I love credit cards so much!

[Haley R]

i believe if u book your flights, u pay your taxes with a CSR, u will be covered that way(credit card insurance). Ive never played with Virgin, im sure if u cancel points will just sit with Virgin until u use them again for another flight.
You will need a premium card(CSR/CSP/CIP) to transfer 1:1 from UR --> Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic is one of Chase's partners.



sounds like every other airline redemption. I think thats the appeal for MRs to me. Besides them, Cathay Pacific J/F class also appeals to me. Other than that, idk what else that is good for MRs.

Doesn’t the CIP get travel insurance as well? So we could use our CIP to pay for the taxes to get insurance. How do we transfer our UR to virgin? Do I do it on th chase portal? Thanks!

 

[Lain]

Did some more math since I'm at work at 3am again

All spending (minus Verizon bill plus gas spending, ~$900 over 3 months) plus paying the remaining insurance bill in full, hail damage payment to shop, Universal tickets, and upgrading to WDW APs gets me to around $8400. If I could make my car payments with Plastiq with the MasterPass promo, I could get there. I'm still trying to figure out if DHs payments can be made by check... I will be extremely sad if they can't! I guess I could move gas and Verizon too. I've only put $200 so far on my Freedom this quarter, so I'd most likely be giving up the remaining $1300 but 100k MRs > 6500 URs Possibly also maxing out the Lowe's/Staples offers, but again, 100k MRs > 10% back on the $4500 I have remaining.

Could I get an employee card for DH on this? That would be the only way to actually move all spending to this card. And I'm thinking more now... should probably go make my coffee but MSR period would be over our September trip. So there's extra dining spending there... was going to use the Best Buy offers to save ~22% on Disney gift cards but could reconsider that... plus there's at least one meal at Disney where we can't use gift cards, Universal dining, souvenirs, possibly a TIW purchase... I'm feeling better about this now.

So $450 AF, $200 airline credit can be double dipped at the end of first year, effectively AF of $50? Plus earn 110k MRs after spend?

I guess really the most important question is will the AMEX rep laugh me off the phone for calling for a business card, when I just applied for Hilton Biz on 7/12? I've done $1k business income on my AMEX biz cards (SPG biz 10/17, Hilton biz 7/18), think I should probably stick with that? Technically I've been selling on eBay for over a year now...

1. You can add an Employee Biz Green, BGR, or Biz Platinum card, BUT the Employee BGR and Biz Plat carry a $45 AF and a $300 AF, respectively; the Employee Biz Green is free. The additional Biz Platinum card would get DH most of the benefits of the Biz Plat, including his own GE/PreCheck credit, lounge access, hotel status, etc., but doesn't come with another airline fee credit.

I saw a few days ago that buying one $200 gift card on Southwest .com still triggers the airline credit. You'd double dip that benefit now and on 1/1/19.

If you need a card for DH to just put charges on, go for the no fee Biz Green.

But because holding an Employee Biz Green might disqualify him from his own Biz Green bonus, you would probably want to refer DH for his own Biz Green from the Biz Plat for the 20k+5k+5k MR, first; then get him the Employee Biz Green.

[EDIT: Too early, need coffee moment -- DUH, a Biz Green AU will not disqualify DH from his own Biz Green bonus, but because of the time sensitivity of the referral bonus, refer DH for the Biz Green first anyway, make that single purchase to get his welcome bonus, sock drawer this Biz Green, then get DH an Employee Biz Green so he doesn't get confused with two green cards.

2. The rep will not laugh you off. My rep seemed pretty eager for me to sign up for more cards. The rep will have some access to your Amex account, but I doubt he can see you applied for the Hilton Biz earlier this month. And that's a credit card, which has no timing effect on applying for a charge card. People go crazy applying for a credit card and then the charge cards on the same day all the time. I've seen the suggestion that $2k revenue in 2 years seems to be a sweet spot for biz apps. Keep in mind, your rep will probably ask you tell him/her a little about your business, so you need to frame your story, say you're taking online sales more seriously and want to grow your business. The rep isn't the decision maker, he/she just plugs the numbers you give them into their computer and the algorithm makes the decision. And we know how Amex loves to give away candy.

 

[Lain]

Technically they have no limits, however, they have imposed "limits" based on your risk factor or normal charging patterns. If they feel you've hit an amount you're not able to pay that month, they limit their risk and deny the charge. This is seemingly arbitrary to you because you have no insight into whatever this magical algorithm is that they use and can happen at what seems like completely random times (i.e. how come this charge went through last month but this month it's denied?) This is why I kinda like credit limits, there's an understanding between you and the issuer up front.

Probably for most people they will never find the "limit" from AmEx, but it's theoretically possible. It's been a long while since it happened to us but it basically went down "wait, how have I reached the limit of a card that has no limit?"
View attachment 340465

lol in the disclosures, the rep read something like, there is no limit on a charge card, but that doesn't mean you can charge everything on the card. Maybe it was, that doesn't mean there's no limit on how much you can spend. I wish I could quote it verbatim -- it had me laughing hard inside.

 

[Lain]

@amalone1013 - Too early, need coffee moment -- an edit to my earlier comment -- a Biz Green AU will not disqualify DH from his own Biz Green bonus, but because of the time sensitivity of the referral bonus, refer DH for the Biz Green first anyway, make that single purchase to get his welcome bonus, sock drawer this Biz Green, then get DH an Employee Biz Green so he doesn't get confused with two green cards.

If you decide to go for it, good luck!

 

[striker1064]

I guess really the most important question is will the AMEX rep laugh me off the phone for calling for a business card, when I just applied for Hilton Biz on 7/12?

Hahaha no way. You're well under Amex's velocity limits... if they even have any. They might as you why you didn't apply sooner!

 

[Lain]

Just purchased a $200 SW GC.

 

[miztressuz]

Doesn’t the CIP get travel insurance as well? So we could use our CIP to pay for the taxes to get insurance. How do we transfer our UR to virgin? Do I do it on th chase portal? Thanks!

I believe it does get travel insurance, but I think the caveat is that only business trips are eligible for some of the coverages. I don't have it myself to check but I remember something about car rentals maybe? Had to be for business purpose to get the primary damage insurance, if it was personal then the damage insurance was secondary. So probably want to check the benefits guide to see if there's any such restrictions listed for the trip cancellations/interruptions, etc benefits.

 

[Lain]

Doesn’t the CIP get travel insurance as well? So we could use our CIP to pay for the taxes to get insurance. How do we transfer our UR to virgin? Do I do it on th chase portal? Thanks!

I believe it does get travel insurance, but I think the caveat is that only business trips are eligible for some of the coverages. I don't have it myself to check but I remember something about car rentals maybe? Had to be for business purpose to get the primary damage insurance, if it was personal then the damage insurance was secondary. So probably want to check the benefits guide to see if there's any such restrictions listed for the trip cancellations/interruptions, etc benefits.

Posted this to @Haley R a few weeks back:

https://www.chasebenefits.com/inkpreferred

Trip delay benefits are at pages 31-33. Unfortunately, the CIP’s trip delay insurance kicks in only after 12 hours. (Even the CSR’s more generous policy kicks in after 6 hours.) There are some anecdotes that for the trip delay benefits to apply on the CIP, your travel must be business related. Other DPs say they weren’t asked about the nature of the travel when filing a claim.

You'll have to read up on trip cancellation benefits. Fortunately, I haven't had to use them.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

We need to figure out when we were upgraded exactly to the Marriott Premier and for a 90 day countdown to see about getting the SPG lux card for DH since he has not made a purchase for the bonus. My upgrade bonus hit the account on 7/7 so I can't apply until October.

I believe the restriction reads that you won’t be eligible for Lux if you received an upgrade bonus in the past 24 months! You might want to check that again and make sure I’m correct but that would lock you out for far longer than October.

 

[Haley R]

Posted this to @Haley R a few weeks back:

https://www.chasebenefits.com/inkpreferred

Trip delay benefits are at pages 31-33. Unfortunately, the CIP’s trip delay insurance kicks in only after 12 hours. (Even the CSR’s more generous policy kicks in after 6 hours.) There are some anecdotes that for the trip delay benefits to apply on the CIP, your travel must be business related. Other DPs say they weren’t asked about the nature of the travel when filing a claim.

You'll have to read up on trip cancellation benefits. Fortunately, I haven't had to use them.

Thanks. I know I ask the same questions a lot. I’m just a little worried booking this far in advance for a trip that’s not refundable.

 

[amalone1013]

@amalone1013 - Too early, need coffee moment -- an edit to my earlier comment -- a Biz Green AU will not disqualify DH from his own Biz Green bonus, but because of the time sensitivity of the referral bonus, refer DH for the Biz Green first anyway, make that single purchase to get his welcome bonus, sock drawer this Biz Green, then get DH an Employee Biz Green so he doesn't get confused with two green cards.

If you decide to go for it, good luck!

I had to go back and search and found your other comment below, because I skimmed a lot of the MR referral stuff this weekend since I thought I had written off the biz plat. But I still learned a lot even skimming, like I didn't realize that the charge cards don't count against your total cards with AMEX.

So I could get Biz Plat, self refer to Biz Green, and refer DH to Biz Green. I'd get 110k MRs for Plat with spend, 20k MRs for each referral, and then 5k on each Biz Green after making first purchase (which may double credit due to quirk). So in total 155k-160k MRs for me, and 5k-10k MRs for DH. All of this for $10k MSR plus 2 purchases, am I adding everything up correctly?

The additional Biz Platinum card would get DH most of the benefits of the Biz Plat, including his own GE/PreCheck credit, lounge access, hotel status, etc., but doesn't come with another airline fee credit.

Yeah with that fee he'll live without that but really, don't need the GE credit, status, but watch he will have some weird work trip pop up which would put him at an airport with a Centurion lounge haha.

@SBWB48, @kmc8826, @amalone1013, and anyone else considering the 100k MR Amex Biz Platinum call-in offer,

and @calypso726, @tink1970, @platamama, @CaliforniaGirl09, and whoever else has the Biz Plat but has never had the BGR or Biz Green,

READ THIS: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/92bkky/daily_discussion_thread_july_27_2018/e34qs6j

Last month, I posted about a loophole that /r/churning discovered where you can use your Biz Plat (or other biz charge cards) to refer yourself to Amex's other MR business charge cards (the BGR and Biz Green), and earn the bonus for self-referral and the other card's sign-up bonus, assuming you don’t have and haven’t had that other card before. The big points are with self-referrals from the Biz Plat because a referral bonus from that card is worth 20k MR.

I didn't think much about it at the time because I didn't have a Biz Plat. Now I do. Redditor l3veraged put two and two together and has an excellent write-up about how to maximize the MRs you can get out of these two deals before the call-in offer is supposed to expire at the end of this month and the 20k referral bonus ends on 8/8/18.

The sweet spot seems to be to get the 100k MR/$10k offer on the Biz Plat, refer yourself (and hey, maybe even P2) to the Biz Green for 20k MR per referral; make a single purchase on the Biz Green for another 5k MR and sockdrawer that card [edit: the Biz Green seems to have a quirk that double credits the 5k MR]; meet the $10k MSR on the Biz Plat for another 10k MR. ~140k MR.

Personally, I'm holding off on referring myself or applying for the BGR. The BGR has a public/referral offer of 50k MR (add another 20k MR for the self-referral), but requires another $5k MSR in 3 months, which is not in our budget. While applying for the Biz Plat, the Amex rep pitched me on a 75k MR/$10k/4 months offer on the BGR, and told me to call in for that offer when I'm ready. I don't know if the 75k offer will still be around when I'm ready (it comes and goes), but I know I'm not ready to tackle an additional $5k or $10k MSR on the BGR when we've already got the Hilton Biz and Biz Platinum to work on, and am considering the CIU or SPG Lux for DW and Marriott Premier Plus for me next month.

BGR is Biz Gold, right?

 

[Lain]

I had to go back and search and found your other comment below, because I skimmed a lot of the MR referral stuff this weekend since I thought I had written off the biz plat. But I still learned a lot even skimming, like I didn't realize that the charge cards don't count against your total cards with AMEX.

So I could get Biz Plat, self refer to Biz Green, and refer DH to Biz Green. I'd get 110k MRs for Plat with spend, 20k MRs for each referral, and then 5k on each Biz Green after making first purchase (which may double credit due to quirk). So in total 155k-160k MRs for me, and 5k-10k MRs for DH. All of this for $10k MSR plus 2 purchases, am I adding everything up correctly?

Let's say about 111k MRs for the Biz Plat with spend, because that $200 GC will probably earn 5x MR. Everything else looks right.

BGR is Biz Gold, right?

Yep, Business Gold Rewards.

 

[Lain]

Thanks. I know I ask the same questions a lot. I’m just a little worried booking this far in advance for a trip that’s not refundable.

@Albort had to file a trip interruption/cancellation claim due to a family member passing. I believe it took him something like 9 months to get it resolved.

 

[calypso726]

I believe the restriction reads that you won’t be eligible for Lux if you received an upgrade bonus in the past 24 months! You might want to check that again and make sure I’m correct but that would lock you out for far longer than October.

I’ve read conflicting info on that. At first I saw one blogger post 24 months and figured I’m out but DH isn’t. Then another blogger clarified and said it’s 90 days for upgrade bonuses. I’m crossing fingers for the 90 day but if it isn’t, no big deal.

 

[speedyfishy]

Well I should have $500 towards the MSR for the Biz Plat done as soon as it arrives. Verizon increased my phone bill recently so I’m switching to T-Mobile. We have to finish paying off SO’s phone before the switch. I’m excited for the T-MOBILE Tuesday deals too. lol

 

[Lain]

Well I should have $500 towards the MSR for the Biz Plat done as soon as it arrives. Verizon increased my phone bill recently so I’m switching to T-Mobile. We have to finish paying off SO’s phone before the switch. I’m excited for the T-MOBILE Tuesday deals too. lol

DW and I have AT&T's grandfathered unlimited data plan for our iPhones, but AT&T's been increasing the price on the plan every few months recently. We've thought about switching to T-Mobile -- how are their data plans?

 

[amalone1013]

Let's say about 111k MRs for the Biz Plat with spend, because that $200 GC will probably earn 5x MR. Everything else looks right.

Yep, Business Gold Rewards.

Oops, also meant to ask, is there any reason to get DH a Biz Green Employee card? I have a feeling they will end up sockdrawered until AFs come up. He probably won't use it for everyday spend at this point.

 

[Haley R]

@Albort had to file a trip interruption/cancellation claim due to a family member passing. I believe it took him something like 9 months to get it resolved.

Omg that’s a long time. I guess we just won’t cancel lol. Hopefully nothing comes up

 

[speedyfishy]

DW and I have AT&T's grandfathered unlimited data plan for our iPhones, but AT&T's been increasing the price on the plan every few months recently. We've thought about switching to T-Mobile -- how are their data plans?

I just called to get quotes and I’m considering their unlimited plan which would be $120 a month or they have a 10GB plan for two phones that’s $80 a month. Verizon was charging $120(not including the financing for a phone) for 4GB of data.

 

[hsmamato2]

YES! You have to have him apply for both on the same day tho. It would be 8k in MSR in three months, but we can help you meet that with some manufacturer spending. The easiest is to open a PNC bank account and fund with your new card and you can even get a $200 cash bonus too.[/QUO
I'm starting to get a bit curious about the bank acct route to meet MSR..... could I ,for example do a PNC offer,just for the sole purpose of meeting MSR,and not worry about DD etc for the bonus? (DD makes my head spin and I don't want the hassle)