I love credit cards so much!

[Lain]

If the Plastiq rumor is true, what other options are there? I have a new CSP and have only put about $500 toward the $4,000 MSR. I had planned on using Plastiq to pay 2 independent contractors that don't accept CCs. Those two bills were going to total over $3,400, putting me right at the MSR. Any other methods to pay using the CSP for these bills?

Buy MasterCard gift cards and use them to pay through Plastiq? Not ideal because you’d typically incur a 1.19% activation fee for the MCGCs, they cap out at $500, and you’ll pay another 2.5% fee to Plastiq.

Or if you have a way of liquidating Visa gift cards for money orders (at Walmart or a grocery store), you can buy $500 VGCs with the same 1.19% activation fee, pay something like $0.88 for the MOs, and use the MOs to pay your contractors.

Or, Venmo charges a 3% fee for credit cards. PayPal charges a 2.9% fee + $0.30 per transaction for credit cards. But both options offer instant payment vs. waiting for a check to be delivered.

Or, you can buy MCGCs with the 1.19% fee, add them to Venmo (limit 5-6 in a rolling 6 months period?), and the MCGCs will process as a debit card with no additional fee.

 

[Lain]

Trying to get caught up. I had jury duty today.

 

[elgerber]

No luck on the Chase account for bank bonus. So much for nationwide. I see Citibank is Nationwide, has anyone done that one?

 

[Albort]

Buy MasterCard gift cards and use them to pay through Plastiq? Not ideal because you’d typically incur a 1.19% activation fee for the MCGCs, they cap out at $500, and you’ll pay another 2.5% fee to Plastiq.

Venmo charges a 3% fee. PayPal charges a 2.9% fee + $0.30 per transaction. But both options offer instant payment vs. waiting for a check to be delivered.

i think going MO route would be the best in this case.

Trying to get caught up. I had jury duty today.

shouldnt u have A LOT of downtime instead?

 

[Albort]

No luck on the Chase account for bank bonus. So much for nationwide. I see Citibank is Nationwide, has anyone done that one?

i currently on one. its pretty simple process.

 

[Lain]

i think going MO route would be the best in this case.

shouldnt u have A LOT of downtime instead?

Edited to add a few more options.

Sat in a courtroom most of today with orders to turn off all electronic devices.

 

[miztressuz]

All, If you were to choose between the two - would you apply for the CSR or the CSP and why? I'm kinda anxious about double dipping and having three credit cards although with the hurricane house and the new house (and our trip to Disney in July) I know that I could meet that minimum spend amount in the allotted time frame... not saying that I'm not going to do it, but 3 open credit cards?

So I thought you were concerned with opening 3 cards in the same time period and , right there with you but it's not bad if you have a plan.. and a back up plan...

12??!!

then I saw this and oh, you mean having 3 cards in general I can't compete with @SouthFayetteFan but for most of my life I've had about 10 open cards at any given time. I don't use them all at once, but since they all have specific reasons for opening them I rotate about 4-5 a month (some do gas, some have rotating categories, some are hotel/airline, one's Target so anything target went on that, other's have offers that you have to use the card for). Now that I opened 6 new cards in the last year (oh that's crazy just saying out loud ) I'm up to 14 or 15 open. This is as high as I've been I believe.
Probably doesn't phase me as much because when I first got credit I happened to get 2 cards at the same time. It was the days of paper applications and so I sent 2 or 3 out hoping to get 1 and actually got 2. Like 6-9 months later I followed that up with a 3rd that actually gave easy to use cashback and never looked back it seems

On DISChurners there's a thread for All my Cards. You can read through what people are carrying and what they like about them. If you think you won't faint I when I read a couple people's total AF for the year.

ETA: Discombobulated today, forgot to chime in on CSR or CSP. So if you get only one you're locked out of the bonus for either one for 2 years. This is where a Player 2 comes in handy. If you can use the points for travel within the year and take advantage of the 1.5 redemption rate then the CSR makes sense. Or if you planned to keep the card even after the first year then it makes sense to go for the CSR because of the higher earning potential and better redemption. But if not, if this is a long term bonus plan or you were going to transfer the points to partners or something, then personally it doesn't make sense to pay the higher AF right now. In that case I'd get the CSP and then later when ready to redeem for travel Player 2 might pick up the CSR (assuming household transfers are still allowed if you were stock piling). Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[Angrose]

Ok. So got DH's CIP yesterday. Now still need to get another card. Thinking of having DH refer me to get the CIP too. I am 4/24 plus 3 Business Cards. I am 3/6 but 2 of them are business cards. So, I think I should be Ok.

How do I get a referral from DH? I logged into his account and did not see anything.

Other options are Barclay AAdvantage Business - 50,000 AA Points with 1st purchase. Not sure how easy these business cards are to get and if they will not be seen by Chase.

Or Citi AA Business 70,000 with $4,000 spend in 4 months. Not sure how easy these ones are either or if Chase sees these too.

Or AMEX Hilton Business 125,000 Points with $5,000 spend in 3 months . I Know AMEX are pretty easy to get and cannot be seen by Chase.

Was thinking also of Delta Business but the higher offers are gone now and don't want to just get 30,000 points.

You can generate a link for DH's CIP here: https://creditcards.chase.com/refer-a-friend

I have heard that Barclay business cards are hard to get approved and that they possibly report on your personal credit report

I was denied a Citi AA Business but was approved for the personal. Actually, Citi wanted a bunch of documentation that I did not want to send it. That also happened to when I applied for a BofA biz card.

 

[speedyfishy]

Day two is better. We did the aquarium which was fun. We also walked around and explored the resort a bit and watched the Dolphins. I must have pulled a back muscle so I didn’t want to swim today. Idk how I’m 23 and sprained a back muscle, I wasn’t doing any strainuous activity. If it’s not better by tomorrow I’ll take an ibuprofen and deal.

We probably won’t be back, but it’s not a bad choice. I’d recommend the Cove if you could swing the extra points. They have a private pool for adults and a private beach. The Royal towers are probably best if you have kids since it’s in the middle of the resort, but it’s probably on par with a Disney moderate resort.

They have lots of activities for kids and a kids club, but that costs extra. They have a game room, movie theater, a build a bear type place. For the slides your kids have to be 48 inches, but they have two kiddie pools that I found with slides.

We were going to get on a beach bike thing today, but apparently it’s $44 for a half hour. I thought resorts normally included paddle boats, bikes and canoes, but oh well. It looked fun but we probably won’t pay extra for that. I’ll try it out when we do a Hyatt Ziva.

The beach was pretty crowded, but the water is so perfect. I can’t believe how blue it is. The beach seems public so we will probably swim in the beach lagoon tomorrow.

I found the Dolphin Cay today and realized when I got back to my room we actually can see the Dolphins from the room swimming. That’s pretty cool.

Also, I read reviews that the food was expensive. I kinda disagree with that. It’s not cheap but not too bad our two lunches were $35 with tax and tip. Their signature restaurants are pricey but we enjoy good food on vacation so we will probably splurge. We ate at Carmine’s last night. It was $115 for a Chicken and Pasta dish. I think that’s normally the price back home. Here, they have a 7.5% tax which is lower than NOVAs dinning tax of 10% and they automatically add 15% gratuity. The 15% gratuity is a little ridiculous when I got Ben and Jerry’s ice cream but the sit down restaurants we normally tip over 20%. The service has been meh so I haven’t added extra gratuity.

 

[pillow]

We have not flown Delta in years and years. I had a CC from them many moons ago. Have no idea if we even have an account with them. How do I find that out?

You could always just call Delta and ask. Who knows, maybe you have some miles. Although at one point, Delta miles would expire. I seem to recall paying a nominal fee to extend my kids' miles maybe 5ish years ago.

 

[wendow]

Buy MasterCard gift cards and use them to pay through Plastiq? Not ideal because you’d typically incur a 1.19% activation fee for the MCGCs, they cap out at $500, and you’ll pay another 2.5% fee to Plastiq.

Or if you have a way of liquidating Visa gift cards for money orders (at Walmart or a grocery store), you can buy $500 VGCs with the same 1.19% activation fee, pay something like $0.88 for the MOs, and use the MOs to pay your contractors.

Or, Venmo charges a 3% fee for credit cards. PayPal charges a 2.9% fee + $0.30 per transaction for credit cards. But both options offer instant payment vs. waiting for a check to be delivered.

Or, you can buy MCGCs with the 1.19% fee, add them to Venmo (limit 5-6 in a rolling 6 months period?), and the MCGCs will process as a debit card with no additional fee.

Would the venmo work to hit MSR on Amex?? Still trying to know out those stinking spg cards lol.

 

[Lain]

True. I figured I'd save up the big payments for my car loan for the double dip, guess I might as well make the extra payments as I have the money through DHs CIP...

Plastiq, and the way certain transactions code in general, can be so unpredictable and subject to change that I’d suggest if you have the means to pay something, especially while CIP is still coding for 3x, do it sooner rather than later. There are many ways to meet spend, but what works today might not be around a few months from now.

 

[speedyfishy]

Thanks. I think I will wait until July. I am also going to cancel both SW cards once the yearly points hit. I churn those cards every 2 years and don't use them for anything else.

Just looking for other "Business" Cards. What does anyone know of Capital One Spark Cash or Spark Miles and Bank of America Business Advantage Cards. Looks like can get some generic travel expenses on these. Not sure how hard card are to get with these companies and if they would be seen or count in Chases 5/24??

You can generate a link for DH's CIP here: https://creditcards.chase.com/refer-a-friend

I have heard that Barclay business cards are hard to get approved and that they possibly report on your personal credit report

I was denied a Citi AA Business but was approved for the personal. Actually, Citi wanted a bunch of documentation that I did not want to send it. That also happened to when I applied for a BofA biz card.

I just got approved for the Barclay AA Biz 50k AA miles after a single purchase. It took awhile and I had to send in proof of my identity, I got a hard pull but i don’t think it is showing on my personal report yet. I’ll give it some time and update if it does.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Can someone remind me how long it takes for referral bonuses to show up? I referred DH a few weeks ago. He's had his card for a couple of weeks and has almost met the MSP. I thought the referral bonus was triggered on the first charge and then it showed up on the Tuesday after, but maybe I'm remembering wrong?

 

[Lain]

Would the venmo work to hit MSR on Amex?? Still trying to know out those stinking spg cards lol.

Yes, despite new terms against p2p payments like Venmo counting for MSR and earning points, I’ve seen several DPs recently on /r/churning that say Venmo transactions counted.

I would not use Venmo to send money to a spouse or significant other, or anyone sharing the same address. I saw a report just a few days ago that said sending a PayPal payment to a spouse with an Amex got his cards shut down and triggered a financial review. He was later reinstated, but still. PayPal owns Venmo, so tread lightly.

 

[Lain]

Can someone remind me how long it takes for referral bonuses to show up? I referred DH a few weeks ago. He's had his card for a couple of weeks and has almost met the MSP. I thought the referral bonus was triggered on the first charge and then it showed up on the Tuesday after, but maybe I'm remembering wrong?

For which card?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Chase Shutdown Discussion:

So there is a discussion HERE on r/churning regarding the concept of preemptively reducing credit limits to avoid the eyes of the Chase Shutdown squad.

I'm not specifically saying anybody should or should not do this - it's a personal decision. I contributed to the discussion and I know @gottalovepluto did as well (and she has an opposing viewpoint which I respect).

Here's what I've done recently to protect against this risk:
In the past week between me and Player 2, I have cancelled 5 BofA cards, 2 Barclay Cards, a TD card, a Wells Fargo card, and removed AUs from numerous older Chase cards (5 or 6). I had cashed out all the points from all of these accounts and had no need for them (on most of them, I hadn't even made a transaction in 18+ months). My combined credit limits were approaching 3x my current reported income and it was spooking me. I still have sufficient total CL with the accounts left open and will do some preemptive lowering on those also.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

For which card?

Oops... sorry about the. CIP.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Oops... sorry about the. CIP.

Typically those show up on a Tuesday 2-3 weeks after the person you referred is approved.

 

[Albort]

Oops... sorry about the. CIP.

for me, it took about 2 weeks for it to show on ultimate rewards portal... and it post at statement end.