news for those with children under 12 at MCO and using Priority Pass!
https://www.prioritypass.com/en/Lou...FL/Orlando-FL-International/MCO2-The-Club-MCO
I looked it up as once I started thinking about it; last time we did it the check in person didn’t care about the girls being with us. I guess it was because their entrance was waived.

 

[Ngwira]

Just applied for the CIP for DH and got the 30 day pending message. DH is 4/24 including authorized user on 2 of my cards. I’m not calling in, just waiting it out. But we have a huge expense coming up next month-4 AP purchases so we could meet the spend quickly to get those 80,000 URs. I have about 50,000 UR left and could use these to replenish our stash.

7-10 day message for DH..darn. Oh well. I’ll have to put our AP purchases on the Freedom Unlimited. Wish tickets purchased directly from Disney coded as travel on the CSR.

 

[disneedee]

It's easy to transfer SPG points between family members if you share the same address (it takes about 3-5 days to complete the move). It's also easy to transfer Marriott points to SPG (that's instant - you just log out and log back in again). This can all be done from the Marriott and SPG sites.
Here's a hypothetical process of what I'd do:
1) Transfer "player 2" Marriott points to "player 2" SPG account
2) Transfer "player 2" SPG points to "player 1" SPG account
3) Transfer "player 1" SPG points to "player 2" Marriott account

Now all the points are in one place

Thankyou so much for your dedication to this thread and all your information and math skills

 

[Reuven Shechter]

So what you'll find here is that many of us don't pay a lot of attention to the regular earning. We move from bonus to bonus. If you're just looking for a good card to put all of your expenses on, we can probably give some recommendations there, but it's typically not what we focus on here.

Between my and my wife, we have gotten 62 cards since we began playing this "game". My average return on those sign-ups is 34% back (on over $100,000 in Minimum spends met). In the past year we've averaged 21% back on 11 cards. People think I'm crazy when I tell them I expect to earn 20% back from all my purchases but, I do! Now some of this return is in cash, some is in airline points, some hotel or other travel but it's all money I planned to spend otherwise that I'm now getting for free

It probably would make sense for you to determine if you want to do a little bit of bonus chasing (and it doesn't have to be 60 cards!). You could easily plan to get 3-5 cards in the next year and earn $3k-$4k worth of travel.

I think I'd like to be somewhere in between. Using my go-to cards to maximize points and occasionally getting a new card for an awesome signup bonus. I probably don't want to handle dealing with more than 1 MS at a time.

 

[platamama]

Marriott nights/ flight question. After purchasing a night/flight package the certificate shows on your Marriott acct? How do you get the “Certificate” to convert to southwest rapid rewards points?

You call up Marriott Rewards and say you want to redeem your points for a flights/nights travel package. They will ask for the airline frequent flyer account you want to transfer to (names have to match) then they will get that transfer started (takes a day or two) and the 7 nt certificate goes into your Marriott account.

 

[Reuven Shechter]

7-10 day message for DH..darn. Oh well. I’ll have to put our AP purchases on the Freedom Unlimited. Wish tickets purchased directly from Disney coded as travel on the CSR.

I will note that Undercover Tourist codes as travel for CSR. Getting a 7-day ticket and bridging to an AP can maximize your points and save you money.

 

[wendow]

Who’s getting the CIC before 5/20? I just need to decide if it will be me or DH who applies. He is 1/24 but has the CIP with approval in mid March. So he’s 0/30 but 1/60. I am 0/24 but hate to get it because I am planning to get the CIP with DH’s referral (soon) and I am afraid Chase will come out with the one ink rule.

I am thinking I will apply for the CIC for my DH. He is 3/24 (2/24 in June) and I'm over so he gets the CIC. He hasn't gotten any other Chase cards in about 7 mos. He should be good to go. I'm still working on a couple of Amex MSR's though so trying to get through those a bit more before applying.

 

[disneedee]

You call up Marriott Rewards and say you want to redeem your points for a flights/nights travel package. They will ask for the airline frequent flyer account you want to transfer to (names have to match) then they will get that transfer started (takes a day or two) and the 7 nt certificate goes into your Marriott account.

Great. Ty

 

[wendow]

It doesn’t matter much to me, since I’ve had the CSR for almost a year and still haven’t used a PP lounge and we only fly once or twice a year anyway. I just hate the principle of having to pay for something that used to be “free,” lol.

Right, us too. We've held a CSR for 18 mos and never used the lounge with our kids. The timing just hasn't worked or the airport didn't have one. But it is a principle thing to me as well. Chase just seems to be in a taking mood lately.

 

[wendow]

The math is pretty simply - you're taking 40,000 SPG points (or 120,000 Marriott points) and turning them into 120,000 SW points. Since you have a bona-fide use for the nights it's purely that - transferring to airline at 1:1. (Now I will say if you weren't going to do 7 nights that can change this math slightly).

So those 120k Marriott points then turn into 120k SW points worth almost $1,800. You likely would NOT get $1,800 in value out of them as hotel points (that'd be like 1.5cpp and most people say Marriott points are worth between 0.7and 1cpp . The only reason I wouldn't do this is if you already have WAY more SW points than you need.

I may be looking to do this with some SPG points also. I've seen you type out all the math several times but I'm not mathy and all that makes my brain hurt. Trying to follow though, you are saying, I can take 40spg move to Marriott and now I have 120k. I can get 120k SW and Marriott hotel cert. After the merger, can I use the Marriott cert for Swolphin or does it have to be a Marriott branded hotel?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I think I'd like to be somewhere in between. Using my go-to cards to maximize points and occasionally getting a new card for an awesome signup bonus. I probably don't want to handle dealing with more than 1 MS at a time.

That can be a great plan. With some of the rules in play now it can be better to a “slow churner”. What specifically draws your to AMEX MRs? I would say that most of our so-called slow churners are more focused on URs (especially if they like SW as an airline).

 

[wendow]

Obviously the CIP is great for paying Internet/Phone and it has Cell Phone Protection. But other than the 80k bonus, is there any reason for retaining it?

When I first got the CIP, it was just for the bonus. However, I've gotten really into playing bills using plastiq and my CIP, which codes all purchases at 3x. As long as that is going on, I'm definitely keeping the CIP. I earn enough points to cover the AF in 2-3 mos.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I may be looking to do this with some SPG points also. I've seen you type out all the math several times but I'm not mathy and all that makes my brain hurt. Trying to follow though, you are saying, I can take 40spg move to Marriott and now I have 120k. I can get 120k SW and Marriott hotel cert. After the merger, can I use the Marriott cert for Swolphin or does it have to be a Marriott branded hotel?

No sorry, you would need the 270k points (or whatever pts required for that level). The 120k math I was referencing was only on the “incremental” points required to take a “hotel only” booking and move to a nights and flights. If you have a specific Category in mind I’ll walk thru the math again.

 

[Reuven Shechter]

That can be a great plan. With some of the rules in play now it can be better to a “slow churner”. What specifically draws your to AMEX MRs? I would say that most of our so-called slow churners are more focused on URs (especially if they like SW as an airline).

I suppose some vague desire for diversification. All my assets are in Ultimate Rewards.