I love credit cards so much!

[Judique]

I've joined DIS earlier in the year and this is the first time I ventured over to the Budget board. My mind is completely blown! Wow, this thread is going to get me in a lot of trouble!!

I've always been a 1 credit card user, same cash rewards card for probably the last 10 years. I don't really have time to go back through 2000 pages of info, but I will definitely start reading up on this topic.

Any suggestions as to which cards to sign up for the best bonuses right now? Our travel is all planned and booked for the rest of the year, but we are open to hotel/air for 2019. No solid destination plans yet. Is it best to decide on a place before accumulating points?

Yes, we can get you in a heap of trouble! But it should be very rewarding trouble.

At least you are getting cash rewards. That's certainly better than the debit card user who gets nothing much.

The Chase UR (ultimate reward) cards are what will be most recommended.

Here comes @Lain and @SouthFayetteFan very soon with detailed info on how to proceed. Guys - I figure you've both got some kind of template email for this already so I'm being lazy here.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I've joined DIS earlier in the year and this is the first time I ventured over to the Budget board. My mind is completely blown! Wow, this thread is going to get me in a lot of trouble!!

I've always been a 1 credit card user, same cash rewards card for probably the last 10 years. I don't really have time to go back through 2000 pages of info, but I will definitely start reading up on this topic.

Any suggestions as to which cards to sign up for the best bonuses right now? Our travel is all planned and booked for the rest of the year, but we are open to hotel/air for 2019. No solid destination plans yet. Is it best to decide on a place before accumulating points?

Hi and Welcome...yes this thread will change how you look at credit cards....now instead of using a debit card I use my cc and pay off the charges online weekly
..the best cards to start with are Chase since they have a 5/24 rule meaning you will not be approved for a lot of there cards if you’ve opened more than 5 of any credit cards in 24 months.

If your willing to open a business card the Chase Ink Preferred CIP gets you 80,000 UR points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months....other Chase personal cards with high bonuses are the Chase Saphire Preferred CIP and Chase Sapphire Reserve CSR...you get 50,000 points after spending $4,000 on these

Is there a certain airline you usually fly.....that can determine recommendations as well

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Yes, we can get you in a heap of trouble! But it should be very rewarding trouble.

At least you are getting cash rewards. That's certainly better than the debit card user who gets nothing much.

The Chase UR (ultimate reward) cards are what will be most recommended.

Here comes @Lain and @SouthFayetteFan very soon with detailed info on how to proceed. Guys - I figure you've both got some kind of template email for this already so I'm being lazy here.

Lol agree I just did a short post too....their posts really have everything set up step by step

 

[gottalovepluto]

What was the closing date of your SPG Biz? My SPG Biz closed on 8/19. No points yet.

However, I didn't realize we had to manually link our Marriott/SPG accounts after the merger to convert SPG points to Marriott. I just did that today. I wonder if that could be causing a delay somehow.

8/9. I merged my accounts last week.

 

[amalone1013]

I've joined DIS earlier in the year and this is the first time I ventured over to the Budget board. My mind is completely blown! Wow, this thread is going to get me in a lot of trouble!!

I've always been a 1 credit card user, same cash rewards card for probably the last 10 years. I don't really have time to go back through 2000 pages of info, but I will definitely start reading up on this topic.

Any suggestions as to which cards to sign up for the best bonuses right now? Our travel is all planned and booked for the rest of the year, but we are open to hotel/air for 2019. No solid destination plans yet. Is it best to decide on a place before accumulating points?

One of the best things you can tell us to start is if you've opened any cards at all in the last two years... even a store credit card (or sometimes something like a furniture store 0% financing is really a credit card account). It sounds like you haven't, but just to be concrete. Do you have any cards that are older than that, such as your cash rewards card? Also, do you have a partner/spouse who would be able and willing to open cards? Many of us have had a reluctant Player 2 and started off ourselves before convincing them to join in. Lastly, do you have any type of business? It could simply be something such as, I have thought about selling items on Ebay... personally that is where I am (and only recently sold a few things), and many others have an ebay business to get business credit cards. That opens up a whole new world to play with

 

[babyready]

I had to click to generate the normal SPG link. Then I pasted that in my browser and went to the page. It was way at the bottom of THAT page. The first couple times I tried, I was looking at the bottom of the wrong page.

Thank you! That was exactly the problem, I was looking at the wrong page and now I found it.

And it is a 100,000 point offer. Not sure what to do now...

Almost done with my double dip spend (which is a bit alarming but did have some help with bank account funding and unexpected medical expenses). Was planning DH's double dip next but now am questioning.

Would love that Hilton Biz and it would be actively helping me toward my goal of Hilton Tokyo Bay family suite in a couple of years. And it is a great offer.

The SPG Lux offer is good and could be used easily for DL in the winter or Hawaii next year. But I not sure I want that large AF as I am just paying for the AF on my CSR and small ones on a few other cards.

I think the Hliton Biz is the smarter choice but am still being tempted by the Lux...

 

[MikeRes]

Regarding #2 - so based on a signup of 09/16 your AF may not post until 10/1/18 and you have 30 days after that to downgrade or cancel so you potentially could hold your CSR until 10/30/18 and then should have no issue downgrading to a CF.

#3 - you'll be 4/24 in Sept (and you could wait until Oct to play it safe if you wanted). Going for a CIP sounds EXCELLENT!

#4 - not a bad plan BUT it does put you back up to 5/24...at 3/24, you could potentially get 1 personal card, another biz card or 2, still be 4/24 AND THEN double dip. But do what you feel is best

Ok so that brings us back to #1 - It should be easy to upgrade his CF to CSR if you need to...however: IF you plan to do a double dip in Jan 2019 for yourself...you don't have to have your husband upgrade (unless there is some pressing reason you need a CSR between 10/30/18 and Jan 2019. If you can go without a CSR for those 2-3 months then don't waste the money on the upgrade NOW IF you decide to delay your double dip based on what I said in #4 above, it might make more sense for him to upgrade since you would be "without" a CSR for a long time. Another consideration there is how many URs do you have and how do you plan to use them (if you don't have a ton left OR if you plan to transfer them to a partner, then a CSR isn't necessary - your CIP may do just fine).

I am in a similar position. My CSR AF will post on 10/1. I was thinking I could refer my wife for the CSR and then PC mine to a CF. However, because we are about half way through my wife’s MSR on her newly acquired CIP, she wouldn’t apply for her CSR (maybe a DD if we have the guts) until after I have downgraded to the CF. Would I still receive the UR if I no longer have the CSR account from which she is referred by the time she gets around to applying? Alternatively, does it make more sense for me to cancel my CSR altogether in October, wait a month, then reapply for it? My signup bonus posted on 11/23/16. Then I could take my time on referring her? Or I could cancel the CSR, have her refer me for the CIP, and after earning those points, either one of us could apply for the CSR.

All of these options seem to make equal sense to me but I don’t see the intricacies that all of you see!

 

[gottalovepluto]

ok this does sound super exciting but also a little scary!!! Does it change things if the CIP we have already is with an EIN but under DH'S name? You're saying I could open one under my name using the same EIN? Does it matter if I'm already an AU on his CIP?

DH is legitimately diversifying his business operation sometimes next year and it would involve opening up a separate LLC...so it seems like that's another possibility to consider.

It shouldn't matter, you should be able to open one for the company that you are responsible for with the name of your company and the EIN and you'll have to enter your SSN since you are ultimately responsible for it. Use his referral link when you sign up for the bonus 20k, it won't be a problem. You should each then be able to open another CIP in your own names using only SSNs. There are others on Reddit who have done this as well. My parents each opened card #1 using the same EIN, this was actually at the suggest of the business relationship manager who said they could use the same EIN since they were both authorizing officers of the company.

I should caveat my parents success- Mom hasn't applied for CIP#2 yet (5/24 issue) but my dad just finished his spend on CIP #2 opened with name and ssn for his "business" so I can report back for you when he sees the 80k bonus points pending. He didn't use an LLC or EIN on that one at all. This one they made him do address verification on but it wasn't a big deal, he sent in a utility bill or something, and I had him drop his Chase CL's before applying. I'm not worried about the bonus posting because they say Chase doesn't open cards without bonuses attached but just to cross t's and dot i's I'll try to remember to check in on the bonus status next week or the week after and report back to you. They did it a bit backwards opening with the EIN first, and then doing the SSN one a year later but it doesn't seem to have mattered.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

can anyone confirm sw biz has no referrals? I don't see any on dischurners.

 

[amalone1013]

can anyone confirm sw biz has no referrals? I don't see any on dischurners.

my understand is that it doesn't.

 

[NewbieMom]

Thanks for the responses.

Is there a certain airline you usually fly.....that can determine recommendations as well

We usually just fly whichever cheapest. It depends on where we go. We took SW to MCO earlier this year, but we have an upcoming trip on Delta. We're thinking about a trip to NY/Philly to visit relatives next year, so it could be American or SW.

Those minimum spends are the biggest hurdle for me. Our biggest expenses are rent and car payment which obviously wouldn't go on the card.

One of the best things you can tell us to start is if you've opened any cards at all in the last two years... even a store credit card (or sometimes something like a furniture store 0% financing is really a credit card account). It sounds like you haven't, but just to be concrete. Do you have any cards that are older than that, such as your cash rewards card? Also, do you have a partner/spouse who would be able and willing to open cards? Many of us have had a reluctant Player 2 and started off ourselves before convincing them to join in. Lastly, do you have any type of business? It could simply be something such as, I have thought about selling items on Ebay... personally that is where I am (and only recently sold a few things), and many others have an ebay business to get business credit cards. That opens up a whole new world to play with

Ah, good catch. I did get pursuaded to open a Target redcard a few years back (definitely > 2 years) but I only use it at Target to get the 5% discount. No DH would absolutely not go along! He'd probably cut the internet immediately if he knew I'm starting to explore this. He hates cc, and for the longest time only uses debit. Now he uses the same cash rewards we have joint. Also no to ebay. I don't even have an account. I guess I'm pretty archaie to all this stuff!

 

[platamama]

Are the MasterCards from staples Good for using on plastiq? Thinking of getting some while there’s no fee.

ETA: are there are cash back sites that credit for buying gc from staples?

I shared a dp two days ago about using MCs from Staples on Plastiq , and @SBWB48 and @amalone1013 did too. We've had success with the fixed value MCs being accepted for the MasterPass promo on Plastiq. Lain got an error with his variable load MC being accepted for the MasterPass promo, as I understand it he was able to put the MCGC onto his MasterPass account, but then Plastiq didn't apply the MasterPass promo to the payment, did I get that right @Lain? You can link the MC as a payment card directly onto your Plastiq account, but then you get a 2.5% fee assessed instead of the $0 fee right now with the MasterPass promo.

 

[kmc8826]

I've joined DIS earlier in the year and this is the first time I ventured over to the Budget board. My mind is completely blown! Wow, this thread is going to get me in a lot of trouble!!

I've always been a 1 credit card user, same cash rewards card for probably the last 10 years. I don't really have time to go back through 2000 pages of info, but I will definitely start reading up on this topic.

Any suggestions as to which cards to sign up for the best bonuses right now? Our travel is all planned and booked for the rest of the year, but we are open to hotel/air for 2019. No solid destination plans yet. Is it best to decide on a place before accumulating points?

Welcome! You don’t need to decide where you are going but some idea of what you would want to use travel awards for is helpful. For hotels? Flights? Just general expenses? If you have an airline that works best based on your closest airport that can help give a direction which way to go, or if you always stay Hilton (for example) that helps too.

It is great if you have a player 2 (your spouse) but plenty of people do it alone. This is a great thread as everyone is awesome and welcoming.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I am in a similar position. My CSR AF will post on 10/1. I was thinking I could refer my wife for the CSR and then PC mine to a CF. However, because we are about half way through my wife’s MSR on her newly acquired CIP, she wouldn’t apply for her CSR (maybe a DD if we have the guts) until after I have downgraded to the CF. Would I still receive the UR if I no longer have the CSR account from which she is referred by the time she gets around to applying? Alternatively, does it make more sense for me to cancel my CSR altogether in October, wait a month, then reapply for it? My signup bonus posted on 11/23/16. Then I could take my time on referring her? Or I could cancel the CSR, have her refer me for the CIP, and after earning those points, either one of us could apply for the CSR.

All of these options seem to make equal sense to me but I don’t see the intricacies that all of you see!

If you generate a working CSR referral link and then downgrade to CF, you should still get the URs when your wife (or anybody) uses you’re CSR link. I’ve seen numerous DPs on r/churning to suggest that works.

 

[amalone1013]

Ah, good catch. I did get pursuaded to open a Target redcard a few years back (definitely > 2 years) but I only use it at Target to get the 5% discount. No DH would absolutely not go along! He'd probably cut the internet immediately if he knew I'm starting to explore this. He hates cc, and for the longest time only uses debit. Now he uses the same cash rewards we have joint. Also no to ebay. I don't even have an account. I guess I'm pretty archaie to all this stuff!

My DH was super freaked out when I started exploring this, but he came around eventually. Maybe your DH will as well. Some people have also been through this, and their partner will only use one card, so they just swap it out for whatever the new one is. I can get my DH to carry a few cards now, and I label them for him for the bonus categories... but sometimes he still uses the wrong ones

 

[Lain]

Thank you! That was exactly the problem, I was looking at the wrong page and now I found it.

And it is a 100,000 point offer. Not sure what to do now...

Almost done with my double dip spend (which is a bit alarming but did have some help with bank account funding and unexpected medical expenses). Was planning DH's double dip next but now am questioning.

Would love that Hilton Biz and it would be actively helping me toward my goal of Hilton Tokyo Bay family suite in a couple of years. And it is a great offer.

The SPG Lux offer is good and could be used easily for DL in the winter or Hawaii next year. But I not sure I want that large AF as I am just paying for the AF on my CSR and small ones on a few other cards.

I think the Hliton Biz is the smarter choice but am still being tempted by the Lux...

Do you have any Marriott (or the Ritz-Carlton) cards? If not, there's no rush to apply for the SPG Lux before tomorrow. Wait for a higher public offer (it will come, since Amex is already targeting folks with 125k Marriott points).

 

[bernina]

No, the 100k/$5k personal Platinum is never guaranteed unless you have a mailer with your name on it in your hands or you've pulled the offer up on CardMatch or Amex's preapproval page. It's a highly targeted offer. Would you be interested in the Business Platinum with a 100k MR after $10k MSR/3 months, but you'd have to call in? Generally, the Biz Plat has many of the same benefits as the personal Plat, but has a lower $450 AF (vs. $550), at the cost of no Uber or Saks credits. However, the Biz Plat won't add to your */24 count if that matters.

I’m still 30+ pages back but had to say you all are such enablers!! If you remember I’m the one who pulled up the 100k/$5k personal platinum offer, waited a few seconds too long to apply and poof it disappeared.

Well I figured what the heck and tried again, and there it was! You bet I didn’t waste a millisecond and went straight to apply. Instant approval. Wasn’t really planning on another Amex MSR at the moment, but what’s $5k in MS among friends. Worst case I prepay a decent chunk of DD’s school tuition.

 

[GlamMistress]

Received my Barclays Aviator today. Just bought a $10 Amazon gift card, so now the card is going in the sock drawer, lol. Just need that charge and the AF to post so I can get my miles. Easiest spend ever.

Also I just logged into the e-status website to check for my husband and he was approved too (I got more credit than him, lol). That's a nice 120,000 mile haul for a little bit of nothing.

 

[Lain]

I’m still 30+ pages back but had to say you all are such enablers!! If you remember I’m the one who pulled up the 100k/$5k personal platinum offer, waited a few seconds too long to apply and poof it disappeared.

Well I figured what the heck and tried again, and there it was! You bet I didn’t waste a millisecond and went straight to apply. Instant approval. Wasn’t really planning on another Amex MSR at the moment, but what’s $5k in MS among friends. Worst case I prepay a decent chunk of DD’s school tuition.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!


​

I'm glad you didn't hesitate this time around! Lesson learned! And I'm hoping, since you were targeted, there are no shenanigans with wrong addresses and the card getting misdirected.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I've joined DIS earlier in the year and this is the first time I ventured over to the Budget board. My mind is completely blown! Wow, this thread is going to get me in a lot of trouble!!

I've always been a 1 credit card user, same cash rewards card for probably the last 10 years. I don't really have time to go back through 2000 pages of info, but I will definitely start reading up on this topic.

Any suggestions as to which cards to sign up for the best bonuses right now? Our travel is all planned and booked for the rest of the year, but we are open to hotel/air for 2019. No solid destination plans yet. Is it best to decide on a place before accumulating points?

Welcome to our little corner of the DIS! Don’t want worry about reading 2,000 pages (a lot of the older info is outdated now anyways). Here’s a few thoughts:

• Sounds like your husband isn’t interested in this game from your other post so you’ll be in single player mode (not necessarily a bad thing but just ignore when we talk about 2 player mode as that won’t apply to you.
• Do you have a business, or any sort of side hustle that could qualify as a business? (rental property, Sell things on Ebay, sell cookies, teach piano, consulting, etc.)... if so we’d recommend you look at some business cards.
  
• If you aren’t interested in business cards there’s a lot of other great offers out there too!
• If you provide us some info about where you like to travel, how many people are in you’re trafel party, etc we could work up some custom recommendations.
• Also - how much can you comfortable put on a Credit Card each month (without spending money you normally wouldn’t have spent)?

Also, side note but you’ll hear us discuss DISchurners - our private Reddit group. We have some great info there and you could use “support” links when signing up for cards which would support other DISers If you’re interested in that just send me a PM here and I’ll get you setup.