I love credit cards so much!

[Albort]

Just curious. If it is an one to one transfer why is it only 25k

its best in increments of 60k marriott points/20SPG points --> 25k airline miles since it gives u an extra 5k when u transfer 60k Marriott points/20k SPG. if u do 45k marriott points, u get only 15k airline miles.

 

[EC0323]

As for what to do with all the MR points? You can transfer MR points directly to Delta SkyMiles at 1:1 in increments of 1,000. For an even better deal, beginning 8/1/18, you can transfer MR points to Marriott points at 1:1 (likely, again in increments of 1,000). Marriott points will be transferrable to Delta SkyMiles at 1:1, but you'll get an extra 5,000 mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred to Delta.

its best in increments of 60k marriott points/20SPG points --> 25k airline miles since it gives u an extra 5k when u transfer 60k Marriott points/20k SPG. if u do 45k marriott points, u get only 15k airline miles.

Sorry I am confused. Most be the ga heat.

So if I transfer 60k amex miles to Marriot. I get a bonus of 5k but lose 35k if I transfer them back to Delta.

And that changes after Aug 1st?

 

[Lain]

Actually, Marriott points will be transferrable but 60,000 Marriott points will get you 25,000 Delta Skymiles including the 5,000 mile bonus. Not 65,000 Skymiles. I don't fly Delta so I don't know what the value of a Skymile is.

@EC0323, @platamama is right. I was finishing my earlier post in a bit of a rush and messed up the post 8/1/18 conversion from SPG>Marriott>Delta. As some subsequent posters have already pointed out, this is probably not the best value you can get out of MR points (e.g., you can get better redemption value by transferring directly or to another airline partner whose miles are worth more).

So the question of whether to transfer variable points like UR and MR directly to an airline or hotel partner vs. spending the points like cash through the UR or Amex Travel portals comes down to math. You’ll have to compare (1) how many Delta miles you’ll need to book an award ticket for where you want to go, and how many UR or MR points you’ll need to transfer to Delta miles; vs. (2) how many UR or MR points it’ll cost you to book the same or similar ticket as a “cash” fare through the UR or Amex travel portals.

Since you have a CSR, your UR points are worth 1.5 cents towards a cash fare on the UR travel portal. MR points are worth 1 cent when used to pay for airfare on the Amex Travel portal.

 

[platamama]

Just curious. If it is an one to one transfer why is it only 25k

Ah, because it's not 1:1. It's 3:1 --- 3 Marriott points to get 1 airline mile, done in 1000 increments. I think @Lain was mistaken eek: I didn't know that was possible feels like the upside down).

As for what to do with all the MR points? You can transfer MR points directly to Delta SkyMiles at 1:1 in increments of 1,000. For an even better deal, beginning 8/1/18, you can transfer MR points to Marriott points at 1:1 (likely, again in increments of 1,000). Marriott points will be transferrable to Delta SkyMiles at 1:1, but you'll get an extra 5,000 mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred to Delta.



Sorry I am confused. Most be the ga heat.

So if I transfer 60k amex miles to Marriot. I get a bonus of 5k but lose 35k if I transfer them back to Delta.

And that changes after Aug 1st?

You transfer 60K AMEX miles to Marriott, get 60K Marriott points (1:1 transfer), then transfer 60K Marriott points to your choice of airline and get 25K air miles (3:1 transfer PLUS the 5K bonus for transferring in a 60K increment). Does that make sense?

 

[DisneyMandC]

Remind me of the rule on Amex cards again... It's 2 business cards every 90 days, and you can hold a total of 5 cards at one time? Right? I still have this $1000/50k Delta miles offer sitting in my inbox, but I also plan to get the SPG card next month unless it's something abysmal. And I just got Hilton Biz in May.

 

[Judique]

I just noticed that Chase increased my new IHG limit from 13K to 15K, putting me at 75% of my total household income with them, not including my CIP. Baffling.

I knocked mine down from 15K to 5K for the IHG. Highly unlikely I'll use this card other than for IHG properties where the points earned are higher.

 

[Lain]

Ah, because it's not 1:1. It's 3:1 --- 3 Marriott points to get 1 airline mile, done in 1000 increments. I think @Lain was mistaken eek: I didn't know that was possible feels like the upside down).



You transfer 60K AMEX miles to Marriott, get 60K Marriott points (1:1 transfer), then transfer 60K Marriott points to your choice of airline and get 25K air miles (3:1 transfer PLUS the 5K bonus for transferring in a 60K increment). Does that make sense?

Ok, again NOT a Delta flyer. THIS is a Delta Flyer.

But if 100k MR transfers to 100k Delta SkyMiles, isn’t that a much better deal than taking 100k MR to transfer to 100k Marriott to transfer to ~38k Delta SkyMiles?

 

[EC0323]

, because it's not 1:1. It's 3:1 --- 3 Marriott points to get 1 airline mile, done in 1000 increments. I think @Lain was mistaken eek: I didn't know that waspossible feels like the upside down).


Thanks!! That is the part I missed. Now I understand. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[peel]

I knocked mine down from 15K to 5K for the IHG. Highly unlikely I'll use this card other than for IHG properties where the points earned are higher.

I'm 6/24, so I think I'm just going to leave it all alone until I'm looking to get another Chase card.

 

[Lain]

So the question of whether to transfer variable points like UR and MR directly to an airline or hotel partner vs. spending the points like cash through the UR or Amex Travel portals comes down to math. You’ll have to compare (1) how many Delta miles you’ll need to book an award ticket for where you want to go, and how many UR or MR points you’ll need to transfer to Delta miles; vs. (2) how many UR or MR points it’ll cost you to book the same or similar ticket as a “cash” fare through the UR or Amex travel portals.

Since you have a CSR, your UR points are worth 1.5 cents towards a cash fare on the UR travel portal. MR points are worth 1 cent when used to pay for airfare on the Amex Travel portal.

@EC0323 -

Following up on what I was saying earlier about deciding whether to transfer variable UR or MR points to Delta miles to book award flights directly vs. treating the variable points as “cash” to book the same or similar ticket through a travel portal as a cash fare, I’m posting one of @calypso726 ’s Delta flights as an example:

Just put our CSR bonus points to use and I've booked flights through the Chase portal for the first time! I usually transfer my UR points to United or BA and tend to get greater value for my points, but not this time. I was hoping to use Delta miles aka Skypesos to fly to Iceland for Thanksgiving next year. I couldn't convince DH to fly on WOW air for 8 hours even at $99 each way, although they'd likely charge you for breathing, blinking and everything else under the sun. The seats are typical economy seats and there are zero amenities. DH has turned into a spoiled when it comes to flights over 3 hours. I'll suck it up if the price is right. Neither us felt it was worth spending the number of miles it would cost to fly Iceland air in what amounts to a domestic first class style seat (reclines) for 8 hours.

Delta had the best flights available with regards to travel time and seats (lie flat). However, they wanted 350,000 Skypesos per person to fly on an award ticket I checked for flights out of the three closest airports and it was all about the same. I wouldn't blow 700k Skypesos on the flights even if I had them. I don't collect Delta often, but I will save what I have for a decent redemption sometime don the line. Their saving grace is that they don't expire. The average price was $2900 per ticket which we weren't going to pay out of pocket. I checked the UR site and that would cost an average of 193,404. Interestingly enough, I had found a flight on Delta that was $2,064 but the UR site still showed it at $2900. I kept searching and then did find a flight at $2800 which reflected a cost of 187,137 UR points per person. I chose that one since it would save us over 12,500 UR points and was as convenient as other flights available.

 

[Lain]

Remind me of the rule on Amex cards again... It's 2 business cards every 90 days, and you can hold a total of 5 cards at one time? Right? I still have this $1000/50k Delta miles offer sitting in my inbox, but I also plan to get the SPG card next month unless it's something abysmal. And I just got Hilton Biz in May.

Correct.

 

[Disneyonmymind]

today I’m in south Central PA on business. @Albort

 

[Albort]

today I’m in south Central PA on business. @Albort

home state and city... i know some places are dead zones for GC-->MOs...
ie SF.

good areas are all in texas. Portland is pretty good too.

 

[SBWB48]

Thanks!!! And does any type of GC work or should I look for certain types (US bank, Visa vs MC, etc). Cause I need to use the PIN code, correct? Sorry , I’m such a nervous Nellie, lol.

You should get a MetaBank Visa Giftcard. Others can work like certain Mastercards but you have to hit the cancel button right after you swipe so MetaBank VISA is best if you are nervous. They are also super common at grocery stores.

Also, WM only sells MOs for $1,000 so you will have to do one for a $1,000 and another for $300.

ETA for MetaBank the pin should be the last four digits of the card number. Check the packaging to confirm.

So for the $1,000 one, I’d need 3 swipes cause 500+500+ 0.88 (yikes)

Yeah, unless you want to do one for 999.12 and the other for 301.76. Or you can pay the fee in cash. Or maybe just do three separate money orders if you are nervous. I tried two swipes once and got turned away. I’m in NOVA tho so it’s harder here. I found a Walmart that doesn’t ask questions but I’m too nervous to push my luck with multiple swipes. It’s my one location that I haven’t burned lol

@speedyfishy already covered most of it. US Bank/Meta work well at WM, as do the ones issued by Blackhawk; think they are all under the Meta umbrella somehow. The blackhawk ones have the pin on a little slip in the packaging, so make sure you doublecheck which type of Meta. It's really not too difficult. If they note directly on the back of the packaging that the PIN is the last four digits of the card, that's the easiest. I've bought the Blackhawk ones at Harris Teeter and the PIN is on the slip once you open it. Either is fine at WM, just DO NOT buy the "Vanilla" ones if you plan to convert to a MO at WM; won't work

For your situation, yes, it would be 2 MOs via three swipes. I've walked out of WM with 2 MOs (998.00 each; I leave a few cents on one card and just drain it when i go grocery shopping, so it's not the obvious 999.12 that some cashiers may recognize) using 4 swipes during on trip. Again, I wait til the first one is done before I ask for the second. I don't disclose I need 2 MOs and will be doing 4 swipes until the process is underway

1.) "Can I have a MO for 998.00 please?"
2.) "$500 on this card please" (wait until the cashier processes BEFORE swiping your first $500 VGC, otherwise it will decline since it will try to process the entire amount)
3.) "The remainder on this card"
4.) "I need one more for the same amount please"
5.) "$500 on this card again"
6.) "Remainder on this one"
7.) SMILE and thanks!

It's nerve wracking the first time, and I forgot to wait for the cashier to key in $500 on the first swipe before I ran the card and got declined. Freaked out, only to realize my mistake in the parking lot before going back in to try again. Just breathe

 

[platamama]

Ok, again NOT a Delta flyer. THIS is a Delta Flyer.

But if 100k MR transfers to 100k Delta SkyMiles, isn’t that a much better deal than taking 100k MR to transfer to 100k Marriott to transfer to ~38k Delta SkyMiles?

I was just showing the math on how 60K AMEX MR would become 25K Delta via Marriott points, but you're totally right that the direct transfer from AMEX MR to Delta SkyMiles would be the best way to get the most Skymiles.

 

[shairpdrh]

I am happy to report another CIP approval! (And from another person who said she would never go for a business card.) I applied on Sunday and just called the status line and was approved. It is good timing as my husband is just finishing up his minimum spend on his CSR. Now I wait until Mar/Apr 2019 to cancel my CSR and go for my double dip after a nice break from Chase. Thanks for all of the tips here to get me through to this point!

 

[platamama]

Yes that is the offer. I assume since I got it there is a high probability I would be approved. I read if I apply for other Amex this offer goes away. It has such a high bonus I hate to lose it but that $550 is a killer. I can justify for 450 on CSR due to 300 travel credit. Struggling with justifying this one.

One benefit with AMEX MRs is that sometimes you get targeted for special deals on Amazon and all you have to do is apply 1 MR (equivalent to $0.01) to your order to get the deal. Recently, there was a targeted 20% off your Amazon order up to $100 off. I used that offer twice because for whatever reason, Amazon offered it again (2nd time around Amazon gift cards were not eligible for the discount). Or sometimes there's a $30 off a $60 Amazon purchase. These aren't benefits you can count on but I do see them pop up fairly regularly. I remember seeing DoC reporting those offers and being envious, and quite honestly that was part of the reason we got an AMEX MR card.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Was her account open for a minimum of 30 days prior to requesting the transfer as the T&C state? That was part of the reason I didn't pursue buying more Starpoints in my situation.

Yes, you can open a Marriott account for her, link her two accounts, and then transfer her SPG over to Marriott.View attachment 336000

The only hiccup I can think of is that Marriott members can only transfer up to 50K Marriott points per calendar year and there may be a $10 fee to transfer. In the past, when DH has transferred Marriott points to me in order to redeem a travel package there has been no cap to the number of Marriott points transferred and he didn't pay a fee (although he is Marriott Gold for some reason that I don't understand). That's the only exception I'm aware of to get past the 50K annual cap. But I don't know if it's only spouse-spouse or if it can be family member-family member. ETA: Looks like any Marriott reward member can transfer to another, and can exceed the 50K limit up to the amount needed to satisfy the reservation.

No, her account was about sixty days old when I started the transfer. The customer service rep stated that it had been refused because I'd already bought miles in my account this year and thus couldn't receive any bought miles in my account. I pushed back a little and said I don't believe this was the case any more, but she wasn't having any of it. I'm Marriott gold so hopefully that will help as well. I think what I'll do just to make sure is call and make sure I can do it before transferring points. I may ask them to stay on the phone with me while I transfer to then complete the Air Package while I have that same person on the phone. Thanks so much. Between Walgreens and this, frustrating week for me on miles/credit card points!

 

[amalone1013]

However... all that being said, while 100k is a great offer, it's easy-ish to pull up 75k/$5k incognito.

I've had no luck with this

 

[amalone1013]

Well apparently I just needed to complain because I pulled up the AMEX site in incognito...

And got AMEX Platinum 75k MRs for $5k spend.

And I finally tricked the system to check for prequalified offers for myself, and got Premier Rewards Gold 50k MRs for $1k