I love credit cards so much!

[StephPlum]

Back from vacation officially on Sunday. Had some Labor Day plans and then back to work. It always seems like a lot of work to get ahead on to take vacation and then a lot of work to catch up on after you return. I am really looking forward to retirement. Right now my count-down clock is 7 years. That might sound long but looking in the rearview mirror of 31 years at my company, that is just a blink of the eye!

Acadia NP was very, very beautiful. We did get a slight heat and humidity wave while we were there. But the last day was in the 70s and perfect. Stayed in the Best Western Acadia Park Inn for 5 days. It was a last minute switch from Glacier so I took what I could get. It actually was a great place. I'll put a review on the other thread. After Acadia, we did one night in the White Mountains with the sole purpose of riding the cog railroad up Mt Washington. Very cool. And then one night in Boston before flying out. That night I used URs for Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor.

Not reading all the pages I missed but I did see @speedyfishy's news - CONGRATULATIONS
and the bad news of the 48 months on CSR/CSP bonuses. I didn't have a 2 year churning plan yet since I don't have either. It is not as big a blow to me. Still looking for DD sometime in 4Q as that is when I'll have the spend to meet 8K MSR

On my quest to grab AA miles, DH got his 50K miles on the Barclay's card. I SMed about matching but no news. I'll have to call. I saw two DPs one good and one not so good. My luck with matching has been bad so not expecting any match to the current 60K. I met my MSR on my CitiAA and DH will meet his this month. I signed up my son for an AA account. He is getting tons of emails from AA. Hoping for a mailer without 24 month language that I can use for another Citi Biz card. If not, I may look to buy one on Reddit.

Shifting to next year's travel. Right now looking at Colorado Springs in June and Hawaii in Sept or Oct. Planning is half the fun for me so will spend the next few months trip planning. For Colorado Springs, I'll probably use my Marriott cert. Maybe I'll see if that can be my first $0 flight and hotel cost trip!

 

[miztressuz]

Banking question...

As I have been opening accounts for bonuses, I have been moving accounts over from Wells Fargo and closing them. For example, DH's discover account for bonus is now on of our kids' savings accounts and I closed the WF one. So I am doing it slowly so I get a bonus each time. Our main savings is at ally. I also have a discover savings that I keep my bonuses in. I am trying to decide where to move out checking account to. I am leaning discover b/c of the 1% rebate. We obviously rarely (never) swipe a debit card, but it is nice to have in case debit is required somewhere. The other one I was considering is ally since our main savings account is there. I also could do fidelity since I did the bonus savings thing there recently and also have rollover IRAs there. Anyone have experience with any of these checking accounts? I'm not so worried about getting a bonus for this particular account opening, just want a good checking account to get away from Wells Fargo.

I read the Fidelity checking when it came out but haven't touched it much since so I'm fuzzy. But I remember thinking it was similar to the Schwab checking that everyone likes. So I'd read through the materials on that one again. I'm still a little old school and I like to have one bank with a branch nearby, so I always keep at least one local account and otherwise the rest of my stuff can live online. Know what my fastest bank transfer has been? Pulling cash out of bank 1, driving 1 mile down the road, depositing cash at bank 2. (now if I didn't have so many open accounts because of the bank bonuses probably wouldn't have needed to do it, but I still laughed as I was doing it thinking about how great all this technology stuff is...) Occasionally having a branch has been helpful that way. I know Schwab has offices nearby, maybe Fidelity has some too? although not sure if they act like a bank or not.

Can someone please help me without laughing too hard? I have what I’m sure is a relatively small number of Marriott points (9537) and SPG points (6954). I think their programs have combined??? Should I be going into one of their websites to do something to combine the points? More importantly, is there anything I can do with this small amount of points? I earned these points because of work things and I don’t know that I’ll ever use them at a Marriott or SPG hotel so even if all I can do with them is redeem them for some kind of gift card, I’d rather do that than forget about them entirely. Any help is appreciated!

It says everything will be added to my SPG account. Is that right? For some reason I thought it would all go in the Marriott account.

It's whatever account you sign into to start the merge is what's kept. Point redemptions start as low as 7,500 points and I think a good chunk of their hotels are in the 12,500-17,500 categories. So that seems like enough for one or two nights to me But you can redeem them for gift cards, merchandise, or even transfer them to an airline. Supposed to be able to do it from here: https://www.marriott.com/marriott/exclusiveextras.mi but doesn't look like all the links are working. Airline point transfers start at 3k and I think are even increments so may wind up with < 1000 points leftover.

ETA: the GC link on this page is working: https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/redeem/shopping.mi

 

[disneedee]

I'm planning to use the new Staples offer to get a $200 vgc that's fee-free this week. It may or may not work, but I was planning to buy it anyway.

i went to get this yesterday but the staples i drove 40 minutes to get to had none.

 

[Haley R]

This one is worse. And people wonder why families don’t want to be separated from kids even when kids are 10 or 12. My kid is 9, he’s sitting next to me.

https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/new...cle_324c43cd-2fb3-594e-adc2-f77cb4045342.html

Ugh that is so gross. I don’t want to have to worry about sleeping on my way to Japan but those seats on the ANA flight in business are almost like cubicles. Hopefully I can get one close to Dh or I might not sleep the whole way!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Ugh that is so gross. I don’t want to have to worry about sleeping on my way to Japan but those seats on the ANA flight in business are almost like cubicles. Hopefully I can get one close to Dh or I might not sleep the whole way!

I wouldn’t be too worried in business class. Seats are generally much farther apart.

 

[Haley R]

I wouldn’t be too worried in business class. Seats are generally much farther apart.

I’m only worried because someone could just walk by and do those things but maybe that would be more noticeable. If I was a flight attendant I’d be watching like a hawk after reading those.

 

[kayteekt]

Still no referral links/bonus for CIC, right?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Still no referral links/bonus for CIC, right?

Nope - just the public link.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

New (increased?) Hilton Offers Out!

So I admittedly don't follow a lot with Hilton points BUT for those interested there's some discussion on Reddit right now about increased offers. Check out these links for more info - maybe somebody who knows more can share their thoughts here...

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9dk8ew/amex_hilton_aspire_150k_public_offer/

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9dhed8/daily_discussion_thread_september_06_2018/e5i3c02/

https://apply.americanexpress.com/hilton-card/

Just a word of advice - before you jump on one of these, make sure there isn't a better offer available via dummy booking (or check to see if the same offer is available via support link). Good Luck to all interested/applying!!

EDIT: these offers appear decidedly better than support links. Those with these cards should keep an eye out to see if they actually increase the support offers too at some point.

 

[calypso726]

Yep, thats the one! Such a silly video but nice looking card! I love the redemption rates. Too bad no signup bonus. Maybe if we are ever done with chase...

Nooo... there is no rational reason to get this card!

I’m not even tempted by this card. We all know I won’t be getting any Chase cards and I tend to view high AFs more like a personal challenge.

 

[mmmears]

Can someone please point me to the new info regarding CSP/CSR bonuses needing to be 48 months apart? I am assuming something changed while we were traveling and I did not see it. TIA

Awesome! Will we get to choose our color? I believe there are more options available than previously.

My understanding is that if you have time to order them through MDE you get to pick the color. If you don't do that and need to pick them up at the resort without getting to order a specific color online you will get the gray bands.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Can someone please point me to the new info regarding CSP/CSR bonuses needing to be 48 months apart? I am assuming something changed while we were traveling and I did not see it. TIA




My understanding is that if you have time to order them through MDE you get to pick the color. If you don't do that and need to pick them up at the resort without getting to order a specific color online you will get the gray bands.

The public application links available on Chase.com now say:

50,000 Bonus Points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
The product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 48 months.​

The referral links still contain the 24 month language. Our assumption is that at some point the referral links will probably change to the 48 month language.

Were you thinking of getting a CSR or CSP or double dip for you or a Player 2 soon??

 

[miztressuz]

Can someone please point me to the new info regarding CSP/CSR bonuses needing to be 48 months apart? I am assuming something changed while we were traveling and I did not see it. TIA

Here's the consolidated version from DoC: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chas...on-instead-of-24-months-temporary-workaround/

On Aug 27 the language on the public offers changed to "This product is available to you if you do not have any Sapphire card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for any Sapphire card in the past 48 months." but so far the existing referral links still say 24 months. People have been approved for cards through the referral links, and if Chase's "rule" of not approving you for a card if you can't earn the bonus is still true, those links are the loophole for the moment.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

The November 15th next SOUTHWEST release is now #FakeNews.

Apparently Southwest also gave bad information to me on twitter.

All 3 sites now state that the next release will be SEPTEMBER 27th, 2018 for flights through JUNE 8th, 2019. Sorry for the false alarm here folks!

h/t to Reddit User u/redblue949 on r/churning for bringing this to my attention!

 

[miztressuz]

New (increased?) Hilton Offers Out!

So I admittedly don't follow a lot with Hilton points BUT for those interested there's some discussion on Reddit right now about increased offers. Check out these links for more info - maybe somebody who knows more can share their thoughts here...

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9dk8ew/amex_hilton_aspire_150k_public_offer/

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9dhed8/daily_discussion_thread_september_06_2018/e5i3c02/

https://apply.americanexpress.com/hilton-card/

Just a word of advice - before you jump on one of these, make sure there isn't a better offer available via dummy booking (or check to see if the same offer is available via support link). Good Luck to all interested/applying!!

EDIT: these offers appear decidedly better than support links. Those with these cards should keep an eye out to see if they actually increase the support offers too at some point.

No expiration dates listed on these, just has the unhelpful "American Express reserves the right to modify or revoke offer at any time" language. But I do believe they're all at all-time highs for points. I think that's the first increase to the Aspire card they've done.

Not an AmEx expert but when it's not a time limited increase, do the support links follow suit? Off hand I recall ones with expirations dates getting a matching support offer.

 

[Calfan]

While these stories are awful, these incidents are still incredibly few and far between. Its a little like the stranger-danger stuff that has meant that kids rarely do anything independently anymore - I get that people are unwilling to take even a tiny statistical risk that something bad will happen to their kids (I've got plenty of overprotective mama instincts), but I also see how beneficial a little bit of independence can be for kids. Its a hard line to walk in this day and age, and sensationalized reporting doesn't help.

I don't disagree at all, and I tend to err on the side of giving my teens lots of independence, but this is just one situation I'm not willing to test. No issue for me on shorter, daytime flights where we are sitting reasonably close. But, for example, on our Africa flights where the shortest leg is 10+ hours and overnights are involved, I absolutely want each of my kids next to either DH or me on those flights.

 

[amalone1013]

Mini Trip Recap, details plus photos: (I will be back to update this and will let you guys know in case you're interested)

Mini Trip Recap, points version:

Current MSRs are Hilton Biz ($3k) and SPG Lux ($5k)

• Flight on SW with CP Fri - 10651 RRs
• Flight home on Frontier - $100 through Frontier for both people including the seat selection fees ($12 each)
  • I ended up adding a carry-on for $40 - but less than SW RRs and better timing
  • Paid OOP, Frontier had a sale only on their site for half off tickets so I did that instead of URs
  • No issues with flight!
• Hotels:
  • All Star Movies Fri night - $137.11/9,141 URs
  • Pop Sat-Tues nights - $494.10/32,940 URs (had a $1.91 credit on the room after switching to this)
• Transportation:
  • Spent about $100 with Lyft with my Freedom, mainly to and from VB and to some resorts for dining instead of transferring via buses
  • Used DME for the first time since Jan 2017

• Tickets:

• MNSSHP - $159.76 - Used GC stash
• 7 day PHs from Chase Travel with points - $521.85 each so 69,850 URs total
  • Upgrade to Plat Plus APs at waterpark gate - additional $977.68
  • Bought $500 Disney GC at grocery store for fuel points (worth ~$55) and paid remaining with SPG Lux
  • Know how Disney ticket prices online are $20 cheaper than at the gate? When we did this the cast member adjusted our tickets up $20 in value to account for this, so this was $40 + tax less than I anticipated
• Volcano Bay - bought 5 day 3 park tickets from UCT with SPG Lux for $371.50 each, value $415.34
  • Upgraded to Seasonal 3 Park APs after entering VB - got $6.39 refunded on each ticket
  • We were going to spend about $461 each on 1 day VB tickets, tickets for next weekend, and HHN tickets; Now we can get discounted HHN tickets, so our OOP doing this was $462 and then we got $6.40 back
  • We don't actually have plans to go back right now, but I would have been really mad at myself if I'd skipped this opportunity and then we did end up back there in the next 12 months.

I had just enough in my gift card stash for my estimated food budget for this trip and the one next week, but next week will mostly be at the Dolphin with no room charging. So we used GCs for the table service meals but charged everything else to the room to my CSR. I want to have some GCs for souvenir shopping next trip. This is the first time we really used magic bands for charging and it's kind of addictive - I haven't added up the damage yet. We also used mobile ordering which was so nice, I just wish they took gift cards through there.

With random charges like lockers plus VB food, and buying a TIW card, we put another $200 towards Hilton Biz (~$500 to go) and $1700 towards SPG Lux, mostly from tickets. Tonight we'll finish Universal tickets which will be another ~$400 towards SPG Lux.

We had a great time except that I broke DH! Oops. Basically, he has high arches and can't go barefoot around a water park all day anymore, so the first day killed him and we used a lot of ice from the ice machines for his feet. They are doing much better today. This caused us to go a bit slower than we normally would at the Halloween party and such. I'll write a little more when I do a post with photos, but we loved MNSSHP!

ETA: I left out part of the points version - using the PP lounge at MCO for the first time! We used the one in terminal 1 - we were through security by about 4:40am but it doesn't open until 5:00am. We were the third group of probably 15 to go in so early - a few solo travlers, a family, and a lot of 2 person parties. It was a mad house the first 20 minutes! Everyone wanted their free cheerios I guess But seriously, I got elbowed twice so people could cut me off to get to something! And then most people left by 5:30 or so... I don't know that I would have fought the crowd for that small amount of time personally. We had a 6:30am boarding time so we stayed until about 10mins before that, so it was nice to be in comfier seats and eat some food. I felt bad for one of the employees though. They have a pancake machine and a fancy coffee machine, and she was trying to help people use them, and they kept reaching around her/over her shoulders to push buttons. I would have smacked them! For breakfast they had cheerios/raisin bran/granola, yogurt with fruit, hard boiled eggs, granola bars, pancakes, bagels and English muffins, and a fancy coffee maker. DH said the Ohio one had more food selection, though that was also afternoon.

This is some Universal/UCT upgrade math I did to see what the best scenario was for us, after some research. I learned that the tickets like the Buy 3 get 2 days free promos that Universal also sells on their site, are valued at the 3 day cost. But ones like the Buy 2 get 1 day free ticket UCT is selling, should be valued like a 3 day ticket once you have used it to enter the parks.

• Buy 5 day 3 park P2P ticket from UCT for $371.50; Universal sees it worth $415.34 after tax
  • Upgrade to Seasonal 3 Park AP which is $408.95 after tax, so $0 to upgrade and possibly get ~$6 refund (OOP $371.50)
• Buy 4 day 3 park P2P ticket from UCT for $349; Universal sees it worth $388.71 after tax
  • Upgrade to Seasonal 3 Park AP which is $408.95 after tax, so $20.24 to upgrade (OOP $369.24)
  Buy 3 day 3 park P2P ticket from UCT for $322.95; Universal sees it worth $362.09 after tax
  • Upgrade to Seasonal 3 Park AP which is $408.95 after tax, so $46.86 to upgrade (OOP $369.81)
• Buy 3+2 free days 3 park P2P ticket from UCT for $327.95; Universal sees it worth $362.09 after tax
  • Upgrade to Seasonal 3 Park AP which is $408.95 after tax, so $46.86 to upgrade (OOP $374.81)

 

[GlamMistress]

So what's the opinion of the hive mind on this one?

Upgrade Freedom to CSR ($450 AF) vs new application for Hilton Aspire (with next week bigger bonus of course) ($450 AF)

This would be for DH. We need lounge access again. But I could use more Hilton points for Spain next August... I think I'm leaning toward Hilton because I've always felt this was a keeper card and we could get a lot from it. The other option is to apply for the AmeriPrise Amex Plat with the no fee first year and just use it for the lounge and air credits.

Opinions?

 

[Albort]

So what's the opinion of the hive mind on this one?

Upgrade Freedom to CSR ($450 AF) vs new application for Hilton Aspire (with next week bigger bonus of course) ($450 AF)

This would be for DH. We need lounge access again. But I could use more Hilton points for Spain next August... I think I'm leaning toward Hilton because I've always felt this was a keeper card and we could get a lot from it. The other option is to apply for the AmeriPrise Amex Plat with the no fee first year and just use it for the lounge and air credits.

Opinions?

where are u with 5/24? Any more chase cards u want?
if the answer is no, always go with cards with MSR.

just my 2 cents.

 

[vanjust14]

The November 15th next SOUTHWEST release is now #FakeNews.

Apparently Southwest also gave bad information to me on twitter.

All 3 sites now state that the next release will be SEPTEMBER 27th, 2018 for flights through JUNE 8th, 2019. Sorry for the false alarm here folks!

h/t to Reddit User u/redblue949 on r/churning for bringing this to my attention!

*scratches off November 15 note on work calendar*