I love credit cards so much!

[disneymagicgirl]

Do you pay for two people's loans, though? I scheduled mine yesterday, but I'm trying to find out if I can also pay DH's through my account.

oooh, I see. I doubt that would be a problem. Just set it up. Worst case they would email you and say can't do that.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I agree on paypal/etc. I easily hit my other quarters organically. A ton of websites take PayPal.

I did Q1 through ApplePay sending cash between spouses. I did Q2 through PayPal sending cash between spouses... I was really hoping to ride that gravy train all year LOL!

 

[MrPTato]

Do you pay for two people's loans, though? I scheduled mine yesterday, but I'm trying to find out if I can also pay DH's through my account.

I pay my DW's through my account.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

PSA that you may already know:

My directv bill is linked to my ATT internet bill. It all bills through ATT. It is coding it all 3x on CIP...So 3x on directv.

 

[amalone1013]

How about the hyatt mco?

It'd be the third night of our trip, we're doing Fri Cabana Bay, Sat RPR, Sun (need hotel), Mon - Sat Dolphin. So I'll probably just do a value so we're at Disney when we wake up.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

It'd be the third night of our trip, we're doing Fri Cabana Bay, Sat RPR, Sun (need hotel), Mon - Sat Dolphin. So I'll probably just do a value so we're at Disney when we wake up.

oh, ok. I misunderstood when you mentioned your late flight arrival.

 

[Disneyonmymind]

When I try to set car payments on plastiq, it defaults to the rent/real estate category based on the bank name and then it says mortgages are not eligible. Car payments are okay though, correct? If so, should I chat the support team?

 

[Lain]

@Lain and other Plastiq users - do you think I'd have any issues paying both mine and my DH's student loans through my Plastiq account? Not wanting to risk a Plastiq shutdown!

Do you pay for two people's loans, though? I scheduled mine yesterday, but I'm trying to find out if I can also pay DH's through my account.

You’ve already got several answers, but I’ll just add that we pay DW’s student loan using my CIP through my Plastiq account. I even put DW’s name and account number on the payment. Goes through every month without ever having an issue.

Are car lease payments something you can usually pay with a CIP through Platiq?

When I try to set car payments on plastiq, it defaults to the rent/real estate category based on the bank name and then it says mortgages are not eligible. Car payments are okay though, correct? If so, should I chat the support team?

Car payments are fine on CIP through Plastiq.

You may get some complication if a car loan or lease is financed through a lender that also finances mortgages, and Plastiq has that company on its blacklist thinking you’re trying to pay a mortgage. Mortgages are pretty much the only category of payment not allowed on Visa cards. Car payments are fine, so if your payment on a CIP is declined, and you don’t mind “eyes” on your account, you can open up a troubleshooting ticket with Plastiq to get the payment resolved.
(ETA) Alternatively, you can create a new recipient with a differently formatted name than the blocked name and get your payment through that way. If Plastiq gives you any trouble, it’s a car payment and allowed so they should let it go.

For Amex cards, mortgages, car payments and student loans are not allowed through Plastiq.

 

[KPK02090]

My mother is thinking about applying for a CIP. My father has had his own landscaping business for nearly 50 years - mostly a one-man show. Can she apply using his business? Not sure if they have an EIN.

 

[Lain]

Ok I seriously just dug through our garbage to find the United offer my DH just got in the mail. I dug deep because I couldn't find it, but I thought I threw it out yesterday. Finally gave up and find it on my desk. Anywho… His offer was 50,000 miles plus $100 credit. Is that one worth going for or should I wait for a better offer? 70,000 sounds better. My plan is Europe sometime in the next few years, but I have nothing specific planned. My DH is 2/24 and besides somehow getting the Southwest CP pass in January we have no other CC plans for him. Was hoping to get something soon to spread it out with the SW apps in December/January time.

Also, is there a list somewhere that talks about the different air and hotel points and how long you can go without inactivity before they expire?

I’ve listed the historical highs for the MPE, but who knows if or when we’ll see 70k miles again?

50k miles with a $100 statement credit and first year AF waived is a decent offer. Consider that UR points transfer to UA miles 1:1 and you can compare that to the signup bonuses for UR-earning cards.

Does DH have any UR cards? The thing is, if he gets the MPE, he’ll have those UA miles in his UA account and increased award availability through a United card, so it’d make sense for him to book the flights, but in order to transfer the household’s UR points to top off his UA miles, he needs to either have his own UR card or be an AU on your UR card. It’s not worth DH transferring the UA miles to you because of the fees.

I think if you fly or plan to fly United, the MPE is a great card to have if only for the expanded award availability. It also gives you a 25% mileage bonus when buying gift cards through the MPX app. And remember, the first year AF is waived, and you can downgrade to a fee free card after the first year and still retain these two benefits.

UA miles do expire after 18 months of inactivity, but they’re so easy to keep alive even without flying. Just buy a gift card through the MPX app or shop through the MileagePlus Shopping portal once in 18 months, and you’ve made qualifying activity for another 18 months.

 

[Calfan]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice! Yes, I'm going to have to crunch some numbers wrt CSR/CSP. We don't spend much on dining out (though that may change once youngest leaves for college and recent-college-grad middle moves into an apartment this summer---they have serious food allergies and restrictions).

Travel spending is increasing each year. Do DVC dues count under the travel category?

Think you already got an answer on this one but, yes, DVC dues code as travel for the CSR 3x.

We have been pretty loyal to Southwest (thanks, companion pass) but they don't do me any good getting to Europe or Asia. So I think I've decided to hitch my wagon to United for airline points. They seem to have decent partner relationships for the foreign trips I'm looking at (decent connections from our local airport etc). I plan to do a nights/flights with Marriott to start my stash, and am looking at the Chase United MileagePlus Club Card and the United Explorer Card to build miles. The annual fee for the Mileage Plus is a little steep- not sure its worth the $450.

I'm at 2/24 with Chase at the moment (no personal cards since last July, last Chase Biz app was in Feb, last app (amex) was in March). We are still working on DH's CSR/CSP MSR, so I won't be applying for another month or so, so I have time, but I've been waffling on which airline to go for, and trying to figure out if it makes sense to go with a co-branded airline card, or do an Amex Plat next.

Anyone with advice specific to United, or thoughts in general?

Generally, my impression is UA miles is better for Europe and MR points have better transfer partners to Asia. However, UA will get you to Asia and MRs will get you Asia. So both are great programs to build points and miles in.

As for which card(s) next, it kind of depends on the offers you can get.

If you can get targeted for the Amex Platinum with a 100k MR points offer, that's just one slot.

Have you tried to see if the Amex Platinum pulls up on Cardmatch with the 100k MR offer? See https://www.doctorofcredit.com/cardmatch-offering-people-100000-points-american-express-platinum/

Are you looking at both the United Club card and the Explorer card? That's 2 Chase slots you'd be using up for between 90k-110k UA miles.

The Club card gets you priority boarding, first and second checked bags free (must pay for tickets with card), United Club membership, expanded award availability, and a 50k UA miles signup bonus, but its $450 AF is steep, so you'll need to evaluate whether Club access and free checked bags (but only on tickets paid for with the card) give you enough monetary value to justify the cost, or if you're signing up for this card primarily for the miles. Earlier this year, United was sending out targeted offers for the Club card that waived the first year AF. My wife who flies United frequently for work, but doesn't already have a United card, received the targeted offer. (We passed.)

The Explorer (new MPE) card gets you priority boarding, free carry-on for basic economy, first checked bag free (must pay for tickets 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 $95 AF is waived for the first year. Chase has no fee United cards you can product change to after your first year that’ll still give you increased award availability.

But wait until you can get a good signup bonus on the MPE. Chase is known to deny matching to better offers on United cards.

The current public offer on the MPE is only 40k UA miles + $100 statement credit after you spend $2k/3 months. For much of last year, the public offer was 50k UA miles, with a targeted offer of 70k UA miles. There's buzz that there are better 50k and 60k UA miles offers out there (https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/8q8d13/daily_discussion_thread_june_11_2018/), but these are likely targeted and you'll have to log into your UA account to see if you qualify.

If you don't see a targeted higher offer, don’t settle for the public 40k UA miles offer just yet; there are some tricks that have worked to get you targeted for higher offers on the MPE:

• Fly on United. After you’ve flown on United, many people report getting targeted with higher than public signup offers for the MPE (and Club card) via mailers and on their United account in the following weeks.
• Make a dummy booking on United. Log into your United account and go through the motions of making a flight booking, and you may see a popup offer for the MPE with a higher mileage offer (and possibly statement credit).
• Make a purchase through the United MileagePlus Shopping portal. People have generally received a targeted mailer a few weeks after their portal purchase. The MileagePlus Shopping portal includes iTunes, so you could possibly trigger a higher credit card offer by buying a cheap song.
• Make a purchase on the United MileagePlus X (“MPX”) gift card app. The MPX app is available for iOS and Android devices and sells e-gift cards at face value, often in the exact amount you need, but allows you to earn 0.5-5x UA miles/$1 depending on merchant (more during promos) and passes the coding of the purchase on to the merchant’s category allowing you to trigger category bonuses on your Chase Visa credit cards.

These tricks may trigger a higher offer immediately or could take several weeks to work, if at all. Since you're looking to apply as soon as a month from now, you should probably start with the above. Keep playing around with the above tricks, as there seems to have been a lot of success with them last year. It probably helps if you don’t already have a United credit card.

Good luck!

Just to add to Lain's detailed post, I wanted to clarify that a number of the benefits Lain lists under the Explorer (MPE) also apply to the Club card with the higher AF. I used to have the MPE but have only had the Club for the last year plus, so have taken advantage of these benefits with just the Club. These include the 25% mileage bonus on United’s MPX gift card app and increased award space availability on the United website. Another benefit I find from the Club version is no foreign transaction fees. We travel internationally quite a bit, and while travel and dining costs go on the CSR, I like having the Club card for a 1.5x earning option on generic spend that doesn't incur any foreign transaction fees. (MPE used to have FTF; I'm not sure whether the newer version has them or not.) So far, I've been keeping the Club card despite the $450 AF because it gets all 4 of us free checked bags (2 free bags each for the primary cardholder and one companion on the same reservation), the unlimited United lounge access (again for all 4 of us), the 1.5x with no foreign transaction fees and of course the increased award availability (although I could get that with MPE - bottom line is that we travel on United enough that I will always want one of the co-branded cards in my wallet for this benefit alone).

I also wanted to mention that if United is your goal, you should also consider the Chase UR family of earning cards since they transfer 1:1 to United. I definitely accumulate United miles through MPX, MileagePlus shopping portal, etc., but the bulk of my United earning really comes through Chase URs since they transfer 1:1 but can also be used for other purposes so are more flexible. Transfers to United are pretty much instantaneous online, so I don't feel disadvantaged by having to transfer UR to United to book awards. I've done transfers while speaking to a United agent on the phone to upgrade to business and/or first class and also with United tickets sitting in my cart on the webstie ready to purchase, and I have never lost out on any of those seats waiting for URs to hit my United account. The UR cards also have higher earning potential for everyday spend than the MPE or Club with CSR earning 3x on dining and travel, CIC earning 5x on purchases from office supply stores (including gift cards), CIP earning 3x on various categories, CF earning 5x on rotating quarterly categories, etc. The best the United cards to is 2x on United purchases and 1.5x on everything else (Club).

 

[gottalovepluto]

Final product. What do u guys thinks?

Thought process: pretty colors, pictures, yeah that pretty much sums this up... Gee, I'm so smart in this game, I know all these sites and redempti-- HILTON POINTS CAN GET YOU THAT IN THE MALDIVES?! Why had I decided Hilton points were practically useless to me?! Have I screwed up everything forever by ignoring hilton this year despite all the Hilton talk on our DIS thread?! OMG. Must. Research. Now.

...back from researching. Potentially viable option, will definitely require more research and some awesome planning. Thank you @Albort for this simple discription and pretty pictures to finally get this through to my thick skull!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Barclay Arrival+ rumored to be coming back in July with online signups and a 60k point bonus... https://www.doctorofcredit.com/barc...g-july-1st-worth-630-in-travel-89-annual-fee/

 

[Lain]

Thought process: pretty colors, pictures, yeah that pretty much sums this up... Gee, I'm so smart in this game, I know all these sites and redempti-- HILTON POINTS CAN GET YOU THAT IN THE MALDIVES?! Why had I decided Hilton points were practically useless to me?! Have I screwed up everything forever by ignoring hilton this year despite all the Hilton talk on our DIS thread?! OMG. Must. Research. Now.

...back from researching. Potentially viable option, will definitely require more research and some awesome planning. Thank you @Albort for this simple discription and pretty pictures to finally get this through to my thick skull!

Forget the Maldives, tell me about over-the-water bungalows in French Polynesia. Apparently that’s on my wife’s wanderlist.

 

[amalone1013]

oh, ok. I misunderstood when you mentioned your late flight arrival.

But you've reminded me to consider it for our trip next year! It's now on the planning spreadsheet

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Forget the Maldives, tell me about over-the-water bungalows in French Polynesia. Apparently that’s on my wife’s wanderlist.

Mine, too!

Speaking of United cards, my youngest just received an MPE mailer offer for 60K miles. I signed her up for a United ff account last summer when she flew United to Asia for her gap year study abroad. She's the only one in the family with a United account; guess I should sign up dh and myself up!

 

[eeyoreland]

I see SW flights are on sale. My return flight in September went down finally! A whole 363 points

I'm not getting lucky with any of my upcoming flights :-(.

 

[eeyoreland]

I'd like some advice as to which cards to start with

Our credit scores are somewhere around 800 (can't check right now; that's what they were before we froze the accounts last year after fraud). We only have 2 credit cards, a Discover and a Citi MC, and have held both since the 90s. We only use the mc when we can't use the discover. We attempt to max out the quarterly categories. I know we're missing soooooooo many opportunities!

We are not comfortable with double dipping. I am also not comfortable at this point with business cards. (Dh has not side hustle at all.) I have tutored in the past but have not for the past four years as I was homeschooling a high school student. Now that she's heading off to college, I'm taking a year off to decide what I want to do If I do jump back into tutoring I might consider business cards at that point. MS makes me twitchy lol

So I think one of us should begin with a Chase Sapphire product---correct? And then refer the other to the same?

I do want us to get SW cards (we fly SW almost exclusively) but we'd want to wait until the bonus goes back up. Might that happen in the fall? Because of not wanting to double-dip, the companion pass is probably out of reach.

I want to proceed slowly with opening cards. We shouldn't have problems meeting most minimum spending amounts though doubling up to say $8K/3 months could get a bit tricky.

Help, please!

(I will use the referral links from DISchurners )

Hi and welcome to the group. I'm a newbie myself, but just wanted to share with you that our philosophies are very much the same. I know many here are hard core churners and I'm grateful for all their advice. No one ever made me feel dumb or silly for not going in all the way. Just wanted you to know there are a few of us here who are new and taking it slow .

 

[1st*toright]

Generally, my impression is UA miles is better for Europe and MR points have better transfer partners to Asia. However, UA will get you to Asia and MRs will get you Asia. So both are great programs to build points and miles in.

As for which card(s) next, it kind of depends on the offers you can get.

If you can get targeted for the Amex Platinum with a 100k MR points offer, that's just one slot.

Have you tried to see if the Amex Platinum pulls up on Cardmatch with the 100k MR offer? See https://www.doctorofcredit.com/cardmatch-offering-people-100000-points-american-express-platinum/

Are you looking at both the United Club card and the Explorer card? That's 2 Chase slots you'd be using up for between 90k-110k UA miles.
...
Good luck!

Just to add to Lain's detailed post, I wanted to clarify that a number of the benefits Lain lists under the Explorer (MPE) also apply to the Club card with the higher AF. I used to have the MPE but have only had the Club for the last year plus, so have taken advantage of these benefits with just the Club. These include the 25% mileage bonus on United’s MPX gift card app and increased award space availability on the United website. Another benefit I find from the Club version is no foreign transaction fees. We travel internationally quite a bit, and while travel and dining costs go on the CSR, I like having the Club card for a 1.5x earning option on generic spend that doesn't incur any foreign transaction fees. (MPE used to have FTF; I'm not sure whether the newer version has them or not.) So far, I've been keeping the Club card despite the $450 AF because it gets all 4 of us free checked bags (2 free bags each for the primary cardholder and one companion on the same reservation), the unlimited United lounge access (again for all 4 of us), the 1.5x with no foreign transaction fees and of course the increased award availability (although I could get that with MPE - bottom line is that we travel on United enough that I will always want one of the co-branded cards in my wallet for this benefit alone).

Thank you both for your thoughtful commentary - exactly what I was looking for! I will go ahead and get registered with United and see if I can use it for my next work trip (not sure when that will be) or use some of the other tricks to try to generate a good offer. Then, when I'm ready to go ahead, I will see if I can pull the amex offer (no point pulling it now, will only make me cranky that I can't take advantage of it). If I can get the 100k MR, I'll do that and table the United card decision for a while. Pretty sure I will just do one United card, if I go that route - I don't think it would be worth 2 chase slots at the moment. I can get a first year fee waived on the club card I will do that, otherwise I will need to weigh the annual fees vs. benefits. The additional award availability is pretty compelling.

Do WDW restaurants count as "restaurants" for the Discover 5x? Or do they fall under the travel category? What about independently-run restaurants (some in Epcot, those in Disney Springs)?

In my experience, all the WDW restaurants (both Disney run and others) coded as restaurants, not travel. You can get non-restaurant spend to code as "travel" (ie. souvenier shopping etc) if you are staying on property and charge the expenses to your room.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

My mother is thinking about applying for a CIP. My father has had his own landscaping business for nearly 50 years - mostly a one-man show. Can she apply using his business? Not sure if they have an EIN.

Yep! No EIN needed. He can app as a sole proprietorship, using his social and his name as the business name.