I love credit cards so much!

[elgerber]

Well, my mail has shown up (earlier than a normal day), so I have my card but the package that was out for delivery yesterday is not here and has not been scanned since yesterday morning.

 

[Happy814]

So I'm currently trying to figure out where I want to fall in the grand scheme of the rewards cards game. I don't think I'm a full-on kind of gal due to having 3 little kids and being self-employed. But after doing some meddling on this thread last year, I signed my DH up for the CIP for our business and we flew to Disney on Southwest for free in May! Thank you all and that was a complete game changer! DH loved the free part and we would not have flown otherwise. We had driven the 15+ hour drive the two years prior to that as I just couldn't justify $1000+ on flights as we are not generally flyers to begin with. (DH and I last flew about 11 years ago. lol) And the CIP was actually a great fit for our business (chiropractic office) and we have enjoyed the actual day to day perks of the card, not just the rewards bonus. So in July, we changed DH's daily personal card to the CSP so that we could get the rewards bonus to use next September (2019) to fly to Disney again. One of our biggest expenses is we enjoy eating out so the 2x points on all restaurants come in handy. But I also can't justify paying the yearly fee each year just to keep the bonus points. So that's where you all come in if you could help a girl out a bit! lol I understand that most of you don't necessarily keep cards long enough to pay the annual fee. But eventually DH does need to end up with a card for our business and it would likely be easier to keep it longterm just bc of changing automatic withdrawals associated with the business can be time-consuming. But its my understanding that the CIC doesn't have a yearly fee? But then would I lose access to the UR portal? Or if I changed his CSP to a Freedom card? Do I have to keep something in one of our names with an annual fee in order to keep access to a UR account?

Where do we go from here? We essentially have any card, etc at our disposal bc we haven't really churned before, especially me under my name. He is a willing player (P2 if I understand your lingo!) But our longterm goal would be to get enough points to fly to Disney every year to 18 months for the next several years. We are in southeast MO so flying out of STL or Memphis is our best options and I did like Southwest this last trip for the direct flights and no bag fees. Our kids are 6, 5, and 7 months so I can us enjoying Disney for years to come. I don't really see us interested in international travel for some time. Its not really DHs thing. We enjoy vacationing along the Gulf Coast as well so I've looked into the basic hotel chain cards as well.

I know about the Southwest cards, but don't know if I should save those for a year or two from now when I don't already have points in my account. Or do I get them, meet the minimum spend, transfer the points and then be done with them? I'm planning on doing the CIP for our business under my name at some point but again, I don't quite know when to pull the strings. I currently have no recent chase cards, other than a Disney card opened several years ago so shouldn't affect my 5/24. I realize there are some AMEX cards out there but know nothing about them! I'm working on following the thread, but get lost quickly if I'm not on for a day or two or if too many abbreviations are used! lol

Sorry for the many random questions! Any help would be greatly appreciated! TIA!

Hi! I'm a newbie too but as I was reading this, I related to your post quite a bit. DH also owns a business and we opened up a CIP in Feb of this year and have enjoyed 2 RT flights to Disney World so far. I recently referred myself for a CIP from DH's account. My plan is to mostly likely product change my CIP to a business card with no annual fee next year. I plan on DH keeping his CIP for some of the reasons you mentioned above - a big one is that it's a pain to constantly adjust automatic payments. Due to the type of business you have, I believe you can get a lot of value out of utilizing the CIP for internet, phone, etc. and earn 3x the points. I think you will find that the $95 fee is worth it and the CIP can be a keeper card for him. The other pro in this scenario is that the CIP redeems at a rate of 1.25. Even if you're only planning on doing Disney in the foreseeable future, you have the ability to book rooms, buy tickets, flights, etc. using UR. Ultimately, you could get an entire WDW vacation for free!

 

[Happy814]

Y'all, I am kicking myself so hard right now!

About two months ago before I started binge reading this thread on a more consistent basis, i referred two clients to using a CIP by WRITING THE CARD NAME ON A POST IT NOTE

Needless to say I saw one of them today and he has a shining new CIP thanks to me. But my UR accounts is short 20,000 bonus points for that old school referral method.

 

[liloca]

So I'm currently trying to figure out where I want to fall in the grand scheme of the rewards cards game. I don't think I'm a full-on kind of gal due to having 3 little kids and being self-employed. But after doing some meddling on this thread last year, I signed my DH up for the CIP for our business and we flew to Disney on Southwest for free in May! Thank you all and that was a complete game changer! DH loved the free part and we would not have flown otherwise. We had driven the 15+ hour drive the two years prior to that as I just couldn't justify $1000+ on flights as we are not generally flyers to begin with. (DH and I last flew about 11 years ago. lol) And the CIP was actually a great fit for our business (chiropractic office) and we have enjoyed the actual day to day perks of the card, not just the rewards bonus. So in July, we changed DH's daily personal card to the CSP so that we could get the rewards bonus to use next September (2019) to fly to Disney again. One of our biggest expenses is we enjoy eating out so the 2x points on all restaurants come in handy. But I also can't justify paying the yearly fee each year just to keep the bonus points. So that's where you all come in if you could help a girl out a bit! lol I understand that most of you don't necessarily keep cards long enough to pay the annual fee. But eventually DH does need to end up with a card for our business and it would likely be easier to keep it longterm just bc of changing automatic withdrawals associated with the business can be time-consuming. But its my understanding that the CIC doesn't have a yearly fee? But then would I lose access to the UR portal? Or if I changed his CSP to a Freedom card? Do I have to keep something in one of our names with an annual fee in order to keep access to a UR account?

Where do we go from here? We essentially have any card, etc at our disposal bc we haven't really churned before, especially me under my name. He is a willing player (P2 if I understand your lingo!) But our longterm goal would be to get enough points to fly to Disney every year to 18 months for the next several years. We are in southeast MO so flying out of STL or Memphis is our best options and I did like Southwest this last trip for the direct flights and no bag fees. Our kids are 6, 5, and 7 months so I can us enjoying Disney for years to come. I don't really see us interested in international travel for some time. Its not really DHs thing. We enjoy vacationing along the Gulf Coast as well so I've looked into the basic hotel chain cards as well.

I know about the Southwest cards, but don't know if I should save those for a year or two from now when I don't already have points in my account. Or do I get them, meet the minimum spend, transfer the points and then be done with them? I'm planning on doing the CIP for our business under my name at some point but again, I don't quite know when to pull the strings. I currently have no recent chase cards, other than a Disney card opened several years ago so shouldn't affect my 5/24. I realize there are some AMEX cards out there but know nothing about them! I'm working on following the thread, but get lost quickly if I'm not on for a day or two or if too many abbreviations are used! lol

Sorry for the many random questions! Any help would be greatly appreciated! TIA!

Welcome! It looks like you already did a lot of your homework and understand this game well.
So my understanding is that you want to focus in getting your airplane tickets for free correct? So if SW worked well for you last time the Bussiness SW card would work great for you and your needs. You are going to receive 60K RR points to cover when you meet the MSR.
I know you said that you do not pay the AF but I would reconsider the CSR or even the double dip CSP and CSR for you!
That is over 100K in UR points and you for $450 but $300 is a travel credit so really only $150 is fees.
If you use the 100k for Disney using the CSR you get a better value at 1.5.
So you can book Disney hotel/tickets of a $1500 value using your 100K URs. And you can transfer your husband UR to you CSR for a higher redemption as well. But the MRS is 4K so if that is too much for you your husband can refer you to the CSP and/or CIP instead!
The Amex bussiness cards are great to put time btw the chase cards since you don’t want to apply for too many chase card too fast.
You are in a great position at being at 0/24, so I would focus on Chase first and if you need more cards in btw Chases go for Amex bussiness so they don’t add to your 0/24 counts.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Y'all, I am kicking myself so hard right now!

About two months ago before I started binge reading this thread on a more consistent basis, i referred two clients to using a CIP by WRITING THE CARD NAME ON A POST IT NOTE

Needless to say I saw one of them today and he has a shining new CIP thanks to me. But my UR accounts is short 20,000 bonus points for that old school referral method.

LOL I'm so sorry, but I totally just snorted laughing at that!!!

 

[bernina]

Working on MSR for Amex. Is it safe to mix in giftcard purchases at Kroger with everyday spend? Any other locations that would be ok to buy?

 

[lynzi2004]

Wow - lot's to digest here!

• If Southwest is the airline you'll be flying, getting SW cards from Chase is a great plan. They provide the maximum return for lowest spend. Based on how often you fly and the size of your family the companion pass (CP) would be "nice" but wouldn't necessarily provide a huge benefit. I would consider getting a SW Business card for the 60k offer and a SW personal card when the 50k offer comes back around (and try to earn a CP too by having one player earn 110k SW points in one year).
• Getting a CIP in your name is a great plan.
• Getting a CIC is not a bad plan
• Depending on how you "do Disney" you could also consider CSR/CSP - and do the double dip.

I'm hesitant to start making any recommendations because your comment went in a TON of different directions. You seem VERY well read on things here so I absolutely think you're capable of making your own plan and then running it by us. We can all try to give advice but depending on who you talk to, it will be different advice. If you're able to make your own plan, that's even better. Then we can help tweak it or give advice.

You could cover a substantial amount of your travel expense if you're willing to go for 3-4 cards a year between the 2 players.

Also - if you haven't been around lately, you might consider joining our Reddit group DISchurners. IF you're interested just let me know! We have some great tips there and you can also support other DISers when signing up for cards.

Thank you! I realize it was kind of a brain-dump but I had been going over it in my head for several weeks and had to get it written out to see if anyone could steer me in a possible direction! lol Thank you for your recommendations! I guess my most lingering question is do I churn all of these over the next year or two and then just sit on those points for several years? And maybe this is where everyone has different ideas of what works. Thanks again!

 

[MrPTato]

Another AMEX lux DP. So I charged my Swan Feb 2019 Ressie for one night to my newly upgraded Amex Lux. The total was $341. I then canceled it under my name and booked it under DH instead because I remembered that he had the Marriott $60 off $300 spend. What I forgot is both of my cards still had the SPG spend $300 get $60 offer that expired over the weekend.

The $60 off hit both charges! One I’m sure will be clawed back once the cancelation goes through. However the $300 credit hit also in spite of the charge being $341. I’ll keep you posted what happens when the second charge is refunded but right it looks like my room was -$20. I also still have the Marriott deal on x2 cards and since the merger it should work with a Swolphin booking.

So is the $300 credit for the Lux also applying to the reservation? If I book a night for $155, will I get a $155 credit? I thought it would be things charged at the hotel and not the stay. It would be great if it were for a stay.

 

[Artygal90]

You guys.

My little sister got her first-ever credit card (a SW Plus) so she can earn Rapid Rewards points to fly back and forth from KS to TX while she's in grad school. She called me last night asking for advice on if she she put her rent on her new card. I said yes for this month assuming there's no extra fee to do so, and to pay it off immediately so it doesn't report to the credit bureaus as high utilization, and then just use it for regular spending* until she gets her signup bonus. And never pay interest and basically only charge expenses you have the money to pay for right then. Looks like 40k RR points are coming her way soon. I'm so proud! *wipes away tear*

*I started to mention how she could get more than 1 point per dollar with the CF and CFU but stopped myself b/c I don't want to overwhelm her or undersell the risks of using credit cards since it's so easy to get in over your head. But maybe a CFU referral will be coming our way soon!

 

[MrPTato]

So my Amex Lux is finally on the UPS truck out for delivery. A whole week after the approval. My Marriott number is still not in the Amex system as there was an error when they tried to attach. I was trying to use the Marriott number that I had and not the SPG number. Wonder if the SPG system doesn't like the Marriott number.

 

[WVMomof3]

Y'all, I am kicking myself so hard right now!

About two months ago before I started binge reading this thread on a more consistent basis, i referred two clients to using a CIP by WRITING THE CARD NAME ON A POST IT NOTE

Needless to say I saw one of them today and he has a shining new CIP thanks to me. But my UR accounts is short 20,000 bonus points for that old
school referral method.

I’m sorry, but this made me giggle. We all have those smack yourself on the head moments!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Working on MSR for Amex. Is it safe to mix in giftcard purchases at Kroger with everyday spend? Any other locations that would be ok to buy?

Yup, did this multiple times for the Hilton Biz MSR. I also did it multiple times at Best Buy, including just straight $50 gift card purchases. Received my Hilton points at $20 over the MSR spend.

 

[Lain]

So my Amex Lux is finally on the UPS truck out for delivery. A whole week after the approval. My Marriott number is still not in the Amex system as there was an error when they tried to attach. I was trying to use the Marriott number that I had and not the SPG number. Wonder if the SPG system doesn't like the Marriott number.

Could be because American Express Has Run Out Of Phyiscal SPG Luxury Cards – Regular SPG Cards To Be Sent Out.

 

[Lain]

Y'all, I am kicking myself so hard right now!

About two months ago before I started binge reading this thread on a more consistent basis, i referred two clients to using a CIP by WRITING THE CARD NAME ON A POST IT NOTE

Needless to say I saw one of them today and he has a shining new CIP thanks to me. But my UR accounts is short 20,000 bonus points for that old school referral method.

That sucks, but don’t get too hung up about it. I think we’ve almost forgiven @amalone1013 for forgetting to use a referral when she got a CIP for DH.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Thank you! I realize it was kind of a brain-dump but I had been going over it in my head for several weeks and had to get it written out to see if anyone could steer me in a possible direction! lol Thank you for your recommendations! I guess my most lingering question is do I churn all of these over the next year or two and then just sit on those points for several years? And maybe this is where everyone has different ideas of what works. Thanks again!

I started out here 6 months ago thinking I’d accumulate a lot of UR points by applying for Chase cards every 3-4 months storing them for a big trip in 20220
But I’ve already used about 87,000 of them to book a trip to visit my son in Orlando for Christmas....so your plans for the points may change over time....I see you fly SW too and I also like that the UR points can be transferred to my RR account to book flights

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Y'all, I am kicking myself so hard right now!

About two months ago before I started binge reading this thread on a more consistent basis, i referred two clients to using a CIP by WRITING THE CARD NAME ON A POST IT NOTE

Needless to say I saw one of them today and he has a shining new CIP thanks to me. But my UR accounts is short 20,000 bonus points for that old school referral method.

Lol I almost did the same thing...I’d told a friend about the CIP...and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to lend a business card...thank goodness she asked about it again so I was able to generate a referral

 

[MrPTato]

Could be because American Express Has Run Out Of Phyiscal SPG Luxury Cards – Regular SPG Cards To Be Sent Out.

Could be it. Guess we will see what is in the envelope when it arrives.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thank you! I realize it was kind of a brain-dump but I had been going over it in my head for several weeks and had to get it written out to see if anyone could steer me in a possible direction! lol Thank you for your recommendations! I guess my most lingering question is do I churn all of these over the next year or two and then just sit on those points for several years? And maybe this is where everyone has different ideas of what works. Thanks again!

This game is often described as both a marathon and a sprint...

• Some people try to space out their cards, churning at a slow pace
• Others run as fast as they can, as hard as they can, for as long as they can
• Some pick a strategy somewhere in between the two

The thing is, there isn't a right answer to this. It sounds like you used your UR points for flights - did you realize you could also use them to pay for on-site Disney Hotels (or off-site) AND Disney tickets?

Perhaps you hit all of those cards as fast as you can and try to fully pay for a Disney trip through points!

• You could use a SW card or 2 to cover the flights.
• Refer yourself to the CIP (for the 100k URs)
• Then hit a CSR & CSP double dip and now you have over $3k in points towards your hotel and tickets.
• You could easily hit 5 cards in 12 months and make this possible.

Maybe you have no issue paying for the Disney vacation out of pocket and you just want to focus on the flights:

• you could each get a SW personal and Biz card
• you'd end up with over 220k SW points (worth over $3k in flights)
• AND 2 companion passes to fly 2 of your kids for free with you.
• And of course you could then still hit that CIP referral too and get another 100k URs there towards something on your trip.

There are just so many options. Earning and sitting on points is not a bad plan.

• Southwest points don't expire as long as you have activity every 2 years. Spending $1 on the card could count as that activity. OR if you cancel the card you could go through the Southwest shopping portal and order 1 thing from Kohl's or something.
• Ultimate Rewards points don't expire as long as you have ANY UR earning card open (CF, CFU, CSP, CSP, CIC, CIU, CIP). You need a CIP, CSP or CSR active to transfer points to partners...you want a CSR card if you want to redeem at the 1.5x through the UR portal

In 2 player mode at 0/24, you have SO many options available.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

That sucks, but don’t get too hung up about it. I think we’ve almost forgiven @amalone1013 for forgetting to use a referral when she got a CIP for DH.

Poor @amalone1013 - we will never let her forget about that! LOL!!

 

[DisneyMandC]

That sucks, but don’t get too hung up about it. I think we’ve almost forgiven @amalone1013 for forgetting to use a referral when she got a CIP for DH.

Yeah and she later told me that it was my link she meant to use