I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/star...-properties-that-cost-more-than-35000-points/

those free anniversary nights on Credit cards just got pretty attractive... :]

YES YES YES!!! This just made my day!

Not to temper the enthusiasm here but one comment on Reddit said this: Lurker says, "not currently". Which means no. Timeline of "future" is always sketchy. Not that I'm not hopeful too.

Until there is a defined "this will go into affect on XX date" this just seems like a rumor to get people to keep their cards open and hope, LOL!

 

[eeyoreland]

I just applied for and was approved for CSR for DH. Someone suggested if I wanted to have a card, I should ask to have the mailing of the card expedited and odds are good I'll receive the expedited card and the regular mail card. Is that what I ask for? That the card be expedited? How soon do you recommend I do that and can I do it via message as DH is one that doesn't want to deal with this stuff. (I know some of you know the feeling.)

 

[amalone1013]

I'm famous guys... the company that owns Timberline reported one of my photos on Instagram

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Yay! I just texted DH and told him that since our Geico premium is getting ready to renew, I'm just going to go ahead and pay the six months upfront. They're charging me an extra $1 a month to withdraw it from my bank account anyways, so I'm actually saving money I haven't double checked, but I'm sure they take Amex, so that's $600 down!

I used our premiums to help meet msr on our spg amex cards. They make it so easy to go in and change the payment method and pay in full!

 

[miztressuz]

Oh my goodness, what a headache trying to get that resolved! Apparently the category of the hotel we are staying at has changed categories thus adding 5,000 more points needed per night for the reservation. I was on hold for quite some time as it sounded like there might be an issue. I was refreshing my reservation online and it was showing I now owed 125k points for my reservation vs. the 100k that I owed prior and 80k was what I was SUPPOSED to paying after all was said and done (including 5th night free and free anniversary night).

I'm STILL not sure it is right The email confirmation says I have 85k+ points balance (what it should be) but my online account says 65k+ (even after refreshing and logging out and back in). The email also says 180k redemption points But should read 80k. Holy smokes, I didn't think it'd be this complicated.

Anyone have any idea how long it should take to see those 20k points back in my account? I just don't care to call back right now (7 month old baby is not cooperating ).

D'oh I didn't even think of that. I thought maybe one night out of the 5 was missing award space. If it's not correct tomorrow I'd call again. We had trouble with a cancelled night certificate (it was cancelled and they took our points instead no one knew why) and it took them 3 tries to get it added back correctly.

You’d also never eat anywhere is you knew what goes on in some restaurants. Or eat anyone else’s home cooking. I work in a hospital dietary dept so I see/hear a lot. But one of the worst was when a coworker brought in a cake she made at home for someone’s birthday. One corner was smashed a bit. She said “Oh just don’t eat that corner, my cat stepped on it” And she’s seriously the worst germophobe I’ve ever met. She will throw out food if somebody breathes over it or in her general direction, but her cats don’t count.

Oh yeah that's another one I choose not to think about. Pretty much anyone I know who worked restaurants doesn't eat out, or doesn't do it much; that kind of tells you something It's a conundrum for me because I like the concept of buffets but even the classiest one is on the same level of questionable cheap hotels So I pay attention to the people there, try not to think about the people I can't see, and just pick and choose establishments.

Now I can't believe someone really brought that cake in! What were they thinking!? I bring food in BUT I sanitize my kitchen before I cook for anyone else and probably practice stricter standards than the board of health requires because I'd be devastated if I got anyone sick. And I've made some really good vats of chili or our smoked barbeque that I'm sure a few co-workers would enjoy but because I made it for us, where my standards are lower , no one got any. I'm just still floored on that one... is right.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Congrats to your son....both my son and daughter played travel hockey...lots of ways to earn points with all the various expenses related to it

Last year he was playing travel hockey and travel soccer. We racked up plenty of points but it felt like we were never home. He aged up in hockey for this year to squirt and it is more intense, so he decided not to do the soccer. Thank goodness.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Wow the Discover bank bonus posts fast! I think I will open another for DH LOL, so we can get another bonus!

I am in the process of opening one for DH now too.
I am keeping my Discover account to shuffle all my bank account bonuses into. I think I will keep one of DH's to transfer one of the kids' savings into. Then we will open one for DD19's savings in her name but lend her the money to get the bonus.

 

[miztressuz]

I just applied for and was approved for CSR for DH. Someone suggested if I wanted to have a card, I should ask to have the mailing of the card expedited and odds are good I'll receive the expedited card and the regular mail card. Is that what I ask for? That the card be expedited? How soon do you recommend I do that and can I do it via message as DH is one that doesn't want to deal with this stuff. (I know some of you know the feeling.)

Congrats!

I'm not sure if anyone's called for the CSR, so far it seems to be coming within a few days anyway so not sure if anyone's called to expedite it. You could try SM but there could be a couple hours for a response.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Last year he was playing travel hockey and travel soccer. We racked up plenty of points but it felt like we were never home. He aged up in hockey for this year to squirt and it is more intense, so he decided not to do the soccer. Thank goodness.

Lol..no with hockey they really can’t do another sport.....if the program is anything like the one my kids were in...your never home on the weekends...lots of travel....my “kids” are now 30 and 27...both played into college...and my daughter wound up marrying a boy by son played hockey with that she met when she was 5....
Enjoy every moment because in it seems like they grow up in the blink of an eye

 

[speedyfishy]

Back from Atlantis? How did everything work out?

LOL. I wouldn’t recommend it. You can look a few pages back for my detailed review.

 

[ctinct]

Any experience with Intercontinental NY Times Square? I have an IHG free night that’s still good at any property, this one is 70k/night. Looking to stay a night in late December before the NCL Cruise that goes to Florida and the Bahamas. The Kimpton was my first choice but rooms only accommodate 2 (we need 3).

I stayed there on a free night once, but it was one I won on that IHG promotion of a few years back. I can’t speak to any of the hotel amenities, because we just crashed there at night, but......they put us in a room right over the subway. Heard and felt the trains all night long. Not good. Perhaps you will get a better room with a free night certificate from the card.

 

[Budzooka]

Unbelievable. I got home today and there was a letter from Chase in my mailbox, but it was a Guide to Benefits for my newly issued CIP!!

Unfortunately, the letter isn’t dated, but they just shut me down on Monday, so I don’t know what their thought process is.

We are leaving town on Friday and I hope that letter gets here before then or it is going to drive me crazy. I asked if they could email or fax me a copy and she said I had to wait for it to come in the mail and she couldn’t see a copy of it in my file to tell me what it says. Not sure I believe that.

 

[bernina]

I stayed there on a free night once, but it was one I won on that IHG promotion of a few years back. I can’t speak to any of the hotel amenities, because we just crashed there at night, but......they put us in a room right over the subway. Heard and felt the trains all night long. Not good. Perhaps you will get a better room with a free night certificate from the card.

Thank you for the reply and review. That does not sound pleasant at all. City noise doesn’t bother me but feeling the trains rumble by would definitely keep me from getting good sleep. I’ll definitely have to read up on the hotel and if we keep it figure out room requests to minimize getting a room like that.

If anyone has other reward hotel options near the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, Times Square, Hell’s Kitchen, etc. I’m all ears.

 

[bernina]

Unbelievable. I got home today and there was a letter from Chase in my mailbox, but it was a Guide to Benefits for my newly issued CIP!!

Unfortunately, the letter isn’t dated, but they just shut me down on Monday, so I don’t know what their thought process is.

We are leaving town on Friday and I hope that letter gets here before then or it is going to drive me crazy. I asked if they could email or fax me a copy and she said I had to wait for it to come in the mail and she couldn’t see a copy of it in my file to tell me what it says. Not sure I believe that.

Did you apply with your SSN or an EIN?

 

[DisneyMandC]

They'd found nail clippings and stuff in them, omg.

OH NO, SATAN.

Sorry, but that’s DISGUSTING and I’m not a squeamish person!

 

[calypso726]

I guess I'm a little confused on how to use our UR points for airfare. I've looked at Award Hacker and started trying to look on there. I might have to try a mock booking like you said and see what I can find. Thanks!

You can use your UR points to book airfare by transferring the points to the airline to make an award booking. When you do this they are no longer UR points. The become frequent flier miles in the airline you transferred them to and you can only use them to book an available award. The award flight will have a fixed number of points required for an award flight. You may find a RT ticket on United for 70,000 United miles and the real money cost might be $250 or $2,500 or $12,500 but the airline wants 70,000 miles. When the real money cost of the ticket is high but the miles required is significantly lower then you go this route because it will cost you less points.

You can use your UR points like cash to pay for airfare on the UR travel Portal. Here, those points are worth 1.25 out of a CIP or CSP Account and worth 1.5 in a CSR Account. When the ticket price is lower than the cost of paying miles you go this route.

So, I checked flights from DSM-HND for departures on April 1 and returning April 10. Many of the flights were about $1,220 per person. If you purchased the flights through the Chase UR portal with UR points then it would cost you 97,600 UR points per person through the CIP or CSP accounts. With a CSR account it would only cost 81,334 UR points. If you decided to go for an award flight there were RT saver awards at 70,000 United miles and $51.31 per person. You would have to transfer 70,000 UR points into your United frequent flier account and then book the award flight. In this scenario, I would personally spend more UR points and book through the portal to earn the butt in seat miles and also to have greater flexibility with choosing which flight I want. Many saver award have long connections and layovers and it may not be worth the time to save a few points.

 

[DisneyMandC]

@speedyfishy If you get a chance to pull your credit report next month, I’m still definitely interested in hearing whether that Barclays card shows up as personal or not! I think that promotion ends 7/29.

 

[Budzooka]

Did you apply with your SSN or an EIN?

SSN

 

[Haley R]

Hi @Haley R, I'm still catching up on this thread. I spent Sunday picking strawberries with my DD, so I missed this post.

If you're thinking of flying United, plan to book award flights, and have room under 5/24, then YES, definitely add the United MileagePlus Explorer ("MPE") to your list of cards to get. I see you’re looking at international carriers as well, and you can use UA miles to book award travel with partner airlines in the Star Alliance or directly with United and part of your itinerary may be operated by ANA. Doing a quick search on United for DSM<>NRT shows several results for a UA-operated Boeing 787 Dreamliner to and from Japan, which could be nice to fly on.

For random dates in late April to early May 2019, I’m seeing 70k UA miles on R/T economy for DSM<>NRT, but I’m also seeing R/T business class available for 350k UA miles if you want to step up your churning game and go big. (I don’t see any first class availability, but those award seats tend to go fastest.)

The MPE card gets you priority boarding, free carry on for basic economy (don’t need to pay for the ticket with the card for those two), first checked bag free (must pay with card), 2 United Club lounge passes, up to $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA Precheck, a 25% mileage bonus on United’s MPX gift card app, and probably most importantly, increased award space availability. You get access to additional award seats that United blocks off for their cardholders and elite members. The annual fee is $95, but waived for the first year! Chase has no fee United cards you can product change to after your first year (to avoid the fee) that’ll still give you increased award availability.

But wait until you can get a good signup bonus on that card. The current public offer on the MPE is only 40,000 UA miles + $100 statement credit after you spend $2,000/3 months. For much of last year, the public offer was 50,000 UA miles, with a targeted offer of 70,000 UA miles. There's some buzz that the MPE is out with a new, targeted 60,000 UA miles offer with its rebranding as the "Explorer" card and changes to its benefits: http://runningwithmiles.boardingarea.com/new-united-explorer-card-65000-mile-bonus/ This link mentions an extra 5k UA miles bonus when you add an Authorized User – but don’t add DH! As you know, Chase’s automated system counts AU accounts against that person’s 5/24 count. You don't want to add a card to DH's 5/24 count for just 5k UA miles when DH can sign up for his own card for potentially 60k UA miles. DH should apply for the MPE separately so he can get his own bonus. (Not sure if referrals are active for this card product.) If you have a non-churning relative who you’d like to put as an AU to get those points, then do it, but don’t add your other Player spouse.

60k UA miles is pretty good if you’re targeted. It could potentially go back up to 70k UA for targeted offers. If you’re not seeing anything more than the public offer, don’t bite just yet. There are tricks to get yourself targeted.

Picking strawberries sounds like fun!

I went through the process on Award Hacker to act like I was booking a 16 day trip. I then transferred over to United's website. I am playing around with April 15 to May 1 (almost getting close to the dates we actually want). Here is what I'm seeing:

It's in and out of different airports in Tokyo, but that's actually okay because we will start or finish in Disney (the opposite will be spent in the city of Tokyo with Kyoto in between the two). Hopefully, that makes sense. It's showing me that it will be 230,000 miles plus $130.22 for taxes and fees. I'm not sure how the miles relate to using the Chase rewards, though. I guess what I'm asking is I'm not sure how many points we would need for 230,000 miles.

I'm still a little confused about the MPE card. Would we use that card and the Chase rewards?

 

[Ngwira]

LOL. I wouldn’t recommend it. You can look a few pages back for my detailed review.

I looked but can’t find it.