I love credit cards so much!

[vanjust14]

So...bad idea or good? use dh and ds accts to buy 30k each on sale, and turn into a cat 6 nights and flights before end of July (with 50k RR points) to use at Swolphin..... advice? dumb idea? that means a 7 nitgh stay at swolphin would cost av.g 195 per night straight up,and the RR points are a bonus(?)

You won't be able to apply it to Swolphin though until after August 1, right? At that point Swolphin will be a "new" category 6 and cost more?? I've been trying to figure out the best way to do this also. I'm sure someone else here understands it better and can help!

ETA: Currently a cat 6 (which correlates to 30,000 per night) nights and flights is 230,000 plus 55,000 miles. The new cat 6 is 50,000 per night and the nights and flights is 435,000 plus 50,000 miles. I can't see them allowing the purchase of the "old" cat 6 to map to the "new" cat 6.

 

[hsmamato2]

sorry to ask a dumbo question here that's been asked before but I'm rushing this week (2 high school grad parties this week for ds) so if I head to grocery to max my FR today I know it wont post for a few days, will this be i time to get the 5x? I tried to do it on paypal yesterday for Dh but no go (something wrong with his acct sigh)

 

[hsmamato2]

You won't be able to apply it to Swolphin though until after August 1, right? At that point Swolphin will be a "new" category 6 and cost more?? I've been trying to figure out the best way to do this also. I'm sure someone else here understands it better and can help!

ETA: Currently a cat 6 (which correlates to 30,000 per night) nights and flights is 230,000 plus 55,000 miles. The new cat 6 is 50,000 per night and the nights and flights is 435,000 plus 50,000 miles. I can't see them allowing the purchase of the "old" cat 6 to map to the "new" cat 6.

I just realized you are correct. sigh. So the best I could do right now is if I buy points on sale transfer in and get a 5th night free before the 1st.... well,I'm not a 'big' player and I used my SPG for HAwaii so I should just get researching those other hotels I guess..... If I bought 2 30k sets on sale that's about 1365 (and it would finish my HH Biz MSR) so I might still do that at least. UGH. It was a GREAT run while it lasted there!

 

[linzjane88]

OK, so if I want to purchase a current Nights and Flights cat 1-5 (7n+120k RR) with the intention of staying in a cat 8 hotel and paying the difference in miles when I get them. That is switching to a new cat 5....how should I go about this?

Current 7 nights in cat 8= 240k, nights and flights package plus 120k RR 360k (270k if I go with the 1-5 package)

New 7 nights in cat 5= 210K

 

[Lain]

I posted yesterday that I removed DH as AU on my CSP and CF so that he can apply on his own and get the bonuses. I was going to also have these removed from his credit report, but I don't think I have to. After looking at them more closely, with these AUs he is 1/24 and will be 0/24 after July 17, 2018. He will spread these two new applications out over a period of a few months or more. Future cards for him include one of the Chase SW cards, but that probably won't be until late 2019 in order to try for the CP for 2020/21. Other than that he probably won't apply for ANY new cards as we churn slowly and he is a very reluctant player 2.

Anyone see any reason to go through the trouble of removing these AU's from his credit report? They will eventually show as "closed accounts" - correct? How long will it take for his credit report to update and show them as closed?

I believe Chase updates the credit bureaus after close of statement on a card or when you pay off your statement. So look for the AUs to show as "closed" then.

Sounds like DH's two AU accounts will simply age out of 24 months. Although the AUs will remain visible on DH's credit report and show as "closed," when your primary accounts age past 24 months from opening, Chase will stop counting them against you (the primary cardholder) and DH (the AU). So if the second card does drop off next month, I'd say it's not worth the hassle unless you're obsessive about "cleaning up" his credit report.

 

[jhoannam]

Happy Friday y'all! Quick question- I applied for my CIP on Tuesday. Called each morning since and its still "under review." I am getting antsy, ha! On average how long does it take for people to find out they were approved/denied?

And if I am denied, my plan B was a CSR. Can I immediately apply or do I need to wait? I'm getting a little antsy because ex-DH is going to be moving out in a few weeks and taking the furniture, plus my booking window for our DVC rental is approaching. I would hate to have to put any of this on my existing cards as it would really hamper my ability to meet the MSR without dipping too much into my savings.

DH's took 3 business days, mine took 2 business days.

 

[Lain]

Happy Friday y'all! Quick question- I applied for my CIP on Tuesday. Called each morning since and its still "under review." I am getting antsy, ha! On average how long does it take for people to find out they were approved/denied?

And if I am denied, my plan B was a CSR. Can I immediately apply or do I need to wait? I'm getting a little antsy because ex-DH is going to be moving out in a few weeks and taking the furniture, plus my booking window for our DVC rental is approaching. I would hate to have to put any of this on my existing cards as it would really hamper my ability to meet the MSR without dipping too much into my savings.

It seems most people who get the 30 days message get approved (or kicked to 7-10 days "likely denial") after pending for 1-2 days. But it can vary. @SouthFayetteFan 's 2nd player CIP app sat pending for 6 days.

Chase has a "2/30 rule" for consumer cards like the CSR. You can't have more than two Chase (biz or consumer) card applications in the past 30 days, or you won't be approved. The CIP would count as 1/30. That would let you apply for the CSR within the next 20-something days, but it wouldn't give you room to double dip the CSR and CSP during that same period (because that would take you to 3/30).

 

[liloca]

Good News... im finally making the leap from Community College --> University.
Bad News... my tuition just went from $50 --> $1200.
Good News... the University accepts All forms of CC.

Conclusion: first world problem...

Good choice on doing the Comunity college to University. That is what I did and I must say my professor in the comunity college were so much better than the ones I had in the University!

 

[jhoannam]

OK, so if I want to purchase a current Nights and Flights cat 1-5 (7n+120k RR) with the intention of staying in a cat 8 hotel and paying the difference in miles when I get them. That is switching to a new cat 5....how should I go about this?

Current 7 nights in cat 8= 240k, nights and flights package plus 120k RR 360k (270k if I go with the 1-5 package)

New 7 nights in cat 5= 210K

We still don't know how they will handle the current certificates. Hopefully things will come to light. It sounds like the Cat 1-5 certificates will turn in to Cat 1-4 Certificates. But besides that we don't know.
I need a current cat 8 certificate (40K a night), but the hotel will become a Cat 6 (50K). I need to book our trip before Aug. 1, I really don't want to book that far in advance.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Happy Friday y'all! Quick question- I applied for my CIP on Tuesday. Called each morning since and its still "under review." I am getting antsy, ha! On average how long does it take for people to find out they were approved/denied?

And if I am denied, my plan B was a CSR. Can I immediately apply or do I need to wait? I'm getting a little antsy because ex-DH is going to be moving out in a few weeks and taking the furniture, plus my booking window for our DVC rental is approaching. I would hate to have to put any of this on my existing cards as it would really hamper my ability to meet the MSR without dipping too much into my savings.

I think mine took about a week...went from 30 days...to 2 weeks..then approved
My husbands took only 2 days...and went from 30 days to approved

 

[hsmamato2]

I just noticed that Discover has Hotels.com gift cards as a redmeption right now. $45 for $50 or $90 for $100. I've got $255 in cashback right now, so I might do that for the last $111 for our September stay at RPR... Not only would I be using that cashback to cover travel expenses (what I save it for anyways) but it's a slightly discounted use!


ETA: Though I'm stingy about using the cashback, in 4.5 years I've only redeemed a couple Alamo certs and 2 Landry's gift cards to use at Yak n Yeti This will definitely make me want to get my last $22 for Q2!

can you tell me if it's a standard,easy thing to redeem hotels.com for RPR or onsite at Uni?

 

[platamama]

OK, so if I want to purchase a current Nights and Flights cat 1-5 (7n+120k RR) with the intention of staying in a cat 8 hotel and paying the difference in miles when I get them. That is switching to a new cat 5....how should I go about this?

Current 7 nights in cat 8= 240k, nights and flights package plus 120k RR 360k (270k if I go with the 1-5 package)

New 7 nights in cat 5= 210K

Yes, this is exactly what I'm trying to figure out too. I think I will keep my floating Cat 1-5 7nt unattached. If Marriott decides that its equivalent is a Cat 1-4 7nt (in their new travel package chart), then there is only a 60K point difference between that and a Cat 5 travel package. Hopefully they will continue to allow upgrading 7 nt hotel certificates with the difference in points, and I can upgrade it with 60K points. Currently it would cost me 90K points to upgrade my Cat 1-5 to a Cat 8 (30K points for each category upgrade level), so this situation works out better for me. That's if it that all goes according to my plan (not to say that Marriott will agree with my plan!).

The possible risks here are 1) Marriott decides my Cat 1-5 7nt certificate is worth 45K in points (which is what they currently give you back if you relinquish your certificate) and is not equivalent to a Cat 1-4 7nt certificate; I don't think that's likely. 2) Marriott doesn't allow upgrades paid with points to the hotel certificates; this would be a complete policy change on their part. Worst case scenario is I'm left with an almost worthless Cat 1-5 7 nt certificate that is worth 45K points. I can live with that.

I also have enough points to book another (current) Cat 8 travel package for a property that is going to be a Cat 6, and this situation is totally different. I will redeem the 360K point travel package in July to get the 120K air miles (which are decreasing to 100K miles with the new travel packages in August) and attach the hotel certificate to the current Cat 8 hotel. The travel package for this situation increases 150K points from the current 360K points to 510K in August. Even signing up for the new Marriott cc wouldn't be anywhere close to getting me the the points I need for that.

Marriott travel packages have been awesome for me for a few years, but with the changes it's time for me to look for other loyalty programs.

 

[platamama]

Happy Friday y'all! Quick question- I applied for my CIP on Tuesday. Called each morning since and its still "under review." I am getting antsy, ha! On average how long does it take for people to find out they were approved/denied?

And if I am denied, my plan B was a CSR. Can I immediately apply or do I need to wait? I'm getting a little antsy because ex-DH is going to be moving out in a few weeks and taking the furniture, plus my booking window for our DVC rental is approaching. I would hate to have to put any of this on my existing cards as it would really hamper my ability to meet the MSR without dipping too much into my savings.

I found out in under 24 hours. I applied Monday and received the card yesterday.

 

[AmyAnne]

sorry to ask a dumbo question here that's been asked before but I'm rushing this week (2 high school grad parties this week for ds) so if I head to grocery to max my FR today I know it wont post for a few days, will this be i time to get the 5x? I tried to do it on paypal yesterday for Dh but no go (something wrong with his acct sigh)

I think that in-store purchases should be okay but on-line purchases can be risky.

 

[miztressuz]

Getting ready to book a cruise with Carnival. Has anyone done this with Carnival and then transfer to Chase. I will probably book Early Saver, which can get price drops up until a few days before sailing. Once I transfer to Chase will they be able to do the same. I am so used to booking directly with Carnival and having total control over the booking. I am waiting on 87,000 UR's to post (mid July) and then I will have over 200,000 UR's to pay the rest of the cruise.

Can I still go on the Carnival Website and see my cruise and buy excursions and stuff without going through Chase. Just not sure how all this works...

I haven't cruise Carnival at all, so I don't have specifics for that. Each cruise line has requirements for when you can transfer a reservation to a travel agent. DCL and NCL is 30 days from booking. I know several years ago some lines would let you transfer up to final payment, so you could have control for a year and then send it to a TA to get perks before making final payment. I suspect there's not many (if any) that still do that, but I'd do a search on the Carnival site to find out what their requirements are.

Once you give it to a TA they own the reservation, so price drops and any changes to the booking have to be completed by the agent - it's "their" reservation and not yours until you actually travel it.

As for things that you control vs the TA. Anything that has to do with the reservation or getting to the reservation is controlled by the TA. If you wanted add-ons like grounds transfers, insurance from the cruiseline, also flights hotels etc provided by the cruiseline, all that needs to be booked by the TA. Anything that happens on your trip is still in your control. So gratuities, shore excursions, spa treatments, dining reservations, etc is still accessible to you. You should be able to see everything on the website except stuff directly related to payment.

In other news I didn't fully process your other post where you now have a CSR and a CSP. That's interesting to me and I'm filing it away for later use if I can figure out how to make that advantageous at some point I kinda assumed that you couldn't get the other one later if you had one, and hold both products at once, based on the app language. Evidently you can pay as many fees as you want on existing cards, you just can't apply for a new one. I wonder if that's because it was a CSR before or if you can do that to any card even if you didn't have CSR before. Obviously you'd miss the bonus but this is food for more thought

 

[hsmamato2]

I think that in-store purchases should be okay but on-line purchases can be risky.

I'm want to go for it since I got highly distracted and not even close right now....

 

[miztressuz]

sorry to ask a dumbo question here that's been asked before but I'm rushing this week (2 high school grad parties this week for ds) so if I head to grocery to max my FR today I know it wont post for a few days, will this be i time to get the 5x? I tried to do it on paypal yesterday for Dh but no go (something wrong with his acct sigh)

as long as the transaction date is within the dates you're ok if it posts later. I think the problem with online stuff is you don't always know when the transaction date will be, especially if they don't process the payment until shipping. but I've been ok with in store purchases up to the last day for stores that process their transactions same day, which most major stores do.

 

[Albort]

as long as the transaction date is within the dates you're ok if it posts later. I think the problem with online stuff is you don't always know when the transaction date will be, especially if they don't process the payment until shipping. but I've been ok with in store purchases up to the last day for stores that process their transactions same day, which most major stores do.

@hsmamato2 yup, can confirm. i made a grocery purchase on June 30th @ 10pm PST(last year), codes 5x for me.

 

[amalone1013]

can you tell me if it's a standard,easy thing to redeem hotels.com for RPR or onsite at Uni?

Yup! You just go through booking as you normally would, and enter your gift card at checkout. You can combine their gcs too so you can cover the whole thing if you want. You also can earn and redeem reward nights on them, if you're part of the program. And earn shopping portal cashback on the hotel room cost before taxes (the portals give a higher percent if you don't do Hotels.com rewards, but I always do the rewards too because if you're going to book enough through them to earn a free night, you get 10% of the value towards your free night... Usually the shopping portals aren't a big difference, like Swagbucks is 8% vs 5% normally). It's almost easier than Disney, because you don't have to worry about linking your reservation for any benefits, you just show up. We did 1 night through Hotels.com last year (and 2 nights with a Daily Getaways cert, and linked reservations), and we're doing 1 night in September.

ETA meant to mention the price is always within a few cents... must be something about how they calculate taxes... I've only seen USO hotels as regular prices myself, so I figure if I'm spending that no matter what I might as well be able to use discounted gift cards/earn rewards.

 

[miztressuz]

Good choice on doing the Comunity college to University. That is what I did and I must say my professor in the comunity college were so much better than the ones I had in the University!

So it's not just me that thought that I have a good comm college. When I transferred out as a junior some folks in my major classes thought I was a TA because I had more experience/knowledge of the material than anyone else in class. Almost all the profs at the CC had real world experience so we did more in class than the curriculum required usually. It's not that anyone at the university was bad, there were good profs there too, but the ones at comm college were stellar at making sure the class knew why you wanted to learn this or that... so most people actually learned it. At the university it was a lot of academia and not quite the same enthusiasm. You had to have the drive to learn it yourself and sometimes do outside research to get the full effect of some classes.
For folks that have a good community college with good transfer partners, I always recommend starting there and transferring. That way you get your core requirements for cheap and a foundation in basics to understand the advanced classes later. And look for the CC sign! My comm college also took CC's with no fee, I'm just bummed I was a college student with no credit history so I didn't have any good rewards cards to charge it to. (But at least it helped me get credit.)