I love credit cards so much!

[Natgridenergy]

The biggest benefit to booking direct is rebooking when the prices drop. I usually get better price when they have their $49 sales.

Rebooking with SW is sooo easy and has saved me a ton of points!

 

[liloca]

Already used my $300 travel credit on my CSR for a quick 2 nights in Cape Cod in a few weekends.
So cool that the credit is instant!
But them the $450 AF hit

That is a mini heart attack for sure

I know I will get way more back in value but still never though I would “pay” so much in CC fees

 

[Albort]

With all this talk of DL trips, has anyone (cough @Albort) heard when Black Tap will be opening in Downtown Disney? I haven't heard any updates which is making me think not soon

yeah, i havent heard of anything. sorry!

I am considering getting the SPG business card.
I am taking a break for awhile with Chase and the only business card from Amex that interests me isn’t the SPG one. I see on Reddit it says to ask here before applying so I thought I’d run it by you guys first.
I know the $200 statement isn’t a great offer but Im staying at two Sheraton within a year so it would get used .
Also would like an Amex to get all these offers you guys are getting.

tough call. have u considered other amex cards? If u can wait till Aug 1st, they might have a nice point one coming out.

 

[vanjust14]

We must have been at WDW same time last Sept! That was a crazy time with Irma coming.

I know! We probably walked right by each other at one point!

Yeah, makes me not want to go during hurricane season again!

 

[vanjust14]

Just saw RI and got excited -- not too many of us. Where abouts? I'm in Saunderstown

Oh wow, cool! I'm in Coventry so not too far! Hi neighbor

 

[afan]

Starbucks is doing another of its "games" where you can get extra reward points. I enjoy checking the board and trying to time my purchases to rack up as many bonus stars as I can (esp. if I can stack a star dash and a board space or two). Yeah, its still not a good deal, but Sbux is a guilty pleasure for me, so at least there is some justification when I'm getting rewards...

What's the name of the game? I don't have anything in my app, but they are still trying to get me to use my bday gift from a month ago that I used. I looked on the starbucks website too and didn't see anything.

 

[KPK02090]

I use this lounge all the time and love it. Was just there on Friday thanks for the link!



I’ve never been able to find this info. Can you share where you found it?

When I log into my account on my computer, there is a box at the top to the right that says:
Rewards
Ultimate Rewards
xxx Points
5% cash back (Apr-Jun) Details

When I click on "Details" it brings me to a page that shows the green progress line towards $75 for the 5% categories.
At the top of that screen, first thing on the blue bar, are three lines. Click on the lines, a menu will open on the left. Look for "Rewards Activity" and that will open a page that has the actual dollar amounts.
Hope this helps!

 

[1st*toright]

Already used my $300 travel credit on my CSR for a quick 2 nights in Cape Cod in a few weekends.
So cool that the credit is instant!
But them the $450 AF hit

That is a mini heart attack for sure

I know I will get way more back in value but still never though I would “pay” so much in CC fees

Yeah - it takes some getting used to. @SouthFayetteFan said a few pages back that he runs an income statement for his family's expenses, an offsets spending with cc savings. It can be helpful to do something to track that, so that you know exactly what that AF is paying for.

I use YNAB to budget, so all my income and spending is allocated to specific budget lines. I have a budget category for CC bonuses/fees where I put expenses, like AFs, and "income" like statement credits. So, in your instance, I would have paid for my hotels and put the expense on my "travel" budget line. Then when I got the statement credit, rather than zeroing out the travel charge, I would put that "income" in my cc fees/bonus line, so that when the AF hits, that "income" offsets the expense (and any additional fee not covered would show up as a true expense related to that category). Similarly, I just used my amex at Lowes and will be getting a $35 statement credit. That will also go in my cc fees/bonus line - which I will use to pay off the next AF I incur. It only tracks cash, not points (which I keep track of in a spreadsheet), but does show me how much cash I'm laying down in order to earn my points!

Lots of people are fine with taking it as it comes, but I'm a little nerdy about stuff like this, so I like seeing how the numbers hash out.

 

[mefordis]

What’s the cash price of the tickets? You would need all 100k points to get 33k SPG, that’s just enough for one round trip ticket, but that could be several hotel nights.

Cash price roundtrip is $475. We mainly stay at Westin or other Starwood hotels, so I'd be transferring them anyway, most likely, and that would give three nights, approx, at a typical Westin, I believe. I think you are right, the value is better with the hotel rooms. Hmmm...

 

[1st*toright]

What's the name of the game? I don't have anything in my app, but they are still trying to get me to use my bday gift from a month ago that I used. I looked on the starbucks website too and didn't see anything.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/starbucks-hopscotch-game-earn-free-stars/

and now I'm grumpy because I don't seem to have gotten the offer for getting stars for reloading my sbux account...

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Yeah - it takes some getting used to. @SouthFayetteFan said a few pages back that he runs an income statement for his family's expenses, an offsets spending with cc savings. It can be helpful to do something to track that, so that you know exactly what that AF is paying for.

I use YNAB to budget, so all my income and spending is allocated to specific budget lines. I have a budget category for CC bonuses/fees where I put expenses, like AFs, and "income" like statement credits. So, in your instance, I would have paid for my hotels and put the expense on my "travel" budget line. Then when I got the statement credit, rather than zeroing out the travel charge, I would put that "income" in my cc fees/bonus line, so that when the AF hits, that "income" offsets the expense (and any additional fee not covered would show up as a true expense related to that category). Similarly, I just used my amex at Lowes and will be getting a $35 statement credit. That will also go in my cc fees/bonus line - which I will use to pay off the next AF I incur. It only tracks cash, not points (which I keep track of in a spreadsheet), but does show me how much cash I'm laying down in order to earn my points!

Lots of people are fine with taking it as it comes, but I'm a little nerdy about stuff like this, so I like seeing how the numbers hash out.

I do the same in YNAB.

ETA: well sort of. if I buy a gift card on a discount, for example, $100 disney at at Lowe’s, that goes in my travel category, but then the 10% rebate I will post to my travel category too.
Same with a restaurant GC. The purchase I’d put into my dining out category and the rebate into my travel category...because I’d spend the money dining out either way and I want all savings to shuffle to travel.

For the csr I’d put the AF into my fees section and the $300 travel credit into my fees section, making the fee much less. Then I’d just pay it. I suppose I could just add fees to my travel costs. Not really any point in having it separate I don’t guess. Hmmnn

 

[DisneyMandC]

I wish Chase would hurry up and release the 5% category for next quarter. I hope they don't follow Discover and do restaurants. I could max that category but need to put spend towards MSRs!

 

[Albort]

I wish Chase would hurry up and release the 5% category for next quarter. I hope they don't follow Discover and do restaurants. I could max that category but need to put spend towards MSRs!

its been like that for the past 3 years... the only category not similar is q4.

 

[mefordis]

What about combining your points for a hotel + flights package?

I booked the Dolphin during food and wine, which is now sold out. I can look into it though. Thanks!

 

[afan]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/starbucks-hopscotch-game-earn-free-stars/

and now I'm grumpy because I don't seem to have gotten the offer for getting stars for reloading my sbux account...

Thanks but I wasn't targeted for it, so no game for me. Reading through the comments on the post show this as well. I wonder why it's targeted and not open to everyone. I normally don't do well with the challenge stuff anyway since I only drink hot chocolate.

 

[DisneyMandC]

its been like that for the past 3 years... the only category not similar is q4.

Gah. I know I shouldn't complain since it's 5x UR. Just going to have to plan carefully so I can fit in 10k of Amex spend between now and the end of September!

 

[Albort]

Gah. I know I shouldn't complain since it's 5x UR. Just going to have to plan carefully so I can fit in 10k of Amex spend between now and the end of September!

I'm hoping for a curveball this year though and so far so good.

Q1 with mobile pay
Q2 with PayPal
Q3 hopefully something cool.

for Q2 I put close to $1300 on PayPal. IT card stayed as my grocery card.

 

[Judique]

We have BGE and I've been paying with a CC for the last year. It's a fixed $1.50 fee and you can pay with a CC up to $600 per transaction, which works out to be 0.25%. It's great for MSR, esp. Amex since Amex is accepted and for 0.25%, it's a steal over Plastiq. Definitely consider it.

That's excellent! Thank you!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I'm hoping for a curveball this year though and so far so good.

Q1 with mobile pay
Q2 with PayPal
Q3 hopefully something cool.

for Q2 I put close to $1300 on PayPal. IT card stayed as my grocery card.

I wish they would keep Apple Pay as part of the deal. It was soooo easy for me to max out Q1 with Apple Pay organically. I have about $300 left for this quarter which I'll finish up between actual grocery buying and purchasing gift cards at Kroger.

 

[miztressuz]

Gotcha!! That makes sense...man, you guys are GOOD!! ;-)

So if you decide to go for the CSP today, there's a couple things to do when putting in the second application. I saw @GZanta77 got you the important one of using another browser or incognito window for the second application. Since they need to be approved on the same day, if you don't get instant approved again you may have to do some calling. When I searched for a good writeup with the numbers to call @Lain popped up again Here's one of his posts:

@3 DD love princesses and @wendow already have you covered, but just adding this here with some handy numbers and link.

Start applying early during regular business hours of a non-holiday weekday in case you need to call Chase reconsideration or verification departments.

For personal cards, be sure you're not running afoul of the 2/30 rule: you can only have two applications every 30 days or you'll likely be rejected.

Apply for the card you want first. If DH has the CSR, do what @3 DD love princesses suggested and have DH generate a referral link for you to apply through: https://www.chase.com/referafriend/chasesapphirereserve. That's a bonus 10,000 UR to DH if you're approved. If you aren't auto-approved and perhaps got the we'll let you know in 30 days message, call the automated status line at 1-800-432-3117 to check the status of your application. If you still aren't approved after an hour or so, call recon at 1-888-270-2127 to get it approved.

After that first card is approved, use a different internet browser or an incognito window for the second application, otherwise Chase may combine the apps thinking they're accidental duplicates. If it isn't auto-approved, call the automated status line after an hour, and if you still aren't approved call recon to get it approved.

Good luck!

And if for some reason the expand doesn't work on that quote, here's the link directly to the post: Lain>Dugette DoubleDip steps