I love credit cards so much!

[WVMomof3]

Me too! I used my Discover for everything once I got it!

I get super anxious when DHs 4'10" 85 year old grandma pulls out her bank envelope of $100s to pay for things.

MY MIL does this too! But she is legally blind and can only see a tiny bit, so she brings the whole wad up to her eyeball and thumbs through all the bills looking for the right denomination. She tries to keep them in order, but every once in awhile she gets them mixed up. I just hope all the clerks would be honest with her if she accidentally pulled a $100 instead of a $10! But meanwhile, the whole store sees her and her bank envelopes. (she usually pulls out multiples, wait this is the grocery envelope, oh this one is the bills envelope, etc etc)

 

[trenty]

From the offer terms:

1. You'll earn an additional 5,000 bonus miles after your first purchase and addition of an authorized user to your account; both must occur during the first 3 months from account opening. So you making a purchase and adding DS as an AU within the first 3 months will get you an extra 5k UA miles on top of whatever is the signup bonus.

2. Card benefits like free first checked bag, are for the primary Cardmember and one traveling companion on the same reservation; authorized users are only eligible if they are on the same reservation as the primary Cardmember.

and,

3. The way the Global Entry or TSA Pre✓® fee credit benefits have worked on cards that offer it is you can sign up anybody (not limited to only the primary Cardmember) for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓®, as long as you pay with the card (in this case, the Explorer card ), you'll receive the credit up to $100.

Thanks. this helps. DS flies a lot so TSA Precheck would be good and has talked about possibly trying to get it. DH doesn't fly often and when he does he is with me and kids so giving him Precheck is pretty useless I guess.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

So doing anything with Chase credit cards freaks me out these days, I sent an SM to close my Disney Premier today and I'm scared it's going to trigger a soft pull (there is 0 data supporting that fear) which will cause a shutdown (very little data supporting that fear) and all my plans will be ruined- I need to GET A GRIP. Logically, this fear is completely illogical! I'm closing a card for goodness sakes, I'm bring my Chase CL:income ratio down from 88% to 67%. I have to stop reading that Chase Shutdown thread, it's totally screwing with my head...

I can SM to close cards!?

 

[Albort]

Would you be willing to share the new option in our reddit group thread?

Vanillas are/have been the biggest pain and of course, that is all Walgreens sell. I plan to just save them for everyday use if I don't come across any better avenue.

i will share if the option works.

 

[platamama]

ETA: universal Hollywood vs universal Orlando....thoughts?

As for Hollywood vs Orlando... I think I'd say I like Orlando better personally, since it's bigger and thus more to do. But I really love the Studio Tour in Hollywood, as cheesy as it may sound. There are some rides that are the same between the two. I think the animal show and Waterworld in Hollywood are better (I think that for Disney too, my thought is the talent pool is better in Cali with people probably trying to break into acting...).

I agree with @amalone1013. If you're a HP fan, the Hollywood US is significantly inferior to Orlando. Hollywood US is worth a day and a half at most. The Waterworld show is pretty great, so if you go, don't miss that. And I liked the Studio Tour a lot too.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I can SM to close cards!?

Uhhh... I assumed I could. I’ve never closed a Chase card tbh, only Chase bank accounts. Guess we’re about to find out!

 

[elgerber]

I can SM to close cards!?

Yes, I have done it with Chase, and most all banks, Citi, Barclays, AMEX etc.

 

[SBWB48]

I can SM to close cards!?

Uhhh... I assumed I could. I’ve never closed a Chase card tbh, only Chase bank accounts. Guess we’re about to find out!

Yes, I have done it with Chase, and most all banks, Citi, Barclays, AMEX etc.

I just SM'd to close DH's SW Biz last week.

 

[amalone1013]

Does SW Biz do retention offers?

 

[Albort]

Does SW Biz do retention offers?

some offers...

 

[georgina]

It's interesting to read about these regional differences. No problem buying $500 worth of GCs at Walgreens with a CC but I can't find a gas station anywhere close that will let me buy any kind of GC with a CC.

I agree. We keep 2 AmEx cards specifically to buy GC at Giant Eagle when they have double fuel perks. I get 6% back on grocery store purchases, and 12% back in fuel rewards (up to $6000 a year in purchases). I've maxed out DH's card mostly for GC for our upcoming Universal trip, but they have a wide variety of restaurant and store GC.

 

[afan]

Just want to say I'm sorry to see that That is such a rough time, hopefully we can help distract you a bit to keep your spirits up!

Thanks! Of course I had started day dreaming about my next card and what I could do with my 3 day weekends in the summer since they are closed on Fridays.

 

[afan]

I agree with @amalone1013. If you're a HP fan, the Hollywood US is significantly inferior to Orlando. Hollywood US is worth a day and a half at most. The Waterworld show is pretty great, so if you go, don't miss that. And I liked the Studio Tour a lot too.

The only reason I want to go to US Hollywood is for the Minions, I want to go to Super Silly Funland! And I think the studios tour would be fun. I also think the tours the DIS guys have done and talked about on the UO Podcast could make the park more fun, but more than I'd want to spend. I think this park would be a one and done for me, especially since there's so many other things you can do in the area that I haven't done. By area, I mean around USH.

 

[Lain]

There's an interesting thread on r/churning right now discussing burnout and generally getting too obsessed with this hobby. A lot of the comments get to what we often discuss here about how there's "no wrong way to churn" and using points however you feel is best, even if it's not the world's greatest cpp redemption.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/8xcnaa/discussion_frustrations_with_the_act_of_churning/

I caught some of this discussion in yesterday's thread, and I couldn't help but think that some of what OP is feeling is due to the fact that he recently got all his Chase cards shut down after double dipping the Hyatt cards at LOL/24. That'll mess with anyone's world view on this hobby.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

That is odd. I've never had that happen. In that case, I'd call it in and explain that you should not be charged for the phone booking because their system would not allow you to complete the process online.

Was trying to book the return portion of our trip, one way YVR to ORD. I emailed AA and found out the flight “must depart from US, Puerto Rico or US Virgin Islands” to use a gift card. Ugh.

 

[snugglebug]

Ugh, mathing with a migraine. I was coming to ask for help, but I think I figured out my best option for booking.

I'm now considering an IHG card. It's beginning to look like much of my upcoming travel will be IHG stays, they run the military on base hotels. While I can't book those stays with points, I can earn. I could then turn around and use those earned points for other stays, like the room I'm about to book which is a one night on the way stay. There is a chance we wouldn't always stay on base, but it makes sense in some cases like last month's graduation when my son didn't have off-post pass. I'll have at least one more of these coming up.

I still haven't figured out Hawaii for next year because that is now kind of up in the air as I sort of consider South Korea, which I don't think is doable on mostly points alone. I can't find my Hawaii notebook, I think I was looking at Hilton. Too many options for an indecisive person.

 

[mmmears]

Can I ask a dumb question - what does "vanilla" mean here? Trying to learn the CF stuff since I think that is where we are headed next with these new cards (or at least one of them).

The only reason I want to go to US Hollywood is for the Minions, I want to go to Super Silly Funland! And I think the studios tour would be fun. I also think the tours the DIS guys have done and talked about on the UO Podcast could make the park more fun, but more than I'd want to spend. I think this park would be a one and done for me, especially since there's so many other things you can do in the area that I haven't done. By area, I mean around USH.

We love HP, so checked out US Orlando last summer. Honestly, other than the HP stuff I like US Hollywood more. The Waterworld thing is cool (although I hear it might be gone to make room for the HP expansion?), the studios tour is fun, etc. So I think it depends on what you're looking for. I'm not a big ride person, and most of the IOA stuff was too fast for me to ride. I'm hoping they build Diagon Alley at USH soon so we can go check out the HP stuff there. I agree with the PP who said that if you are looking for HP stuff US Orlando is the better option right now.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I was chatting with my stylist while getting my hair done the other day and she said that she took cash to the county collections office to pay her property taxes. Sheer surprise to me! I am not carrying thousands of $$$ with me.

Ha. Me either.
Along those same lines, when my sister got married her Greek fiancé’s family picked the reception hall. The owners were Greek and agreed to give my sister and fiancé a deal, if they paid cash. My sister and Dad were going to take the money there when she had to tell dad they meant cold hard cash, not a check or anything. He was like “you mean I have to drive around Chicago with $15k in my pocket?!!” Lol

 

[DisneyMandC]

I caught some of this discussion in yesterday's thread, and I couldn't help but think that some of what OP is feeling is due to the fact that he recently got all his Chase cards shut down after double dipping the Hyatt cards at LOL/24. That'll mess with anyone's world view on this hobby.

Ah ha. The truth emerges.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Me too! I used my Discover for everything once I got it!

I get super anxious when DHs 4'10" 85 year old grandma pulls out her bank envelope of $100s to pay for things.

My sister’s in laws only do cash. They keep it in the crawl space. You can tell because it smells all musty when they whip out their wad of cash.