I love credit cards so much!

[AmyAnne]

I've been following reports of bonus denial pop-up messages, and the one commonality seemed to be churners who signed up for Amex cards, met MSR, and didn't put any spend on the cards after getting the bonus. kerrigjl's DP that he put a few thousand a month across all Amex cards is troublesome.

I've been putting a lot of spend on my Amex cards to take advantage of recent Amex Offers, so I don't think I'm a target (I'll apply for the SPG Lux and see after I've had more coffee). My wife got approved for the Hilton Biz even though her spending on her SPG Biz fell off after meeting MSR. But I've started carrying her Amexes around with me to put some regular spend on them to keep Amex happy.

I'm a little worried about this with the recent one-per-person change to the AmEx offers. Having offers on multiple cards has meant that I have been putting some sort of spend on all of my AmEx cards at least every few months. Plus most of my AmEx cards have an AF, so I anticipate multiple cancellations. Any info about how AmEx regards cancelling cards (that have been held for more than a year and that were getting used to some extent)?

 

[winnieofpooh]

There really aren't dumb questions around here. This is a simple game on the surface with numerous complications under the surface. Here's some thoughts:

• MANY places won't accept rent on a credit card. Do you know that yours does?
• If they don't there are some ways to still pay with a credit card but you'll incur a fee (that likely would be worth it to earn the bonus)
• IF you are specifically looking at flights and know the airlines you'll use...it might make more sense to get those airlines cards (i.e. the Southwest Card or the United Card) vs. getting a CSP. Another reason why signing up for the airline card could make sense is because some of those cards offer additional benefits with the airline (free bag, upgraded boarding, etc.)

Turns out our place doesn't accept CC payments for rent, darn. I do plan on buying a new camera lens soon, so I could still probably hit the 4k minimum if I tried hard enough.

In all likelihood, like 98% chance, we'll do Disney and fly Southwest. We don't travel frequently, as my fiance is in dental school, but I'll still go on family vacations once a year. When my fiance and I travel, we always fly Southwest. When I go with my family, there is a chance we go someplace that SW doesn't fly to, which I'll fly United in that case. Not sure if the SW card is still the better option? We would probably exhaust all the points for the flights for both of us for the honeymoon, though.

​

And congratulations on the wedding and honeymoon!

You’ve come to the right place! We’re all about helping each other travel for free, for less, or take trips we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to take by taking advantage of bonuses and benefits offered by credit cards! I’m thinking @amalone1013 travel hacked her honeymoon recently (maybe her wedding too)!

I’m usually much more helpful, but I’ve got to get my morning started. I’ll make two points and then leave you in the friendly, and capable hands of others here.

Thank you!!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I wanted to add my congrats on this amazing redemption!!! It is always such a joy to see how one of our fellow members on this thread used their points and miles to put together an amazing trip that will create fantastic memories. Well done!!!!

Thanks! I'm anxious to get it booked but discounts probably won't be released for 6 more weeks, LOL.

Also congrats on your new card! When you get to the stage you and I are at, sometimes the new cards are few and far between! It's definitely worth celebrating

 

[Lain]

I'm a little worried about this with the recent one-per-person change to the AmEx offers. Having offers on multiple cards has meant that I have been putting some sort of spend on all of my AmEx cards at least every few months. Plus most of my AmEx cards have an AF, so I anticipate multiple cancellations. Any info about how AmEx regards cancelling cards (that have been held for more than a year and that were getting used to some extent)?

There’s a thread on r/churning collecting DPs on Amex bonus denials. I have to guess cancellations weigh more in whatever calculus Amex uses than card openings. However, I’ve seen DPs where someone had a ton of cancellations and still didn’t get the pop up message. The common thread seems to be lack of spend after meeting MSR/getting the bonus.

 

[miztressuz]

Someone on r/churning said they saw offer available until 10/31 in the fine print when applying. I figure I can feasibly wait until the end of the month or so.

Yeah, on the Amex banner it says the Limited Time offer expires 10/31. I guess the question is, would AmEx overlap LTO's? I think it's feasible they change the offer up but I'm not thinking it'd be real soon after launch. Have a lot of unhappy campers for being early adopters. Looking at the new Hilton cards they've had a couple increased offers so that gives hope. But if they're trying to market this the same Luxury card like the Aspire (not that you could ever compare the two), I don't think that offer has changed much since release while the other cards have fluctuated a couple times. I'm thinking it all depends how this initial run through Oct goes.

I'm in the camp that at some point in the next year the offer goes up, if not more points maybe could be an extra night or something?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Yes, I would be interested in the CSP. I thought read somewhere that I couldn't apply for the CSP since I am an authorized user on my husbands account? I'm researching so much information that I could have mixed that up.

No..you can apply for your own CSP...have your husband generate a referral links you so you get an additional on his card

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Turns out our place doesn't accept CC payments for rent, darn. I do plan on buying a new camera lens soon, so I could still probably hit the 4k minimum if I tried hard enough.

In all likelihood, like 98% chance, we'll do Disney and fly Southwest. We don't travel frequently, as my fiance is in dental school, but I'll still go on family vacations once a year. When my fiance and I travel, we always fly Southwest. When I go with my family, there is a chance we go someplace that SW doesn't fly to, which I'll fly United in that case. Not sure if the SW card is still the better option? We would probably exhaust all the points for the flights for both of us for the honeymoon, though.



Thank you!!

So you could use Plastiq to pay your rent as @Lain suggested. They will process your CC and then mail a check I believe.

If Disney is on your radar...and staying on property is too...depending on when you're going you might be able to score hotel and tickets for free. I just made this post last night about how we're going on a FREE Disney Trip: To do that you want to focus on Ultimate Rewards cards big time!

We are going to go on an 8 day, 7 night trip in late January. We have a family of 4; 2 adults and 2 children ages 5 and 8 at time of travel.

It will be a split stay:
4 Nights @ Disney's Boardwalk Resort in a Standard Room
3 Nights @ Disney's Contemporary Resort in a Theme Park View Room

We will not rent a car and will use DME and Disney Transportation (primarily we'll be walking to most parks).
- We will go to Epcot, HS, Epcot, HS the first 4 days. (walk or boat)
- We will take a bus to MK on our resort transfer day and then walk back to Contemporary that evening to checkin
- We will bus to AK and back on the 6th day
- We will walk to MK on day 7 and 8.

We are flying roundtrip nonstop on Southwest Airlines. 3 of the tickets are on SW RR points @ 18,399 each (55,197 SW RR points total). The 4th ticket is booked on a companion pass which I have through the end of 2019. The cash cost would have been $1,128. We do have to pay the $44.80 in Taxes/Fees on the flights but that will be covered with some misc CC cashback I earned so the flights in my accounting books is 100% free.

The rooms are rack rate $4,233 and my spreadsheet assumes we will get a 20% discount for a net cost of $3,386.40. Our tickets are $1,767.92. TOTAL Disney package cost will be $5,154.32 - requiring 343,621 URs (which we have). If the 20% discount doesn't come through it will require another 56k URs which we would have by the time I book it...but I'm pretty confident in getting some hotel savings.

Our dining and souven'ear budget is assumed to be about $1,400. That includes 7 table service meals and the rest quick service (with breakfast being cereal in our room each morning). I have the $1,400 fully covered with Disney Rewards dollars. I was very fortunate to max out fully referrals on 3 Disney credit cards via DoctorOfCredit and r/churning earlier this year when they released that new $200 offer. So the $1,400 is fully covered via those rewards.

So in total we are taking an $8,500 trip rack rate fully loaded. It will cost us nothing - FREE - and it's all thanks to this hobby! It's crazy to type all of this out...it's just insane, LOL!

EDIT: For anybody new to our thread reading this - this is not bragging. This is what we do here! Anybody can do this with some pre-planning. Sure the Disney Rewards is a little bit of a fluke, but put that aside...fully covering flights, hotel and tickets (and maybe dining) is possible with 6-8 credit cards, meticulously planned. If 2 spouses are willing to play the game you can earn that amount of points in a year pretty easily!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I didn't see other links yet on DISchurners so if you have an SPG personal you can refer to the LUX! Same as public offer. Go to your SPG personal referral link, scroll down to the bottom and you'll see an offer for the SPG LUX!

(And if you have the personal SPG you can try for a self refer using this method, it's been working on MR cards imho worth a shot )

 

[Missyson]

I also always used debit before starting this hobby. Now I use my credit cards essentially as debit by paying them off as I go. I do not wait for the statement to close to pay.

American Express MR points transfer to Delta. I have the Everyday Cash card. It has no annual fee, gives 2% back on groceries, and 20% more points each month if I make 20 purchases. There are other Amex MR cards too. I am sure others here will tell you more.

I love SW and never have a problem with seating. Chase Sapphire Preferred URs can be transferred to SW.

Chase Freedom Unlimited will give you 5% on rotating categories. Right now the categories are gas, Walgreens and Lyft. Past categories earning 5% have included grocery stores, wholesale clubs, restaurants, purchases made through some mobile wallet apps. This card can be used for travel, but it is more useful when paired with the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve. I transfer my CFU points to CSP, then to a travel partner - usually SW. I also use the points from CSP to book travel through the portal.

If you are interested in Chase cards, get them first because of the 5/24 rule. And ask questions here before applying for anything. Chase has rules about how many cards one can apply for in any period of time.

Consider joining our dischurners reddit group for more helpful information including support links.

Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]

I read about that. How do I join? I don't see where I can send a message? It might be because I don't have many posts?

Welcome! You will get great advice here and there are a few Delta experts if that works best for you. I have personally used a combination of Chase cards and Amex Delta cards to pay for our travel (mostly Delta flights). With the Amex Delta cards, I have waited for a good bonus before applying and have stuck with the business cards since joining this group. I have just recently started earning Amex MR points and will likely use those on Delta flights occasionally.

Good to know. Are the Amex Delta bonuses good right now, or should I wait?

How much spend can you put on a card in 3 months? If I were you I would have DH refer you for the CSP and if you are comfortable apply for the CSR on the same day. That would mean you need to spend $8000 in 3 months. Is that doable? If not then just go for the CSP then have DH downgrade his CSP card for the freedom. When you are done with your spend then you can refer your DH again for the CSP (and CSR if you double dipped and are comfortable to do it again.) Do not add each other as AUs. ​

Welcome!

This makes me nervous. I'm not sure if I could do $8000? I will talk to my husband tonight and see what expenses we have coming up.

-------
Hahaha - getting ready to hit post reply on multiple quotes! I'm proud of myself for trying to figure it out. Hopefully it works.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

There’s a thread on r/churning collecting DPs on Amex bonus denials. I have to guess cancellations weigh more in whatever calculus Amex uses than card openings. However, I’ve seen DPs where someone had a ton of cancellations and still didn’t get the pop up message. The common thread seems to be lack of spend after meeting MSR/getting the bonus.

I haven't tried for an AMEX card for awhile...but I'm fairly certain I may be locked out now, lol. I hope my wife hasn't abused them too much though, we were hoping to someday get a Schwab AMEX to cash our her MRs. She has almost 200k of them!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I read about that. How do I join? I don't see where I can send a message? It might be because I don't have many posts?

You can't PM until you have 10 messages.

I'll just tell you about it RIGHT HERE If you want to join you need a Reddit account. If you already have one then just tell me your reddit name in a reply. IF you don't have one, register at Reddit.com. A lot of people use the same or a similar name there as they do here. Then I'll get you a welcome message with all the links and such

 

[AmyAnne]

There’s a thread on r/churning collecting DPs on Amex bonus denials. I have to guess cancellations weigh more in whatever calculus Amex uses than card openings. However, I’ve seen DPs where someone had a ton of cancellations and still didn’t get the pop up message. The common thread seems to be lack of spend after meeting MSR/getting the bonus.

Thanks -- I guess this means I might have to be brave and read "real reddit." I've only ever cancelled one AmEx card (just started collecting them in the past year - 18 months, although I've had the Delta card for 10+ years). I have two Platinum cards that are getting cancelled early next year (absent some stellar retention offer) and two others that likely will be cancelled later next year.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I didn't see other links yet on DISchurners so if you have an SPG personal you can refer to the LUX! Same as public offer. Go to your SPG personal referral link, scroll down to the bottom and you'll see an offer for the SPG LUX!

(And if you have the personal SPG you can try for a self refer using this method, it's been working on MR cards imho worth a shot )

Wow that's awesome...I assume then you could SELF refer maybe?? I don't have an SPG personal but that's cool!

 

[Calfan]

Just an update on my combined Starwood/Marriott accounts. I can now see my 7-night category 1-4 cert from the N&F package I purchased a few months back. There is a note that they are still working on moving over free night certs. Now I need to decide whether I will actually use the 7-night cert or if I should just cash it out for the 45k points....

 

[LynnTH]

Barclays called last night basically asking if I applied for the Arrival +. and a few basic questions. Was approved and card should be here tomorrow or Monday. Going to use that on Plastiq for Mortgage since it is a MC. So, that will knock off spend on that.

Still waiting on mine an DH's Barclay AAdvantage cards (had to send in documentation). Only need to buy 1 thing so that is easy.

DH is now 3/24 (CSR/Freedom just went off his list). I went to Cardmatch and pulled up the AMEX Gold for 50,000 MR points for 1,000 spend. Is that a good deal. Seems reasonable but wanted to check with everyone before I jumped on it. Will put him at 4/24.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Wow that's awesome...I assume then you could SELF refer maybe?? I don't have an SPG personal but that's cool!

Might have spoken too soon. Both offers showed and I swear worked fine when I posted them - and I went to check one minute later and now the links are showing as not available? I hope this is a glitch, maybe it's a cookie problem or something for me because I just saw someone mention the LUX referral on Reddit as well

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Might have spoken too soon. Both offers showed and I swear worked fine when I posted them - and I went to check one minute later and now the links are showing as not available? I hope this is a glitch, maybe it's a cookie problem or something for me because I just saw someone mention the LUX referral on Reddit as well

This is actually an issue we're dealing with on r/churningreferrals with AMEX links...

If you go back to the link that has your name in it (Refer.Amex.Us) it will work...it's strange but try it...

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Barclays called last night basically asking if I applied for the Arrival +. and a few basic questions. Was approved and card should be here tomorrow or Monday. Going to use that on Plastiq for Mortgage since it is a MC. So, that will knock off spend on that.

Still waiting on mine an DH's Barclay AAdvantage cards (had to send in documentation). Only need to buy 1 thing so that is easy.

DH is now 3/24 (CSR/Freedom just went off his list). I went to Cardmatch and pulled up the AMEX Gold for 50,000 MR points for 1,000 spend. Is that a good deal. Seems reasonable but wanted to check with everyone before I jumped on it. Will put him at 4/24.

I assume that is actually the PRG (Premier Rewards Gold) card? That's a good offer (especially the $1k spend) but you can regularly find offers for 50k for $2k spend on that card. I WOULD NOT waste a 5/24 slot on an Amex PRG with all the Chase cards that are still available to you.

 

[afan]

I want to make sure I'm remembering this correctly. I got my CSR last Nov. The $300 credit will be available on my anniversary date and I can use it. Then when the AF hits in Dec I can PC it to a CF correct? I don't have that card and I won't be redeeming anything through the portal next year so I'm ok with not having it again until I could apply in Feb 2020 since I got the bonus in Jan of this year. I can't justify the AF when I'm not working and I'd benefit more from the rotating categories because I don't eat out much. Anything I'd do with URs would probably be transfer them to a partner at this point anyway.

 

[gottalovepluto]

This is actually an issue we're dealing with on r/churningreferrals with AMEX links...

If you go back to the link that has your name in it (Refer.Amex.Us) it will work...it's strange but try it...

Yep, that was it. There was no way to activate the apply now link without going through the link with the name. Weird indeed.