I love credit cards so much!

[trenty]

Bought $500 Safeway on amazon, $100 off. Just used all Safeway gift cards to buy disney gift cards. They put up to $500 on one! I TESTED FIRST by buying a non-discounted $25 Safeway on amazon to make sure my store allowed it. Got the card in a few minutes. When I bought $500 worth it took 4 hours to process. VERY. HAPPY. Good luck!

Thank you. No Safeway anywhere near me thought. But glad this will work for some.

 

[kayteekt]

Haven't been able to keep up with this board lately. Life has just been hectic. You would think you would have more time in the summer

Anyway, last advice I was given was to hang tight for a while on any new apps (with chase at least). We've been trying to work on using the best card for each purchase. But I'm getting antsy and wishing some of our spend was going towards an MSR.

Anyone want to help me stratagize?

Here's where I stand...
1. CF - 9/20/17
CIP - 9/20/17
2. CSP - 11/13/17
3. CSR - 11/13/17
4. Chase Mariott - 1/2018
Amex SPG Biz - 3/2/18

**My ultimate plan/strategy, I really want to go for the CIC while the bonus is higher, but is it too soon for another Chase card? Then wait a bit more, fill in with some business cards and then fill my 5th spot with a 5/24 card

Here's DH...
CIP - 11/6/17 (this is under his social, could I get another with the EIN?)
CIC - 1/10/18 (we did this one under his EIN)
1. Amex SPG Personal - 1/15/18
2. Chase Freedom - 1/24/18
Amex SPG Biz - 3/20/18

**Ultimate plan/strategy for DH would be fill his last spot with a CSP/CSR. Maybe fill in with new Stariott cards.

I'm leaning towards getting an AA Citibusines card (plat select, I think it's called). Something that won't take a 5/24 spot. If/when we fly, we are out of CLT which is primarily AA (if you want to fly anywhere direct that is). So earning AA points and getting some status wouldn't be a bad thing.

I'm really only familiar with the Chase and SPG cards, so there may be something that I'm overlooking.

I've thought about getting my feet wet with Amex MR points, but I don't even know what we would use them on (we rarely fly).

Any thoughts/tips/pointers would be appreciated

 

[peel]

DH and I picked up 4 of the cat 1-5 packages. We are only interested in the miles and already got a better value with the travel package than we would have than by just transferring SPG points to an airline.

We now have 4 of the 7 night travel certificates that I have no idea what we will do with. I believe Starwood Lurker insinuated that floater certificates not attached to a hotel reservation will be converted back to points. I’m good with that. I will look into seeing if there is any hotel I’d like before August and attach one of them to a reservation.

This is the direction I’m leaning towards as well. If I had a specific redemption in mind I’d go for the exact category, but since I don’t, 1-5 seems like the best bet.

 

[platamama]

Did you book a Cat 1-5? I'm curious what everyone is deciding is the best option.

I have two Cat 8 properties I'm planning on. In August one will become a Cat 5 and will be 5K/nt less, one will become a Cat 6 and be 10K/nt more. I'm thinking I will redeem Cat 8 packages and attach a certificate to each property. That way I lock in the lower rate on one, and hope to get a 30K refund on the other.

 

[vanjust14]

I know this is OT but there is very minimal chatter on the Seaworld thread. I'm just wondering if anyone has seen discounted seaworld tickets? I'm a last minute planner and want to add a day here to my August Universal trip for my DD2.

 

[Albort]

Here's where I stand...
1. CF - 9/20/17
CIP - 9/20/17
2. CSP - 11/13/17
3. CSR - 11/13/17
4. Chase Mariott - 1/2018
Amex SPG Biz - 3/2/18

**My ultimate plan/strategy, I really want to go for the CIC while the bonus is higher, but is it too soon for another Chase card? Then wait a bit more, fill in with some business cards and then fill my 5th spot with a 5/24 card

yikes, thats pushing it with Chase... id avoid chase! your at 5/12 for shut down rules. bring down the 5/12 count down before applying for anything.

 

[calypso726]

Someone give me advice or talk me off a ledge. Pricing out flights to Barcelona from Cvg and the entire Midwest...sucks. JFK is the European gateway for Delta. I can get a non-stop in comfort+ from JFK to BCN for 60k RT. That's insane. It's like 120k from my part of the world (in May. I obviously can't see next August yet). So does it make sense to just fly from CVG to JFK? I feel like it does... I have the Delta plat which will give me a free companion ticket next year. OR I could open a SW card and fly into LGA... We would hang out in NYC for awhile.

Is this insane? Looking for opinions.

I have no problem with positioning flights. In your shoes, I’d fly to New York a day earlier, stay at a hotel on points or free night certificate, catch a show *cough, Hamilton, cough* The next day fly out on your 60k RT flight.

I did a positioning flight for the Singapore Suite flight out of JFK. My closest airports are Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. A couple of months ago we purposely flew to Atlanta to catch a specific flight on Delta with lie flat seats to go to LAX. We’ve purposely flown to DFW when headed to Hawaii to be on a plane with lie flat seats.

I will likely be doing another positioning flight for our trips to Scotland next year since I cant find award flights in first on BA out of Miami. So, it will likely be one of 4 airports in 4 different states.

If it makes sense to you, then go for it.

 

[kayteekt]

yikes, thats pushing it with Chase... id avoid chase! your at 5/12 for shut down rules. bring down the 5/12 count down before applying for anything.

Oh geez, I didn't know there was a chase 5/12 rule. Well, I use my Freedom, CSR, and CIP regularly. No clue if that helps as far as avoiding a shut down.

 

[disneedee]

My churning life feels so boring right now, lol. We have gotten 3 cards all year...Delta Gold Biz, Blue Biz+, CIP. (This is after getting 13 cards in 2017 and 29 in 2016, LOL!)

We are scheduled for a CSR/CSP double dip in mid-August (I want to put 4 months between my CIP and the double dip). We've also managed to max out 4x CF cards in Q1 and Q2 (yup $6,000 each quarter!). Q1 was all MS via ApplePay. Q2 was 50% MS via PayPal and 50% organic spend. Of course this is all by design and in line with a strategy years in the making, but now that I'm in the midst of it, it just feels super boring, lol.

I went through a similar stage with FIRE (early retirement)...There was a flurry of excitement initially as we got some things in order and now we are in the accumulation phase, basically nothing I can do but work, save and let time pass.

...Ok - at any rate, just venting, haha. Back to your regularly scheduled DISchurners discussion...

I’m so far behind, this will show up days later but you continue to help all of us with our strategy. Thankyou.

 

[tink1970]

Someone give me advice or talk me off a ledge. Pricing out flights to Barcelona from Cvg and the entire Midwest...sucks. JFK is the European gateway for Delta. I can get a non-stop in comfort+ from JFK to BCN for 60k RT. That's insane. It's like 120k from my part of the world (in May. I obviously can't see next August yet). So does it make sense to just fly from CVG to JFK? I feel like it does... I have the Delta plat which will give me a free companion ticket next year. OR I could open a SW card and fly into LGA... We would hang out in NYC for awhile.

Is this insane? Looking for opinions.

Nope, we do it regularly from PNS to ATL, then ATL to ----.

I decided to pay $$$ for one way to BCN (flight next week as a matter of fact!) and BcN-ATL was half price the ticket cost of PNs-BCN. We're staying st a Sheraton/Westin in ATL while I can still check out as late as 4pm and despite food and lodging costs will save almost $1000 if we had flown from PNS (used miles to get to ATL).


Next year on DD's grad trip plan to position out of JfK to try either LOT or Austrian business.

Long winded summary- nope I do it and it saves $!

 

[Albort]

Oh geez, I didn't know there was a chase 5/12 rule. Well, I use my Freedom, CSR, and CIP regularly. No clue if that helps as far as avoiding a shut down.

its not a hard encoded rule like 5/24, but getting 5 chase cards within a year, ive seen people get shut down for. Actually, spending money is what makes chase nervous because they think you apply for a load of credit in a short period of time, use your cards, then stop paying them all. they call it a bustout. I think they are slowly denying app for that now... someone recently here got the too many inquiries in a short period of time.
the rule suggested for chase shutdown is to try to stay below 5/12, 3/6, 2/3.
I think your moving too fast with Chase.

@SouthFayetteFan may have a different opinion though. haha. tagged him for his response.

 

[kayteekt]

its not a hard encoded rule like 5/24, but getting 5 chase cards within a year, ive seen people get shut down for. Actually, spending money is what makes chase nervous because they think you apply for a load of credit in a short period of time, use your cards, then stop paying them all. they call it a bustout. I think they are slowly denying app for that now... someone recently here got the too many inquiries in a short period of time.
the rule suggested for chase shutdown is to try to stay below 5/12, 3/6, 2/3.
I think your moving too fast with Chase.

@SouthFayetteFan may have a different opinion though. haha. tagged him for his response.

Thanks for the info. I am keep them paid, I go in and pay everything weekly. Anyhow, yes, I would love to go for the CIC but was assuming I shouldn't.

I need something to hold me over, so I was thinking about a business card. AA Citibusiness in particular. We are AA hostages essentially, so it would be good to have some AA points.

 

[GlamMistress]

Nope, we do it regularly from PNS to ATL, then ATL to ----.

I decided to pay $$$ for one way to BCN (flight next week as a matter of fact!) and BcN-ATL was half price the ticket cost of PNs-BCN. We're staying st a Sheraton/Westin in ATL while I can still check out as late as 4pm and despite food and lodging costs will save almost $1000 if we had flown from PNS (used miles to get to ATL).


Next year on DD's grad trip plan to position out of JfK to try either LOT or Austrian business.

Long winded summary- nope I do it and it saves $!

Thanks to you and @calypso726 - after I typed it all out I was pretty sure the positioning flight makes the most sense so that is what we will do. I have a friend who lives in Manhattan that we can crash with if we don't want to burn points. It's a little more hassle to position but will work out better in the long run. All my options had multiple hours long layovers, which is just stupid.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I'm glad I asked, thanks! See, even when I'm confident I know something, I'm wrong.
I hope it comes through in the next few weeks, then. It took almost a month to get a Freedom bonus when my cousin used my link.

ETA: Do you think I'm okay as long as it's listed under points I'll receive on my next statement? As long as it's showing up as pending I should be good to PC?

I had some pending referral points when I PC'd a Chase card and they posted just fine.

 

[schmass]

The 100k RR points are showing in my SW account! So relieved the Marriott guy got it right! So for anyone wondering, that transfer took exactly 24 hours.

 

[schmass]

Did you book a Cat 1-5? I'm curious what everyone is deciding is the best option.

I went with a cat 6. Not exactly sure why. Everyone seemed to think that was a safe bet a couple of months ago.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Just noticed the Poly on the UR portal for my one night in September I'm booking a Disney hotel. Just thought I'd throw that out there since they weren't showing up again the other day.

For some reason Poly is the only one showing up for the last couple weeks. I check way too much. I think there is just some sort of big glitch.

 

[Haley R]

Someone give me advice or talk me off a ledge. Pricing out flights to Barcelona from Cvg and the entire Midwest...sucks. JFK is the European gateway for Delta. I can get a non-stop in comfort+ from JFK to BCN for 60k RT. That's insane. It's like 120k from my part of the world (in May. I obviously can't see next August yet). So does it make sense to just fly from CVG to JFK? I feel like it does... I have the Delta plat which will give me a free companion ticket next year. OR I could open a SW card and fly into LGA... We would hang out in NYC for awhile.

Is this insane? Looking for opinions.

Omg I feel ya. Trying to fly to Japan from the Midwest isn’t cheap either. Plus we don’t have any big airports close to us. We may end up going for convenience rather than price.

 

[GlamMistress]

Omg I feel ya. Trying to fly to Japan from the Midwest isn’t cheap either. Plus we don’t have any big airports close to us. We may end up going for convenience rather than price.

Did you check out of ORD? Usually that works for me but not this time. You might be better served getting yourself to SEA or LAX but I definitely hear you on the convience factor.

 

[disneybirds]

Bought $500 Safeway on amazon, $100 off. Just used all Safeway gift cards to buy disney gift cards. They put up to $500 on one! I TESTED FIRST by buying a non-discounted $25 Safeway on amazon to make sure my store allowed it. Got the card in a few minutes. When I bought $500 worth it took 4 hours to process. VERY. HAPPY. Good luck!

Good idea! We will be in Oregon next week, so may try this. I am assuming you bought a $500 Disney gift card?