I love credit cards so much!

[Calfan]

So here's a question from a total beginner on hotel statuses: To get the status benefits of the AmEx Platinum, do I link the credit card to my hotel rewards account or link the hotel rewards account to my credit card? In other, words, where do I start -- on the AmEx site or the hotel rewards website?

I just recently got my Amex Platinum. I got an email to explore my benefits, which took me to the Amex site. That had links to get my gold status for Hilton and Spg. It only took a couple of clicks.

 

[Alice Sr.]

I did NOT have a great morning. On the way into work I got an email from Chase that on my husbands account of notification of address change. About 20 minutes after that; still in car just had dropped off my girls to school, got fraud notification from Chase for a $876 on my husband's Reserve to Virgin Mobile. Do what I need to when first into work and then start dealing with it. For what it is worth a couple thoughts to all my fellow travel/card hackers.

• If you are signing up your spouse for cards with their permission just be aware that if there is a breach they are the ones who will ultimately have to deal with it. I tried but they could only talk to him or have him present to give me permission. (Which didn't work since he was at work too). He spent over an hour on the phone with chase. Basically someone got his social security number, birth date, and complete Reserve number. They had changed our address across both business and personal. He has been pretty sweet about it but judging from the texts I was getting while he was on the phone it was not an easy process.
• Request a free credit report from: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action. Out of paranoia I requested and went through all 3 today.
• Be aware that authorized users do show up on the reports. I had a Barclaycard years ago and it is on his report. Discover is on there too; and he was always just an AU on that. Just something to think about.
• Check your credit score on one of your cards, but be aware that does not cover everything.

Sorry to be a downer because I do love this hobby, but this today has not been too fun.

I was notified by Cap1 yesterday AM also about a suspicious charge. It was not mine so they canceled that card # and are sending out a new one. It took about 3 minutes and that was because I had to update my address. Guess I'm glad it wasn't one of my Chase cards, I can't imagine being on the phone with them for that long. What took so long to handle? Was it the wait time at Chase, that just seems really ridiculous. As a side note Cap1 is the card I have had the longest and not part of any activity related to the info I have used from this thread. I do spend a lot more time checking charges and my CR than I ever did in the past but for me that is a bonus. I'm know I have paid for things in the past that I shouldn't have just because I didn't monitor what was going on. I hope you got everything straightened out (without anymore calls).

 

[tink1970]

I did NOT have a great morning. On the way into work I got an email from Chase that on my husbands account of notification of address change. About 20 minutes after that; still in car just had dropped off my girls to school, got fraud notification from Chase for a $876 on my husband's Reserve to Virgin Mobile. Do what I need to when first into work and then start dealing with it. For what it is worth a couple thoughts to all my fellow travel/card hackers.

• If you are signing up your spouse for cards with their permission just be aware that if there is a breach they are the ones who will ultimately have to deal with it. I tried but they could only talk to him or have him present to give me permission. (Which didn't work since he was at work too). He spent over an hour on the phone with chase. Basically someone got his social security number, birth date, and complete Reserve number. They had changed our address across both business and personal. He has been pretty sweet about it but judging from the texts I was getting while he was on the phone it was not an easy process.
• Request a free credit report from: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action. Out of paranoia I requested and went through all 3 today.
• Be aware that authorized users do show up on the reports. I had a Barclaycard years ago and it is on his report. Discover is on there too; and he was always just an AU on that. Just something to think about.
• Check your credit score on one of your cards, but be aware that does not cover everything.

Sorry to be a downer because I do love this hobby, but this today has not been too fun.

So sorry your morning was rough! I've had to change my CSR once and Disney twice with Chase and fortunately it all went smoothly. We were traveling right after the CSR and they FedEx'd the new card to our hotel...I was impressed by that (until I saw how close a Chase branch was ).

I am in the habit of checking my cards daily and it seems to help, as well as having alerts. Paranoid maybe but then I can call the issuer immediately.

Hope your weekend is better!

 

[WVMomof3]

I had been debating about getting this, so after I saw the post about it possibly going away yesterday, I pulled the trigger. Got the We will notify you in 30 days notice. I have car insurance due soon, so was hoping to get it before then.

Guess what showed up in my online Chase account this morning??

 

[calypso726]

Well after receiving 2 email offers for the personal Amex Platinum card without the "once in a lifetime, only new card holders language" and then getting the same offer in the regular mail, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I called to verify my eligibility since I didn't want to get a hard pull, spend $5,000 and wind up with no bonus. At first the agent said she needed to verify and came back and said I wasn't eligible. So, I asked to speak to a supervisor since the T&C on the offer they sent me does not state that I would not be eligible. She put me on hold again and then came back and said she spoke to 3 account managers and all said that I was eligible for the bonus with the offer code I received. I applied and was approved! YAY! It's only 60k MR but I've had the card before at 100k and never thought I'd be getting a bonus again so I'm happy! Even more so now that Amex decided to do away with the 50% points back on the business platinum card after those who applied recently have had it for a year. I'll likely cancel that one and keep the personal one instead. Good timing.

 

[peel]

Well if you can get the Marriott card with 100k bonus (supposedly expired but read up thread about links still working) I would consider that as you can link Marriott & SPG now & transfer points. Otherwise I'd go for Chase Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred.
ETA: You can use points earned from Sapphire cards to book Disney hotels, other hotels or airfare.

PSA: I can still find the 100K offer today.

 

[AmyAnne]

I just recently got my Amex Platinum. I got an email to explore my benefits, which took me to the Amex site. That had links to get my gold status for Hilton and Spg. It only took a couple of clicks.

Thanks - I see the link for Hilton on the AmEx site. I'll keep looking for the link for SPG.

 

[AmyAnne]

A question for the frequent fliers: If you had to connect (for an international flight) which of these airports would you choose: Houston, Dulles, or O'Hare?

 

[Aanna]

A question for the frequent fliers: If you had to connect (for an international flight) which of these airports would you choose: Houston, Dulles, or O'Hare?

Definitely *not* Dulles or O'Hare, which leaves Houston LOL

 

[wendow]

A question for the frequent fliers: If you had to connect (for an international flight) which of these airports would you choose: Houston, Dulles, or O'Hare?

Houston airport is pretty small and very easy to navigate.

 

[Lain]

A question for the frequent fliers: If you had to connect (for an international flight) which of these airports would you choose: Houston, Dulles, or O'Hare?

I used to fly a lot between LAX/SFO/SEA and JFK/LGA/EWR, and because I flew United would frequently connect at O'Hare. Well, almost all the delays I've experienced in my life has been at O'Hare. Avoid that airport if you can -- especially during the winter months!

 

[Ngwira]

Credit score is bouncing back from holding off on new apps. It was 780 and now 794 or so. I haven't applied for a new card since March and don't plan to until later this year. If anything, I will get the CSP in DH's name as he is 3/24 or so. I do have a flight to book which will be about $1300..and lots of travel coming up so will likely make minimum spend easy peasy.

AMEX concierge came through with a reservation on a Saturday night in July for Carmine's in Times Square. It was booked solid but they called and got us in! So excited since it's on my actual 40th birthday!

 

[Texans_loyal]

A question for the frequent fliers: If you had to connect (for an international flight) which of these airports would you choose: Houston, Dulles, or O'Hare?

Houston. not too busy. O'hare is a nightmare

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I used to fly a lot between LAX/SFO/SEA and JFK/LGA/EWR, and because I flew United would frequently connect at O'Hare. Well, almost all the delays I've experienced in my life has been at O'Hare. Avoid that airport if you can -- especially during the winter months!

OHare is my home airport so I guess I'm used to it but weather delays in the Midwest in the winter are common. I actually hated DFW & Miami both. Got stuck in Miami during an 8 hr delay and it was awful.

 

[afan]

OHare is my home airport so I guess I'm used to it but weather delays in the Midwest in the winter are common. I actually hated DFW & Miami both. Got stuck in Miami during an 8 hr delay and it was awful.

I won't connect in Chicago in the winter but I've never had problems. Where I connect is always based on where I'm going, flight lengths and price. I'm in Seattle so I generally won't connect at southern airports because they are out of the way. If I were going to the Caribbean or south America I would consider Houston but not if I have to connect to get somewhere on the east coast or Europe.

Not knowing where you are coming from makes it hard too. Guessing you are going to Europe or at least east with those airports. I would do Dulles so my longer flight is shorter. I wouldn't want one short and one super long.

 

[wendow]

OHare is my home airport so I guess I'm used to it but weather delays in the Midwest in the winter are common. I actually hated DFW & Miami both. Got stuck in Miami during an 8 hr delay and it was awful.

I am from Dallas and I think the DFW airport is just atrocious. I really hate when we fly in and out of there (rather than the smaller Love Field where SWA flies into).

 

[kmc8826]

I am in the habit of checking my cards daily and it seems to help, as well as having alerts. Paranoid maybe but then I can call the issuer immediately.

Thank you! I know on my own cards (in my name) I have the apps on my phone and check at least once a day. I am not that careful with his, maybe once a week. I think what happened with this is that they called in and changed the address and then got off the phone and then made the $800 Virgin Mobile purchase. That triggered the email alert.

I was notified by Cap1 yesterday AM also about a suspicious charge. It was not mine so they canceled that card # and are sending out a new one. It took about 3 minutes and that was because I had to update my address. Guess I'm glad it wasn't one of my Chase cards, I can't imagine being on the phone with them for that long. What took so long to handle? Was it the wait time at Chase, that just seems really ridiculous. As a side note Cap1 is the card I have had the longest and not part of any activity related to the info I have used from this thread. I do spend a lot more time checking charges and my CR than I ever did in the past but for me that is a bonus. I'm know I have paid for things in the past that I shouldn't have just because I didn't monitor what was going on. I hope you got everything straightened out (without anymore calls).

I am not sure what exactly took so long. DH said that he talked to someone and then they put him on hold. He got from them that someone had called in and was able to change the address on his Chase account because they had the complete Reserve number as well as his birth date and social security number. Then they made the charge right after that (and at least Chase triggered the fraud alert and it came to my email). This was a little weird because they have the complete information enough to make changes to the account. It then took longer too because he has three accounts and the Reserve, Ink, and a Disney and it changed the address across the board on all three. About a year ago there were some weird charges on his Amex for like $1. It went through for like 3 months before I was like "seriously, what is that?" and then he said he didn't know. We called it was fraud, and cancelled the card no problem. I guess they were thieves that were starting way small!

I hope it is all straightened out now too! I guess I am on a break from cards for a while. I am at 5/24 until next March and now I think I will wait a bit before I have him get one. We have the 90 day fraud alert on now.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I won't connect in Chicago in the winter but I've never had problems. Where I connect is always based on where I'm going, flight lengths and price. I'm in Seattle so I generally won't connect at southern airports because they are out of the way. If I were going to the Caribbean or south America I would consider Houston but not if I have to connect to get somewhere on the east coast or Europe.

Not knowing where you are coming from makes it hard too. Guessing you are going to Europe or at least east with those airports. I would do Dulles so my longer flight is shorter. I wouldn't want one short and one super long.

I fly direct when at all possible. Hate connections. Miami & DFW were both during a trip to Costa Rica. Missed a connection in Miami (mech delay at OHare, so yes they stink sometimes) then on the way home customs in DFW was awful & almost missed our flight to Chicago. We have never had a problem with customs at OHare, even bringing our newly adopted son from China with a bunch of extra paperwork.

 

[Alice Sr.]

Thank you! I know on my own cards (in my name) I have the apps on my phone and check at least once a day. I am not that careful with his, maybe once a week. I think what happened with this is that they called in and changed the address and then got off the phone and then made the $800 Virgin Mobile purchase. That triggered the email alert.

I am not sure what exactly took so long. DH said that he talked to someone and then they put him on hold. He got from them that someone had called in and was able to change the address on his Chase account because they had the complete Reserve number as well as his birth date and social security number. Then they made the charge right after that (and at least Chase triggered the fraud alert and it came to my email). This was a little weird because they have the complete information enough to make changes to the account. It then took longer too because he has three accounts and the Reserve, Ink, and a Disney and it changed the address across the board on all three. About a year ago there were some weird charges on his Amex for like $1. It went through for like 3 months before I was like "seriously, what is that?" and then he said he didn't know. We called it was fraud, and cancelled the card no problem. I guess they were thieves that were starting way small!

I hope it is all straightened out now too! I guess I am on a break from cards for a while. I am at 5/24 until next March and now I think I will wait a bit before I have him get one. We have the 90 day fraud alert on now.

That's so freaky, do you have any suspicions on how they got that info? I purchased something online from a company that operates out of a country with a reputation for shady online behavior so it was kind of like "Of course". It was not as big of deal, just my card # (I hope). Makes me think about signing up for life lock or something.

 

[Alice Sr.]

I just looked at my Discover account and apparently I have a 2% bonus on gas and restaurants. When I tried to see about the 5% bonus it said my account was not eligible for activation of the 5% bonus. Any thoughts? I will have to contact them about it on my next off day.

Sorry, I'm not sure but I think there is a window for activating the card for the specific categories. Hopefully someone here with the Discover card can verify that or provide some insight.