I love credit cards so much!

[speedyfishy]

I convinced my DH to get AP's for 2019-2020, so now I want to go 2x in May both years. I want to try to get free (or as discounted as I can) flights for the 4 of us for the 2020 flight. So it gives me a year and a half to earn enough points to buy the flights. Does anyone have any tricks or have the best credit card for travel points?

Do you have easy access to Southwest flights?

 

[amalone1013]

"I replied that most of it in the last 2 weeks was you having fraud on your CSR followed by you leaving the new CSR in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere TN, none of which was my fault.

 

[miztressuz]

I convinced my DH to get AP's for 2019-2020, so now I want to go 2x in May both years. I want to try to get free (or as discounted as I can) flights for the 4 of us for the 2020 flight. So it gives me a year and a half to earn enough points to buy the flights. Does anyone have any tricks or have the best credit card for travel points?

Do you have an airline in mind? There's a few general travel cards that could be used, but sometimes the points bonuses for an airline specific credit card will get you more bang for the buck. Southwest could be an easy one but you'd have to be both willing and able to fly with them

 

[peel]

DP Alert: A perk of CSR is executive status with National, or maybe just Emerald club, I don' recall the details and can't easily check right now, but basically you book a standard car then you can choose any car in the aisle. I couldn't find any DPs in regards to booking with UR so I took a chance because we don't rent cars often and this was a good opportunity. I did finally find some this morning where people were not allowed status with points bookings. I booked full-size on UR site which by cars listed was equivalent to National's standard. If we didn' get to choose, I'd be fine. We had to stop at the counter, the reservation did not carry over to my National acct, but we did get to choose any car on the Emerald Aisle. We took a pretty new VW Atlas, a car I'm pretty interested in so it's nice to test it out.

I booked a car for Cleveland in May with UR and added my Emerald Club number to the reservation. I booked a midsize, which is the equivalent of the Emerald Aisle level car (I think it shows an Elantra or similar). In a normal booking, if you're in the Executive Club you would book an Emerald Aisle option and then get an automatic upgrade to Executive. The reservation didn't show up in my National account, but I brought my Executive card from the CSR with me. I didn't go to a counter, we walked right out to the Executive Aisle and picked a car. When we drove to the checkout station I gave them both licenses (free additional driver with Executive Status), a printout of my reservation, and my Executive card. No questions or issues and we were out in a minute or two. Maybe it was a case of not asking questions and looking like I knew what I was doing, but I was going on the assumption that if I have Executive status it shouldn't matter who I booked through as long as my Emerald Club account number was attached.

 

[hsmamato2]

Just an FYI, I see there are some DPs on Reddit about the Hilton Amex Biz and problems with being given a personal card despite applying for a business card. Several people have reported that when doing a dummy booking on Hilton's website to generate the $50 statement credit, the person will apply for a business card and be approved for a business card (even receiving an instant number to use) and are sent a personal card and the card is appearing as personal on their credit reports. I did the booking on Hilton's website (actually made a real booking) and the $50 statement credit business offer and received a business card, but just something to be aware of. Might just be better off using a support link or applying through the regular website if you're worried about this!

mine says business right on the card,so it's good I assume?

 

[Judique]

I opened the discover savings in DH's name yesterday. He walked through the room when I was setting it up and I said "I"ll need that security code you are about to get texted." He says, "I'm getting sick of this credit cards stuff all the time." "I replied that most of it in the last 2 weeks was you having fraud on your CSR followed by you leaving the new CSR in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere TN, none of which was my fault. Furthermore, I am not doing anything in regards to a credit card right now. I've moved onto something new. It is a savings account."

I am pretty sure he thinks I am nuts. I didn't explain why I was opening it (bonuses) as I am trying to save money up from the bonuses for a nice 40th bday gift for him, that he doesn't have to "buy" himself since I don't work.

I know you meant you don't work outside the home.

But - you work everyday. Someone is keeping your home together and caring for your child. That's work, even though it's done out of love.

It really comes home to me every time I have my grandchildren for a night. Work work work, and I'm exhausted after they visit, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Budzooka]

That cant be it. If that was it, you personal cards would also be closed as well. I know they also will tell you that reason if you called with a letter confirming it. Somehow this is only effected by the business side of your account which is why we dont know why you were shut down.

its something else IMO.

Interesting. Maybe they think the purchases I’ve put on this card are personal in nature, which they are, but gosh, I wouldn’t think they would get that granular.

I’ll let you know once I have more info. Thanks for all the input.

 

[Duck143]

Do you have an airline in mind? There's a few general travel cards that could be used, but sometimes the points bonuses for an airline specific credit card will get you more bang for the buck. Southwest could be an easy one but you'd have to be both willing and able to fly with them

I don't care which airline. SW is fine for us. I like the baggage included!

 

[Duck143]

Do you have easy access to Southwest flights?

Yes!

 

[amalone1013]

Yesterday Hotels.com GC on Amazon, today Petco. I told DH this is why we needed to load a bit into the Amazon account with the 10% back Lowe's/Staples offers!

 

[speedyfishy]

Yes!

How many cards in the last 24 months? If you have less than five personal cards opened in the last 24 months I’d go with the Southwest cards.

In December 2018 I would apply then for two Southwest cards. Don’t spend anything on the card until January. If you get 110,000 Rapid Rewards Points in a calandar year you would get a companion pass for the year it was earned and the following year. Meaning you can designate someone as your companion and they would fly for free with you through 2019/2020.

Currently the Business card is offering a bonus of 60,000 points and the personal cards are offering 40,000 each but this frequently is as high as 50,000 and even was at 60,000 each for a bit. The bonus plus the spend requirement should get you close to that 110,000 points and potentially over depending on the bonus at the time. Southwest may also be releasing a premium card that you should consider too.

If you are going for both personal cards then they must be applied for and approved on the same day.

If you are going for the buisness card that application has to be done before the personal unless you want to wait 30 days between your applications.

If you want a card now I would consider the Chase Sapphire cards but make sure you don’t go over 5/24 so you can get that companion pass for your 2019/2020 trips.

Also, you can use your points and your companion can still fly for free. Idk where you are located, but 110,000 points should cover most of the flights. You can go to Southwest website and price out the route to see approximately how many points you would need.

 

[LynnTH]

So looking for Spring Break places. Was mostly looking at Marriott/Sheraton as I have over 400,000 points. But I just started looking at the Hyatt All Inclusive at Cancun, Cabo, Montego Bay. Anyone stayed at any of these? They vary from 20,000 per night to 25,000 per night. 4 of us in the room is double that so would go with 2 rooms instead. When done with spend on CIP I will have about 215,000 UR points. So could get 4-5 nights here and maybe stay at a Marriott the other nights. But just thinking of using all my UR's kind of makes me want to hyperventilate... Wish I would have had the Hyatt Cards when you got 2 free nights. Now the bonus is at 40,000 points. From my understanding you can be over 5/24 to get this card but it will still count in the total. Not sure if it is worth it then to get. Waiting for me to get CIP maybe in July and then both DH and I will be able to get CSR/CSP again in January 2019.

Never stayed at an All Inclusive before so this would be awesome. Any feedback on any of these properties and if there is other things to do nearby on any of these?

 

[Duck143]

How many cards in the last 24 months? If you have less than five personal cards opened in the last 24 months I’d go with the Southwest cards.

In December 2018 I would apply then for two Southwest cards. Don’t spend anything on the card until January. If you get 110,000 Rapid Rewards Points in a calandar year you would get a companion pass for the year it was earned and the following year. Meaning you can designate someone as your companion and they would fly for free with you through 2019/2020.

Currently the Business card is offering a bonus of 60,000 points and the personal cards are offering 40,000 each but this frequently is as high as 50,000 and even was at 60,000 each for a bit. The bonus plus the spend requirement should get you close to that 110,000 points and potentially over depending on the bonus at the time. Southwest may also be releasing a premium card that you should consider too.

If you are going for both personal cards then they must be applied for and approved on the same day.

If you are going for the buisness card that application has to be done before the personal unless you want to wait 30 days between your applications.

If you want a card now I would consider the Chase Sapphire cards but make sure you don’t go over 5/24 so you can get that companion pass for your 2019/2020 trips.

Also, you can use your points and your companion can still fly for free. Idk where you are located, but 110,000 points should cover most of the flights. You can go to Southwest website and price out the route to see approximately how many points you would need.

Great advice! I haven't opened any cards in the last 24 months!

 

[WVMomof3]

Interesting. Maybe they think the purchases I’ve put on this card are personal in nature, which they are, but gosh, I wouldn’t think they would get that granular.

I’ll let you know once I have more info. Thanks for all the input.

I have been following your story. Super curious to hear their reasoning! CIP is my next card I am hoping to get and I am already nervous about just a "business". I hope you get the letter before you leave, if not you must find someone to open your mail! lol You can't just leave us hanging an extra week!

 

[peel]

Yesterday Hotels.com GC on Amazon, today Petco. I told DH this is why we needed to load a bit into the Amazon account with the 10% back Lowe's/Staples offers!

Thanks for the heads up on Petco! Just got mine.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

EBAY 20% Off today....I'm not sure I'd actually do this...but wondering if my wife could list something on Ebay for $500...I buy it for $400 (after the 20% off) and pay with my Freedom to earn the 5x URs. Seems like this would be some sort of abuse of their T&Cs lol, but still a strange thought I had...

 

[speedyfishy]

Great advice! I haven't opened any cards in the last 24 months!

Are you comfortable applying for multiple cards every year? Since you have no cards in the past 24 months and you have six months until you should try for the companion pass you could get another card now too. Chase Ultimate Reward earning cards would be a good option. The points can be used to book hotels and flights through their travel portal and could also be transferred to Southwest.

If you are only comfortable going for a few cards though I’d hold off and try to get the companion pass. I earned mine in 2017 when both personal cards offered 60,000 points each and it’s expiring in December. We used it a lot. We are going to Orlando in December and a round trip flight was only 8,000 points.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

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.

Ok, looks like everything is good now! 85k points (which it should be) in my account. It seems to me after looking it all through is that she had to manually adjust everything in my reservation and account. It's still showing that my reservation "costs" 125k points when in reality it should only be 80k. But instead of changing the point value for the reservation she just added 20k to my account balance.

Fingers crossed all is well at check-in

 

[Duck143]

Are you comfortable applying for multiple cards every year? Since you have no cards in the past 24 months and you have six months until you should try for the companion pass you could get another card now too. Chase Ultimate Reward earning cards would be a good option. The points can be used to book hotels and flights through their travel portal and could also be transferred to Southwest.

If you are only comfortable going for a few cards though I’d hold off and try to get the companion pass. I earned mine in 2017 when both personal cards offered 60,000 points each and it’s expiring in December. We used it a lot. We are going to Orlando in December and a round trip flight was only 8,000 points.

I might try for the companion pass!

 

[wendow]

EBAY 20% Off today....I'm not sure I'd actually do this...but wondering if my wife could list something on Ebay for $500...I buy it for $400 (after the 20% off) and pay with my Freedom to earn the 5x URs. Seems like this would be some sort of abuse of their T&Cs lol, but still a strange thought I had...

People do this. I've read about it on r/churning but yes, it is against their policy. How they would really know...idk...Wouldn't want to do it too often but once or twice, maybe? Is the coupon site wide or limited categories? I bought some stamps this morning with it but didn't really pay much attention to the rules of the coupon.